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Difference between revisions of "Treehouse of Horror XXIII"

Wikisimpsons - The Simpsons Wiki
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== Synopsis ==
 
== Synopsis ==
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:''"We go back to ancient times when a Mayan [[Homer]] and [[Marge]] are witness to the prediction that 2012 will be the end of the world, the [[Springfield Subatomic Supercollider]] creates a black hole that terrorizes the city, a little unholy pact Marge when she was younger makes things go bump in the night and [[Bart]] travels to 1974 to buy a comic book at cover price but inadvertently disrupts Homer and Marge's courtship."''
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{{desc|We go back to ancient times when a Mayan [[Homer]] and [[Marge]] are witness to the prediction that 2012 will be the end of the world, the [[Springfield Subatomic Supercollider]] creates a black hole that terrorizes the city, a little unholy pact Marge when she was younger makes things go bump in the night and [[Bart]] travels to 1974 to buy a comic book at cover price but inadvertently disrupts Homer and Marge's courtship.}}
  
 
== Plot ==
 
== Plot ==
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In Mayan times, at [[Chichen Itza]] - the height of the Mayan civilization - the high priests look upon their [[Mayan calendar|calendar]] at the temple and predict that the world will be destroyed at the end of thirteenth Baktoon. Unless The Mayan leader suggests that they appease the gods with a human sacrifice and presents them with [[Glutton]], who is in the process of being fattened up. [[Glutton's wife]], in an effort to save her husband, tricks a [[Mayan priest|priest]] into getting himself sacrificed, and he is shortly beheaded. The Mayan scientist notices that they have sacrificed the wrong person and concludes that the world ''will'' be destroyed. On his ancient 'calculator' he works out that the world will end in 2012.<br>
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=== Opening sequence ===
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In [[Chichen Itza]], during [[Mayans|Mayan]] times, the high priests look at the [[Mayan calendar]] and work out that the world will be destroyed at the end of the 13th baktun. They decide that they must appease the gods with a human sacrifice, and decide on [[Mayan Homer]] as the sacrifice. [[Mayan Marge]] comes up with a plan to get Homer out of it and seduces the [[Mayan priest]] in charge of the execution and sends him to be executed instead. when [[Professor Frink]] realizes that they sacrificed the wrong person, he says that the world will indeed end on the 13th baktun, which he then works out to be the year 2012, which leaves the Mayans relieved. In the present day, the doorbell of the [[Simpson house]] rings, and it's one of the [[Mayan gods]]. The Mayan gods then proceed to destroy [[Springfield]], then the rest of the world. The planet explodes, leaving behind the "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" logo.
−
In the present day - October 31, [[2012]] - [[Simpson family|The Simpsons]] are celebrating Halloween. Homer asks Marge what Baktoon it is so he can set his watch. Marge informs him that it is the thirteenth Baktoon. Just then, the doorbell rings and three giant Mayan Gods wait behind the door. Homer offers them Halloween candy, before being squashed to death. The Gods then begin destroying [[Springfield]]. Lava pours out of the ground and fire erupts all over town. The Gods then proceed to destroying the rest of the world, which eventually blows up.  
 
  
 
=== The Greatest Story Ever Holed ===
 
=== The Greatest Story Ever Holed ===
 
[[File:The Greatest Story Ever Holed.png|thumb|left|The Greatest Story Ever Holed title card]]
 
