Kang and Kodos

The Simpsons character
Kang & Kodos
Gender	Unknown[1]
Job	Plotting galactic conquest and trying to understand human culture
Relatives	Kang and Kodos are siblings.
Voice actor	Harry Shearer (Kang) Dan Castellaneta (Kodos)
First appearance
The Simpsons	"Treehouse of Horror"

Kang and Kodos are a duo of recurring characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer while Dan Castellaneta provides the voice of Kodos. They are aliens from the fictional planet Rigel VII and almost exclusively appear in the "Treehouse of Horror". The duo has appeared in at least one segment of all twenty episodes. Sometimes their appearance is the focus of a plot, other times a brief cameo. Kang and Kodos are often bent on the conquest of Earth and are usually seen working on sinister plans to invade and subjugate humanity.

The duo first appeared in season two's "Treehouse of Horror". The first drawing of Kang and Kodos came from writers Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky. The finished design was based on an EC Comics issue cover. Kang and Kodos had brief cameo appearances in several non-"Treehouse of Horror" episodes and have appeared as villains in several of The Simpsons video games.

Role in The Simpsons

Kang and Kodos as seen in "Treehouse of Horror VI", one of their shortest cameos

Speaking "Rigellian", which coincidentally sounds exactly like English, Kang and Kodos are Rigellians and from the planet Rigel VII.^[2] Virtually identical in appearance, one of the few distinguishing characteristics concerns the duo's voices as Kang's is deeper. In most appearances, they are antagonists. One exception is Kang and Kodos's first appearance in "Treehouse of Horror", where they capture the Simpson family and feed them exquisite cuisine. Lisa becomes suspicious of their intentions and accuses Kang and Kodos of wanting to eat the Simpson family. Kang and Kodos deny this accusation and are outraged. Afterwards both take the Simpsons back to Earth.^[2] Kang and Kodos have invaded the Earth on several occasions, with varying results. In 1996, Kang and Kodos impersonated Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and ran against each other in the 1996 election. At first, the Americans declared to vote for a third party candidate, but Kang convinced them that the option would be a waste of a vote. As a result, Kang was elected president.^[3] In their second appearance, they decided to take over the Earth after citizens had declared world peace, but ultimately failed.^[4] Kang and Kodos's religion is "Quantum Presbyterians",^[5] although Kodos later claims to be Jewish.^[6] Other Rigellians that have appeared include Serak the Preparer, who was voiced by James Earl Jones and only appeared in "Treehouse of Horror".^[2]

Kang and Kodos have appeared in every "Treehouse of Horror" episode to date and have played major roles in "Treehouse of Horror I",^[2] "Treehouse of Horror II",^[4] "Treehouse of Horror VII", "Treehouse of Horror IX", "Treehouse of Horror XVII"^[7] and "Treehouse of Horror XVIII".^[6] The rest of their appearances were cameos, although both appeared in the opening segment of "Treehouse of Horror X",^[8] "Treehouse of Horror XIV",^[9] "Treehouse of Horror XV"^[10] and "Treehouse of Horror XVI".^[11] Kang and Kodos's cameo appearances normally occur in the midst of the segments which will suddenly cut away to the duo. For example, Kang and Kodos observe zombies attacking Earth from space. The duo laugh maniacally at the Earthlings's suffering, before the scene is switched from space to Earth.^[12] Kang and Kodos have made rare appearances in non-"Treehouse of Horror" episodes, such as "Behind the Laughter"^[13] and "Gump Roast",^[5] and had a non-speaking cameo in "The Springfield Files".^[14]

