|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||||||
|
Treehouse of Horror XIV |
|
|
Treehouse of Horror XIV |
|
Trivia[]
- This is the first Treehouse of Horror where the title is officially billed as just "Treehouse of Horror" with its designated Roman numerals. Before "Treehouse of Horror XIII", they were called "The Simpsons Halloween Special [Roman numerals]", and in "XIII", it was titled "The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror 13".
- The Halloween names return to the closing credits, making it the first Treehouse of Horror episode since "Treehouse of Horror XI" to include Halloween names (this was pointed out in this episode's credits by "Al Jean", as "Al "Halloween Names Are Back" Jean").
- This is the only Treehouse of Horror episode where George Meyer has a scary name, he is credited as Gouge Eyer.
- Before hitting the Grim Reaper, Homer mentions Lisa's previous cat Snowball I and John F. Kennedy.
- In this episode, we see one of many (probably failed) attempts of the Mafia to kill Frankie the Squealer.
- Some of people who were killed by Homer at the stadium are Kirk Van Houten and Reverend Lovejoy.
- This is the first episode to air after The Simpsons: Hit & Run.
- This is the first Treehouse of Horror episode to have a character directly reference in one segment the events of another segment (Homer expresses regret that he gave up on his Death powers regarding "Frinkenstein" upon witnessing his actions).
- The part of the intro where Kang and Kodos discuss the ridiculousness of airing a Halloween themed episode in November is a reference to the fact that many Treehouse of Horror episodes-despite their Halloween theme-tend to air after the holiday due to Fox's contract with Major League Baseball for the World Series.
- This episode marks the second time Homer was cast to be a Marvel Comics character (which also was a beast-like character) as The Thing; the first time was in "I Am Furious (Yellow)", where he lost his temper and temporarily acted as The Incredible Hulk.
- Referring to the remark about Homer talking about the previous episode, this also sort of happens in "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 one year after the episode aired.
- Parts of Frink's father include:
- Ned Flanders' organs.
- Principal Skinner's spine.
- Snake Jailbird's right arm (with Snake's vest).
- Sideshow Mel's hair (and scalp).
- Nelson's torso.
- Krusty the Clown's neck.
- Mr. Burns' left arm.
- Moe's neck.
- A part of Selma's right foot.
- Kearney's legs.
- Disco Stu's left foot.
- Comic Book Guy's buttocks.
- Skinner wear briefs in "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off", not boxers.
- When Lisa uses the stopwatch at the end of "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off", the things that suddenly happen to the other members of the family are:
- The upper portion of their bodies become rockets and zoom around.
- They turn into bobbleheads.
- They switch sexes. (Maggie resembles Baby Gerald.)
- They turn into TV Guide covers.
- They turn into the Fantastic Four.
- They return to normal, but are playing with hula-hoops.
- Strangely enough, when Lisa does all of this, Bart somehow changes back to his normal self.
- This episode contains several connections to past episodes:
- The last time Bart made someone appear to pick their nose occurred in "Bart the Lover".
- The last episode to feature a partially eaten corpse was "King of the Hill".
- The last episode where Lenny and Carl got into a car crash with each other was "Poppa's Got a Brand New Badge".
- The last Halloween special where a Simpson repeatedly alters the universe until stopping in a similar universe was "Treehouse of Horror V".
- The final Halloween special to have a Halloween remixed ending theme of The Simpsons.
- The first Halloween special in which all segments are written by one person (or two in the case of XXIII). This would last until Treehouse of Horror XXXIII, in which individual writers for segments were reinstated.
- From this point onward, (until the season 20 episode "Lisa the Drama Queen"), The Simpsons: Hit & Run PC game variant of the Gracie Films logo is now used.
- Also, from this point onward, (until the season 20 episode "Lisa the Drama Queen"), the 1998 "enhanced" widescreen version of the 20th Century Fox Television logo is used (cropped to 4:3 since this show is 4:3).
- The idea of a time-altering device that ends up breaking and freezing everybody (except for two people who continue to age normally) was later done in "Meanwhile", the 2013 finale of Matt Groening's other show Futurama.
Cultural References[]
- In the intro, Bart wears a Charlie Brown costume and Lisa wears a Lucy van Pelt costume.
- The first segment makes a reference to "The Santa Clause" the way Homer turns into the Grim Reaper.
