This episode is dedicated to Sunni Walton O'Neil, an actress and Simpsons animator, who died from a brain tumor.
When Bart looks through the police records, he finds Homer's and comments, "Wow, Homer's been in jail six times." Originally, the line after that was, "Aw, he killed a swan at the zoo," but the line was changed to "Aw, Mom's only been in jail twice." The resulting line change raises questions of how Marge's arrest information can be on Homer's police record.
Cultural References[]
"This Little Piggy" (nursery rhyme): episode title
Forbidden Planet and Lost in Space: The robot that tells the kids about the Knowledgeum looks like the one from these two sci-fi titles.
The Three Stooges (slapstick comedy trio): Nelson imagines measuring the brains of the original trio of Moe, Larry, and Curly.
The Little Prince (children's book): Milhouse imagining himself touching a star looks similar to the book cover.
Star Wars (movie franchise):
The "Let's Make a Baby" game
The "MARS" exhibit has the same font
J.R.R. Tolkien (author): The toy store is named "J.R.R. Toykin's"
Big (movie): A toy store with a giant, playable keyboard on the floor.
Previous Episode References[]
"I Love Lisa": A Simpson kid reluctantly becomes friends with Ralph Wiggum.
"Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes": Homer has issues with his sperm (being rendered sterile from working at the nuclear plant/the interactive sex game ends with him running out of sperm).
"One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", "Duffless", "The Springfield Connection", "Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment", and "Dumbbell Indemnity": Homer's been in jail five times (the sixth time with the swan at the zoo, according to the original line in the script, is not attributed to a past episode): speeding home so he can die with his family; DWI (driving while intoxicated, not DOA, which means "dead on arrival"); parking in a handicap spot, buying alcohol for minors (even though Kearney is of age to buy alcohol for himself), stealing Marge's police cap, and resisting arrest after waiving his right to be silent; bootlegging alcohol under Springfield's outdated Prohibition laws; committing insurance fraud by stealing Moe's car.
"Homer Alone" and "Marge in Chains": Marge has only been in jail twice (for obstructing traffic after having a nervous breakdown/for accidentally shoplifting bourbon at the Kwik-E-Mart).
"The Telltale Head": Bart tries to be friends with Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney.
"Duffless" and "Bart the Murderer": Children laugh at or cheer over something bad happening to Principal Skinner (gets hit with Lisa's steroid-pumped tomato and goes into shock from PTSD/Mrs. Krabappel tearfully announcing that Principal Skinner is missing/Skinner getting choked out by the robot).
"Realty Bites": A male member of the van Houten family loses his arm (Kirk gets his arm cut off after Snake fails to decapitate Homer/Milhouse's arm melts when he touches a star).
"Blood Feud", "Bart's Inner Child", "My Sister, My Sitter", "Treehouse of Horror VIII" ("Easy Bake Coven"), and "Lisa the Skeptic": References to leprechauns (Homer's line to Marge about how she's living in a world of make-believe with "...flowers and bells and leprechauns..."/"The Feel-Bad Rainbow" has an angry leprechaun at one end/the 911 operator tells Lisa that Bart made a prank call about someone getting bit by a leprechaun/a boy is dressed as a leprechaun during Sprynge-Field's first Halloween/Lisa says that leprechauns aren't real, but Kent Brockman rebuts her by saying they went extinct/Ralph has an imaginary friend who's a pyromaniacal leprechaun)
"Bart's Inner Child": Ralph gets hurt on a trampoline (bites his tongue while jumping/flies off after high-fiving Bart).
"When Flanders Failed" and "Boy-Scoutz n the Hood": Bullies playing keep-away (with Lisa's saxophone/with Bart's Junior Campers uniform/with the police master key).
"Secrets of a Successful Marriage" and "The Last Temptation of Krust": A male character makes an effeminate remark while cleaning something (Homer's "Oh, these stubborn grass stains" as he's washing his pants/Bart's "Oh, they are just impossible!" while getting the tangles out of Krusty's hair while cleaning him/Bart's line, "These syrup stains are the worst!" while cleaning the toys Ralph touched).
"Brother From the Same Planet": Someone uses a giant cotton swab for a big ear (Krusty during Tuesday Night Live's "The Big-Ear Family" sketch/one of the museum guards while trying to get Ralph out of the model ear).
Edna Krabappel is missing when the Robot entered the room.
As Troy McClure is talking and the Simpson family is on the Knowledgium runway, Maggie's bow is colored yellow.
When Homer is playing the "Let's Make a Baby" video game: the announcer says "You are out of sperm." The closed captioning reads, "Your score is zero".
When the Simpsons are at the museum, Bart says he's going to go toss the virtual salad, but the closed captioning says "I'm going to crawl inside the Invisible Frenchman."
The door leading to the electric chair initially has " Danger" written in red text, but after Bart opens the door it is written in black text.
