Line #10 Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E4TreehouseOfHorrorXIX


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thohxix.jpg]]
2	This year, we have a ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' parody with robots attacking each other in Springfield, Homer murdering celebrities for fun and profit (mostly profit for the executives who want to use celebrities in their ads), and a lawyer-friendly ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' parody featuring a murderous pumpkin.
3
4	!! "Treehouse of Horror XIX" contains examples of:
5	* AccidentalMurder: Homer's murder of Krusty in the second story. He was simply shoving him for upsetting Maggie, but they happened to be near a wood chipper at the time.
6	* AdultsAreUseless: Marge in third story would rather prioritize [[BreakingTheFourthWall telling off the audience]] [[TakeThatCritics who complain about the episode]] over trying to help the kids (and possibly Homer and Willie) from Tom Turkey's rampage.
7	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Milhouse wanted the Grand Pumpkin to visit his patch. He got his wish, all right, only for Grand Pumpkin to hate those that eat the fruit.
8	* BigNo: This the Grand Pumpkin's initial reaction when Milhouse informs him that pumpkin bread is made ''from'' pumpkins and not ''for'' pumpkins.
9	* BigWhat: The Grand Pumpkin's reaction to Milhouse saying pumpkin bread is made ''from'' pumpkins, not ''for'' pumpkins.
10	* {{Bowdlerise}}: The UK version of this cuts out the following scenes:
11	** "Untitled Robot Parody" is cut to remove the entire part with the Sex Toy Bot when the Optimus Prime expy asks him where he's been and Sex Toy Bot suggestively replies, "Where ''haven't'' I been?"
12	** "It's The Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse": The Grand Pumpkin puking after discovering that people eat/carve pumpkins for Halloween.
13	* BrickJoke: We see Santa's Little Helper napping on top of his doghouse like Snoopy. In a FreezeFrameBonus, we see that he's flying in a World War I Flying Ace outfit into the night sky.
14	* TheCameo: Kang and Kodos make their appearance in this special dancing at the school Halloween party with the other kids ala ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas''.
15	* CasualDangerDialogue: Flanders engages in a friendly conversation with Homer about their holidays while the two are "imprisoned" by their cars who are battling each other as transformers.
16	* CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven: Their own heaven, in fact.
17	* CelebrityCasualty: "How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising" is built around this, as Homer gets the job of murdering celebrities so they can be used in advertising without their permission. We see three of these murders depicted: He drowns Creator/GeorgeClooney in extra-deep quicksand, then stabs, chokes, and bludgeons Music/{{Prince}} with his own guitar, and hits UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong with the golf club at the National Air & Space Museum.
18	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Milhouse's innocent belief in the Grand Pumpkin is what creates him. Lisa utilizes it to create Tom Turkey to stop the Grand Pumpkin.
19	* TheDeadRiseToAdvertise: The second story's theme has Homer being hired by advertising agencies to kill celebrities so that their likenesses can be used in commercials for free.
20	* DisproportionateRetribution: Lisa punches out Milhouse for waking her up as a dress rehearsal to seeing the Grand Pumpkin. She then goes to the party in progress. Unlike Sally, who missed out on all the Halloween festivities, Lisa was able to enjoy some of the fun.
21	* DownerEnding: The first and third segments end with humanity enslaved and a murderous turkey attacking everyone, respectively.
22	* DyingDeclarationOfHate: The Grand Pumpkin's final words are "Pumpkin Segregation Forever!"
23	* EarthIsABattlefield: Lisa explains to her dad that the two transformer factions traveled to Earth to create their armies and battle each other using their planet as their final warzone.
24	-->'''Homer:''' It is a good planet to settle things on.
25	* EveryoneHasStandards: Nelson is appalled when he finds out that the Grand Pumpkin is racist towards pumpkins of different colors.
26	-->'''Nelson''': ''(as he's getting eaten by the Grand Pumpkin)'' I'd rather die than hate!
27	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Many in the second segment: Krusty is sucked into a wood chipper, Prince is choked with then stabbed by his "symbol" guitar and Homer gets his head blown cleanly off.
28	* FantasticRacism: The Grand Pumpkin cares nothing about yellow pumpkins being carved, going as far as to proudly admitting that he and all other pumpkins are racist but [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least he admits it]].
