Alison Vunderlande
Pop Culture Reference Guide - Page 2
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LOG #:
- Curiouser and Curiouser
- "What if you could find brand new worlds, right here on Earth? Where anything is possible? Same planet. Different dimension. I've found the gateway..."
"September 13th," Alison murmurs again after a moment. "My attempt to create the world's first anti-gravity device has taken a decidedly bizarre turn. Anti-grav? Uh uh. Something else? Definitely. Grapefruit? No thanks."
You know the drill, right? Opening voiceover for the first season of Sliders (1995-2000) as read by Quinn Mallory (played by Jerry O'Connell). Alison follows this up with EXACT dialogue from the Pilot episode, where Quinn is dictating his discovery of the portal technology. (Until 'Grapefruit' which is Lorne intruding on her thoughts.)
- "Anyway, I am /so/ with you on the Oz deal. We might as well follow the road, at least until a white rabbit jumps out with a pocketwatch when we can follow him instead."
The "Oz deal" follows on the heels of Lorne's "Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto" and "That's a gooda Yellow Brick Road as any". These all refer to 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' (1900), a story by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) that was made into a popular movie in 1939. There are actually no less than FIFTEEN books in the Oz series (some involve Dorothy Gale, others do not).
The white rabbit with the pocketwatch is a reference back to Lewis Carroll and 'Alice in Wonderland', as Alice followed just such a rabbit down into his hole. This was also made into a popular movie, by Disney, in 1951.
- "But at least it's daytime! Hikers don't normally die in... daytime..."
Lorne had just remarked "I'm startin' to feel like the lost hikers in the movies. And you know nothin' good ever happens to them." Perhaps the most apropos lost hikers to reference here would be those in The Blair Witch Project (1999). This low budget horror film had a production cost of only about $25 000, yet it grossed over $150 million at the box office, making it the most profitable motion picture of all time. Yet contrary to Alison's remark, the three hikers didn't have the best of luck in the daytime either.
- ...he looks like Lorne. "Are you a Jaffa too?? Oh great, I should have assumed there'd be more of them... so much for THAT handy nickname, being too generic now and all."
The reasoning behind Jaffa (from Stargate: SG-1) now being too generic is that 'Jaffa' essentially refers to an entire set of people who carry Goa'uld, all with individual names. So with others of Lorne's race around, the nickname could apply to any of them.
- "And perhaps more importantly, what's the deal with the whole Red Queen 'off with her head' attitude you guys have?? Because if this really IS wonderland, it's off kilter to the tune that I'm starting to worry folks will start calling me 'Miyuki-Chan' and then ask me for /milk/, which is /so/ not where I saw my life headed when I woke up this morning!" No, she's not really going mad, she's partly
referencing anime ...
This pose is actually a bit of a train wreck. The Red Queen is a character from Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass'; she introduces Alice to the mechanics of the chessboard. "Off with her head!" is something uttered by the Queen of /Hearts/ in Carroll's other book 'Alice in Wonderland', though hearts are red, so you can see the confusion.
The riff on "Miyuki-Chan" relates to a Japanese anime called Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland (1995), done by CLAMP. In this half hour show, a teenage girl named Miyuki falls into a twisted version of Wonderland, where all the characters are female, and moreover, trying to seduce her. Wherever your thoughts now take the "milk" reference probably says a lot about your state of mind.
- Alison decides that no matter what Lorne says, this IS Wonderland, it's just that a lot of people have been cast as the Red Queen. Hopefully they find a Cheshire Cat before stumbling across a Mad Hatter. Not to mention she trusts that the 'collar' thing won't lead to anything severely kinky.
Alison again mistakes the Red Queen for the Queen of Hearts. The Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat are two other characters from Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, the Cat being one of the more sane characters, since it at least it knew it was mad. (The collar reference is an additional throwback to Miyuki-Chan, above.)
- There's No Place Like Home
- "Lorne. Got it."
