Bart Gets a "Z"/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 21 Episode References
← 442 "Homer the Whopper"	443 "Bart Gets a "Z""	"The Great Wife Hope" 444 →

Cultural references

• Shary Bobbins, a parody of Mary Poppins, appears flying in the episode's title screen gag.
• The song at the beginning is "Another Day" by Paul McCartney.
• The "Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is heard when the kids try to "Irish up" Edna's coffee.
• The website eBooze is a parody of eBay.
  • Bart buys Absolut Krusty on eBooze, a parody of Absolut Vodka.
• The book Good Night, Gorilla, which Milhouse gives a report on, is a real-life book by children's author Peggy Rathmann.
• Edna sings "This Old Man", a traditional children's song.
• At the "Goodbye, exchange students" act, the children sing a parody on "I've Been Working on the Railroad", an American folk song.
• Zachary Vaughn studied at Tufts University.
• The homework sent by Vaughn included 20 minutes of "twittering".
• Bart mentions Facebook.
• Lisa thought Bart was being taught about the Lincoln–Douglas debates.
• Blue Bronco Energy Drink is a parody of Red Bull, the famous brand of energy drinks.
• Martin explains what the Monroe Doctrine is.
• The movie that Bart and Mrs. Krabappel watch together is a parody of the 1986 film Back to School, starring Rodney Dangerfield.
• The Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner is heard on Zach's video about the multiples of seven.
• Moe is reading Team of Rivals, a 2005 book by Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, at Bookaccino's.

Pat Sajak has the bottle with "The Answer" while hosting the American game show Wheel of Fortune

• The book The Answer is a reference to The Secret, which is a self-help book also turned into a movie.
  • The film adaptation features the musical composition "O Fortuna" by German composer Carl Orff.
  • The bottle with "The Answer" was found by game show host Pat Sajak. He can be seen participating on his program, Wheel of Fortune.
  • Men that knew "The Answer" include St. Peter, Charlemagne, Jack the Ripper, Colonel Sanders, Barry Bonds, "the guy who married Brooke Shields" (Chris Henchy), Santa Claus and "you".
• The muffin stores include:
  • 'Muff Said, a pun on the phrase "'nuff said" (enough said), made popular in comics by Stan Lee.
  • R. Crumb's Keep on Muffin' is named after Robert Crumb, an American artist and illustrator who goes by that pen name. The figure on the sign is modeled after the figures in the Keep On Truckin' one-page comics.
  • H.R. Muffin Stuff's name is based on the children's show character H.R. Pufnstuf.
  • Muff Mart is a parody of department store Walmart.
• Bart owns Ned Flanders' Viza, a parody of Visa.
• A drunk Zach Vaughn said that American actress and film producer Hilary Swank did not graduate high school and won two Oscars. Swank won two Academy Awards in the Best Lead Actress category for her work on Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby.
• Zach mentions the California Institute of Technology, also branded as Caltech.
• Zach sings a parody of "This Place is a Prison", a song by electronic duo The Postal Service.

Trivia

• The "Z" in the episode's title refers to Zachary Vaughn.
• The blackboard in the background during the Parent/Teacher Night scene between Zachary Vaughn and Homer reads "zackattack.com". This website did not exist when the episode was released, though now it does, with the domain not being owned by Twentieth Century Fox.
• This is one of the few times the end credits differ from the normal ones. In this case the credits are in fancy writing.

Continuity

• The title is a reference to previous episodes, "Bart Gets an "F"", "Bart's Dog Gets an "F"" and "Lisa Gets an "A"".
• Larry Burns reappears (from "Burns, Baby Burns") on the show Edna is watching, so does George Plimpton from "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can".

Goofs

Click to enlarge.

• When Edna finished eating her "breakfast", part of her palm went through the Peanut Butter.
• When Edna gets her bra, her shirt is pink. However, after that, she is wearing her green suit.
• Mrs. Krabappel takes away the kids' cellphones and puts them in a box. However, just a second later, when the kids groan, the cellphones are on their tables. Then, they disappear again.
• Chuck and Lewis are singing a song to the exchange students on the stage with the others. Later, behind Bart and Nelson, they are sitting in the seats.
• During the meeting at the Simpsons' backyard, Bart's Treehouse is missing.

← Season 20 Season 21 References Season 22 →

Homer the Whopper • Bart Gets a "Z" • The Great Wife Hope • Treehouse of Horror XX • The Devil Wears Nada • Pranks and Greens • Rednecks and Broomsticks • Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou? • Thursdays with Abie • Once Upon a Time in Springfield • Million Dollar Maybe • Boy Meets Curl • The Color Yellow • Postcards from the Wedge • Stealing First Base • The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed • American History X-cellent • Chief of Hearts • The Squirt and the Whale • To Surveil with Love • Moe Letter Blues • The Bob Next Door • Judge Me Tender