Line #195 Recap/TheSimpsonsS27E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXVI


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/treehouse_of_horror_xxvi_poster.jpg]]
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3	''Treehouse of Horror XXVI'' is a WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror Halloween episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and the fifth episode of the 27th season.
4
5	The episode opens with a Kricfalusi-style animated short where the Simpson children are trick-or-treating before being set upon by soul-hungry spirits with a monstrous Frank Grimes among them. The spirits chase after the Simpson children into their house, with the Frank Grimes monster taking Homer's soul in return.
6
7	It contains the following segments: Sideshow Bob finally kills Bart, then revives him when he realizes that the thrill of defeating his mortal enemy is gone in "Wanted: Dead, Then Alive"; Homer once again plays a famous movie monster (see "King Homer" in "Treehouse of Horror III") in "Homerzilla"; and "Telepaths of Glory", a ''Chronicle'' parody where Bart, Milhouse, and Lisa gain powers from a strange hole.
8	----
9	!!Tropes associated with the opening:
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11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ren_stimpy_creator_the_simpsons_couch_gag_treehouse_of_horror_episode_0.jpg]]
12	* ArtShift: Guest director Creator/JohnKricfalusi once again brings his unique surreal look to the Simpsons.
13	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The kids are attacked by a 25-foot zombie called Frank Grimes.
14	* BewareMyStingerTail: Maggie, disguised as a bee, saves Bart and Lisa by stinging Grimes in the tongue.
15	* CreepyChildrenSinging: During "The Soul Candy Song", after the zombie Frank Grimes peels Bart like a banana and exposes his gooey red soul, the singer shifts to the little children singing like this:
16	-->He's hungry for your vitals;\
17	He likes you moist and ripe.\
18	And should he find you spiced with sin,\
19	'''Then you're his favorite type!'''
20	* DerangedAnimation: A John K. specialty.
21	* ShoutOut: Bart and Lisa wear colourful WesternAnimation/HuckleberryHound and [[WesternAnimation/YogiBear Cindy Bear]] masks respectively.
22	* TheSomethingSong: "The Soul Candy Song", written by Kricfalusi, of course.
23	* TitlePlease: This is the first Halloween opening-title that does not even show the "Treehouse of Horror" title!
24	* WitchClassic: One is seen flying on her [[FlyingBroomstick broomstick]], amongst the ghosts chasing the Simpsons kids.
25	* YourSoulIsMine: Zombie Grimes and the ghosts want to eat the Simpsons kids' souls during it. In the end, Grimes manages to eat Homer's.
26
27	!!''Wanted: Dead, then Alive''
28	Bart is killed by Sideshow Bob, who then goes on to become a professor at Springfield University. However, he is disappointed by his lazy students, and misses the thrill of killing Bart, so he decides to revive him so he can kill him again.
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30	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lead_960.jpg]]
31	* AcquittedTooLate: Snake Jailbird. Lisa mentions in the family's search for Bart that Snake was tried and executed for Bart's murder, though she knew that Snake had nothing to do with it, and that it was Bob all along.
32	* AndShowItToYou: After impaling Bart with a HarpoonGun, Bob adds insult to injury and twists it further by yanking the projectile from Bart's chest, ''ripping out his heart as he does so!'' Bonus points as Bart sees the hole in his chest, then looks at Bob holding his heart as he utters out his last words before dying.
33	* AndThisIsFor: Homer, after he has bludgeoned Bob to death with an antique lamp:
34	-->[[ContinuityNod "That's for]] [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E12KrustyGetsBusted trying to frame Krusty!"]]
35	* AxesAtSchool: Played with: Bob brings a HarpoonGun to Springfield Elementary's music room, and not only does he kill Bart with it, but Principal Skinner sees the spectacle [[AdultsAreUseless and lets him get away with it]], since it's after-school hours.
36	* BackFromTheDead: Bart at first, when he's brought back with the Reanimator machine so that Bob can kill him over and over again. The Simpson family eventually finds Bart's remains and brings him back from the dead, this time for good.
37	* TheBadGuyWins: [[WhatIf So what would happen if Sideshow Bob finally killed Bart]]? This segment provides an answer.
38	* BelatedInjuryRealization: Played with: After Bob impales Bart in the chest with a HarpoonGun, Bart seems unfazed and shrugs it off as if it was nothing... at first. Then he [[OhCrap suddenly realizes he's dying]], and Bob points it out further by pulling the spear projectile ''{{and\|ShowItToYou}}'' [[AndShowItToYou his heart]] out of his chest. Ouch!
