Another assignment from the League. This one is about one of my very favorite holidays.
Halloween.
Who doesn't love Halloween except, maybe, the Amish. I mean, what's not to love? Candy, costumes, candy, scary movies, candy, tricks or treats, candy, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and did I mention candy?
As a kid, Halloween was a very special occasion. It meant a trip to Woolworth's (Google it, kids) to pick out a Halloween bucket to hold the loot in and a trip to my favorite aisle. The aisle of Ben Cooper Halloween costumes.
For those not in the know, Ben Cooper was a company that manufactured Halloween costumes. They had licenses to turn any character into a Halloween costume. The costumes were basically plastic masks and vinyl smocks with a silk screen image on the front, but during the 50's, 60's and 70's Ben Coopers was synonymous with Halloween.
Thanks to Ben Cooper, you didn't need an imagination. For around $4.00, you could be a Six Million Dollar Man
A Beatle
Or A Damn Dirty Ape
You could be a masked crime fighter
Or something just down right creepy
How parents allowed their kids to dress up as an Alien yet fight for the removal of said toy I will never understand.
Some of my personal favorites costumes are some that I wore as a kid. Allow me to indulge my middle aged geeky self and take a walk down memory lane.
Since two of my favorite heroes are Spider-Man and Batman you would think that I was Spidey and the Caped Crusader for Halloween and you would be correct. Two of my favorite costumes are the Batman and Spider-Man costumes. I believe I was Batman first, then Spider-Man the next year. With the Spider-Man costume, I had the matching Spider-Man Halloween bucket. Batman, I had the usual pumpkin shaped bucket. No matter, that bad boy was filled with candy and when I got to my little Batcave, I ate as much candy as I could before I passed out.
Another year, The Incredible Hulk T.V. series was a huge hit, so I wanted to paint my skin green and wear rags. Thankfully, I was given this instead:
Give me that candy and don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
The last year I remember getting a Ben Cooper, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. So, basically, I asked my mom for this:
And I got this instead:
Is it any wonder why I can be deliciously evil? That's all on you Mom.
I never wore this, but I just think it's freaking sweet and would love to add it to my future Green Hornet collection.
As much as kids today have costumes that look a bit more realistic, I will always have a soft spot for the Ben Cooper outfits. I mean, today's costumes come in a bag. No presentation whatsoever. You guys can keep that. I will just cherish the memories I have of seeing those boxes stacked on the shelves of Woolworths, going home and staring at the graphics on the box. I wish I had some of them. To me, nothing says Halloween like Ben Cooper.
Check out what Halloween means to the other League members:
I used to love Halloween. Back when I was a kid, I used to dress up as either Spider-Man, Batman, Darth Vader and other favorites as I either went to Halloween parties or trick or treating in the Pelham Parkway section of The Bronx. That's were the best loot was in the Bronx. The houses were always decorated with all sorts of scary things from bats to monsters to pictures of Jimmy Carter. Man, it was great to be a kid in the late 70's/early 80's.
But since I have grown up (in size, not maturity), I can no longer do the trick or treating thing. My friends don't really have Halloween parties and I'm usually working on Halloween. So, my tradition is now going home, popping in my Simpson DVDs and watching the Treehouse of Horror episodes. I'm a huge Simpsons fan. Have been since they were on the Tracey Ulman Show and have watched just about every episode of the show. My favorites are the Halloween specials called The Treehouse Of Horror. They have been doing them since season 2 and, for the most part, are some of the funniest episodes they put out all year.
Today, I wanted to share my 5 favorite Treehouse episodes. As always, these are my favorites and it doesn't mean they are the best ones put out. It was a hard list to put together. I had to leave out some other favorites episodes. I also did not put them in any order as I love these bits equally.
