Every year I try to make the month of October a bit of an event. The autumn season is my favourite of the year, and while I never really did anything specifically for Halloween night, it led to me using my love for shows and films (and sometimes games) to appreciate the atmosphere of Halloween instead. So, each year, I typically find something related to Halloween to watch each day, of course this ends up being a bit difficult as various thrillers and horrors run dry, leaving behind mostly just the opportunity to rewatch the films and shows I have before countless times. It has made watching things around Halloween a little more repetitive, unfortunately. Though today I did spend a few hours playing Team Fortress 2 with the yearly Halloween update, that's always fun. And yet this produced a nostalgia in me, not wanting to watch something genuinely scary and dark, but wanting that fun aspect of Halloween. Something light, cartoonish, but rich in the various themes Halloween has to offer: ghosts, witches, pumpkins and zombies. All of that fun!
I remembered that Disney+ has what the call 'Collections', these are curated episodes around specific themes from various shows. They're pretty useful in regards to finding episodes just like the ones I wanted to watch, but the downside is that these Collections don't autoplay each episode after the last, instead they just take you to the specific season and play the following episode. A little annoying, leading to having to go back, find the collection in the UI again, then choose the next episode. Still, the idea behind these curated options is nice, and I look forward to going through the Halloween one in general later. Today, though, I couldn't help but want to rewatch through the many Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons I had managed to forget about over the years. These are fun, yearly events where the creators would have even more fun with the show, telling a few short stories around Halloween themes using their inspirations in media. I'm curious as to how the more modern ones hold up compared to the older ones, and I might get to that point later on; The Simpsons has a lot of seasons, after all. And means many Treehouse of Horror episodes!
Treehouse of Horror
Something I love about the Treehouse of Horror (and general) episodes of The Simpsons is how each one feels different, and you never really know what stories are going to be told. Sometimes, it is clear that the show is just loosely following a hit film, show, or book that the writers have taken inspiration from, for example one of the earlier episodes is basically following the idea of The Shining, in which Homer, with no beer or television, makes Homer go crazy. The use of various inspirations from existing stories never feels like that're copying or being lazy, more so just paying homage to these creations while showing the characters of the show getting into their own shenanigans. Though not every episode is like this, sometimes the show will tell completely original stories based on specific themes in the world and around Halloween. I quite like this mixed back of completely original ideas and inspired ones, naturally some will be weaker, but it means that (hopefully) you end up finding some strong ones too. And without a linear story, you can pick them up from any place.
For special event episodes, the quality of the show isn't decreased at all, instead it seems like it is increased in regards to creativity. Pushing itself beyond the somewhat grounded world of The Simpsons (somewhat grounded, of course) and introducing even more idiocy and fun. Especially when it comes to the intro scenes and the styles. It was only the other year that the more modern writers of The Simpsons basically turned the show into an anime with a short story portraying a The Simpsons version of Death Note. This is pretty much what I mean in regards to the show being more open, doing differing things, while still being a whole lot of fun. This is more evident in how The Simpsons displays violence; the show was once quite ridiculed for being excessive in violence and the portrayal of it; so they went ahead and made it even more violent. Cartoonish gore, more blood and knives and axes, the undead, and with more mockery of reality. Though I suspect a lot of the references from older episodes may get lost in time when it comes to younger audiences now. A lot of events, celebrity references, political jokes. Even the credits themselves are jokes; the most recent episode has someone credited where it just says to short Bitcoin.
There's a certain charm to these episodes. Something other animations haven't quite managed to capture when they follow in similar steps. I think it's the ways in which it isn't afraid to tell stories that don't really haven't anything to do with the main timeline of the show, it isn't afraid to kill off characters or show the weirdest universes imaginable. In a way, these Treehouse of Horror episodes are almost like their own show. I think this is what I always liked about them, how these episodes are often just multiple short stories thrown together just for fun, taking a step back from the usual setup. Each with their own little twists and turns and little quirks. I love the old television production style of having a narrator introduce the show, telling us about the story or the general moral. Something absolutely phased out into the modern day. Think The Twilight Zone for a little more context.
Out of curiosity, I even watched one from the 33rd season. I expected the worst, but it still held up. Albeit with less charm given the flatter and more colourful look of the animation. But in terms of story, it was all there still. But I can't help but feel that the best episodes are from the earlier seasons, where the colours are darker and the Halloween aesthetic really shines through it. Dark, gritty, and with that old boxed aspect ratio. Unfortunately, Disney+ changed the aspect ratio to something wider, so those older episodes still look a little off. But hey, they're still a bunch of fun and it's nice that Disney put in the minimum effort to give us a collection that tells us which episodes these Treehouse of Horror episodes are. If only the navigation to watch them one after the other wasn't a nightmare itself.
Anyway, if you want something fun and maybe don't like the horror and thriller genres, this might be good for you! It's all atmosphere and fun, under the familiarity of The Simpsons. Great going into Halloween. East to watch with short episodes and shorter stories in them, and of course with lots of laughs.
