This Little Wiggy/References

General

References/Trivia

Appearances

Gags

Credits

Quotes

	Season 9 Episode References
← 195 "Lisa the Simpson"	196 "This Little Wiggy"	"Simpson Tide" 197 →

Cultural references

• The episode's title is a reference to the nursery rhyme, This Little Piggy.
• Robby the Automaton is a parody of Robby the Robot from the 1956 American science fiction film Forbidden Planet.
• The robot asks the children if any of them wondered which of The Three Stooges had the heaviest brain. Nelson imagines himself as a scientist trying to answer the question and slaps the brains, parodying the slapstick style of humor from The Three Stooges.
  • A poster of the mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki can be seen in the room.

The "Mars" sign in the exhibition at the Knowledgeum uses the same font as in the Star Wars logo

• The Knowledgeum museum's architecture is similar to that of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
  • A slide shaped like the double helix can be seen in the museum.
  • The ceiling of the museum was donated by Velcro, while the floor is made with Super Ball material.
  • The arcade game in the Sex Education Pavilion looks similar to the AG-2G quad laser cannon on Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, in the Star Wars series.
  • The "Mars" sign uses the same font as in the Star Wars logo.
• Bart says "Houston, we have a booger", a reference to the popularly misquoted phrase "Houston, we have a problem".
• When Ralph visits the Simpsons' house, he is wearing a Chinese finger trap and eating Popsicle ice cream.
• Ralph has a stuffed Binky from Life in Hell.
• Homer tries one of the messages in 99 Hilarious Phone Messages which says "This is Jerry Maguire. Show me the message. Show me the message!". This is a pun on "Show me the money. Show me the money!", a famous line by Jerry MaGuire (Tom Cruise) in the 1996 sports comedy-drama film Jerry Maguire.
• Marge imitates Geraldine Jones from The Flip Wilson Show. The phrase "The devil made me miss your call" is a pun on "The Devil made me buy this dress!", one of Geraldine's most famous quotes.
• For the last answer message, Homer shouts "Do the message!" and starts humming Van McCoy's "The Hustle", a disco song from 1975. The original lyrics say "Do the Hustle!" right before the iconic disco tune starts.
• Chief Wiggum was watching The Return of the Pink Panther Returns, which is a pun on the 1975 comedy film The Return of the Pink Panther. In this fictional film, American retired actor Ken Wahl plays the role of Inspector Clouseau, one of the main characters in The Pink Panther series.
• The toy store J.R.R. Toykins is a reference to author J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Nelson calls Bart and Ralph "dork and dorker", a reference to the film Dumb and Dumber.
• According to Bart, the Morningwood Penitentiary is also known as Penn State, a common way to refer to Pennsylvania State University.
• Bart and Ralph play the card game Go Fish.
• After seeing that Ralph does not understand how Go Fish is played, Bart tries to put Super Friends on TV. This animated TV series featured the Justice League of superheroes.
• Lisa is seen using a sextant.
• Mr. Burns says "there's a rocket in my pocket", a reference to the book There's a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss.

Trivia

• Ralph has a bunk-bed despite being an only child.
• Bart finds the police files for Dr. Nick, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Bob and Homer Simpson.
• According to Homer's criminal record, he has been in jail six times, while Marge has been in twice.

Goofs

• When Skinner is introducing the robot to the class, Bart's desk is clearly in the middle of the room. When Bart throws the apple to the man in the tree, he's sitting next to the window.
• As Troy McClure is talking and the Simpson family is on the Knowledgium runway, Maggie's bow is colored yellow.
• The door leading to the electric chair initially has " Danger" written in red text, but after Bart opens the door it is written in black text.