The song "Go Go Cactus Man" is a spoof of the theme music from "The Good,
The Bad, and the Ugly."
Obviously, this episode is a huge parody of every spaghetti western the
folks at Sunrise ever saw.
Teddy Bomber (aka Ted Bower) is based on Ted Kazinsky, the Unabomber. Even
his manifesto is somewhat similar to the Unabomber's. Except, of course, T.B.
doesn't intend to kill anybody.
The clincher at the end, when Andy becomes a samurai, makes this episode
not only a parody of Spaghetti westerns, but also the samurai dramas
which borrowed heavily from those westerns. Films like "Yojimobo" and "Seven
Samurai" (Toshiro Mifune . . . yummy!). It may also be an amusing aside at
how such films were then turned around and used by American filmakers to create
westerns. For example, "Yojimbo" was remade in the states as "A Fist Full
of Dollars", "Seven Samurai" was remade as "The Magnificent Seven", and so
on.
If you notice any references that I missed, I would appreciate
it if you e-mail me.