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Treehouse of Horror X
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==Production== "Treehouse of Horror X" was directed by [[Pete Michels]] and written by [[Donick Cary]], [[Tim Long]] and [[Ron Hauge]]. It originally aired on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox network]] in the United States on [[Halloween]], 1999.<ref name="Scully">Scully, Mike. (2008). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror X", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> "I Know What You Diddily-Iddily-Did" was conceived and written by former staff writer Cary. In the DVD commentary for the episode, Cary said that he came up with the segment after watching the 1997 horror film ''[[I Know What You Did Last Summer]]''. "I had just seen the movie and I was like, 'Hey, there you go.'" he said.<ref name="Cary">Cary, Donick. (2008). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror X", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> While Flanders serves as the segment's antagonist, the role was originally written for [[Grampa Simpson|Grampa]],<ref name="Michels">Michels, Pete. (2008). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror X", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> who would chase Homer inside a [[roller disco]]. While Grampa does not appear in the segment, the Springfield Roller Disco is seen during the Simpsons escape from Flanders.<ref name="Cary" /> Despite serving as writer for the segment, Cary left the series after finishing the first draft in order to work on an animated ''[[Austin Powers]]'' series, which never came to fruition. In his absence, the writing staff rewrote the last quarter of the segment and added the revelation that Flanders is a werewolf.<ref name="Cary" /> In order to dispose of Ned Flanders' corpse, Homer throws his body into Flanders' house. After he is finished, he says "That's the end of that chapter", a phrase used as a catchphrase in the season 10 episode "[[Homer to the Max]]" and one that Cary often uses in his everyday life. "That's just something that comes up a lot in my life is when no matter if it's a good or a bad thing, just move on" he said.<ref name="Cary" /> {{multiple image |direction=horizontal |caption_align=center |header=Guest actors in "Treehouse of Horror X" |image1=Lucy Lawless by Gage Skidmore.jpg |alt1=A smiling early forties New Zealander with an open mouth. |caption1=[[Lucy Lawless]] |width1=140 |image2=Dick Clark.jpg |alt2=A smiling, formally clad man holding a Grammy Award. |caption2=[[Dick Clark]] |width2=134 |image3=Tom Arnold by David Shankbone.jpg |alt3=Head shot of an astonished man with glasses wearing a black, unbuttoned shirt. |caption3=[[Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold]] |width3=130 }} "Desperately Xeeking Xena" was written by staff writer Long. At the beginning of the segment, Milhouse is seen wearing a plastic smock with a picture of Radioactive Man on it. The scene was based on an experience in Long's childhood; "I asked my mom for a Batman costume. And I got a smock that had Batman on it and said 'Batman'. It was very dispiriting" he said in the episode's DVD commentary.<ref name="Long">Long, Tim. (2008). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror X", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> "Stretch Dude & Clobber Girl"'s theme song was written by Long and composed by [[Alf Clausen]]. During the sequence, Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl are seen assaulting [[Saddam Hussein]], the fifth President of [[Iraq]] and being thanked for their help by President [[Bill Clinton]] afterwards. According to Long, the writing staff had a "passionate" discussion about whether the duo would be attacking Hussein or [[Iran]]ian religious leader and politician [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] during the sequence.<ref name="Long" /> Scully quipped that Hussein was chosen because "he was always asking to be on the show."<ref name="Scully" /> The segment features New Zealand actress [[Lucy Lawless]] as herself. According to Long, Lawless was very happy with the segment's script. She was especially fond of the speech she gives to The Collector, in which she mentions that she was very tall as an adolescent.<ref name="Long" /> Lawless was directed by Scully, who commented that she was "terrific".<ref name="Scully" /> In an interview with the Hungarian online newspaper ''Origo'', Lawless said that her part in the episode was the best experience she had guest-starring for a show. "It was really funny when the Comic Book Guy kidnapped me", she said.<ref name="origo">{{cite news |last=Gábor |first=Apats |title=Lucy Lawless: Annyi kardom van, hogy tele van velük a ház |language=hu |url=http://www.origo.hu/teve/20100613-interju-lucy-lawless-szinesznovel-a-xena-cimszereplojevel-a-spartacus-ver.html? |access-date=July 17, 2011 |newspaper=[[Origo (website)|Origo]]|date=June 14, 2010 |archive-date=September 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914043207/http://www.origo.hu/teve/20100613-interju-lucy-lawless-szinesznovel-a-xena-cimszereplojevel-a-spartacus-ver.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "Life's a Glitch, Then You Die" was written and conceived by Hauge. In DVD commentary for the episode, Hauge stated that, when writing the segment, he knew it would not age well. "I was aware of it at the time, that it wouldn't last forever" he said, "But I wanted to capture that moment."<ref name="Hauge">Hauge, Ron. (2008). Commentary for "Treehouse of Horror X", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> According to director Michels, the rocket which transported the "best and brightest" of the population was drawn to resemble an [[ice pop]].<ref name="Michels" /> ''The Simpsons''<nowiki>'</nowiki> staff had a lot of trouble finding a guest star for the second rocket, and the only person who agreed to participate was American actor [[Tom Arnold (actor)|Tom Arnold]]. In the episode, Arnold is depicted as an annoying, "not-so-great" celebrity. Although he was mostly in on the joke, Arnold did "bust [the staff's] chops" a little bit when recording his lines. "He would say a line and then they'd yell cut and he'd look over at me and take a shot at me" Hauge said.<ref name="Hauge" /> Still, Hauge found Arnold's performance "fantastic"<ref name="Hauge" /> and Scully said that he was a "good sport".<ref name="Scully" /> The segment also features television personality [[Dick Clark]] as himself. A few months after the episode aired, Hauge discussed the segment with Clark in a Fox studio. According to Hauge, Clark said that the episode gave the "biggest response" he had ever gotten from anything he had ever done. "After the career that he had in television for so long, just to give him a highlight was a highlight for me" Hauge said in the episode's DVD commentary.<ref name="Hauge" />
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