History Recap / TheSimpsonsS3E7TreehouseOfHorrorII

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "Lisa's Dream," Bart wishes for the Simpson family to be rich and famous; they instantly make a lot of money and have their faces plastered everywhere, but soon, the whole population is sick of them and complaining about their antics. This reflects some of the actual public reaction to ''The Simpsons'' at the time of its airing--it was a pop culture juggernaut (to the point where then-President George H.W. Bush commented on it in an official speech) that was getting on a lot of people's nerves.

This year's Halloween special comes from candy-induced nightmares: In "Lisa's Dream," Homer's monkey paw souvenir from Morocco makes wishes come true for his family -- and misfortune to befall everyone else, in "Bart's Dream," Bart's omnipotence forces everyone in town to be a StepfordSmiler or incur his wrath, and in "Homer's Dream," Mr. Burns builds the perfect plant worker -- and [[EpicFail uses Homer's brain to make the robot come to life]].

* CatapultNightmare: The end of "Bart's Dream."

** In "Bart's Dream," Dr. Monroe suggests that Bart is using his omnipotent powers as a way to earn Homer's affection. He encourages the Simpson men to spend quality time together. They do so, become much closer, and say that they love each other. Homer then gently kisses Bart on the head...which causes the ''real'' Bart to wake up screaming in terror.

* GraveRobbing: In "Homer's Dream," Mr. Burns and Smithers do this to find a brain for their robot. They find Homer sleeping in an open grave.

* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: In "Lisa's Dream," after humanity has gotten rid of their weapons, Kang and Kodos conquer Earth with slings and clubs.

* OnlySaneWoman: Marge (as usual) takes this role throughout the episode. In the framing device, she warns everyone not to eat too much candy; in "Lisa's Dream," she's the only person who suggests that the wishing might go wrong; and in "Bart's Dream," she demands that the family attend therapy to sort out their problems.
* OnTheNext: Parodied at the end of "Homer's Dream." Homer wants to go to a spaghetti dinner, while Burns insists on attending a reception for the Queen of Holland.

* OrWasItADream: The end of "Homer's Dream," where Homer finds Mr. Burns' head grafted to his shoulder.

* PsychicStatic: Homer attempts this when he tries to kill Bart in "Bart's Dream," using the traditional "think other thoughts" method. The problem? His "other thoughts" are thoughts about ''not'' thinking about killing Bart ("OK, don't think about how you're going to kill him"). Needless to say, it doesn't work.

-->'''Creator/DanCastellaneta:''' She got trapped in a cartoon... just like in real life.

'''Helen Lovejoy:''' Is there anything they won't do?

-->'''Mr. Burns:''' Every bone shattered... Vital organs leaking fluid... Slight headache... Loss of appetite... Smithers, I'm going to die.

* ActorAllusion: "Bart's Dream" is a redo of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]". When [[Film/TwilightZoneTheMovie the 1983 movie]] adapted the story, Creator/NancyCartwright had a small role as the tormented family member Ethel.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Unlike Anthony from "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]", Bart does ''not'' use his powers to deprive Springfield of electricity during his telepathic dictatorship of the town, because it would be too out of character to Bart to want to live in a world without electrical devices..at least television and video games anyway.

* RealityWarper: Bart in "Bart's Dream." Justified as it's a parody of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E73ItsAGoodLife It's a Good Life]]" about a boy named Anthony Fremont who had similar powers.

** Bart's dream is a plot parody of ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode "It's A Good Life". Even the narrator's voice spoofs Rod Serling's narration style.

* {{Jerkass}}: Jimbo and Kearney threaten to egg Homer's house if he doesn't hand over the candy bowl...then they egg it anyway and smash his pumpkin.

* PoliceAreUseless: Justified in both Lisa's and Bart's dreams. In the former, they can't stop the aliens due to Lisa's wish for world peace. In the latter, since Bart has powers that he uses whenever he is not pleased, all the cops can do is wave "Hi Bart!" when the bus passes them at [[Film/BackToTheFuture 88 miles per hour]].

* OffModel: Happens fairly frequently, being an early episode from Anivision. Bart especially falls victim to this, often looking very much like he did in the early Season 1 episodes.
** Maggie, a baby, [[https://frinkiac.com/video/S03E07/pBadD9Cyo5VRQirJTouqxWPsLso=.gif has a full mouth of teeth in Bart's dream.]]
** When Bart [[CatapultNightmare wakes up screaming]] in a close-up, his [[https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6MbnKgTX06yQblXW/giphy.gif tongue disappears]], making his mouth pitch black (and the ensuing EatTheCamera more eerie), though the rest of his face is drawn on-model in an UncannyValley manner in the close-up.

* SkewedPriorities: When Smithers asks Mr. Burns to put Homer's brain back in his own body, Mr. Burns whines: "Oh come on, it's ''11:45''!"