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mygif

I thought the bit with Dr. Hibbert holding up the empty frame and then punching Hugo out was the funniest thing in that entire episode

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Required Name Here said on October 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am

Time and Punishment is great. Oh i wish i wish i hadnt squished that fish.

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mygif

Also, honourary mention should go to one of the comics. Ian Boothby and Nina Matsumoto did a Death Note parody (“Murder He Wrote”) that won an Eisner Award. Ralph gets one of his best lines in that story.

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mygif

I’m not a fan of Night of the Dolphin (in my mind it’s gory to be gory.)

Both “Attack of the Fifty-Foot Eyesores” and “Night of the Dolphins” inspired levels in the most recent Simpsons game. IMNO, the Night of the Dolphins” inspired level is one of the better levels game play wise. The “Attack of the Fifty-Foot Eyesores” level is really obnoxious to play because it really brings out the poor camera angles and poor jumping controls, but on the flip side you have the utterly brilliant Kent Brockman commentary while you fight the monster.

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mygif

Er, I meant to say it’s too gory to be really good. (You may disagree, as you may like gore more than I do.)

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mygif

Er, “The Monkey’s Paw” didn’t inspire the ending to “Don’t Cry For Me, I’m Already Dead”. The object Homer buys is the Krusty doll in “Clown Without Pity”.

“The Monkey’s Paw” is in fact inspired by a by-the-numbers Victorian horror story of the same name.

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mygif

I agree with you for your number #1 slot if only because V has the funniest line in any Treehouse episode ever:

“Wow, I Must Be The First Non-Brazilian to Travel Through Time!”

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mygif

Actually, the best TREEHOUSE line is still Homer brandishing a rifle and yelling “To the Book Depository!” (And I’d suggest that the ending of HOMER3- with cgi Homer being terrified by the “real” world, but finding solace in erotic baked goods, is the best ending of ANY “SIMPSONS” episode).

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mygif

Some of these I haven’t seen, but! Surprised to see things from the last decade show up in the top ten.

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mygif

I actually thought XX was the best one in a while- it actually managed to stick to a “horror” theme and feel like a Halloween episode, and I thought the Moe musical was quite creative if obviously inspired by SWEENEY TODD and the like.

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mygif

I haven’t seen the last four or five of these. Sort of surprised it doesn’t break down exactly along “first 10 seasons are at the top, second 10 seasons at the bottom” lines.

VERY surprised that IV is as low as it is–while V is indeed probably the best, IV gives it a run for its money as far as I’m concerned. I LOVE “Terror at 5 1/2 Feet” (“Perhaps spending the rest of your life in a madhouse will teach you some manners!” “Ha ha!”) but what I really like about this episode as a whole is that it’s probably the *scariest* Treehouse episode. Each ending manages to be simultaneously ridiculous and creepy, which I loved. The Gremlin holding Ned’s severed head is probably the most outright horrific ending they ever went for.

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mygif

I have to agree with William, Dr. Hibbert punching out Hugo was one of my favourite Simpsons moments ever. Not just for the inherent humour, but for the moment when we all see Hibbert’s face staring back at us, and everyone has a moment of confusion.

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mygif

We all know that “Time and Punishment” is riffing on the old Bradbury story “The Sound of Thunder”, right?

And I can’t believe you didn’t mention one of the greatest Simpson lines ever, and certainly the best one Comic Shop Guy has ever had. “But, Aquaman, you cannot marry a woman without gills. You’re from two different worlds… [looks up and sees nuclear missile falling] Oh, I’ve wasted my life.”

Doug M.

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solid snake said on October 19th, 2009 at 6:10 pm

I am Clinton, end communication.

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Lister Sage said on October 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm

I’ve got to try and salvage what I can of “The Island of Dr. Hibbert”, not because it’s the scariest or funniest things The Simpsons have ever done, but it is one of the creepiest.

It’s got Homer having sex with furry Marge. Lisa trying to eat Maggie. And Fanders as a cow transexual, who Homer basically gives a handjob to. That’s all kinds of creepy there.

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mygif

Feelin Fine.

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mygif

But Wiz Kids has the great bit where snake-Smithers gradually swallows dead Mr. Burns/Montymort whole, saying “We will be together, even in death!”

Amusingly creepy, I thought.

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mygif

When i finally saw The Shining for real i was disappointed that its ending was more hopeful then the Simpsons parody, tho its still an awesome movie
Seriously. I prefer the Simpsons ending to the real ending of the movie

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mygif

Fantastic list on a great subject. I am pleased as a pleased thing to note #5 ranks at the top; it was always my fave. Mainly for Willy and his failed rescues : “Och, I’m no good at this!”

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mygif

Abortions for all!

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mygif

“Wow, I Must Be The First Non-Brazilian to Travel Through Time!”

You know, I’ve always been confused by this line, even to this day. What does it mean?

Help my internet; you’re my only hope!

(I actually thought the latest one wasn’t bad at all. “To the panic room!” “We don’t have a panic room.” “To the panic room store!”)

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Mary Warner said on October 19th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

I can’t believe you picked ‘Enslave humanity, willya’ from ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ as one of the greatest lines ever, when the same story has ‘Your superior intellects are no match for our puny weapons’.

