King-Size Homer/References
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Cultural references[edit]
- The episode title is a pun on King-Size Canary, a 1947 animated cartoon short directed by legendary animator Tex Avery. In the cartoon, a growth formula causes several animals to swell to gargantuan proportions.
- During the episode's couch gag, the Simpsons are wind-up toys.
- During the calisthenics class:
- One of the medical conditions in the Am I Disabled? book is the carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Dr. Nick recommends Homer make sandwiches with Pop-Tarts instead of bread.
- During Homer and Bart's visit to the supermarket:
- The doughnut Maggie hands to Homer is made of Play-Doh modeling compound.
- The name of The Vast Waistband, the store Homer visits to buy a muumuu, is a parody of the term then-FCC chairman Newton Minow used in a 1961 speech referring to television as a "vast wasteland".
- When Homer hits "TAB", thinking he'd get a soft drink, while looking for the "Any" key (which is a joke on the computer prompt "Press any key to continue"), a startup sound from a Macintosh computer produced in 1995 is heard. This episode aired the same year.
- The computer Homer uses for work resembles the Macintosh XL, which was first released on January 1, 1985.
- When Homer vented the toxic gas from the plant, thus ruining the farmer's corn crop, the farmer says "Paul Newman's gunna have ma' legs broke!" when lamenting the loss of the corn. This is a reference to the legend made by the Newman's Own popcorn company, where Newman threatened people if they tried to steal his popcorn recipe.
- Marge once giggled at Homer's Sherlock Holmes hat.
- The letters Homer receives include:
- "An urgent plea from Edward James Olmos". This is a reference to Mexican-American actor and director Edward James Olmos, who is also known for his involvement in social activism.
- "Lisa Simpson, can you afford to miss another issue of the Utne Reader?". During the time the episode aired, the Utne Reader was an alternative media magazine.
- American actor Pauly Shore and actress Faye Dunaway star in Honk if You're Horny!.
- One man making fun of Homer tells him he could watch A Fridge Too Far, a pun on the 1977 epic war film A Bridge Too Far.
- Mr. Burns says to his workers that they have to perform ten "Iroquois twists".
- According to Mr. Burns, Homer's blocking of the duct "turned a potential Chernobyl into a mere Three-Mile Island". Burns is referring to the Chernobyl disaster and the Three Mile Island accident, which is considered the worst accident in US commercial nuclear power plant history. However, its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public.
- Mr. Burns' sweater during the company workouts is the first mention of Mr. Burns having gone to Yale.
- "Iroquois twists" (Iroquois are a Native American tribe) were made up by the show's writers.
- The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant has pay toilets.
- The Simpsons' scale stops at 400 pounds (181 kilograms).
- Signs in the construction area were:
- Hardhat Area
- Falling Tool Zone
- Careless Workers Above
- As the path of the venting pipe is followed underground, it passes the skeleton of Itchy being pursued by the skeleton of a saber-toothed Scratchy.
- An original plan for the episode that was scrapped was Homer becoming weight-obsessed in the opposite direction and becoming dangerously thin.
Continuity[edit]
- Marge is wearing lipstick during the ceremony, except in the close-up shots.
