In-Jokes
of
The Whole Damsel Thing
Chapter 1
-Freddy Koogar = Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on
-He knew because he recalled the alias written under the sketch --- The Man With No Name.
(The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood character in The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
-He bristled. “Was that a short joke?” (quote
from Colonel Spigot of TS)
-Freddy’s alias (Freddy Benson) --- a relative of Douglas
Benson in TS?
-Who decorated this place, Ellen Keller? (Helen Keller ref)
-She gave him a nasty grin. “I didn’t. Shot in the dark. Now be vewwy, vewwy quiet. I’m cwacking safes.” (Elmer Fudd ref.)
-“I have many skills,” she said loftily. (quote from Xena: Warrior Princess)
-For some bizarre reason, she felt like Fran of Eight
Gables.
(Fran of Eight Gables' is actually a combination of Lucy Maud Montgomery's
Anne of Green Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables)
Chapter 2
-Limping like Tiny
Tim, he didn’t want to look like an easy mark.
(Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol ref.)
-He
was carrying valuable information, and he knew that
-vague reference to Laramie Cigarettes (The Simpsons)
What
a pipe dream. Whoever heard of
cooking dinner in two minutes?
(veiled
ref to microwaves and Baloo’s scoffed, “Radio with pictures!”)
-Martha Stepford is a not-so-subtle reference to Martha
Stewart and Ira Levin’s The Stepford
Wives
-“It is a good
thing!”
(similar to Martha Stewart’s catch-phrase, “It’s a good
thing!”
-Ralph Norton is an homage to Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton of The Honeymooners
-He reached into his coat pocket and presented a small, flat box.
“I made a stop in
-Miss Martha! Miss Martha! Ah don’t know nothin’
‘bout birthin’ babies!
(Prissy from Gone With the Wind)
-Joanna thought, Good grief, I’m trapped in a bad Dickens novel!
Even the food vaguely resembled something David
Silverfield would have happily eaten—plum pudding, roast duck, stewed
potatoes, and biscuits, and some rice
pudding. (more Dickens -- David Copperfield)
-Is
she out of her mind? I’m supposed to be on vacation! What fresh hell is this?
(last sentence is a quote from
writer Dorothy Parker)
-Buck and
Rogers are named after the sci-fi show, Buck Rogers in the 25th
Century
-That’s
it, she thought. They’re
behind me and in front of me! I’m
dead. Say goodnight, Gellar. (George
Burns’s signature line to wife Gracie Allen on the Burns and Allen Show
(“Say goodnight, Gracie.”)
-Hardin talks to Heimlich Menudo on the phone and refers to the ‘new guy’ Weazel (Vowel Play ref.)
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
-Surprised, Buck said, “Don’t
you know? He’s only
the most successful freelancing muscle in these parts.
He’s the Big Cheese --- Limburger --- the Big Kahuna of Goons!
One hundred percent success rate, or your money back. He’s even more
famous than Babyface Half-Nelson!”
(The Big Kahuna was a beach bum
character in the 1959 surfing movie, Gidget.
And Babyface Half-Nelson was in the TS episode, Bringing Down Babyface)
-Mel’s Diner was the restaurant in
the 1970’s sit-com,
-“Take
a right onto Elm—be careful, it can be a nightmare this time of
night what with all the stray cats — and go for a couple of more blocks.
Then, you take a left onto Murray
and keep on going. You should see the hotel after a block or two.
Nice place like that’s hard to miss in that neighborhood.”
(another Nightmare on Elm Street ref.)
-The Lobster Hut is a reference to The Pizza Hut.
Chapter 5
-“Okay, I’m tired of this,”
Cody said, standing up. “Besides,
I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around.”
(quoting Han Solo in Star Wars)
-“Your past has been erased,
sweet Lila. Your family thinks that
you are dead. You’re just another
headstone in Elysian Fields Cemetery.” He’d removed a piece of paper from
his shirt pocket. “See? Plot 28,
Row 12”
(Joanna's past is heavily borrowed
from the near-identical films La Femme Nikita and Point of No Return
(with Bridget Fonda). In both, the head of the organization makes a
similar threat to the protagonist he's trying to turn into an assassin).
