Treehouse of Horror XII/References

Trivia

 * Treehouse of Horror XII was originally scheduled to air on Sunday, November 4, 2001. It was delayed two days when the 2001 World Series, which was delayed after the September 11, 2001 attacks and was also televised on Fox, went to seven games. As a result, Treehouse of Horror XII is one of the few episodes of The Simpsons to air in a different timeslot on American TV.
 * This is the second Treehouse of Horror episode not to have the credits littered with "scary names." The others are I and XIII.
 * This is the last Treehouse of Horror episode to have the name Halloween Special.
 * The "Burns family corpses" in the opening sequence are as follows (from left to right as seen on-screen):
 * A man's body that somewhat resembles General Douglas MacArthur as it's wearing an Army uniform and has a pipe and sunglasses like MacArthur's; however, it's a three-star general and MacArthur was a five-star. The body has a tomahawk stuck in its chest.
 * A man's body dressed as a pirate. It has a patch over its left eye and a cutlass stuck in its right eye socket.
 * A woman's body, dressed as a burlesque dancer, with three bullet holes in its forehead.
 * A man's body wearing a suit of armor with a pitchfork stuck through the helmet's eye slits.
 * The voice of the Salesbot in "House of Whacks" is very similar to Gil's.
 * One of the items the Ultrahouse attacks Homer with is the electric hammer Homer invented in The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace.
 * In "Wiz Kids," Lord Montymort's "wailing wall" features Krusty the Clown, Maude Flanders,Comic Book Guy, Snake Jailbird, Bleeding Gums Murphy, Rainier Wolfcastle, Kent Brockman, Mr. Largo, Patty Bouvier, Blue-Haired Lawyer, Üter Zorker, Old Jewish Man, and possibly Frank Grimes.

Opening Sequence

 * The Flintstones - When the Simpsons trick-or-treat the Burns Manor, Homer and Marge are dressed as Fred and Wilma.

Hex and the City

 * Sex and the City - Punned in the title. A Hex is a curse.
 * ATMs - The sign in the Gypsy's shop window says "Fortune Teller. After Hours Use Automated Teller."
 * Aer Lingus - Moe says that Leprechauns come to the USA by hiding in the wheel wells of Aer Lingus jets. Aer Lingus is the oldest and second-largest airline in Ireland.
 * Homer lures the Leprechaun into his pit trap using Lucky Charms cereal, the mascot of which is a Leprechaun.
 * Homer accidentally pours Trix cereal into the hole first, attracting rabbits (The Trix mascot is a rabbit).
 * Bongo, the one-eared rabbit from Life in Hell, is the last rabbit to jump in.
 * One of the creatures lured into the trap by the Lucky Charms is Katie Couric.
 * The Metamorphosis - Maggie is transformed into a ladybug by the Gypsy's curse; in The Metamorphosis, the character Gregor Samsa awakens to find himself transformed into an insect.
 * Yoda from Star Wars is the priest at the Leprechaun/Gypsy wedding. He says, "Husband and wife I pronounce you now."

House of Whacks

 * House of Wax - Punned in the title.
 * The Mafia - "Whacking" someone is Mafia slang for killing them.
 * Demon Seed - The film and characters are parodied throughout the segment, especially Susan Harris and the Proteus IV computer.
 * 2001: A Space Odyssey
 * The Ultrahouse camera eyes resemble the HAL 9000 computer.
 * The Ultrahouse suggests that Marge take a stress pill. HAL 9000 makes the same suggestion to astronaut David Bowman in 2001.
 * Homer disables the Ultrahouse by removing the circuit boards from its CPU, and while he does so, the Ultrahouse's voice becomes less sophisticated, then slow and garbled, and finally stops. The same thing happens to HAL 9000 at the hands of David Bowman.
 * Friends - When the Simpsons test the Matthew Perry voice for the Ultrahouse, it says "Uh, yeah, could I be any more of a house," a reference to Chandler's usual attitude.
 * Another voice option for the house is Dennis Miller. Marge and Lisa suggest that this voice caused murder-suicides.
 * When Bart suggests "007's" voice for the Ultrahouse (referring to Pierce Brosnan being the 5th Bond actor), Marge thinks of George Lazenby (the 2nd Bond).
 * Marge recalls that Pierce played the lead in Remington Steele, which the Ultrahouse confirms the first time it speaks with Pierce's voice.
 * Bad Taste - Homer is presumed to have been murdered by the Ultrahouse, but is revealed as having survived when he emerges from the floor. The family discovers that the back of his head is missing, revealing his brain. In Bad Taste, Derek falls off a cliff, presumably to his death, only to wake up later and notice that a piece from the back of his head is missing, also revealing his brain.
 * The song playing in the background when the Ultrahouse is in Patty's and Selma's apartment is "Rhythm Divine" by Enrique Iglesias.

Wiz Kids

 * The title is a pun on the phrase "Whiz Kids."
 * Harry Potter - Hogwarts School and various characters and themes from the Harry Potter books, parodied throughout the third segment. Harry himself appears in Mrs. Krabappel's classroom, chewing brimstone and blowing fire after she accuses him of having gum.
 * When Nelson makes Milhouse zap himself, his third transformation resembles Mr. T.
 * Led Zeppelin - The band's name is punned when Lisa uses a spell on Bart called "Head Zeppelin," which turns Bart's head into a Zeppelin.
 * Bart enters Lord Montymort's lair via the school bathrooms, the same way that the Chamber of Secrets is accessed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
 * Montymort's "wailing wall" is a reference to the Wailing Wall (also called the Western Wall), a remnant of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.


 * Montymort says that Lisa has "more wicked witchery than Stevie Nicks."
 * Soylent Green - Principal Skinner makes a joke about Lisa having made the refreshments out of dead people.
 * Jurassic Park - The dragon's roar sounds like the T-Rex in the Jurassic Park movies.
 * Mork and Mindy - Bart exclaims "Shazbut" when the dragon reveals itself to be Montymort in disguise.
 * A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - the scene where Slithers eats Lord Montymort's body parallels the scene where a girl is almost eaten by a Freddy Krueger snake.