[[File:The Greatest Story Ever Holed.png|thumb|left|The Greatest Story Ever Holed title card]]
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Springfield citizens are at the [[Springfield Subatomic Supercollider]], which was built instead of a new baseball stadium due to the lobbying of [[Lisa Simpson]]. [[Mayor Quimby]] says that [[Professor Frink]] will throw the switch - which will reveal if the 'whatamacalit' will answer some obscure questions of some atomic physics or destroy the universe. The super collider is switched on - but nothing happens. Frink says that the collider is too small to tell anything important, causing everyone to moan and heckle Lisa. The citizens leave, but soon afterwards two things are traveling in the pipe of the super collider - a red light and a blue light. They end up crashing into each other - creating a [[Springfield's black hole|black hole]]. The black hole travels out of the pipe and into the center, where [[Groundskeeper Willie]] is asleep in a chair. It sucks up his mop, and then him. Outside the center, Lisa is sitting on the ground, crying in embarrassment and shame, when she notices that her tears are traveling in the air. They are sucked up by the black hole. Lisa is astonished, but then realizes that they have got to move it before it sucks up more kids, after Ralph and Nelson are sucked up by the hole. Lisa uses a stick to drag the black hole home, and it ends up sucking up Cletus' home along the way. Oil spurts up from the ground, but Cletus' excitement soon dies when the black hole sucks up all the oil. Lisa finally gets the black hole home - where it sucks up about a quarter of the things in the basement. Homer asks Lisa if she's got a stray dog down there, and Lisa says that it's much worse. Homer then asks her if there is TWO stray dogs, and this time Lisa says that it is a black hole - which was going to be Homer's 'next guess'. Later on, the Simpsons are in the basement admiring the black hole. Lisa tells the family that scientists believe that what goes into a black hole never comes out, or that it is a gateway to another universe. Homer asks if it can open a pretzel bag. The black hole opens the pretzel bag - and then all the pretzels in it. Lisa tells the family to not put things in the black hole because it will get bigger and more dangerous if they do. Homer is about to pat it, but before Lisa can stop him, Homer gets his fingers extended, grossing out the entire family. Marge puts a baby gate around the black hole, but that doesn't stop the family from feeding it. Marge feeds the black hole grease because it attracts raccoons. Bart tries to get the black hole to eat his math homework, but when it won't, he brings [[Edna Krabappel]], his teacher, to the house where he pushes her into the black hole. The next day, the Simpsons are having breakfast while the black hole - now even bigger - sucks up everything on the ground floor of the house. Lisa notices that the black hole is looking a lot bigger, and asks if anyone wants to admit to throwing anything in. The family says no, but then Lisa asks if anyone has seen [[Snowball II|the cat]]. [[Santa's Little Helper]] then whines and lies down on the floor. Outside, many of Springfield's citizens are waiting to throw useless junk into the black hole because Homer opened his own business - [[Magic Craphole Waste Removal]]. Everyone runs away from the house when they see the house sucked up by the black hole. Many of Springfield citizens take that as their chance to throw away their junk - [[Comic Book Guy]] throws away a DVD of Disney's ''[[The Black Hole]]'' and [[Horatio McCallister]] attempts to throw away a skeleton before Lisa stops everyone, saying that if anything else is sucked into it, the black hole could reach critical mass. The Magic Craphole Waste Removal customers stand in wait to see what the black hole will do next. Somewhere, [[Milhouse Van Houten]] hits a home-run while playing a game of baseball, and the ball is sucked up by the black hole, enlarging it greatly allowing it to suck up Springfield's citizens. All of Springfield ends up being sucked up by the black hole and the only people left in Springfield are the Simpson family. The family are sucked up - but not Maggie - who hangs on to a pipe. Her pacifier is sucked up by the black hole, which sucks the pacifier and goes off into the distance. Maggie is left there - very cross. Springfield ends up on a planet where the junk thrown into the black hole ended up. The aliens on the planet say that they have built their society on the 'treasures' sent to the planet. The aliens' favorite magazine is the Presidents' Day mattress blowout sale insert and their favorite food is banana peels. The aliens say that they listen to music on the most wonderful device ever created - [[The Zune]]. Marge stops Homer from telling the aliens that the treasures they have received is just their old junk, and then she says that it is wonderful stuff and "Enjoy it!".
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At the newly built [[Springfield Subatomic Supercollider]], citizens of the town have arrived to watch it get turned on. Professor Frink turns on the collider and nothing happens, with Frink saying that the accelerator is too small to tell them anything important. Everyone gets disappointed and leaves the building as the particles are shot around the accelerator until two of them collide. This creates a [[Springfield's black hole|miniature black hole]] which escapes the accelerator and starts to suck in objects and people. [[Lisa]] decides to take it home to keep people safe from the black hole and puts it in the basement. The family confronts Lisa about the black hole and Homer tries to pat the black hole, making his fingers get longer as a result. Lisa and Marge tell everyone not to put stuff into the black hole to stop it becoming bigger and more dangerous. However, the family disposes of things within the black hole anyway.
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The black hole gets bigger and starts sucking in objects from all around the house. The doorbell then rings and people of Springfield have gathered to dispose of objects in the black hole due to Homer's new business, [[Magic Craphole Waste Removal]]. The black hole then destroys the house and starts to suck in more objects. Lisa tells everyone to stop before the black hole hits critical mass. Meanwhile, [[Milhouse]] is at a ball game and hits his first home run, with the ball ending up in the black hole. The black hole starts to suck in everyone and everything in Springfield until it sucks up [[Maggie]]'s pacifier, which calms the black hole and stops it. Maggie is then left in Springfield alone.
 +
 
 +
The rest of the family, along with everyone else who got sucked in, get transported to an unknown [[rocky planet]] where they meet the [[Ethereal Beings]]. The beings are gracious for all the gifts they received through the black hole and built their society around everything that got sent through. Homer tries to correct them, saying it was all trash, but Marge stops him.
  