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mygif

“You know, I’ve always been confused by this line, even to this day. What does it mean?

Help my internet; you’re my only hope!”

Wiki, as ever, saves us — by linking to SNPP.

“Homer was referring to Carlos Castaneda, “a Brazilian who wrote about his chemical-induced `adventures’ about twenty years ago. A rather trendy (for the college crowd) set of books from the late-60’s, early 70’s.””

All credit to http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F03.html

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mygif

BlackMage, as I saw it on the DVD commentary, the original line was “The First Non-Fictional Character”, but apparently that line was too simplistic and obvious.

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mygif

warm glowing warming glow

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mygif

I have no particular problems with the list, although I’d have rated III as my number one (and bumped the top five down a notch each to compensate.) But I do have a soft spot for zombies.

And for the record, the best Treehouse line is, “Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!” (Followed, narrowly, by “Um, Dad? That’s his crotch.”)

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mygif

“Homer was referring to Carlos Castaneda…”

That… is pretty darn obscure. I always thought the line referred to the movie Brazil, which didn’t make sense either, but my mind somehow linked the chain of Brazil/Terry Gilliam/Time Bandits and it stuck.

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mygif

even with a well-deserved jab at Family Guy

Well-deserved for what? If they took a jab at Family Guy right after that show aired an episode where Quagmire either slept with or raped Marge and then killed every member of the Simpson family (which I thought was really crossing a line), then I’d say it was well-deserved. But the episode you’re talking about aired before the two shows began trashing one another regularly, and whoever started the whole thing was being petty as hell IMO. After they really got going I thought they were both being idiotic. I’ve never laughed at a single joke on either show at the expense of the other.

You don’t like most of Seth McFarlane’s work and have never made any secret of that fact, and that’s fine. Mileage may vary and all that. But back when I first saw the episode with Peter as one of the Homer clones, I thought that the people who wrote that were being dicks and still do. It was just “Fuck Family Guy, they ripped us off because they made a show with a fat and stupid guy when our show had a fat and stupid guy! How dare they rip us off!” Groening–or whoever it was–should have just chilled.

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mygif

Rob, I think you’re taking that shot at FG too seriously.Most of the shots THE SIMPSONS have taken at McFarlane have been no more mean spirited than their shots at the Fox network in general (and definitely less pointed than their shots at Fox NEWS!)That gag in particular is pretty harmless; I think they were just looking for SOMEBODY to put in among the Homer clones, and went with the most obvious choice. That FG gag about raping and murdering the Simpson family is pretty indefensible, though.

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mygif

It’s possible I am. Fox News is definitely be a deserving target. As for the Fox Network, when they’d make fun of Fox it didn’t seem like the same thing to me. The worst they ever had to say about Fox was that they appealed to the lowest common denominator or that they had a lineup full of crap, and some of the sting was taken out of that because they were ON Fox so it could be seen as self-deprecating to a certain degree. With Family Guy, though, it always seemed to me like they meant it. There’s this Treehouse episode and then the one where Sideshow Bob turns up in Italy, in which they flat out say that Family Guy’s guilty of plagiarism. That’s more an accusation than a joke.

That FG gag about raping and murdering the Simpson family is pretty indefensible, though.

Agreed. I’m not even sure it can be properly called a gag.

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Candlejack said on October 21st, 2009 at 10:43 pm

>>“Homer was referring to Carlos Castaneda…”

>That… is pretty darn obscure. I always thought the line referred to the movie Brazil, which didn’t make sense either, but my mind somehow linked the chain of Brazil/Terry Gilliam/Time Bandits and it stuck.

Consider yourself lucky–my mind immediately went to bikini waxing when I puzzled over the line!

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mygif

Excellent number one pick (and number two); season 5 was just incredible all round, possibly the best one.

However, the dolphins invading placing so high? I have to say, I was mightily unimpressed when I saw it. I was already only barely watching The Simpsons at that point, given the decline in quality, but I totally gave up after that. I don’t know what it was, it’s been too long ago, but maybe I should give it a second chance. It’s possible my disappointment in The Simpsons at that point coloured my receptiveness.

Requisite reminiscing quote: “I’ve created Lutherans!”

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mygif

Good list, though I think you’ve undervalued “The Raven” from Treehouse I. It was clever and it showed, pretty early on in the series, that this show was no ordinary cartoon.

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mygif

“I HEAR ALL!”

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mygif

I can’t believe the series debut ranked so low. “Classy” but “isn’t really all that great”? It was Darth Vader reading “The Raven.”

Genius. Rarely has the paranoiac madness by way of grief played so well.

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mygif

While reading through this, I was waiting to see where “Nightmare Cafeteria” would turn up. That’s the one I think of when I hear “Treehouse of Horror”- last time I saw it was probably about 11-12 years ago, and the thought of it still creeps me out. Which is why I’m glad to see you rank it as the creepiest story of all (all this time I’ve been feeling kinda wimpy).

But when I could be persuaded to watch any more TOH episodes after that, I LOVED the Xena bit in episode X. (But then, I remember it being funny and not creepy at all.)

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