previous two Treehouse of Horror episodes, "Treehouse of Horror VII" does not feature any wraparound segments. "The Thing and I" was written by Ken Keeler, "The Genesis Tub" was written by Dan Greaney, and "Citizen Kang" was written by David X. Cohen. Despite the similarities, "The Thing and I" was not based on the plot of the 1982 film Basket Case. "The Genesis Tub" was originally pitched by Cohen, and it was later referenced in the South Park episode "Simpsons Already Did It", when they pointed out that The Simpsons had gotten the idea from the 1962 Twilight Zone episode called "The Little People". The sequence where tiny spaceships attack Bart in "The Genesis Tub" marks one of the first uses of computers in The Simpsons animation. The computer was used to build models for reference and the animators later retraced it. The 1996 Presidential election occurred a few days after the airing of this episode. According to Cohen, the "Citizen Kang" short violated every rule of The Simpsons as it locked the episode in one time and named specific candidates. Cultural references In "The Thing and I", Homer sings "Fish Heads", a 1978 novelty song by Barnes & Barnes. Homer crashing the flying saucer into Capitol dome in the "Citizen Kang" segment is a reference to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, a 1956 film. Reception In its original broadcast, "Treehouse of Horror VII" finished 31st in ratings for the week of October 21–27, 1996, with a Nielsen rating of 10.5, equivalent to approximately 10.2 million viewing households. It was the third highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following Millennium and The X-Files. In 2017, IGN called "Citizen Kang" the best segment of the entire anthology, and placed the episode itself as number one in its ranking of all "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. The A.V. Club named Kang/Bob Dole's line, "Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!", one of the best lines in the history of the show. The ska punk band named I Voted for Kodos takes its name from Homer's line, "Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos", at the end of "Citizen Kang". In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly article, Matt Groening ranked this episode as his seventh favorite in the history of the show. References External links 1996 American television episodes Television episodes about alien invasion Cultural depictions of Bill Clinton Fiction about size