Deep Space Homer/References

Cultural references

 * The episode title is a pun on the television series Star Trek: .
 * The episode features numerous film parodies, mostly referencing  and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * Homer trying to read the back of his head on the floor is a parody of The Three Stooges.
 * The TV shows that are shown in NASA are of  and Married... with Children.
 * The scene where the family drive up to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is a parody of The Beverly Hillbillies.
 * Homer realizes that the Planet of the Apes is Earth, then parodies the scene of George Taylor realizing the same thing.
 * The scenes of Homer and Barney training are a parody of .
 * Barney sings the first part of "" from .
 * Homer sings the first line of "".
 * The two scenes where Homer experiences excessive G-force, his face is transformed into Popeye and Richard Nixon.
 * The scene where Homer and Barney are dueling in an arena is a reference to "", an episode of . Dr. Babcock then wagers "400 quatloos on the newcomer", again referencing the episode.
 * Race Banyon is a parody of Race Bannon from .
 * The Itchy & Scratchy Show episode title "Scar Trek: The Next Laceration" is a parody of .
 * Itchy bursts out of Scratchy's stomach in a parody of the Alien films.
 * Homer mentioned the time he could have met at the mall.
 * Homer eats potato chips in zero gravity to the song "" by.
 * sings "", written by.
 * James Taylor mentioned that he had Art Garfunkel help him with an ant problem at his vineyard.
 * Aldrin and Banyon hum "" by.
 * Homer sings "Those Golden Grahams" to the tune of "", which was a Golden Grahams commercial in the 1970s.
 * The inanimate carbon rod appears on an issue of Time magazine.
 * The final scene of the episode is to the song "" by.

Trivia

 * Kent Brockman's line "I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords." has become a meme and idiom, being used in popular culture.
 * mentions that he and Art Garfunkel created a total vacuum outside their country house using an air-compressor to rid themselves of an ant problem. This is impossible unless you could enclose the house in a chamber of some sort.

Continuity

 * Homer mentions going into space in a deleted scene of "Mother Simpson".
 * NASA apparently sent Homer up into space again for the Restaged Family Album. ("Homerazzi")
 * In Marge Simpson Living Marge reminds Homer that he has tried snowplowing ("Mr. Plow"), webhosting ("The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"), trucking ("Maximum Homerdrive"), fortune cookie writing ("A Hunka Hunka Burns in Love"), cartoon voiceovers ("The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"), food critic ("Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?"), screen writer ("Beyond Blunderdome"), mixologist ("Flaming Moe's"), bootlegger ("Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment") and astronaut ("Deep Space Homer") when he was searching for a new job.

Goofs

 * In "Krusty Gets Kancelled", lands in a Pillow Factory, which is then destroyed. In "Deep Space Homer", Barney bounces off the roof of the same pillow factory, fully intact, one season later.
 * When the second photo of the carbon rod is taken on a magazine cover, Homer's space suit glove disappears.
 * Buzz Aldrin's hair changed from brown to white in one shot.
 * Homer seems not to figure out that Planet of the Apes is actually about the Earth until this episode. Yet in "I Married Marge", when Marge asks him if he's thought about the future, he asks, "You mean, when apes will rule the earth?" This might imply he'd already understood the ending of Planet of the Apes before this episode.
 * Homer is the only person NOT to win the "worker of the week" award -- but he was the only person other than Smithers to win "Employee of the Month"!