Bart the Mother/References
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Cultural references[edit]
- The plot of the episode is based on the episode "Opie the Birdman" from The Andy Griffith Show, where Opie Taylor accidentally kills a mother bird with a slingshot and then takes on the task of raising the babies.
- Lisa is playing Skee-Ball and uses Maggie to cheat and win the game. The "Maggie-oop" is a pun on the "Alley-oop", the basketball play.
- An X-wing fighter from the Star Wars universe can be seen among the prizes at the Arcade.
- A video game is seen called Pac-Rat Returns, a pun on Pac-Man and possibly Peter Pack Rat, a 1985 platform game.
- During the shooting scene, Nelson wears a red scarf like Henry Evans (Macaulay Culkin), the evil cousin of Mark, did in the The Good Son.
- Nelson calls Bart an "Octo-wussy", a pun on Octopussy, a spy film in the James Bond series.
- Bart mentions the American toaster pastries Pop-Tarts when practicing regurgitation.
- When Marge asks Homer what Bart was doing, Homer replies "Who am I? Kreskin?". He is referring to The Amazing Kreskin, an American mentalist who became popular on television in the 1970s.
- Bart is seen reading Working Mother, a real-world magazine for working mothers launched in 1979.
- Homer thinks that Halley's Comet collided with the Moon, something that never happened.
- According to Skinner, the Bolivian Tree Lizards have wiped out the dodo (Raphus cucullatus), the cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus), and the Nene (Branta sandvicensis).
- The "Bolivian tree lizard" is a fictional species. However, its behavior mirrors the habits of birds which are brood parasitic, such as the cuckoo bird and the cowbird.
- When frying a carrot, Nelson hums the Simpsons theme.
- This is the final appearance of Troy McClure and the final appearance of Phil Hartman in The Simpsons as he was murdered by his wife in May 1998, roughly four months before the episode aired.
- Troy McClure and Billy appear in the Regional Geographic film, Birds: Our Fine Feathered Colleagues. Troy also mentions two other educational films that he appeared in, Earwigs-Eeeew! and Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory.
- The sign seen at the Family Fun Center says: "As seen on When Disaster Strikes 4."
- Arcade games spotted at the Family Fun Center: "Pac-Rat Returns" and "Shark Bait."
- The door for the Springfield Birdwatching Society meeting room in the Springfield Municipal Building reads, "Pecking Order Strictly Enforced."
- When Bart alerts the family that the eggs are hatching, Homer leaves the fridge open. When the family watches the eggs hatch, the fridge door closes without any of them proceeding to close it.
- Nelson's BB gun was shown to be hugely powerful, much more powerful than a BB gun should be.
- The Bible that Timothy Lovejoy returns at the library is bigger in the first shot.
- In this episode, the door to the basement is at an entrance of the house, but that's a closet in other episodes.
- When Marge says, "Slow and steady wins the race," her face and body are two different colors.
