Fat Man and Little Boy/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 16 Episode References
← 339 "She Used to Be My Girl"	340 "Fat Man and Little Boy"	"Midnight Rx" 341 →

Cultural references

• The episode is named after the two nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan during World War II, codenamed "Fat Man" and "Little Boy".
• The eccentric Goose Gladwell seems to be a parody of Willy Wonka. This episode was released six months before the 2005 movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. Gladwell's appearance, however, is based more on Gene Wilder's Wonka in the 1971 version (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory).
• Homer mentions strange adults befriending small children, which is a possible reference to Michael Jackson as well as to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. When the episode first aired, Jackson was dealing with child molestation charges and movie posters featuring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka were appearing in theatres as part of the pre-release publicity for the movie. Some moviegoers found Depp's appearance in the posters to be eerily similar to Jackson's real-life appearance.
• Krusty's line, "Krusty Show t-shirts are made for kids—by kids," is a reference to the Kidz Bop slogan.
• The song Lisa and Janey are singing at the beginning is a variation of "Miss Susie".
• When Marge refers to Lisa's working nuclear reactor as a "damn irradiating whatsit" she is alluding to the "Great Whatsit," a name for the mysterious object that turns out to be fissionable and explosive in the 1955 film Kiss Me Deadly.
• When Homer confronts Goose over his cheating Bart out of his share of the profits from the T-shirt sales, among the items seen in his store are a Magic 8-Ball and a model of an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars.

Trivia

• Songs used:
  • "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas (When Bart burns his toys.)
  • "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred (When Bart models his T-shirts around school and at the mall.)
  • "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited (At the Springfield Novelty Expo, when Krusty's booth appears and destroys Bart's.)
  • "The Pink Panther Theme" (When Homer breaks into the nuclear power plant to steal plutonium.)
• Matt Groening calls Homer and Bart a "Fat Man" and a "Little Boy" in the fifteenth level of The Simpsons Game.
• Homer's process for building a nuclear reactor is similar to what Boy Scout David Hahn did in 1994.
• When Bart is autographing T-shirts at Goose's store, a sign outside says that Bart will not say "Cowabunga," which is one of Bart's old catchphrases.
• Smithers replies "Today is Christmas, sir" when Mr. Burns asks why everyone is so insolent. However, there are no holiday decorations in the power plant or the Simpson home, and no snow to be seen. This indicates that Smithers' reply may have been a last-minute addition when it was noted that the episode was slated to air around Christmastime.
• Before the episode first aired, Matt Groening registered the domain nuclear-secrets.com, but never created a website.
• Krusty the Clown mentions a character called ScratchBob ItchPants a spoof on SpongeBob SquarePants while announcing character shirts.
• Bart's Toys (and their real-life analogues):
  • Spirogram (Spirograph)
  • Sketch-N-Etch (Etch A Sketch)
  • Sock-Em Knock-Em Cyborgs (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots)
  • Ravenous Ravenous Rhinos (Hungry Hungry Hippos)
  • Duopoly (Monopoly)
  • Parchoosey (Parcheesi)
  • Humor Putty (Silly Putty)
• In addition to Bart and Krusty, the exhibitors at the Springfield Novelty Expo include the following:
  • Duff Beer
  • Erotic Ashtrays
  • Hairy Golf Balls
  • Exploding Hearing Aids
  • Untoastable Bagels
  • Poison Ice Cubes
  • Mood Lollipops (Apu, attending the expo as a retailer, tries one and is singularly uninpressed.)
• When the Springfield Police bust Bart's stand and confiscate his T-shirts, Chief Wiggum takes one that reads "Proud Nubian Princess". The term means a good-looking sexy black woman with an excellent figure. This makes Wiggum's choice ironic and funny on multiple levels, as he is neither female nor black, and can hardly be considered as having a good figure.

Bart's T-Shirt Slogans

• Adults Suck, Then You Are One
• Life Ends at Ten
• Bored in the USA
• This Shirt Sucks
• Everything Sucks
• Sucking Sucks
• Wake Me When It's Recess
• I've Puked More Beer Than You've Drunk
• Pobody's Sherfect, Nithead
• Impeach Everybody
• My Other T-Shirt Is Also a Joke T-Shirt
• Think Globally, Fart Locally
• Weapon of Ass Destruction
• I ♥ ♥ Attacks (Which should be read as "I love heart attacks")
• Get Bent (Flanders thinks it refers to kneeling down to pray.)
• Do Not Resuscitate (Dr. Hibbert takes a dozen: "These could get me out of a lot of sticky situations.")
• Proud Nubian Princess (Chief Wiggum takes this one when the police bust Bart's stand and confiscate the shirts; it's the only one that fits him.)
• Jews for Jebus
• Body by Oreo
• Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Scooby-Doo
• If You Can Read This, the Backpack Fell Off
• Stop Staring at My Man Boobs
• I'm Not Getting Older, I'm Getting Bitter
• Wish You Were Beer
• Top of the Dude Chain
• America's Least Wanted
• Rich Bitch
• Stop World Hunger, Eat My Shorts! (Bart poses with this one on the cover of a magazine running an article about his shirts.)
• Don't Wake Me, I'm Working (Homer wears it to work and gets suspended without pay.)
• I'm Not Fat, I'm Enormous (Comic Book Guy brings it to Bart for an autograph. The shirt is so big that Bart thinks Comic Book Guy is trying to bring several shirts through the line, violating the session's "one autograph per customer" rule.)
• Moe asks if Bart has any shirts with Calvin peeing on Hobbes. When Bart says "Sorry", Moe asks, "What do you got him peeing on?" This is a reference to the many bootleg products that often feature Calvin urinating on various company logos, most often a Ford, or other car company logo.

Goofs

• Bart's loose tooth, as shown early in the episode, has no tooth to its left. However, when Bart shows Milhouse the tooth he still has, there are teeth on both sides.
• Bart's shirt, "Think globally, fart locally", changes from blue to purple.
• Poochie is blue instead of red.
• When Bart walks through his classroom, Richard has the Buck-toothed boy's colors.
• When the Police Car arrives at Bart's stand, the car has a white paint job, but when the police confiscates his t-shirts, the car has a black and white paint job. Later, the car has the white paint job again.
• Lisa's school science fair project misspells Wilhelm Röntgen's last name as Röentgen.

← Season 15 Season 16 References Season 17 →

Treehouse of Horror XV • All's Fair in Oven War • Sleeping with the Enemy • She Used to Be My Girl • Fat Man and Little Boy • Midnight Rx • Mommie Beerest • Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass • Pranksta Rap • There's Something About Marrying • On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister • Goo Goo Gai Pan • Mobile Homer • The Seven-Beer Snitch • Future-Drama • Don't Fear the Roofer • The Heartbroke Kid • A Star Is Torn • Thank God It's Doomsday • Home Away from Homer • The Father, the Son and the Holy Guest Star