text: treehouse of horror vii " treehouse of horror vii " is the first episode of the simpsons ' eighth season . it originally aired on the fox network in the united states on october 27 , 1996 . in this seventh annual " treehouse of horror " episode , bart discovers his long - lost twin , lisa grows a colony of small beings , and kang and kodos impersonate bill clinton and bob dole in order to win the 1996 presidential election . it was written by ken keeler , dan greaney , and david s. cohen , and directed by mike b. anderson . phil hartman provided the voice of clinton . plot " the thing and i " in a parody of the horror stories the hunchback of notre - dame ( 1831 ) and basket case ( 1982 ) , bart and lisa begin to hear strange noises , and think there is something in the attic . homer claims not to know what they are talking about , although he is later seen grabbing a bucket of fish heads and heading into the attic . bart and lisa investigate , and discover there really is a monster . homer and marge go into the attic , and homer says : " oh no , it escaped " . marge immediately calls dr. hibbert , who explains that bart had a conjoined twin brother named hugo . the two were separated at birth , but it was discovered that hugo was too evil to live in society , so the simpsons did the " only humane thing to do " : they kept hugo chained in the attic , where homer fed him a platter of fish heads once a week . the rest of the family leaves to find hugo , leaving bart behind , but he soon discovers that hugo never left the house . hugo takes bart up to the attic and ties bart up , so that he can reattach himself . suddenly , dr. hibbert finds them and knocks out hugo , commenting that the evil twin is always on the left side . but then he realizes that hugo 's scar is on the wrong side , and bart is the evil twin . in a failed attempt to correct their wrong , dr. hibbert and the simpson family sit down to a turkey dinner with hugo , leaving bart locked up in the attic eating fish heads . " the genesis tub " in a parody of the twilight zone episode , " the little people " , lisa performs a science experiment to see if cola will dissolve a tooth , and bart shocks lisa as part of his project to prove that nerds conduct electricity . the tooth is also shocked ; it undergoes an unusual reaction and creates a race of miniature beings . lisa discovers this the next day and marvels at how the people in her universe evolve at a rapid rate , going through the various ages humans have gone through into modern times and eventually , a society more advanced than current humanity . bart destroys some of the ecosystem in lisa 's tub universe , and the people respond , sending a squadron of space ships to attack bart , who vows revenge on the small universe as lisa wonders what to do . suddenly , she is shrunk and beamed down into the tub , where the citizens explain that they regard her as god , and they want her to do something about bart , whom they regard as the devil . she says she can help them if they can her , but they tell her they have not figured out the technology to do that . this angers lisa , since they should have had both technologies figured out before shrinking her . at the same time , bart grabs the tub and submits it in the science fair , and lisa is forced to watch from within as bart wins first prize . realizing that she is now stuck in the small universe forever and having somehow lost her slippers , the very bitter lisa orders her citizens to grovel and bring her some shoes , with one of the citizens adding that he will get some socks for her , too . " citizen kang " while out fishing , homer is abducted by the two aliens kang and kodos . when they demand that homer point them towards earth 's leader , homer informs them of the then - upcoming presidential election and says the winner could be either bill clinton or bob dole . kang and kodos kidnap both dole and clinton , placing them in suspended animation tubes and assuming their forms through " bio - duplication " to ensure that one of them will become the next leader . before returning homer to earth , the aliens soak him in rum , so nobody will believe him . as the election nears , the impostor candidates are seen to be acting strangely , holding hands in public and making bizarre declarations in monotone . later on , homer stumbles upon the badly hidden spaceship and tries to save the real dole and clinton , with both candidates agreeing they should join forces to defeat the aliens ; however , homer accidentally ejects them into space , killing them . on the day before the election , homer crashes the spaceship into the capitol and successfully reveals the candidates ' real identities . however , despite being exposed , kang and kodos declare to the people that they have to choose between one of them because " it 's a two - party system " , since it is too late to get new candidates . one man in the crowd announces that he will vote for a third - party candidate , but kang and kodos mockingly encourage him to " go ahead [ and ] throw your vote away , " prompting a bout of displeasure from ross perot . as such , kang is subsequently elected president and quickly enslaves all of humanity into building a giant ray gun to aim at an unknown planet , while homer smugly states that at least he voted for kodos . production the episode does not feature any wraparound segments , which are normally used in treehouse of horror episodes . the wraparounds had been cut from the previous year 's episode , so the writers did not bother writing one for this episode . " 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 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 earlier 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 homer sings " fish heads " , a 1980 novelty song by barnes & barnes , during " the thing and i " . homer 's crashing the flying saucer into capitol dome is a nod to earth vs. the flying saucers ( 1956 ) . 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 2006 , ign.com voted " citizen kang " as the seventh best segment of the treehouse of horror episodes . a.v. club named kang / bob dole 's line , " 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 it as his seventh favorite in the history of the show . " we 've reached the limits of what rectal probing can teach us " is one of matt groening 's favorite lines .