10 Movie Parodies You Missed in The Simpsons Season 36
Since we started the Springfield Googolplex podcast, the way we watch The Simpsons has changed a bit. Now when we tune in to the show, we can’t help but wonder, is that shot from The Godfather? Isn’t that a line of dialogue from Top Gun?
So when we finished watching season 36 over the past year, we found ourselves with a hefty list of deep-cut movie references we wanted to share with our fellow Simpsons nerds.
In this article, we break down 10 movie references from The Simpsons season 36 that we haven’t seen called out yet online—including a few callbacks to the classic years of the show.
For each reference, we also include a “Status,” which represents our confidence in how likely it is to be true:
Confirmed means a Simpsons staffer said it’s true.
Fact Checked means we independently reviewed the reference through script searches or shot comparisons.
Claimed means we believe it to be true but our fact checking was inconclusive. (Hopefully some generous Simpsons writer will help us clear up any confusion!)
1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day in “Treehouse of Horror XXXV”
Status: Confirmed on the Podcast
When Homer’s symbiont pants first appear on Earth in “Treehouse of Horror XXXV” (S36E5) segment “Denim,” they emerge from a portal just like the T-800 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), a movie that became a go-to Simpsons parody almost immediately after its release with its first reference in “I Love Lisa” (S4E15).
While you could argue that the first movie in James Cameron’s sci-fi series contains a similarly electrifying entrance, in that movie Cameron lacked the budget to show the portal itself, making it look a little different than this Simpsons parody.
2. The Wrong Trousers in “Treehouse of Horror XXXV”
Status: Partially Confirmed on the Podcast
Also in the “Denim” segment, when the pants take Marge as their host, they walk up the wall much like the titular trousers do to a sleeping Wallace in the Wallace & Gromit short The Wrong Trousers (1993). Considering the innovative use of stop-motion animation in this segment, it’s a pretty appropriate homage!
When we asked Matt Selman if this reference was real in our recent interview, he responded, “I'm gonna say ‘yes.’ If it's not true, we're morons.” He added that this reference didn’t come from the writers room, but he thinks it’s possible that Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, which did the stop-motion work on this segment, slipped it in.
3. Last Night in Soho in “The Past and the Furious”
Status: Claimed
A young woman travels back in time in someone else’s body to an aesthetically pleasing era and follows a trail of clues to solve a modern-day mystery. Sound familiar? This is the plot of both Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho (2021) and this season’s second Disney+ exclusive, “The Past and the Furious.”
It could just be a coincidence, but the scene where Lisa first sees herself in the mirror in a cool, period-accurate club seems ripped right out of the mind of Edgar Wright.
What say you, Rob LaZebnik?
4. It’s a Wonderful Life in “The Flandshees of Innersimpson”
Status: Fact Checked
As we have covered on the podcast, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) is one of the most referenced movies in the classic era of The Simpsons. And apparently it’s the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
When Homer and Ned Flanders go to a therapist to mend their rift in “Flanshees of Innersimpson” (S36E12), she puts them into a shared hallucination where they transform into a number of famous duos. Near the end of their trip, they turn into two stars that talk to each other, just like the opening of this movie when Saint Joseph gives guardian angel Clarence his mission to save George Bailey.
5. The Godfather in “P.S. I Hate You”
Status: Confirmed on the Podcast
In order to save her reputation in “P.S. I Hate You” (S36E14), Marge seeks help from an unsavory source. While we’re led to believe that it’s going to be Fat Tony, it’s actually her sisters Patty and Selma at an Italian restaurant. To accomplish this fake-out, Matt Selman told us in our recent interview, “We were trying to build up big Godfather energy.”
To that end, the animators seem to have modeled this moment on the famous opening scene of The Godfather (1972) where Bonasera asks Don Corleone for help, featuring a slow zoom out on a dark and dramatic shot of the pleading party.
Add another notch in the belt of Francis Ford Coppola and his influential crime saga, one of the most referenced movies in the classic era of The Simpsons by one of the most referenced directors.
6. It’s a Wonderful Life in “P.S. I Hate You” (S36E14)
Status: Claimed
Yes, that’s right—we spotted two references to It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) this season. The ending of “P.S. I Hate You” includes a piece of dialogue that may sound familiar to anyone who partakes in an annual rewatch of Frank Capra’s Christmastime redemption story.
After the townspeople forgive Marge for writing countless angry letters about them, Mayor Quimby raises a toast to Marge, “the most three-dimensional woman in town.” This echoes the ending of the movie, where George Bailey’s war-hero brother toasts to him as “the richest man in town.”
This line has been parodied at least once before on the show in “When Flanders Failed” (S3E3), when Homer toasts to Ned as “the richest left-handed man in town.”
The language is general enough that it could just be a coincidence. Perhaps only writer Cesar Mazariegos could say for sure.
7. My Octopus Teacher in “Yellow Planet” (S36DE3)
Status: Fact Checked
In the opening of this season’s third Disney+ Exclusive, “Yellow Planet,” where the narrator tells us that the Earth has been ravaged by humankind’s hunger for nature documentaries, one of the clips shows a diver with an octopus clinging to his hand. This seems like a brief but clear nod to the Oscar-winning documentary, My Octopus Teacher (2020).
8. The Graduate in “Yellow Planet” (S36DE3)
Status: Fact Checked
Later in the same episode, Marge-whal’s father Rainier Wolf-narwhal complains that she has fallen in love with Beluga-Homer. “Ugh, our daughter could have the pick of the pod,” he says, “Like that guy. He’s in plastics.” The camera pans to a dopey-looking narwhal, caught in a fishing net and recyclables, who says, “This is the future!”
This appears to be a nod to another all-timer parody of the classic Simpsons era, The Graduate (1967). In the movie, Mike Nichols’ anti-hero Ben just wants to float aimlessly a bit after college, but every adult around him wants to talk about his plans for the future. Like Mr. McGuire, for example, who pulls Ben aside at a party to tell him, “I just want to say one word to you: Plastics. There’s a great future in plastics.”
Intentional or not, this parody is actually a pretty poetic statement, suggesting that Ben’s prospective future in plastics would have been like a marine mammal getting caught in a fish net.
9. Top Gun in “Yellow Planet” (S36DE3)
Status: Fact Checked
Right before Marge-whal and Beluga-Homer finally consummate their love for each other with a blowhole make-out session, she says to him, “Take me to seabed or lose me forever!”
This is a punny nod to a line from Top Gun (1986), where Carole—a criminally underserved Meg Ryan—flirts with Goose. “Hey Goose, you big stud,” she yells across the room as he plays piano. “Take me to bed or lose me forever!”
10. Mary Poppins in “Full Heart, Empty Pool”
Status: Fact Checked
At the new Avo-1 Noodleplex stadium in “Full Heart, Empty Pool” (S36E17), Homer discovers some vendors of casual clothing that are right up his alley. One of them is a slip-on shoe shop called “Step in Time,” named after a musical number from Mary Poppins (1964). Of course, this isn’t the first time the show has referenced this Disney musical, which inspired The Simpsons’ first full-length musical episode, “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(annoyed grunt)cious” (S8E13).
That said, we have no idea why a purple version of the Noid is on this sign. Avoid the Noid!
I just want to say one word to you: podcast.
Want to dig deeper into the footnotes and behind-the-scenes details of The Simpsons season 36? Good news! We recently did an hourlong interview with showrunner Matt Selman, where we talk even more about movie parodies, what’s in cinemas today, and even some new details about season 37 coming up this fall!
