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Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo |
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Trivia[]
- This is, so far, the only Simpsons episode where the Gracie Films logo is normal, but the 20th Century Fox Television logo has a variant.
Previous Episode References[]
- Summer of 4 Ft 2: A Simpsons season finale where the family goes on vacation.
- Dumbbell Indemnity: Homer wears black cat burglar clothes.
- Homer the Vigilante: Someone breaks into Ned Flanders' house to steal things.
- Homerpalooza: Homer wears a Rastafarian hat and speaks with a Jamaican patois.
- Bart vs. Australia and The Crepes of Wrath:
- Bart goes to a foreign country (Australia/France/Japan)
- (Bart vs. Australia only): The Simpsons go to a foreign country and end up in trouble.
- The Crepes of Wrath, Bart on the Road, and Simpson Tide: Homer (and/or Bart) can speak another language (Bart speaking French in "Crepes of Wrath" and Chinese in "Bart on the Road"/Homer speaking Spanish, Chinese, and penguin/Bart and Homer speak Japanese).
- Bart Star: The Skittlebrau soda sold at the 33-cent store may or may not be the drink that Homer wanted at the Kwik-E-Mart that Apu said didn't exist.
- The Canine Mutiny: A tasteless joke about animals being burned for fuel.
- Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy: A dumb snack idea Homer comes up with turns out to be real ("Nuts and Gum: Together at Last"/Skittlebrau)
- When You Dish Upon a Star: A celebrity (Ron Howard/Jim Belushi) steals Homer's idea for a movie.
- Bart's Inner Child:
- Someone nearly recites or mentions a dirty limerick (Krusty's "There once was a man named Enis..."/Homer talking about knowing "the man from Nantucket").
- The Simpsons go to a seminar to fix their current problem (Marge being a boring nag who doesn't know how to have fun/saving money after losing their savings).
- Deep Space Homer: Homer and the "man from Nantucket" limerick.
- Miracle on Evergreen Terrace: A Simpson (or, in this case, The Simpsons) is/are on a game show.
- Homer Badman: Groundskeeper Willie is a voyeur (videotapes people in cars, which proves that Homer didn't sexually molest Ashley Grant/has an upkilt website).
- Realty Bites: A fat character (Homer/the sumo wrestler) defends his obesity as a glandular problem.
- A Star is Burns: reference to Woody Allen's sex scandal involving his adopted daughter, Soon-Yi (Rainier Wolfcastle's "impression" of Woody Allen on McBain: Let's Get Silly/Allen himself asking what did he do to deserve doing commercials in Japan).
- One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish: George Takei guest stars on an episode of The Simpsons.
- One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish, Selma's Choice, and Homer and Apu: Homer gets sick from rotten or questionably prepared food (the blowfish that wasn't cut properly/the hoagie that he kept eating days after the nuclear plant company picnic/the expired ham and bad shrimp/the canned food from the 33-cent store).
- In Marge We Trust:
- Homer and Japan (Homer's face is the Mr. Sparkle logo/Homer goes to Japan with his family and has a Japanese friend who works at the Springfield Zoo and is part of his book club).
- Japanese people recognize Homer as Mr. Sparkle.
- The Mr. Sparkle ad can briefly be seen when Battling Seizure Robots cuts to commercial.
- Marge vs. the Monorail and The Joy of Sect: A plane gets attacked.
Censorship and Bans[]
- This episode was banned in Japan due to scenes considered offensive to Japanese culture, particularly Homer throwing the Emperor of Japan in a sumo thong Dumpster (as the Emperor of Japan is only allowed to be seen in the news and depicted in children's books and educational media) and the family going into epileptic fits after watching Battling Seizure Robots (this episode premiered a little after the Pokemon episode "Electric Soldier Porygon" made worldwide news for sending 685 viewers -- most of which were children -- to the hospital for seizures and sensory overload caused by the flashing light effects). The Japanese version of the season 10 DVD set and Japan's version of Disney+ also don't contain this episode.
- The episode was also initially banned in South Korea due to South Korea banning any cultural references to Japan, as both countries have had a rocky history with each other. Since 2007, South Korea has lifted the ban on the episode.
Cultural References[]
- Chuck Garabedian, when doing his Mega-Savings seminar, claims he got the tux he was wearing at an extremely cheap price because it was the suit that Roy Cohn, the McCarthy-era lawyer, died in.
- This episode's title references the 1944 war film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, which was based on the true story of the Doolittle Raid.
