Treehouse of Horror VII

"Treehouse of Horror VII" is the first episode of "The Simpsons"' eighth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 27, 1996. In the seventh annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode, Bart discovers his long-lost twin, Lisa grows a colony of small beings, and Kang and Kodos impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in order to win the 1996 presidential election. It was written by Ken Keeler, Dan Greaney, and David S. Cohen, and directed by Mike B. Anderson. Phil Hartman provided the voice of Bill Clinton.
Plot.
Opening
In the kitchen, Homer lights a jack-o'-lantern but ends up lighting his arm on fire. He runs off screaming while the title is shown on screen.
"The Thing and I".
Bart and Lisa hear strange noises coming from the attic. They investigate and discover that there is a monster. Homer and Marge realize that the creature has escaped, prompting Marge to call Dr. Hibbert. He explains that Bart has an evil twin named Hugo. The two were originally conjoined but were separated at birth. Hugo was deemed too evil to live in society so they chained him in the attic, where they feed him on fish-heads. Bart stays behind as the others leave to search for Hugo, but Bart realizes that Hugo never left the house. Hugo takes Bart to the attic and ties him up, so that he can reattach himself, but Dr. Hibbert returns and knocks out Hugo. He then realizes that Hugo's scar is on the wrong side, therefore Bart is the evil twin. Bart tells everyone not to look so surprised. To make amends for their error, Dr. Hibbert and the Simpson family sit down to a turkey dinner with Hugo, leaving Bart locked in the attic with only Hugo's fish-heads to eat.
"The Genesis Tub".
In preparation for the school science fair, Lisa performs an experiment in a petri dish to see if cola will dissolve her baby tooth. Bart gives Lisa a static electric shock, claiming it is part of his project to prove that "nerds conduct electricity". The electric charge is then passed on to the tooth when Lisa tries to touch it, causing it to undergo an unusual reaction which creates a race of miniature beings. Lisa discovers this when inspecting the contents of the tub with a microscope. Bart destroys some of the ecosystem in Lisa's tub universe with his finger, and the tub people retaliate by sending a squadron of space ships to attack him. The inhabitants of the tub then shrink Lisa to their size with a miniaturization ray and beam her down into the tub, where they explain that they regard her as God, and Bart as the Devil. She says she can protect them from Bart if they return her to normal size, but they lack the necessary technology. Bart submits the tub in the science fair, and Lisa is forced to watch from within as Bart wins first prize.
"Citizen Kang".
While out fishing, Homer is abducted by the two aliens, Kang and Kodos. They demand that Homer take them to Earth's leader, but Homer informs them of the upcoming presidential election and says the winner could be either Bill Clinton or Bob Dole. Kang and Kodos kidnap both Dole and Clinton and place them in suspended animation, assuming their forms through "bio-duplication" to ensure that one of them will become the next leader. Before returning Homer to Earth, the aliens soak him in rum, so nobody will believe him. On the day before the election, Homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and releases Dole and Clinton from suspended animation. Both candidates agree they should join forces to defeat the aliens, but Homer accidentally ejects them into space. Homer crashes the spaceship into the Capitol and unmasks the aliens, revealing the candidates' true identities to the public. However, despite being exposed, Kang and Kodos declare to the people that the two-party system means they still have to choose one of them. Kang is subsequently elected President of the United States and enslaves all of humanity into building a death planet ray gun; Slave Homer Simpson is actually proud of the fact he voted for Kodos.
Production.
Like the previous two "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, "Treehouse of Horror VII" does not feature any wraparound segments. "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler, "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney, and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen. Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of the 1982 film "Basket Case". "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by Cohen, and it was later referenced in the "South Park" episode "Simpsons Already Did It", when they pointed out that "The Simpsons" had gotten the idea from the 1962 "Twilight Zone" episode called "The Little People". The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart in "The Genesis Tub" marks one of the first uses of computers in "The Simpsons" animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it. The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode. According to Cohen, the "Citizen Kang" short violated every rule of "The Simpsons" as it locked the episode in one time and named specific candidates.
Cultural references.
In "The Thing and I", Homer sings "Fish Heads", a 1980 novelty song by Barnes & Barnes. Homer crashing the flying saucer into Capitol dome in the "Citizen Kang" segment is a reference to "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers", a 1956 film.
Reception.
In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VII" finished 31st in ratings for the week of October 21–27, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following "Millennium" and "The X-Files".
In 2017, "IGN" called "Citizen Kang" the best segment of the entire anthology, and placed the episode itself as number one in its ranking of all "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. "The A.V. Club" named Kang/Bob Dole's line, "Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!", one of the best lines in the history of the show.
The ska punk band named I Voted for Kodos takes its name from Homer's line, "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", at the end of "Citizen Kang". In a 2000 "Entertainment Weekly" article, Matt Groening ranked this episode as his seventh favorite in the history of the show.