In the second season Angel episode "Belonging", when Angel learns Lorne's name he makes the connection to Lorne Greene (1915-1987), an actor born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. From there Angel references Bonanza (1959-1973), a western on which Greene played Ben Cartwright for all fourteen seasons. This is mentioned merely for comparative purposes, because Alison takes a rather different approach.
- "Whoa, whoa, no no no Lorne Greene! We're a rag-tag fugitive band here, trying desperately to find Earth, and you're the best guy to be the commander in this situation!!"
As it turns out, Lorne Greene also played Commander Adama on the short lived scifi cult classic series Battlestar Galactica (1978-79), and it's follow up Galactica 1980 (1980). The premise quotes itself as being "a rag-tag fugitive fleet", which flees the attacking Cylons while simultaneously searching for their true home, Earth. The connection to Alison's line should become obvious, and references to 'Commander Greene' appear sporadically through the rest of the scene. (The show was also redone in the form of a two part miniseries, which aired in 2003.)
- "The Host is NOT a traitor! He's, um, real brave, and he's... battled many Cylons and defeated the evil Baltar!!" Battlestar Galactica's really not her forte here, but it's where her mind went after 'Lorne'. " ... quest to find the great Broody One who can unite the twelve colonies and bring peace to our realm!"
More Battlestar Galactica, the Cylons being the machines bent on destroying all humans, and Baltar being the human traitor (not Lorne!) who assists the Cylons in their conquest. The show also originally featured twelve colonies named after the zodiac, which were destroyed by the Cylons on the eve of signing a peace treaty.
- "No, um, Greene here is more an idea man than a hand-to-hand guy! He lets Apollo--" (catches herself) "--I mean, Angel--"
Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) was often able to outthink the enemy, while his oldest son Apollo was a fighter pilot and the leader of the Blue Squadron.
- "...look, how about your bro here just entertains you with a rousing chorus of his #1 hit 'Ringo'..."
Lorne Greene (1915-1987) was not a great singer, but he did achieve one-shot wonder success with his song "Ringo", about a gunfighter. It hit #1 on the Billboard charts in 1964.
- "I'm not REALLY a cow. I was just made to look like one by Tom Paris. Holodeck malfunction."
Apparently the Holodeck malfunction thing didn't hold water. Well, 'Spirit Folk' was a lousy episode of Voyager anyway.
The season six episode of Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001), called "Spirit Folk", involved one scene where Tom Paris intentionally alters a holodeck program to make Harry Kim's date look like a cow. It was a less than stellar episode, as when the holodeck begins malfunctioning, they refuse to simply shut the damn thing off. (Ahem.)
- "I know them! The Gods! I'm their... cousin, Xixo, of the Bushmen!" She's found something, which just might be a little crazy. "I have come to return to them their... their magical MagLite!"
"And it's not even a Coke bottle."
The movie The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) featured an empty Coke bottle being thrown from a plane and ending up among the Kalahari bushmen in Africa. When villagers began to bicker over this "amazing tool", Xixo (played by N!xau, a real Bushman), undertook the long journey to return the bottle back to its owner.
- "... because wow, after a trip through a wormhole like that, even Bajoran Prophets would be winded."
The series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) involves the discovery of a stable wormhole (to the Gamma Quadrant) in the vicinity of the planet Bajor. When non-corporeal beings are found to live inside of it, the Bajoran people take these entities to be their Prophets, worshiping them as Gods.
- "... well, until the Games, you all keep fit and have fun!"
"Keep fit and have fun" is the motto of Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod, the two hosts of a number of 90 second "Body Break" segments which are featured on Canadian television. These segments contain tips on nutrition, exercise, and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle.
- "Or actually, Kai Vunderlande, if you insist..." Hey, being a religious figure does have a coolness factor to it!
The spiritual religious leader of Bajor is known by the title of Kai, and the holder of that office is voted into the position for life. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine featured two such leaders, Kai Opaka (Camille Saviola) who "died" and was succeeded by Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher). The show also referenced two others, Kai Meressa and Kai Taluno.
