Treehouse of Horror IV

"Treehouse of Horror IV"
The Simpsons episode
File:Treehouse of Horror IV.gif
Episode no.	Season 5
Directed by	David "Dry Bones" Silverman
Written by	Watch Conan O'Brien The Late Bill Oakley & The Estate of Josh Weinstein Greg "It's Aliiive!" Daniels and Disfigured Dan McGrath Bilious Bill Canterbury
Original air dates	October 28, 1993
Episode features
Couch gag	The family (as zombies) enter through the living room floor before sitting on the couch.
Commentary	Matt Groening James L. Brooks David Mirkin Conan O'Brien Greg Daniels Bill Oakley Josh Weinstein David Silverman

"Treehouse of Horror IV" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons' fifth season, first aired on October 28, 1993. It is the final Treehouse of Horror to have a theme and wrap-around segments.

Plot

Opening and setup

In a homage to Rod Serling's Night Gallery, Bart is seen walking through a gallery of famous paintings that have been given Simpsons makeovers, including Ascending and Descending and The Scream. He tells the audience how fiendish the paintings turn at midnight, when Marge spoils the mood by asking him to babysit Maggie while she visits the gift shop. As Bart introduces a painting of the devil, Maggie interrupts him by shoving her pacifier into his mouth. After the first segment, Bart moves to a painting he calls the "ghoul bus"; after Lisa informs him the title is "School Bus", Bart attempts to salvage the mood by saying, "There's nothing scarier than going to school!" Finally, before the last segment, Bart presents a Dogs Playing Poker painting (which terrifies Homer to the brink of insanity). Bart claims they wanted to do a story based on that painting, but instead threw together something with vampires.

The Devil and Homer Simpson

File:FeedingonDoughnuts.jpg

Homer Simpson eating all the donuts in the world while spending a day in Hell.

When Homer states that he would sell his soul for a donut, the Devil appears in the guise of Ned Flanders ("It's always the one you least suspect!") and offers Homer a contract to seal the deal. In a rare moment of clarity, Homer realizes that the Devil will not be able to claim his soul if he doesn't finish the donut; he saves one piece and keeps it in his refrigerator marked "Daddy's soul donut! Do not eat!" However, he eats it anyway as numerous other foods are labeled "Do not eat" by Marge. That night, the Devil reappears to take possession of Homer's soul. Marge and Lisa plead with the Devil, finally getting him to agree to hold a trial the next day. Until then, Homer spends time in Hell. At the stroke of midnight, the Devil brings Homer back to the Simpson household for his trial. He summons "the Jury of the Damned" made up of Blackbeard; Benedict Arnold; John Wilkes Booth; Lizzie Borden; John Dillinger; Richard Nixon (pointedly still alive at the time, but the Devil demands his service due to him doing a favor for Nixon); and the starting line of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers. However, Marge has unfortunately entrusted Homer's defense to Lionel Hutz, who later sneaks out the bathroom window when he realizes he will lose this case. Before the jury delivers a verdict, Marge makes a final effort to save Homer by displaying a photo from their wedding day. On the back, Homer has written that he pledges his soul to Marge; therefore, it was not his property at the time of his deal with the Devil. The jury rules in favor of Homer and the Grim Reaper judge dismisses the case. Furious at his loss, the Devil Flanders curses Homer to never be rid of the donut. Homer is shown at breakfast the next morning with a giant donut for a head (which he absently nibbles on, saying, "But I'm so sweet and tasty!"). Lisa warns Homer that he had better not leave for work, as the entire Springfield police force is waiting patiently outside the Simpson house, ready with coffee cups.

Terror at 5½ Feet

As Bart rides the bus to school one rainy morning, joined by Principal Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie, he panics when he sees a blue gremlin on the side of the bus. It is loosening the lug nuts on one of the bus' tires. Bart frantically tries to convince the others of the danger. Otto thinks Bart is referring to Hans Moleman's Gremlin and rams it off the road, and Principal Skinner (assuming Bart is lying) ties Bart's hands to a seat to keep him from acting rash. Bart convinces Üter to untie him, then climbs halfway out the window to scare off the gremlin with an emergency flare. The gremlin catches fire and falls from the bus, bouncing off Ned Flanders' car; the kindly do-gooder stops and decides to adopt the creature. When the bus finally stops, everyone sees the obvious damage and a wheel falls off as Skinner inspects it. Although it's now obvious Bart's monster was real, Skinner is still angry about Bart's disruptive behavior and sends him away to an insane asylum for the rest of his life. Bart is relieved that at least he can get some rest... until the gremlin appears in the back window of the ambulance holding Ned's severed head, which demonically chirps "Hidely-ho, Bart!"

