“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 transient 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, should you do not wish 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 reality, in season 30, Kodos reveals they’ve 32 sexual identities when rising intimate with Patty, Marge’s sister.
Like many alien depictions in popular culture (but not all, here’s to you, E.T.), they’re pretty hellbent on destroying humanity and taking over the world, or Springfield at the very least. And let’s not forget a few classic alien behaviorisms like probing and the bio-duplication in 1996’s Treehouse of Horror VII of then-President Bill Clinton for good measure.
But being evil aliens wasn’t always on the cards. In their first-ever appearance, in Treehouse of Horror I, they were merely trying to make friends. Titled “Hungry are the Damned”, the Simpsons family gets abducted by Kang and Kodos and is welcomed aboard the spaceship of the one-eyed, slimy-mouthed, Rigellian-speaking aliens. Fortunately, and if by writer’s magic, Rigellian is an exact match to English, and so we can understand this extraterrestrial chatter.
They explain that they want to take the Simpsons to Rigel IV, “a world of infinite delights to tantalize the senses and challenge your intellectual limitations”. But, as Sherak the Preparer (voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones, I might add), begins to fatten them up with luxurious meals, Lisa grows suspicious.
In one of my favourite moments of Treehouse of Horror history, a misconstrued book seemingly called “How to Cook Humans” is dusted away to reveal it actually says: “How to Cook for Forty Humans”, in an amusing homage to the classic Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man”.
It’s this assumption of wicked alien behavior from humanity that upsets them, prompting Kang and Kodos to drop the Simpsons back at home and set a target over Springfield for good. As Lisa so poignantly says at the segment’s conclusion: “There were monsters on that ship, and truly we were them”.
From there on out, Kang and Kodos were set on a mission to do bad things to the Simpsons and their hometown, seemingly in retaliation for Lisa’s accusations. And so, throughout the last 30 years, they’ve made numerous attempts to take over the world, and have actually been successful in a couple of them. Though in keeping with classic Treehouse of Horror episodes, everything returns back to normal after the conclusion of each annual spookfest.
But world domination isn’t the only interest of these aliens. We’ve witnessed them voted in as President or Earth’s liberators and even as Selma and Patty’s lovers. That’s not the only case of intergalactic romance, either, as who can forget when Kang, in a bid to cement the Rigellians’ position in sci-fi history, impregnated Marge and fathered Maggie. Aside from birthing the show’s first hybrid alien-human baby, it also spawned one of my favorite Jerry Springer parody episodes: “Wife knocked boots with Space Stud!”.
Most of the time, though, as joked by Kang and Kodos themselves, they are written into the show as background cameos or to simply narrate their observations from their spaceship, laughing at us, maniacally. According to showrunner and executive producer David Mirkin, these laughs generally simply function a instrument to ensure the episodes are the proper size for broadcast.
Sci-fi can definitely simply be just a little little bit of enjoyable with Kang and Kodos changing 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 mild 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 finest, making enjoyable of some fairly severe conditions. And on condition that Space.com itself is definitely featured in one of many Treehouse of Horror episodes (properly, 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 possibly they simply wish to be beloved, included, and praised for his or her performing prowess, and possibly we are the egocentric ones for generally almost forgetting to incorporate them in an episode in any respect.
You possibly can watch all of The Simpsons, together with the common episodes, the film, and the Treehouse of Horror specials on Disney+.