39	* BewitchedAmphibians: Bob grabs the potions needed for the Reanimator machine and says, "Those bastards know how to ''[[SpeakingLikeTotallyTeen par-tay]]!''", then drinks one and turns into a frog. He's back to human form in the next scene, though.
40	* BillBillJunkBill: When Sideshow Bob is grading essays:
41	--> "Rubbish! Drivel! What is this 'Game of thrones' they’re referencing?"
42	* BlandNameProduct: At one time Bob takes a selfie with Bart's body during the "Largo al factotum" part and posts it on Fiendbook (parody of Website/{{Facebook}}); he even updates his status from ''"attempted murderer" to "murderer"''.
43	* BloodierAndGorier: Moreso than almost any other Treehouse of Horror segment. While it is a given that this segment would be dark, due to its premise of Sideshow Bob finally killing Bart, [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice the]] [[AndShowItToYou way]] in which Bart is killed ([[DeathMontage and then revived and killed over and over again]]) firmly cements the story as this.
44	* BloodLust: After murdering Bart, Bob takes the child's body back to his home. He uses a corkscrew to make a hole in Bart's forehead, leaning the boy's head forward and collecting a few drop's of Bart's blood to mix with his wine.
45	* BludgeonedToDeath: Bob mercilessly beats Bart with a sledgehammer until the young boy's guts spill out and he is lying dead in a pool of blood.
46	* BodyInABreadbox: Parodied: When Bob returns home after attending Springfield University as a professor, he opens the wall compartment near a portrait... and reveals Bart's decomposing corpse, which he has stuffed in there, now standing as his trophy.
47	* BondOneLiner: Bob, after he beats up Bart to a bloody pulp with a sledgehammer:
48	-->"We're both going to be ''sore'' tomorrow!" ''[cackles in glee]''
49	* BookDumb: At one point Bob works as a poetry professor trying to teach the works of Creator/TSEliot to students who are tech-savvy, but BookDumb. When this fails, he criticizes them for being a bunch of idiots.
50	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The UK broadcaster of ''The Simpsons'', Sky, took exception to much of this segment and cut it to ribbons, with removals including most of Bob's initial killing of Bart, several of Bart's later deaths in the montage, Bob hiding the evidence from Skinner and the rest of the Simpsons and Bob's uses for Bart's corpse. This turns the story into a rather incomprehensible mess.
51	* BreakingTheFourthWall: Seconds before Homer revives Bart with the Reanimator, he points out the ''[[VisualPun animation]]'' for his dead son looks fine.
52	* BullyingADragon: Bart [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice learns this the hard way]] when taunting Bob with a "YouWouldntShootMe" while writing an "X" on his forehead with blue chalk, and using a "[[KissingInATree Sucking in a Tree]]" chant when confronted with a HarpoonGun in the music room.
53	-->'''Bart:''' ''[unfazed by his being shot, at first]'' Ha! Nice try, Bob, but I'm sure you made some... ''[he starts to falter]'' stupid... [-[[OhCrap mistake...]]-]\
54	'''Bob:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner Not this time.]] ''[pulls the projectile from Bart [[AndShowItToYou along with his heart]]]''
55	* CameBackWrong: Bart eventually uses this on purpose to get revenge on Bob, combining Bob’s severed head with a chicken and a pair of antlers just before reviving him, thus turning [[MixAndMatchCritters Bob the Chicken-moose]] into an abomination to all.
56	* TheCameo: The posters that appear on Fiendbook are Fat Tony, Russ Cargill, and Snake Jailbird, the latter of which later doubles as a DeathByCameo according to Lisa.
57	* ComicBookTime: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d by Bob's remark about his "24 years of trying to kill a ten-year-old child".
58	* ContinuityNod: Bob's "Die Bart Die" tattoo, first seen in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E2CapeFeare Cape Feare]]", appears again along with the rake. Bob's poetry recital with his glasses on, first used in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E12KrustyGetsBusted Krusty Gets Busted]]", returns in Springfield University.
59	* DeadpanSnarker: Bob has one when he [[BewitchedAmphibians turns into a frog via potion]]:
60	-->"I feel like a bad ''[[Magazine/TheNewYorker New Yorker]]'' cartoon."
61	* DeathIsCheap: The re-animation machine Bob creates easily brings Bart back to life with no ill effects every time Bob kills him, no matter how severe the boy's body was damaged.
