Bart to the Future/References

References/Trivia

Cultural references

The title is a pun on Back to the Future. Nelson's hairstyle and attire are a tribute to the 1985-A Biff Tannen from Back to the Future II.
When Bart asks why a vision of his own future has an unrelated reference to Abraham Lincoln's gold, the Indian says "I guess the spirits thought the main vision was a little thin", a barb at sitcom writers who pepper thin plots with side plots.

It aired exactly five years after Season 6's "Lisa's Wedding", which also depicted the Simpsons' universe in the future. An interesting point were the endings of both episodes; whereas the fortune teller told Lisa her future could not be changed, the Indian mystic tells Bart to try and change his future for the better.
The scene in which Bart was talking to the ghost of Billy Carter in a bar at Camp David was, most likely, supposed to call back to "Treehouse of Horror V", where Homer was talking to Moe's ghost in the bar of Burns' mansion. Both of these scenes are parodied from a scene in Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining.
In 2003, Entertainment Weekly named this the worst episode of the entire series.
Following a tiny tradition in the series, Ned, the kindest person (and holiest), has bad things happen to him in this episode, yet he remains faithful. In previous episodes, his house was blown down, Maude died, he got married to another woman in Vegas...

According to future Ned Flanders, your eyes pop out ten years after you have lazer eye surgery - but in "Last Tap Dance in Springfield", Homer has lazer eye surgery, and in this episode he still has his eyes.