Line #24 ShoutOut/NCIS


1	''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has so many {{shout out}}s we had to give them their own page. Many are courtesy of Tony's habit of quoting movies.
2	----
3	* Abby will sometimes wear an [[Creator/JeffDunham Achmed the Dead Terrorist]] sweater during the [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas episodes]].
4	* An episode early in the series brings us aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise--which [[Franchise/StarTrek just happens to be the closest ship when something goes wrong]].
5	* Several to other Creator/DonaldPBellisario shows:
6	** Tony uses the alias [[Series/{{Airwolf}} "Stringfellow Hawke"]] at one point; also, Caitlin Todd's first name is the same as an ''Airwolf'' character.
7	** In one episode the team finds a massive collection of lunchboxes in a murdered officer's bedroom, which included ''Airwolf'', and ''Series/MagnumPI''-themed boxes, and presumably other Bellisario creations. And when Tony must provide an alibi for his evening, he says he was home watching ''Magnum PI'', and describes the specific episode.
8	** Yet another crops up when searching a suspect's house in one episode, and Tony finds, among a full collection of Hawaiian shirts, a red one he claims to be an official ''Magnum PI'' shirt.
9	** While fleeing from two guard dogs in Season 10's "Seek", Tony yells out, ''"Zeus, Apollo!"'' Magnum's two dogs.
10	* Season 3's "Hiatus Part 1" has Tony at one point say, "I have a better chance of hooking up with Creator/JessicaAlba than these guys do of infiltrating Sealift." Creator/MichaelWeatherly, the actor who plays Tony, co-starred with Creator/JessicaAlba in ''Series/DarkAngel'', and was engaged to her.
11	** In Season 11's "Bulletproof", Tony and Delilah are brainstorming cool film and TV characters in wheelchairs, and Delilah mentions Logan Cale, Weatherly's character from ''Dark Angel'';
12	*** Other characters mentioned include Professor X from ''ComicBook/XMen'', Lieutenant Dan from ''Film/ForrestGump'', Film/DrStrangelove, and Sully from ''Film/{{Avatar}}''.
13	* Gibbs shares a middle name (Jethro) with Admiral Chegwidden from ''NCIS''' parent series, ''Series/{{JAG}}''.
14	** In the second episode (not counting the JAG-crossover Pilot), Gibbs talks to Lieutenant Bud Roberts from JAG, though some may claim this to be more of a ContinuityNod.
15	** And retired Admiral Chegwidden appears in the season ten finale as an attorney hired by Director Vance to represent Gibbs.
16	* The first episode is one big shout-out to ''Film/AirForceOne'', right down to reusing the sets and Gibbs specifically mentioning the movie by name and [[GenreSavvy reasoning that not only would the weapons be stored in the same place as they were in the movie, but that the terrorists would infiltrate by a similar manner]].
17	* One episode's supporting characters are a huge Shout-Out to ''Franchise/GIJoe''. There's FBI agent Courtney Krieger (Cover Girl), as well as Carl Greer (Doc), Shannon O'Hara (Scarlett), Marvin Hinton (Roadblock) alias Frederick [=LeClair=] (Recondo), Robert Graves (Grunt), George Barny (Grand Slam), and Blaine Parker (Mainframe).
18	* Amusingly, in one episode, [=McGee=] stepped into the victim's computer hideout and exclaimed "this is like the [[Series/DoctorWho TARDIS!]]"
19	* Actually, ''far'' too many to list, as Tony is almost guaranteed to make at least one TV or movie reference ''every episode''.
20	** Normally, the team is not familiar with most of Tony's movie references. However, when he [[Film/{{Speed}} loops a video feed to save a room of hostages]], everyone calls him out afterward when he tries to take credit, knowing which movie he stole the tactic from.
21	** Arguably, the joke here is that Tony had forgotten the film-inspired origins of his idea and is actually convinced he thought it up himself. Look at his expression! (Unless Anthony [=DiNozzo=] is a better actor than, say, [[CelebrityParadox Michael Weatherly...]]) Of course, none of the rest of the team believe him for a moment.
22	** In the second episode of season 4 "Escaped" Ziva and [=McGee=] go to extreme lengths to avoid the word "fugitive" to keep Tony from connecting the situation to ''Film/TheFugitive''. Tony eventually comes to the connection on his own and monologues his own foolishness while Ziva and [=McGee=] whisper to the side:
23	---> '''Ziva''': What happened? We have been avoiding mentioning the Fugitive for days.\
24	'''[=McGee=]''': He figured it out on his own.
25	** And on at least one occasion, Tony makes the same speech that Tommy Lee Jones did.
26	** In the very early episodes, Gibbs is the one who is movie savvy.
27	** In the ninth season episode "Enemy on the Hill", the name "George Kaplan" emerges during a murder case involving money laundering, prompting Tony to comment, "That sounds familiar." Later, when "George Kaplan" turns out to be an alias used by the real killer, Tony says, "I must be slipping" when he remembers the name as the non-existent CIA agent from Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.
