The Simpsons is celebrating Halloween with a little help from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a new behind-the-scenes video shows just how much work went into bringing the two animated worlds together.
The upcoming Treehouse of Horror XXXVII features a special stop-motion couch gag created by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the animation studio behind Robot Chicken. The sequence reimagines Springfield’s most famous family as characters from Henry Selick’s 1993 holiday classic, complete with handmade puppets and miniature sets inspired by Halloween Town.
In a new video shared by The Simpsons, members of the Stoopid Buddy Stoodios team take viewers inside the production, showing off the puppets, sculpting work and elaborate sets created for the crossover. The footage offers a closer look at the artists responsible for transforming the familiar yellow characters into something that looks right at home in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Harv, one of the studio’s owners who directed and photographed the sequence, describes the project as a dream come true for someone who grew up loving both properties. Creative producer Sierra Waggoner, set dresser Jason Waggoner, sculptor Jim McKenzie and assistant animator Salvatore DeSanto also appear in the video, discussing the work that went into creating the characters.
One of the standout designs combines Homer Simpson with the Mayor of Halloween Town, complete with the character’s distinctive appearance from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The puppet is singled out by the team as a favorite, bringing together two characters who have become instantly recognizable in their respective animated worlds.
The crossover also has a personal connection for some of the artists. One team member recalls having paintings of Jack Skellington and Homer Simpson hanging side by side in their childhood bedroom, making the opportunity to work on this particular project especially meaningful.
Beyond the nostalgia, the video highlights the physical craftsmanship involved in stop-motion animation. Rather than creating the sequence entirely on computers, the team built tangible characters and environments that could be photographed one frame at a time.
“I think in a time of AI, to be involved with something that’s truly handmade, it’s very special these days,” Harv says in the video.
It’s a fitting approach for a tribute to The Nightmare Before Christmas, a film whose distinctive stop-motion animation remains one of its most recognizable qualities more than three decades after its release.
The couch gag is part of this year’s Treehouse of Horror XXXVII, which also features three new Halloween stories involving Marge’s mysterious replacement husbands, a supernatural body swap between Bart and Santa’s Little Helper, and a future where Homer has become trapped inside a collection of driver’s education films.
Treehouse of Horror XXXVII premieres Sunday, October 25, on FOX and will be available to stream the following day on Hulu.
Watch the behind-the-scenes video from Stoopid Buddy Stoodios below.
