Future-Drama/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

◄ The Seven-Beer Snitch

Future-Drama

Don't Fear the Roofer ►

Trivia

• This is the 350th episode to air, despite that Don't Fear the Roofer aired before this episode, though the real 350th episode (in production code order) is "The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star," which was banned following Pope John Paul II's death.
• At one point Bart gets bored and wants to see what else the future holds, the astrology machine acts and sounds like TiVo, one future event listed has Cletus as Vice President of the United States. Other options include Kang and Kodos invading Earth, Flanders' violent revenge on Homer, Moe finally gets e-mail, Maggie getting arrested for DUI, and Lenny having a super pet.
• This is the first future episode where the future is viewed without spiritual means as well as the first future episode where the future is set up by a recurring character rather than a one-time character.

Cultural References

• The title, and Bender's appearance, are references to Futurama.
• The music playing while Homer and Bart are cruising in Homer's hovercar is "I.G.Y" (from the album : The Nightfly) by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan.
• Songs heard in this episode include "Take On Me" by A-ha, "True" by Spandau Ballet, "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order and "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips.
• In the couch gag the Simpsons are Transformers from the G1 cartoon, Homer is Optimus prime, Marge is Skyfire, Lisa is Hound, Maggie is Bumblebee and Bart is Jazz.

Goofs

• When Marge calls to Bart and Lisa for their photo she is holding a very small camera but after they come down the stairs the camera is much larger and is now the size of a Polaroid one, which from the back appears white, but is in fact black when viewed from the front. Also, Marge is seen to put the camera down somewhere to her left, but when the view changes, we can see there is no surface to put it on, and the camera is nowhere to be seen.
• Several of the characters—e.g. Apu, Willie--look a bit too old for only eight years to have passed, but it can be attributed to job stress, especially for Apu, who has eight children and works at the Kwik-E-Mart nearly 24 hours a day. In addition, in the long shot of the school at the beginning of the prom, Willie's whiskers are red, but gray in close-up. The coloring error is repeated in a second long shot at the graduation ceremony.
• In the FOXCAST of this episode, the title is confused for the episode "Home Away from Homer," which aired two weeks after this episode.
• Several current second-graders, e.g. Ralph, Janey and Allison, are seen at the prom. With the exception of Allison, it's highly unlikely any of them (especially Ralph, who has been implied to be a special ed student) were accelerated another grade level to make them juniors 8 years in the future.
• When Frink shows Lisa a picture of her shocked face after discovering that Milhouse caused the house fire, Lisa is shown with regular braces. However, in Season 4's Last Exit to Springfield, Lisa has already been given braces, which are shown to be invisible.
• Maggie is shown to be on vacation on the North Pole. This being eight years into the future, Maggie would merely be nine years old, yet seems to be on vacation on her own.