Somewhere Over the Brain-bow!/References

References/Trivia

Somewhere Over the Brain-bow!

Liquid Diamond Is Forever!

Cultural references

The name of the story is a reference to the song "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz.
Back to the Future: When Bart and Fry are using "hoverboards" to fly through Springfield, Comic Book Guy accuses them of ripping off Back to the Future Part II.
The title is a reference to DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel's Secret Wars.
When Mr. Burns hears Hermes and Dr. Zoidberg discussing their problem, he enters the room with two bodyguards, one of which looks remarkably similar to Fry's father.

When Skinner says that Edna Krabappel ate some "undercooked steamed hams", it is a reference to the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield". During one of the episodes segments, Skinner "cooks" Superintendent Chalmers some steamed hams, which were actually just Krusty Burgers.

Principal Skinner says that Mrs. Krabappel is "home sick after eating some undercooked steam hams", but she was seen earlier in a crowd scene she might have faked sick to get the day off.
When Bart arrives at school in Part Two, he is wearing a blue shirt, but then switches to his usual red-orange shirt in the next panel.
The fact that comics give "false hope" for X-ray glasses contradicts with How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back where Bender uses his "lucky specs" to cheat in poker.
After Apu and Comic Book Guy crashes into other with their cars, the latter mentioned the former to be as blind as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Those his last name is mistakenly spoken as Murdoch.