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A Star is Burns |
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Trivia[]
- One of the people who criticized this episode was show creator Matt Groening himself, who was against the idea of The Simpsons having a crossover with The Critic (which then and future showrunner Al Jean (and his then partner Mike Reiss) worked on and, at the time of this episode's premiere, was picked up by FOX after being canceled by ABC) as he believed the episode played out as an episode-long advertisement for the show. As a result, Groening chose to not have his name visible in the opening or ending credits (though some FXX reruns do air the typical Simpsons credits that do have Matt Groening's name in it), making this the first (and, so far, only) episode of The Simpsons where Matt Groening is not credited.
- This is one of two 2Fxx episodes where Al Jean and Mike Reiss serve as executive producers instead of David Mirkin, the other being "'Round Springfield".
- As described in John Ortved's book about The Simpsons, there was an incident where then-showrunner David Mirkin and writer Bob Kushell got into an argument about the episode, saying it hurt the integrity of the series. Mirkin replied, "That's why you're an asshole." Stunned, Kushell chewed out Mirkin in front of the writers present and stormed out. He was convinced he was going to be fired for it, and although he wasn't, he wasn't given any writing assignments either. Kushell also mentioned that many writers came up to him privately and thanked him for standing up to Mirkin.
- This is the only season 6 episode to use the short intro.
- One of the films planned to be released during the film festival, The Eternal Struggle by Bart Simpson, had as its plotline Homer struggling to get his pants on, even after undoing his belt. A similar sequence of events would later be used for the teaser trailer for The Incredibles where Bob Parr had a lengthy struggle trying to put his superhero belt on due to his gaining weight. Brad Bird, the director for the film (and the primary template for its villain Syndrome), had previously been involved with The Simpsons.
Cultural References[]
- The episode title references the 1976 Barbra Streisand film A Star Is Born.
- Burns says he wants Señor Spielbergo to do for him what Steven Spielberg did for Oskar Schindler, a reference to the 1993 film Schindler's List.
- The desert sequence in Mr. Burns' film is a parody of Ben-Hur, although the line, "You truly are the King of Kings," may be a recasting of a similar line delivered by John Wayne in the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told, where in a cameo as a centurion, he says, "Truly, this man was the Son of God."
- Barney's film is (unfortunately) titled Pukahontas, a pun on the 1995 Disney animated movie Pocahontas.
- Dr. Hibbert dressed up like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
- Moe played the character inspired by the Master of Ceremonies from Cabaret.
- McBain's "Woody Allen impression", which merely consists of him saying "I'm a neurotic nerd who likes to sleep with little girls", was a reference to the then-recent revelation that Woody Allen married his adoptive daughter Soon-Yi, as well as kept nude photographs of her while she was growing up.
Goofs[]
Reverend Lovejoy's unusual outfit
Barney with a red chest
- In the theatre during the show Dr. Hibbert is behind Homer wearing a suit, despite being in the Rocky Horror Picture Show costume just before. He could have changed after realizing the film festival wasn't a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But then, there's the question of how Dr. Hibbert brought a change of clothes with him...
- When Jay calls for a taxi after Rainier Wolfcastle gets tricked into looking at his shoes, Jay's mouth does not move.
- Mr. Burns bribed Quimby and Krusty, but didn't bother to bribe Homer, even though Homer is his employee and a lot of past episodes show that Homer is afraid of Mr. Burns enough that he'll do whatever he says. Though Mr. Burns' not bribing Homer into voting for his movie rather than choosing between Pukahuntas or Man Getting Hit By Football could be (and probably is) the oversight in Mr. Burns' plan that caused him to lose. Also, considering Homer was a late addition to the jury, it's possible Mr. Burns didn't know about it or he wasn't added yet when he gave his bribes.
- According to a security camera in the Kwik-E-Mart on Apu's video, the videos were made on July 22, 1994. Assuming all the films were shown the next day on July 23, 1994, then the skip to six months later would be on January 23, 1995, safely within original run of Season 6, although this episode aired on March 5, 1995. It could have been an old security tape that Apu submitted for the film festival.