In the 1990s and 2000s, we saw a wave of comedy bits about the “bubble boy.” It’s not just The Simpsons episode “Little Girl in the Big Ten” (S13E20). It’s that Seinfeld episode, Jake Gyllenhaal’s follow-up to Donnie Darko, and a nod in That ‘70s Show. But where did this all start?
In this episode Adam and Nate dust off the TV movie that launched a thousand parodies, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), on its 50th anniversary.
Also in this episode:
John Travolta’s breakout performance as the titular boy
Barry Diller, Aaron Spelling and the invention of the TV movie
Simpsons director Lauren MacMullan’s unique animation style in this calling card episode
This movie’s creepy romance, surprise cameo, and cop-out happy ending
Next time, Adam and Nate get into some Monkey Shines (1988), the inspiration for helper monkey Mojo in “Girly Edition” (S9E21).
Every Simpsons Reference to The Boy in the Plastic Bubble
By our count, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble has been directly referenced twice in the first 13 seasons of The Simpsons. The first reference appears in “Viva Ned Flanders” (S10E10) from 1999, 23 years after the release of the movie.
Plot References
Little Girl in the Big Ten (S13E20): Much like Tod Lubitsch in this movie, Bart finds himself confined to a literal plastic bubble, this time after contracting an illness from a Chinese mosquito. However, since Bart’s bubble is round, he has more mobility than Tod, who is mostly confined to his room.
“For that episode,” says Jon Vitti in a recent email correspondence, “I came in with the story of Lisa passing as a teenage gymnast and getting to hang with college kids, and Al gave me the bubble boy story as a counterpart. It made sense, the Lisa story pulled the action away from the house.”
Unlike Vitti’s in-depth take on Cape Fear, though, this time he consciously tried to only take the premise of the movie, rather than the details. “If you start referencing the movie you’re basically making fun of children with immune disorders, and it’s instantly too mean and too awful.”
“I never watched the movie, I didn’t want to subconsciously reference it. … I never approached anything movie-related that way. It’s not what I would call the right way to do it. But one of the most important goals that time was not to make it feel related to the movie. A weird outlier.“
Small References
Viva Ned Flanders (S10E10): After finding out Ned Flanders is 60 years old, Homer says he’s barely lived. Lenny piles on comparing Flanders’s sheltered life to “the boy in the bubble.”
Further Reading & Viewing
Article: Erin Free, “Vintage Telemovie Of The Week: The Boy In The Plastic Bubble (1976)” Film Ink, 2025.
Article: “‘Bubble Boy’ 40 years later: Look back at heartbreaking case,“ CBS News, September 21, 2011.
Documentary: “The Boy in the Bubble,“ American Experience (PBS), April 10, 2006.
Encyclopedia Entry: “Grease,“ AFI Catalog of Feature Films, accessed November 8, 2026.
