Unexpected Trek References From Unexpected Sources

[Nerys Myk]

I was watching The Late Late Show With James Cordon this evening, the guests were Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis. Hanks made a joke about Velcro and Kunis suddenly interjects that according to Star Trek, the Vulcans invented Velcro. A pretty obscure reference, even for a Star Trek fan. Hanks of course is known to be a Trek fan, but I didn't know Kunis was. ( If indeed she is)

 

[Cyke101]

There's one from well over 20 years ago in Tiny Toons that cracked me up as a kid, and still does to this day.

Plucky Duck and Hampton are trying to enter this flashy, extravagant, glamorous Hollywood event, and Plucky hatches a scheme where he'll pretend to be the valet for all these celebrities. Cher comes in, as does Michael Keaton, etc. etc.

As he's taking the keys from guests, Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley beam down in their red movie uniforms and hand the keys to Plucky. Plucky looks up to see the gigantic Enterprise hovering overhead. He then quickly faints, probably from panicking about where to park the huge starship!

 

[lurok]

... Hanks of course is known to be a Trek fan, but I didn't know Kunis was. ( If indeed she is)

I remember reading somewhere Kunis was a Trek fan (as well as a gamer - WoW, I think?).

Tangential Trek, but was playing Ep 2 of console game Life Is Strange, in which the central character develops the ability to manipulate time. In the opening scene of her college room, she's been researching a bunch of stuff on theories of time, and I lol'd at one book credited to 'Dr Nick Meyer' (I'm assuming it's a conscious homage but could be wrong)

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Mila Kunis must like ENTERPRISE. That's neat.

I'll never forget learning that after Jeri Ryan agreed to play Seven in VOY, she watched that night's episode on TV and hated it. She said she watched it through her fingers and was crying by the end.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'll never forget learning that after Jeri Ryan agreed to play Seven in VOY, she watched that night's episode on TV and hated it. She said she watched it through her fingers and was crying by the end.

Jeri Ryan gets cooler and cooler the more I hear about her. That's how I usually watched that show.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I was playing Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel last night and was doing the Drakensburg mission in Pity's Fall and stumbled across an awesome Star Trek reference. On one of the monitors, there are several crew briefings and although I can't remember exactly what they say, this is what I remember:

Crew Briefing #1701: "To the enterprising crew member..."

Crew Briefing #1864: "The Bosun reminds everyone that we cannot be reliant..."

Crew Briefing #72405: "Defiance will not be tolerated..."

Needless to say, I had a serious geek out moment

 

[Tosk]

Hanks of course is known to be a Trek fan, but I didn't know Kunis was. ( If indeed she is)

She definitely is. I also recall her (recently?) talking about how Russian sounds like Klingon.

 

[Greg Cox]

I still remember Locke's reaction on LOST, after somebody explained the concept of "redshirts" to him:

"Sounds like this Kirk was a piss-poor captain."

 

[Tosk]

Says the guy who lost a ship and had most of his crew mutiny.

 

[golddragon71]

Was watching an Episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (A Dream of Jennifer) and he's in a spaceport and the PA system comes on Paging a Captain Christopher Pike.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Was watching an Episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (A Dream of Jennifer) and he's in a spaceport and the PA system comes on Paging a Captain Christopher Pike.

That was Buck Rogers writer Alan Brennert who was responsible for those in-jokes. He also had Adam Strange and Katar Hol from the planet Thanagar get paged for DC Comics fans.

 

[Greg Cox]

I was surprised (and amused) by a bit on THE AMERICANS last season. It's 1982 and a father and son are discussing whether a new movie will be any good. They never mention Trek by name, but I think we all know what movie they're talking about:

"I don't know. The last movie was nothing like the show, but this one has Khan in it, so maybe it will be better . . . ."

 

[Orphalesion]

In addition to having Elaine from Seinfeld prance around as a naked wood nymph the movie "Troll"(1986) features this exchange between witch Janice St.Claire and Harry Potter Jr. (the movie's main character)

Janice: Ah Friday...that's when it all would have started. Do you know what day Friday was?

Harry:...uh Star Trek Weekend on Channel 11?

Janice: Walpurgisnight Night, Harry! The Witches' Sabbath!