62	* DeathMontage: PlayedForLaughs. Poor Bart gets ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by a HarpoonGun and then [[AndShowItToYou gets his heart ripped out of his chest]]; [[BludgeonedToDeath gets whacked with a sledgehammer not once]] but [[AmusingInjuries many times]] [[RasputinianDeath in the manner of]] ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''; [[BoomHeadshot gets his head blown clean off with a gun]]; [[FedToTheBeast fed to a lion]]; SquashedFlat by a steamroller, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill then folded into a paper plane before being thrown into a]] DeadlyRotaryFan, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill then picked up and]] [[BurnBabyBurn tossed into a cremation furnace]]; handed a [[ShockinglyExpensiveBill shockingly expensive electric bill]] for the Reanimator that induces a HollywoodHeartAttack; [[ImMelting liquefied into juice]] (which has happened offscreen); and [[LudicrousGibs hacked into pieces with an axe]] (also happened offscreen). And he gets revived each time he gets killed only to become a cosmic punching bag.
63	* DiesWideOpen: Bart does this in some of his deaths.
64	* DisproportionateRetribution: Bart got Bob arrested for trying to frame Krusty the Clown in an armed robbery, and again for trying to murder his aunt Selma. So, Bob decides to make Bart his enemy, and in this episode brutally murders the little boy and keeps his decomposing body as a trophy. Bob then reanimates Bart and bludgeons the child to death with a sledgehammer. Perfectly fair!
65	* EarnYourHappyEnding: Sure, Bart gets impaled, disemboweled, used as a household item and a trophy, bludgeoned to death many times with a sledgehammer, and revived only to become a cosmic punching bag again and again and again; but in the end, he manages to get better and defeat Bob with help from his family. Also, as Marge points out, he has been showing responsibility with Santa's Little Helper, which would explain his UndyingLoyalty and {{determinat\|or}}ion to find Bart. Oh, and did we mention that he hangs out at Springfield University, with Bob as a new [[MixAndMatchCritters mix-and-match critter]]?
66	* EnragedByIdiocy: Bob lashes out at tech-savvy, BookDumb teens for not getting anything right about Creator/TSEliot, before [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E2CapeFeare stepping on a rake]] and giving them all F's.
67	-->"I didn't think the author of ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' could be insulted further!"[[note]]Eliot actually wrote ''Literature/OldPossumsBookOfPracticalCats'', which in turn is adapted into the musical ''Cats'' by Creator/AndrewLloydWebber.[[/note]]
68	* EvilDetectingDog: Santa's Little Helper knows that something's not right in Bob's Victorian-style house.
69	* FistPump: Bob does this in a victory pose with a smile on his face after looking at Bart's body in awe, as he has just killed his ArchEnemy for the first time.
70	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Bob's living room, while Bob is drinking wine mixed with Bart's blood, one credit appears as "Re-Animator Raynis" next to Bob. Much later, Bob creates a Reanimator that does exactly that: bring Bart BackFromTheDead.
71	* IfIDoNotReturn: Parodied: After Bart is impaled and gets his heart yanked out, he knows that he's dying and won't come back home, so he tells his ArchEnemy his last words: "Tell my father... he's... fat..."
72	* InformalEulogy: After Bob kills Bart for the first time:
73	-->"The deed is done. [[ComicBookTime 24 years of trying to kill a ten-year-old child have finally paid off.]]"
74	* KilledMidSentence: Subverted: Bart uses his parodied KissingInATree chant on Bob, but before he gets to the "G" part in "S-U-C-K-I-N-G", Bob fires a spear projectile on him, impaling him. It doesn't faze Bart, at first, and he keeps talking until he falters. And when Bob yanks the projectile and the heart out of Bart's chest, he finishes his last words before dying.
75	* KissingInATree: Parodied with Bart [[BullyingADragon taunting Bob with this]] PlaygroundSong, right before he gets ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice by Bob's HarpoonGun in the music room:
76	-->Bob and a spear gun,\
77	Sitting in a tree,\
78	[[ThisLoserIsYou S-U-C-K-I]][[KilledMidSentence -N-]]
79	* LetsDance: Lampshaded by Bob when he pulls out a HarpoonGun at the music room:
80	-->'''Bob:''' Now let me put this in terms that a young boy would understand: you and I have danced a grand ''pas de deux'' worthy of Nijinsky, but ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis this]]''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis ... is... the final... plié]]!\
81	'''Bart:''' ''[not amused]'' Yawn. [[YouWouldntShootMe You couldn't kill me with that thing]] [[TemptingFate if I drew an "X" on my forehead.]] ''[he does so with blue chalk and makes a taunting dance]''
82	* LoopholeAbuse: Principal Skinner takes advantage of the fact that the murder of Bart Simpson took place outside school time to exempt himself from any legal responsibilities.
83	* [[MixAndMatchCritters Mix-and-Match Critter]]: Bob ends up as this when his head is crossed with antler horns and the body of a chicken and other animal parts.
