Treehouse of Horror XIX

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

Treehouse of Horror XIX is the fourth episode of Season 20. It aired on November 2 2008. The episode was written by Matt Warburton and directed by Bob Anderson.

Opening segment
In the opening scene, Homer tries to vote for President 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 sucks him in and kills him. It then spits out his corpse and then Jasper puts an 'I Voted' sticker on his head.



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, but collapses on the lawn. Bart gives 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 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 to alert Lisa, but she doesn't buy it. 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 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". When he enters the room, the pink ferrari transformer asks him where he was, to which he responds "Where haven't I been!" 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". Even the toaster transforms to "NO"! Outside Homer enters his vehicle and backs out of the driveway, but then the car transforms with his head sticking out the back (resembling Optimus Prime in color and design). Another robot comes (which resembles the original Megatron) with Ned Flanders in its 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 in the first place 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
Homer and Marge put Maggie into a daycare center, but Maggie beckons her parents to stay, because of no fun. And so, Homer turns her attention to a mural with Krusty's face on it, since she's familiar with the clown. However, the real Krusty the Clown defaces sections of the mural with his face on it, because it's, as he calls it, 'unlicensed use of my image.' Homer then shoves Krusty in retaliation because he made his daughter upset. Angered, Homer pushes Krusty into various play equipment, and into a wood chipper, where Krusty is shredded to pieces. Later on, Homer is approached by businessmen who heard of his deed. Apparently, the likeness of dead celebrities can be put in commercials for free, since they refuse to sponsor certain products. They manage to convince Homer to start killing celebrities such as George Clooney, Emma Bunton, Prince, and Neil Armstrong. Meanwhile, back in Heaven, the dead celebrities (including John Lennon) are outraged by these exploits. Krusty the Clown convinces the dead celebrities except for Abraham Lincoln (who for some reason likes his exploit about him and George Washington kissing each other at a wedding commercial for a marathon though this outrages Washigton) 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 very, very good 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 (Kang and Kodos make a cameo here). 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 segment 3 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.

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."

Treehouse of Horror XIX