Treehouse of Horror IX/References

General	References/Trivia	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

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"Treehouse of Horror IX"

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Trivia

• The couch gag featured Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees sitting together five years before Freddy vs. Jason was released.
• In "Terror of Tiny Toon", Bart and Lisa were originally going to end up on the FOX legal dramedy Ally McBeal when Homer was changing channels to help Bart and Lisa escape, but Calista Flockhart (the star of the show) backed out at the last minute (which explains the live-action portion with Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford).

• Originally, the televised execution of Snake was supposed to be hosted by Troy McClure (with McClure voiced by Phil Hartman). When news hit that Hartman was murdered by his wife, Brynn, the original scene was replaced with one where Ed McMahon (who voiced himself) is the host.
• In the episode, it is claimed that Marge fathered her youngest daughter with someone who was not her husband. Ironically, a longtime rumor would later be confirmed in 2025 that the late actress Jayne Mansfeld's youngest Mariska Hargitay who was presumed to have been fathered by Mansfeld's onetime husband Mickey Hargitay was actually fathered by Nelson Sardelli; the rumor had been in existence by 1992. Like Marge, Jayne also had two daughters, with-as with Maggie- Mariska being the youngest of them. Ironically, it would also be only the year after this Treehouse of Horror aired that Mariska began playing her most renowned acting role of Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, with former Fox head, as well as Mr. Burns physical inspiration Barry Diller, being the one who supervised the development of the Dick Wolf-made series, and also the one who gave the series its current name after Wolf initially wanted to call it Law & Order: Sex Crimes, when he was head of USA Studios.

Previous Episode References

• Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood and Secrets of a Successful Marriage: Homer wears tattered, dirty clothes (when he's stuck on the raft with Bart, Ned, and Rod Flanders/when he's living outside because Marge kicked him out/when Marge thinks he's dressed as a hobo for Halloween).
• Itchy & Scratchy & Marge: Marge forbids Bart and Lisa from watching The Itchy & Scratchy Show because of its excessive violence.
• Bart the Genius: Homer has childish handwriting (on the tardy slip and the check for the vandalism damages/on "Homer's Tulebox").
• Treehouse of Horror VI
  • Homer³: A Simpson family member (Homer/Bart and Lisa) go to an alternate world (the third dimension behind the bookcase/the TV thanks to the radioactive remote control).
  • Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace: A Halloween episode where an ancillary character (Groundskeeper Willie/Snake Jailbird) vows revenge before he dies.
• King-Size Homer:
  • Homer mispronounces initials on an electronic
  • King-Size Homer and Homer's Triple Bypass: Homer goes to Dr. Nick Riviera for a medical treatment.
• Simpson and Delilah: Homer gets a hair restoration treatment.
• Cape Feare: Bart gets attacked in his room (by Sideshow Bob/by Snake possessing Homer)
• Treehouse of Horror VII ("Citizen Kang"): Kang and Kodos go after politicians in Washington, D.C.
• Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield: Homer gets bleeped out (his anecdote on the radio/on The Jerry Springer Show)
• Treehouse of Horror VIII: Someone gets executed on the electric chair (the couch gag where the family is strapped and zapped/Snake gets executed this way on a live TV special).
• Life on the Fast Lane: Marge cheats on Homer.
• Lisa's First Word: Ed McMahon appears.
• Bart After Dark:
  • The showgirls who escort Snake to the electric chair are the regular dancers at The Maison Derriere.
  • An Itchy & Scratchy episode is censored for violence (the V-chip turns the TV off/Marge bans Bart and Lisa from seeing the Halloween episode of I&S).
• 'Round Springfield: Dr. Nick anesthetizes himself before operating on someone.
• The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show: Poochie appears, despite getting killed off on his second episode and is contractually barred from future episodes of Itchy & Scratchy.
• The Springfield Connection: An ancillary character (Hans Moleman/Snake) is sentenced to die on the electric chair.
• The Joy of Sect: Barney and human livers (thinks his is trying to escape from him, when really, it was Dolph tossing a liver transplant aside/calls dibs on Snake's liver after he dies).

