For the ninth episode in a row, Crusher never bothers to cheat nor scorn Blaze.
This is the second time someone goes into outer space after Darington to the Moon!. The first 3 were AJ, Blaze and Darington. This is Watts', Starla's, Zeg's, Gabby's and Stripes' first time going into space.
Pluto is referred to as a dwarf planet, which is an inside joke at the fact Pluto is no longer part of the Solar System.
This places the series’ timeline no earlier than 2006 as Pluto lost its planetary status in August of that year.
This is the first time Watts’ control panel is used.
Stripes said Watts’ name for the first time. Watts also said Darington’s name for the first time.
AJ doesn’t wear his helmet for the entire episode.
In the last scene that shows the Monster Machines and Megan returning to earth, they are shown to fly somewhere near Georgia or northern Florida, suggesting Axle City is somewhere in Georgia or upper Florida.
Pickle probably could’ve written down Crusher’s launchword so he wouldn’t forget it.
This episode has cliffhanger fade-outs when airing on Nick, but on digital services it doesn’t.
When Zeg said Pluto is 7 billion kilometers from earth, this makes 7 billion the highest number mentioned to date after 1,370 in The Polar Derby.
Axle City was only shown for a few seconds as the Monster Machines are blasting off.
Zeg tells informational facts through this episode, and this surprises the other Monster Machines.
This is the only time Watts uses her Electric Charge in Season 4, as well as the only time she uses it as a robot.
Crusher and Blaze's paths do not cross in this episode.
Visor View is not used; this will happen again in Ninja Blaze.
The moon by Saturn with ice volcanoes that traps the Monster Machines is Titan.
This is the third episode where Zeg has hugged someone so tightly that they struggle to breathe after Blaze of Glory and Truckball Team-Up.
Running Gags[]
Pickle messing up Crusher’s rocket blastoff making it launch foods from the tailpipe and crash.
Zeg reciting an outer space fact, which gives him surprised stares from the others.
Allusions[]
Pickle’s different quotes following each time Crusher’s launch is messed up are references to famous quotes:
"Houston, we have a marshmallow" is a parody of John Swigert‘s "Houston, we have a problem" during the Apollo 13 mission.
"One small sandwich for man, one giant lunch for mankind" is based on Neil Armstrong‘s "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind," which were the first words spoken on the moon.
"Space...the final fruit-ere" is a parody of the line "Space...the final frontier" said in the opening of the various Star Trek movies and television shows.
This episode is similar to the Magic School Bus series premiere, Gets Lost in Space, where Ms Frizzle ends up on Pluto, similar to when Megan crash landed in Pluto.
Goofs[]
In some parts of the episode, whenever Watts blinks, her eyelids are grey like everyone else, but sometimes turn pink like they were in Season 3.
On some digital downloads, after Stripes says “We’ve gotta fly faster!”, the animation freezes as the audio repeats from Gabby saying “Oh no, it’s collapsing!” and the same line is heard before it cuts to Blaze and the episode continues normally. The Nick Jr.com release is not affected by this.
Saturn has seven rings, not eight like Zeg said. In addition, Zeg was close when he said Pluto is 7 billion kilometers from Earth. The actual distance from Pluto to Earth is 7.5 billion kilometers.
When the Monster Machines use 100 laser blasts to destroy the asteroids, they actually fired their lasers only 88 times.
Though it could be possible that they fired the 12 left off-screen.