29	* GoneHorriblyWrong: Milhouse's immense belief manages to create the Grand Pumpkin and Lisa's belief creates Tom Turkey, but unfortunately both of them are driven to KillAllHumans once they respectively learn that their kind gets eaten and/or carved for the holiday they represent.
30	* HarmlessVillain: The Grand Pumpkin is ultimately revealed as one. While he terrifies the kids and eats people, he has no working digestive tract. When Tom Turkey blows a hole in him, it reveals [[EatenAlive everyone he ate is fine]], just covered in pumpkin-guts.
31	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Subverted in "Untitled Robot Parody". Maggie watches the transformer in full action, tries to tell Lisa (and fails due to the fact that she can't talk), and the robot then uses its robotic arm to stick her pacifier back in her mouth.
32	* HereWeGoAgain: After the Grand Pumpkin is killed, Bart tells Tom Turkey about eating turkeys at Thanksgiving, resulting in him going on a rampage of his own.
33	* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: The angel celebrities succeed in killing Homer, but Homer gets the last laugh since by the time they return, Homer, who also went to Heaven, takes the key to the pearly gates and locks them out before they can come through.
34	* {{Homage}}: "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" shows more attention to detail than the other shorts to animate it in the ''Peanuts'' style, with Lisa at one point reciting Sally's iconic "You owe me restitution!"
35	* HurricaneOfPuns: Milhouse's pumpkin-themed rewrite of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed Apostles' Creed]].
36	-->''I believe in the Grand Pumpkin, almighty gourd, who was crustified over Pontius Pie Plate and ascended into Oven. He will come again to judge the filling and the bread…''
37	* HypocriticalHumor:
38	** The giant talking pumpkin finds the idea of a giant, talking turkey preposterous. Also, the fact that the said giant talking pumpkin goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge over people carving up other pumpkins, yet thinks nothing of yellow pumpkins being cut up.
39	** Nelson is disgusted by the Grand Pumpkin's racism towards yellow pumpkins, yet he himself called the idea of said Pumpkin "gay", displaying homophobia.
40	* JerkassHasAPoint:
41	** Krusty destroying the images of himself in front of a tearful Maggie was cruel, but they ''were'' unlicensed.
42	** The Grand Pumpkin isn't wrong to point out that while the humans are having fun, they're cutting up and cooking his people.
43	* LampshadeHanging: In the second story, after the dead celebrities invade the living world, Chief Wiggum is confronted by vocal inspiration Creator/EdwardGRobinson and accused of ripping him off.
44	* LiteralMinded: After seeing two giant robots fight each other in public, Bart is happy to see "Boxing Day" live up to it's name.
45	* LogoJoke: Instead of the usual terrified scream and organ music, the Grace Films jingle is now redone in a jazz piano style, in true ''Peanuts'' fashion.
46	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Principal Skinner is rather ambivalent to the Grand Pumpkin scooping out the contents of his skull like a jack-o-lantern.
47	-->'''Skinner''': Is there a particular ''part'' of my brain you're looking for or...?
48	* MistakenAge: The Megatron expy mistakes Marge for a grandmother.
49	* {{Montage}}: Homer's murders are set to "Psycho Killer" by Music/TalkingHeads, whose lead singer Music/DavidByrne previously guest starred in "Dude, Where's My Ranch?"
50	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
51	** In the first story, Marge managed to convince the two leaders of the robot armies to end their age-old war...[[PacifismBackfire only for them to team up to take over Earth]]. ''Then'' they're all tied up on a human foosball table because Homer wanted them to learn a hobby.
52	** At the end of the third skit, Bart tells Tom the Turkey about what people eat at Thanksgiving.
53	* OnlySaneWoman: Lisa in "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse". Aside from her DisproportionateRetribution above, at least she knows that telling a giant talking turkey that people eat turkeys is a bad idea, and tries to cover Bart's mouth when he thoughtlessly goes into detail on how people prepare turkeys for Thanksgiving.
54	* PacifismBackfire: Very much GoneHorriblyWrong. Marge does her typical nagging and tells two Transformers knock-off factions to cut it out and they decide to team up and conquer Earth instead.
55	* PapaWolf: In the second story, Homer attacks Krusty for making Maggie cry, though he didn't mean to actually kill him.
