Original air date: 11/23/2003
Production code: EABF-22
In the last episode written by Golden Age Simpsons writer, John Swartzwelder, the Simpsons are going to England after Bart raises money from his treehouse museum, where Homer personally meets the Queen...by running her down with his car.
This episode contains examples of...
- Abandoned War Child: Grandpa Abe tags along to find a local woman he had a one-night stand with the night before D-Day. In the epilogue, he encounters her at the airport and it turns out Homer has a half-sister named Abbey. Abe panics and runs for the plane.
- Adolf Hitlarious: When Moe had a chance to claim the one-thousand dollar note, he guesses that Hitler's face was on the note, only for an annoyed Bart to dismiss him for this.
- Amusing Injuries: Happen to Sir Ian McKellen every time Homer mentions Macbe... er, the Scottish Play. Or tells him "Good luck!" instead of "Break a leg."
- Artistic License – History: The secret passage to Buckingham Palace is said to have been used by Walter Raleigh, who died over 90 years prior to the Palace being constructed.
- Artistic License – Law: Homer is sentenced to death. The death penalty has not been used in Britain since 1965. Also, the reigning British monarch is supposed to be immune to prosecution, and is not allowed to testify in a criminal case.
- As Himself: This includes appearances by Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ian McKellen, J. K. Rowling, and Evan "Joe Millionaire" Marriott.
- Bad Boss: Judi Dench is clearly one to those who work at her fish and chips restaurant.English Squeaky Voiced Teen: Please order, or Miss Dench'll be furious. She'll beat us, she will.
Judi Dench: Who are you talking to?!
English Squeaky-Voiced Teen: No-one, Mum, I swear!
Judi Dench: I'll 'Mum' you! (the sounds of her giving him a few punches and kicks are heard)
English Squeaky-Voiced Teen: OH, BLIMEY!! - Bait-and-Switch: A few examples.
- What seems to be a hockey video game turns out to be one where a Papa Wolf fights a heckler.
- When Grandpa is calling around to try and find his one night fling, he asks a woman questions, and when she answers in the affirmative to her own one night stand being a gentle-caring lover, he dejectedly hangs up.
- British Royal Guards beat the crap out of Homer, only to stop when their shift is over. Then the new guards on duty pick up where the previous ones left off - by beating the crap out of Homer.
- Big Eater: While it's only implied, the Queen of England is seen holding a quintuple-decker sandwich when she enters her bedroom.
- Blatant Lies: Upon inspecting the Queen's carriage and noticing that one of its wheels is on fire, Homer claims it's supposed to be.
- Bowdlerise: An edited version of Homer's remark to Madonna exists.Original Version:
Homer: See you in Atlanta, bitch!Alternate Version:
Homer: See you in Atlanta, jerk! - Britain Is Only London: The Simpsons declare to visit the United Kingdom, yet only travel to London.
- British Royal Guards: The guards beat Homer senseless, stop to observe the Changing of the Guard, after which Homer is set upon by the new guards on duty.
- British Stuffiness: Every cab has its own butler, according to Marge. It's actually just a passenger who decided to pick them up too and serve them tea.
- Continuity Nod: When the Simpsons are deciding where they'll go for a vacation, Homer says he'd go back to Brazil but got word that the monkey trouble became worse.
- Distaff Counterpart: Homer has one — a half-sister who looks like the Homer-esque woman who drove by Bart, singing "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar" in "Brother From The Same Planet".
- Driver of a Black Cab: The Simpsons take a cab from the airport to their hotel.
- Exact Words: Homer and Bart were told to put up flyers for the $1000 bill. They put up one on the top of a power pole.
- A Fool for a Client: After Homer crashes with the Queen's carriage, he represented himself instead of hiring a barrister. Marge allowed it because she didn't think Homer's chances were good enough to be damaged by the decision. Not surprisingly, Homer managed to offend the judge, jury and British public at large even further (by saying that he does not deserves to be here because he did not hit the Queen but an impostor — he assumed the "H.R.H." on the royal seal of the carriage stands for "Henrietta R. Hippo" instead of "Her Royal Highness")-ending up in the Tower of London.
- Global Ignorance: Homer tries to insult the British by stupidly claiming "our Beatles are better than your Rolling Stones." Earlier in the episode he also claimed: "We saved your ass in Vietnam!"
- Imagine Spotting: Homer is somehow able to hear Bart's imaginary moon party song and sings it outside his fantasy.
