Separate Vocations/References
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Cultural references
- Lisa's flippant remark of "What 'cha got?" to Miss Hoover is similar to Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
- Bart's fantasy of being a drifter and remarking that he was banished from a town by a sheriff is similar to First Blood, which revolves around the fact that the film's protagonist, John Rambo, was banished from a town on account of the fact he was scruffy and long-haired and the sheriff did want his kind in the town.
- Bart's courtroom appearance (where his face is concealed by a blue dot and his voice is altered to sound like Steve Allen's) is a reference to the 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith. In television coverage of the trial, his accuser's face was concealed with a blue dot.
- The chalkboard gag references Bulimia nervosa.
Trivia
- Dr. Pryor has pictures of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud on the wall behind his desk.
- When Bart is assigned detention, he has to write "I will not expose the ignorance of the faculty." on the blackboard over and over.
- A tiny skull hangs on a chain from Snake's rearview mirror.
- Career Aptitude Normalizing Test (CANT): Name of the test given to the students at Springfield Elementary.
- According to the DVD commentary, it took nine takes to get guest star Steve Allen to pronounce "Aye, Carumba" correctly.
- In 1992, Nancy Cartwright won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for this episode.
- Snake's car Lil' Bandit makes an appearance, albeit without a snake design and gets smashed halfway through the episode.
- Dr Pryor makes a rare non-cameo appearance in the episode.
Goofs
- When Bart and Principal Skinner are closing in on Lisa's locker, several shots of them opening lockers are repeated.
- When the people to collect the tests enters the room, we can clearly hear "Here for the tests", but both of them don't open their mouths.
- The color of the school keeps switching from purple to orange throughout the episode.
- In one scene of Lisa's detention, the Aa sign on the strip above the blackboard is missing, and has just the color orange in its place
- When Kearney gives Milhouse a wedgie, he and Dolph are the same size as the other kids.
- When in the police car, as Lou talks, there is a closeup to his face, but behind him, there is no window or roof.
- The test papers show five ovals for each question (for answers A, B, C, D and E) yet both Krabappel and Hoover ever read out are three potential answers (for ovals A, B and C)
