The Reference Explanation Thread

[mudshark]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Anyway, the reason for the title of the thread is that this got me thinking... when you read something with references in it, you can often tell there is a reference even if you don't get it. Some of you guys must have had that experience.

Oh, yeah.

The thing which comes immediately to mind would be the "Sulu as D'Artagnan" bits in "The Naked Time", in which episode Riley also figured prominently (but he wasn't in those particular scenes, so I'm not sure... )

[PointyHairedJedi]

In response to a question that nobody asked (as the voices in my head don't seem to count):

The ending of 5MB5 "Eyes" -

(Garibaldi and Lennier do a wheelie in the stars at Ludicrous Speed)

- is a (not terribly complicated) reference to a book by Nicholas Fisk called Wheelie in the Stars which also happens to feature very prominently a motorbike in an SF setting.

There are probably questions about other fivers that I really want to ask, but I can't remember, so they'll have to wait I suppose.

[mudshark]

Zeke, maybe this is it? From the fiver for "The Naked Time", which had been published the day before:

Sulu: I'm taking up fencing because it goes so well with my rapier wit.
Riley: You already know I don't care about fencing. You just want me to act as a foil.
Sulu: Touché.
Riley: Sigh. Joe, please change subjects. Now.
Joe: I'm thinking of stabbing myself.
Sulu: See? Joe's interested in fencing. Will you use a thrust or a parry?
(STAB!)
Sulu: This scene quickly became non-funny.

Still can't think of anything else to which it might be a reference.


Edit: I just noticed that the menu at the bottom of the fiver has a link to Season 2 instead of Season 1.
Edit2: to include publishing date info

[Zeke]

Aha! That may very well be it. I'm sure I reread that fiver when I was writing mine, since it was the other Riley episode and I like doing cross-fiver continuity.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Family Guy:

Lois: Peter! He's charming! All british men are!
Peter: Yeah right... that's what they said about Benjamin Disraeli.

--- (cut to man writing at a desk circa 1850) ---

Benjamin Disraeli: [to the camera] You don't even know who I am.

Always struck me as maybe the best metajoke in all of Season 3, since Family Guy was famous (and infamous) for obscure references, and this was their way of sticking it to the die-hards and winking at those too young to get the jokes.

[evay]

I finally saw "The Conscience of the King," so now I can read the fiver with some coherency, and Zeke, that was a GREAT job! Brimming with cross-references and good puns!

[Zeke]

Thanks! How'd you like the episode itself? IMO, it's one of the all-time classics -- just a great piece of Trek all round.

[evay]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Thanks! How'd you like the episode itself? IMO, it's one of the all-time classics -- just a great piece of Trek all round.

Other than some of the hoo-boy moments your fiver pointed out, it was quite good. "Sacrificing some to save others" is the kind of moral dilemma the franchise revisits several times, from different angles. "Revenge vs. justice" is another, although on Trek it's rare that the bad guy will ever entirely escape karmic retribution in some form. Joe Bob agrees with you to check it out.