The Buzz Cola advertisement shown before the movie is a parody of Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg.
The movie the Simpsons see, The Poke of Zorro, is a parody of The Mark of Zorro, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Other films that are playing in the cinema's are "My Dinner with Jar Jar", "Mars Needs Towels", "That 70's Movie" (a parody of "That 70's Show), "Shakespeare in Heat", "Facepuncher IV" and "Das Booty Call".
In the credits of The Poke of Zorro, James Earl Jones is credited for the 'Voice of Magic Taco'.
Glove Slap is a parody of Love Shack by The B-52s. The B-52s sang the parody of "Love Shack" in person for this episode
The farmer using an elephant to measure the height of his stalks of corn is in reference to a song in the musical Oklahoma!, where the corn "is as high as an elephant's eye".
The Simpsons' farming montage music is the theme song from Green Acres.
The Southern colonel is based off the character Senator Claghorn of The Fred Allen Show. His white outfit, the pocket watch and cigars in his breast pocket resemble Claghorn's, and when he shows up at the Simpsons' house to duel, he says "Sir, I say sir!" much like Claghorn would. He also has a similar accent. Claghorn's voice and mannerisms also inspired the Looney Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn.
The Southern colonel's RV has mudflaps of himself drawn like Yosemite Sam.
The scene with Homer worrying about the duel the next morning while looking at a tombstone with his own name on it spoofs the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III.
The death of the Laramie team in the helicopter, at the hands of a Tomacco-crazed sheep, is a nod to a scene in the James Cameron film Aliens, where the crew of the marines' drop-ship meet the same fate when an alien sneaks aboard their ship.
The title is an obvious reference to the children's nursery rhyme Old MacDonald Had a Farm line (E-I-E-I-O).
The scene with Lenny and Carl around the water cooler is a nod to Dilbert.
When Homer is crying at one point, he says, "Oh, you're right! I'm a coward!" This is a reference to the line said by the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
Previous Episode References[]
"Homer's Odyssey": Homer contemplates and nearly attempts suicide after failing to provide for his family.
"Colonel Homer": The Simpsons go to the Googolplex Theater.
"Cape Feare" and "You Only Move Twice": The Simpsons move away for an episode, then come back at the end and find someone at their house (a feminized Grampa after going without his medication/Otto and his unnamed girlfriend/the Southern gentleman who challenged Homer to a duel).
Bart gets hooked on a substance that's only legal for adults (gets drunk on beer/gets hooked on tobacco)
Homer creates and sells something that's illegal (bootlegged alcohol/tomacco)
Trivia[]
Inspired by the episode, Rob Baur of Lake Oswego, Oregon actually created Tomacco. Both plants are members of the Nightshade family and are therefore similar enough to create a hybrid. Baur wanted to know if it was a true hybrid, so he asked a forensic researcher to test the plant's constitution. The results showed the leaves did indeed contain nicotine. He only had one Tomacco fruit so they didn't get the chance to test it though Roy Grimsbo, the forensic scientist who performed the test for free and said he hopes Baur will bring back an actual tomacco fruit for testing. Baur actually provided commentary (along with the writers and crew members of the show) for this episode on the season 11 DVD.
The characters and actors listed in the credits of the Zorro movie are:
Zorro - John Byner
Robot Zorro - Shawn Wayans
Mrs. Zorro - Rita Rudner
Scarlet Pimpernel - Curtis "Booger" Armstrong
King Arthur - Cheech Marin
Man in the Iron Mask - Gina Gershon
Wise Nun - Posh Spice
Stupid Nun - Meryl Streep (Coincidentally, Meryl Streep [who was on the show before as the voice of Reverend Lovejoy's troublemaking daughter, Jessica] would later play a nun in the 2008 movie Doubt. Streep's role was that of a nun who failed to implicate a suspected pedophile despite suspicions)
The scene where Homer thinks he is catching some invisible so-called plants was one of the identifications on Channel 4 when the Simpsons moved from BBC Two to Channel 4 in the UK; the difference is that Homer thinks he is catching the Channel 4 logo surrounded by a flash of colored lights. See here from 0:30 to 0:50.
The Laramie helicopter crashed but they must have saved the Tomacco plant because it is in the mid Season 20-present High Definition openings, one of the items Marge buys is a bottle of Tomacco juice.
Running Gag: Homer's tractor rolling over and crushing his legs.
Goofs[]
Homer's house he grew up in on Rural Route 9 burned down in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" (season 6), yet it is still there in this episode. One of the official Simpsons episode guide books, The Simpsons Beyond Forever!: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family ...Still Continued, claims that either this episode must take place before "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy" or the house did not burn down as badly as depicted. Also the house could have been repaired, although it is unknown why would anyone do it as Grampa no longer lives there.
Plutonium is shown as a glowing green liquid, even though it is a dull silver metal with a melting point of 1183 degrees Fahrenheit. However, radioactive materials are often depicted as glowing green in popular culture.
When the Simpsons sneak Homer out of the house with the Christmas tree, the tree is gray, but when they stop at Donny's Discount Gas, the Christmas tree is now green, and when they resume driving the tree is gray again.
Lisa with two head frames at once
The store owner said that Abe abandoned the farm because nothing would grow, but in "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", it was said that the bank foreclosed the farm because the cows gave sour milk due to Homer scaring them. This could have been one of Grampa's crazy stories or him trying to make Homer feel guilty. Or it could be possible that Abe told the owner that the farm is unplantable rather than truth if the story about cows is true.
When Lisa is criticizing the idea of the tomacco, she lifts her head up while her head's previous position stays on-screen as well. This makes it look like she has two heads at once.
When Bart is eating the tomacco, Marge says "It's very nice to see Bart eating his vegetables", even though tomatoes are fruits. While tomatoes are considered fruits from a botanist's point of view, they're vegetables according to trade, culinary, and popular opinion. There is a Supreme Court case about it: Nix v. Hedden.
As a policeman Chief Wiggum should check if Homer has a trading permission and unless Homer does Chief would close the business. Chief Wiggum isn't known for being very bright; or Homer may have possibly wised up from the incident in "Bart Carny" and bribed him.
Production Notes[]
The final draft for this episode was published on November 5, 1998.[1]
