Treehouse of Horror XVI

"Treehouse of Horror XVI"
The Simpsons episode
The episode's promotional image
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Directed by	David Silverman
Written by	Marc Wilmore
Original air date	November 6, 2005 (2005-11-06)
Commentary	Al Jean Marc Wilmore Matt Selman Kevin Curran Tom Gammill Dan Castellaneta David Silverman
Season 17 episodes September 11, 2005 – May 21, 2006 "The Bonfire of the Manatees" "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" "Milhouse of Sand and Fog" "Treehouse of Horror XVI" "Marge's Son Poisoning" "See Homer Run" "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" "The Italian Bob" "Simpsons Christmas Stories" "Homer's Paternity Coot" "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere" "My Fair Laddy" "The Seemingly Neverending Story" "Bart Has Two Mommies" "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife" "Million-Dollar Abie" "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" "The Wettest Stories Ever Told" "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" "Regarding Margie" "The Monkey Suit" "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play" List of The Simpsons episodes
Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

"Treehouse of Horror XVI" is the fourth episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 6, 2005. In the sixteenth annual Treehouse of Horror, the Simpsons replace Bart with a robot son after Bart falls into a coma, Homer and various other male characters find themselves on a reality show where Mr. Burns hunts humans for sport, and costumed Springfieldians become whatever they are wearing, thanks to a witch who was disqualified from a Halloween costume contest. It was written by Marc Wilmore and directed by David Silverman. Terry Bradshaw and Dennis Rodman guest star as themselves. Around 11.63 million Americans tuned in to watch the episode during its original broadcast.

Plot

In the opening, Kang hopes to speed up an exceedingly slow and boring baseball game, despite Kodos' protests, but ends up destroying the universe when the baseball players go so fast, they turn into a killer vortex which sucks up the universe, even God. When Kodos berates Kang off-camera for destroying the universe, Kang responds by leaving a post-it note on the white void, revealing the title of the episode.

B.I. Bartificial Intelligence

In this spoof of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Bart winds up in a two-week coma after attempting to jump out of a window into a swimming pool. The family takes in a robotic boy, named David, who quickly proves to be a better son. Bart wakes up from his two-week coma and competes against David for the affection of the rest of his family. However, Bart is dumped on a road by Homer, who decides to keep David instead. When Bart finds a group of old rusty robots, he steals their parts to become a cyborg. Angry that Homer abandoned him, he then returns home and cuts through both David and Homer with a chainsaw after the robot tries to use Homer as a shield. Although the family is now together again, Homer is angry that he has to be fused with David's lower half, which soon collapses due to Homer's weight. Suddenly, the whole scenario is revealed to be a dream conjured by Homer's demonically possessed mind as he is being exorcised. Marge reluctantly says she will call work and tell them Homer cannot make it in, much to his delight.

Survival of the Fattest

In a parody of the 1924 Richard Connell short story "The Most Dangerous Game", men from Springfield arrive at Mr. Burns' mansion to go hunting. Unbeknownst to them, they are the prey to be hunted while the hunt is broadcast on live television. Homer manages to survive the night while the others are killed left and right, but Burns closes in on him in the morning. Just as he is about to be shot, Burns and Smithers are knocked out by Marge with a frying pan in each hand, who then hits Homer on the head for being away from home for 18 hours without calling, before they end up having make-up sex behind the astonished newscasters.

I've Grown a Costume on Your Face

In a parody of Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Halloween" and the classic Twilight Zone episode "The Masks", the citizens of Springfield dress in their Halloween costumes for a costume contest that involves courage, bravery, and happiness. The winner is declared to be a strange old green-skinned witch in a black-and-red suit. When given the award and asked who she is, she is forced to admit that she is a real witch. As a result, her reward is rescinded because she is not in actual costume. In anger over losing her gift certificate, she turns everyone into their costumed characters; the only person who can reverse the spell is Maggie, who was dressed as a witch. Instead of reversing the spell, Maggie turns them all into pacifiers with their normal heads and then flies off on a broom to seek help in fixing her mistake. The segment ends as Moe and a transformed Dennis Rodman talk to the audience about the importance of reading before Maggie returns and casts another spell, presumably turning everyone back to normal.

External links

• "Treehouse of Horror XVI" at IMDb
• Treehouse of Horror XVI script at Springfield! Springfield!