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Bart vs. Australia |
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Citations[]
- The segment involving Adolf Hitler missing Bart's phone call as he opens his car door refers to a conspiracy theory that he survived World War II and escaped to Argentina, which explains why a man on a bicycle greeted him with "Buenos noches, mein Fuerher". Had Hitler indeed survived, he would have been 105 years of age at the time the episode aired.
- While taunting Bruno Dundridge on the phone, Bart says, "Hey, I think I hear a dingo eating your baby." This is a joke about the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance.
- Evan Conover's slide show accurately depicts Australian fad in the 80s, showing Crocodile Dundee, Koala Blue, Jacko Jackson, Vegemite, and ending with Yahoo Serious, whose films were poorly received in America; many of these fads occurred at a time when Fox owner Rupert Murdoch' main company News Corp was based in Adelaide, Australia, with Crocodile Dundee even being distributed outside of United States by 20th Century Fox two years after Murdoch acquired the film studio. However, unlike what was suggested in Crocodile Dundee, some Australians like Bruno Drundridge clearly know what bidets are in this episode. Unlike Dundee though, Bruno lives in the country's "bush" area rather than the Outback region, though both regions are rural and similar when it comes to remote geography and sparse population, with bush areas deemed only slightly less remote and forest based than the Outback.
- During the slide show presentation, a slide with plan "B" depicting Fidel Castro in cross hairs is seen (which the government official promptly eats). This was a reference to a conspiracy theory that the U.S. Government, after the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, attempted to have Fidel Castro assassinated.
- "That's not a knife: This is a knife!" is a famous line from the film Crocodile Dundee, said by the title character after a robber uses a pocket knife to try and rob him; Dundee pulls out a Bowie knife as he says the quote, intimidating the robber himself. Dundee also appeared in one of Evan Conover's slide pictures.
- The "South O' The Equator Gift Shoppe" is a reference to the tourist attraction "South of the Border", located near the North Carolina/South Carolina border. Their mascot Pedro and his love for bad puns are on display here as well.
- During the chase scene from the Australian Parliament, a Mad Max motorcycle gang member can be seen in the crowd.
- The booting punishment is a reference to the 1994 caning of American teenager Michael Fay, who was caned several times by Singaporean authorities for vandalizing cars.
- The beer brand that the Australian adults are frequently seen drinking is Foster's (which is a real-life Australian brand), except with a kangaroo instead of the "F" on its logo. However, today the brand is somewhat unpopular in Australia and the company is UK-owned.
- The bullfrogs destroying the Australian's crops is a possible reference to rabbits and cane toads which were introduced to Australia and destroyed many of Australia's plants.
- The Simpsons boarding a helicopter on the rooftop of the embassy is an homage to a famous photo "The fall of Saigon" depicting the evacuation of the US embassy in Saigon on the last day of the Vietnam war.
- The USS Walter Mondale is a reference to former Vice President and Presidential candidate Walter Mondale who served as VP to Jimmy Carter. He ran for President as the democratic candidate against Ronald Reagan and lost in a landslide. US Navy vessels are often named after people of importance, the joke being that Mondale was a dud and therefore got an unimportant laundry ship named after him. The US Navy doesn't actually have any laundry ships.
Trivia[]
- Despite Homer being very much against the Australians' proposed "booting" punishment, Homer was previously amused when a very similar looking boot struck Bart in the butt in "Burns' Heir".
- It would later be revealed in "The Color Yellow" that the Simpsons' ancestors were exiled from Australia.
- The Simpson family flies by airline "Transhemispheric Airlines".
- In this episode's Canadian French version, Tobias the Australian Boy is named Toby by his father, Bruno.
- In this episode, the Australian's way of economy-- the "Prime Minister" and barn (partially)-- and speaking are stereotypes from other countries. In fact, pretty much everything in this episode is an Australian stereotype.
- The Australian Parliament House was previously intended for Austria; the entrance reads "Parliament-haus der Austria." Australians added an "al" and a caret (^) with red paint. Nevertheless, Austria is not called "Austria" in German, it is "Österreich." That being said, the title on the entrance is a mix of German and English for gag purposes. Besides, the real Austrian Parliament building has no title on its entrance - and the building is simply referred as "Parlament".
- When this episode originally aired, many Australians criticized the episode as a mockery of their country (Mike Reiss even claiming the show was condemned in the country's parliament). However, Australian reception of the episode has improved in recent years, with many Australia-based Simpsons fan pages on social network (containing many references to this episode) and even a petition to rename the Australian dollar, the "dollarydoo".
- This is the only episode this season to use the season 3 intro.
Goofs[]
- While The Simpsons is prone to some errors simply for comic effect, in this particular episode, the supposed scientific knowledge of drains flowing differently in the Southern Hemisphere is actually a myth. The Coriolis effect is indeed accurate, but it is only seen in large systems such as eddies, whirlpools in the ocean, and cyclonic storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes. For small-scale cases such as drains and toilets, there are too many other more-important factors for the effect to make a difference (spin imparted by water's flow, angle, friction, etc.).
- Lisa demonstrates "counterclockwise" by making a clockwise circle with her finger.
- Bart called for Burkina Faso during his search for answers about the toilet spinning clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Burkina Faso is in the Northern Hemisphere.

The American flag with fourteen stripes
- The flag at the embassy has 14 stripes.
- There is no such thing as a laundry ship.
- Australian Squeaky-Voiced Teen and Australian Janitor should know what frogs are, since there are over 200 species of frogs in Australia.
- In 1995, Australia didn't have a prime minister named Andy. Paul Keating was Australia's prime minister at the time this episode aired.
- In most FXX reruns, the instrument that's heard during the Gracie Films sequence plays during the bilingual credits right after the regular ones.