Homer Simpson appears as the Grim Reaper in this promotional picture for the episode.
"Treehouse of Horror XIV" is a Halloween-themed episode from the fifteenth season of the American animated comedy series The Simpsons. It was first broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network on November 2, 2003.
In common with all the previous Halloween episodes of The Simpsons, the program is made up of three self-contained stories; "Reaper Madness", "Frinkenstein" and "Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off". In the first story (which is similar to the March 21, 2000 episode of Family Guy called "Death is a Bitch"), Homer Simpson becomes the new Grim Reaper after he kills the old one. The second story is a spoof of Frankenstein, in which Simpsons regular character Professor Frink brings his dead father (voiced by Jerry Lewis) back to life. In the final story, based on a 1963 episode of the Twilight Zone called a "A Kind of Stopwatch", Bart Simpson acquires a stopwatch that really stops time.
Opening[]
Brother and sister Bart and Lisa Simpson return home from trick-or-treating, dressed as Charlie Brown and Lucy van Pelt from Peanuts. They begin to argue about which of them has the better candy. Their argument soon turns violent and their grandfather, mother Marge and father Homer get involved. The fight reaches a climax with Marge shooting Homer, his blood forming the words "Treehouse of Horror XIV".
In their spaceship high above the Earth, the aliens Kang and Kodos mock the "foolish humans" for putting out a Halloween episode in November, adding that they have already put up their Christmas decorations.
"Reaper Madness"[]
The Grim Reaper arrives at the Simpsons' house to take the soul of the boy Bart. He and the rest of the family run away but the Reaper eventually uses his scythe to pin Bart to the wall by his shirt. While his back is turned, Bart's father Homer kills the Reaper with a bowling ball. The Grim Reaper being dead means that there is no death in the world, making it impossible to die.
On garbage day, Homer takes out the Reaper's body. He puts on the Reaper's robe and instantly becomes the new Grim Reaper. He has a list of people whose souls he has to reap. For some time, he enthusiastically takes the lives of all the people on his list, and those of some people who are not.
One day, Homer sees the name of his wife Marge Simpson on the list. He refuses to take her life. The only alternative that he is offered is to give up his own life and he is not willing to do that either. Homer tries to fool God by substituting the body of Patty, his wife's sister, for that of Marge. God attempts to punish Homer. He pursues him for some time but eventually gives up.
"Frinkenstein"[]
Scientist Professor Frink is notified that he has been awarded a Nobel Prize. He regrets that his late father will not be able to attend the ceremony. He also regrets that he fell out with his father and that the two of them remained unreconciled at the time of his death. Having kept his father's body frozen, Professor Frink decides to reanimate the corpse. His father comes back to life but is not satisfied with the body that he has. He begins to kill the people of Springfield, taking parts from their bodies and adding them to his own, rebuilding himself as a Frankenstein's monster-like creature.
At the Nobel Prize ceremony, Professor Frink's father tries to reconcile with his son. However, he soon goes on a murderous rampage through the audience, taking their brains. Professor Frink puts a stop to this by kicking his father in the crotch. His father dies again but Professor Frink is able to keep hold of his soul and store it in a box.
"Stop the World, I Want to Goof Off"[]
Bart Simpson and his friend Milhouse see an advertisement in an old comic book for a time-freezing stopwatch and send off for it. The device works and the two boys enjoy freezing time in order to play pranks on people. They are eventually found out and pursued by an angry mob. They stop time before the mob can attack them but then find that the watch no longer works and they cannot start time again. For a while, the two boys enjoy living in a world in which everybody but themselves is frozen in time but eventually grow bored of it. They find an instruction manual which tells them how to fix the watch but find out that it will take fifteen years to repair it.
Once time has started again, Lisa Simpson finds that the stopwatch also has the power to alter reality. She plays with the watch a few times, causing her family to be transformed in various strange ways. She stops when her family are otherwise normal but constantly dancing with hula hoops to the tune of "Rock Around the Clock" because that is close enough.