- "Um, no, really though, Adama--" (catches herself) "--the Host is brave! Cylon battles, yeah?"
Alison tries one last desperate assist for Lorne, again using Battlestar Galactica (1978-79) and actually referring to him here as Lorne Greene's character, Adama.
- Changing of the Guard
- "Good place, yeah... a bit 'Hotel California', even, seeing as I think I'm back for a while now."
Alison's comparison is between the Hyperion Hotel and the "Hotel California", which was the title song from the Eagles' album of the same name in 1976. Alison's reference to being "back for a while" was meant to be a play on the last lines in the song: "You can check out any time you like / But you can never leave". (And hey, LA is in California!)
- "It was much more of a Trek 'Mirror Universe' than, I dunno, say, the Narnia chronicles."
The 'Mirror Universe' from Star Trek was first seen in the original series episode "Mirror, Mirror" (season 2). This universe was later revisited in the Deep Space Nine series for a set of episodes, where it is learned that humans have become something of a slave race. (Interesting then that Alison declared herself Kai on Pylea to avoid being a cow!)
The Narnia chronicles are a series of 7 books by C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). They tell the tale of a magical land called Narnia, which is visited by a series of people from our world; the most well known book in the set is likely The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) though it is The Magician's Nephew (1955) which actually tells of Narnia's creation.
- "I'd probably agree with you about Angel of course, even though I still think there's elements of Nick Knight about him."
Alison again makes reference to Forever Knight (1992-1996), in the form of it's title character (and vampire) Nick Knight. (See Log 8 for more.)
- Finding Fred
- "I don't often frequent... um... this sort of bar. I mean, it's not exactly 'Cheers'."
Cheers (1982-1993) was a television show about a bar in Boston "where everybody knows your name". The set was modelled after a real Boston bar called the 'Bull & Finch Pub', and the show won five Emmys during it's eleven year run. Random Useless Fact: The show's finale on May 20, 1993 was broadcast at Toronto's Skydome stadium (in Ontario, Canada) to a crowd of 24,117.
- "...Japanese I've managed to nail a bit better simply because I, um, watch a lot of subtitled anime."
The earliest Japanese animation involved dramatizations of folk tales back in 1917. One of the first anime titles to be shown in America was Astroboy, in 1963. Anime grew in popularity throughout the world through the 1990s, being dubbed and subtitled into other languages. Alison also references "mecha", and while the strict Japanese definition covers anything mechanical, it's often used to refer to giant manned robots.
- "Socrates is dead, not much point dredging it all back up unless we're in need of passing some heinous history project." See, she can make movie references too. She resists the temptation to do a 'billiards' re-enactment, at least - be relieved.
Alison riffs from the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), which featured two teenagers using time travel to pass a history project. One of the people they met was Socrates, and one of the scenes featured Ted (Keanu Reeves) translating "[Socrates] also loves... billiards!" Her movie reference was in response to Preacher making a reference to the movie The Waterboy (1998), an (ugh) Adam Sandler flick.
- "...there are times when I wonder if we aren't all--" She pauses to strike a pose, lifting her hand to her face to mime straightening sunglasses. "--On a mission from God."
The movie The Blues Brothers (1980) featured two brothers in sunglasses who were "on a mission from God" to save the Catholic home where they were raised. It contained (often spontaneous) blues music and fast action. (Preacher recognizes the reference.)
- "Fair enough. I just hear it's bad for, y'know, undead, and stuff." Hey, you wanna mention golf clubs, she can match your Dogma. This is B-movie girl here.
What is "bad for the undead" comes off Preacher's comment about "blessing" items, and the clubs are a reference to the movie Dogma (1999). Said "B-movie" featured two renegade angels trying to exploit a divine loophole that would get them back to heaven at the expense of all humanity. In it, George Carlin plays a Cardinal who blesses his golf clubs for a better game.