- Numerous "That 70's Show" mugs can also be seen inside the 33¢ store.
- At The Java Server, Homer mistakes Fox for News Corp, which at the time owned 20th Century Fox.
- Marge says to Homer on the plane that he liked the film Rashomon. Homer's line, "That's not how I remembered it," is a reference to the famous Rashomon-style storytelling, in which three (or four) people tell the same story, often with omitted or exaggerated details based on the storyteller's point of view and how the storyteller sees him/herself and the world.
- The anime Battling Seizure Robots is a parody of the infamously banned Pokémon episode, "Electric Soldier Porygon", in which a scene with rapid lighting flashes sent 685 (310 boys, 375 girls) children into epileptic fits. Because of this, Pokémon was temporarily canceled to tone down the flashing effects, the "Electric Soldier Porygon" episode was banned from every country in the world, including its native Japan; and the Pokémon featured in the episode (Porygon) was never featured in future episodes and incarnations of the show.
- Homer recounts being forced to act in a production of Chūshingura. He wanted the lead role of Ōishi Yoshio, but had to settle for Horibe Yasubei.
- While on the plane heading to Japan, the Simpson family sees Jim Belushi in a toga being filmed on their plane, which is a reference to the 1978 comedy movie Animal House, which starred Jim's older brother, John Belushi, whose character, Bluto, wears a toga at one point.
- Mr. Monopoly is at the Mega savings seminar.
- From the hotel window, Lisa sees the Hello Kitty factory where cat howls are heard then the smokestacks release smoke.
- The Simpson family goes to a restaurant called America Town (which the hotel toilet recommended). The front of the restaurant has a picture of the Kool-Aid Man and Elvis Presley and Uncle Sam. Inside they see animatronic versions of the Statue of Liberty, Abraham Lincoln, E.T . the Extra-Terrestrial, Marilyn Monroe, and Muhammad Ali fighting Neil Armstrong.
- While at America Town Homer tells Bart that he once made acquaintance with a man from Nantucket, a reference to the many limericks, in which the name of the island of Nantucket creates obscene rhymes and puns and the protagonist is typically portrayed as a well-endowed, hypersexualized persona. He then tells Bart "Let's just say the stories about him are greatly exaggerated."
- While walking the streets of Tokyo, Homer and Bart see Woody Allen filming a commercial for crackers. Woody asks himself how did he get to this low point in his career, then remembers and says "Oh, yeah" in reference to his child sexual abuse allegation against his adoptive daughter Soon Yi Previn by his then-wife Mia Farrow in August 1992.
- When Barney is trying to imitate Homer, he says "That boy ain't right" referencing Hank Hill's catchphrase in "King of the Hill", when Bobby does something that Hank does not approve of or understand.
- Godzilla attacks the plane at the end of the episode. He is later shown with Mothra, Rodan and Gamera.
- Though dramatized to an extent, the episode's portrayal of Japanese game shows as being physical, as well as sometimes brutal, was accurate. Their extreme, physical risk tendencies were previously mocked on a season 20 (1994-1995 season) Saturday Night Live sketch where an American man (Chris Farley) inexplicably finds himself on a Japanese game show. More injuries were acknowledged by 2002.
- When Godzilla peers in through the plane window at Lisa, it is a reference to Jurassic Park when the T-Rex peers in through the Jeep window.
Goofs[]
- When Database is at The Java Server, he is using a gray computer but in the next scene he is using an orange computer, then he is using a gray computer again.
- At the Americatown Restaurant in the overhead shot, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, and Alaska are missing.
- During the Mega-Savings Seminar show, Mr. Burns was seated two chairs away from the end and Mr. Monopoly was one chair away, but when Mr. Monopoly enters the car, Mr. Burns is now one chair away to the end.
- Marge drops one of her shoes into the 'volcano' but in the next scene when the entire family plummets down, her shoe is back on.
- When the subjects for the gameshow are presented, the host gives a brief translation. Properly translated, the categories are "Painful!" (for "Ow, that hurts!"), "Why do you do that!?" (for "Why are you doing this to me?!"), and "Let me die!" (for "Please let me die")
- Mothra is referred to as a "he" instead of a "she" in the end scene where the Simpsons' plane home gets attacked by Godzilla and the monsters from the Godzilla movies.
- There is no Hello Kitty factory in Japan in real life. There is, however, a theme park called Hello Kitty Land.
Production Notes[]
- The final draft for this episode was published on November 20, 1998.[1]
Citations[]