 
=== UNnormal Activity ===
 
=== UNnormal Activity ===
 
[[File:UNnormal activity.png|thumb|UNnormal Activity title card]]
 
[[File:UNnormal activity.png|thumb|UNnormal Activity title card]]
−
Homer is filming himself in the mirror with a camera at 11:15am. He says that he bought the camera because strange things are happening in the house in the dead of night. Homer films some of the strange things - "Beware!" written in blood on the wall and "Get Out" spelled out on the floor with Maggie's alphabet blocks. Homer says that if anyone finds this footage after they're missing or dead they should remember him as a hero. Bart then comes in the house telling Homer that he forgot to pick him up from Little League and Lisa tells Homer that he threw his car keys in Lisa's bean plant. Homer shouts "A hero!", before Ned asks him if that's his camera. Homer runs upstairs. At 10:22pm, Homer fixes the camera on the wall of the bedroom and gets into bed. Homer asks Marge if she wants to snuggle, but Marge says that she won't with the camera on. Homer tries to convince Marge that the camera is off, but it doesn't work. Marge goes to sleep, and so does Homer. At around 2:10am in the morning, the bedroom door opens and the duvet is lifted off the bed and onto the floor. Also, the cupboard opens and a golf club is lifted up in the air and Homer is hit on the head with it. It falls to the floor. Around 2¼ hours later, the two are woken up by a loud noise downstairs. Marge rushes out of the bedroom, and so does Homer with the camera. He goes onto the landing, and then falls down the stairs. Homer goes into the family room, which has been destroyed. Marge is breathing heavily, and Lisa asks "Why is this happening to us?" Marge says that she doesn't know and Homer comforts Lisa by saying that sometimes a mysterious invisible being from hell waits for a family to go to sleep then kills them. Homer tells Lisa to go to bed because it's a school night. In the living room at 1:15pm the next day, a man fits a camera into the wall. Homer asks the man if he's got enough cameras and extended warranty to catch the ghost. The man says that whatever happens in the house the cameras will pick up. At around 11:15pm on Night 6, Bart is asleep in his room and so is Milhouse. But, Milhouse is also asleep on the floor of Lisa's room as well - seconds later. In Maggie's room, she is asleep in her cot while her alphabet blocks spell out "LEAVE NOW" on the floor. In Homer and Marge's bedroom, Marge suddenly gets out of bed and walks to the other side of the bed - where Homer is sleeping. She watches over Homer for 4 hours, when Homer wakes up and says hello to Marge. Marge growls, while Homer tries to get her into having sex with him. At around 4:10am, Homer is peeing in the bathroom when Marge suddenly walks to the door and stands there for 20 minutes - and Homer says at the toilet, still peeing. Both of them remain where they are for another ¾ of an hour. At about 2:10pm, [[Chief Wiggum]] is testing the fire in the family room and tells the family that it is hell fire, and also that someone in the family has made a deal with the devil and the devil wants his doo. Marge looks anxious, while Wiggum says that the devil feeds on their fear. Wiggum runs out of the room, scared after the cuckoo-clock 'cuckoos'. Wiggum enters, now a skeleton, saying that the devil feeds on more than just fear. He collapses. Night 15, and at around 1:25am in Maggie's room, her blocks on the floor (now spelling "TOO LATE") are vibrating and so is the door. Maggie wakes up and watches her blocks pushed to the edge of the room. Maggie is levitated and is put into a baby carrier and a bag is placed on the baby carrier, which a bottle has been put into. Maggie's baby seat is lifted up, just as Marge comes into the room and yells "Give me my baby back". The rest of the family (apart from Bart) follows Marge into the room, before something yells out "We had a deal!" The something tells Marge to not act surprised, because she knew this day was coming. Bart rushes into the room and throws baby powder over the something - the devil (which looks very similar to [[Moe Szyslak]]). Marge starts crying, saying that she brought this on the whole family. It began when Marge was a girl. [[Patty]] and [[Selma]] were in the attic trying to hail Satan when Marge came up and asked the two what they were doing. They say that they are trying to summon Satan because there is nothing good on TV, they have no boyfriends and they are bored. The two continue to attempt to summon Satan, and they are successful. Marge asks the devil if he can come back for her sisters later, and the devil agrees. But, Marge only has 30 years and when he returns, he will take her favorite child. Back in the present, Lisa is shocked because she thought she was the favorite. And so, Satan gives Maggie to Marge and picks up Lisa. Lisa says "Not the favorite! Not the favorite!" and Satan puts Lisa down. Homer steps forward, asking Satan if they is another deal he can accept - which is three-way. Homer asks if it is him, Satan and Marge. Satan then says that it's actually Homer, Demon and Demon. Homer groans saying that it's one of those things a dad has to do. At around 3:30am, Homer asks what the safe word is. Satan says that it is "cinnamon". Homer says that he wants to try something new and he throws his dressing gown at the camera. Satan shouts "Cinnamon!" multiple times, wanting Homer to stop.
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Homer is filming himself in the mirror with a camcorder which he got because strange things have been happening in the house at night. That night, Homer sets the camera up in the bedroom and he and Marge go to sleep. Later that night, the door opens and an invisible entity removes the bed covers before hitting Homer repeatedly with a golf club. A loud noise then comes from downstairs, waking up the family. They head downstairs to find that the living room is destroyed. The next day, Homer gets more cameras installed around the house. That night, Marge gets out of bed and just stares at Homer whilst he's sleeping, and later whilst Homer is going to the toilet.
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 +
The next day, [[Chief Wiggum]] arrives at the house and identifies that the fire is indeed hellfire. He then says that someone made a deal with a devil. A cuckoo clock then goes off and Wiggum runs out of the room, only to get eaten by the demon. That night, the demon goes to take Maggie from her room, but is stopped by Marge. Bart throws talcum powder over the [[Moe-looking Satan|demon]], revealing him to the family. Marge then admits that years ago, she made a deal with the devil to stop him from taking [[Patty]] and [[Selma]] when they tried to summon him. In return, Marge would give away her favorite child. Homer talks to him to get a new deal, and the devil suggests a three-way with him, Homer, and another demon. When they go to have the three-way, Homer does something that the devil doesn't like and he repeatedly says the safe word.
  
