Homer Defined/References

References/Trivia

Season 3 Episode References

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"Homer Defined"

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Cultural references[edit]

Homer is reading the newspaper US of A Today, a parody of the real-world newspaper USA Today.
- Lisa mentions famous American author and radio and television host Larry King.
Otto is humming Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" right before stopping at the Kwik-E-Mart.
- Also, according to him, Otto was on his way to Mexico before he found out that Bart was in the school bus.
Mr. Burns mentions Hungarian-American silent film actress Vilma Bánky when referring to the movies from the old days he enjoyed.
Homer was hired under the fictional "Project Bootstrap", formulated by former president Gerald Ford.
The residents of Springfield Retirement Castle switch from live news coverage of the crisis at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to the game show Wheel of Fortune.
- A contestant incorrectly guesses the puzzle to be "Three Loins in the Fountain", a reference to the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain.

Homer was solving a Rubik's Cube during his training as Safety Inspector

Homer was solving a Rubik's Cube during his training as Safety Inspector. He later blames the cube for the potential meltdown.
When Homer stops the meltdown, he silently looks at the timer which was stopped at 007. This is a reference to when an atomic bomb was stopped with seven seconds to spare and the timer displayed 007, the secret agent number of James Bond (played by Sean Connery) in Goldfinger.
Smithers placed a 5% ceiling on the Keogh plan at the nuclear power plant.
The Itchy & Scratchy Show episode "My Dinner with Itchy" is a reference to the American comedy-drama film My Dinner with Andre. Scratchy is wearing the same suit that Wallace Shawn was wearing in the film.
Aristotle Amadopolis is a parody of famous Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis.
Bart is playing Monopoly with Maggie.
Earvin "Magic" Johnson makes a shot at the end of the episode and remarks "I pulled a Homer" before several attractive cheerleaders. Ironically, two weeks after this episode aired, Johnson publicly announced that he had the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, the precursor to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, and stated that he had contracted it as a result of unprotected sex with multiple women.

After the nuclear crisis in Japan, several nuclear-themed episodes, including "Homer Defined" were banned or censored from airing in countries like Germany and Austria.
Mr. Burns wears a toupee in the photograph that is superimposed when he is communicating with Kent Brockman via speaker phone.

A picture of the "Babysitter bandit" Ms. Botz is seen on the issue of US of A Today that Homer is reading. "Some Enchanted Evening"
Aristotle Amadopolis reappears. "Homer at the Bat"

In Mr Burns' surveillance cameras, the workers are identical.
As Sector 7-G is sealed off Homer's work console has 007 displayed on the countdown timer yet it still at 007 at the end of the scene.
During Laugh and a Half, the surveillance camera says 15:07, but the clock says about 7 o'clock.
When Bart looks at the pictures of himself and Milhouse, all of the pictures of Milhouse have his glasses with black rims instead of red ones.

← Season 2 Season 3 References Season 4 →
Stark Raving Dad • Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington • When Flanders Failed • Bart the Murderer • Homer Defined • Like Father, Like Clown • Treehouse of Horror II • Lisa's Pony • Saturdays of Thunder • Flaming Moe's • Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk • I Married Marge • Radio Bart • Lisa the Greek • Homer Alone • Bart the Lover • Homer at the Bat • Separate Vocations • Dog of Death • Colonel Homer • Black Widower • The Otto Show • Bart's Friend Falls in Love • Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?