56	* PetTheDog:
57	** Bart apologetically tells Milhouse that he only made up the Grand Pumpkin to mess with him. Milhouse, of course, refuses to believe him.
58	** Shortly after, Lisa willingly decides to wait in the pumpkin patch with Milhouse, long enough that she even falls asleep. She only loses her patience when Milhouse wakes her up to practice saying "He's here!".
59	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain:
60	** Nelson, while bullying Milhouse for his belief in the Grand Pumpkin, used "gay" to mock him.
61	** The Grand Pumpkin himself is bigoted towards yellow pumpkins, which horrifies a hypocritical Nelson.
62	* PumpkinPerson: Milhouse brings The Grand Pumpkin to life. He proceeds to eat at least three people for carving and eating pumpkins.
63	* RecordNeedleScratch: An iPod-styled music player actually makes such a sound when Milhouse stops the music (Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas is Coming") at the Halloween party to warn the kids about the Grand Pumpkin's rampage.
64	* ScrewedByTheLawyers: An InUniverse example; At the beginning of "How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising", Krusty, upset that a mural in a daycare features unauthorized use of his likeness, has a group of men sandblast the images of his face from the mural. This was based on a real-life incident where [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/daycare-center-murals/ Disney told three daycares in Florida to remove murals of their characters from their walls]].
65	* ShoutOut:
66	** "How To Get Ahead in Dead-vertising" copies the entire opening sequence of ''Series/MadMen'' for its title.
67	** "Untitled Robot Parody" features [[LawyerFriendlyCameo lookalikes]] of the [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers original Optimus Prime and Megatron]], as formed out of Homer and Ned's cars, respectively.
68	** One of the Krusty-themed murals in the daycare features [[{{WesternAnimation/Cinderella}} Cinderella with her Prince Charming]].
69	* SignificantAnagram: Each alternative title for "Untitled Robot Parody" is an anagram for ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': Trans Morfers; Morf Transers; and Snort Farmers.
70	* SkewedPriorities: After Milhouse interrupts the festivities to warn everyone about the murderous pumpkin, Krabappel admonishes him for violating dress code.
71	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: With the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse brings him to life with childlike belief. It turns out that a pumpkin head...is just a pumpkin head and lacks digestive organs. Thus, the people it eats are perfectly fine, if traumatized. Tom the Turkey, on the other hand...
72	* TakeThatCritics: At the end of the ''Peanuts'' parody, Marge appears onscreen and says if anyone wants to write in to complain about how they "trampled on a beloved holiday classic", she plays the "wah-wah-wah-wah" trombone noise again as the given address.
73	* TooDumbToLive:
74	** Homer in the second segment. When the ''Series/MadMen'' expies show up and offer him money to kill more celebrities, upon using the money as a fan, he tries to pry more money out of them by saying he was hot. After they do give him more, he then whines that he's ''too cold'' and gives the extra cash back.
75	** Bart and Milhouse in the ''Peanuts'' parody --
76	*** 1.) Milhouse feeds the Grand Pumpkin a loaf of pumpkin bread and then reveals that it's made ''from'' pumpkins and not ''for'' pumpkins.
77	*** 2.) After Tom Turkey saves him and the rest of the kids, he suggests that Tom can carve the Thanksgiving-turkey--when a bewildered Tom asks if they really ''eat'' turkeys, Bart proceeds to go into details about stuffing them. Guess what happens.
78	* TheUnintelligible: {{Subverted\|Trope}}. At first, it seemed the adults in the ''Peanuts'' parody would be this like in the real ''Peanuts'' specials, but the only adult sounding like that was Marge while playing the trombone.
79	* VocalDissonance: Melody, one of Optimus Prime expy's comrades, appears with a feminine appearance and a deep, masculine voice.
80	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Both the Grand Pumpkin and Tom Turkey if you think about it. They each start off as friendly and heroic, but once they learn that their kind gets eaten and/or carved, they both go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
81	* WouldHurtAChild:
82	** Both the Grand Pumpkin and Tom Turkey go on a rampage that includes eating the children.
83	** Parodied when Willie offers the Grand Pumpkin some pumpkin seeds. "You roast the unborn?!"
84	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Tom Turkey talks like this (after all, he also dresses like a Puritan).

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS20E4TreehouseOfHorrorXIX