Let's Go Fly a Coot/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 26 Episode References
← 571 "The Kids Are All Fight"	572 "Let's Go Fly a Coot"	"Bull-E" 573 →

Cultural references

• The title of the episode is a reference to "Let's Go Fly a Kite", a song in Walt Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins.
• At his birthday party, Milhouse wanted his father to cut the cheese in the shape of Pokémon characters. Kirk thought Milhouse wanted them in the shapes of Disney's Muppets. A cheese with the shape of Kermit can be seen.
• Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles made a CD singing "Happy Birthday, Milhouse". They previously performed multiple songs for the special live show The Simpsons Take the Bowl.
• Homer spoils Jessica Lovejoy's birthday by stealing the animals hired for her party. He then brings the animals to Ned, who thinks it is a signal to build an ark.

The Big Birthday's spokesperson shouting at Homer is a reference to Network

• The Springfield Birthday Merchants Association (a.k.a Big Birthday) helicopter flying by means of balloons is a reference to Disney Pixar's movie Up.
  • The scene where Big Birthday's spokesperson shouts at Homer is a reference to Network, a 1976 satirical black comedy-drama film.
• Some graduates of Yale University appear dressed as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The Spirit of Springfield, a parody of the Spirit of St. Louis

• Some famous planes can be seen at the Springfield Museum of Flight:
  • The Spirit of Springfield, a reference to the Spirit of St. Louis.
  • World War II planes P-51 Mustang and Corsair.
  • Bell X-1, the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in controlled level flight.
  • Military aircraft Douglas Skystreak, F-86 Sabre and P-38 Lightning.
• Mach Ridley and his crew arrive in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress named "Lulu".
• Mach Ridley's name is a reference to USAF test pilot Jack Ridley. The Mach number is also a widely used quantity in high-speed aircraft.
• It's been established that Abraham Simpson served in World War II but during that conflict the U.S. Air Force did not exist in its current form, it wasn't established until 1947.
• The remark of one of the U.S. Air Force Veterans concerning POWs (Prisoner of war) and the Red Cross refers to the treatment of German POW prisoners by the U.S. Army in the Rheinwiesenlager in 1945, in which the Red Cross was prevented from visiting prisoners in any of the Allies' Rheinwiesenlager.
• Before fighting Ridley, Homer says the fight was not going to be a "tropical vacation like Iwo Jima". The battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle of World War II.
• Ridley proceeds to beat Homer by only flicking him with his middle finger, just like Sean Connery did to a bar bully with his right thumb while playing a tough military cop in 1988 movie The Presidio.
• Milhouse plays Sjoelbak, a Dutch variation of table shuffleboard.
• The arcade game Grand Theft Walrus II, a parody of Grand Theft Auto and implied sequel to Grand Theft Walrus, is seen in the Kwik-E-Mart alongside a game called Marbury v. Madison, referring to the landmark Supreme Court case.
• The Movie The Exhaustibles 3: Arthritis Will Unite Us is a parody of The Expendables.
• Homer mentions the dystopian future movies The Hunger Games, The Edge of Tomorrow, Oblivion, Elysium, Snowpiercer, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Ender's Game, The Road, World War Z, Children of Men, After Earth, I Am Legend, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Maze Runner, District Nine, The Purge, Looper, Cloud Atlas, Divergent, Insurgent, The Island, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play and Chappie.
• An Imperial Japanese Navy flag and a Pickelhaube are seen at the Veterans of Unpopular Wars bar.
• Ridley and his friends leave Grampa, saying they have to fly their B-17 to Reno for an air show. In 2011, a heavily modified North American P-51D Mustang WW2 fighter crashed during Reno Air Race, killing the pilot and ten spectators on the ground.
• Milhouse, Bart and Annika Van Houten play Spijkerpoepen, an old Dutch game. The aim of it is to squat and place a nail inside a bottle that is on the ground. The nail is connected to a rope that is tied around the player's waist.
• Annika says that Bart is small and cute like Liechtenstein, a small country in Europe.
• Jack Kerouac gives a ride to Abe and hands him his novel On the Road (first published in 1957 by Viking Press of New York City) and the first draft of it and tells him to destroy the latter, but an airplane passing over him destroyed the finished work.
• The flashy red car Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady are in a Hudson Hornet.
• Anikka is flying with KLM, a Dutch national airline.
• Bart's run at the airport refers to Love Actually.
• Ridley and his crew have to fly to an air show in Reno, Nevada. Ridley says that in Reno silver-haired foxes are as common as frisbees on the Jersey Shore.
• Annika curses in Dutch during the credits:
  • Dutch: "Jullie kunnen mijn rug op, jullie kunnen de boom in. Ik heb geen zin om meer woorden aan jullie vuil te maken. Ik ga nu naar huis. Tot ziens."
  • English: "You can bite me, take a flying leap, I don't feel like wasting any more words on you. I'm going home now. See you."

Trivia

• It's revealed that Kirk and Luann Van Houten are cousins and Milhouse has a forked tongue because of it.
• Jack Kerouac's driver has a cigarette pack held under the right sleeve of his T-shirt. It is a smaller pack than those of today, typical of the non-filtered cigarettes of the time.
• The jet Grampa flies resembles an F-104 Starfighter, a fighter the U.S. Air Force first flew in prototype form in 1956.
• The car Grampa Simpson abandoned after getting a flat tire in his flashback has TABF13 on the license plate which is also the production code for this episode.

Continuity

• Homer previously enrolled and ended up impersonating Krusty at public events. ("Homie the Clown")
• A sequel of Grand Theft Walrus, named Grand Theft Walrus II, is seen in the Kwik-E-Mart. (The Simpsons Movie)
• Jack Kerouac was previously mentioned in a comic story. (Ralph the Haiku Genius)
• The story of how Abraham Simpson met Mona Simpson is shown. ("Mother Simpson")

Goofs

• When Milhouse shows Lewis the Squishee machine, Lewis' legs are still in the walking position.
• At the party Richard's jacket changes from blue to beige.

← Season 25 Season 26 References Season 27 →

Clown in the Dumps • The Wreck of the Relationship • Super Franchise Me • Treehouse of Horror XXV • Opposites A-Frack • Simpsorama • Blazed and Confused • Covercraft • I Won't Be Home for Christmas • The Man Who Came to Be Dinner • Bart's New Friend • The Musk Who Fell to Earth • Walking Big & Tall • My Fare Lady • The Princess Guide • Sky Police • Waiting for Duffman • Peeping Mom • The Kids Are All Fight • Let's Go Fly a Coot • Bull-E • Mathlete's Feat