This is the fourth episode of the show to use digital ink and paint instead of traditional cel animation (and the last one before the show's permanent switch), after "Radioactive Man", "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", and "Tennis the Menace". "I Am Furious (Yellow)" from the previous season also utilized the process in Angry Dad scenes, but the rest of these episodes including this 1 had been cel animated.
This is the first Halloween special to make use of digital ink and paint.
This is the first ToH episode to actually be called "Treehouse of Horror" rather than "The Simpsons Halloween Special". However, in-episode, it is still titled "The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror", so "The Simpsons" part of the name would not be dropped until the next ToH.
Currently, this is also the only ToH sequel where the title card has Arabic numerals ("13") instead of Roman numerals ("XIII", as the episode is actually titled with).
This episode was premiered exactly 6 years after the episode "You Only Move Twice" from Season 8 that aired on November 3rd like this episode.
Seen among the crowd of Homer clones are the following in "Send In the Clones":
Peter Griffin from Family Guy (who is often compared to unfavorably by detractors as a Homer Simpson clone). At the time of its airing, Family Guy's original run had been canceled by Fox after three seasons due to low ratings.
The original Homer from The Tracey Ullman Show (He says, "Let's all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes").
An even fatter Homer (who looks like Homer when he gained weight to get out of going to work at the nuclear plant in "King-Size Homer")
This aged well.
In “The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms”, there is a scene of Springfield using their seized guns to build a new playground for kids at Springfield Elementary School. 19 years later, on October 17, 2021 in Lima, Peru, over 5,000 firearms that had been seized from illegal markets and criminals were melted down and fashioned into playground equipment to build a new playground for little kids. This is another instance of the Simpsons predicting the future.
Animals on the island in The Island of Dr. Hibbert:
Various Springfieldians - Monkeys (at the end when all of the characters are in the pool)
This is the third and final Treehouse of Horror episode that does not have the cast names changed due to Halloween e.g. Bat Groening (the previous two were I and XII, the first one was because the specials were just starting, and the twelfth one was because the writers felt that putting in Halloween names due to the 9/11 attacks was way too tasteless). This may have prompted some complaints from long-time fans, as the Halloween names were reinstated in XIV.
This would also be the last THOH until XXXIII to use individual writers for each segment.
In VIII, Bart gained the body of a fly, in this episode he gained the body of a spider.
This and XII feature a character transformed into a centaur.
The Island of Dr. Hibbert is a parody of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
A deleted scene features Homer (as a walrus) giving Marge (as a panther) a back scratch coughs up a hair ball and Dr. Hibbert plans on changing the whole animals back into humans.
In the second segment, when the first Homer goes to the past, we would have seen Homer already since the future is not altered until somebody from the future goes back and alters it.
Television promos depict Mr. Burns's fox form in the third segment as a grey fox. This suggests that Mr. Burns being a red fox in the actual episode was a last-minute decision during post-production.
Citations[]
The war room in this episode is very similar to the one seen in the Stanley Kubrick film Dr. Strangelove and one of the people in the room looks like George C. Scott, who played General Buck Turgidson in the film.
The music playing in the scene where Homer has been transformed into a walrus is reminiscent of the theme music from Fantasy Island.
Dr. Hibbert's lab is called the "House of Pain", the same as Moreau's lab in the 1977 film adaption of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
Bart, as a spider, spells out the phrase "Eat my shorts!" in his web from the 1973 and 2006 film adaptations of Charlotte's Web.
The first segment, "Send in the Clones," is a reference to the song "Send in the Clowns" from "A Little Night Music".
Peter Griffin from Family Guy is seen standing in a field full of Homer Simpson's clones.
In “The Fright to Creep and Scare Harms” the government has reused all the confiscated guns and made them into a playground for little children. Later in October 2021, in Lima, Peru a new playground made entirely out of guns was made for many children. This is yet again another time where the Simpsons predict the future.
A clone clones itself, resulting in significantly lowered intelligence from Multiplicity.
Homer travels back in time to save the future just like the Terminator in this movie. Then another future Homer comes from the future to save the Earth from destruction again just like the man from the film The Terminator.
In "Send in the Clones," a swarm of helicopters delivers doughnuts to the Homer clones to "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre.
When Homer is riding on Ned Flanders' cow body, he is singing his rendition of the 1930s song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
This is the title local news stations give to severe-storm coverage; to warn about the clones this becomes, "Swarm Watch" a parody of "Storm Watch".
Goofs[]
The arch window on the right lacks a top section
In the Send in the Clones segment, when Marge comes back from shopping with a clone of Homer, as this occurs, the top part of one of the arch windows is missing.
When Homer is pulled into the back room by Prof. Frink, the piano music continues even though Homer isn't at the piano playing anymore.
Kaiser Wilhelm's name is mispronounced. As he is German, it should be pronounced like "Vilhelm."
In the Spanish version of the end of the episode is listed as "Treehouse of Horror XVIII" instead of "Treehouse of Horror XIII".
.jpg){kind=link}
