 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 . 
