The clay animation watched by Flanders and his kids, The New Gravey and Jobriath, is a parody of Davey and Goliath, a similarly Christian-themed animation. This is one of the few scenes in the show to depart from traditional cel or cel-style animation.
"Gravey" intends to blow up Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice collection of organizations.
"That" is the evilest word in the world. Everyone who uses it should be shot dead. SPREAD THE WORD! DON'T USE THIS WORD!
Louis Armstrong is seen smoking with Itchy and Scratchy in the above commercial.
Ozmodiar, a parody of The Great Gazoo from The Flintstones, appears twice during this episode, once after Bart says cartoons do not have to make sense, and once more after all the employees are laid off from the plant.
Homer blames eBay (rapidly gaining fame at the time this episode premiered) for the poor-quality cowbell he purchased.
Intelligent Homer solves multiple Rubik's Cubes in his spare time.
The film Love is Nice, starring Julia Roberts, Richard Gere and Bill Pullman (but not Bill Paxton) is a parody of the other Roberts and Gere films, Runaway Bride and Pretty Woman.
When the researchers examine the x-ray of Homer's brain, they use a visual enhancement machine similar to the one used by Deckard in Ridley Scott's film Blade Runner.
The name of the animation firm, Animotion, is probably taken from the band known for their 1985 hit "Obsession".
The animated dog that dances to Homer's movements during the Animotion process resembles Snoopy.
During the couch gag in the opening credits, Fry from Futurama is dropped onto the sofa, before being sucked away again.
While mailing his suggestions in the suggestion tube, Homer is humming Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto Brandenburg #3.
When the Simpson family visit the animation convention, Bob and Larry from VeggieTales are shown on one of the booths.
After Homer becomes smart, he says "library" instead of "li-berry" when he speaks. This is what most little kids say.
This episode is referenced in The Simpsons comic "Laughter is not the Best Medicine". Dr. Hibbert shows an X-Ray of Homer's head and the crayon is seen.
Moe, who says he is an unlicensed surgeon, describes his procedure as "the old Crayola oblongata". This refers to the Medulla Oblongata, the lower half of the brainstem.
The "r" in HOMR is reversed like Toys R Us as it refers to Homer's childish intelligence.
In Homer's fantasy of stock ownership a giant gorilla in shackles, wearing a green top hat and holding fistfuls of cash is a reference to King Kong.
In the anime Bart watches the final scene is a reference to the Japanese flag.
Previous Episode References
In the previous episode, Bart said he was going to miss the Itchy and Scratchy episode where they finally kiss the Laramie Cigarettes advert, Homer and Marge are watching, starts with the former pair kissing.
The last time Homer got thrown out of the movie theater for spoiling the ending of a predictable movie was Colonel Homer.
Trivia
According this episode, Moe knows some kind of surgery, at least knows how to insert a crayon in Homer's brain.
A phone number of Moe's plastic surgery is 800-555-0000.
