Add this episode to the extensive list of things on Eek! The Cat that I did not understand while watching it as a kid. However, the writers always managed to make it funny for little kids who didn't recognize the references they were making.
I was eight when this show was on; I saw Apocalypse Now years later. It's weird how our generation had childrens' cartoons that made so many references to things we were too young at the time to understand, only to appreciate them that much more a decade and a half later.