Treehouse of Horror XV

"I'll bet you blew up the town just to get out of cleaning the garage! Well, the joke's on you, because the garage made it to heaven too!"

- Marge Simpson, "The Ned Zone"

"Treehouse of Horror XV" is the fifteenth Halloween episode, airing November 7, 2004, one week after Halloween in the US. It had the lowest amount of viewers for a Treehouse of Horror episode in a few years. This is one of several Simpsons episodes which are considered anthology episodes that features mini-stories.

Plot
In a parody of Perfect Strangers, Kang and Kodos are preparing the Simpsons for dinner for their "boss." Bart and Homer are the main course, Lisa is in a soup, and Marge and Maggie are pies. The boss comments on the delicious meal but then vomits up Bart. For their delicous meal, Kang and Kodos get a hyper-galactic promotion. Bart is upset about being an orphan, but he is adopted by Kang and Kodos. The Perfect Strangers theme song then plays over the opening credits, then later during the closing credits, accompinied by screenshots of the episode.

Act I: "The Ned Zone"
Trying to get his Frisbee from the roof, Homer throws a bowling ball that hits Ned on the head. When Ned recovers in Dr. Hibbert's hospital, he has a vision of the good doctor falling out of a window, which happens shortly afterwards when Homer asks him to get his frisbee from the window ledge. Ned realizes that he can see the deaths of people whom he touches; he saves Hans Moleman from falling down from a telephone line and has a vision of him getting chewed up by alligators. In shock, he drops Hans - right into an open manhole containing the said alligators, which he was standing next to. He also predicts the closing of the Rosie O'Donnell Musical theatre|musical, but he "didn't need special powers to see that one coming!"

Later, one of his visions depicts him shooting Homer. When Homer finds out about Ned's vision, he taunts him and even gives him Chief Wiggum's gun to shoot him with. Ned refrains from shooting Homer and has another vision of Homer blowing up Springfield. Ned tries to dissuade Homer from going to work saying that he'll destroy the town, and Homer promises he'll never go back... "after today, because Lenny's birthday, and they are serving ice cream cake". Ned rushes to the power plant to stop Homer who for some reason is eating the cake in the plants control center while everyone else is eating it in the staff room, his warning is scrambled by static over the intercom, leading Homer to believe he should press the "core destruct" and "kill everyone" button depsite that obviously being a stupid thing to do.

In desperation, Ned grabs a nearby security guard's gun and shoots Homer; but in his death throes, Homer presses the destruct button with his tongue, causing the power plant to explode and a large chunk of central Springfield is destroyed. Homer, Marge, all the Simpsons, and the garage go to heaven as angels and they meet God who "gives Homer what is coming to him", which happens to be his frisbee.

Act II: "Four Beheadings and a Funeral"
In 1890 London, women are being killed with swords in a series of unsolved murders. Scotland Yard Detective and her easily-amazed assistant Dr. Bartley trace the swords used back to industrialist C. Ebenezer Burns. They find him in an opium den, where he claims he lost all his wealth to opium.

The next suspect in mind is Homer. The police arrest Homer and are about to hang him when Eliza finds the real murderer: Inspector Wiggum, whose eel-pie covered handprints were all over a sword used to kill one particular woman. Wiggum attempts to escape in a hot-air balloon, which is destroyed by Kang and Kodos' Victorian era-style spacecraft.

However, it all turns out to be a dream that Ralph Wiggum is having while smoking opium in an opium den, which is part of an even crazier dream. Eliza was based on the fictional detective; Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Bartley was based on Sherlock's sidekick; Dr. Watson. The story was mostly based on one of London's most mysterious mystery; The Mystery of Jack the Ripper.

Act III: "In the Belly of the Boss"
At the "Invention Expo", Professor Frink creates a machine that shrinks objects. Maggie crawls inside a giant pill, which is miniaturized and swallowed by Mr. Burns. After discovering Maggie's disappearance, the rest of the family agrees to be shrunk within a craft and injected into Mr. Burns' body. When Homer refuses to follow Frink's instructions, the ship gets stuck in Burns' heart. The crew puts on their swimsuits to unwedge the ship. The crew manages to get the ship free and are able to reach the stomach by catching a ride on a nerve impulse. They manage to save Maggie, but are forced to leave someone behind due to Maggie's extra body weight. That turns out to be Homer. The submarine successfully escapes, and Homer returns to his original size inside Mr. Burns' skin. Although Homer complains that he needs several holes, Burns is confident that things will work out. The episode ends with Burns and Homer leading a dance to the tune of the Cole Porter song, "I've Got You Under My Skin".

Production
Treehouse of Horror XV