- Reaper Madness is based on the Family Guy season 2 episode "Death Is a Bitch".
- Curb Your Enthusiasm: When Marge tells Homer to take the old Death to the curb for the trash pickup, Homer replies, "I'll curb him, but without enthusiasm!"
- "Yakety Sax," the theme music from The Benny Hill Show, plays as the Bart and the family tries to elude Death, running in the same time-lapse style as in Benny Hill.
- When Frinkenstein walks down the street after reassembling himself from other people's body parts, the music playing over the scene is the Bee Gees' Billboard #1 dance pop song "Stayin' Alive" from the 1977 drama film Saturday Night Fever. This references the song being played in the opening scene of the original movie as Tony walks through the city.
- Reaper Madness refers to the film Reefer Madness.
- Frinkenstein is an obvious parody of the 1931 horror monster film Frankenstein with Jonathan Frink Sr. as Frankenstein's monster.
- Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off is a parody of the Twilight Zone episode "A Kind of a Stopwatch".
- Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off refers to the musical Stop the World – I Want to Get Off.
- When the crowd runs after Bart and Milhouse, Comic Book Guy holds a lightsaber from the Star Wars movie series.
- When Lisa pushes a second button on the stopwatch, the Simpsons change themselves. In one of their changes, they look like the Marvel superhero team the Fantastic Four: Homer as Ben Grimm (The Thing), Marge as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), Bart as Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) and Maggie as Susan Storm (The Invisible Woman).
- The Beverly Hillbillies: After Professor Frink showed Lisa a clip from the country sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, he removed Elly May and Granny's clothes. After that Granny told Elly May that she had some bad news, Jethro had ate her monkey.
- After first freezing Lisa, Bart says "Wow, she looks like a background character from a Hanna-Barbera cartoon". Referencing that background characters in cartoons are often still and motionless.
- The scene where Death is chasing the Simpson family in the upstairs of their house is similar to the Scooby-Doo characters being chased through a set of rooms. Also from Benny Hill.
- Jerry Lewis played Frink's father which makes sense since Frink is based on his title character Buddy Love from The Nutty Professor which sort of makes him Professor John Frink Sr.
- Frink's father, as Frankenstein's monster, harvesting organs, but from living people. First he bumps into a jogging Ned Flanders asking him "Hey, 700 Club." is a nod from the show of the same name.
- The bobble head Simpson family are like the bobble head universe from the Futurama episode "The Farnsworth Parabox", 4ACV15.
- The scene where Professor Frink kicks his father in the crotch would later be similar to the second Scooby-Doo movie, subtitled Monsters Unleashed, where Velma Dinkley kicks the Black Knight ghost in the crotch, saying it was his "weak spot".
- Jerry Lewis voices a "he-man scientist" who bears a striking physical resemblance to Doc Savage from Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.
- One of the comics Bart pulls out is titled Batman and Rhoda. Julie Kavner played Rhoda’s sister, Brenda, on the Emmy-winning show of the same name.
Goofs[]
Opening[]
- When Bart and Lisa begin fighting, the pile of candy disappears from the carpet.
Reaper Madness[]
- When Homer is going down to get some better seats at the game, everyone he touches dies. However, a man blocks Homer from touching his forehead he survives.
Frinkenstein[]
- Right before Professor Frink's father is kicked, Professor Frink is wearing the Nobel Prize. When his father is on the ground, his father is wearing the Nobel Prize.
- At the beginning of the segment Professor Frink states that his father no longer has a penis. However, later on in the segment, Professor Frink kicks him in the "balls" (penis), it is never mentioned that Professor Frink's father had gotten a penis in some way, this however could be just a simple mistake. He stated he had no penis; it's possible the testicles, as useless as they'd be at this point, weren't removed. Moreover, it is not implausible to think that he may have stolen more body parts than were directly mentioned.
Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off[]
- When the Simpsons are hula-hooping, Bart moves from the floor to his bed.
- When Lisa uses the stopwatch at the end, Bart changes back from his 25-year old self back to his 10-year old self without explanation.
- Bart is cleaning Homer, Marge and Lisa after he and Milhouse freeze them. Bart decapitated Homer by accident when cleaning him, but at the end of the segment, Homer's head is connected back to his body.
Production Notes[]
October 31, 2002
- The final draft of this episode is dated October 31, 2002, Halloween.[1]
External Links[]