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"Bart-Mangled Banner" |
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Cultural References[]
- The episode title is a reference to the "Star-Spangled Banner," the American national anthem.
- The scene where Dr. Hibbert chases Bart in a crop duster mirrors a scene in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller film, North by Northwest.
- When thinking about changing Springfield's name, Mayor Quimby refers to "Hitler City, North Carolina", which (according to him) changed its name to Charlotte.
- The Government Knows Best Act satirizes the USA PATRIOT Act, which expanded government surveillance in the name of counterterrorism.
- President Clinton's attempt to smoke 100 cigarettes at once is a reference to the Guinness World Records. He is probably wanting to break the record.
- The Dixie Chicks are among the political prisoners at the government reeducation center, a reference to a 2003 incident where the lead singer, Natalie Maines, said they were ashamed of George W. Bush being from Texas and criticized his plan to invade Iraq at a concert in London, for which they received much backlash, including boycotts and death threats, from supporters of the invasion.
- The Simpsons are imprisoned at Alcatraz, reopened and renamed the Ronald Reagan Reeducation Center. Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay shut down in 1963 and was repurposed as a museum in 1973.
- When the Simpsons escape prison, it is a reference to Sound of Music.
- Troy McClure is visible during the car wash scene looking disapprovingly at the Simpsons with the other Springfieldians. He has black hair (possibly for a role?).
Trivia[]
- Music from this episode:
- "One Way or Another " by Blondie
- "Coming to America " by Neil Diamond
- According to this episode, Moe is of Dutch heritage.
- The "Donkey-Basketball" story was originally supposed to be in "Bart the Fink" (3F12) but was cut due to time constraints. (according to the Season 7 DVD commentary).
- Bart himself coined the phrase "Bart-Mangled Banner" in the Season 14 episode, "Bart and Lisa vs The Third Grade" (when he altered Lisa's blueprint for the state flag to read "Learn To Fart" instead of "To Fraternal Love").
- When Poonam Nahasa strangles Anoop Nahasa with licorice, Marge mistakenly calls him Uma.
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon renamed his children to Freedom, Lincoln, Manifest Destiny, Coke, Pepsi, Condoleezza, Apple Pie and Superman.
- The Sound of Music
- The Simpsons one-by-one escape from the re-education center during their talent show number alludes to the 1965 musical The Sound of Music wherein the Von Trapps escape during their "Good Night" number at the Salzburg Music Festival
- The man who was sent to jail for bringing nuclear explosives from Canada is a spoof of the Millennium Bomber, the suspect who planned to blow up the Space Needle on December 31, 1999, but was foiled.
- Lenny's tattoo is from the Dole/Kemp 1996 election campaign.
- When Marge is talking to Bart when he first loses his hearing, her lips seem to read "You know, sometimes the fear of something gets over you pretty fast."
- When Bart's earholes were swollen, they resembled the PI symbol.
- Bart previously participated in an student exchange to France in "The Crepes of Wrath".
- Marge previously lamenting, "I'm never gonna go to Paris." in "The Great Louse Detective" and Chloe Talbot, who knew Marge in high school, mishears when Marge say she now lives on Evergreen Terrace, "Paris? Just like you always dreamed." in "She Used to Be My Girl".
- In France, Marge wears the same Chanel suit she wore in the episode "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield".
- Apu previously Americanized himself and the Kwik-E-Mart in "Much Apu About Nothing".
- Carl, Ruth, Lenny, Kirk and Milhouse can be seen in the background among the people on the carnival ride when Dr. Hibbert tries to stick Bart with the inoculation but instead inoculates Dederick Tatum.
- The ending credits uses the Season 3 ending theme after "America" by Neil Diamond is played.
- Lisa mentions in the reeducation center that they take Sodium Penthotal, which is a drug used as a truth serum, as well to anesthesia and lethal injections. It could also be lethal in patients with heart diseases like Homer.
- The last registered Democrat sounds, acts, and looks a lot like Cookie. Whether or not they are the same person remains unknown.
- This episode marks the second time that Dr. Hibbert abandons Hans Moleman whilst treating him. In this episode he cancels all his appointments in order to chase after Bart, in the process neglecting Hans Moleman who is waiting for a kidney transplant. A similar situation occurs in the season 8 episode "The Springfield Files", he closes his surgery for the day whilst Hans Moleman is still having an x-ray.
- In order to impersonate Dr. Hibbert to fool Bart, Moe must have lost a considerable amount of revenue. Firstly from having to close his bar and secondly from the fact that his best customer (Barney) was also involved. Surely this wouldn't have been an easy decision for Moe.
Goofs[]
- Lisa cries after getting her shot from Dr. Hibbert in this episode and asks for a lollipop. This goes against the Season 4 episode "Kamp Krusty" where she asks Dr. Hibbert for a number of boosters and accuses him of patronizing her when he offers her a lollipop. She was trying to be serious in that episode; in this episode, she was just upset that she had been deceived.
- In the Season three episode "Saturdays of Thunder" Lisa seems very knowledgeable about what shots she is due as she asks Homer to take her to Dr. Hibbert as she's scheduled a tetanus booster, and therefore she should have known that she was due a shot.
- When Bart, Lisa and Maggie are receiving shots, Homer enthusiastically reminds Dr. Hibbert not to forget Maggie. This can be seen to go against Homer's comment in the season 3 episode Lisa's Pony where he remarks to Marge "You know, we're always buying Maggie vaccinations for diseases she doesn't even have".
Kirk and Luann Van Houten sitting together
- Marge Etch-A-Sketched the sentence "I think you should stay home from school tomorrow" very quickly.
- Groundskeeper Willie says that he is deaf, which is inconsistent with later episodes.
- At the donkey basketball game, Kirk and Luann are sitting together despite being divorced.
- When the "Star-Spangled Banner" is playing, the American flag is above Bart. But after the donkey literally eats his shorts, the flag is behind him.
- Bill Clinton puts only 48 cigarettes in his mouth, not 100.
- If Marge was concerned about Bart’s hearing problems, why didn’t she buy him some hearing aids until Bart regained his hearing again?
- There was no way Dr. Hibbert could hide behind a tree without being seen in reality.
- How did the crowd not notice the donkey grabbing the carrot from Bart when the incident happened in front of them?
- When Dr. Hibbert runs away with the document, he is heard laughing. At some point while he is still running, he turns around, having his face toward the front view, and can still be heard laughing, but if you look really closely, you can see that his mouth does not move.
- When the jail performances are going, according to a window, it takes place during night. When the Simpsons escape and find out they've been on an island, it is suddenly daytime. The route they took to escape might have taken them all night.
- At one point before a prison guard goes to the stage to say the Simpsons escape, the gun guard on the right's eyes shift away from his face for a second.
Production Notes[]
- The final draft for this episode was published on September 15, 2003.[1]
September 15, 2003