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The Cartridge Family |
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Trivia[]
- This episode was originally banned in the United Kingdom because of the soccer riot opening and the episode depicting guns in a comical and positive light (which the UK's censor boards find to be offensive and likely to encourage others into committing gun violence, especially with the Dunblane school massacre occurring a year before episode premiered).
- Despite this, the episode did appear on a UK VHS called The Simpsons: Too Hot for TV (which includes a lot of episodes that have been banned and heavily-edited shown uncut and uncensored) and on The Complete Ninth Season DVD set. It also still aired in the EU outside the UK.
- The episode eventually aired on UK TV on BBC Two in 2001. The network typically broadcast episodes four years after its premiere, making it the only episode to get its UK premiere on the BBC rather than on Sky One.
- When the episode finally aired on Sky One (now Sky Showcase) in September 2005, the end scene of Marge trying to throw out the gun, but stopping when she realized it makes her look cool was edited, making it seem that Marge got rid of the gun offscreen, yet the edit ruins the explanation of why she was walking like a femme fatale when she exited the motel.
- In this episode, Homer goes through the five day waiting period he needs to retrieve his gun. The blackboard gag for "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" implies that Bart believes five days is too long to wait.
- Homer's gun record is the following: frequent problems with alcohol, put in an insane asylum (Stark Raving Dad), beat up former president George Bush (Two Bad Neighbors).
- The events of Who Shot Mr. Burns? are mentioned with Homer thinking it was Smithers who shot Mr. Burns and Lisa said it would have made more sense.
- Homer saying "I thought Smithers did it." could be a reference to the fake ending to said episode where it was confirmed that Smithers shot Mr. Burns.
- The things that pass by Homer during his five-day waiting period for a gun: a line of baby ducks, rabbits running by, a Target store truck, Patty and Selma on a tandem bike, and Ned Flanders on a riding mower (twice).
- Running Gag: Mayor Quimby appearing around the motel saying "Vote Quimby" (three times).
- This is the last episode of The Simpsons until "Simpson Tide" to use the 1989 20th Century Fox Television logo's music.
- The commentary marks the first and only time John Swartwelder's voice is heard.
- The episode is the first to be produced in the 5F production line.
- Clips from this episode appeared in The X-Files episode The End where Gibson Praise is watching it when he is being interviewed by agents Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, and Diana Fowley.
Cultural References[]
- The gun shop is modeled after the one the Los Angeles Police Department went to during the North Hollywood bank robbery when the agency ran out of ammunition. The robbery occurred on February 28, 1997, less than 7 months before this episode premiered.
- Richard Gere is mentioned in the chalkboard gag.
- The title of this episode is a play on the name of 1970s television series The Partridge Family.
- The end music is the theme to the 1960s ITV espionage series The Avengers, which is not confused with the Marvel superhero team.
- The song playing when Homer is sitting and watching citizens and cars go by while he is waiting five days for his gun is “The Waiting” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Tom rarely lets his music be used on television, but being a fan of The Simpsons, he allowed them to use it.
Goofs[]
- While sitting at the stadium, the Simpson family change their places in many scenes.
- Marge says she doesn't want any guns in the house but Homer was shown to keep a fully functional shotgun in the house already, as shown in Radio Bart and $pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling). He also tells Marge to "get [his] gun" in Marge Gets a Job as well as wishing that Bart and Lisa take "the gun" with them when going out at night in The Day the Violence Died. It is not impossible that, having seen how irresponsibly Homer handled the shotgun, she simply doesn't want a gun in the house any more.
Marge with a white necklace
- When Marge is complaining about Homer having his gun at the table, for a brief moment, her necklace is white instead of red.
Yellow space between the trigger and barrel
- When Homer puts his gun on the kitchen table, the space between the gun's trigger and the barrel briefly turns yellow instead of transparent.
- Portugal and Mexico are shown as superpowers in the episode. In reality, however, Portugal is 21 times smaller in land area than Mexico.
- Homer claims without his gun, the King of England could come in their house and boss them around. At the time of this episode's airing, England was ruled by Queen Elizabeth II, and wouldn't be ruled by a king until 2022.
- At the end of the episode Marge picks up the gun as though she's never touched one before. This contradicts an earlier episode in which Marge becomes a police officer and is shown to be quite adept at handling a pistol. It's possible she'd forgotten about that experience.