staff went to Nimoy, who accepted. Writer Jeff Martin said Nimoy was "just very gracious and easy to work with, and a good sport when we went and recorded his voice." Phil Hartman was cast as Lanley because, as Reiss put it, he "was always pretending to be a glad-handing salesman." Martin added, "He was very good at portraying slick, empty people. I think he brought a lot of joy to it." Director Rich Moore and animator David Silverman called the production process for this episode "huge and ambitious". Because of limited design resources, Moore took photos of buildings to use for various shots. The Lanley Institute came from a building in old town Pasadena. Different locations in North Haverbrook were all photos taken around North Hollywood. Moore bypassed the design team and provided the photos directly to background layout artist Nancy Kruse. Cultural references The episode borrows some elements from The Music Man, a musical stage production about a conman, with "The Monorail Song" strongly resembling the show's "Ya Got Trouble" and Lyle Lanley being based on the play's character Harold Hill. The episode starts with a tribute song to The Flintstones as Homer heads home from work and crashes his car into a chestnut tree. The music that plays as Smithers moves the barrel of toxic waste is a spoof of the "Axel F" theme from Beverly Hills Cop. Later, Leonard Nimoy makes a guest appearance as himself. References are made to his role in Star Trek: The Original Series, and an allusion to his role as the host of In Search of.... Kyle Darren, the caricature of Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills, 90210, appears as well. Mayor Quimby uses the phrase "May the Force be with you" from the Star Wars franchise, confusing it with Nimoy's work on Star Trek (and—at the same time—believing Nimoy to have been "one of The Little Rascals"). Homer's Monorail conductor uniform is based on uniforms from Star Wars. When Mr. Burns is brought into the court room, he is restrained in the same way as Hannibal Lecter in the film The Silence of the Lambs. Homer briefly serenades Marge in their bedroom with a line from the folk tune "The Riddle Song". The logo on the monorail cars which is revealed as Homer attempts to stop the speeding train shows they were first used during the 1964 World's Fair, though