Lisa's Pony - Cultural References

Cultural References

The beginning of the episode, in which Homer has a dream of himself as an ape, is a reference to the Dawn of Man sequence from the 1968 science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Simpsons director David Silverman had difficulties with making the ape resemble Homer and struggled with the design for several hours. After hurting Lisa's feelings at talent show, Homer watches old home movies of him and Lisa, including one in which a young Homer is seen watching Fantasy Island on television instead of paying attention to Lisa's taking her first steps. The scene in which Lisa wakes up in her bed and discovers the pony lying next to her is a reference to a scene in the 1972 film The Godfather, in which a character awakens to discover the severed head of his favorite horse placed in his bed. The musical chords used in the episode are the same as in the film but shortened. While driving home from the Kwik-E-Mart, Homer falls asleep behind the wheel and dreams that he is in Slumberland, drawn in the style of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo in Slumberland. The song "Golden Slumbers" by The Beatles plays during the sequence.

One of the children at the talent show performs the song "My Ding-a-Ling" by Chuck Berry. According to Jean, it was a "huge difficulty" to clear the rights for the song so that it could be used on the show. John Boylan, who produced the album The Simpsons Sing the Blues, personally appealed to Berry to clear the song for them. The lyrics to "My Ding-a-Ling", with their sly tone and innuendo, caused many radio stations to ban the song. This is parodied in the episode when Principal Skinner rushes the child off the stage before he is able to finish the first line of the refrain. The man who owns the music shop Homer visits is based on actor Wally Cox.