The Call of the Simpsons/References

Debut appearances

 * Rod Flanders
 * Cowboy Bob

Trivia

 * The motto of Bob's RV Roundup is "We'd rather make a friend than a profit."
 * The episode marks the first appearance of recurring guest star Albert Brooks. In this episode, and all of his subsequent appearances he is credited as A. Brooks.
 * Flanders makes $27 more a week than Homer does (although this is based on Ned's original job at a pharmaceutical company, not the Leftorium). This would mean as a pharmacologist Ned Flanders made $1,404 a year greater than Homer's salary, although Ned makes far better use of his credit.
 * Signs at Bob's RV-Roundup (formerly RVs R Us): "We want to make friends :-) Not Profit :-(" "We give credit to everyone!"; "Bad Credit. Good!"; "Bankruptcy Shmankruptcy."
 * The Ultimate Behemoth RV: two-stories high with a fireplace, a full kitchen, four deep fryers---"one for each part of the chicken," a big-screen television set, and its own satellite, the Vanstar I.
 * The breaking Bigfoot report interrupts the.
 * Signs advertising the Bigfoot cottage industry include "Half-Man Half-Ape Burgers" and "Get Your Photo Taken with Bigfoot."
 * This is the first time we see Homer naked.
 * The fact that Homer is indeed the is referenced again in season 16's "The Monkey Suit".
 * Bart wears his "lucky red hat" for the first time in this episode (but coughs it out multiple times in "Bart the General"). Also, this is the only time the cap is totally red (other episodes depict it as red with a white visor).
 * When the family is travel, Lisa uses the Bart's cloth (except the red shirt).
 * This is the first episode in which Rod Flanders appears, though only briefly, and he does not make a second appearance until the next season, and would not speak again until "Bart the Daredevil".
 * This episode was the theme of a Burger King promotion including kids meal toys and collectible cups.
 * At the time of production, the writers and producers felt that this episode had the potential to be made into a two-part story. However, they eventually decided to make it as a single episode.
 * The scene with Bart and Homer making a trap was used in the season four episode "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" (the first clip show on The Simpsons). The part where Homer is naked after losing his clothes in the waterfall dive was used during the "hardcore nudity" montage at the end of the season seven clip show episode "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular".
 * In the United Kingdom, this was one of the first episodes released on video cassette in the early 1990s (on a tape paired with "Bart the Genius"), and thus was many viewers' introduction to the series (especially in the days before the series was shown on ). A second tape featuring "Bart the General" and "There's No Disgrace Like Home" was released at the same time.
 * Flanders closes his mouth before the sound of his whistle stops.

Cultural references

 * The tune for the camping scenes is called "".
 * The episode title is a reference to the novella  by.
 * When Homer is shot with tranquilizer darts, his last words to Bart before he loses consciousness are "Avenge my death". This is similar to yelling out to his two sons in .
 * When the camper is filming the deer grazing in the mud which Homer falls into, there is a short excerpt from the main theme of Claudes Debussy's 'Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune'

Goofs

 * In one scene in the big RV, Maggie's bow is pink. In the next scene where Maggie appears, her bow is blue.
 * When the bear first confronts Maggie, she is on the path, then she is on the grass.
 * When the cameraman films Bigfoot, which is actually Homer in the mud, he screams a few times. But in the news report, we don't hear his screams - just Homer yelling.
 * The scientist who describes Homer as "a brilliant beast" has some of his hair floating in mid-air, above his ear, but not connected to his head.
 * When Homer first drives into the river, there is a scene where the color of his shirt and and his vest switch.

Continuity

 * Bart also gets lost in the woods (albeit with Milhouse rather than Homer, and with a considerably different outcome) in the comic story Into the Woods.