I just saw a preview for this epsiode. Can you say, "homage madness?" The episode reeks of a Married With Children episode, inlcuding Leela saying in that all-too familiar vocie, "Oh Al!"
References:
Donkey Kong- the ape Fry zaps.
The Matrix- Leela's running up the wall, karate-kicking Bender
Married With Children- Leela married to a lowlife jerk, Leela's hairstyle, the couch, "Al" ordering Leela around... and many more.
The sorry state of Internet advertising
2001- the initial Internet sequence... "My God, it's full of... ads!"
The Internet (Now? And In The Year 3000) Is Full Of... (ahem) Porn... And Bender's "Dusguise" Sorta Like Todays, Only More 3D... Also The Drop List Looked Like A Macintosh... Also The Way Fry Won Looked Like That Cowboy In Texas In The Game In The Kwik-E-Mart In That Ep Where Bart Falls For Laura Powers...
Also The Way Al Tells The Story Is Similar To Superman...
Boy, a thousand years into the future and people still get on the internet the same way.
What? You're system doesn't work like that? ;-)
LOL @ the AOL dig.
I think they should have gotten Ed O'Neal to voice Alcazar since they were going for the Married... With Children spoof.
Probably unintended, but the virtual suits resembled the suits used on Red Dwarf (series VI).
The ruined city looked a little like Anghor Watt.
So were the other brides the last of their species, too?
If Al is wooing 5 women at the same time, why didn't any of the women notice him missing for long periods of time? Too busy doing housework?
So were the five castles only visible from one spot or didn't the women in those others pay much attention?
Modern Times reference - Bender in the gears.
Angkor Wat.
When everyone was running around in the cyberspace of the Internet, did it
remind anyone of the film Tron?
When they were playing the game, it reminded me of a real live-action game
here called Quasar where you run around on a team and try to shoot the other
team with pretend lasers, which deactivate their chest units.
Tonnes of send-ups of chatting on the Net, such as a room full of guys
asking where all the women are - and possibly a reference to the film You've
Got Mail (followed by "It isn't spam") when Leela gets her e-mail?
When everyone was running around in the cyberspace of the Internet, did it
remind anyone of the film Tron?
Did anyone see that movie Tron?
Marge: No
Bart: No
Wiggum: No
Patty: No
Lisa: No
Selma: No
Wiggum: Yes...I mean no...no...
Farnsworth says that several years ago he tried logging on to AOL and he finally got through now. So what did he use to download the history film off the Internet in Big Ball Of Garbage?
Possible Legion of Super-Heroes ref. (Well, it is the 30th Century.) The whole group flying in formation, like a number of artists have drawn the LSH.
Maybe he logged on using something else, using another system?
Who are Alcazars friends meant to resemble? Rat Boy and the like, i don't remember anyone like that in Married with Children. It certainly isn't meant to be Marcy and Steve.
They're spoofs of the average FOX sitcom audience. Note how they hoot and holler everytime a crude joke is made, just like on MWC.
From the audio commentaries (spoiler? if you don't own the season 2 DVD's):
When we hear Ratboy & Co holler for the first time, Matt Groening says: "The FOX audience!"
I've got both seasons, and I typically don't listen to commentaries, but I accidentally turned them on on one episode and it sounded quite fun, so I'm working my way through them at the moment.
Another reference: Tron (The movie)..where a user is drawn into a video game & plays games.
BTW...I thought that segment was the best part of the episode!
GREAT MOMENT: Amy peeking into the site "Amy Wong naked" and saying, "Hey, that's not my body" with Bender saying, "I used your head & pasted it on someone else's naked body" This prompts Leela to take a peek and when she is done, she scowls at Bender
Of course this was supposed to be a spoof, but I still wonder: Leela is smart enough to realize that Al is jerk, but she wants to stay with him to rebuild their race. Why not get some sperm from him and use artifical insemination?
Anti-nit: She would need Al to tell the children about their culture, because she doesn't know anything about it.
So, what aliens were living on this planet originally: one-eyed, five-eyed people, plus the people of the other two brides? Or did Al build all these mosaics and statues himself onto a ruined city?