84	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable[=/=]TalkingToTheDead: After killing Bart with a HarpoonGun, Bob decides to hide the evidence from everyone. But rather than burying Bart, he takes him to his Victorian-style home where he mixes AGlassOfChianti with Bart's blood, plays golf with his corpse, and uses him as a (bad) freshener. Bob even talks with the corpse every once in a while, sometimes with a "[[CatchPhrase Hello... Bart.]]"
85	* MythologyGag: The entire segment involves Bart dying at the hands of Sideshow Bob, who later finds out that life is meaningless without his ArchEnemy around, and discovers that the only thing that made him happy in his life was killing Bart; so he creates a Reanimator machine and brings his ArchEnemy back to life to kill him over and over again. This plot is kinda similar to ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' episode "The Tears of a Clone".
86	* ObstructiveBureaucrat: After Sideshow Bob is turned into a [[MixAndMatchCritters Mix-and-Match Critter]], one of his students asks what he's supposed to be. He says he's supposed to be a full-fledged faculty member but the people in charge of evaluating him are too slow.
87	* OfCorpseHesAlive: Bob hides the evidence that he killed Bart from Principal Skinner and Bart's father Homer, the latter by having Bart's body watch ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' and smile, and by showing Homer the tattoo on his (Bob's) back that says "I ♥ Bart" with a HeartSymbol.
88	* OffWithHisHead: Homer uses an antique lamp to beat up Bob so hard that he cuts off his head.
89	* OhAndXDies: The fact that Bart Simpson would die at the hands of Sideshow Bob in this segment was [[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/06/simpsons-sideshow-bob-kill-bart announced by the show's executive producer Al Jean]] just nearly five months before the episode aired, in an attempt to hype up the suspense while keeping the "how?" (by HarpoonGun... and other stuff) a secret.
90	* OnlyAFleshWound: The second time that Bart gets hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer after being brought back again, he tells Bob, "Still not dead." Then Bob whacks him on the head, and the boy replies, "Psych!" Then Bob gets infuriated and whacks him in a frenzy so hard that Bart's guts are spilling out before he finally succumbs to his wounds.
91	* OutOfCharacterAlert: Bart sees a message coming from Milhouse's cellphone, saying, "Largo stuck in harp," then, "Looks funny. Sounds exquisite," (which is something that Milhouse would not say) before going to the music room (where violin music is heard) and then discovering that it was Sideshow Bob who had lured him in using Milhouse's phone. As [[http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/sideshow-bob-finally-triumphs-gory-middling-treeho-227416 one review]] noted, "'[L]ooks funny, sounds exquisite' should have been a giveaway."
92	* PapaWolf: Homer Simpson. Don't you ever harm his son in a way you can kill him over and over again, or you will regret it.
93	* PhoneaholicTeenager: Sideshow Bob attempts to teach a classroom full of these. Plus their papers keep making Series/GameOfThrones references.
94	* PoliceAreUseless: It's pretty obvious that the police are absent in the case of the murder of Bart Simpson. Bob even calls Chief Clancy Wiggum on the phone and asks him if Bob can use the shotgun to kill Bart and his family, in which Wiggum gives him the go ahead. And this is moments ''after'' the Simpson family have brought their missing loved one to life.
95	* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: While grading his students' essays, Bob wonder what this "Series/GameOfThrones" his students keep referencing is. His ignorance is likely due to the time he spent in prison.
96	* PreMortemCatchphrase: The third time Sideshow Bob kills Bart (by beating him to death with a sledgehammer), his last words are "[[{{Understatement}} Ay caramba!]]"
97	* PreMortemOneLiner: Double subverted: When Bob shoots Bart in the chest with a spear gun, and Bart tells him in a weak voice that he has made some stupid mistake:
98	-->'''Bob:''' Not this time. ''[yanks the projectile and Bart's heart from his chest]''
99	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The classical music that Bob plays on the gramophone is an instrumental version of "Largo al factotum" from ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville'' by Music/GioachinoRossini (with the score arranged by Chris Ledesma, no doubt). Bob even sings, in a baritone voice, [[WithLyrics "I did it, I did it, I did it, I killed Bart dead!"]]
100	* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Bob: "...but ''this''... is... the final... plié!"
101	* RakeTake: Bob steps on a rake in Springfield University after scolding its lazy students for insulting T. S. Eliot and dismissing them.
