Episode 4: Treehouse of Horror XIX

Well, even though the show's been in free fall for so many years, there is always one episode I always look forward to. That's right, the "Homer wants to be a good father" episode, just kidding, it's the Treehouse of Horror. I was first introduced to the show by watching the Treehouse of Horror episodes during trick-or-treating breaks, and they hooked me like a drug addict (With apologies to drug addicts). Since then, I've always prayed "Please writers, don't let THIS episode suck" and what do we get? Well let's find out.

We begin the episode with Homer going to vote and voting using a rigged electronic voting machine while not even trying to be funny (Remember those days where skeptics were worried that those would be bugged? Yeah I'm not all that enthused about this episode so far). Homer then gets killed by the machine and we can now begin the three stories.

Untitled Robot Parody
We start off with Bart going to get Lisa a Christmas present because she's last on his list. Bart finds a truck that he scoffs off until it turns into a pink convertible and he buys it (I would keep it for myself to be honest, a small transformer that seems to have limitless possibilities, who wouldn't want that?). On Christmas morning Bart gives Lisa the convertible to which she is grateful for because it's an actual present (Unlike the box of burps last year apparently, I thought she was Buddhist, does that mean she shouldn't be attached to material possessions? Nevermind let's continue)(Dude, if I convert to Buddhism, I'd still appreciate the gesture of a material gift. A box of burps would piss me off). Maggie observes the transformer destroy the angel and tries to warn Lisa, but because she can't talk (Keep that in mind for a later review) Lisa is condescending to Maggie and does not realize what the toy really is (Eh so far it's better than Transformers 2 that's a positive). Later that night the convertible autobot (OK they call themselves Posobots but screw it I'm calling them Autobots) creates more autobots out of all the electronics in Lisa's room as they're all given uncreative names (If you need me, I'm off to give "Creativity" a proper burial).

Oblivious doesn't even begin to describe Homer here

The next morning, after a pointless scene in the kitchen, Homer and Ned's cars transform into transformers and fight each other (Further proven after dumps some exposition from the Transformers movie, I love it when your "parody" is nothing but a bad script for the TV series). After a few scenes of fighting and other electronics turning into death machines (Is anyone else getting Attack of the 50 ft Eyesores flashbacks?) Marge approaches the two leaders and tries to get them to agree to peace. After they realize they can't remember what their battle is about (So what? I don't think that's stopped violence in the past) they decide to team up to enslave humanity (Good going Marge). The segments ends with the town being used as a Foosball table (So essentially the entire segment can be summed up with "Robots come and attack" I bet it took months to think that up).

How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising
After a parody of the Mad Men opening (No reason, they just can) the story begins with Marge and Homer dropping Maggie off at a day care center to which Maggie is hesitant to until Homer shows her the Krusty mural on the wall (Okay stupid question, Is there just no other forms of children entertainment outside of Krusty and Itchy & Scratchy cartoons?). The real Krusty comes and has the mural sandblasted for unpaid use of his image (I have to wonder why is he there instead of places like the horse track, but whatever). This makes Maggie cry, and Homer goes to confront Krusty about what he did. Homer being upset that Krusty's a selfish ass-hole he accidentally kills Krusty in the most ludicrous way possible (I've seen less over-the-top ways for killing Kenny). Afterwards, Blue-haired lawyer (I know he's Mr. Burns' lawyer but screw it, it's blue-haired to me as well) approaches Homer with some advertising agents who tell Homer that they can get rich by using dead celebrities in their commercials. OK I know I have addressed this before but why is it whenever someone in this town does something ONCE, they are really good at it now? Also I want to bring up a valid point, just because Homer kills the celebrities, it doesn't mean you can use their image for free, there's always an estate you have to pay, that's why songs from Michael Jackson and Evil Presley aren't free, you still have to pay to use them.

Remember how I said I'd kill you first? I lied.

After Homer kills off some celebrities (Through a montage, huzzah), we cut to them in heaven complaining about their images being used in commercials (You know if I were in heaven, I think I'd be enjoying my time instead of watching people use my image unlawfully). John Wayne then decides to lead a charge of Angel celebrities against Homer and stop him once and for all (While all the normal angels stay in "Normal heaven", yeah I'm not going to mix my religious views into this review, but it's tempting). They come down and kill all the people at Homer's party with their heaven guns as they kill Homer last. Homer beats them to celebrity heaven (Ugh this is stupid) and locks them out. This segment comes to an end as Homer walks off with gay Lincoln (Classy).

It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse
Subtle ain't it?(I'd let it pass; the titles are rarely subtle) We begin this segment with our parody Charlie Brown opening of Milhouse (Linus) and Lisa (Sally) walking off to get a pumpkin (The other parody characters include Ralph (Pig Pen), Santa's Little Helper (Snoopy) and Bart (Charlie Brown)). We cut to Lisa in her Wiccan costume (Not to be confused with a witch, which Lisa will do later *Bangs head on desk*) and Milhouse as Linus as they prepare for Halloween (We also get our 'grown-ups can't say squat' parody as Marge plays the trombone *weak chuckle*). Okay I want to get this out of the way because it's bothering me, while I do like the backgrounds for this segment (Animation style of the 60's) it just feels awkward when compared to the characters as they have far more detail and finer lines, it just looks like the animators photoshopped their characters into the Peanuts classic.

Bart, what have I told you about breaking the 4th wall?

Milhouse tells Marge he isn't going to the party but instead hanging out at the pumpkin patch for the "Grand Pumpkin", (Bart then comes in to explain why Milhouse thinks it's real. Eh I would have accepted "Milhouse believes in it because he's a wuss"). Later at the pumpkin patch the main characters come to make fun of Milhouse and Lisa decides to stay behind to keep him company (Yeah I'm starting to see why Bart and Lisa were chosen as Charlie Brown and Sally). After a few hours (I assume) Lisa is woken up and she berates Milhouse for making her miss the party (Even though she stayed there voluntarily, bitch)(So did Sally. I sense a connection). Milhouse then starts crying and his tears create the Grand Pumpkin (Sunk to the levels of Pokemon the First Movie? Really?). Milhouse offers the Grand Pumpkin some pumpkin bread which doesn't go over too well (If you'll excuse me, I'm off to go give Obama some kidney pie).

OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!

OH YEAH!

The Grand Pumpkin decides to go on a rampage as Homer is his first target. Milhouse goes to the party a bit before the pumpkin and warns them but nobody believes him. The pumpkin then arrives and goes around eating Willie and Nelson (With some average pumpkin jokes, they're not bad, but they aren't worth mentioning either). Lisa gets to Milhouse and she gets him to create a giant turkey named Tom Turkey to fight the pumpkin (Suddenly I want to turn this into a pay-per-view fight. I mean a killer giant Jack-O-Lantern vs a giant killer turkey, doesn't that sound awesome?). After Tom Turkey beats the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse makes the same mistake again and causes Tom to want to kill everyone (Now just believe in Santa Christ hard enough and he will remove Tom Turkey from existence)(SANTA CHRIST, SANTA CHRIST! WE ALL LOVE SANTA CHRIST!)

Final Judgment: This Treehouse isn't bad, but on the other hand, it's not good either. The first segment is weak and lazy, the second segment is rather stupid and unfunny, the third segment is the strongest in my opinion and it's really more of a "Your Mileage may vary" type of segment. All together, it's not terrible, but you wont see it in many top THoH lists.

Final Grade: 5.2/10 Just meh, it's not that bad, but it's below what you'd expect from a THoH