- LA Law and One Bad Ubu
- "Whoa, hey! Angel! Sit, Ubu, sit!" she calls as she sees him vamp out.
UBU Productions Inc. was founded in 1981. At that time, Gary David Goldberg, the producer, owned a Black Labrador retriever named Ubu Roi. Hence, at the end of a Goldberg television program (such as Family Ties (1982-1989) or the more recent Spin City (1996-2002) ) a photograph of Ubu - with a frisbee in his mouth - would be flashed on the screen, accompanied by Goldberg's voiceover, "Sit Ubu, Sit!". The audio actually continues with "Good Dog!" and then a single dog bark.
- "Sorry, he's got this whole thing where we've got a missing person and hey, maybe you know Robert Stack? Because if we could go national with it maybe this would all be resolved peacefully..."
Robert Stack (1919-2003) was the host for Unsolved Mysteries (1987-2002), a television show where the viewer was encouraged to call (or write) in order to solve real life cases. These ranged from missing persons to the truly unexplained. It is said that approximately 40% of fugitives profiled on the show were apprehended.
- "I mean, look at you, going all Bela Lugosi on LA Law!"
Bela Lugosi (1882-1956) was the original Dracula from the broadway production in 1927, and movie in 1931. He later went on to appear in many so-called "B-Movies" - including Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) which was released after he was dead! Ed Wood did this by interspersing footage of Lugosi with a body double who looked NOTHING like him. When Bela Lugosi passed away (at age 73) he was laid to rest in full Dracula costume.
LA Law (1986-1994) was a legal drama involving a Los Angeles law firm that took on cases of all types, from criminal to civil. During the show's run, many cast members came and went, with the name of the law firm changing several times to reflect this. (Ergo: Angel + W&H = above quote.)
- "Yeah, hey, when Angel's angry, he's worse than the aliens in 'Aliens'! Though of course, he's fighting on the side of truth, justice and the American Way..."
Aliens (1986) was the sequel to the movie Alien (1979), both starring Sigourney Weaver. There were later two more movies in the series, and the featured aliens killed a lot of people. "Truth, Justice and the American Way", on the other hand, is a reference to Superman. The phrase was uttered as part of his introduction during the 1950s television series, and was also referenced in the first Superman movie (1978).
- "So much for the likes of Ben Stone and Jack McCoy, eh?"
Alison references two lawyers from the long running television drama Law & Order (1990- ). The show's format generally involves a half hour of police work followed by a half hour of courtroom drama. Ben Stone was one of the first Assistant D.A.s featured (played by Michael Moriarty); he was replaced in 1994 by Jack McCoy (played by Sam Waterson) who remains on the show into it's 15th season.
- Rescue with a Song
- "...they gave me the slip when I started expounding on the virtues of Asimov's Foundation series, but..."
Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) is one of the most famous science fiction authors of all time, having won numerous awards, and with over four hundred books to his name. His Foundation series comprises a set of seven books, the first three written from 1951-1953 and the last four in the years 1982-1993. They tell the tale of the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of a Foundation based on psychohistory (a scientific way of predicting the future). Damn good reading.
- Alison doesn't say much on the trip over, having been making sure that she pretty much understands how the crossbow works so that she doesn't pull some kinda Q-pid Counsellor Troi faux pas.
A fourth season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994), called 'Qpid', featured the Enterprise crew transported to Sherwood Forest. One scene there involves Counsellor Troi accidentally shooting Data when practicing with her bow and arrow.
- "Let's get the L.A. Woman with a Rebel Yell, but Don't You Forget About Me," she quips, recalling Angel's prior description of Spike.
Angel had referred to Spike as Billy Idol (1955- ), a British rock singer who was born with the name 'William Broad', and is known for having spiky, peroxide blonde hair. Idol's first big breakthrough was the album "Rebel Yell" (1984), whose title song has been in several movies. "L.A. Woman" and "Don't You (Forget About Me)" are two other songs that appear on Idol's "Greatest Hits" album (of 2001), and later in the scene Alison references the song "Dancing With Myself".