 
=== Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure ===
 
=== Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure ===
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[[File:Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure.png|thumb|Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure title card]]
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[[File:Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure.png|left|thumb|Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure title card]]
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Bart is in the [[Android's Dungeon]] looking at a ''{{ap|Radioactive Man|comic}}'' comic. Bart tells [[Comic Book Guy]] that it's not fair that he's charging $200 for a comic that says 25¢ on the cover. Comic Book Guy tells Bart that the only way to purchase the comic at the cover price is to go back in time to 1974. Bart says that's impossible, but then he looks over to a comic, ''[[Fantastic Foreshadowing]]'', which features him on the cover and says "The Boy Who Went Back to 1974". Bart skateboards out into the street, where he meets [[Professor Frink]] - who has just tested out his car time machine. Frink tells Bart to hold his keys while he grabs some lunch - but Bart gives this as the chance to go back to 1974. In 1974, Bart goes to the Android's Dungeon's grand opening and purchases the comic. Bart reads the comic - but throws it in the bin, because it's too preachy, outside the boy's bathroom at [[Springfield High School]]. [[Principal Dondelinger]] is telling off a young Homer Simpson and a young [[Barney Gumble]] for smoking. Bart is shocked - as it's Homer before his boobs came in. Bart goes into the high school. In the detention hall, Homer meets Bart, who explains to Homer that he's his unwanted son from the future who killed all his fun. The young Homer then strangles Bart. A young Marge then enters the room. Homer is still strangling Bart while Marge sits down. Marge tells off Homer, saying that what kind of jerk would strangle a young child. Homer asks Marge to the prom, but Marge refuses. Homer tells off Bart because it was love at first sight and he ruined it. Marge then says that it wasn't love at first sight, and Homer says "What do you know?" Marge says that she knows who she's in love with, and Homer says that she's looking at him. Marge calls Homer an idiot, and Homer returns the favour - shocking Marge. Homer tells Marge to not act like it's the first time someone said that to her - but that backfires, because it IS the first time someone has said that to her. Homer tells Marge to shut up and go to the prom with him. Bart "aye caramba"s, and wonders what will happen if Homer and Marge don't get together. Bart checks his [[myPhone]] photos, and a photo of him outside the Simpson House disappears - making him think that he won't exist. But then, another picture appears, which features Bart outside of a bigger and more fancier house - which prompts him to think that his life will be a hell of a lot better. Bart goes up to young Marge, telling her not to marry "that ape". Meanwhile, young Homer is writing two choices for Marge on the chalkboard:
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Bart is in [[The Android's Dungeon]] and complains about the price of a ''{{ap|Radioactive Man|comic}}'' comic to [[Comic Book Guy]], as the cover says 25¢ but he was selling it for $200. Comic Book Guy tells Bart that the only way he could get it for the cover price would be to go back in time to 1974. Bart thinks that's impossible, but then sees a comic book called ''[[Fantastic Foreshadowing]]'', with him on the cover in a time traveling car. Bart leaves and runs into Professor Frink, who arrives in the present in the same time traveling car from the cover of the comic. He tells Bart to hold the keys while he grabs some lunch. Bart then gets in the car and goes to 1974, with several posters of ''[[James Bond]]'' films passing by in the time stream.
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:A) Go With Me to the Prom.
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:B) Cry So Hard Forever.
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Bart arrives in 1974 and goes to buy the comic, which he throws in the trash after reading. He then passes [[Springfield High School]] and hears [[Principal Dondelinger]] giving Homer and [[Barney]] detention for smoking. Bart goes into detention with them and tells Homer that he's Homer's kid from the future who ruins Homer's life. Homer strangles Bart as Marge enters the classroom. This leads to Marge becoming horrified at Homer for strangling a child and she refuses to date him. Bart realizes that this means he won't exist, but checks his phone to see the picture of him in front of the house changed to one of him in front of a [[Ziff-Bouvier Mansion|mansion]]. Bart thinks that his life will be better in the future so he goes to the future again, with Homer following him and getting into the trunk of the car.
