From their prototype form as animated
shorts that were included in “The Tracey Ullman Show” back in 1987, “The
Simpsons,” created by Matt Groening, would premiere as an animated sitcom on
their own in 1989. They would then become a successful franchise for Fox TV and
a major component of American TV programming for the following decades, with 30
seasons to its name. One of the iconic elements of “The Simpsons” was its
occasional spoofing of pop culture, usually seen it its intro sequence “couch
gag” and even as episode plots. That is what fans will expect to see for the
show’s 30th Halloween special.
Comic Book Resources reports that Fox has revealed a promo poster
for the annual Halloween episode of “The Simpsons,” with the title “Treehouse
of Horror XXX.” But if one has watched both award-winning films and popular
shows on Netflix, they can tell that Fox TV has done another epic parody that
hints at a funny episode for Halloween, while the production works on Season
31. Even better, the total episode numbering for this special is just so
thematically appropriate for the kind of horror hijinks that “Treehouse of
Horror XXX” looks to accomplish Halloween 2019.
The poster itself is divided into
two sections by the episode title in stylized font. The upper part is a sendup
to “The Shape of Water,” the 2017 dark fantasy film directed by Guillermo Del
Toro for Fox Searchlight Pictures, Best Picture Winner at the 90th
Academy Awards. Maggie takes the part of Elisa (portrayed by Sally Hawkins)
while Kodos plays the part of the Amphibian Man. On the bottom half is the more
easily recognizable “Stranger Things” parody with some choice role assignments
for the Springfield kids. Having Lisa with cropped (non-spiky) hair in the role
of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is inspired “casting.”
That is all well and good. But “The
Simpsons” goes the extra mile with “Treehouse of Horror XXX” being their 666th
episode total (series designation “YABF18”). Series producer Al Jean had
earlier joked last year, when season 30 was new, that they would time the Halloween
“Treehouse of Horror” special for that very episode. The poster even points
that out on its tagline at top. “Simpsons” fans can look forward to the
Halloween airing on October 20 to see if any element teased on the poster pans
out for real.
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