Black Widower
During dinner, Bob reveals that while he was in prison, he began building up hatred and the desire to kill Bart for exposing his crime of framing Krusty the Clown[N 1] and started plotting revenge.
Selma sends the Simpsons a tape of their honeymoon which captures Bob's tirade over the lack of a gas fireplace in their hotel room.
While watching MacGyver with Patty that night, Bart realizes that Selma is in danger and the Simpsons rush to the hotel room.
Although Bart foiled the plot, Chief Wiggum absent-mindedly threw a match into the room after lighting a celebratory cigar, causing the explosion.
[3] In the episode, the writers echoed the premise of Wile E. Coyote by having Sideshow Bob unexpectedly insert himself into Bart's life and attempt to kill him.
Executive producer Al Jean has compared Bob's character to that of Wile E. Coyote, noting that both are intelligent, yet always foiled by what they perceive as an inferior intellect.
[5] The staff thought Dinosaurs was a knock-off of The Simpsons; at one point Bart exclaims "It's like they saw our lives and put it right on screen!
"[3] Before she reveals to the Simpson family that Selma's new boyfriend is Bob, Patty says there is something "disturbing" about him, which results in Lisa's imagining him as The Elephant Man.
As Bob remembers his time in prison, there is a scene of him picking up roadside trash, modeled on Cool Hand Luke (1967).
The music in the scene is a reference to the film's soundtrack[5] Bob also remembers winning a Daytime Emmy Award in the "Best Supporting Performer in a Children's Program" category.
[3] The song Selma and Sideshow Bob sing as a montage is “Somethin' Stupid”, made famous by Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy.
[4] When Sideshow Bob realizes he's been caught he says, "My best laid plans have gang agley," referencing Robert Burns's poem "To a Mouse".
[9] In I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, Warren Martyn wrote that he considered the episode a "terrific show", appreciating Grammer's work in particular, and he also enjoyed the Dinosaurs gag and Bob's reaction to MacGyver, which he remarked "make the whole thing great fun".
[2] Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict rated the episode 97%, and considered it a "timeless treat" because of Sideshow Bob's appearance, calling it "excellent from beginning to end".
There is a musicality and a poetry to his performance, an almost hypnotic rhythm to the way he delivers a line like, 'Ah, fire: scourge of Prometheus, toaster of marshmallows, eradicator of dead wood.'
