"Treehouse of Horror XV" is the first episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2004. In the fifteenth annual Treehouse of Horror, Ned Flanders' head injury gives him the power to predict others' deaths, Bart and Lisa play detective when a string of Victorian-era prostitutes are murdered by Jack the Ripper, and the Simpsons go on a fantastic voyage inside Mr. Burns' body to save Maggie. It was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by David Silverman. Around 11.29 million Americans tuned in to watch the episode during its original broadcast. Airing on November 7, it is the latest date that a Treehouse of Horror has aired, (tied with Treehouse of Horror XXI) but had to be held back a week due to Fox's contractual obligation to air the World Series.
Plot
Opening sequence
Kang and Kodos star in a fictional sitcom, entitled Keepin' it Kodos. In it, Kodos is preparing their boss' visit by cooking dinner: Homer on a baking tray (continually eating himself), Bart on a skillet, Marge and Maggie in pies and Lisa in a soup (with Bart seemingly being the only family member to be in pain). The boss gives the meal a delicious rating, but his stomach bursts, liberating Bart. Kang and Kodos are given a hyper-galactic promotion, much to the aliens' delight. Bart is sad about the loss of his parents and sisters, but Kang and Kodos decide to adopt him, which comforts Bart. The theme song from Perfect Strangers plays as the Treehouse of Horror logo appears on the screen; an alien tentacle stamps the "XV" underneath which makes it say the title of the episode in the fashion of the Mark VII Limited company logo.
The Ned Zone
In a parody of The Dead Zone, Homer tries to get his frisbee from the roof by throwing a bowling ball after it. The ball strikes a passing Ned Flanders on the head. When Ned recovers in Dr. Hibbert's hospital, he has a vision of Hibbert falling out of a window to his death. Homer then asks Hibbert to retrieve his frisbee from a ledge on the hospital. As Hibbert reaches for the ledge, he slips out of the window, causing Ned's vision to come true. Ned realizes that he can see the deaths of people whom he touches. After he gets out of the hospital, he attempts to save Hans Moleman from falling down but has a vision of him being eaten by alligators. In shock, he drops Moleman into an open manhole with dozens of alligators swimming in it. He also predicts the closing of the Rosie O'Donnell musical, which he already suspected.
A later vision depicts him shooting Homer, which horrifies Ned and he tries to conceal this from Homer. When Homer finds out, he taunts Ned and even gives him Chief Wiggum's gun to shoot him with, and says he could not even shoot him by accident. Ned refrains from shooting Homer, seemingly changing the future, but then has another vision of Homer blowing up Springfield by pressing the "Core Destruct" button at the nuclear power plant. Ned tries to dissuade Homer from going to work, but Homer goes anyway because of ice cream cake for Lenny's birthday. Ned rushes to the power plant to stop Homer. Unfortunately, Ned's warning is scrambled by static over the intercom, sounding as if he is encouraging Homer to press the button. In desperation, Ned grabs a nearby security guard's gun to shoot Homer, fulfilling the original prediction, but in his death throes, Homer presses the destruct button with his tongue, much to Ned's fury before the power plant explodes and Springfield is destroyed. Ned and the Simpsons go to Heaven as angels, with Marge accusing Homer of blowing up Springfield just to get out of cleaning the garage (which also entered Heaven as an angel). Just as Homer muses over whether he could blow up Heaven, they meet God (again), who proceeds to give Homer "what he deserves" – his frisbee.