The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XXXI delivers the tricks and treats

The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror arrives tomorrow! It’s a little late for Halloween, but you can enjoy episodes from years past in the meantime.

Halloween has arrived, and part of that spooktacular celebration (for myself, at least) is watching the annual The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror. Since 1990, The Simpsons shared macabre tales driven by pop culture. However, the animated comedy put their own “spoof” on the piece, which usually results in a hilarious and brilliant conclusion.

We have seen many satirical takes of legendary creations throughout the years: Homer’s point of view on the classic Edgar Allan Poe poem, The Raven, along with a historical twist on the 1692 Salem witch trials that referenced Bewitched and the precoded 1932 Tod Browning film, Freaks.

This year, Treehouse of Horror  continues its tradition of parody with its opener reflecting on the upcoming November 3rd elections. Homer — body in the voting booth — is making the decision of selecting a presidential candidate, as if the fate of America is relying on his vote alone. His ever-so-intelligent daughter, Lisa, comes in (sporting her mask) to help her father make the right choice by reminding him of the events that occurred over the last four years under the current president.

Due to the World Series, the episode was bumped to November 1 this year, instead of its original October 18 airdate. November 1 is one day after Halloween and two days before the election.  The irony alone in the date sings a haunting tune.

Here is the sneak peek of the scene, released by the official The Simpsons Twitter page:

Homer is confronted with the fifty or so acts in a scroll-down list that panics him, causing him to mark his vote.

I am just a bit shocked that he didn’t vote for Kodos again.

Continuing, the 31st Halloween episode (yes, it has been that long) delivers three new segments that, yet again, were inspired by cult hits.

Pixar’s Toy Story, Spider-Man, and Be Kind, Rewind are the chosen ones, each taking a new life form of their own, all thanks to the brilliant minds of the writers.

It takes one person’s idea, but a whole creative team to bring it to life.

Or so they say.

The official press synopsis has the following description ofTreehouse of Horror XXXI:

"“Don’t miss the annual terror-themed trilogy, including a frightening look at the 2020 election, parodies of Toy Story and Into the Spiderverse, as well as a ninth birthday Lisa can’t live out!Toy Gory: Bart suffers the consequences for mistreating his toys.Into the Homerverse: A parody of Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse, featuring Homers from different dimensions. The introduction segment of it was called “What Happened to the Halloween Candy?”.Be Nine, Rewind: Lisa relives her 9th birthday over and over again.”"

The Toy Story segment — appropriately titled Toy Gory — offers some gorgeous Pixar-styled animation and art, and it certainly plays up the nostalgic feeling when recalling the 1995 Disney classic. Bart Simpson takes on the essence of Sid, the kid who tortured toys for fun and was taught a valuable lesson by the toys who had enough of his abuse.

Unlike the original storyline, The Simpsons‘ casts a darker shadow on the narrative. The toys take things one step further in their lesson for Bart. It is borderline revenge and justice, but nonetheless, no one should mistreat their toys.

What is hilarious to point out is that The Simpsons is owned by Disney, makingToy Gory one of the first parodies under the Disney/Fox acquisition in March 2019. Before the Mickey Mouse conglomerate took over, other funny parodies included Lady and the Tramp, Disney World (Itchy and Scratchy Land), and Snow White.  Not to mention the small incognito references sprinkled throughout the series.

The Treehouse of Horror franchise always gave equal amounts of treats and tricks, making Halloween a bit more fun for kids and adults alike. Furthermore, with the COVID-19 pandemic still underway, many are going to opt to stay home this Halloweekend. Watching something hilarious such as Treehouse of Horror might ease our Cabin Fever.

And the bowls full of candy.  Because it is not Halloween without the candy.

And what’s The Simpsons without a special guest voice? Joining in this year’s chapter will be Turner Classic Movies (TCM) host, Ben Mankiewicz. He will be playing the role of himself and representing TCM.

Binging past chapters of Treehouse of Horror before its latest one is always a good idea, and there are a few options on how to binge.

Disney’s streaming service, Disney+ has seasons up to 31, so if you have a subscription, then you can watch them in their originally aired 4:3 format, up to season 20 (2009) as Fox made the switch to the high definition 16:9 aspect ratio.

Not a Disney+ subscriber?  Fear not, as FXX — the sister channel of Fox — and Freeform will air Treehouse of Horrors past the week of Halloween.

There are few more choices to stream episodes, including Amazon Prime and Youtube with the latter featuring clips from episodes.

If you are going to celebrate Halloween — whether it’s inside or out (be sure to mask up!) — why not share the celebration with The Simpsons? Tell us your favorite Treehouse of Horrors episode in the comments below!