"nothing against Elvis", Scully originally wanted to use a "hard to find" version of the song performed by Bruce Springsteen. However, Scully could not clear the version in time, and therefore had to resort to using Elvis' version of the song. The episode features The Moody Blues as themselves. Scully commented that they were "very good actors" and "did a great job". The episode also features the first appearance of Amber and Ginger, who were voiced by Pamela Hayden and Tress MacNeille respectively. Real-life commentator Don Rickles and fictional character Lance Murdock were both portrayed by series regular voice actor Dan Castellaneta, who plays Homer among many others in the series. Affleck described the plot of the episode to have a "grotesque" and "burlesque", yet "plausible" quality to it. In a scene in the episode, Homer, not knowing of Ned's age, accuses Ned of defrauding a carwash salesman. Affleck commented that the scene has "a touch of Music hall" in it, as it turns, from a scene in church, to a "courtroom scene". He also noted that Ned's journey to Las Vegas can be compared to a Christian's travel to the temple of Mammon, a figure that in the Bible is characterized as the personification of wealth and greed. The episode's title is a reference to the film Viva Las Vegas (1964). The panic and smoke cloud generated from the implosion of Mr. Burns' casino is reminiscent of the 1997 disaster film Dante's Peak, and the Simpson family's escape from the smoke cloud is a reference to a scene in the 1996 science fiction film Independence Day. Outside Rev. Lovejoy's church is a notice that today's sermon will be 'He Knows What You Did Last Summer', which is a reference to the title of the 1997 slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. As Homer and Ned escape from Vegas, a snippet of the theme from the 1996 comic science fiction film Mars Attacks! can be heard. The Comic Book Guy's license plate is NCC-1701, which is also the registration of the USS Enterprise from the Star Trek media franchise. He also has a bumper sticker which reads "my other car is the Millennium Falcon" which was given to him by somebody who looked like the actor Harrison Ford; the Millennium Falcon was the ship used by Ford's character Han Solo in the Star Wars film series. The