So, without further ado, I give to you, my list starting with:
A Clown Without Pity
This episode is from Treehouse Of Horror III from season 4. In this one, Homer forgets to buy Bart a birthday present and runs out to your local store, which happens to sell trinkets of pure evil and frozen yogurt. Homer buys a Talking Krusty The Clown doll, which tries to kill Homer because he doesn't like Homer. Krusty tries to stab Homer while he's watching TV and harpoon him while he's taking a bath. Eventually, Marge calls the KrustyCo toy company for help and has a repairman come over. The repairman sees the doll was set to evil and resets it to good. Homer and the doll become friends, but Homer now uses it as a slave and has Krusty doing chores like getting his snacks, walking the dog and sponge bathing Homer. The end sees Krusty returning home to his Malibu Stacey and snuggling with her.
King Homer
Some of my favorite Treehouse episodes are their parodies of other horror movies. In this one, they parody King Kong and turn him into King Homer, which was also from Treehouse Of Horror III. In it, Marge joins Mr. Burns and Mr. Smithers on an expedition to Ape Island to find King Homer. The natives, see Marge and agree the blue haired woman would make a good sacrifice and tie her up as an offering. We first see Homer fighting a T-Rex and is distracted by the drums summoning him. The T-Rex takes the opportunity to bite Homer who responds in a loud D'oh which echoes across the island. Homer is smitten by Marge who sees the good in Homer in return. Smithers knocks out Homer with gas, but is eaten by a sleeping Homer as Mr. Burns is congratulating him. Homer is then taken to Downtown Springfield and is displayed in front of an audience and newspaper photographers. The flash of the camera's enrage Homer who breaks loose and runs amok in Downtown Springfield managing to eat Shirley Temple in the process. Homer then captures Marge and tries to climb the Empire State Building, but grows tried by the second floor and falls down. Marge agrees to take care of Homer and marries him. Homer eats Marge's dad at the wedding, yet Marge is not angry.
Citizen Kang
This episode is from Treehouse of Horrors VII, season 8. This episode involves 2 of my favorite Simpsons Characters, Kang and Kodos, the aliens who always try to enslave humanity. In this episodes, Homer is abducted by the aliens as he is fishing and is told to take them to his leader. Homer explains that there is an election coming up and while President Clinton is in charge for now, it can change with Bob Dole taking over should he win. The aliens decide to capture both Clinton and Dole, place them in suspended animation tubes and disguise themselves as Clinton and Dole, so they are ensured that one of them will be in power after the election. They douse Homer with rum, so no one would believe his story and throw him off the spaceship. The aliens go out on the campaign trail seeking votes while Homer looks for the ship. Once he finds it, he flies off and turns off the suspended animation tubes that Dole and Clinton were in. They agree to team up and get rid of the aliens, but Homer accidentally releases them into outer space, thus killing the President and his opponent. On the day before the election, Homer crashes the ship into the Capitol and reveals to Amercia the aliens. Since they deem it too late to find replacements, the Americans hold the election as is with Kang winning. The Americans are enslaved and is forced to build a ray gun aimed at another planet.
The Raven
From Treehouse of Horror I, season 2. This episode parodies the classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe and is narrated by James Earl Jones. Lisa reads the story, which finds Homer as the lead character. He dreams of his dear Lenore, which is played by Marge. Lisa and Maggie play the seraphim. Homer argues with a raven which has a spike head and sounds like Bart. The episode is done straight from the book with added humor.
The Shinning
If I had to pick one of the Treehouse of Horrors episodes, I think this one would be my favorite. From Treehouse of Horror, season 6, this episode parodies Stanley Kubrick's 1980 movie, The Shining. The episode opens with the Simpsons driving to Mr. Burn's mansion to become the winter caretakers. Homer has to turn back twice because he forgot to lock the front and back doors of their home. Mr. Smithers removes all beer and shuts off the cable to ensure an honest winter's work from Homer. When Mr. Smithers questions the move, Mr. Burns tells him that if the Simpsons are all dead when they get back, he will owe him a Coke. Groundskeeper Willie discovers that Bart can read his thoughts and tells him to call him if Homer goes insane. Because there is no beer or TV, Homer starts to go insane. A Ghostly Moe tells him he has to kill his family in order to get a beer. Marge discovers that Homer wrote "No TV and No Beer Make Homer Go Crazy". Homer attacks and Marge has to defend herself with a bat. Homer, while stalking Marge up the stairs, sees his reflection, gets scared and falls down the stairs, knocking himself out. Marge locks Homer in the pantry, where Homer is gorging himself silly. Moe returns to remind Homer of their deal. Homer refuses to stop eating and has to be dragged out by Moe and his gang of monsters. Homer chops down multiple doors and recites different TV openings until he finds the family eating dinner and chases them. Bart calls Willie for help. As soon as Willie arrives, Homer kills him with the axe and chases the family out into the snow. Lisa finds Willie's portable TV and shows it to Homer who's urge to kill fades. He invites the family to sit in the snow and watch TV with them. They freeze and are unable to change the channel when the Tony Awards begin. Homer's urge to kill then returns.
