E-I-E-I-D'oh/References

Continuity
The Simpson's house on Rural Route 9 burned down in the episode "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" (season 6), yet it is still there in this episode. One of the official Simpsons episode guide books, The Simpsons Beyond Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Still Continued, claims that this episode must take place before the season 6 episode. Either that, or the Rural Route 9 house was saved by the local fire department in said episode.

Trivia

 * Inspired by the episode, Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon actually created Tomacco; both plants are members of the Nightshade family and are therefore similar enough to create a hybrid.
 * Plutonium is shown as a glowing green liquid even though it is a dull silver metal with a melting point of 1183 degrees Fahrenheit. However, radioactive materials are often depicted as glowing green in popular culture.

Cultural references

 * The Buzz Cola advertisement shown before the movie is a parody of Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg.
 * The movie the Simpsons see, The Poke of Zorro, is a parody of The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Other films that are playing in the cinema's are "My dinner with Jar Jar", "Mars needs towels", "That 70's Movie", "Shakespeare in Heat", "Facepuncher IV", and " Das Booty Call".
 * The "Glove Slap" montage song is a parody of "Love Shack" by The B-52s.
 * The farmer using an elephant to measure the height of his stalks of corn is in reference to a song in the musical Oklahoma!, wherein the corn "is as high an elephant's eye".
 * The Tomacco-craving animals trying to break into the barricaded farmhouse recall the zombies from George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.
 * The Simpsons farming montage music is the theme song from Green Acres.
 * When the Southern colonel shows up at the Simpsons' house to duel, he says "Sir, I say sir!" much like cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn. He also has a similar accent.
 * The Southern colonel's RV has mudflaps of him drawn like Yosemite Sam.
 * The scene with Homer worrying about the duel the next morning whilst looking at a tombstone with his own name on it spoofs the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III.
 * The death of the Laramie team in the helicopter, at the hands of a ToMacco-crazed sheep, is a nod to a scene in the James Cameron film Aliens, where the crew of the marines' drop-ship meet the same fate, when an alien sneaks aboard their ship.