Censorship

• Over in the UK (mostly on Sky Showcase and Channel 4), the following scenes are cut:
  • On "Hell Toupee":
    • Moe saying, "Hey, Apu, you got a breakfast cereal for people with syphilis?" was edited in Channel 4 and Sky Showcase airings so that "...for people with syphilis?" was cut, though not Moe actually eating the cereal ("Penicilli-Os") or the scene of Homer (possessed by Snake) ripping Moe's heart out with a corkscrew.
    • Snake getting electrocuted during the televised execution was shortened in Channel 4 airings.
  • On "Starship Poopers":
    • Kang showing Marge the different places humans have sex -- the back seat of a Camaro, an airplane bathroom, a best friend's wedding, and the alley behind a porno theater -- was cut on Channel 4 so that way the last item was just described as an alley behind a theater (though the doorway with the "XXX"s above it wasn't censored).
    • Jerry Springer screaming, "Son of a (bleep)!" as Maggie attacks him was cut on Channel 4 airings, though the bleeped out language when Homer first beats up Kang (Homer's "You one-eyed, two-timing [bleep]. I'm going to [bleep]" and Kang's "Oh, yeah? Well [bleep], you hyperbolic paraboloid [bleep] your mama!") and Marge's "I'm so [bleep] embarrassed" as Kang, Homer, and Maggie are attacking Jerry Springer wasn't altered.

Goofs

Barney without chest hair and Ms. Hoover's glasses colored yellow where her face isn't

• During the opening scene, when Marge and Maggie honk their horns at Homer, the bottom half of Maggie's body is missing.
• When Barney calls dibs on Snake's liver, he is missing the hair from his chest.
• If Snake was going to be harvested for organs after being executed (with Barney wanting Snake's liver and Homer getting Snake's hair and scalp), then the electric chair would realistically be a bad choice for him, as electrocution would have made the internal organs unsalvageable. An execution by hanging, guillotine, or lethal injection would have been preferable.
• At the beginning of the same shot, the lenses of Ms. Hoover's glasses are colored yellow even in the area where they overlap with the background, not her face.
• When Homer leaves the bedroom in the middle of the night, his hair is darker than usual, presumably because of the lighting. But a few moments earlier, his hair was colored its usual color despite the lighting being the same.

Lou with a blue tie

• Snake did not go after Chief Wiggum, who arguably had the strongest role in his arrest and his eventual execution, and it is never explained why.
• As Lou points to the dead Apu, his tie turns blue for one frame.

Marge without eyelashes

• When Homer enters Moe's to kill Moe, Moe's chest lacks chest hair initially, but then the chest hair appears in the next shot.
• In the Jerry Springer scene where Homer attacks Kang while swearing at him, Maggie is briefly seen without eyes.

Maggie without eyes

• In another shot in the sequence, Marge briefly lacks eyelashes.

The purple-pink garage door

Cultural References

• Shocker - Hell Toupee plot.
• The Twilight Zone episode "Dead Man's Shoes" - Hell Toupee plot
• Amazing Stories: Hell Toupee - Hell Toupee name and plot.
• Body Bags - Hair turns someone evil.
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure - Snake, possessing Homer, says "I know you are, but what am I?" This has been previously used in Lemon of Troy.
• Child's Play - The death of the hair.
• Hill Street Blues - Chief Wiggum yells "Freeze, hairball!"
• Peanuts- Maggie sucks her thumb while holding the hair.
• Pleasantville, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Shocker, Stay Tuned, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare - plot of The Terror of the Tiny Toon all reference these movies about real-world people getting sucked inside the television and put into violent, twisted versions of their favorite shows.
• The Terror of Tiny Town - The Terror of the Tiny Toon name.
• Tiny Toon Adventures - The Terror of the Tiny Toon name.
• Soap - Alien plot of somebody else being someone's real father.
• Starship Troopers - name, font, and logo of Starship Poopers.
• Alien - Maggie attacks Jerry Springer like the facehugger alien kills John Hurt. Killer Toupée's final attempt at killing Bart also resembles that of the facehugger tactic from the same franchise.
• The Jerry Springer Show - Homer, Marge, and Kang go to The Jerry Springer Show to see which dad Maggie belongs to, including Jerry Springer himself guest staring.
• The White Water Investigation - when Bart tells Kang and Kodos, "Don't forget Ken Star when they are going to kill all the leaders in Washington."