Treehouse of Horror XIV

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“Treehouse of Horror XIV” is the first episode of The Simpsons’ fifteenth season and the fourteenth Halloween episode. The episode aired on November 2, 2003. 16 million people watched the episode.Template:Fact In August 2004, it was screened at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival.

1 Opening Sequence
2 Plot
3 Trivia

Opening Sequence

Bart, dressed as Charlie Brown, and Lisa, dressed as Lucy van Pelt, discuss their Halloween treats. Lisa announces she is not satisfied with hers and she steals Bart's only chocolate bar. This leads to a violent fight until Bart, attempting to stab Lisa, accidentally jabs Homer in the stomach. Angry, he pulls the fork out of his stomach and grabs a block of wood out of the fire, attempting to hit Bart. He narrowly misses and the log hits Grampa in the stomach and sets him on fire (he exclaims he is still cold). Marge attempts to stop Homer, but he continues and traps Bart and Lisa in a carpet and hits them with a baseball bat, exclaiming "beat the lumps". A gun-wielding Marge intervenes and shoots Homer, splattering the words "Treehouse of horror XIV" on the wall. From their spaceship, Kang and Kodos are watching, criticizing the humans for airing a Halloween special in November. They then say that they already have their Christmas decorations up and the sequence ends with a Christmas jingle.

Plot

Reaper Madness

Image:Treehouse of Horror XIV.png

The Grim Reaper enters the Simpson house and attempts to claim Bart, but a Benny Hill-style chase ensues as the family attempts to elude him, until the Grim Reaper finally manages to pin Bart’s shirt to the wall with his scythe. As Bart is sentenced to an eternity of pain, Homer kills the Grim Reaper with a bowling ball. He subsequently learns that without a Grim Reaper, no-one can die (consequently, Frankie the Squealer is shown surviving several attempts by the Springfield Mafia to shoot him, and Moe survives a suicide attempt). On trash day, Marge tells Homer to take the dead Grim Reaper to the curb. Homer does so, but steals the robe, inadvertently turning himself into the new Grim Reaper. After killing all those he is asked to (and some he is not), Homer is told to kill Marge and reluctantly (after having his orders changed to kill himself) complies. This is later shown to be a trick; as God realises that Homer has substituted Patty’s body for Marge, the annoyed deity says: "Hey, this isn't Marge Simpson. It's her fat sister, Selma", and tries to punish Homer with a lethal sunbeam. Homer narrowly escapes on his motorcycle, jumping through a moving train car, prompting God to sigh "I’m too old and too rich for this." Later, at the Simpson house, Marge says "Thanks for not killing me, Homey. Here’s an extra pork chop." Homer says "Well...I’m gonna not kill you every week" and everyone laughs.

Frinkenstein

When Professor John Frink is told he has won the Nobel Prize for his invention of a hammer with a screwdriver on the other end, he resurrects his dead father in order to show him his worth, as the last time they'd spoke, Professor Frink's father had called him a disgrace. Once shocked to life, Professor Frink’s father is unhappy with the mechanical organs which were used to help bring him back to life, and escapes to find real ones. After going on a killing spree, he replaces his own body parts with those he has harvested from various Springfield citizens. Eventually realizing he has done wrong, he attends the Nobel Prize ceremony in order to see his son accept the award, but once there is overwhelmed by the amount of intelligent people in the room, again going on a bloody rampage and augmenting his own brain with theirs. Professor Frink realizes that he has created a monster and kills his father. He then saves his father’s soul by putting it in a box.

Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off

Through an advert in an old comic book, Bart and Milhouse obtain a stopwatch which has the ability to stop time. After pranking several Springfield citizens, (such as pantsing Principal Skinner), they are outsmarted by Mayor Quimby and chased by an angry mob. While running from the mob, they are shot at by Chief Wiggum, so they stop time in order to escape - but not without damaging the stopwatch, leaving Bart and Milhouse as the only two people moving in a world where time has stopped. Fifteen subjective years later, they are able to repair the watch and start time once more, but not without placing Martin Prince before the angry mob in order to blame him for the spree of pranks. Martin is then beaten to death by the crowd. Lisa, curious and suspicious of Bart's suddenly aging fifteen years, gains control of the watch and presses a hitherto-unknown second button, which instantly warps reality, transforming the Simpsons in some way each time it is pressed: they float; switch genders; are transformed into bobblehead dolls; into TV Guides; the Fantastic Four; and are finally shown with their normal bodies, but each using a Hula hoop.

Trivia

The Opening Sequence is a reference to Christmas being too commercial. In the case of most stores, they have their Christmas decorations up in late October already. However this isn't to the extreme of the department store featured in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown which has Christmas decorations up in April.
The premise of “Reaper Madness” is similar to that of the fantasy/sci-fi book On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony (the first book of the series the Incarnations of Immortality). It also resembles the plot of The Santa Clause, where Tim Allen becomes St. Nick after donning the deceased gift-giver’s suit, a story by Ray Bradbury entitled The Scythe, in which a young man must become the symbolic Reaper and is forced to take his Family so that they will not distract him, and the Family Guy episode "Death Is a Bitch", where Peter has to take over for Death after an incident involving a broken bone. The title of this segment is a parody of the title of the propaganda film Reefer Madness.
“Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off” is a parody of the Twilight Zone episode “A Kind of a Stopwatch,” the ITV British children’s sitcom Bernard’s Watch and the 2002 movie Clockstoppers. The title of this segment is a parody of the title of the play Stop the World—I Want to Get Off.
Towards the end of “Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off,” Homer, Marge, Bart and Maggie are transformed into the Fantastic Four.
This is the second Frankenstein parody in a Treehouse of Horror episode, the first occurring in Treehouse of Horror II.
This is the second episode with a Benny Hill parody, the first occurring in “A Star Is Born-Again” with Helen Fielding.
The banner on the outside of the auditorium in Sweden says “Nøbel Prize Ceremøny”; this is incorrect as the letter ø isn't a part of the Swedish language.
The voice of Professor Frink was created based on a bad impression of Jerry Lewis’ Nutty Professor character. In this episode, Jerry Lewis guest-stars as Frink’s father.
When Professor Frink is calculating how to defeat his father, he is shown wearing the Nobel prize. In the next shot, where Frink’s father falls, it is the elder Frink who is wearing the Nobel prize.
During Stop the world I want to goof off , Comic Book Guy is shown wielding a green lightsaber (similar to Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber from Return of the Jedi.
Hans Moleman, Reverend Lovejoy, and Kirk van Houten are among the people Homer killed at the baseball game.

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