Trey Parker considers the "ectoplasm" scene in this episode to be the most offensive shot in the history of South Park.
When Randy talks to the guy about the simulator, a Visitor appears behind him. The Visitor is dressed in a suit and hat while behind a blue shirt that is hung up on a laundry line.
The sections about going to California are based on John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", which was about farmers fleeing the "dust bowl" of America's heartland and seeking more fertile farmland.
The scene where they try to communicate with the Internet with musical tones is based on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
The word "internet" is spoken 84 times throughout the episode.