Difference between revisions of "A Midsummer's Nice Dreams/References"

Revision as of 12:51, August 3, 2021

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on the William Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Cheech & Chong movie Nice Dreams.
• A deteriorated Queen Elizabeth II is seen on Kent Brockman's show.

Uma Thurman dances with Kent parodying the famous dance scene from Pulp Fiction

• The segment That's Kent-ertainment! is a reference to the compilation film That's Entertainment!. During this segment, Kent recreates scenes from some famous movies:
  • Uma Thurman dances with Kent parodying the famous dance scene from Pulp Fiction.
  • Kent kisses his own female version recreating the kiss scene between Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind.
  • The scene with Kent and his own head on a bed is a parody of the decapitated horse head scene in The Godfather.
• Kent introduces the American comedy duo Cheech & Chong.
• Abe can not believe Lucy and Desi are getting a divorce, a reference to the TV sitcom I Love Lucy.
• A lot of seized marijuana from the Buddy Rich Orchestra was burnt by the police. Buddy Rich was reported to smoke marijuana and was fined for possession in 1974.
• On Kent's show, the Cheech & Chong's Greatest Hit album cover can be seen along with a car scene from Up in Smoke and Nash Bridges, in which Cheech Marin starred and Tommy Chong made an appearance in one episode.
• According to Homer, Cheech & Chong were the Beavis and Butt-Head of their day.
• Things in the "media room" include:
  • A poster of the famous image of Einstein taken by United Press photographer Arthur Sasse in 1951.
  • A picture of Krusty recreating Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album cover.
  • Some Crawdaddy rock music magazines.
  • Homer's fictional comedy albums from the 60s:
    • The Upside-Down Bubblegum Collective, which is a reference to bubblegum pop.
    • The Regional Lampoon, which has a reference to American Gothic by Grant Wood.
    • The Plymouth Grok Experiment, that has the style of the Beatles' Rubber Soul.
    • Allan Sherman's Helter Shmelter - Sorry For the Mess, which is a play-on-words of Helter Skelter and Allan Sherman.
• Cheech & Chong perform the "Dave's not here, man" act from Cheech and Chong self-titled album. This is one of their most famous routines.

Mr. Burns imagines a performance by Laurel & Hardy

• Mr. Burns imagines a performance by Laurel & Hardy.
• Homer wants to meet Don Johnson, the American actor.
• Seymour Skinner tries to do the Sister Mary Elephant comedy skit by Cheech & Chong.
• Marge and Lisa go to a destroyed Blockbuster Video store to return Homer's overdue movies.
• A Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear from Toy Story 3 is seen in Eleanor Abernathy's house and later in 742 Evergreen Terrace.
• Some "popped but uneaten" Jiffy Pop can be seen at Crazy Cat Lady's place as well.
• Moe sends some hidden footage to the NBC headquarters in the Cayman Islands.
• Homer sings a modified version of "Low Rider" by the American funk band War.
• Crazy Cat Lady watches Cats, the real-life musical, and particularly an extract from Cats' theme song "Memory".
• The name of the garbage company Humpty Dumpster is a reference to Humpty J. Dumpty, the famous character in the English nursery rhyme.
• Among Crazy Cat Lady stuff Marge finds:
  • A pen of the Milwaukee Hilton.
  • All of J. D. Salinger's book, including Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction but not The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger most notable work.
  • An edition of InStyle, the women's fashion magazine.

Homer's hallucination is a parody of the animated film from Cheech & Chong's song "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces"

• The reward from Cheech Homer imagines is an spoof of the animated film from Cheech & Chong's song "Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces".
  • In this hallucination, Homer transforms Selma's hair into Medusa.
• Cheech takes Homer to the East Springfield Latino Art Museum. Inside, Cheech shows and describes to Homer the Boycott Grapes, Support the United Farm Workers Union graphic art by Xavier Viramontes.
• Superintendent Chalmers thinks the menu is funnier than Skinner's performance. On the menu, some music references can be read:
  • Here Comes the Fudge, a reference to the Beatles song "Here Comes the Sun".
  • Jell-O I must be going, a reference both to Jell-O and "Hello, I Must Be Going", the song by the Marx Brothers.
  • Pudding on the Ritz, a reference to Irving Berlin song "Puttin' On the Ritz".
  • You Ain't Nothing But A Pound Cake, a reference to "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog" by Elvis Presley.
• The Crazy Cat Lady shouts like Tarzan.
• Homer makes a reference to Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon, which are known for being part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel.
• Bart mentions Hulu.com, the American subscription video on demand service, in a poetic way similar to A Visit from St. Nicholas.

Other Airdates

After being pre-empted several times, Sky1 (UK) decided to air the episode at 9:30pm on June 17, 2011, along with "The Real Housewives of Fat Tony", one hour earlier.

Goofs

• Akira Kurosawa is seen with gray hair in the Amphitheater scene.
  • He later has brown hair at Wacky's Comedy Club.
• Martin Prince, Sr. moves seats in the amphitheater.
• Raphael has much paler skin than usual when seen from behind.