Phoebe realizes that several movies from her childhood, which her mother described as enjoyable, are not as pleasant as she remembered. Meanwhile, Joey and Chandler begin to socialize more with Richard, prompting Monica to desire more of Richard’s attention. Rachel becomes anxious about her relationship with Ross upon discovering his intentions to plan their future together.
Did you know?!
• According to the gag reels on the DVD, the cast had to retake the scene where Ross and Ben first come into the coffee house to see Rachel several times because the boy who played Ben actually began saying “Dada” when prompted by David Schwimmer.
• This is the third episode of this season in which the title is “The One Where… Dies” after Mr Heckles and Dr Ramoray.
• When Richard is explaining to Monica that the guys are going to watch the college basketball playoffs, Monica says “Go Vassar”. Lisa Kudrow went to Vassar College.
• In this episode, Phoebe says that her mother always turned off Old Yeller (1957) after Old Yeller saved the family from the pack of wolves. She never saw the part where Travis had to shoot Old Yeller until she saw Monica, Rachel, Ross and Richard watching the movie. However, the movie does end on a positive note when the Coates family takes in a new puppy sired by Old Yeller, naming it “Young Yeller.”
• This title references the Disney movie Old Yeller (1957).
• The average age children pull themselves to standing is 6 months. If Ben had just pulled himself to standing the week before this episode, his gross motor skills would be of concern
• During the scenes when Susan and Carol are picking up Ben from Ross’s apartment, a Guandao (Chinese pole sword) can be seen hanging on the back of Ross’s door.
• Rachel hears the first word of Ben, Ross’s son, in this episode. Seven years later, Rachel will also hear her and Ross’s daughter Emma speak for the first time in The One with the Lottery (2003).
• When Ross tells Rachel he planned their future and had kids names planned out, he mentions ‘Emily’ as a possible name for their future daughter but winds up passing on that name. Ross and Rachel end up naming their daughter Emma (a diminutive of Emily), which Monica was saving for her own child, but she let Ross and Rachel use it instead.
• When Carol talks about Ben almost having spoken, she says he said Yemen. That is where Chandler later tells Janice he is moving to when he can’t break up with her.
• Ross announces to Carol and Susan that Ben “pulled himself up, standing man” and is sorry they missed it. For Ross, a paleontologist, “standing man” refers to Homo erectus, an extinct species of humans that lived during the Pleioscene era. They were the first humans in evolution whose body proportions allowed them to stand upright and walk on two feet. Previously, Ross alluded to Homo erectus in the Museum of Prehistoric History in the scene where he learns Carol is pregnant (Season 1 Episode 2): Carol tells him he looks good, Ross answers: “well, you know, in here anyone who stands erect…”. Ross mentions Homo erectus during his science presentation in Barbados (Season 9, episode 24), making Joey giggle.
• Joey and chandler learn Richards handshake trick with money, later on in the series monica tells chandler to slip the waiter money and he says ‘Richard used to do this didn’t he’.
