Treehouse of Horror XIX

"Treehouse of Horror XIX"

Episode Information

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Treehouse of Horror XIX is the fourth episode from season 20.

This is one of several Simpsons episodes which are considered anthology episodes that features mini-stories.

Stories

Opening segment

In the opening scene, Homer tries to vote for Obama in the presidential election, but the voting machine is rigged to turn his vote into one for McCain, and after six attempts to vote for Obama the machine kills him.

Morf Transers, Trans Morfers, Snort Farmers, Untitled Robot Parody

It is Christmas, and Bart has bought gifts for everyone except Lisa. He enters a You Forgot-Me-Nots store in hopes of finding a cheap gift for Lisa. Upon entering the store Bart goes through a box entitled "Only 99 cents" and looks through the various toys and novelty items and subsequently gives up. Behind him a red cab-over semi-truck (reminiscent of the original Optimus Prime) appears blinking it's lights at Bart in an attempt to gain his attention. He dismisses the toy stating "Come back when you're something else!". The truck rolls back and transforms into a pink convertible Ferrari. The car beeps and calls Bart's attention. Bart turns around and exclaims "Perfect!". On Christmas morning Homer hands Grandpa a gift-wrapped tank of Oxygen as a gift. Grandpa responds like an eager child to "play with it outside" and after confirmation runs to the front yard to breathe in the Oxygen. He then collapses on the lawn. Bart hands his gift (the pink convertible) to Lisa. She then sarcastically remarks the last Christmas gift she received from Bart, a box of burps. Bart then grabs her Christmas stocking and proceeds to burp in it. Lisa opens the box and to her surprise gets "an actual present". She then gratefully hugs Bart. Meanwhile the Malibu Stacy convertible transforms and emits a laser beam to burn the angel on top of the Christmas tree, Maggie drops her pacifier as it turns back into a car. Maggie points at the toy and Lisa reassures her it's a car. The toy then grabs the pacifier and shoves it into Maggie's mouth. That night the toy transforms and "chokes" the Malibu Stacy doll. The transformer then shoots 4 beams at an alarm clock, a lamp, a boom-box and another off-screen. The Malibu Stacy convertible transformer calls the "Posibots" to transform: Alarm Clock "Snooze", Lamp "Three-Way", Boom-Box "Melody". The Posibot Leader notices a missing member, "Sex Toy". He then enters the room and utters a sexual joke. The next morning all the machines in the kitchen have been converted into transformers and transform while Homer reads the newspaper. He then notices something "different" to which the transformers unanimously state "no". A clever toaster reassures Homer of this. Outside Homer enters his vehicle and backs out of the driveway, but then the car transforms with him in it (resembling Optimus Prime in color and design). Homer is stuck in a compartment in the robot's posterior. Another robot comes (which resembles the original Megatron) with Ned Flanders in the it's posterior and both robots proceed to fight. Homer then asks Lisa what is happening to which she responds with a surprisingly correct theory. All over Springfield machines transform into robots. In the center of town "Carnage Destructicus" & "Bestimus Mucho" prepare for a final battle. Marge interrupts asking for the fighting to end. The Transformers realize they have no reason to fight and thus team up to enslave Humanity. Members of the Springfield community are then seen tied to poles as players of a Foosball game which Homer suggested the Transformers might enjoy.

How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising

When Homer Simpson accidentally kills Krusty the Clown because he made his daughter upset, he discovers that the likenesses of dead celebrities can be put in commercials for free, so he starts killing celebrities such as George Clooney, Prince, and Neil Armstrong. Krusty the Clown convinces the dead celebrities except for Abraham Lincoln to descend from Heaven and stage an attack upon everyone who benefited from these exploits, with Krusty blowing Homer's head off with a shotgun. When they return to Heaven, they find that Homer had locked them outside for revenge, and he became friends with Abraham Lincoln.

It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse

In a parody of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Milhouse is waiting in the pumpkin patch for the Grand Pumpkin on Halloween, and Lisa accompanies him because (as she puts it) his glasses fog up when he cries, which he would probably do to learn that the Grand Pumpkin doesn't exist. Soon Lisa leaves in frustration when she sees everyone at school having a Halloween party. Using his childlike belief, Milhouse's tears bring the Grand Pumpkin to life. However, the Pumpkin is appalled to find that his kindred pumpkins are being carved up on Halloween, and vows revenge by eating several people whole, including Homer, Groundskeeper Willie, and Nelson. Realizing that Milhouse can bring things to life by believing in them, Lisa tells him about "Tom Turkey", a symbol of Thanksgiving, who comes to life and kills the Grand Pumpkin, freeing everyone he ate. However, when Tom Turkey learns of what people do to turkeys on Thanksgiving, he vows revenge and starts eating the children as well.

Production

The reason the segment couldn't be named "It's the Great Pumpkin, Milhouse" to exactly match its namesake was because of a "big legal issue", according to executive producer Al Jean. However, the characters were redesigned to resemble the style of Peanuts, and they also obtained rights to use Vince Guaraldi's music. "Untitled Robot Parody" is modeled on the live action film, rather than the cartoon. Al Jean said it was "just really fun to do transformations [and] you can see why they enjoyed doing that film." "How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising" featured a parody of the title sequence of Mad Men. Jean was a fan of the series and pitched the scene.

Cultural References

The Untitled Robot Parody is a parody of the Transformers franchise from Hasbro. The toy that blinked it's lights at Bart in the 99cent store resembles the original Optimus Prime cab-over Semi of the Transformers cartoon from 1984(?). Homer and Ned's cars transform into robots resembling Optimus Prime and Megatron. Homer kills several celebrities, including Prince and George Clooney. The beginning of "How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising" is a parody of Mad Men.[8] Milhouse' prayer to the Grand Pumpkin is similar to the Nicene Creed. The dance scene in "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" is a parody of the dance scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Reception

Rick Bentley, of the Seattle Times, described "Treehouse of Horror XIX" as a "paint-by-numbers episode". Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a 7.9/10, calling it "funny, entertaining and even nostalgic [which] only makes this yearly tradition that much better." "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" was regarded by reviewers as the best segment in the episode. Canning wrote, "this segment may not be all that gory, but it's funny and, quite honestly, it will just make you feel good."[8] Bentley described it as "a dead-on comedy assault of the Charlie Brown animated Halloween special."[10] Rob Owen concurred, writing that it, "succeeds because it offers sly cultural commentary." Showpatrol wrote "The nostalgia factor makes “Grand Pumpkin” the best of these amusing bits for me, but they all lack that trademark “Simpsons” brand of satirical smartness."

Appearances

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Characters

Locations

Vehicles

Products

Films/TV

Planet of the Taste

← Season 19 Season 20 Episodes Season 21 →
Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes • Lost Verizon • Double, Double, Boy in Trouble • Treehouse of Horror XIX • Dangerous Curves • Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words • MyPods and Boomsticks • The Burns and the Bees • Lisa the Drama Queen • Take My Life, Please • How the Test Was Won • No Loan Again, Naturally • Gone Maggie Gone • In the Name of the Grandfather • Wedding for Disaster • Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe • The Good, the Sad, and the Drugly • Father Knows Worst • Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh • Four Great Women and a Manicure • Coming to Homerica