−
Marge tells Bart "Whatever you say, little boy", and Bart runs off. Homer chases after him. Bart jumps into the time machine and tells himself to go to a future where his rich, or a future where he is allowed to stand outside a rich guy's house. While Bart is about to set off, young Homer gets into the trunk of the car. Just as he closes the trunk door, Bart sets off into the future. In 2012, Bart skateboards off, and young Homer gets out of the trunk. Homer starts angrily muttering about the stupid kid that stole his future, but then sees a poster for [[Ken & Harry's Ice Cream|Ken & Harry's]] Cookie Dough Ice-Cream. He goes over to a shop window where ''[[The Itchy & Scratchy Show]]'' is playing on a huge TV - and is shocked when he sees an ad for Thursday Night Football. He also comments that the globe is so warm and that he is in awe at the future. Chief Wiggum then passes the street, asleep on a [[Segway]]. Homer says that that's not so great. Bart walks up the steps to his house, where he opens the door and finds Marge giving a smoothie to [[Artie Ziff]]. Bart is shocked that his dad is Artie Ziff - which makes him [[Bartie Ziff]]. Bart goes over to the mirror and lifts his cap. He has curly hair, and now says "Oy, carumba". Bart's [[Lisa Ziff|sist]][[Maggie Ziff|ers]] and [[Marge Ziff|mother]] are having breakfast at the table, with Bart's sisters all having curly hair. Artie says good morning to Bartie, and tells him to enjoy his luxurious life - and his own bully butler - [[Nelson Muntz]]. Bart tells Nelson to give himself a wedgie. Unbeknown to them, a young Homer is watching them from their window. He says that he missed the jive turkeys in the '70s, but that turkey's a jivis. Homer - the present Homer - tells off young Homer because this is his peeping tree. Homer then realizes that the teenager on the other branch is actually young him. Homer asks why he is in the present. Young Homer says that he traveled through space and time to make Marge settle for him because she doesn't know better. Homer tells Young Homer that if they put their heads together they can think of a plan. Young Homer stares down at Present Homer's stomach and asks what happened - and asks if he was in a forest fire. Homer tells him no, and then the two continue watching the Ziffs. Later on, Bart is using a whip to make petals fall off a daisy - which is in Nelson the butler's mouth, saying "I love my life" and "I love it not" while Artie watches. Artie tells Bartie that he's just like [[Indiana Jones]], a role played by Richard Dreyfuss in their universe. The doorbell rings and at the door is Homer, who has come to take his life back. Artie says that he thought this might happen, so he mastered [[Brazil]]ian jujitsu. Artie performs a jujitsu move and tells Homer to attack him. Homer says "Not so fast" and tells Artie to say hello to the United Federation of Homers through history. Artie and Bartie roll their sleeves up and clench their fist - five minutes later they have beaten up all the Homers. Present Homer tells the guys to regroup - even though he's in a tree. Their plan is to come back with more Homers and start fresh in the morning. Marge comes out and is startled. She looks at all the Homers and the Opera Homer asks Marge what she is doing there. Marge says that she realizes that she married the wrong man, and comforts the 'poor, sweet, simple Homers'. She announces that she was supposed to be with all of them. The Caveman Homer grunts, trying to speak normally. Marge says that she meant him as well. The present Homer, still stuck in the tree, corrects Marge - Caveman Homer is Renaissance Homer. Marge tells Homer that she wished that twenty years ago, she should've chosen love. Marge and Homer kiss while the other Homers look on. In the Simpson House, all of the Homers are watching TV when Marge comes in and tells them to get this straight - none of them had time to take out the garbage. Opera Homer says that Egyptian slave Homer should do it. The Egyptian slave Homer grumbles, because it's always him. The other Homers laugh.
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Back in the present, Bart goes home and finds that he is now [[Barty Ziff]], the son of [[Artie Ziff]] and [[Marge Ziff]]. Meanwhile, the teenage Homer spies on them from a tree, with the present Homer doing the same. The two Homers decide to bring an army of Homers from throughout history to fight Artie Ziff. Artie and Barty easily defeat the army, but Marge comes out to find the defeated Homers and realizes she got with the wrong person. Marge gets together with all the Homers, but gets annoyed when none of them took the trash out.
  
