Despite being a very early Halloween special, I find this one great in its own way and an improvement on the first. I think they worked better when they still had wraparounds in them with Bart Lisa and Homer all having nightmares after eating too much Halloween candy, and Homer's nightmare having a little extra twist in the tale! So in the first story I love how Maggie and Flanders get to have wishes that don't backfire, I guess it's a pure of heart thing. Love Homer's infernal turkey sandwich with the terrible slightly dry turkey, and I think it's a really clever joke when everyone grows to hate the Simpsons after Bart wishes them famous, it's a bit of a commentary on the mania of the show at that time, and it's a gag that was ahead of its time in more ways than one! Then there's what I think is the most fun story, in which the whole town is held hostage by and forced to do the every whim of a superpowered Bart, lest they be horribly and hilariously punished! It's got loads of great comedic moments and I most love when Homer is turned into a Jack-in-the-box that struggles with air conditioning and how it goes all wholesome with the montage of Bart and Jack-in-the-box Homer bonding, but when Homer gives his son a kiss Bart suddenly wakes up screaming, I'm pretty sure he was loving his 'nightmare' before that point! It still comes as a surprise even though you already know going in that it's a nightmare. The third chapter is the most gothic and horror themed and I love it I think it's a nice little Frankenstein parody and it has visual nods to Bride of Frankenstein. It really worked great letting other characters take center stage other than the family, Mr Burns as a mad scientist just blended perfect. It's rather violent at points, when Homer in a sack gets beaten with a shovel and it's very icky to me when he gets the top of his skull sawed off and his brain yanked out! The animation as they walk through the lab is really different and impressive, and he might not get up to much besides crashing through a few walls and swallowing an entire box of donuts, but I love the huge Homer-bot, I find the design really cool and a memorable image, a big dumb robot but still clearly Homer, to Franken-Burns great despair! It's bizarre but I don't have any problem with that ending, it's interesting the way it plays around with the anything goes continuity of the Halloween episodes, I for one would have loved if the two headed Homer had shown up in the next episode! This Halloween episode is quaint with not as much pep and personality as the ones that were shown in the following years, but I love it a lot anyway, it's endlessly charming and nostalgic and it remains a classic and a whole lot of fun to this day, wonderful festive goodness, and a well deserved ten psychedelic fire-breathing monster cats out of ten! X 🎃