Moaning Lisa/References

Debut appearances[edit]

• Bleeding Gums Murphy
• Jackie Bouvier (Marge's mom)
• Ralph Wiggum

Cultural references[edit]

• The episode title is a play on Leonardo da Vinci's painting the Mona Lisa.
• "The Jazz Hole" may be a reference to New York City jazz club "Birdland" which is in a basement, named for saxophonist Charlie Parker. It may also be a play on words; the archaic spelling for "jazz' is "jass" ("The Jass Hole").
• The background noise of the arcade is music from the Atari version of Tetris.
• Lisa's school band is practicing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", the patriotic American song, based on the melody of the British national anthem "God Save the Queen". Mr. Largo says to Lisa, "There's no room for crazy bebop in My Country, 'Tis of Thee." a reference to Bebop.
• The controllers being used on Bart's video game system resemble Atari 2600 joysticks, but the graphics on the TV would suggest a newer model console. Also the game being played, Super Slugfest, is quite similar to the Nintendo (NES) game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

Trivia[edit]

• This is the first episode in the series to have a subplot and the first episode to primarily focus on Lisa.
• Lisa brushes her teeth with Glum Toothpaste.
• Lisa's school band is practicing the song My Country, 'Tis of Thee, however it should be noted that it is also God Save the Queen which is the British National Anthem.
• Lisa finds Bleeding Gums Murphy on the same bridge Homer was going to jump off of in order to commit suicide.
• Prank Call number 2: Bart calls Moe's Tavern and asks for Jacque, last name Strap. Moe's response: When I find you I am going to gut you like a fish and drink your blood.
• Moe's hair is now gray.
• At the Noise Land Video Arcade, the games include Eat My Shorts, PAC-RAT II, Itchy vs. Scratchy, Escape from Grandma's House, and Robert Goulet Destroyer.
• This is the first time Lisa cries in this episode.
• This is the first episode to have Lisa's name somewhere in the title.
• When Moe picks up the phone the bottom half of his body under the hatch doesn't match up with the top half, plus his apron is too short.
• When Marge is first seen in the kitchen in the beginning of the episode, her pearls are white.
• The arcade game Super Slugfest is titled Slugfest on the arcade cabinet, and Super Slugfest on the title screen. This is preserved in The Simpsons: Virtual Springfield.

Goofs[edit]

• At the Noise Land Video Arcade, Sherri and Terri Mackleberry are playing an arcade game to the right of the change booth close to the wall, but in another shot they are playing an arcade game on the far right side of a room that expands to the left, which would not be possible to view from where Homer is standing, unless they changed their location to another game in another room.
• The layout of the Noise Land Arcade changes with different shots. When Homer is talking to the man at the change booth, there are some arcade cabinets behind him. In another shot, there are similar arcade cabinets appearing in a semi-circle area, but the wall that was supposed to be behind Homer is gone.
• At one point when Marge is talking to Lisa in the car, her pearls are white again and her dress is red. Also, when Homer is looking for his keys, Marge's pearls are white.
• Both Time Waster and Time Wasters games appear, though they could be separate games.
• In the arcade cabinet sequence of blue Pac Rat, red Nuclear Winter, green Robert Goulet Destroyer, blue Escape from Grandmas House, yellow Eat My Shorts, pink Itchy Vs Scratchy, blue Pac Rat, and orange Time Waster, the Pac Rat cabinets change to Pac Rat II.
• When Moe picks up the phone the bottom half of his body under the hatch doesn't match up with the top half.
• At school, when Marge grabs Lisa and drove off, Mr. Largo's pants turn red.