 
== Production ==
 
== Production ==

Revision as of 10:01, October 11, 2023

Template:FEpisode

Season 24 Episode
← 509 "Moonshine River"
510
"Treehouse of Horror XXIII"
"Adventures in Baby-Getting" 511 →
← XXII "Treehouse of Horror XXII"
XXIII
"Treehouse of Horror XXIII"
"Treehouse of Horror XXIV" XXIV →
Treehouse of Horror Episode


This article is about the episode. For other uses of "Treehouse of Horror XXIII", see Treehouse of Horror XXIII (disambiguation).
Donut Homer.png This THOH is considered non-canon and the events featured do not relate to the series and therefore may not have actually happened/existed.

The reason behind this decision is: The episode is part of the Treehouse of Horror series.

If you dispute this, please bring it up on the episode's talk page.

"Treehouse of Horror XXIII"
Treehouse of Horror XXIII title.png
Title screen for the episode.
Episode Information
Episode number: 510
Season number: S24 E2
Production code: PABF17
Original airdate: October 7, 2012
Guest star(s): Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff
Showrunner: [[Al Jean]]
Written by: David Mandel
Brian Kelley
Directed by: Steven Dean Moore
[[Category:Episodes showrun by Al Jean]]


"Treehouse of Horror XXIII" is the second episode of season 24 of The Simpsons and the five-hundred and tenth episode overall. It is also the twenty-third installment in the Treehouse of Horror series and consists of three parts. It originally aired on October 7, 2012. The episode was written by David Mandel and Brian Kelley and directed by Steven Dean Moore. It guest stars Jon Lovitz as Artie Ziff.

Synopsis

"We go back to ancient times when a Mayan Homer and Marge are witness to the prediction that 2012 will be the end of the world, the Springfield Subatomic Supercollider creates a black hole that terrorizes the city, a little unholy pact Marge when she was younger makes things go bump in the night and Bart travels to 1974 to buy a comic book at cover price but inadvertently disrupts Homer and Marge's courtship."


Plot

Opening sequence

In Chichen Itza, during Mayan times, the high priests look at the Mayan calendar and work out that the world will be destroyed at the end of the 13th baktun. They decide that they must appease the gods with a human sacrifice, and decide on Mayan Homer as the sacrifice. Mayan Marge comes up with a plan to get Homer out of it and seduces the Mayan priest in charge of the execution and sends him to be executed instead. when Professor Frink realizes that they sacrificed the wrong person, he says that the world will indeed end on the 13th baktun, which he then works out to be the year 2012, which leaves the Mayans relieved. In the present day, the doorbell of the Simpson house rings, and it's one of the Mayan gods. The Mayan gods then proceed to destroy Springfield, then the rest of the world. The planet explodes, leaving behind the "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" logo.

