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ā—„ The Secret War of Lisa Simpson
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson
The Principal and the Pauper ā–ŗ

Trivia

  • When Homer throws his wallet into the fireplace, the picture of Selma and Patty on the mantle has a red-haired Selma and a blue-haired Patty (instead of their normal "purple" hair color).
  • On the front cover of the magazine, the text says "New York $9", the Twin Towers look like the number 11. So ironically it shows the numbers 9 and 11 and this episode aired four years before the September 11 attacks.
  • After the September 11 attacks, the episode was banned from television due to the prominence of the World Trade Center towers. After a few years, the episode came back, though some airings banned all the scenes of Homer near the Twin Towers (including his bathroom rush to both towers) or left them in and cut out the line, "They stick all the jerks in Tower One." This is particularly sensitive because in 1993, Tower One (the North Tower) was the site of the initial bombing, and in the 2001 attacks, Tower One was the first to be hit and the tower where more people were killed or trapped.
  • A clip from this episode are also shown in the 2000 movie The Beach.
  • This is the first time that Lisa Simpson shushes.
  • The writers on the DVD commentary have mentioned how dated this episode has become following 9/11, and regret using the "jerks in Tower One" line.
  • This is one of several episodes with a title in the style of a court case. (Homer vs. Dignity, Homer vs. Patty and Selma, etc.) However, Homer's name is listed second in this one when it is normally first.
  • In this episode a New York civilian tosses a coin in front of Homer, leaving Homer to respond, "I'm not a bum." However, the subplot of Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore revolves around Homer posing as a bum which he proves to be so good at that he steals attention from real bums.
  • Marge tells Homer they will meet in Central Park. However, it is 843 acres big so there are many places where they can meet.
  • The South Tower's indoor observation deck is on the 107th floor.
  • When Barney is driving an evidently drunk Homer, Lenny and Carl home in Homer's car, Homer, in response to Lenny and Carl's respective suggestions of being taken to the Girl's College and Playboy Mansion, tells them since it's his car, his choice of a destination would be the lost city of gold, which was presumably referring to El Dorado.
  • Technically, this is the first instance on the Simpsons where a character yells a variant of the f-bomb without being bleeped out or cut off. Homer when struggling to get the boot off his car yells "come on off, you motherf***er!" This was presumably because he was trying to remove the bolt via his teeth at the time and thus wasn't heard clearly.
  • The letter threatened Homer with dumping his car into the East River if he does not appear to get it back. At the time the episode aired, the East River was rendered extremely polluted.

Cultural References

  • Jurassic Park - The way the bowl of peanuts starts to vibrate as the Duffmobile approaches references the 1993 film, particularly the cup of water vibrating when the Tyrannosaurus Rex approaches.
  • The music that plays as Duffman enters the bar is "Oh Yeah" by Yello.
  • Homer and his drunken buddies sing the 1996 hit "Macarena" on their way home.
  • LakmĆ© - The musical sequence played during the Flushing Meadows segment is a stylistic parody of the piece, Flower Duet from the opera LakmĆ© by Leo Delibes.
  • Drunken Carl suggests Barney take them to the Playboy Mansion.
  • Homer's recollection of his first trip to New York begins with the song "The Entertainer," made famous by the 1973 film The Sting.
    • The X-rated films Homer walks past in this scene have reference to the films Jeremiah Johnson, The Godfather Part II, and Five Easy Pieces, all films coming out between 1970 and 1974 which helps to place the time when Homer went there.
    • C.H.U.D. - The recollection ends with "...and that's when the C.H.U.D.s came at me." Marge responds: "Of course you'll have a bad impression of New York if you only focus on the Pimps and C.H.U.D.s."
    • Woody Allen, a notable New Yorker, makes a brief appearance in Homer's flashback scene. He throws trash on Homer from several stories above.
  • Homer wants to buy a piece of pizza from Original Famous Ray's Pizza which is a parody of the many Ray's Pizza shops around New York.
  • Bart visits the headquarters of Mad magazine. Alfred E. Neuman pokes his head out of the offices, while the White Spy from their Spy vs. Spy series is visible in the room behind him.
  • In New York, Bart sees a trio of Hasidic Jews and mistakes them for ZZ Top.
  • The lead actor in the Betty Ford Clinic musical looks like actor and former SNL castmember Robert Downey, Jr., who became notorious for his drug abuse in the 1990s.
  • When Bart, Marge, and Lisa are on the subway an ad can be seen that says "Can you throw a football? Become a New York Jet. Call 1-800-4NYJETS." This is a reference to the New York Jets, who had the worst season in franchise history the year before this episode came out, with a 1ā€“15 record. The year this episode came out the Jets went 9ā€“7.
  • Die Hard with a Vengeance - At the end, Homer drives his car through Central Park like a madman. John McClane does the same thing in the film.
  • The song that plays during the credits is "New York, New York", sung by Michael Dees.

