Treehouse of Horror XII

Pierce Brosnan as Ultrahouse 3000's Pierce Brosnan voice and himself
Matthew Perry as Ultrahouse 3000's Matthew Perry voice

“Treehouse of Horror XII” is the first episode of The Simpsons' thirteenth season. Because of Fox’s contract with Major League Baseball’s World Series, the episode first aired on the Fox Network in the United States on November 6, 2001, nearly one week after Halloween. It is the twelfth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments. In the first segment, a gypsy puts a curse on Homer, which puts everybody he cares about in danger. In the second segment, which is a parody on both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Demon Seed, the Simpson family buys a new house, who falls in love with Marge and attempts to kill Homer. In the third and final segment, which lampoons the Harry Potter franchise, Lord Montymort attempts to capture Lisa, a skilled magician, in order to drain her magic powers.

The episode was written by Joel H. Cohen, John Frink, Don Payne and Carolyn Omine while Jim Reardon served as the director. It was the first Treehouse of Horror since the original special to not employ “scary names” in the credits. According to executive producer Ian Maxtone-Graham, this was due to the September 11 terrorist attacks, after which the Simpsons staff tried to be more serious and sensitive. However, according to current show runner Al Jean, the “scary names” were dropped because they were too difficult to come up with. The episode contains numerous references and parodies to science fiction and horror works, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Demon Seed, Harry Potter and Star Wars. The episode also features Pierce Brosnan and Matthew Perry as guest stars.