Difference between revisions of "Lisa's First Word/References"

Revision as of 14:43, May 2, 2024

Cultural references

• Bart says that Mister Rogers says "get bent" all the time.
• Marge begins telling her story of Lisa's first word by saying: "This story begins in the unforgettable spring of 1983. Ms. Pac-man struck a blow for women's rights and a young Joe Piscopo taught us how to laugh", making references to the 1981 arcade video game Ms. Pac-Man and the American actor Joe Piscopo.
• Marge and her neighbors chat about the final episode of M*A*S*H, which has just aired. One of them says she already misses Klinger.
• When Homer comes home from work, he is singing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", a song by Cyndi Lauper. An instrumental version of the song plays in the scenes after.
• Bart sings the songs "I'm a Little Teapot" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider".
• The Wizard of Oz is referenced twice while Marge tells the story of how the Simpson family moved to 742 Evergreen Terrace:
  • While Marge and Homer were house-hunting, they passed on a house that was full of cats. Back in the present, Bart muses, "I could have trained them to be my unholy army of the night." Then, envisioning just that, he says, "Go, my pretties! Kill! Kill!" in a manner reminiscent of the Wicked Witch of the West sending out her flying monkeys.
  • After the Simpsons move into 742 Evergreen Terrace, Ned and Rod Flanders sing "We Welcome You to the Neighborhood" to Homer. The song is to the same tune as the "Lullaby League"/"Lollipop Guild" song, which the Munchkins sing for Dorothy.
• Homer talks about the time he got locked in a bank vault with Mr. Mooney, only to realize that was an episode of The Lucy Show.
• When Ned and Rod sing for Homer, Ned is wearing a T-shirt that reads "I ♥ Webster", a reference to the TV sitcom Webster, which aired from 1983 to 1989.
• The song that plays during the Itchy & Scratchy episode is "Chariots of Fire" by Vangelis.
• The Krusty Burger scratch & win cards (and Krusty's resulting financial losses) were inspired by a promotional game McDonald's did for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics where an event would be revealed and prizes would be awarded dependent on whether Team USA scored a gold, silver, or bronze medal in that event. Prizes ranged from free McDonald's food to a $10,000 cash prize. Due to the boycott of the Games by the Soviet Union and its allies, Team USA won an unusually large number of medals, resulting in McDonald's losing millions of dollars in prize payouts for the promotion.
• The Clown bed says "if you should die before you wake", referencing the bedtime prayer "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep".
• Bart's term of "Can't sleep, clown will eat me", was later used as a line in an Alice Cooper song "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me". It has since become somewhat of a slang term to describe insomnia.
• After the Olympic Swimming event, an hour long episode of Mama's Family aired.
• Rod and Todd sing "I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy".
• The Springfield Shopper issue from the day Lisa was born has the headline "Mondale to Hart: Where's the beef?". "Where's the beef" was a catchphrase used by the restaurant chain Wendy's. Mondale used the phrase "Where's the beef?" at an election rally in 1984.
• Bart sings the song "Alouette".
• When the Simpsons see Korean gymnast Kim Hwan completing a perfect dismount with a broken leg, it is a reference to Shun Fujimoto who kept going despite severely injuring his right knee. One account said that after he ended, he "raised his arms in a perfect finish before collapsing in agony".
• When toddler Bart hears Lisa say her first word, he exclaims "Sufferin' succotash!", the catchphrase of Sylvester from Looney Tunes.
• Grampa winning his house in a crooked '50s game show where Grampa later ratted on everybody and got off scot-free is a reference to the real Quiz Show scandal.
• One of the network sportscasters is Howard Cosell. Another sportscaster was modeled on Jayne Kennedy.

Trivia

• Homer is watching the finales for Women's 100 metre Butterfly which American Mary T. Meagher won the gold medal. The finals were broadcasted at 7:40pm (PST) on August 2, 1984.
• The Springfield Shopper headline on the day Lisa was born "Mondale to Hart: Where's the Beef?" which happened during a televised Democratic presidential candidates debate in Atlanta, Georgia on March 11, 1984.
• Bart's first words were also revealed in this episode: "Ay Carumba!", which he said after catching his parents having sex.
• Mike Tyson is often spoofed on The Simpsons through Drederick Tatum. While Tatum won the gold medal in 1984 in the flashback, Tyson, who had won golds at the earlier Junior Olympics, failed to qualify for the Los Angeles Games and did not compete. American Olympian Tyrell Biggs won the gold at the super heavyweight, but not by knockout and not against a Swede, but on points and against Italian Francesco Damiani. Mike Tyson and Tyrell Biggs later fought each other in 1988 where Tyson won by knockout.
• When Bart is packing his toys up, he is saying something, but it's not audible.
• Maggie said her first word in this episode. Although because no one hears her say it, the family has presumed Maggie has spoken her first word a few times in other episodes, including "Good Night", The Simpsons Movie, "Four Great Women and a Manicure", and "Coming to Homerica".

Goofs

Todd with black hair

• Even though it is obvious Grandpa is a younger man in 1983, a picture of his elderly self hangs in the wall of his house. (In another episode, however, Grandpa says that Homer will end up like him, making it possible that the picture was of Grampa's own father and Grampa ended up looking like him.)
• In the 1990 episode "Krusty Gets Busted", Krusty says he is (and always has been) illiterate. In this episode, Krusty successfully reads and deciphers a communique about the Soviets boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics.
• Sideshow Bob is in this episode, but he has turquoise colored hair.
• In one scene, Todd Flanders has black hair.
• When Homer found out Marge was pregnant, he didn't rip his hair out. However, the fact that he did this was not revealed until "And Maggie Makes Three".
• On the title card of The Itchy & Scratchy Show episode, "100 Yard Gash", there is only an opening inverted comma. There is no closing inverted comma.
• In the empty Simpson House, Homer imagines a TV and a couch in the living room. There is no window in the living room.
• In a scene from the spring of 1983, Marge and her neighbors talk about the final epsode of M*A*S*H. Then Homer comes home from work singing "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. However, the song wasn't released as a single until September 6, 1983, and She's So Unusual, the album on which the song appeared, wasn't released until October 14, 1983, so Homer couldn't have been singing the song in the spring of 1983.
  • Not necessarily a goof: In her narration, Marge says it's the spring of 1983, but "Goodbye, Farewell and Amen" originally aired on February 28, 1983. However, Marge and the neighbors could have been talking about it a few weeks after it aired, or since the conversation took place in March and it was a sunny day, Marge (in her telling the tale) could have thought of it as spring.
• While the family are watching the Olympics on TV, an announcer says that an hour-long episode of Mama's Family is up next. The 1984 Olympics aired on ABC in the USA, while Mama's Family aired on NBC.
• Bart speaks something that is not audible when he picks up the toy.

Continuity

• The clown bed is a level gag in Level 7 of The Simpsons: Hit & Run.