This episode has one of my favorite bits in all of the Treehouse episodes:
Well, those are my favorites. Not all of them. I narrowed it down to 5, but a few others could have made this list like Hungry Are The Damned, The Devil and Homer Simpson, Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace and Desperately Xeeking Xena which were all great episodes. Would love to hear what your favorite Treehouse of Horror episodes are.
I love addng to my collections. Let me rephrase that. I LOVE ADDING TO MY COLLECTIONS. Sometimes, I come across something totally by accident and some times I look for a particular item to add to my collection. This weekend, I was able to do both.
I hit up a flea market in Hells Kitchen in Manhattan and really didn't find anything to add to the House of Swag. Later, I hit up Target to pick up a couple of storage cases for my figures and I came across a couple of new additions that I have been looking for:
I had seen these Hot Wheels Dark Knight Batman 5 pack car set before yet always passed up on picking them up. But, for 4.99, I wasn't going to pass up on them again. This set includes a Batcopter, Bone Shaker Special Joker Edition, A Tumbler for my Batmobile fleet, A Ford Fusion Gotham PD Patrol Car and an Amored Truck. Nice addition.
I've been keeping an eye on these new Mattel Batman figures for a while now. I thought the new Bat logo on his chest was unique, yet again, I hesitated on purchasing one for the Batman collection. I finally decided to grab it when I saw it was the last one. I have never been one to pick up the "specialty" figures like the Blizzard suit Batman or the Underwater Adventure Batman. I stick with the regular figures. I like this one, but the one I really want is the Blue and Grey Batman figure, so I will be keeping an eye out for that one.
As a kid in the late 70's I loved Halloween. I used go with my mom to Woolworth's on Fordham Rd and pick out my costume for that year. I have been Spider-Man (Natch!), Batman (Duh!), Darth Vader, Gene Simmons and a Zombie. The one thing I always had was my trusty Spider-Man Halloween pail. I loved that thing. It was huge and it was shaped like Spidey, just like the bank that came out around the same time, which I also had. Over time, I lost both and have been looking to readd them to my Spider-Man collection. Look what this sexy geek won on ebay last week:
That's right. I was able to get the Halloween pail at a great price. Look at this thing, It's fantastic.
You got no candy? Spidey gives you his back! Make with the sweets, True Believer!
Aside from the fact that the pail looked like the Web Head, look how deep this pail goes. It would take me a whole day of Trick or Treating to fill this monstrosity. Just the way I liked it. I always got more than my sister, but my mom always made me share anyway. So, I gave her the Mary Janes and Jaw Breakers while I kept the Snickers, Goobers and Hershesy. Not only was I a sexy geek, but a greedy one at that. Mwhahahahahaha! Then Mother Nature got her revenge later that night. Stomach aches, bitch! You would think I'd learn that she was on my sister's side, but no. I tried the same thing the next year with the same result. Then again, you would think my sister would have gotten a bigger bag.
I was real happy to find that pail. A classic piece of my childhood is back in the collection. They don't make pails like this anymore. Now, I just need to get a hold of the Bank and I'll be a happy geek. And If I could pose as a kid and fill this sucker at Halloween, it would be the icing on the cake.