The Greatest Story Ever Holed

The Greatest Story Ever Holed title card

At the newly built Springfield Subatomic Supercollider, citizens of the town have arrived to watch it get turned on. Professor Frink turns on the collider and nothing happens, with Frink saying that the accelerator is too small to tell them anything important. Everyone gets disappointed and leaves the building as the particles are shot around the accelerator until two of them collide. This creates a miniature black hole which escapes the accelerator and starts to suck in objects and people. Lisa decides to take it home to keep people safe from the black hole and puts it in the basement. The family confronts Lisa about the black hole and Homer tries to pat the black hole, making his fingers get longer as a result. Lisa and Marge tell everyone not to put stuff into the black hole to stop it becoming bigger and more dangerous. However, the family disposes of things within the black hole anyway.

The black hole gets bigger and starts sucking in objects from all around the house. The doorbell then rings and people of Springfield have gathered to dispose of objects in the black hole due to Homer's new business, Magic Craphole Waste Removal. The black hole then destroys the house and starts to suck in more objects. Lisa tells everyone to stop before the black hole hits critical mass. Meanwhile, Milhouse is at a ball game and hits his first home run, with the ball ending up in the black hole. The black hole starts to suck in everyone and everything in Springfield until it sucks up Maggie's pacifier, which calms the black hole and stops it. Maggie is then left in Springfield alone.

The rest of the family, along with everyone else who got sucked in, get transported to an unknown rocky planet where they meet the Ethereal Beings. The beings are gracious for all the gifts they received through the black hole and built their society around everything that got sent through. Homer tries to correct them, saying it was all trash, but Marge stops him.

UNnormal Activity

UNnormal Activity title card

Homer is filming himself in the mirror with a camcorder which he got because strange things have been happening in the house at night. That night, Homer sets the camera up in the bedroom and he and Marge go to sleep. Later that night, the door opens and an invisible entity removes the bed covers before hitting Homer repeatedly with a golf club. A loud noise then comes from downstairs, waking up the family. They head downstairs to find that the living room is destroyed. The next day, Homer gets more cameras installed around the house. That night, Marge gets out of bed and just stares at Homer whilst he's sleeping, and later whilst Homer is going to the toilet.

The next day, Chief Wiggum arrives at the house and identifies that the fire is indeed hellfire. He then says that someone made a deal with a devil. A cuckoo clock then goes off and Wiggum runs out of the room, only to get eaten by the demon. That night, the demon goes to take Maggie from her room, but is stopped by Marge. Bart throws talcum powder over the demon, revealing him to the family. Marge then admits that years ago, she made a deal with the devil to stop him from taking Patty and Selma when they tried to summon him. In return, Marge would give away her favorite child. Homer talks to him to get a new deal, and the devil suggests a three-way with him, Homer, and another demon. When they go to have the three-way, Homer does something that the devil doesn't like and he repeatedly says the safe word.

Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure

Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure title card

Bart is in The Android's Dungeon and complains about the price of a Radioactive Man comic to Comic Book Guy, as the cover says 25¢ but he was selling it for $200. Comic Book Guy tells Bart that the only way he could get it for the cover price would be to go back in time to 1974. Bart thinks that's impossible, but then sees a comic book called Fantastic Foreshadowing, with him on the cover in a time traveling car. Bart leaves and runs into Professor Frink, who arrives in the present in the same time traveling car from the cover of the comic. He tells Bart to hold the keys while he grabs some lunch. Bart then gets in the car and goes to 1974, with several posters of James Bond films passing by in the time stream.

Bart arrives in 1974 and goes to buy the comic, which he throws in the trash after reading. He then passes Springfield High School and hears Principal Dondelinger giving Homer and Barney detention for smoking. Bart goes into detention with them and tells Homer that he's Homer's kid from the future who ruins Homer's life. Homer strangles Bart as Marge enters the classroom. This leads to Marge becoming horrified at Homer for strangling a child and she refuses to date him. Bart realizes that this means he won't exist, but checks his phone to see the picture of him in front of the house changed to one of him in front of a mansion. Bart thinks that his life will be better in the future so he goes to the future again, with Homer following him and getting into the trunk of the car.

