Is anyone interested in collecting all the references in J'n'GG?

I searched the forum and found this thread, in which l8 suggests:

And Undead gives an interesting answer:


So we have

41: Unknown Asteroid Field - Xoxx’ Quantum Canon Base --> "last train to transcentral" is a reference to The KLF. See the lyrics here.

The hitchhikers are a reference to Douglas Adams famous SF-books The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

14: ["We are beer. You will be intoxicated. Resistance is futile.”] & 15: Einhoff Beer Empire Border - Inside Beer Cube --> The intro and the sphere-ships are a clear reference to the borg in the Star Trek universe.

17 & 18: Mozart-Motorhead Binary Star System - Intergalagtic Scientific Complex --> At least the acid-blood of some of the aliens is probably an adaption from the alien-saga.

Well, that's just for the beginning. There's so much more ...

looking at the hitchhicker's guide to the galaxy, i've seen a couple of images of the original UK LP covers for the audio adaptation:



doesn't it look familiar?
even the phrase "the restaurant at the end of the universe"...

I wonder if that's a reference to Red Dwarf. Search for motorhead in this transcript.

There is of course also the Never Ending Story references in the credits.

So, the Lame Secret Spot Marking Ducky Items aren't that lame at all.

I don't know the Red Dwarf, but found this entry in the wikipedia helpful.


References? Plural? There is Falkor, the luckdragon. Is there something more?

In 38: Abacus-I Artificial Asteroid - Oppenheimer XP Supercomputer Core the end is an obvious reference to the Matrix. By the way, I suppose that Oppenheimer refers to the father of the atomic bomb and Oppenheimer XP is propably a persiflage of Windows XP.

I was wondering if the washing-machine in the end is a reference to a story written by Stanislaw Lem (see my number 9 in this post). I read the story once again. The title is Tragedia Pralnicza in the original, Die Waschmaschinentragoedie in german. Couldn't find out the english title, but it's probably similar to The Tragedy of Washing-Machines.
I didn't remember that story well. The funny and interesting point of it wasn't that those washing-machines could do almost anything, but that they were almost like human. Lem describes a lot of social and judiciary problems due to the fact that it's almost impossible to decide whether somebody is a human or a machine. So, after reading it once again, I won't say that the washing-machine in the end of JnG has anything to do with this story by Lem. Anyway, it's a nice little story, especially the end.

I wonder if the tied up Miss von Hamburger is a reference to Sweet Gwendoline, which I don't even know. But the iconography is very similar to pictures used by the german music-band Die Aerzte which refer to Sweet Gwendoline.

Yea, the whole credits look like one scene from that movie. It's the scene where everything is lost, and the whole fantasy world is blown to bits. You'll also have noticed the white column on an asteroid - I think that's the princess' palace. This is a pic from the movie:

http://www.neverendingstory.com/images/Image146.jpg

Looks quite like it, huh?

Very cool! I was always wondering what that light thing on that rock might be. Now I know, thanx a lot!

First comic strip: „scrabbing vomit from surface of some space pub station” might be a reference to some scenes in the Space Quest games. Probably the Alien Burger in 11: Free Zone - Insomnia Starpub Commercial Sector is a reference to those games as well. Can anyone maybe approve that?

Second comic strip, before first mission: “The C-C-Chemical Brothers” might be a reference to the british band The Chemical Brothers, which I don’t know. It would be quite sarcastic, because they are a “gang of damned mutanz”. Does anyone know the british band? Would they laugh about being called “mutanz”? Or is RiG's love to them quite ambivalent?

1: Bloodbath Nebula - Halibut Sector --> Sign “Interspace 666” is a joke about the famous Interstate 66, 666 is the Number of the Beast/Satan. BTW: Vamp 666 is the name of the artificial asteroid with the female lab.

Trainingsmode after first mission (and after some later missions)--> In the very beginning there is a space-pub called Schroedinger’s Donut (forum can’t deal with german umlauts). I suppose Schroedinger refers to the austrian physicist, but I couldn’t find out if the donut is a joke about some modern theory in physics. Might refer to the fermilab or, more likely, to the form of some physical macro- or micro-phenomenon. Any physicist here? Maybe there’s a link to the words of the weapon-seller: “Fine meal on the end of singularity”?
There’s a big sign belonging to the donut saying “Today’s special: Moebius single surfaced pancake”. That’s a little joke about the Moebius strip.

Comic strip before second mission: Could “Sheriff Livingstone” refer to Londons mayor? Has Ken Livingstone anything to do with chimps?

