Pop Culture References and Adult Humor in CatDog Episodes

And hey, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster cameo in this, too. Neat!

Winslow makes a reference to “The Jetsons” at the end of the episode as he runs on the sweat shop treadmill: “Jane, get me off this crazy thing!”

Dog's bubble suit is a reference to a real person forced to live in a sterilized plastic bubble: David Vetter, who died at the age of 12. David was born in 1971 with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and though he died young, it was not in vain. Thanks to some of David's own blood cells, a therapy has been made possible for children with SCID to lead normal lives. David's story – along with that of Ted DeVita, a teen from around that era who also lacked an effective immune system, suffering from severe aplastic anemia – inspired a 1976 made-for-TV movie called “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble”. The lead character of that film, Tod, was played by John Travolta.

Pretty... ah... dark.

This is the episode where we are first introduced to Randolph Grant, who after this becomes a regular character on the show. Randolph is based on two people: Cary Grant, and Randolph Scott. Cary Grant was a British-American actor, and one of Hollywood's biggest stars in the 1950's and 1960's. Despite being married five times, Grant's sexuality was often debated, especially when he lived with Randolph Scott, an American actor and close friend of Grant's, for twelve years. For those of you who have pondered Randolph Grant's ambiguously gay behavior, ponder no more, as it's right in his name that it's anything BUT ambiguous. So it kind of makes you wonder if he was just being friendly with Dog in this episode, or if he was meant to be flirtatious. It also makes ME wonder what exactly Randolph meant when he said, “I had some wonderful times with that bottom”. Does it have something to do with why he gets so many butt transplants?

The premise and title of this episode is loosely based on the 1989 black comedy film “War of the Roses”, which is a story about a rich married couple fighting over their material possessions when they decide they want a divorce. Quite a grim thing to base a children's cartoon episode on, but certainly not the worst line for a Nicktoon to cross.

Dog makes a reference to the James Brown song “Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud” when he says, “Say it loud! I'm CatButt and proud!”

When Cat tries to trade Winslow for a rare Mean Bob action figure, he calls him a “Mean Mouse” action figure, and even pretends to give Winslow a very Mickey Mouse-like laugh. Not too out of place, considering Cat's voice actor, Jim Cummings, has done voice work for Disney many times before.

As an amusing note, Dog mistakes his mud-wrestling outfit to be “frilly underwear” at first, which confuses Cat initially, but definitely gets the feline's attention.

Part of Cliff's speech to Lube and Shriek is a parody of the beginning lyrics to “I Am The Walrus” by The Beatles; this is confirmed when Eddie yells, “Goo goo g'joob!”.

Check out Shriek's reaction to Dog after he drinks all the Choco Muscle: she's really drinking in the eye candy! In fact, this whole episode is fetish fuel for a LOT of people who've watched the show, and as a result, there are countless pieces of fetish art portraying the CatDog characters as overly-muscular.

As a bonus, Cat does a VERY subtle John Wayne impression while speaking to Dog at the episode's climax.

At the very end of the episode, Dog talks to the Ingrid twins about liking Ingmar Bergman movies. Ingmar Bergman was a famous Swedish director, writer, and producer who worked in film, television, theatre, and radio. However, Dog mistakenly refers to Charlie McCarthy – a renowned ventriloquist dummy character – being in one of Bergman's movies as a Grim Reaper. This is likely a reference to “The Seventh Seal”, a Bergman film where a knight competes against the personification of Death in a game of chess. Dog likely confused Charlie McCarthy for being in a Bergman film because Charlie was created by American actor and comedian, Edgar John Bergen, whose surname sounds similar to “Bergman”. That being said, Bergen did star in movies, both with and without Charlie. Speaking of actors, Dog also mentions Max von Sydow, a Swedish actor who played the knight in The Seventh Seal, by his last name, calling him a genius. However, Dog admits he has no idea how to pronounce von Sydow's surname, mispronouncing it twice. (For the record, it's pronounced vahn SIGH-dough).

Dog gives the following names to some of the diamonds he's collected: Regis, Kathie Lee, and Shemp. The first two are a reference to Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford, two talk show hosts who used to star together on the same show for many years. The third name is a reference to Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges.

Another position at Kavity Krunch is "prize stuffer", in which the worker stuffs a prize into a cereal box by hand. If you think about it, this job title also sounds rather sexual, like a euphemism for... well, I hope I don't need to explain it.