Line #67 Recap/TheSimpsonsS25E2TreehouseOfHorrorXXIV


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thoh_xxiv.jpg]]
2	In this year's triptych of terror, Homer is the cheery, yet homicidal "Fat in the Hat" in the Creator/DrSeuss parody, "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!", Bart and Lisa are forced to share a body after Bart (literally) loses his head in "Dead and Shoulders," and in "Freaks No Geeks," Homer is a circus strongman who convinces his trapeze artist fiancee Marguerite (Marge) to seduce a sideshow freak (Moe) and steal his prized emerald ring.
3	---------------------------
4	!!''Treehouse of Horror XXIV'' contains examples of:
5	* ActionSurvivor: Bart in the opening navigates his skateboard around various monsters and chaos to make it home.
6	* AdaptationalHeroism: Marguerite in "Freaks No Geeks" is depicted as genuinely sweet and kind and not willingly involved in Homer's plot to kill Moe. In [[Film/{{Freaks}} the original film]], Cleo actively conspires with Hercules to poison Hans.
7	* AdaptationalVillainy: The Cat in the Hat was a chaotic being, but certainly not a murderer. Because this is a Halloween special, however, the Fat in the Hat beats up children and adults alike, robs Apu at gunpoint, and will kill people.
8	* AliceAllusion: Lisa in the opening; she falls down the rabbit hole and finds herself in Alice's pretty blue dress. It segues into a reference to ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' shortly afterward though.
9	* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Inverted. The BloodlessCarnage in this installment were of ways that the writers got sick and tired of the TV-14 rating on the THOH installments that were rated before and since.
10	* AxCrazy: The Fat in the Hat.
11	* BodyHorror: Bart's situation while he's attached to Lisa's (and later Selma's) shoulder. PlayedForLaughs when Bart ends up on Selma's body and the two of them end up in "Freaks No Geeks" as part of the sideshow.
12	* BloodlessCarnage: Bart being decapitated, then Lisa, in "Dead and Shoulders."
13	* CallBack: Bart's head on Selma's body is reused in "Freaks No Geeks" as a member of Burnsum and Bailey's Freak Show. Even Burnsum refers to him/her as the "Terrifying Callback".
14	* TheCameo:
15	** The [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Hypnotoad]] appears in place of the toad from ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' in the opening sequence.
16	** Kang and Kodos make their usual cameos as two of Burnsum's freaks.
17	* TheCatCameBack: PlayedForDrama; the Simpsons kids escape from the Fat in the Hat and head home, only to find he's already inside. Fittingly, the Fat in the Hat is a parody of the Cat in the Hat.
18	* ContinuityNod: As Lisa leaves the school there are framed photos of characters and moments from past Treehouse of Horrors, namely Homer being tortured by the Raven from ''I'', alien maggie from ''IX'', Dr Hibbert and the various human/animal hybrids from ''XIII'', and the Grand Pumpkin from ''XIX''.
19	* EatenAlive: Milhouse, Lard Lad, and Smithers in the intro
20	* EnfantTerrible: During the opening, Maggie drives [[Film/TheCar a black car]] and forces Milhouse off a bridge to his death below. She also runs over Homer when she makes it back to the house.
21	* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Fat in the Hat is a murderous lunatic, but the idea of having Creator/MikeMyers[[note]]who portrayed the homonymous character of ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', a widely-paned 2003 film, of which this segment was a parody[[/note]] play him in a movie adaptation is, to him, worse than going to Hell.
22	* EveryoneHasStandards: The kids run away from the Fat in the Hat when they realize that he's completely unreasonable and an outright murderer. Though they do wait until he gets them candy.
23	* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Mr. Burns as The Pale Man.
24	* TheFaceless: Marge in "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!", is shown only from the neck down as a reference to the original ''The Cat in The Hat'' book.
25	* FateWorseThanDeath: The Fat in the Hat spares Apu after holding him at gunpoint, deciding that forcing him to spend time with Manjula and the Octuplets is a much worse fate.
26	* FauxHorrific: Burnsum introduces one of the freaks as the most frightening creature ever seen. It turns out to be just plain old Moe, looking and acting no different than he usually does. And yet the audience gasps and screams in utter horror.
27	-->'''Moe:''' So, uh, anyone here from New Jersey? (Woman raises her hand) Ah, I'm going there next week. (Woman screams and faints)
28	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In "Dead and Shoulders," while Bart is flying his kite, Milhouse becomes allergic to a flower and is carted off by paramedics.
29	* HowDadMetMom: "Freaks No Geeks" turns out to be this in a ShoutOut to the FramingDevice used in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother.''
30	* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Most likely the reason why the [[Franchise/UniversalHorror Universal Horrors]] are chasing after the people of Springfield while wielding [[TorchesAndPitchforks torches and pitchforks]].
31	* HypnotizeTheCaptive: The [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Hypnotoad]] briefly does this to Lisa in the opening.
32	* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Maggie stops The Fat in the Hat from hurting her and her siblings by impaling him with [[KarmicDeath the very umbrella he used to mug/murder people]].
