“Silly, Earthlings!” The road mostly uttered by two drooling aliens who’ve turn into a staple of “The Simpsons”‘ famed Treehouse of Horror episodes – Kang and Kodos. No, actually, they’re in each single one, which is a powerful feat, 34 and counting. From main plotlines to temporary cameos, they’re the unofficial “The place’s Waldo?“ of Matt Groening’s world and beloved (albeit feared) figureheads of the spooky specials.
On a a lot deeper stage, Kang and Kodos are Springfield’s reply to the spinning prime of “Inception”, the calling card that helps you realise, ‘phew, I am watching a Halloween particular of “The Simpsons” and this is not, really, actual life in any respect.’ However seeing Kang and Kodos can also be only a little bit of enjoyable, if you happen to do not need to get that deep.
Kang and Kodos are two aliens from Rigel VII, and whereas in season seven, Kang referred to Kodos as his sister, regardless of solely having a barely higher-than-Kang voice, they’ve established themselves as gender ambiguous. In truth, in season 30, Kodos reveals they’ve 32 sexual identities when rising intimate with Patty, Marge’s sister.
Like many alien depictions in widespread tradition (however not all, this is to you, E.T.), they’re fairly hellbent on destroying humanity and taking up the world, or Springfield on the very least. And let’s not neglect a number of basic alien behaviorisms like probing and the bio-duplication in 1996’s Treehouse of Horror VII of then-President Invoice Clinton for good measure.
However being evil aliens wasn’t all the time on the playing cards. Of their first-ever look, in Treehouse of Horror I, they had been merely attempting to make mates. Titled “Hungry are the Damned”, the Simpsons household will get kidnapped by Kang and Kodos and is welcomed aboard the spaceship of the one-eyed, slimy-mouthed, Rigellian-speaking aliens. Happily, and if by author’s magic, Rigellian is an actual match to English, and so we will perceive this extraterrestrial chatter.
They clarify that they need to take the Simpsons to Rigel IV, “a world of infinite delights to tantalize the senses and problem your mental limitations”. However, as Sherak the Preparer (voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones, I’d add), begins to fatten them up with luxurious meals, Lisa grows suspicious.
In one among my favorite moments of Treehouse of Horror historical past, a misconstrued e book seemingly referred to as “Learn how to Prepare dinner People” is dusted away to disclose it really says: “Learn how to Prepare dinner for Forty People”, in an amusing homage to the basic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”.
It is this assumption of depraved alien habits from humanity that upsets them, prompting Kang and Kodos to drop the Simpsons again at house and set a goal over Springfield for good. As Lisa so poignantly says on the phase’s conclusion: “There have been monsters on that ship, and really we had been them”.
From there on out, Kang and Kodos had been set on a mission to do dangerous issues to the Simpsons and their hometown, seemingly in retaliation for Lisa’s accusations. And so, all through the final 30 years, they’ve made quite a few makes an attempt to take over the world, and have really been profitable in a few them. Although in step with basic Treehouse of Horror episodes, the whole lot returns again to regular after the conclusion of every annual spookfest.
However world domination is not the one curiosity of those aliens. We have witnessed them voted in as President or Earth’s liberators and at the same time as Selma and Patty’s lovers. That is not the one case of intergalactic romance, both, as who can neglect when Kang, in a bid to cement the Rigellians’ place in sci-fi historical past, impregnated Marge and fathered Maggie. Apart from birthing the present’s first hybrid alien-human child, it additionally spawned one among my favourite Jerry Springer parody episodes: “Spouse knocked boots with House Stud!”.
More often than not, although, as joked by Kang and Kodos themselves, they’re written into the present as background cameos or to easily narrate their observations from their spaceship, laughing at us, maniacally. In accordance with showrunner and govt producer David Mirkin, these laughs typically simply function a instrument to verify the episodes are the proper size for broadcast.
Sci-fi can definitely simply be a bit of little bit of enjoyable with Kang and Kodos turning into Rocky & Bullwinkle, quoting Mork & Mindy (“D’oh. Shazbot”), and dancing within the Charlie Brown parody. And, in sci-fi moments I will always remember, there’s Kang’s daughter taking Bart’s virginity in Avatar parody episode, “Within the Na’vi”, or Selma and Kang making candy intergalactic love in “When Harry Met Slimy”.
There’s additionally a number of references that Kang and Kodos are merely employed actors in Treehouse of Horror, normalizing their place within the present and including gentle and humor to the aliens, regardless of their penchant for world domination and evading dissection. On the finish of all of it, “The Simpsons” is doing precisely what it does greatest, making enjoyable of some fairly critical conditions. And on condition that House.com itself is definitely featured in one of many Treehouse of Horror episodes (effectively, Thanksgiving of Horror technically), we really feel a particular bond with these extraterrestrial goofballs.
Our real-life seek for aliens has proved quite a bit much less fruitful than these of the Simpson household, however given “The Simpsons” propensity for eerily correct futuristic predictions like smartwatches, the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, and President Trump, who’s to say Kang and Kodos aren’t on the market someplace, laughing at us with fixed drool hanging out of their mouths?
Whereas I do not condone a 30-plus-year grudge, it did not take all that a lot convincing for Kang and Kodos to turn into the invading aliens which have so typically been portrayed in widespread tradition.
However as Kang (or was it Kodos) as soon as stated, “In Rigellian, there aren’t any phrases as yours or mine,” so perhaps they only need to be liked, included, and praised for his or her performing prowess, and perhaps we are the egocentric ones for typically almost forgetting to incorporate them in an episode in any respect.
You may watch all of The Simpsons, together with the common episodes, the film, and the Treehouse of Horror specials on Disney+.
