Treehouse of Horror XIV

Directed by:	Steven Dean Moore
Written by:	John Swartzwelder
Release date:	November 2, 2003
Available on:	DVD

Promotional artwork for the episode.

“

Kang: Pathetic humans. They're showing a Halloween episode... in NOVEMBER! Kodos: Who's still thinking about Halloween? We've already got our Christmas decorations up!

”

"Treehouse of Horror XIV" is the fourteenth Halloween episode of The Simpsons, originally aired on November 2, 2003, two days after Halloween. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore. It guest stars Jerry Lewis as Professor John Frink Sr., Jennifer Garner, Dudley Herschbach, and Oscar de la Hoya as themselves.

The episode was nominated for the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore).

Synopsis

Introduction

Bart and Lisa, dressed as Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt from the Peanuts series, discuss their Halloween treats, and Lisa claims that hers are better than Bart's. The two then fight violently until Homer intervenes and orders them to stop fighting. He throws a burning log at them, but misses and hits Grampa, though he complains "I'm still cold". Homer gets Bart and Lisa rolled up in the rug and starts to "beat the lumps". A gun-wielding Marge intervenes and says that she does not approve of Homer's parenting techniques, and shoots him. Homer's blood splatters on a nearby wall, and spells "Treehouse of Horror XIV". From their spaceship, Kang and Kodos criticize the Simpson family for airing a Halloween special in November, as they are already set for Christmas.

Reaper Madness

Death enters the Simpson house attempting to take Bart but the family goes on a Benny Hill-style chase to elude him. However, Death eventually manages to pin Bart's shirt to the wall with its scythe. As Death sentences Bart to an eternity of pain, Homer kills him with a bowling ball (in revenge for Snowball I and President John F. Kennedy), but when he does, he learns that no one can die since Death is dead. The scene then cuts to two examples of a world where no one can die: Frankie the Squealer being repeatedly gunned down by the Springfield Mafia and Moe hanging himself from the ceiling with no success. On trash day, Marge tells Homer to take the dead Death to the curb which Homer says he will without enthusiasm. Homer does, but puts on the robe, inadvertently turning himself into the new Grim Reaper. At first, he refuses to reap souls, but when the cloak begins to crush his crotch, he complies.

He kills many people on God's list (and some who are not) until he is asked to kill Marge. Homer does not want to kill his wife (suicide|or himself, an alternative he is given but quickly rejects), and he tries to plead to God that he wants to get out of the job after leading Him to believe that he killed Marge. God agrees, but He finds that Homer tricked Him by substituting Marge for Patty's body (which God initially mistakes for Selma's) for Marge's. The annoyed deity tries to punish Homer with a deadly sunbeam but gives up after a chase, proclaiming that He is "too old and too rich". Marge thanks Homer by giving him extra pork chops. Homer then jokes that he will make sure to not kill Marge every week from now on.

Frinkenstein

Homer gets a call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences telling him that he is the winner of the Nobel Prize; however, Lisa learns that it is actually for Professor Frink. Frink is depressed because his father, an adventurer, had a falling out with him and died from a shark bite before they could reconcile. Frink, who kept the corpse frozen, reanimates his father. Unfortunately the revived man decides to steal body parts to improve himself. Eventually, Lisa convinces Frink Sr. to stop when he realizes he is causing his son anguish.

At the awards ceremony in Stockholm, Frink Sr. tries to make amends with his son for his recent behavior; however, he goes on another rampage through the audience, killing many and taking their brains. Frink Jr. manages to stop his father by kicking him in the crotch, killing him. Before dying, Frink Sr. is proud of his son for standing up to him, however he is able to hold on to his father's soul, which talks to him from a box.

Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off

Bart and Milhouse get a stopwatch through an advertisement in an old comic book magazine that actually allows them to stop time. Realizing the power behind the watch, they set off to prank Springfieldians with impunity, such as pantsing Principal Skinner. They have a blast using the watch to terrorize the town, but they are eventually outsmarted by Mayor Quimby, who laid ultraviolet powder on the floor at the town meeting where they committed their most recent joke. Upon discovering the perpetrators, an angry mob goes after Bart and Milhouse. Just as the mob is about to converge on them, the boys use the watch to once again freeze time. The watch breaks after stopping the time together, leaving the two in a frozen world.

For a time, they have some fun with the entire world (such as giving the Pope a wedgie and punching Oscar de la Hoya in the stomach) but soon become bored. They find a watch repair manual that can un-freeze the world, but it takes fifteen years to repair the device. Just before they re-activate the watch, they place Martin in the middle of the mob that was just about to maul them; he is viciously attacked. Later, Lisa makes light of the fact that Bart is much older, and asks to play with the watch. She finds a secondary function that changes reality, altering the family in many ways (including switching genders, turning into rockets, bobbleheads, TV Guides, and the Fantastic Four). Homer has her stop when the family, now normal, is playing with hula hoops.

Reception

The episode was nominated for the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore). In the July 26, 2007 issue of Nature, the scientific journal's editorial staff listed the "Frinkenstein" segment among "The Top Ten science moments in The Simpsons", writing that "chemistry Nobel prizewinner Dudley Herschbach appears on the show to present Professor Frink with a Nobel prize of his own. Herschbach won the prize for crossed-molecular-beam techniques with which to study in detail the dynamics of chemical reactions. Frink is rewarded for creating a hammer-screwdriver."

Trivia

• This is the second time that Ned Flanders becomes the devil. The first was in "Treehouse of Horror IV".
• The Halloween names (such as "Blood Curdling Cartwright") return to the closing credits.
• Homer's remark talking about the previous episode has a similarity to "Treehouse of Horror XII", where the Leprechaun from the first story, "Hex and the City", is seen on Bart's back in the "Wiz Kids" segment.
• The scene where Professor Frink kicks his father in the crotch is similar to the second Scooby-Doo movie, where Velma kicks the Black Knight ghost in the crotch, saying it was his "weak spot". The film was released 4 months after the episode aired.
• Parts of Frinkenstein include:
  • Snake Jailbird's right arm.
  • Mr. Burns' left arm.
  • Sideshow Mel's hair.
  • Krusty's neck.
  • Nelson's torso.
  • part of Selma's right foot.
  • Disco Stu's left foot.
  • Kearney's legs.
  • Ned's organs.
  • Principal Skinner's spine.
  • Comic Book Guy's butt.
• When Lisa uses the stopwatch at the end of "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off" Bart changes back from his 25 year old self back to his 10 year old self without explanation.
• Lisa is talking Swedish. She says "Tack för att ni förärar vår stad" which can be translated to: "Thank you for honoring our city". Although the pronunciation is so poor that it's difficult for even native swedes to hear what she's supposed to say.

External links

• The Simpsons Wiki: Treehouse of Horror XIV
• "Treehouse of Horror XIV" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Treehouse of Horror XIV" recap at TV Tropes