28	* One Halloween episode has the team being mistaken for lousy ''Series/{{CSI}}'' cosplayers.
29	** Throughout the early seasons, they get confused for CSI by many civilians who don't know what NCIS is.
30	* An experimental vehicle in "Driven" has [[Film/{{Airplane}} an autopilot named "Otto"]].
31	* In "Secrets," one of the neighbourhood vigilante superheros being interrogated exclaims "Why on [[Franchise/MarvelUniverse Earth 616]] would I kill a fellow superhero!?"
32	* When Tony refers to assistant coroner Jimmy Palmer as "the autopsy gremlin", Gibbs' response is telling Tony to [[Film/{{Gremlins}} not get him wet.]]
33	* After a tech developer insults [=McGee=] by assuming he's into ''dweeby'' role playing games, [=McGee=]'s response is: "[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Until I took an arrow in the knee.]]" The tech developer [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure apparently doesn't get the joke.]]
34	* "Ravenous" from Season 3 seems to be nothing but a series of Shout Outs to ''Film/PulpFiction''. Abby's subplot in the episode is a smaller-scale Shout Out to ''Film/SixteenCandles'', complete with LampshadeHanging.
35	** ''Film/PulpFiction'' pops up again in season 5's "Corporal Punishment" when the Marine of the week starts to convulse on his hospital bed from a drug overdose and is mistakenly given adrenaline.
36	--> '''Tony:''' They're [the hospital nurses, along with Ziva] [[PersonAsVerb pulling a ''Pulp Fiction'']]...
37	--> '''[=McGee=]:''' ... [[OhCrap on]] [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk.]]
38	* In season 6 "Dead Reckoning", Abby is wearing a pendant that looks a lot like [[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet Sackboy]].
39	* In a flashback, one of little Abby's toys is [[Manga/{{Trigun}} Kuro]][[http://www.justmanga.com/jmcover/triguncatplush.jpg neko]].
40	* In one episode, Abby plays a game that is very apparently ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' at [=McGee=]'s home.
41	* In one episode, Tony mentions [[Film/ThePrincessBride The Dread Pirate Roberts]] when voicing his theory that a famous criminal is actually a LegacyCharacter.
42	%%* It could just be my imagination but the background music for "Better Angels" sounds a lot like [[Franchise/StarWars "The Force]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcZ9kQ1h-ZY Theme"]]. It might have something to do with the good man from [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany an evil empire]] who needs to know he's still a good man despite what he did during [[UsefulNotes/WW2 the war]]. Also based on a true story.
43	* One episode has Tony referencing ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', complete with imitating the movie's namesakes signature scream. Cut to Ducky dissecting a small animal under a magnifying glass in a shot almost mirroring Bishop dissecting the facehugger in Aliens.
44	* This exchange:
45	--> '''Kate''': Gibbs, what did Ducky look like when he was younger?
46	--> '''Gibbs''': ''(beat)'' Illya Kuryakin. (David [=McCallum's=] role from ''Series/TheManFromUncle'')
47	* Elle's obsession with capturing the terrorist Parsa is an obvious shout-out to Agent Maya's obsession with UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden in ''Film/ZeroDarkThirty'', though unlike the film/real life Elle isn't a FieryRedhead, [[spoiler: she's met Parsa in person and has some kind of "personal" relationship with him (one of them even knows what the others favorite health bar is), Parsa is captured alive but gets shot by Gibbs after he attacks her]].
48	* "Obsession" is almost a WholePlotReference to ''Film/{{Laura}}'', but since the title refers to Tony, it falls to Ziva to point out the parallel.
49	* In the seventh season premiere, Tony notes that it would be "easier to find a new drummer for [[{{Film/ThisIsSpinalTap}} Spinal Tap]]" than it would be replace Ziva
50	* In "Judgement Day", Gibbs is given an FBI file. Its number? [[JennysNumber 8675309]].
51	* "Royals and Loyals" has [=McGee=] pull up the manifest of the HMS ''Sparrowhawk'', a British Royal Navy ship. The armaments listed include [[{{Franchise/Halo}} one "magnetic accelerator cannon", three "Shiva-class nuclear missiles" and various "Archer missile pods".]]
52	* Several from past Ducky in "So It Goes":
53	** [[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder "I'm a doctor, not a veterinarian, mother."]]
54	** [[Series/TheManFromUncle "I rather did like that black turtleneck..."]]
55	** I forgot exactly how it went but he'd ''rather'' look like Series/DoctorWho ''[[{{irony}} than]]'' wear a bowtie.
56	* The Season 12 episode ''The San Dominick'' has the [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Kobayashi]] [[UnwinnableTrainingSimulation Maru]] referenced by [=McGee=] as to a training exercise Bishop fails. Falls into BrickJoke territory when it comes up again and Bishop decides to query Gibbs (supposedly the only person to succeed on said exercise) on whether he did it the same way Kirk did. The others remind her that she is essentially going to accuse ''Gibbs'' of cheating on an official exercise...
