Trivia

The episode features many parodies of books such as:

• • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
  • Sherlock Holmes
  • Moby Duck (a parody of Moby Dick)
  • Tarzan: Lord of the Drapes (a parody of Tarzan of the Apes). (Tarzan: Lord of the Shapes was also used).
  • The Frankenstein Monster Truck/Monk/Hunk/Skunk (a parody of Frankenstein).
  • Jason and the Pussycats (a parody of Jason and the Argonauts and Josie and the Pussycats).
  • The Rat in Spats (a parody of The Cat in the Hat).
  • Astrophysics for Morons (written by Cosmo, which is weird because Cosmo wouldn't be smart enough to write a book, more overly a book that would be titled "Astrophysics for Morons" which would normally be written by someone with a great knowledge of astrophysics) (It is also a parody of the For Dummies book series)
  • The Three Mouseketeers (parody of The Three Musketeers) (They couldn't actually say "Mousketeer," because the only thing worse than a literary crisis is a copyright infringement lawsuit! Especially if it's an infringement with Disney!) The Mousketeers are also aliases of Jerry and Nibbles in some episodes of Tom and Jerry.
• Tom Sawyer was a guest in the show, causing mass chaos throughout the episode.
• Sherlock Holmes also appears in the episode. He correctly deduces the names of Timmy's parents but the sound of a book being closed prevents us from hearing him.
• Gordon Hammond won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on the character designs in this episode.^[1]
• At one point in the episode, the book 'The Rat in Spats', when being held by Wanda, changes into Jason and the Argonauts.
• A running gag is that people while on a fast moving vehicle spasmes about something (Crocker says fairies and Holmes says diamonds).
• According to The Rat in Spats book, the only law in Spatsville is that you cannot ever frown. Also the moral of the The Rat in Spats book is that you should not make fun of Rat's shoes.
• Dr. Bruise, the author of "The Rat in Spats" is a parody of Dr. Seuss.
• When Timmy tries to wish Cosmo's wand back from Tom Sawyer, Wanda says her wand doesn't work on his wand, which is apparently a trick taught to Tom by Cosmo to get a second painting brush. This does not seem to reference The Finders Keepers Law proven in "Where's the Wand?", where whoever holds the wand has complete control over it.

References