ShareThisBy ROB OWEN
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Fox persists in airing annual "Simpsons" Halloween episodes after the holiday, but regardless of poor timing, these spooktaculars have become an annual event for fans, always eager to see what trilogy the writers will concoct.
This year's "Treehouse of Horror XVII" begins well, but diminishes as it goes along until the final installment turns into a didactic downer commentary on the U.S. presence in Iraq.
In the best, first story, "Married to the Blob," Homer eats an alien slimeball that crashes to Earth and finds himself consuming everything else in his path, including teenagers who engage in a barbecue sauce fight (maybe they were asking for it), the cast of a "Facts of Life" reunion tour and Dr. Phil McGraw.
The story doesn't so much have an ending as it just stops, but it still offers this best line of the half-hour: "If I can keep down Arby's, I can keep down you!" Homer says to someone he's about to consume.
The second, Krusty the Clown-themed installment, is occasionally amusing (Bart gains control of Krusty's Golem, a creature from Jewish folklore voiced by Richard Lewis), as is the third, Great Depression-set story, "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid," until its conclusion.
At the end of this final short, aliens Kang and Kodos lay siege to the Earth. After three years Springfield lies in ruins and the two aliens have this exchange: "You said we'd be greeted as liberators!" Kang says. "I'm starting to think an enduring occupation was a bad idea."
It continues with one of the aliens finally concluding, "This sure is a lot like Iraq."
I take no issue with "The Simpsons" getting political, but this bit is too on the nose and is more sad than funny.
(Rob Owen can be reached at rowen(at)post-gazette.com)
