Simpson Tide/References

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◄ This Little Wiggy

Simpson Tide

The Trouble with Trillions ►

Cultural References

The Village People dance on top of the Submarine.

• The opening couch gag is a recreation of the Rocky and Bullwinkle animated bumper seen at the end of each Bullwinkle short. The music accompanying it is also adapted from the original music in the bumper.
• When Homer is at the Naval recruitment center the recruiter doesn't want him to read a certain question this is because of the Don' ask don't tell Law that was instituted under President Clinton and repealed under President Obama. "Don't ask, don't tell"(DADT) was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994, when Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 issued on December 21, 1993, took effect, lasting until September 20, 2011. The DADT policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service.
• Many parts of the episode, including the title, refer to the 1995 film Crimson Tide. Captain Tenille is based on Captain Frank Ramsey, who was portrayed by Gene Hackman.
• Tenille's name is a reference to the musical duo Captain & Tennille.
• Homer mentions that he and his friends joining the navy is similar to The Deer Hunter, and the Russian roulette scene from the film is later parodied.
• Homer mentions that he is no Margaret Cho bur he can do a fair Columbo impression.
  • Margaret Cho is a Korean American comedian best known for her stand-up bet also created and starred in the ABC sitcom All-American Girl 1994-95
  • Columbo was a TV detective played by Peter Falk on the crime drama Columbo
• The USO tour show marquis has Bob Hope and Cindy Crawford.
• At the Naval Reserve tour show Bob Denver is featured he played Gilligan on Gilligan's Island that aired on CBS for 3 seasons 1964-1967.
• In the mall where Bart gets his ear pierced the Starbucks gag is a reference to the fact that it seems that there is a Starbucks on every corner in the US.
• Right before the submarine submerges, the song "In the Navy" is played and the Village People (along with Smithers) can be seen dancing. Smithers' brief appearance in this scene was a subtle reference to the Village People having a following among homosexuals.
• Homer dreams of being on "the planet of the doughnuts", which is reminiscent of the film Planet of the Apes.
• When aboard the submarine, Homer refers to one of the crew members as Mr. Sulu, a reference to the character in Star Trek.
• Lenin Wakes up from his Tomb Which is in Red Square In Moscow. His preserved body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924, with rare exceptions in wartime
• Bart sings a portion of the song "Do the Bartman" and Ralph Wiggum comments that it "is so 1991", a reference to the year the song became a hit in the U.S.
• Grampa claims that he attacked John F. Kennedy on the PT 109 when Kennedy stated, "Ich bin ein Berliner", leading to Grampa accusing him of being a Nazi sympathizer. (Which would be odd since the PT 109 was stationed in the Pacific Theater in WWII and it would be unlikely there would be a German spy or soldier/seaman there)
  • The overall scene is most likely a reference to rumors about the Kennedy Clan, in particular JFK's father Jack, being a huge Nazi sympathizer.
• This episode shows the Russian ambassador in the U.N. stating that the Soviet Union's breakup was "what we wanted you to think." This is followed by the showing of several floats in a Moscow Parade being destroyed to reveal several tanks underneath to take their place with a peace flag being replaced with the Soviet flag, Soviet footsoldiers proceeding to march the streets of Moscow, the Berlin Wall coming out of the earth and Vladimir Lenin being unfrozen. During the revelation sequence, a portion from the song Prince Igor, Act I, Scene 1: Chorus is played.
• In the scene where Homer is trying to sign up for the Naval Reserve, he questions an officer about a question that was scratched out. This was a reference to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy that Bill Clinton proposed where he would allow gays in the Armed Forces, as long as they were not openly gay in the military. Consequently, the Armed Forces were no longer allowed to "ask" soldiers if they were gay (hence the question now being crossed out and the officer trying to avoid hearing Homer answer the question).
• One of the officers who refused to indict Homer stated that it was because he was indicted for impersonating the First Lady and was seen leaving with a blonde wig. At the time the episode aired, Hillary Clinton had been the First Lady in question.

