Difference between revisions of "Bottle Episode/References"

Revision as of 16:23, January 8, 2026

Cultural references

• The episode title is a reference to the bottle episode term.
• "I Want to Break Free" by Queen plays during the lackey tasks montage.
• The design of Mr. Burns' private jet is based on a Bombardier Challenger 350.
• Smithers taking out the trash using a plane is a reference to the Taylor Swift jetting everywhere meme.
• One of Mr. Burns' tasks is to "Melt Iceland".
• Oen-Percenters, Mr. Burns' wine club, is a reference to the One-Percenters, also with "Oen" a prefix meaning "wine", as in Oenology.
• Mr. Burns proposes celebrating by cracking open an Amontillado.
  • Burns walling off the Amontillado, along with the salesman, is a reference to the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe.
• Smithers drinks a Baron Cadet Bordeaux.
• The bottle bought by Mr. Burns and brought in a safe box is a special Gevrey-Chambertin once owned by Napoleon. Smithers adds he fought the Battle of Austerlitz just for the bottle.
• When Smithers is entering the code for the safe box, Homer says that it's just like the laundry pods they lock up at the Kwik-E-Mart. This is a reference to the aftermath of the "Tide Pod Challenge," where people would record videos of themselves eating laundry pods. The aftermath of the challenge led to laundry pods being age-restricted and even locked up in shops.
• When Mrs. Vanderbilt tries to christen The Upper Decker and is stopped by Homer, she says that it happened before. This is a reference to the apocryphal story that the champagne bottle used to christen the Titanic didn't break.
• At the swingers party, they use the bottle for the spin the bottle game.
• According to Marge, Homer punched a hole in the wall when Major League Baseball added the pitch clock. The pitch clock was added to the MLB in the 2023 season.
• The Joy of Spiking is a reference to the Joy of Cooking cookbook.
• Homer saying that he chopped down Ned's cherry tree, then did tell a lie, is a reference to the myth that George Washington damaged his father's cherry tree, then said, "I can not tell a lie," to his father.
• Professor Frink uses 14 CC of Manischewitz wine.
• After creating the wine replica, Professor Frink removed the radioactive isotope found in wines made after the nuclear age.
• Mr. Burns tells his wine club to "bend an Elba" when drinking the wine. This refers to the phrase "bend an elbow," and Elba was the site of Napoleon's first exile in 1814.

Smithers and Marge, among other characters, parody Robin Hood and Maid Marian from the 1973 Disney film Robin Hood

• Marge proposes Smithers become wine-forging Robin Hoods.
  • Segments animated in the style of the 1973 Disney animated Robin Hood film are seen. Music similar to that of the movie is heard. In them, several characters play the role of those from the film:
    • Smithers is Robin Hood.
    • Marge is Maid Marian.
    • Mr. Burns is Prince John.
    • Milhouse is Toby.
    • Ralph is Skippy.
    • Lisa is Lady Kluck.
    • Bart is Alan-a-Dale.
• Smithers points out Marcus Club, the founder of Sam's Club. In real life, the founder of Sam's Club is Sam Walton.
• Francis Ford Coppola, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Robert Parker appear at Gavelby's Auction House.
  • Francis withdraws his bid referencing his flop film Megalopolis.
  • Andrew's line "the music that I write" is a reference to his song "The Music of the Night."
  • The Rich Texan asks Lloyd Webber if he made the musical Cats and why he loves it.
• Alca-Shiraz Wine Jail is a reference to the Alcatraz prison and the wine Shiraz.
• The Springfield Wine Court was inspired by the trial in the film Anatomy of a Fall.^[1]
• The person on the right at the gay bar is designed to look like Johnny LaZebnik.^[2]
• Homer told the kids that Marge was in Santa Barbara with friends.
• Mr. Burns has a parody of Johannes Vermeer's painting Girl with a Pearl Earring, the Girl with a Pearl Nose Ring, and a Bible signed by Jesus.
• "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen plays during the final montage.

Trivia

• According to Ned's birth certificate, he was born at Springfield General Hospital on June 7, 1959. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz.
• The garage safe backing onto the kitchen cupboard doesn't make sense judging by the official floorplan of the Simpson house. The kitchen and garage are separated by a corridor and the rumpus room.

Continuity

• Smithers has pictures of him and Michael de Graaf, and a picture of him on holiday, on his office wall. ("Portrait of a Lackey on Fire")
• The Springfield Children's Hospital is evicted and transformed into a chandelier storage. ("Simple Simpson")
• Barbara Belfry appears at the swingers party. She and Sideshow Mel were mentioned to have an open relationship previously. ("A Serious Flanders (Part 1)")
• Gary Chalmers and Lunchlady Dora are at the swingers party. They previously had a relationship with each other in "Desperately Seeking Lisa".
• Items in Homer's safe:
  • An original cell of Poochie. ("The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show")
  • A Ribwich. ("I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can")
  • An inanimate carbon rod. ("Homer's Odyssey")
  • The Homer bowling ball. ("Life on the Fast Lane")
• Augustus Redfield is part of Burns' wine club. ("Meat Is Murder")
• Harriet K. Duff is part of Burns' wine club. ("From Beer to Paternity")
• Marge and Smithers auction the wine at Gavelby's Auction House. ("All About Lisa")
• Mike Jambowski attends the wine auction. ("Friend with Benefit")
• Jay G attends the wine auction. ("The Great Phatsby")
• Larry's urn is seen on top of the Love Tester. "(Cremains of the Day")
• César and Ugolin appear at Alca-Shiraz Wine Jail. ("The Crepes of Wrath")
• When Marge calls Homer in Alca-Shiraz, he thinks he is falling to a scam; specifically one similar to a grandparent scam, one of which appeared in "Bart's in Jail!" with Grampa.
• In the Robin Hood parody, Nelson is depicted as a raccoon. ("Treehouse of Horror XVI")

References