- Though damn, why couldn't she have been around for this whole going human getting a soul then dying thing? That's SO the romantic Harlequin sci-fi stuff she's been looking for! Not Mexican Standoff in a Warehouse. Maybe the taco wrappers should have clued her in as to the tone.
Harlequin Enterprises Ltd, a Canadian book publishing company, was founded in 1949. By 1964 the company was exclusively publishing romance fiction, and is most known today for it's "nice little books with happy endings" that target a female audience.
A Mexican Standoff is defined as "a situation in which no one can emerge as a clear winner". It's origins are unknown, but are likely derogatory.
- "...Failing that, I'll buy a vowel. A why."
The TV game show Wheel of Fortune (1975- ), which was originally called "Shoppers' Bazaar", features three contestants trying to solve a puzzle by spinning a wheel and guessing letters. The vowels of the puzzle, however, have to be bought with cash earned so far. While 'Y' itself is not a vowel on the show - Alison was feeling frustrated - words like 'sky' do use the letter 'y' like a vowel.
- Everyone's Got a Hobby
- "...was that you who mentioned Army of Darkness because Bruce Campbell totally made that movie and has anyone ever told you the scarf look when it's not cold is a bit too fourth-Doctor?"
Army of Darkness (1993), sometimes billed as Evil Dead 3, tells the story of Ash Williams (played by Bruce Campbell, from the Evil Dead movies) sent back in time to the year 1300 where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon book.
Knox is also wearing a scarf, and the fourth Doctor from Doctor Who (1963-1989, see log 7) wore a scarf that was between thirteen and twenty-four feet long (depending on the year). As the story goes, costuming was asked to make a scarf, and were given some yarn samples. They misunderstood and used all the samples to make one big scarf. (This Doctor has also appeared on The Simpsons.)
- If Alison were an anime character she thinks she'd be getting the little swirlies in her eyes right about now from all the sensory overload.
Japanese animation ususally features 'swirlies' (loops and whorls, @.@) in place of a character's normal eyes when they are very confused, or have been knocked unconscious. Swirlies can also be seen on the glasses of nerd-type characters.
- "...no problem with snazzy new threads or a trip through the time tunnel, but..."
The Time Tunnel (1966) was a one season wonder produced by Irwin Allen about two research scientists (Tony and Doug) who become lost in time via a Time Tunnel that they created. They very likely spent an episode somewhere that Alison's period clothing came from, but far from having snazzy new threads, Tony and Doug always ended up wearing the SAME clothes by the end of the show, so that the episodes could be aired in any order.
- "So, can't you Macguiver us a way out of here then, science man??"
MacGyver (1985-1992), which Alison apparently can't pronounce properly, starred Richard Dean Anderson as Angus MacGyver. He was a secret agent known for coming up with 'MacGyverisms', ways out of tough situations by simply using whatever items were on hand (he never used a gun). For example, fixing a truck with a pen spring. Hence Knox's reply, "Yeah, sure. Give me two toothpicks and a can of silly string and I'll be able to rappel us right out of here."
- I'll show you insolent you... you... poor excuse for a Kivas Fajo!!"
Kivas Fajo was a character from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Most Toys". He had a large collection of rare items, and attempted to add Data (the android) to his collection. (Fortunately, Data never had to dress in drag. Well, not until the episode "A Fistful of Datas" anyway.)
- Dead and Alive are Relative
- "Just so long as this isn't a museum being haunted by cats which would be a real Teso Dos Bichos..."
Alison references a third season episode of the X-Files. That museum was the Boston Museum of Natural History.
- "Excuse me, I'd... just like to ask a question? What does God need with a starship?"
She did say references "sorta helps to keep me sane". Sybok, from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier also had sanity problems, though this quote is actually Kirk's.
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