Trivia

• Ironically, since becoming President of Russia in 2000, Vladimir Putin has a habit of demonstrating shows of military force in former Soviet Union republics. It was even alleged that this episode predicted the 2014 Ukraine crisis and 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
• This is the final episode to have both Al Jean and Mike Reiss as showrunners. Al Jean would become showrunner again from Season 13 onwards, without Mike Reiss.
• One of the Asian gang members in the Russian roulette game looks like Richard Sakai, a producer of The Simpsons.
• This episode reveals that Homer posed for two pictures that only two people know about: the pin-up that Barney hangs in the barracks during basic training and the file photo of Homer dressed as a Russian and holding a bottle of vodka (which Lisa knows about, as she warned Homer that the photo will come back to haunt him).
• Homer gets his head shaved, yet in real life, they would likely not have had to shave his head, due to the fact it was short enough to meet regulations.
• The five Naval officers who were unable to indict Homer due to their own problems had the following reasons:
  • Widow's Peak officer: Indicted for involvement in the Tailhook scandal.
  • Tanned crew-cut officer: Indicted for accepting bribes from military contractors.
  • Black officer: Torpedoing a Carnival Cruise Ship.
  • Moustachioed bald officer: Impersonating First Lady Hillary Clinton.
  • Female officer: Unstated (see Goofs below).
• The cut and condensed opening sequence is used in this episode up until the season 14 episode "Helter Shelter".

Previous Episode References

• "Homer's Odyssey": Homer causes an accident at work that gets him fired.
• "Bart vs. Australia": A Simpson male (Bart/Homer) causes an international crisis.
• "Marge vs. the Monorail": Homer has a strange file photo that appears on the news (Homer with a mouthful of cigarettes/Homer dressed as a Russian with a bottle of vodka).
• "'Round Springfield": Someone reads a strange (and possibly discriminatory) rule from the Springfield Elementary School Charter (the rule about the faculty not being responsible for Bart dying or kids getting eaten by the school's pet snake/the rule about kids not wearing earrings unless they're of Gypsy extraction or a vampire)
• "Summer of 4 ft. 2": Bart tries and fails at being cool in front of his peers.
• "Stark Raving Dad": Barney without his hair looks like Leon Kompowsky (the big, bald mental patient who thinks he's Michael Jackson).
• "Cape Feare", "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment", and "The Springfield Files": Moe commits a crime in his bar (has pandas locked up in the storage room/ran a speakeasy during the Prohibition reinforcement/stole a killer whale from SeaWorld and hid it in the backroom/holds mob-run Russian roulette games in the basement).
  • "The Springfield Files": Lisa reads Junior Skeptic magazine.
• "The Last Temptation of Homer": The guy who hates everyone making jokes about his giant hand appears.
• "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood": Homer gets lost at sea.
• "Treehouse of Horror IV" ("The Devil and Homer Simpson"):
  • An episode begins with Homer dreaming about doughnuts (the doughnut fashion show/being put on trial on The Planet of the Doughnuts).
  • An episode plot kicks off after Homer's love of doughnuts gets him in trouble.
  • Someone says, "I like the cut of his jib".
• "Saturdays of Thunder" and "Selma's Choice": Homer has a Foam Dome beer hat.
• "Homer the Great": Grampa and Communism (one of Grampa's club membership cards is for the Communist party/Grampa's line about Homer not being a Communist, then saying he is a Communist, but not a porn star).
• "Simpsons Roasting on An Open Fire": Bart gets some form of body modification (a tattoo/an earring), despite his parents forbidding him to do so.
• "Lisa's Substitute": Lisa wants her ears pierced, but Marge or Homer says no.
• "Homer's Phobia": reference to gays in the military (Homer saying that gays turned The Navy into a floating joke/the Big-Nosed Jerk refusing to ask Homer if he's a homosexual because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and Smithers inexplicably dancing on a naval sub with The Village People).
• "Bart Gets an Elephant" and "Burns, Baby Burns": Someone pronounces "nuclear" as "nucular".
• "Who Shot Mr. Burns, part two": reference to the Tailhook Scandal (Smithers saying he feels lower than Madonna after missing out on the Tailhook Scandal is a clue that he didn't shoot Mr. Burns because he heard that line while watching an episode of the fictitious Comedy Central show Pardon My Zinger/one of the Naval officers recuses himself from punishing Homer because he's been indicted in that scandal).

Goofs

• It would’ve been impossible for Homer to switch from an orange jacket with blue cap and jeans on the sail to a white sailor uniform on the deck and back again while the crew is singing “In The Navy”. However, this was used for comedic effect, so this is most likely done on purpose.

Citations

See more: Episode Guide