102	* ReferenceOverdosed: Hoo boy! There's a lot of [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] in this segment. They are: ''Literature/{{American Girl\|s Collection}}'' (which Bob references as Milhouse's wallpaper); Vaslav Nijinsky (ballet dancer and choreographer also referenced by Bob); the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' franchises (when Bob murders Bart with a HarpoonGun in a gruesome way... and [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX takes a selfie with the corpse and uploads it on social media]]); ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' ("Tell my father... he's... fat..."); Website/{{Facebook}} (here known as [[BlandNameProduct Fiendbook]]); WesternAnimation/BugsBunny and Elmer Fudd in ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'' (also referenced by Bob); ''Film/WeekendAtBernies'' (when Bob carries Bart's corpse to his house where he plays and drinks with it); ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' (Bob has Bart's corpse watch the show); ''[[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker: Going Sane]]'' (when Bob tries living a normal life by taking up poetry class after killing Bart, only to realize that [[VictoryIsBoring life just isn't the same without Bart around]]); ''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' by Creator/TSEliot (lines are recited by Bob); Website/{{Google}}, Website/{{Wikipedia}}, and Website/{{Twitter}} (which the social media-obsessed students use); ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' (which Bob claims Eliot is the author of); ''Series/GameOfThrones'' (which said students reference); Snapchat; White Zinfandel (a dry-to-sweet, pink-colored blush wine, which Bob compares Bart to); ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' (when Bob goes to Springfield's University's Black Arts Building for the ingredients for the Reanimator); ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' (which Bob references as a frog); ''Film/ReAnimator'' (when he creates the aptly named machine used to resurrect Bart); Lucky Charms (in which its leprechaun mascot is one of the ingredients used for the machine); ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' (when Bob makes a whack at Bart with a sledgehammer, and Bart keeps replying that he's still not dead, forcing Bob to bludgeon him in fury until his (Bart's) guts spill out); and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''[='=]s AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'' (Bart's DeathMontage).
103	* RuleOfSymbolism: At the end of the segment, Bob finishes ''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' with "...[[SirensAreMermaids By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown]] / Till human voices wake us, and we drown." [[http://genius.com/820765 According to]] Creator/TSEliot, "Once you wake up to the knowledge that the ideals of romance are a fantasy--in part because you yourself are incapable of achieving them--you die a little inside." Being that this is a non-canon segment, Bob has fulfilled his lifelong goal of killing Bart and goes all ''Emperor Joker'' on him by repeatedly killing him over and over again; but once the voices of the Simpson family wake up Bob and defeat him, those goals of killing Bart are now over.
104	* ShoutOut: The title spoofs the Music/BonJovi song "Wanted: Dead or Alive", from their 1986 album ''Slippery When Wet''.
105	* SoundtrackDissonance: The background music that plays in Bart's DeathMontage is Music/ElvisCostello's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU_zMvaX05Q "Accidents Will Happen"]], which is a song about "the gamesmanship of romance" and "a kiss-off to a lover given her walking papers for crimes both real and imagined", [[http://www.allmusic.com/song/accidents-will-happen-mt0034255483 according to AllMusic]]. Of course, if taken in context, the lyrics imply that Bob used to be a victim of humiliation and defeat by Bart in previous episodes, but now it seems that Bart is not the only victor when Bob turns the tables on him.
106	* SpySpeak: Parodied: Bob tells Bart in music-related "terms only a young boy would understand" (since they are in the music room) that they have "danced a grand ''pas de deux'' worthy of Nijinsky" (meaning that they have fought each other through years of episodes, each ending with Bob being thwarted), but calls the confrontation in the music room "the final plié" (meaning that it will be their last confrontation when Bob gets to kill him). Bart, however, understands and is unamused, meaning that he's heard it all before and knows Bob's plan will fail, like always. This time, however, Bob truly means it and succeeds.
107	* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: The montage part when Bob [[SquashedFlat steamrolls Bart into paper]], then folds him into an airplane and flies him into a DeadlyRotaryFan that shreds him into bits; he then picks up Bart's pieces and tosses them [[BurnBabyBurn into a cremation furnace]].
108	* TookALevelInBadass: Bob. After 24 years of trying to kill Bart, he has the upper hand by taking Milhouse's smartphone, a violin, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and a spear gun]] to school and brandishing the latter on Bart, who thinks that Bob's plan will fail again, as usual. [[BullyingADragon The boy is wrong...]] ''[[{{Pun}} dead]]'' [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice wrong]], as it goes to show that Bob truly means business.
109	* VictoryIsBoring: Sideshow Bob quickly finds out that killing Bart robbed him of the one thing that brought excitement into his life.
110	* VillainBall: Creating a reanimating machine that can bring your ArchEnemy back to life in order to kill him again and again is easy. Leaving him in the basement exposed by clear windows so that his BadassFamily can see him is [[TooDumbToLive a bad idea]].
111	* VillainEpisode: In this case, it's ADayInTheLimelight for Bob, who has the whole episode to himself.
