Difference between revisions of "Missionary: Impossible/References"

Revision as of 12:59, August 20, 2023

Cultural references

• The episode title is a pun on Mission: Impossible.
• Homer watches PBS, a real television network.
• The English sitcom Do Shut Up could be a parody of The Young Ones, a similarly chaotic Britcom that ran on English T.V. in the early 1980s. It was known for its lowbrow characters who shared a similarly dismal house, and spent much of the show bashing each other over the head with household items.
  • The song playing in the background on Do Shut Up while Homer watches the show is "No Feelings" by the Sex Pistols.
• The host of PBS says that your music room can sound like the Metropolitan Museum in New York with Museum Noises.
  • The cover of Museum Noises is a reference to The Son of Man by surrealist painter René Magritte.
• Among the people and characters seen chasing Homer are:
  • Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
  • Cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
  • The Teletubbies from Teletubbies.
  • Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, and Elmo from Sesame Street.
• The scene where Homer is licking bullfrogs on an island refers to the first verse of the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb" from the album The Wall. Marge calling "Hello, is there anybody in there?" over the radio even intones the melody.
• Bart says that Marge won't let him read Hägar the Horrible.
• Homer says that God is powerful, but also insecure, like Barbra Streisand before James Brolin.
• Homer says that if The Flintstones have taught anything, it's that pelicans can be used to mix cement.
• Mr. Burns says that Homer took the Hamburglar's birthday off last Monday and Wednesday. The Hamburglar is one of the McDonaldland characters.
• After opening up The Lucky Savage casino, Homer says that he knows how Bob Stupak felt.
• When Homer asks "Is everybody happy?" on entering the casino, he is referencing bandleader Ted Lewis' famous catchphrase with similar inflection.
• The telethon scene at the end features various FOX characters as phone operators, including:
  • Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from The X-Files.
  • Hank Hill from King of the Hill.
  • Thurgood Orenthal Stubbs from The PJs.
  • Bender from Futurama.
  • Luke Perry, who played Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210.
  • Rupert Murdoch.
• The television in the telethon scene has the Family Guy logo on it.
• Rupert Murdoch is drinking Foster's Lager.