Bart Simpson's Dracula

The Simpsons receive a personal invitation to a midnight dinner at Mr. Burns's country house in Pennsylvania. Lisa instantly - and correctly - suspects that he is a vampire, but the rest of the family dismisses her concerns. At Mr. Burns's castle, Bart and Lisa deliberately spill wine (blood) on their clothes and go to clean themselves up. While exploring the castle, they discover a secret staircase descending to an eerie basement filled with coffins (although Bart claims that it is no different from the basement at Grampa's rest home). As they investigate, vampires emerge from the coffins and circle them. Bart and Lisa flee back up the staircase, but Bart was unable to resist a lever to convert the staircase into a "super fun happy slide". Although Lisa escapes, Bart slides back down into the vampires' clutches, where Mr. Burns appears and bites him. Despite obvious bite marks on Bart's neck and his dazed demeanor, Mr. Burns assured the Simpsons that their son ws fine. Bart attacks Lisa at home that night, but she escapes and is finally able to convince her parents of Bart's vampiric nature. Lisa claims that the only way to restore him is to kill the head vampire, Mr. Burns. When hearing about killing his boss, Homer wonders "Do I dare live out the American Dream?" The family returns to Mr. Burns's mansion, where Homer drives a stake through Mr. Burns's heart (after first stabbing him in the crotch) and the vampire's body drains out. But seconds later, Mr. Burns reemerges and yells at Homer furiously, "You're fired!" then dies again. Homer replies in disbelief "D'oh!" The Simpsons return home, only to find that Grampa - in fact, everyone in the family except Lisa - is a vampire. This means that Mr. Burns was not the head vampire; it turns out to be Marge. With this revelation, the entire family swoops in on Lisa... only to stop and wish everyone a happy Halloween. The segment immediately transitions into a parody of A Charlie Brown Christmas (complete with Santa's Little Helper imitating Snoopy's dancing and Milhouse playing Schroeder's piano).

Deleted scenes

The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular shows three deleted scenes from the first segment that do not appear on the DVD, aside from the animatic:

• Homer's head is used as a bowling ball and hits a bunch of spiky pins causing his head to crack open to reveal a note that says, "IOU one brain, signed God".
• Marge looks for lawyers in a phone book and comes across Lionel Hutz's ad, which claims they will get a free pizza if they lose. Bart wishes he would trade his soul for a formula racing car. The devil appears, but Bart says he changed his mind and disappears. Marge tells him to stop pestering the devil.
• Hutz appears with their pizza, thinking they lost. When Marge tells him that they won, he reveals the box was empty.

At least one scene cut from the vampire segment appears on the DVD. Bart floats down to breakfast wearing shades, causing the pets and Maggie to hiss. Lisa informs that animals hiss when danger is near. However, Homer claims they have rabies. Bart is then served a plate with dead rats, which Homer complains about.

Trivia

• Also Starring Frank Welker as the gremlin.
• In the opening, the tombstones are marked: "Elvis - accept it", "A balanced budget", "Subtle political satire", and "TV violence" (which is immediately riddled with bulletholes). But from Treehouse of Horror I, they just show the name of Elvis, they did not type in -accept it.
• In this episode, Richard Nixon comments he is not dead yet. He died six months after the episode originally aired in the U.S. The scene was cut out when the episode aired on BBC Two in the UK, as they felt it might confuse viewers. In the German version of the episode which aired more than one year after the airing in the U.S., Nixon says "Wieso bin ich verdammt?" ("Why am I doomed?")
• At the beginning of the third segment, when the Simpsons are watching TV, on the close-up of Homer, the dogs playing poker painting is shown instead of the usual boat painting.
• A playset was later made of the "Hell: Ironic Punishment Division" scene.
• In the beginning credits Conan O'Brien is listed as "Conan 'NBC 12:30' O'Brien", a reference to Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Cultural references

• "The Devil and Homer Simpson" segment is a parody of the Stephen Vincent Benét short story "The Devil and Daniel Webster", where a man sells his soul to the devil and Daniel Webster must represent him in court before a jury of the damned. In the story, Daniel Webster tells the devil that he's disappointed that General Benedict Arnold isn't on the jury, to which the devil replies that Arnold is busy with other matters.

Both of these stories also showcase a loose translation of the Faust legend. It is also a spoof on the Merrie Melodies cartoon Pigs is Pigs

• The segment "Terror at 5 1/2 Feet" is a parody of The Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", where a man (played by William Shatner) is inside an airplane watching a gremlin tear apart the wing. Nobody believes him until the plane lands and the damage to the airplane is shown.
• The title "Bart Simpson's Dracula" is a parody of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Mr. Burns, played as a Dracula-like character, resembles the ancient, withered Dracula played by Gary Oldman in that film's opening scenes.
• In "Bart Simpson's Dracula", Bart is seen floating outside Lisa's bedroom window. This is a parody of The Lost Boys as well as Stephen King's novel ’Salem's Lot The family's plan to killl the head vampire is also a reference to both movies.

External links

• Treehouse of Horror IV at The Simpsons Archive