Das Bus/References

References/Trivia

Cultural references

Most of the episode about being on the island is a spoof of the classic novel Lord of the Flies, although in the end of the story the boys are rescued by naval officers, who themselves are in the middle of a war. This ending is however true to the 1990 film version of Lord of the Flies, which made numerous changes to the original story.
When the kids are squabbling in the classroom, Principal Skinner restores order by banging his shoe on the desk. Skinner's actions are similar to Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev at the UN allegedly banging his shoe on a table.
When the rest of the children (led by Nelson) are chasing Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse and have smeared charcoal ash on their faces; Ralph Wiggum's face resembles Peter Criss of KISS.
The title is a play on the film Das Boot. Since Bus is of male grammatical gender, "Der Bus" would be correct German.
In Happy Tree Friends: Jumping the Shark several of the characters are also stuck on an island because of a bus crash.

When Milhouse swings across the chasm on a vine but refuses to throw it back to Lisa and Bart, it is similar to the behavior of Satipo towards Indiana Jones in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The fishermen were voiced by Asian voice actors. Originally the producers wanted the lines to be done in Mandarin. However, the voice actors convinced the Simpsons producers that Cantonese would be a better fit, as that language is spoken more often by Chinese fishermen and sailors.