Difference between revisions of "Margical History Tour/References"

Revision as of 06:39, February 14, 2013

Cultural references

• The title is a pun on the song, album and film Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles.
• Some items seen in the library are Everybody Poops: The Video, Yu-Gi-Oh! Price Guides, and Itchy & Scratchy books on tape.

Henry VIII

• Homer (as Henry VIII) sings a variation of "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am".
• Henry wipes his mouth with the Magna Carta, an important document in the 1200s.
• When Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn are making love, she says "Oh, Henry!" which is a possible reference to the candy bar, Oh Henry!
• Homer says to Bart in his dream to "get out of my dreams and into my wife", a reference to the song, "Get Outta My Dreams, and into My Car", which in turn was inspired by a line in the song You're Sixteen.
• Marge says that one of the good things about Elizabeth I's reign is the fact that it gives various British actresses a role to play when they reach a certain age, a reference to the frequent portrayals of Elizabeth in film and television by famous actresses such as Glenda Jackson, Helen Mirren and Judi Dench.

Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea

• Immediately after Carl says they've discovered the beautiful Pacific Northwest, it starts raining, referencing the common stereotype of the Pacific Northwest being a place where it constantly rains.

Mozart and Salieri

• The music in Bart's opera is in fact Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik with the lyrics rewritten to refer to flatulence. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, however, is a serenade, not an opera.
• The three more talented brothers of Lisa are three members from The Jackson 5.
• In the scenes where Mozart is ill and living on the street, and later, dying, the music playing in the background is from Mozart's Requiem Mass.
• Nelson's laugh imitates the opening bars from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

Trivia

• This is not the only time that Homer wipes his mouth with an important document, as he also does so with the sacred parchment at a meeting of the secret Stonecutters society in "Homer the Great". In "Make Room for Lisa", he licks the Eighth Amendment off the Bill of Rights.
• The theme of a hard-working but undervalued person seeking revenge against a successful but undeserving person (Salieri against Mozart in this episode) was previously used in "Homer's Enemy".
• When Reverend Lovejoy officiates at King Henry's second marriage, he says "In the name of the Henry, the Hank and the holy Harry". The latter two are references to cast members Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer.
• Note the "initial" resemblance of Lewis and Clark to Lenny and Carl.

Historical errors

• Salieri was a man and he was not related to Mozart at all.
• In the Sacagawea segment, the chief (Homer) says that Sacagawea's (Lisa) name meant "little know-it-all who won't shut her maizehole." In reality, her name is said to mean "bird woman." The joke translation is a reference to Lisa's being smart and always talking.
• In the Henry VIII segment, Jane Seymour is executed. In reality she died in childbirth, but after she had the baby boy that Henry had long sought.
• Lewis and Clark are portrayed as being complete morons, which they were not in real life. The unflattering portrayal is due to their being played by two simple-minded residents of Springfield.
• When Lewis and Clark sight the Pacific Ocean, Lenny says they'll name this place "Eugene, Oregon". In reality, they sighted the Pacific at the mouth of the Columbia River, near modern-day Astoria, Oregon.