The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror honours Kubrick Greats
This year everyone’s favourite yellow family will honour one of the greatest film makers in history in their Halloween special.
By Scott Edwards
The mind behind ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘The Shining’ and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, Stanley Kubrick, is to have the biggest TV honour of them all… a whole Halloween episode of The Simpsons, dedicated to his films.
Those familiar to Channel 4’s endless repeats of The Simpsons will surely know that the residents of Springfield aren’t strangers to a parody of Kubrick’s work. However, this year’s Treehouse of Horror XXV (25) will be fully dedicated to three of Kubrick’s most infamous films, with fun poked at various others all the way through.
However, creator Matt Groening has managed to use Kubrick’s work and put his own spin on what looks to be one of the best Halloween specials The Simpsons has ever seen.
Many will know that The Simpsons weren’t always neatly drawn in high definition and voiced exactly perfect. The roots of the show actually began as short stories on ‘The Tracey Ullman Show’, a variety television show that started in the late 1980’s. Oddly enough, the most popular segment of the show was actually a funnily drawn yellow family that every American household could relate to.
After ‘The Tracey Ullman Show’ was cancelled by Fox, the freed budget went straight into Groening’s pocket to make full 30 minute episodes of Springfield’s favourite family.
In this year’s horror spectacular those sketchy drawings that were first seen 25 years ago, will return as ‘alternative beings’ haunting the family we all know and love today, through inspiration taken from Kubrick.
However, it’s not just the original drawings that are making an appearance, somehow, those crafty ones at the top have managed to parody the Simpsons into so many other versions of the family including; South Park, Robot Chicken, The Minions (from Despicable Me), Archer, Spirited Away, Adventure Time and various others too.
This episode will be the icing on top of an enormous birthday cake that marks a ground-breaking anniversary for an animated TV show. Following up a brilliant crossover with Seth McFarlane’s Family Guy and an upcoming crossover with Futurama, we only know that with Kubrick as the inspired mind for their 25th Halloween special, it will be a great show for all to enjoy.
