Treehouse of Horror XV

For the continuing series of Halloween specials, see Treehouse of Horror Series.

""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 of The Simpsons, 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.

Opening segment
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. Kang and Kodos get a hyper-galactic promotion. Bart is sad about being an orphan, but he is adopted by Kang and Kodos. The Perfect Strangers theme song then plays over the opening credits.

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 and has a vision of him getting chewed up by alligators. In shock, he drops Hans - right into an open manhole, 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, for Lenny's birthday, 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, and Ned says "You stupid son of a...!", the power plant explodes 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 his frisbee.

Ned, obviously, did not prevent the future. If you look clearly in the vision of the shooting, he held a black gun, which looked exactly like the power plant security guard's gun, not Chief Wiggum's pistol. A common theme with this kind of story is the immutability of the future.

Four Beheadings and a Funeral
In 1890 London, women are being killed with swords in a series of unsolved murders. Scotland Yard Detective Eliza Simpson 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.

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. 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.Marge questions why Frink made her swimsuit so reavealing.Homer (looking at Marge's breasts the entire time)says "Marge thats what makes this a fantastic voyage" (this becomes a recurring theme as antibody's eat away at her suit leaving her in a skimpy bikini).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.Lisa is afraid.Marge says "These blood cells are eating my clothes.I must admitt they know where to stop".The crew left Homer behind when their craft doesn't have enough power to save them all. The submarine successfully escapes, and Homer returns to his original size inside Mr. Burns' skin. Even though 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 I've Got You Under My Skin.