Character

Creation

Harry Shearer, the voice of Kang

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Kodos

Kang and Kodos first appeared in the second season in "Treehouse of Horror". The idea of Kang and Kodos came from Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky, writers of "Hungry are the Damned".^[15] In the script, Kang and Kodos were shown as "an octopus in a space helmet with a trail of goo".^[15] The finished design was based on EC Comics cover issue.^[16] Although originally designed to constantly drool, Matt Groening suggested that they not drool all the time to make the animation process easier. However, the animators did not mind the work, leading to the drooling staying in the script.^[17] Kang and Kodos's names are derived from two Star Trek characters. Kang was a Klingon captain portrayed by actor Michael Ansara in "Day of the Dove" whereas Kodos the Executioner, was a human villain from "The Conscience of the King".^[18] Harry Shearer voices Kang, and Dan Castellaneta voices Kodos.^[17] An unofficial rule for the writers is that Kang and Kodos must appear in every Halloween episode.^[19] Despite this rule, the writers say the duo will often be forgotten and are added at the last second, leading to brief appearances.^[17]

Development

Kang and Kodos in their brief cameo in "Treehouse of Horror III"

Traditionally, Kang and Kodos appeared in every single Treehouse of Horror episode as a part of a story's plotline or as cameos. They almost did not make the cut in "Treehouse of Horror VIII", but David X. Cohen managed to persuade the producers to keep the scene.^[20] Kang and Kodos were originally going to make regular appearances in the show. One idea was only Homer would be able to see them and everyone else thinking Homer is crazy when he talked about the aliens. However the concept was "too far out", leading to characters only featured in the "Treehouse of Horror" specials.^[21] In some appearances, Kang and Kodos will laugh hysterically for several seconds. This was suggested by Sam Simon. During production, the episodes would often be too short; so to make more time, their laughter was lengthened.^[22]

Kodos's gender has come into debate from fans. In "Treehouse of Horror VII", Kang introduces Kodos with "This is my sister Kodos". The line was pitched by George Meyer^[23] and was even somewhat followed in later episodes as the writers tried to make Kang the more dominant of the two.^[24] In previous and subsequent episodes, Kodos has been referred to as a male.^[6]

Other appearances

Kang and Kodos have appeared in several different The Simpsons video games. The duo appear in the The Simpsons Road Rage ending, and Kang appears as the final boss character in The Simpsons Wrestling game. Kang and Kodos appear in cut scenes as the main villains 2003's The Simpsons Hit & Run. In an attempt to collect new material for their failing reality TV show, Foolish Earthlings, Kang and Kodos plan to drug Springfield with a mind-control serum distributed through their "New and Improved Buzz Cola" product. After drinking the cola, the brainwashed people performed stupid stunts under the watchful view of wasp-like surveillance cameras, all for the sake of better ratings.^[25] They also appeared as the main villains in The Simpsons Game along with an army of other Rigellians, but like Hit & Run Kang and Kodos only appear in cutscenes. In this game, they plot to destroy Springfield (in which they done so far in several levels), but in the end, they are presumed to be thwarted by God, who restores everything back to normal under the Simpsons family's request.

In 2001, Kang and Kodos were made into separate action figures in the World of Springfield toy line. Along with their spaceship, Kang and Kodos were included with the "Treehouse of Horror II" set exclusive to Toys-R-Us.^[26][27][28] The two also have a brief cameo in The Simpsons Ride.^[29] Matt Groening stated that Kang and Kodos were going to appear on Futurama, but that never happened.

Reception

Several of the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes featuring the duo have been well-received. In 2006, James Earl Jones, voice of Serak the Preparer in "Treehouse of Horror", was named seventh on IGN's "Top 25 Simpsons Guest Appearances" list.^[30] Jones also appeared on AOL's list of their favorite 25 Simpsons guest stars.^[31] "Treehouse of Horror VII" is Simpsons creator Matt Groening's seventh favorite episode. Groening's favorite line from the episode is Kodos's "We have reached the limit of what rectal probing can teach us."^[32] In 2006, IGN.com published a list of the top ten Treehouse of Horror segments, and several segments that feature Kang and Kodos were placed, including "Hungry Are The Damned", "Citizen Kang" and "Starship Poopers".^[33]

References

External links

• Kang at the Internet Movie Database
• Kodos at the Internet Movie Database