A Tree Grows in Springfield/References

Episode	References	Gags	Appearances	Gallery	Quotes	Credits

 

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A Tree Grows in Springfield

The Day the Earth Stood Cool ►

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to the 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, its 1945 film adaptation and its 1951 musical adaptation.
• Steve Mobbs being in heaven is a reference to the death on October 5, 2011 of the character he is based on, Steve Jobs.
• Logomania is a parody of the French animated short Logorama.
• Vengeful Pigs is a reverse parody of the video game Angry Birds. This time Homer shoots pigs into birds, and in the real life player shoots birds into pigs.
• The video that Homer is trying to finish watching after his MyPad breaks is "David After Dentist", a popular viral video on YouTube that hit over 100 million views.
• The scene where Homer was at the zoo ignoring his kids because he's using the MyPad was adapted for a short released on the Youtube channel Animation on FOX (former Animation Domination) where Homer is playing Pokémon Go.
• The book Marge is reading in bed titled The Girl Who Regretted Her Tattoo, is a parody on the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

In-show references

• The Simpsons: Tapped Out: Homer tries to download this app on his MyPad, only to be told that it was not available. This is a reference to when the app was taken offline earlier in 2012 to fix bugs that had occurred in the game.

Continuity

• Moe mentions he once owned a cellphone. ("Love is a Many Strangled Thing")
• Obamacare got provided to Springfield General Hospital. ("Homer Votes 2012" short)
• This is the third time Homer goes to Moe's after his house is waterlogged. First time it was in "Dumbbell Indemnity", second - "Don't Fear the Roofer".

Trivia

• When Homer finished his pray about broken MyPad, God does a MyPad fading to the next scene. Previous 6 scenes of episode can be seen with Homer and Wiggum riding invisible motorcycle, Homer winning MyPad, Bart and Lisa being in zoopark with Homer and etc.
• During Kent Brockman's reportage about how the "Hope" tree mauled Springfieldians, the following signs, such as "Kent's Fashion Faux Pas," "Kent's K-9 Cut-Ups," "Inside Kent's Colon," "My Old Kent-Yucky Home" and "Kent's Closed Cases" can be seen.
• This episode is the first one in Season 24 to have regular credit music.
• This is Bashir bin Laden's last appearance in The Simpsons. He never reappeared in other episode after this.

Goofs

• Despite the title, a tree doesn't actually grow in Springfield, only a message being wrote on one.
• The tarp in Homer Simpson's dream actually turned into a stingray, not a manta ray.
  • On that same note, manta rays lack stingers.
• While Bart is walking on his hands near the Lion's habitat, the sign nearby can be seen with random gibberish written on it: "wat uy ali quando zax xaz man asque wie jas in wak wiho as bavy ul y turf zax xaz cousou nihi ew guy as bavy ul bisteque". The gibberish also changes from when Bart is walking upright on the wall.
• In Kent Brockman's flashback when he tried to interview Mickey Mouse, he asked "How come you haven't been in any funny cartoons since 1933?" Mickey's original theatrical cartoon series actually ended in 1953.