 

[Greg Cox]

In addition to having Elaine from Seinfeld prance around as a naked wood nymph the movie "Troll"(1986) features this exchange between witch Janice St.Claire and Harry Potter Jr. (the movie's main character)

Janice: Ah Friday...that's when it all would have started. Do you know what day Friday was?

Harry:...uh Star Trek Weekend on Channel 11?

Janice: Walpurgisnight Night, Harry! The Witches' Sabbath!

There's a difference?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Two examples featuring Billy Van Zandt (the Rhaandarite bridge ensign of ST:TMP):

* In the movie "Taps", Billy plays a cadet called "Bug". One night, they are all watching "Spock's Brain" on TV and he gets to boast having seen all 79 episodes before. (Total coincidence, but all the cast knew of his Trek connection.)

* In an early episode of the comedy series "Anything But Love", Billy's character, Harold, passes a "Star Trek" convention on his way up to the magazine office. He has bought a Starfleet phaser and goes beserk play-shooting his colleagues. Van Zandt was also head writer at the time. When he and his writing partner (Jane Milmore, also a supporting actress in the show) left the series, they wrote their departures into the script by having the boss exclaim, "I'm firing the next person to walk into this room!" - and hapless Harold walks in.

By the way, Billy is married to Adrienne Barbeau, who eventually played (the second) Senator Cretak in DS9.

 

[Melakon]

the movie "Troll"(1986) features this exchange between witch Janice St.Claire and Harry Potter Jr. (the movie's main character)

Writer Ed Naha and the Troll producers should have sued the shit out of J.K. Rowling.

 

[martok2112]

Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, which is my favorite Scooby Doo cartoon, made tons of references to sci-fi and action pop culture (some even from R rated movies)

But two that completely knocked me out of my seat laughing: (one of them was from Galaxy Quest...which of course is Star Trek allegory at its finest)

Fred's Adoptive Father: By Grabthar's Hammer, Freddie.....!


And the big Star Trek reference came from a season two episode where Freddy had to blow up the Mystery Machine....

Freddie: Daphne, what have I done?!
Daphne: What you had to do. What you always do. Turn traps into a fighting chance to live.



Mystery Inc. rocks! It might be a cartoon for kids, but the humor and references are definitely for the adults (and the big kids in us!)

 

[Greg Cox]

the movie "Troll"(1986) features this exchange between witch Janice St.Claire and Harry Potter Jr. (the movie's main character)

Writer Ed Naha and the Troll producers should have sued the shit out of J.K. Rowling.

Unless they trademarked the name "Harry Potter," they wouldn't have much of a case. And it's not like "Harry Potter" is all that unusual a name.

Any reasonable jury would assume it was just a coincidence.

I mean, if I invent a character named "Janet Murphy," am I supposed to verify that that no other book, movie, TV show, or comic book has ever had a character named "Janet Murphy" in it?

Granted, one might want to think twice about naming a character "James Bond" or "Scarlet O'Hara" . . ..

 

[EnriqueH]

Kill Bill quoting Klingon proverb...

 

[martok2112]

..

the movie "Troll"(1986) features this exchange between witch Janice St.Claire and Harry Potter Jr. (the movie's main character)

Writer Ed Naha and the Troll producers should have sued the shit out of J.K. Rowling.

Unless they trademarked the name "Harry Potter," they wouldn't have much of a case. And it's not like "Harry Potter" is all that unusual a name.

Any reasonable jury would assume it was just a coincidence.

I mean, if I invent a character named "Janet Murphy," am I supposed to verify that that no other book, movie, TV show, or comic book has ever had a character named "Janet Murphy" in it?

Granted, one might want to think twice about naming a character "James Bond" or "Scarlet O'Hara" . . ..

Or Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, etc...

Here's a fun fact: In the film version of Ender's Game, Harrison Ford's character's aide de camp is played by an actor named Han Soto (and it was a deliberate move by the producers, as a nod to Harrison Ford's famous rogue from a galaxy far, far away.)

Heh....I haven't read all the posts here, but I also seem to recall a movie (about a military school, I believe...or perhaps an officers' academy) that had a commandant, or senior instructor named "James T. Kirk". I'm thinking it was "The Lords of Discipline", but I cannot remember.