112	* VisualPun: At the very end of the segment, mix-and-match critter Bob tells his students he's supposed to be "A full professor! But the tenure committee is excruciatingly slow" (meaning that he isn't doing well and has become a failure) before he ''literally'' lays an egg like a chicken.[[note]](since "to lay an egg" is an idiom for "to produce a failure or a flop" or "to do something that is unsuccessful")[[/note]]
113	* VocalDissonance: After Bob shoots Bart with a HarpoonGun, Bart's voice quivers a bit while telling him he's (Bob) made "some... stupid... mistake"; but when Bob pulls the projectile and Bart's heart out of his chest, and he (Bart) collapses onto the floor, his weak 10-year-old boy's voice slips into a dying grownup woman's voice as he barely utters out his last words before he dies.
114	* WantedPoster: Parodied by the title screen, in which the word "Wanted:" appears, followed by the blood that spells out "DEAD", before finishing the title in normal letters.
115	* WhatTheHellHero: Homer kills Bob with an antique lamp and Bart berates him with, "What about all the times he tried to kill ''ME?!''"
116	* WithLyrics: Bob sings to the tune of "Largo al Factotum", whose new lyrics go like this:
117	-->I did it, I did it, I did it, I killed Bart dead!\
118	Laaa, la la la la la la la la, [[OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank lots of blood]]!\
119	I did what could not be done...\
120	To WesternAnimation/BugsBunny by Elmer Fudd![[note]]Apparently he hasn't watched ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'' or ''WesternAnimation/RabbitRampage'' (the non-lethal version), both involving Elmer's victory over Bugs.[[/note]]
121	* WouldHurtAChild: Bob definitely has this in spades. And yet he loves Bart so much, he brings him BackFromTheDead so that Bob can kill his ArchEnemy again and again.
122	* WrongGenreSavvy: In a normal episode Bart WOULD get away with mocking a harpoon gun-wielding Sideshow Bob. But given this is the start of a Halloween episode... he is not so lucky.
123	* YouWouldntShootMe: Bart tells Bob, "Yawn. You couldn't kill me with [a HarpoonGun] [[TemptingFate if I drew an 'X' on my forehead]]." [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice It... doesn't work.]]
124
125	!!''Homerzilla''
126	A parody of ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''; the grandfather of the Simp-san family frequently sacrifices a doughnut to a giant sea monster to keep it at bay. When he dies and no more donuts are sent, the monster comes to shore and wrecks the city.
127
128	* AdBumpers: Parodied at the very end of this segment after all the ''Homerzilla'' merchandise gets dumped into the ocean where the sea monster wakes up and roars in anger:
129	-->'''Narrator:''' ''[voice-over] Homerzilla'' will return... as soon as people have forgotten about the last one. ''[Homerzilla's roar is heard once more]''
130	* AnachronismStew: Though the film was set in the 1950s, the citizens watch a karaoke singer perform Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" near a karaoke machine before the power is cut off. Karaoke machines didn't exist in Japan until the 1970s. And the song was actually released as a single on February 19, 1973.
131	** Mr. Burns is seen wearing samurai armor, which have been rendered obsolete by the late 19th century. It's appropriate as Mr. Burns is always lagging a hundred years behind.
132	* ApocalypseHow: 1950's Japan starts becoming Regional Societal Disruption or Collapse by the end of the first part of the segment because of Homerzilla's rampage.
133	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: As a panicked and depressed scientist sees Homerzilla's rampage on TV, a scrolling news caption says, "Breaking News. Tokyo: Homerzilla Stomps the City! Ramen Prices Skyrocket! Geishas Giggle Coyly."
134	* BlandNameProduct: Among the Homerzilla merchandise being thrown into the sea are Zilla Wafers, a parody of Nilla Wafers.
135	* BreathWeapon[=/=]KillItWithFire: Homerzilla breathes fire! Duh!
136	* CassandraTruth: Grampa sent out a doughnut offering every day to appease Homerzilla, while everyone else disbelieved him. After he passed away and the doughnut offerings stopped, Homerzilla attacked Japan. [[ImplausibleDeniability Despite this]], [[DefiantToTheEnd Moe refused to admit that Grandpa was right]]...at least until Homerzilla killed him.
137	* CherryBlossoms: Miss Hoover and the students hear Homerzilla's faint roar beneath the ocean, but she calms them down by telling them it's just "excitement over the cherry blossoms":
138	-->'''Lisa:''' Of course! The cherry blossoms! They're so beautiful, ''[looks around]'' [[OhCrap and yet...]]
139	* ContinuityNod: Among the guests at the Homerzilla remake premiere are Lurleen Lumpkin, Dredrick Tatum, and the Grumple.