Back in the present, Bart goes home and finds that he is now Barty Ziff, the son of Artie Ziff and Marge Ziff. Meanwhile, the teenage Homer spies on them from a tree, with the present Homer doing the same. The two Homers decide to bring an army of Homers from throughout history to fight Artie Ziff. Artie and Barty easily defeat the army, but Marge comes out to find the defeated Homers and realizes she got with the wrong person. Marge gets together with all the Homers, but gets annoyed when none of them took the trash out.

Production

A sneak peek of the segment "The Greatest Story Every Holed" was screened at San Diego Comic-Con International on July 14, 2012.[1]

They planned to start the episode with the presidential elections again but changed it to the Maya Indians. The Black hole part was initially an idea for a regular episode. The idea of Bart travelling back in time came from James L. Brooks and the idea originally was Marge should fall in love with Bart.[2] Storyboards for the segment "The Greatest Story Ever Holed" were posted on PinInterest. One of the cut scenes in the episode was when the black hole sucked up Christmas decorations in the Simpsons' basement and the family "oooh"ed.

"Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure" had a few changes prior to airing. The original had Frink get arrested for his time travel experiment instead of going to lunch, the James Bond posters were not colored in and there was less instrumental scene setting music. Also, two other songs were in the sequence, "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News and the "It's About Time theme".[3]

Reception

This episode gathered 6.52 million viewers on its premiere, making it the lowest-watched Treehouse of Horror episode on record - hardly a surprise given this is also the furthest a Treehouse of Horror episode has aired out from Halloween.[4] A Facebook poll was set up by the show's Facebook account, TheSimpsons, asking what segment was the voters' favorite. And so, on October 15, 2012, Fox's YouTube account dedicated to animation, ANIMATIONONFOX, uploaded the segment, but several scenes are different. This new version of the segment can be viewed here.

"Treehouse of Horror XXIII" was nominated for a 2013 Writers Guild of America award in Animation, but it lost to "Ned 'n Edna's Blend Agenda".[5] It was also nominated for a 2012 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement, Music in an Animated Television or other Broadcast Venue Production, but it lost to "How to Pick Your Dragon" from DreamWorks Dragons.[6] The episode also got nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. However, it lost to "Raising the Bar" from South Park.[7]

Animator Paul Wee won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation in the 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the episode.[8]

In other languages

Language Name Translation
Hispanic America.gif Español "La Casita del Horror XXIII" Little House of Horror XXIII
Brasil Flag.png Português "A casa da árvore dos horrores XXIII" Treehouse of Horrors XXIII

International airdates

Country Date Channel Note
Hispanic America.gif Latin America March 31, 2013 Fox Latin America
800px-Flag of the United Kingdom.svg.png United Kingdom March 24, 2013; 6:30pm Sky1 Gathered 1,312,000 viewers
Spain flag.png Spain December 23, 2014 Antena 3

Gallery

  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 1.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 2.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 3.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 4.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 5.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 6.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 7.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 8.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 9.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 10.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 11.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo 12.jpg
  • Treehouse of Horror XXIII promo - Artie, Bart and the many Homers.png

References

  1. ↑ THE SIMPSONS at Comic-Con
  2. ↑ Commentary track
  3. ↑ Youtube favicon.png THE SIMPSONS - Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure from "Treehouse of Horror XXIII" at YouTube
  4. ↑ SimpsonsChannel.com - Ratings: Treehouse of Horror XXIII
  5. ↑ IMDb - "Writers Guild of America, USA 2013 Awards"
  6. ↑ The Annie Awards - "40th Annie Awards" (archived on Wayback Machine)
  7. ↑ Television Academy - "Outstanding Animated Program - 2013"
  8. ↑ Television Academy - "Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation - 2013"


External links


The Saga of Carl - title screen.png Wikisimpsons has a collection of images related to "Treehouse of Horror XXIII".
Season 24 Episodes
Moonshine River • Treehouse of Horror XXIII • Adventures in Baby-Getting • Gone Abie Gone • Penny-Wiseguys • A Tree Grows in Springfield • The Day the Earth Stood Cool • To Cur, with Love • Homer Goes to Prep School • A Test Before Trying • The Changing of the Guardian • Love Is a Many-Splintered Thing • Hardly Kirk-ing • Gorgeous Grampa • Black-Eyed, Please • Dark Knight Court • What Animated Women Want • Pulpit Friction • Whiskey Business • The Fabulous Faker Boy • The Saga of Carl • Dangers on a Train
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