“Galactodedia”-Entry after second mission is probably another reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

In 3: Sexy-Vamp Asteroid Field - SV 24-56 Sector there are those long ships, red and white, for the first time. On their hulls is written “Mr. Loverman”, which is probably influenced by a popular song from Shabba Ranks.

The first name of Miss Erecta von Hamburger doesn’t only remind of the behavior of stimulated male crotch, but of Freud’s Electra complex too, which is supposed to be somehow the female equivalent to the widely knownOedipus complex, though today it’s mostly critizied for being part of Freud’s phallocentric view.

After Bonus Mission 4: Sexy-Vamp Asteroid Field - SV 24-56 Sector you can buy your weapons at the Stardonald hypershopping, which is a pub in the trainingsmode too. That’s probably an adaption of fast-food restaurants McDonald’s.

5: Cloaca Galactica - Halibut Sector --> “Cloaca Galactica” is probably a persiflage on Scifi-series Battlestar Galactica, it’s not that nice though. Maybe RiG didn’t like it. (In fact, I always have been bored by Battlestar Galactica. )

Ok, that's enough for the moment ...

There is a weapon named NTR Sandman

...And don't forget the "Skywalker Hypergun", a clear reference to the Star Wars saga.

Also notice the V*agra and C*alis advertisements in the Carnage TV show and other levels as well. It's a reference to the spammers in this forum!

The Hydra machinegun bases its name in the greek mithology. The hydra was a monster with seven heads (however, some people says it had nine heads)
The legend says that the famous greek hero, Heracles (aka Hercules) killed this monster.

Just very shortly:

KLF reference - yep
hitchhikers - yep
we are beer - you bet
acid blood - nope
duck - Nope. Just a lucky coincidence
restaurant - sure
Mozart-Motorhead - Oh yes! Big aplause to Mr. Drat (this one was tricky )
Ivory tower + Falcor + the scene eddy is refering to - yes
Oppenheimer XP - yes and yes (both scientist and OS reference)
The Matrix end of the level - Who could miss that?
washing machine - nope
Miss von Hamburger - just a stupid name... no reference to anything
Space Quest reference - probably unintentional (I was avid player of the games, but it's been sooooo long )
Chem. Bros - yes (we know them well, though we have no special relation to their music - personaly I find them bit boring )
Interstate 66 - yes
666 references - Yeah, used mutliple times and that's lame. We must do better in the next game .
Schrodinger - yes (donut has no spedcial meaning)
Moebius strip - yes
Livingstone - eh, almost
Galactopedia is inspired by H. Guide (and heaps of other similar fictional books)
Mr.Loverman - bull's eye
Erecta and Freud - Nope. Erecta is not a reference, it's parody to all the virtual sexbombs in the games.
McDonald's - yep
Battlestar Galactica - nope
NTR Sandman - Oh yeah! Someone has noticed. Nice
Skywalker Hypergun - Of course. And the manufacturer of the gun?
Spammers - yep
Hydra - I wouldn't call that a reference. But in weapon names there are dozens of references.

Go on, if you like. The complete list would be much much longer!

And btw, no references in ships? C'mon!

The Zep referring to Led Zeppelin is an obvious one of course. The hot dog van you talked about yourself - though I can't remember where... Don't know about the other ships though.

Oh, and Lucascorp refers to Luke Skywalker?

And there is Heavy Mental. After destroying it, it becomes Heavy Metal.

There are more. But i can't remember now. If i see them again i'll post here.

EDIT: There is a secret disk about Microsoft which was in the normal JnG. I remember that i restarted that level over 10 times trying to stick to the upper left corner and pass through the wall when camera comes there I still wonder what was that.

Eh... I'm no good at references, but let's see... there are lots more obvious references...

Universe boot-up disk at FeX labs - Good ol' Windows boot-up diskettes, obviously.

Villain Emily "Barracuda" Beta Jones - Refers to actress Catherine Zeta Jones

Villain Monty Buffon and his ship ("Monty Buffon's Deadly Circus") -Refers to british comedy troupe [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python]
Monty Python[/url] and their sketch show called the Monty Python's Flying Circus

More to come soon...

I was amazed by that too! Remembering one single dialogue is quite a task.

So the picture of the tied up Erecta really wasn’t influenced by the Gwendoline-pictures used by Die Aerzte? Strange. See Gwendoline:

And Erecta:


Almost? Yes, it is a reference, but no, not to Ken Livingstone? Or what does that mean?



Ok, let’s talk about the weapons:

Armageddonator: Obviously refers to Armageddon. First time I heard this word was while listening to the Morrissey-Song Everyday is like Sunday: “Come, Armageddon! Come!”

