In "Married to the Blob", Homer eats green extraterrestrial slime and morphs into a rampaging blob with an insatiable appetite; in "You Gotta Know When to Golem", Bart uses Krusty's golem to wreak havoc on his tormentors; and in "The Day the Earth Looked Stupid", the residents of a late-1930s Springfield refuse to believe news of an actual alien invasion after being duped by Orson Welles's The War of the Worlds radio broadcast.

Moe interrupts him as he introduces himself, and is consequently killed in an iron maiden, his blood spilling onto the floor and spelling out the title of the episode.

In fear of losing Marge, Homer ends his rampage after he consumes McGraw and vows to use his insatiable appetite for more constructive purposes.

Krusty tells Bart that in the 17th century, the Golem was sculpted out of clay by a rabbi and would obey any command written on a scroll and placed in his mouth, regardless of intent.

Marge believes that the Martians will only destroy humans, and suggests that they pretend to be animals to fool the aliens, with Sideshow Mel encouraging his fellow townspeople to cavort naked in the mud to support the ruse.

Meanwhile, Kang and Kodos, observing the entire event from their spaceship, decide this is the perfect time for a real invasion, and begin destroying what is left of the town.

"The Day the Earth Looked Stupid" was originally supposed to end with Kang and Kodos making a direct reference to the Iraq War as they observe the ruined remains of 1938 Springfield.

While the Fox censors had no objections over the line, the producers and writers felt the reference was too obvious and had it cut to make the joke more subtle.