-Cody and Joanna bicker like little kids (Do not... Do too... Do not... Do too...)
-“Hey,
if you didn’t talk in your sleep---!”
“I do not talk in my sleep!”
(as in A Fair to Remember, when told that she talks in her sleep, Joanna
stubbornly refuses to believe it)
Chapter 6
-New Yuck is a thinly disguised name for 'New York'.
-“Babette.” She
swallowed. “Babette La Putain. It’s
French, y’know.”
(la putain is French for 'whore')
-“These are Laurie
Bearcall originals, I’ll have you know! James
gave ---!”
(a nod to actress Lauren Bacall)
-Phillie's is the restaurant depicted in Edward Hopper's famous iconic painting, Nighthawks.
-Flo the doe waitress is named after Polly Holliday's character in the waitress sit-com 'Alice'
-Vic, the lecherous boss where Babette used to 'sling hash' is named after Vic Tayback, the actor who played the owner of Mel's Diner in 'Alice'
-Starrywood is the TaleSpin equivilent of Hollywood
-The department store W.H. Macy's is named after actor William H. Macy
-The perfume Oblivion is named after the Calvin Klein's Obsession.
Chapter 7
-The Sky High Club is loosely named after the 'Mile-High Club'.
-The chorus girls (Carmel, Taffy, Coco and Lolly) are all named after confections.
-“Curtain in fifteen, girls,” a
cheerful, strangely falsetto male voice called.
(Mickey, the club's owner, is probably Mickey Mouse)
-"And since when
did I become one of the ‘gang’?”
(borrowed from 'Batman: The Animated Series'... Harley Quinn asks this question
when she and Poison Ivy are bossed around by Live Wire).
-"I
don't know. I'm making this up as I go."
(Indiana Jones --- Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Chapter 8
-“Y'know, big filthy
rats like that one started the bubonic plague in Yerope.” (Cody)
(Yerope is a parallel of our Europe)
-“It's
a rat, not Black the Ripper!” (Cody)
(parody of Jack the Ripper)
-“I don’t think your little feet will reach the
pedals.”
(borrowed from an X-File episode -- Mulder said it to Scully)
-“Watch and learn.” (Joanna)
Stepping out of hiding, she made sure that a generous
expanse of one leg was showing as a car sped towards them.
It was past them before the driver suddenly slammed on brakes. With
another smug look at Cody, Joanna sashayed to the car, hips swinging so that the
imitation silk material of the dress swished invitingly.
(reference to the famous hitchhiking scene in It Happened One Night)
-Rogers snorted. “Oh, they got out, all right.
They’ve got more lives than the proverbial cat.
Either they’re smart --- or very lucky.”
“Well, smart only takes you so far,” Eggsucker
replied. He kicked a can.
“And luck always runs out.”
(quoted from Harvey Keitel's cop character in Thelma and Louise)
Chapter 9
-Babette calls Hardin Puddin' - a reference to Harley Quinn's detested nickname for the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series.
-Cody
listened to the exchange in disgust. So’s
your acting.
(reference to Rebecca's sarcastic response to Kitten's histrionics in A
Star is Torn)
-Buck's full name is Frank Buck (a reference to the real-life animal trapper and
inspiration for the short-lived 80's TV series, Bring 'Em Back Alive)
-Jo's gruesome murder of Eggsucker is a twist on a Bugs Bunny routine.
Chapter 10 - epilogue
-The
bartender blinked. “Y’all ever
consider going to finishing school?”
“I
did,” Joanna replied, “but I never finished.”
(reference to Plane Jane's line in Waiders of the Wost Tweasure)
-Soon
they passed the ill-fated Mel’s Diner, which was now boarded up.
A wooden sign was nailed on the door:
Alice
(reference to the 70s sitcom, Alice, which took place in Mel's Diner)