Goofs

  • During Kickin' It: A Musical Journey through the Betty Ford Center, when there is the shot from above the stage, underneath the main actor there is tape marking his spot. Then, there is a shot of the front of the stage, and the tape has disappeared.
  • When Duffman first arrives at Moe's Tavern, he hands several people cans of beer from his utility belt. In the very next shot, after Barney tells Duffman that he's the designated driver and cannot claim his free bottomless mug of Duff, Duffman's belt is still completely stocked with cans.
  • Homer tapes a number of homemade signs to both front windows of Moe's Tavern requesting information about the car Barney drove off with, in the shot immediately after Barney is dropped off by the chauffeur not only are the signs gone from the window, but Moe's only has one front window.
  • When a younger Homer accidentally throws a banana at a pimp, the banana residue changes color between tan and white a few times.
  • The amount of damage of the windows and headlights on Homer's car changes innumerable times between shots.
  • Th Khlav Kalash's dark and light brown sections repeatedly change place.
  • The car's headlights are destroyed while Homer tries to get the car boot off his car using a jackhammer; however, during the credits as the screen pans away from Homer's car showing the Brooklyn Bridge, the headlights are shown intact.
  • An outside mirror reappears and disappears from Homer's car between shots.
  • Homer's wristwatch reappears and disappears during scenes where he has to call and wait for the officer.
  • When Homer attempts to leave without his getting his car towed away, his car door he opens has no window or door post. But when he first stops to get his car boot off, the car door now has changed with a window and a door post present.
  • As Homer is infuriated by the radio tunes playing, he kicks and breaks the radio. But when he's trying to get his car boot off, the radio (shown from an inside view of the car) has fixed itself.
  • Missingtower

    The tower without its antenna

    When the original World Trade Center was still around, the North Tower had a 360 ft. tall TV antenna on the center of its roof which was installed in 1978. However, at the moment when Homer discovers the restroom to be out of order in the South Tower's indoor observation deck, he rushes himself over to the North Tower where it is noticeably missing. It is worthless because all other shots of the roof in this episode show it.
  • Homer should have called the police because Barney stole his car, as borrowing something and failing to return it is considered a form of theft. Given his lack of intelligence and common sense, this likely doesn't occur to him.
  • Despite being explicitly shown to have burned his wallet in an attempt to ensure that New York denizens don't steal it again, he was later seen with it when arriving at the World Trade Center Plaza.


ā—„ Season 8 Season 9 References/Trivia Season 10 ā–ŗ
The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson ā€¢ The Principal and the Pauper ā€¢ Lisa's Sax ā€¢ Treehouse of Horror VIII ā€¢ The Cartridge Family ā€¢ Bart Star ā€¢ The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons ā€¢ Lisa the Skeptic ā€¢ Realty Bites ā€¢ Miracle on Evergreen Terrace ā€¢ All Singing, All Dancing ā€¢ Bart Carny ā€¢ The Joy of Sect ā€¢ Das Bus ā€¢ The Last Temptation of Krust ā€¢ Dumbbell Indemnity ā€¢ Lisa the Simpson ā€¢ This Little Wiggy ā€¢ Simpson Tide ā€¢ The Trouble with Trillions ā€¢ Girly Edition ā€¢ Trash of the Titans ā€¢ King of the Hill ā€¢ Lost Our Lisa ā€¢ Natural Born Kissers
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