33	* IGaveMyWord: For all his horrific deeds, the Fat in the Hat does honor his promise to get the kids some Halloween candy after curing them of mumps. He does so by robbing Apu.
34	* KarmicDeath:
35	** During The Fat in the Hat's mayhem, he kills and skins Moe's character. Using his own umbrella against him, he's skinned by the Simpson kids and shown as a new rug on their floor.
36	** Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney try to sneak into Burnsum's tent without paying. A lion emerges and spits out some of their clothing.
37	* KickTheDog: Throughout the special with The Fat in the Hat's rampage, Strongman and Burnsum's bad treatments of the freaks, and Maggie and Mr. Burns as the Pale Man in the intro (although that last case is a ForegoneConclusion if you've seen the movie).
38	* MurderTheHypotenuse: Homer the Strongman intends to kill Moe after he's married Marge/Marguerite so he can claim Moe's emerald wedding ring and pawn it for a supposed better life. Played with, as it's shown that he doesn't really care about Marguerite but treats her a lot like a trophy wife.
39	* NoodleIncident: How did Dr. Nick get his head sewn onto Dr. Hibbert's body?
40	* OffWithHisHead:
41	** Bart is decapitated and has to have his head sewn onto Lisa's body to survive. By the end, they both get their heads cut off by a sawmill and are attached to Selma and Krusty.
42	** Lenny is unintentionally decapitated by Carl (as Blade) as he charges after mutated Homer in the opening. [[BlackComedy He proceeds to pour his coffee down his exposed esophagus]].
43	** Ralph also has his head knocked off by the severed Jebediah Springfield statue head. He is still able to lick his ice cream.
44	* ReferenceOverdosed: Del Toro fit as many sci-fi and horror references into the opening as he possibly could.
45	** Many legends of the genre appear, such as Creator/StephenKing scrawling "[[Literature/TheShining All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy]]" on the walls of Bart's classroom, Creator/AlfredHitchcock sits next to Krabappel-and then causes some [[Film/TheBirds birds to attack her]], Ray Bradbury tattooing a muscular man ("The Illustrated Man"), Richard Matheson (who wrote "I Am Legend") shaking his head in disapproval at Bradbury's tattoo work-and one of the novel's vampires standing next to him, Creator/EdgarAllanPoe lets a [[Literature/TheRaven raven]] land on his arm, and Creator/HPLovecraft [[DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu having tea with one of Cthulhu's tentacles]].
46	** Of course, Del Toro fits in Shout Outs to his entire filmography up to and including ''Film/PacificRim'': ''Film/{{Cronos}}'' (the device is on the cash register), ''Film/{{Mimic}}'' (Marge as a Judas Breed), ''Film/TheDevilsBackbone'' (Homer as Santi at the couch), ''Film/BladeII'' (Homer as a Reaper up until the couch and Carl as Blade), ''Film/Hellboy2004'' (Groundskeeper Willie as Hellboy fighting Kroenen), ''Film/PansLabyrinth'' (Mr. Burns as the Pale Man, and Bart as the Faun and Lisa as Ofelia in the ending sequence) and ''Pacific Rim'' (Gipsy Danger fights Knifehead in the background of the town battle.)
47	** Four incarnations of Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera (specifically the [[Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera the novel]], [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1925 the 1925]], [[Film/PhantomOfTheOpera1943 the 1943]], and [[Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1962 the 1962]] versions) appear at Lisa's rehearsal, and the teacher is dressed as the ''Film/PhantomOfTheParadise''.
48	** [[Franchise/UniversalHorror The Universal Horror]] versions of [[Film/Dracula1931 Dracula]], [[Film/Frankenstein1931 Frankenstein's Monster]], [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 Wolfman]], [[Film/TheMummy1932 Mummy]], [[Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon Gilman]], [[Film/BrideOfFrankenstein Bride of Frankenstein]], [[Film/ThisIslandEarth the Metaluna Mutant]], and [[Film/TheInvisibleMan1933 the Invisible Man]] form a mob to chase the Springfield residents.
49	** The ZombieApocalypse at the power plant could reference ''any'' zombie film, but is probably specially calling to mind ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968''.
50	** The Cyclops version of Wiggum that eats Lard Lad is from ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad''
51	** Maggie drives ''Film/TheCar'' to run over Millhouse.
52	** As noted above, at the couch Lisa wears [[Literature/AliceInWonderland Alice's dress while falling down the rabbit hole]], and upon landing sees [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} the Hypnotaod]].
53	** Under the earth, we see the dead bodies of the [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow original versions of the Simpsons]] and the skeleton of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}.
