Lisa's First Word/References
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< Lisa's First Word
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Contents
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 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 Huang completing a perfect dismount with a broken leg, it is a reference to Mary Lou Retton's getting a perfect 10 for a vault in spite of having an injured knee.
- When toddler Bart hears Lisa say her first word, he exclaims "Sufferin' succotash!", the catchphrase of Sylvester from Looney Tunes.
Trivia
- Lisa's birthday was revealed in this episode, but not directly. The date isn't mentioned, but Marge went into labor just after watching the woman's swimming events.
- Bart's first words were also revealed in this episode: "Ay Carumba!", which he said after seeing his parents having sex.
- 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
- 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 Itchy & Scratchy 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.