140	* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: The townspeople all ridicule Grampa Simp-san for his ritual of sacrificing doughnuts to Homerzilla, since they don’t believe the creature to be real. Until the monster comes ashore...
141	* DeliberatelyMonochrome: 1950s Japan in the first part of the segment.
142	* [[DoNotTauntCthulhu Do Not Taunt Homerzilla]]: Played straight with Moe; averted with Lisa.
143	* ForeignRemake: An in-universe example; an American movie studio decides to make a big budget remake of the old Japanese Homerzilla movie. It bombs at the box office[[note]]which is ironic as the 1998 Godzilla film referenced to was a financial success (and a big one at that)[[/note]] .
144	* GratuitousJapanese: The title screen is this, as katakana letters spell out "Hōmājira" (ホーマージラ), with the English title appearing on the bottom.
145	* InsaneTrollLogic: The execs reason that since the original Homerzilla was so popular because of how cheap and cheesy it was, then a remake that does the exact opposite will be even more successful.
146	* InsuranceFraud: When the Zilla film remake bombs, the executives drop everything related to it at the ocean and falsely claim to have lost the items so the insurance will cover the movie's expenses.
147	* {{Kaiju}}: Homerzilla, of course.
148	* ManInARubberSuit: Homerzilla is revealed as this when he falls off the set and has to be propped back up.
149	* NoEnding: We don't see how the conflict in either of the Zilla films end, and this is also true in the short overall after Homerzilla is revealed to be RealAfterAll.
150	* ProductPlacement: Parodied in the American remake of "Zilla" when Homerzilla picks up a tanker truck of Buzz Cola.
151	* ProsceniumReveal: The whole black and white segment at the start of the segment turns out to be an old Japanese movie that the executives of an American movie studio are watching.
152	* {{Pun}}: Homerzilla makes a bad one when he stomps on one of the houses of the Springfield Prefecture:
153	-->"D'oh-jo!" ''[lifts up his foot to reveal a crushed dojo]''
154	* RealAfterAll: At first it appears Homerzilla only exists in movies, but at the end of the episode, when all the merchandise for the failed American Homerzilla movie is tossed into the ocean, the creature is revealed to be real after all.
155	* SedgwickSpeech[=/=]TemptingFate: When Homerzilla arises from the beach and incinerates Moe for having ridiculed Grampa Simp-san's beliefs about the sea creature:
156	-->'''Moe:''' ''[raises his fist in anger]'' Ha! I still refuse to admit the old man was right! ''[the monster's fire breath [[StrippedToTheBone incinerates him to a skeleton]]]'' [[OhCrap Legitimate difference of opinion.]] ''[one more fire breath reduces him to ashes]''
157	* {{Seppuku}}: When Grampa dies he joins the previous Simp-san grandfather, who commits hara-kiri and dies again rather than spend eternity with him.
158	* ShoutOut:
159	** Grampa Simp-san at one time utters Franziska von Karma's "foolishly foolish fool" line from the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series.
160	** The Homerzilla remake has him fighting [[Film/{{Gamera}} a flying turtle with fangs]].
161	* SquareCubeLaw: Invoked by Prof. Frink, who claims that Homerzilla will collapse under his own weight once he leaves the water. [[GiantFootOfStomping He is immediately proven wrong.]] [[note]] Much like Godzilla, Homerzilla has bulky thighs and a thickened tail coupled with an upright posture which would help him stablize his weight. [[/note]]
162	* TakeThat: To the two American remakes of ''Godzilla'' (mostly the [[Film/Godzilla1998 1998 version directed by]] Creator/RolandEmmerich [[note]]which also featured ''Simpsons'' cast members Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer and Nancy Cartwright[[/note]], down to the shortening of the title to "[[Film/GodzillaFinalWars Zilla]]"), and to the upcoming ''Franchise/StarWars'' film ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', which Comic Book Guy says he wanted to get a good seat for, and which he believes "will stink to high heaven!" Oh, and PETA for the lizard burgers.
163	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath[=/=]DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Lisa tries reasoning with Homerzilla not to destroy the town. When that fails, she goes for the latter trope by telling him [[YouNeedABreathMint he needs a breath mint]]; see below.
164	* TranslationConvention: It's pretty obvious that the inhabitants of 1950s Japan speak very good English, since the first part is a film.
165	* YouNeedABreathMint: Lisa tells Homerzilla this after his fire breath incinerates a wheelbarrow:
166	-->'''Lisa:''' Right, right. The city's the only place you can get tuna rolls at five in the morning... because you do have fishy breath! I'm just telling you!