54	** The pan across Springfield includes: Creator/RodSerling, the Robot from ''Series/LostInSpace'', the Man in the Beaver Hat from ''Film/LondonAfterMidnight'', a [[Film/{{Alien}} Xenomorph]], [[Film/TwentyMillionMilesToEarth the Ymir]], one of ''Film/TheMolePeople'', the skeleton soldiers from 1963's ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', the creature from ''Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'', [[Literature/TheTimeMachine a Morlock]], [[Film/RobotMonster Ro-Man]], Cavor's craft from ''Literature/TheFirstMenInTheMoon'', [[Film/{{Nosferatu}} Count Orlok]], aliens from ''Film/InvasionOfTheSaucerMen'', [[Film/TheFly1958 the Fly]], [[Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill Klaatu's spaceship and the robot Gort]], two of the 'freaks' from ''Film/{{Freaks}}'', and Creator/RondoHatton from ''Film/HouseOfHorrors1946''.
55	* RhymesOnADime: A given in the Seussian "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!"
56	* ShoutOut: In "Oh the Places You'll D'oh," Maggie is modeled after Cindy Lou Who as she appeared in the iconic Creator/ChuckJones adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''.
57	** Selma with Bart's head attached sing the first four lines of James Taylor and Carly Simon's "Mockingbird".
58	** "Freaks No Geeks" ends with an out-of-nowhere nod to ''Series/HowIMetYourMother''.
59	** "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!" is packed with Dr. Seuss references -- apart from the obvious WholePlotReference to ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'' and the title reference to ''Oh, The Places You'll Go!'', there are references to, among other things, ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lorax\|2012}}'' (the Borax, who "plastered [his] likeness on CON-sumer goods"), ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' (the character designs of Maggie and, arguably Moe; Burns calling the Fat "a son of a Grinch"; the scene in the homeless shelter), ''Yertle the Turtle'' (the turtle stack shown outside the Simpson house), ''The Sneetches'' (Flanders as a Sneetch with a cross on his belly), ''Literature/The500HatsOfBartholomewCubbins'' (Bartholomew and his hats are shown outside Moe's), ''What Was I Scared Of?'' (the walking pants), ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'' (the eponymous dish is shown in Moe's pickle jar), ''Literature/HortonHatchesTheEgg'' (Horton is seen drinking with his trunk at Moe's), songs sung by a mixed chorus in the style of the vocal songs from the Dr. Seuss animated TV specials of TheSeventies, and many others.
60	* [[SirNotAppearingInThisTrailer Sir-Not-Appearing-On-This-Poster]]: Aside from one promotional shot of the Simpson children in typical Seussian fashions, "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!" and its characters (such as The Fat in the Hat) are noticeably absent from promotional materials.
61	** That includes VideoGame/TheSimpsonsTappedOut, which had a splash screen showing tombstones, one of which read "The Fat in the Hat Quests". Sure enough, that was the Seuss parody's only mention in the game.
62	* SlasherSmile: The Fat in the Hat and Stephen King in the opening
63	* StealthPun: Smithers (a closeted gay man) as a fairy[[note]]"fairy" has been used as a derogatory term for a homosexual man. It's not as hurtful as "faggot" or "queer," but it is considered rude, so be careful how you use it[[/note]] to Pale Man Mr. Burns in the opening.
64	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: The Fat in the Hat is KilledMidSentence just short of finishing a verse.
65	-->'''Fat in the Hat''': I’m staying forever, you’re all stuck with that! ‘Cause I’m your new daddy, the Fat in the- OW!
66	* TakeThat: The Fat in the Hat trashes [[Literature/TheLorax The Borax]] for selling out, referencing [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 the film adaptation]]'s MisaimedMarketing (in particular, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKA3M-2sJc the infamous Lorax Mazda commercial]]). Also before dying, The Fat in the Hat states he'll tolerate hellfire, [[Film/TheCatInTheHat but not a movie adaptation with his character played by Mike Myers]]. Ironically, Creator/DanCastellaneta voiced Thing 1 and Thing 2 in said movie.
67	* TarAndFeathers: Strongman's fate in "Freaks No Geeks", which turns him into the "World's Strongest Duck"
68	* TemptingFate: Marge in "Oh, The Places You'll D'oh!" is sure she's the only one wearing a Catwoman costume for Halloween. The next scene shows several other people wearing Catwoman costumes. [[FanDisservice Including Comic Book Guy]], who apparently didn't realize it was Halloween.
69	* TongueTrauma: Strongman is able to lift things with his tongue. It's stretched out in comedic fashion, with the hint that it is quite uncomfortable.
70	* TooDumbToLive:
71	** Bart gets decapitated when he ties the string to his box kite around his throat. Even worse, he's flying this kite around an airport.
72	** Homer mistaking sleeping pills for yogurt mix-ins.
73	* ToonPhysics: Bart survives being decapitated, yet Skinner and Homer got decapitated in Treehouse of Horror XX and it was realistically depicted.
74	* TorchesAndPitchforks: Seen in the opening, but with a twist; they are wielded by the [[Franchise/UniversalHorror classic Universal monsters]] as they pursue the mortals.
75	* VisualPun: One of the posters of the freak show shows "The Spineless man." Which shows a picture of Skinner literally crooked for not having a spine, who is also the character that can't stand up to anyone.
76	* WholePlotReference: Dr. Seuss works (particularly ''Literature/TheCatInTheHat'') and ''Film/{{Freaks}}''

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS25E2TreehouseOfHorrorXXIV