Banzai Titanium Rammer: Probably the Banzai refers to a japanese word, telling something of the lifetime of the rammer, but I’m not sure.

Belzebub Mortar: Beelzebub (spelling mistake) refers to a demon. Maybe it’s too nitpicking, but it was produced by Anarchy Ltd., which is a nice joke if you think about the meaning of Anarchy.

Boomerang Blaster: Is it embarassing to mention that this refers to a weapon used by the australian Aborigines?

CHAOS particle generator: Well, err, chaos refers to an ancient greek concept. But probably it’s a too commonly used word to say that it's some kind of reference.

Chroniton Riffle: First word is probably another reference to Star Trek.

F-8000 Cremator: Green heart saying “Burns regardfuly to forests” (I think it should be spelled: “Burns regardful to forests”) is probably a persiflage of greenpeace or some other eco-label. Couldn’t find out which.


J.C. Superstar 33: I would suspect DJ Honduras to be a reference. But maybe I’m wrong, don’t know. Of course, the Elvis’ doubles refer to the king of Rock’n’Roll and all of his doubles. I would like to know what “J.C.” means.

Kaiser Franz 650: Don’t know, probably there were more than one Kaiser Franz, but the best known seems to be this one. And the number is somehow strange (it could be 666 as well!), does it have any special meaning?

ManicMiner: Maybe it’s a hidden honouring of the popular adventure Maniac Mansion. But maybe it’s not.

Pink Panther Mk.II: This, of course, refers to the movies with Peter Sellers or the related cartoons.

S.T.Y.X: This is one in ancient greek mythology. Styx is the river between Earth and Hades, dividing the living from the dead, see here. I wonder what the letters might stand for.

Tesla Devastator: Tesla refers to a unit used by physicist, which has something to do with magnetic fields. (Ok, that's not a real reference, but maybe it's not known by everybody. I knew it had something to do with physics, but couldn't remember what and so I had to look it up.)

Xetec Moongun: Xetec might refer to an old company producing parts of the C-64.

Zion Generator: Of course, Zion refers to a lot of topics related to Israel. The human cityin the Matrix-movies is called Zion, too.
The “Zion inside” is a little joke about Intel and could refer to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories as well, which delusional presume Jews to be the root of almost every modern social phenomenon. The slogan The Final Solution refers to the project of the german Nazis to kill all european Jews. One might say that this is some kind of black humour, but in my eyes it’s just a crudity, one thing I really don’t like about J’n’GG.


Black Friday: They probably refer to the Crash of the Wall Street in 1929, though there are some more possibilities.

Holly Johnsons: Holly Johnson is the name of the leadsinger of Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Monkey Maniac: Again reminds me of Maniac Mansion. And of the games with the title Monkey Island, too.

Rodeo: Well, not a real reference. Rodeo has something to do with farm animals. Probably everybody knows.

Banjo: Well, and a Banjo is something similar to a guitar. Probably everybody knows this as well.

Phoenix: This again refers to mythology, egyptian this time, see here.

Marvelous Superhero Generator 5000: Captain Clash looks a lot like Superman. But does Superman have an evil brother? The name could refer to Captain America as well. Probably the weapon refers to the whole Marvel Comics universe. Probably there is one superhero with an evil brother in those comics, too.

I’ll have a look on the ships soon.

I think this was said some time ago in another thread: The Wanderwurst is a reference to the movie "Spaceballs", concretely to Captain Lone Starr's ship.



P.S: if you haven't seen this movie, you must!

Oh yes, I knew it was something very obvious. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I still couldn't remember. Thanx for the hint.

Ok, let's talk about the rest of the ships. Most things were already mentioned.

Grooman G-3 Goblin: Well, Goblins are some fantasy creatures. They appear to be green in most stories, don't they? Just about the colour of the ship.
I wonder if Grooman refers to anything, maybe it has something to do with grooms?
And G-3 might refer to the fastest acceleration of the ship: 3 times the acceleration due to gravity.

ZZ-Rolls Super Deluxe: Probably it refers to the luxury cars producer Rolls-Royce. And the ZZ refers to ZZ Top, doesn't it? Somehow I've got the feeling that there is a joke behind this I just don't get.

TMiG-226 Koala Killer: Who in the world would like to kill those sweet and lazy australian animals???
Anyway, what did TMiG stand for?

TMiG-310 Atomic Emu: The "Mad Emu inside" again refers to the Intel-commercials.

And by the way: Of course the weapons and ships carry a lot more references to all those millions of commercials everyone of us has seen at least a hundred times each. But it's probably impossible to get more specific on that.