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Kang and Kodos are fictional characters from the animated television series The Simpsons. They are green, seven-foot tall, continually drooling octopus-like cyclopian aliens from Rigel 7, beyond Earth, who are brother and sister (Kang has a much deeper voice than Kodos whose voice is still masculine), who enjoy exchanging long protein strands. Their primary appearances are in the various "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, but they (or others of their race) have several cameos. Their overall appearance is most likely derived from the aliens appearing in the 1959 B-movie The Atomic Submarine, which are almost identical in every major way to the cartoon characters.
Kang is voiced by Harry Shearer, while Kodos is voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Another Rigellian, "Serak the Preparer," was voiced by James Earl Jones.
Kang and Kodos do not speak English, but actually speak Rigellian (which, by a staggering coincidence, is exactly the same as English). They are Quantum Presbyterians (though were once confused of being Mormons by Homer). It is also implied that they are Catholic, as they are shown making the sign of the Cross in "Gump Roast."
It is implied by their mocking of Homer in Treehouse of Horror V that their species has theoretical experience with time-travel (or its effects).
Rigel 7
Kang and Kodos are from Rigel 7, a fictional planet, presumably the seventh planet in orbit around the star Rigel, which does exist. The planet's surface resembles the rocky, desert-like terrain of Mars. It has also been revealed to have an asteroid field. The planet's only known form of life are the Rigellians, including Kang and Kodos.
Rigellians are approximately 7 feet (210 cm) tall with one eye and eight tentacles used for movement and grasping. Their skin colour is green. They constantly drool. They have incredibly advanced technology including interstellar travel, ray guns, pong and a strange fertilisation ray. Their language is coincidently exactly the same as English, though in the original Treehouse of Horrors episode, one Rigellian told Marge of his name, "to pronounce it correctly I would have to pull out your tongue."
Star Trek references
Kang and Kodos are named after two characters from Star Trek; Kang was a Klingon captain, and Kodos the Executioner was a human villain. A Rigelian cook named Serak (seen in Treehouse of Horror I) derives his name from an inversion of vowels in the name Sarek.
Rigel 7 (as Rigel VII) is also mentioned in the original pilot for Star Trek, "The Cage". In their first appearance, Treehouse of Horror, Kang and Kodos intended to take the Simpsons to Rigel 4 (or IV), a planet name also used by Star Trek, in "Wolf in the Fold", and other planets in the Rigel system are mentioned in other Trek episodes. Since Rigel is a relatively common choice of star system in many science fiction stories, it is unclear if the use of the Rigel system as Kang and Kodos's home system is an intentional homage to Star Trek.
Episodes
Kang and Kodos appear in every "Treehouse of Horror" episode; however, many of these are just cameos, slipped incongruously into one of the stories. For example, a few times they are seen watching the unusual events of Earth from outer space, and do nothing but comment on things and then laugh; they also appear as hitchhikers in Treehouse of Horror VI. In recent years they usually appear in either the opening sequence or at the end of the episode when all the main stories are done, mostly to keep the tradition alive.
In "Treehouse of Horror II," Kang and Kodos briefly take over the Earth, after Lisa has wished for world peace on a magic monkey paw; Ned manages to defeat them with a wish, which causes people to have weapons again (boards with nails in them).
In the episode "Treehouse of Horror VII," they impersonate Bill Clinton and Bob Dole and compete for the presidency of the United States on crowd-pleasing platforms ("Abortion for some, miniature American flags for others!"). Even after Homer reveals them to be aliens, most people vote for one of them because they don't want to throw their vote away on a third-party candidate. Kang wins and enslaves humanity. A toiling Homer says "Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos".
In "Treehouse of Horror IX" it is discovered that Kang is Maggie's actual father, having impregnanted Marge as part of a trans-species breeding program; he wants to take his daughter away, against the Simpsons' wishes. At the end of the episode, after Jerry Springer cannot resolve their conflict (and winds up being killed), the aliens say they will kill all of Earth's politicians for not getting their daughter, although the Treehouse of Horror episodes aren't canon and are just simple short stories for the sake of Halloween.
Other than the Halloween episodes, Kang and Kodos have appeared in the episode "Gump Roast," where they claim to have been watching the world since it was first created ("5,000 years ago...by God"), and, having judged it badly, they plan to destroy it. The planet is saved, however, because the two don't want to kill various celebrities on Earth. In "Behind the Laughter", they are shown entering the set where the Simpsons are filming a couch gag. Kang asks if they will be needed and Kodos mentions have ballet tickets. The two aliens are also referenced in "Future-Drama," where one of the futures Professor Frink's machine can show is the two of them invading the Earth. These appearances mean the characters are Canonical, despite being primarily from the Treehouse of Horror episodes.
Video Games
Kang and Kodos appear in Hit and Run video game as villains, but only in cutscenes. Kang and Kodos use wasp-like surveillance cameras to watch everyone in Springfield. In the Level 5 cutscene, Bart Simpson and Apu are listening to Kang and Kodos' plan that they are distributing laser guns all over Springfield, and they use the evil cola to make people crazy. In the Level 6 cutscene, Kang and Kodos are planning to use evil cola to raise zombies from the dead. In the Level 7 cutscene, their spaceship crashes, with them on it. Kang also appears as the boss in The Simpsons Wrestling game.
Their space ship is based on the flying saucers from the movie Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
Fictional extraterrestrials | Simpsons villains | Extraterrestrial supervillains | Simpsons characters
"Kang & Kodos"