- Irony: While visiting Bart's treehouse museum, Moe offers to pay Marge to have Bart crank call him, and says he would find it hilarious, unaware of the many times Bart has crank called him before (to which he reacted with violent aggression.)
- Jerkass Ball: Homer spends his time in the UK acting like an entitled patriot of his country, and demanding rewards from the British for saving them in WWII. Marge is appalled by his behavior, and said patriotism got him in trouble.
- Pet the Dog: Upon being allowed to keep the $1000 bill, Lisa suggests that Bart uses the bill to pay a dream vacation for Marge, though Marge declines this because of Homer's antics that ruin several of the family's vacations. However, having made $3000 from his museum after losing the bill to Burns, Bart reconsiders Lisa's suggestion to use the money for a dream vacation for Marge.
- Practically Different Generations: It's all but stated that Abbey is Grandpa Simpson's lovechild and Homer's half-sister. At the time the episode came out she'd be 20 years older than Homer.
- Quintessential British Gentleman: Yes, they turn up, bowler hat, tea and umbrella present.
- Recognition Failure: Homer thinks PM Tony Blair is Mr. Bean.
- The Scottish Trope: And it's also bad luck to wish a thespian good luck using those exact words too.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the airport, Abe finally accomplishes his goal throughout the episode of tracking down his old flame, only to realize he's the father of her 58-year-old daughter.Abe: Well, gotta go! See you in Heaven! (kisses them both goodbye and dashes for the gate)
- Shared Family Quirks: Our first glimpse of Abbey and our first hint that Abe left Edwina with a lot more than the memory of their evening.Edwina: You don't have to apologize, Abe. You Yanks saved our bacon.
- Shout-Out:
- The London airport is full with Mary Poppins lookalikes.
- Tony Blair's jetpack is a reference to James Bond, especially combined with the music that plays while he flies off. Another reference with a similar musical motif comes later when Homer and Marge are on the London Eye, and Homer pulls a lever to detach their pod and drive it like a speedboat down the Thames.
- The family dines at a Judi Dench fish 'n' chips. Judi Dench is a famous British actress. They are informed that the fish is "free of mad fish disease", a reference to the mad cow disease that swept the United Kingdom during the 1990s.
- Bart and Lisa running around to the tune of Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life", while Maggie climbs the ceiling upside down are references to Trainspotting.
- The two British gentlemen willing to bet whether they could teach Bart and Lisa proper manners is a reference to the plot of My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion.
- Homer entering the Queen bedroom is similar to a 1982 incident where a man intruded in Queen Elizabeth II's bedroom, because he was inspired by the novel The BFG.
- Marge scolds Madonna that "English women don't pump gas naked." This is a reference to a famous picture in Madonna's book "Sex", in which she is seen standing in the nude near the side of a highway, lifting for drivers by while holding an empty can of gasoline. This was also around the time she was married to Guy Ritchie and inexplicably attempted to adopt a British accent.
- Marge offers Dr. Hibbert a subscription to Bartforum magazine, a reference to real-world contemporary art magazine Artforum.
- Special Guest: Tony Blair, J. K. Rowling, Joe Millionaire, and Ian McKellen each have a guest spot and Jane Leeves as Edwina, Abe's old love from WWII.
- Standard Snippet: As usual the first bars of "Rule Britannia" are heard when the Simpsons enter the United Kingdom.
- Stock British Characters: The episode has a bunch of them.
- Take That!: Homer calls Jimmy Page "one of the greatest thieves of American Black music ever to walk the Earth."
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: In the uncensored version, Homer Simpson says this to Madonna when he dumps her into the cargo bay for the plane to America (the bowdlerized version changes "bitch" to "jerk").
- "Ugly American" Stereotype: Homer is a one-man spectacle of this trope during his stay on Britain. Lisa lampshades it by saying that the world does not likes America for the decisions it has taken over the last decade and she is going to pretend to be Canadian to not feel embarrassed, and Homer puts a hard-core stop to her attempt about two seconds later.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: Homer's half-sister Abbey looks and acts very much like Homer in a dress and wig. Unsurprisingly he tells her she looks gorgeous.
- Vacation Episode: The Simpsons travel to the United Kingdom.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After Homer accuses the Queen of being an imposter, Lisa angrily asks her mother why she let Homer be his own barrister, to which Marge replies it wouldn’t have made any difference if she hadn’t, as Homer “hit the freaking Queen!”
