The six best 'Treehouse of Horror' segments from 'The Simpsons'

"The Simpsons'" annual "Treehouse of Horror" episode airs Sunday -- and for the first time in a decade, it's happening before Halloween.

It's also the 20th installment of the Halloween special, which started in 1990 with a haunted-house tale, a parody of "The Twilight Zone's" "To Serve Man" and a Bart vs. Homer rendition of "The Raven." Sunday's episode will feature the show's first Hitchcock parody, a "28 Days Later"-style zombie story and the first-ever musical "ToH" segment, taking off on "Sweeney Todd."

It's a pretty solid effort -- the Hitchcock segment ("Dial M for Murder, or Press # to Return to Main Menu") is a blizzard of movie references and good Bart vs. Lisa antipathy, and the other segments have moments that score as well. Good though they may be, though, none of the three is quite in the upper echelon of "Treehouse of Horror" stories.

Here are my picks for the six best segments in "ToH" history. Share yours in the comments.

6. "Night of the Dolphin" (ToH XI)

Sympathetic Lisa helps a dolphin escape from a Sea World-type attraction, but unbeknownst to her he's the dolphin king and bent on revenge against his captors. The "Birds"-like shots as the humans of Springfield leave City Hall is creepy/hilarious, while the final brawl is just hilarious. Couldn't find any embeddable video, but you can watch the whole thing here.

5. "Desperately Xeeking Xena" (ToH X)

A radiation accident transforms Bart and Lisa into superhero duo Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl, who battle Comic Book Guy as The Collector, a villain obsessed with finding mint-condition real-life versions of his favorite characters. Lucy Lawless guest-stars as herself -- and The Collector's ultimate prize.



4. "Clown without Pity" (ToH III)

Homer forgets Bart's birthday (that's bad). He finds a last-minute present: a Krusty doll (that's good). The doll comes from the House of Evil (that's bad). But it comes with a Frogurt (that's good -- and also likely the only time this month that Frogurt is mentioned on Zap2it outside the "Lost" blog). The rest of the story is pretty clever too -- the Krusty doll shacking up with Malibu Stacy is brilliant -- but the Frogurt makes it classic.



3. "Time and Punishment" (ToH V)

"Treehouse of Horror V" was wall-to-wall awesome. "Nightmare Cafeteria" lies just outside this top six list, but only because the other two stories this year, "Time and Punishment" and "The Shinning," are nearly perfect. "Time and Punishment" finds Homer inadvertently making a time machine out of his toaster and then jumping back and forth to make sure he doesn't change the future too much. The alternate world where Flanders rules is great, but the frantic back-and-forth that closes things is the best part of the story.



2. "The Shinning" (ToH V)

A brilliant (and much shorter) parody of "The Shining" where Homer goes nuts while serving as caretaker for Mr. Burns' isolated mountain hotel: "No TV and no beer makes Homer something something." Marge: "Go crazy?" Homer: "Don't mind if I do!"



1. "The Devil and Homer Simpson" (ToH IV)

My favorite story in "Treehouse of Horror" history comes from another of the series' best Halloween episodes (which also featured the "Twilight Zone" parody "Terror at 5 1/2 Feet" and "Bart Simpson's Dracula") and is a note-perfect story about Homer selling his soul to the Devil (Flanders!) for a donut. The trial -- with Lizzie Borden, Blackbeard ("Arrgh. This chair be high, says I") and Richard Nixon serving as jurors -- is great, and Marge's save of her husband is actually kind of sweet. The setup -- "Mmm, forbidden donut" -- is my favorite bit.



What are your favorite "Treehouse of Horror" moments?

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