167
168	!!''Telepaths of Glory''
169	While Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse are on a hike, Milhouse falls down a hole. Bart and Lisa follow to rescue him, and they find a load of radioactive ooze down there. A bubble of the stuff pops and blows them back out of the hole. Lisa and Milhouse quickly discover that the goop gave them MindOverMatter powers. Bart didn't get any powers despite going through the same experience, as they're linked to intellect and Bart doesn't have much of that.
170
171	Cut to a montage of Lisa and Milhouse using their powers. Lisa uses hers to cheat at a gym examination by flying up the rope she was supposed to climb, Milhouse drops Dolph into a volcano after Dolph bullies him, Lisa turns Bart's 'Skinner is a wiener' graffiti into 'Skinner is a winner' (only for Skinner to change it back as he thinks someone misspelled wiener), [[LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn plays the background music on all her instruments]], and Milhouse plays Whack-A-Mole with his bullies, merges his parents into TwoBeingsOneBody, and gives Apu and Snake multiple arms. Yup, he's gone mad with power.
172
173	Milhouse then fills the Simpsons' yard with moai statues of him and gathers many citizens of Springfield into a giant ball, before the ball and statues are zapped away, and Milhouse is brought low with another zap. Bart congratulates Lisa on doing that, but she didn't. Turns out, it was Maggie, who'd sucked on a nuclear rod instead of a pacifier and now has powers of her own.
174
175	The rest of the short is Maggie's changes to the world, set to ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star''.
176
177	* CallBack: To the previous segment when Maggie uses her powers to turn Homerzilla into [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]].
178	* DisproportionateRetribution: When Dolph Starbeam gives Milhouse a wedgie, the latter floats upward, talking Dolph with him and dropping him into a volcano nearby. Dolph even lampshades this:
179	-->"This is not a proportional punishmeeeeent!"
180	* DrunkWithPower: Milhouse of course, which is lampshaded by Lisa.
181	-->'''Lisa:''' Milhouse has gone mad with power. Frankly, I thought it wouldn't take this long.
182	* FoundFootageFilms: It's from the point of view of the camera that Lisa takes hiking.
183	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: [[WesternAnimation/IceAge Scrat]] gets run over by a boulder right when Milhouse jumps into the hole.
184	* LaserGuidedKarma: Milhouse ends up losing his powers by being struck by Maggie with a nuclear rod mistaken for a pacifier.
185	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: Jazz music plays in the background during the montage where Lisa and Milhouse use their newfangled powers. Later on, the same music is played when she makes all the musical instruments fly and play the same jazz music, before Homer arrives and becomes angry, making her drop all the instruments to the ground and stop playing the background music.
186	* MandatoryLine: Much like they did in ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E1TreehouseOfHorrorXI Treehouse XI]]'' (and an IronicEcho at that, considering that said cameo was on the Halloween episode after the one where they hosted a MilestoneCelebration), Kang and Kodos appear at the end of the segment to [[LampshadeHanging complain about the fact that they weren't included in this episode]].
187	* MindOverMatter: Lisa and Milhouse's powers.
188	* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Milhouse uses his powers to give both Apu and Snake Jailbird multiple arms. Snake uses them for wielding multiple guns at once....
189	* MultiArmedMultitasking:...while Apu claims he can now diaper all his kids at once.
190	* NonIndicativeName: Neither Lisa nor Milhouse use {{Telepathy}} in this episode. Their powers are more like telekinesis.
191	* NoSell: The radioactive goo doesn’t have any effect on Bart, much to his chagrin since it gave his sister and friend superpowers.
192	* OneManBand: Lisa uses her new powers to play all her favorite instruments at once, effectively becoming a one-girl-orchestra.
193	* PersonalityPowers: Lisa notes that the telepathy powers are linked to intellect, which is why she and Milhouse have it and [[BookDumb Bart]] doesn't.
194	* RadiationInducedSuperpowers: How Lisa and Milhouse get their powers.
195	* ShoutOut: When Milhouse falls into the hole, [[WesternAnimation/IceAge Scrat]] is seen running after his acorn in the background. Also, Milhouse summoning moai statues of himself is a reference to the Tartaros Arc of ''Manga/FairyTail''. When Bart and Lisa go down the hole to save Milhouse, ''[[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone's car]]'' can be briefly seen.
196	* TheCameo: Kang and Kodos. At the end of the segment, they appear to complain about doing this trope.
197	* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Milhouse goes mad with power, using it to literally force his parents back together (by fusing them into a TwoBeingsOneBody), taking revenge on his bullies and making giant statues of himself.
198	* WholePlotReference: To ''Film/{{Chronicle}}''.

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS27E5TreehouseOfHorrorXXVI