Some of the most enjoyable things in life only come around once a year. For two of the most popular and iconic characters from The Simpsons, it’s at Halloween. The annual Treehouse of Horror special has been a hallmark of the series for more than 30 years. And for almost as long, two aliens have been synonymous with the most wicked horrors that have befallen the town of Springfield, Kodos and Kang. However, their names pay homage to one of sci-fi's most beloved and important series -- Star Trek.
The slimy, drooling, glass-cased octopods from Reigel 7 (whose native tongue, Rigellian, happens to sound like English) made their triumphant debut in the first Treehouse of Horror in 1990. It premiered early in the series' second season, and the characters immediately made an indelible impact on viewers. The aliens were more than just caricatures -- they were savage critics of some human's tendency for hypocrisy and feeble-mindedness.
Created by writing partners Wallace Wolodarsky and Jay Kogen, the aliens were partially inspired by another pair of violent prone aliens, courtesy of Gene Roddenberry. Kang and Kodos were directly drawn from Star Trek's Kang the Klingon and Kodos the Executioner, two memorable characters from The Orginal Series that ran in the late 1960s. They were a pair of killers whose own ambitions weren’t that far from those of their cartoon counterparts. While iconic characters all around, The Simpsons, like Star Trek, only used them sparingly to help maintain their special status among other characters.
The galaxy’s most determined duo trying to conquer Earth and enslave humanity has appeared in every Treehouse of Horror episode. However, they didn’t always feature prominently. In fact, sometimes, they were afterthoughts crammed into the episodes for brief cameos. At one point, they weren’t going to appear in one of the Treehouse of Horror specials, but Executive Producer Al Jean stepped in, ensuring they made an appearance, albeit a brief one. From there, they became enshrined as essential ingredients for each Treehouse of Horror, never to be omitted. And they’ve been there ever since, with the only minor exception being when just Kang showed up in Treehouse XXI.
Initially, the ambiguously gendered duo was interchangeably male and female, with both Kang and Kodos being referred to as the other's sister, like in Treehouse of Horror VII. They were presumed siblings for decades. It just wasn’t important enough to The Simpsons' creators and writers to clarify one way or the other. They were just fun characters until a time-traveling cross-over with another popular series put the issue to bed.
In a blended episode featuring revived characters from Matt Groening’s canceled Futurama, much of the attention was on the other group traveling through space, Kang and Kodos. The Johnsons, the aliens' confirmed surname, were revealed to be in a relationship -- not siblings. As such, the Johnsons were a lesbian couple.
For over 50 years, the original Star Trek series has left its fingerprints across dozens of TV shows, movies and books. People who grew up in awe of The Orginal Series, and even Star Trek: The Next Generation, before finding careers in entertainment often cite the show as inspiration. From Seth MacFarlane to Steven Spielberg, Star Trek has shaped entertainment far beyond the deck of the starship Enterprise, and The Simpsons is no exception.