Editing Treehouse of Horror XXXI

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{{Episode
|image = Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 4.png
|caption= 
|season=32
|snumber=4
|number= 688
|prodcode= ZABF17
|airdate= {{Canada|October 18, 2020}}<br>{{USA|November 1, [[2020]]}}
|guests = [[Ben Mankiewicz]] as {{ch|Ben Mankiewicz|himself}}
|showrunner= [[Al Jean]]
|writer= [[Julia Prescott]]
|director= [[Steven Dean Moore]]
}}

'''"Treehouse of Horror XXXI"'''  is the fourth episode of [[season 32]] of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and the six-hundred and eighty-seventh episode overall. It is also the thirty-first installment in the annual [[Treehouse of Horror series|''Treehouse of Horror'' series]]. It originally aired on October 18, [[2020]] in Canada and on November 1, 2020 in the USA. The episode was written by [[Julia Prescott]] and directed by [[Steven Dean Moore]]. It guest stars [[Ben Mankiewicz]] as {{ch|Ben Mankiewicz|himself}}.

== Synopsis ==
{{Desc|Don't miss the annual terror-themed trilogy, including a frightening look at the 2020 election, parodies of {{w|Pixar}} and {{w|Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse}} and a ninth birthday [[Lisa]] just can't get over.}}
{{Desc|1. Opening segment: Homer goes to vote in the 2020 election.<br>2. Toy Gory: [[Bart]] is horrible to his toys, and pays the consequences.<br>3. [[Homer]]s from different dimensions come to the main universe.<br>4. Be Nine, Rewind: [[Lisa]] and [[Nelson]] keep reliving the same day over and over again.}}

== Plot ==
=== Opening segment ===
It's election day in Springfield, and people are voting at [[Springfield Elementary School|Springfield Elementary]]. [[Marge]] is calling [[Homer]] to his duty to vote, while he's on his hammock. Homer gets into the cabin, trying to decide, when [[Lisa]] appears, making him think about all that happened on [[Donald Trump]]'s period of presidency, but he just dreamed of voting, and one year after, the whole city is burning, and Homer is standing on his house armed. While [[Hans Moleman]] gets ambushed by a robot, the {{w|Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse}} appear over the city.

=== Toy Gory ===
Marge asks [[Bart]] if he's boxing his toys to sell for charity, and Bart says he's saying good bye to them, but Bart has other plans: he destroys them in many possible ways, between explosions and distortions. When he is done, Marge gives him a {{Ch|Radioactive Man}} toy.

When Bart leaves the new toy alone, he comes to life, and [[Krusty]]'s doll shows him what happened to all the other toys. Bart then plays with both, putting Radioactive Man in a microwave, destroying it. The other toys reunite to form a plan to revenge him after a funeral in his honor.

The toys drag Bart out of the door and in a room, where they reveal themselves to be alive and kill him, using plastic surgery done by Dr. [[Malibu Stacy]]. They transformed him into a toy and left him at the tree in front of the house, where [[Lisa]] find hims.

The [[Simpson family|family]] brings him at [[Dr. Julius Hibbert, M.D. Family Practice|Dr. Hibbert's Studio]], where he shows them how they converted him. This marked his end, as now toys are the ones playing with his lifeless body, forever.

=== Into the Homer-verse ===
It's [[Halloween]] at the [[Power Plant]] and Marge calls Homer to bring the candies home, however he ate them all at work. In a search for more, he ends up in a secret room for high clearance people only.

Homer finds a machine in it, but when it doesn't accept his quarter in the USB port, he tackles it, making it explode, and from it, multiple Homers appear, from different universes. Next on [[Channel 6 News]], [[Kent Brockman]] shows various results of the 6 Homers in town.

Marge opens a can of [[Duff Beer]] to bring them home, and Lisa explains with a song how Homer opened a hole in the space-time continuum. When Bart jokes around him, Homer tries to strangle him, only to find himself transforming into more Homers.

Lisa realizes what's happening and how the situation could turn tragic, so she tells the Homer to recreate the explosion that brought them here to fix it, but [[Mr. Burns]] stops them, saying they'd be the ultimate form of cheap undocumented labor, with a vomiting frog as prize for it.

The Homer refuses, so Burns bring out his and [[Smithers]] alternates and a fight begins, leaving the Homers dead, but when Burns discovers in Smithers Noir's universe he's Smithers' assistant, Burns sends them back into the machine. In the end Marge is left with Homer Noir, the only one she wanted, but he transforms into Green cat Homer and escapes.

=== Be Nine, Rewind ===
It's Lisa's 9th birthday, half way to adulthood. When she comes down to the party, [[Sherri]] and [[Terri]] makes her realize it's a party for losers, and asks for somebody to kill her, when a car comes through the window hitting her.

But she suddenly wakes up back in her room, and relives the last few minutes again, having her change fate by placing [[Milhouse]] in front of the car, driven by [[Gil]], doing his driving test with [[Patty]].

[[Nelson]] grabs her arm and brings her under [[Bart's treehouse]], when they get crushed by it. She wakes up again at the start, getting angry and saying she can solve it, but that causes the roof to fall on her, killing her again. She this time knocks on her desk softly, but knocks the mirror on herself.

On the next return, Nelson reveals himself to be a returner too, but he falls in a woodchipper when trying to high-five her. She kills herself too upon realizing she needs to return so Nelson could live but he tells her too late that there's an alternative.

More deaths happen, by being burnt by the cake's candles, to stabbing themselves with the knife, and then crushed by the air conditioner. They find out that the only way to solve the loop is to get help from [[Comic Book Guy]]. He proposes a series of solutions based on movies but they tried all of them.

In the end they find out that the only way is to kill [[Gil]] before he could crash into the house, so they throw him a brick and succeed. Lisa returns home to celebrate her birthday without consequences, except for [[Ralph]]'s head being turned the opposite direction.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI poster.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI banner.jpg
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 1.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 2.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 3.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 5.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 6.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 7.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 8.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 9.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 10.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 11.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI promo 12.png
File:Treehouse of Horror XXXI title card.png
File:Toy Gory title card.png
File:Into the Homer-verse title card.png
File:Be Nine, Rewind title card.png
</gallery>

== Production ==
A scene was cut, showing 8-bit Homer jumping on a building game, {{ap|Donkey Kong|series}} {{W2|Donkey Kong|video game|arcade}} game.<ref name="MPDL">[https://vimeo.com/444368506 Managing the Problems of Daily Living - Executive Producer of The Simpsons, Al Jean]</ref>

This episode was screened virtually exclusively for 500 people who signed up on Decider on October 14, 2020, courtesy of Fox.

The episode was scheduled to air on October 18, 2020 but was preempted to November 1, 2020 due to the {{w|National League Championship Series|NLCS}} Game 7. It aired on October 18 in Canada.
<gallery>
File:ZABF17 Script.jpg
</gallery>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Promo videos ==
*{{youtube|knks1yv7RaU|The Simpsons @ Home - Comic-Con@Home 2020}}
*[https://vimeo.com/444368506 Managing the Problems of Daily Living - Executive Producer of The Simpsons, Al Jean] at '''Vimeo'''
*{{youtube|Isp_KJY9RZU|The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror Lists 50 Reasons Not to Vote Trump}}
*{{youtube|msXE3japRi8|Homer Votes 2020}}

{{Images|ep=yes}}
{{Treehouse of Horror}}
{{Season 32}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treehouse of Horror 31}}

[[Category:2020]]
[[Category:Episodes written by one time writers]]
[[Category:Episodes directed by Steven Dean Moore]]