Trivia / The Simpsons S5 E2 "Cape Feare"

• Banned in China: Airing of the episode in Germany was delayed for six years, because the "Up Late with McBain" sequence featured the show announcer (Obergruppenfuhrer^note which is the equivalent to a "lieutenant general" Wolfcastle) dressed in S.S. gear, complete with a swastika armband (display of Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany, unless it's for educational reasons, but even that's iffy). It was finally broadcast in 1999 in a dubbed and edited version.
• The Cast Showoff: Both Bart and the real-life audience get to enjoy Kelsey Grammer performing The H.M.S. Pinafore.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Hank Azaria named this as his favorite episode.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Itchy sews Scratchy back together, then gives Scratchy the medical bill. After Scratchy sees the bill, he shoots himself.
  • A flashback that shows that Abe has reasons to show grudge against Bart. When the flashback ends, Abe tries scolding Bart, saying as his elder he should be treated with respect. Bart tells him he's thinking of Japanese elderly people, and Abe meekly accepts this. Footage from this scene was used in the episode, but with the dialogue altered.
  • Homer wakes up in the middle of the night and goes to the kitchen where he is served a sandwich by Sideshow Bob, who is "pretending" to be Consuela the Maid (for added insanity, Bob's also serving Chief Wiggum). He goes back to his bed before he realizes that they don't have a maid.
  • The episode originally ended with Grandpa (in a dress) and Jasper in a rowboat singing "A Bicycle Built for Two".
• Looping Lines: One line of dialogue was changed by Mirkin's writing staff: "Uh, yeah. It's a good thing you drifted by this brothel."
• Magnum Opus Dissonance: This was an episode none of the creators felt very confident about (at best. At worst, they figured, "Hey, this is our last episode^note it was the last episode for the original writers, not the last episode of the entire series, though, for some viewers (particularly those who loved the more down-to-earth episodes from seasons 1 to 4), the episode was so insane that they felt this is where they can stop watching and not feel guilty about missing out, so why don't we just stop trying."). They couldn't come up with enough material for it and had to pad it out (including giving it a long Couch Gag and making "Sideshow Bob steps on rakes" gag longer than necessary). It's regarded as one of the funniest episodes of the series, and particular acclaim is lavished on the "Sideshow Bob steps on rakes" sequence, which was originally added solely to pad the runtime.
• Referenced by...: In the Chicken Little episode of Escape from Vault Disney!, in a call-back to the "Raiders of the Lost Bark" joke, Luke says "Rakes, why did it have to be rakes?" in a Scooby-Doo voice. Tony then says that movie would be "The Sideshow Bob Story".

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