57	* "We Build, We Fight" has [[RuleOfThree three references]] to ''Series/BreakingBad'', including a reference to an actor who's on both shows (Badger/Dorneget is mentioned but not seen) and "inverted" drugs (''Breaking Bad''[='=]s drugs are blue crystals while this episode's drug is a pink liquid).
58	** There's also an odd moment where Tony [[OutOfCharacterMoment does not know a pop culture reference]] -- he has no idea who or what "Locky" the German shepherd is named after ([[TheDogWasTheMastermind the dog wasn't the killer]] nor was the killer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berkowitz#Confession delusional and believed the dog told them to kill people]]). Interestingly no one cites [[Film/{{Thor}} the]] [[Film/TheAvengers2012 recent]] [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld films]] -- [=McGee=] cites Myth/NorseMythology while Ellie refers to [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor the comics]]; since we don't meet Loki's owner they're all possible sources.
59	* The crossover with ''NCISNOLA'' has Tony and [=McGee=] simultaneously say they're talking about ''Star Wars'' to hide what they're really discussing [[spoiler: Tony's breakup and Ellie's divorce]]; coincidentally, Abby is certain that her brother Luca isn't dead because "her family is strong with the Force" and later expresses frustration that while they both want to see the good in people she "acknowledges there's a Dark Side" and [[ThePollyanna he does not]], which she thinks makes him [[GoodIsDumb an easy target for con-artists]]. As for other [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Disney properties]] (and [[Franchise/StarWarsLegends ones that were discarded]]), Luca's crush is a beautiful redheaded woman who claims to have a DarkAndTroubledPast [[spoiler: who turns out to be a dangerous Russian spy who is actually a good guy and tired of being used as a "tool"]].
60	* "Being Bad", the second episode of season 14 has Palmer looking at photos of the gang of thieves and thinking that it reminds him of "Film/TheBreakfastClub" (jock, beauty queen, bad boy, weird girl, nerd). They more or less are a villainous version, with each member fitting with a character from the movie; unfortunately Palmer isn't as good as Tony is at getting the references across.
61	** [=McGee=] and Ellie later note that the villain of the week [[spoiler: who had been pretending to be gullible and practically blind and deaf]] totally "[[Film/TheUsualSuspects Keyzer Soze-ed]]" them but again since their usual source of movie references has left and the two new agents aren't as into pop culture the reference falls flat. This is also a minor EstablishingCharacterMoment for Torres, who admits he's ''"not much of a movie guy"'', despite replacing Tony on the team.
62	** Possible third reference: The villain [[spoiler:[[Series/BreakingBad was a seemingly harmless substitute chemistry teacher who poisoned the victim.]]]]
63	* "What Lies Above" sees Torres, Quinn and [=McGee=] argue the differences [[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry between a lie and an omission]] when [[spoiler:[=McGee=] learns the murder mystery about his (and by extension, Tony's) apartment.]]
64	* When discussing a town that's so far off the beaten path that it can well indeed be called the boondocks. Ziva questions what this means leading them to do an acapella rendition of [[Film/{{Deliverance}} the dueling banjos.]]
65	* "Code of Conduct" has a minor character named [[Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood Ted Rogers, who's wearing a red sweater and is the neighbour of the victim.]] The sweater is even {{Lampshaded}}.
66	* [=McGee=]'s cubicle has a band sticker for Music/VenetianSnares, of all things.
67	* One episode had a child witness mention that the suspect drove away from the crime scene in a "Kuruma". Gibbs is bewildered by this since [[ShapedLikeItself that's Japanese for "Car"]]. [=McGee=] realises that it’s a type of car in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', which would be a Chrysler Sebring sedan. They later confirm this is correct when they locate that same brand of car.
68	* Season 17 episode 10 has a shout out to Grim Fandango of all things. When rounding up a club owner/suspect with information, he starts singing "This little light of mine, I am going to let it shine". A shout out to Chepito, who sings the song while wandering the bottom of an ocean.
69	* In the Season 16 episode "A Thousand Words", Palmer is talking to the corpse of the week, a street artist ([[spoiler:who turns out to be an impostor]]). As far as artists go, Palmer believes that "[[Series/TheJoyOfPainting Bob Ross]] stands above them all." Ducky overhears him, and he confirms that he, too, is a fan, echoing a favorite Ross-ism: "We don't make mistakes; we have happy accidents."
70	* In the Season 14 finale, "Rendezvous", Palmer and Ducky are examining a dismembered corpse. As they try to put the dead man back together again, Palmer quips, "Here's an arm... here's a leg... [[Film/GoodFellas Hey, here's a wing! Do ya want the leg or the wing, Henry?"]] Ducky [[StopHavingFunGuys seems to chastise him,]] telling him to take the job seriously. Palmer apologizes, and Ducky replies, "Good. [[SubvertedTrope Now go get]] [[{{Troll}} your shine box!"]]
71	* The Season 17 two-episode arc "Judge, Jury..." and "...And Executioner" are a WholePlotReference to [[spoiler: Film/TheStarChamber]].
72	* In the Season 19 episode "Face the Strange," character-of-the-day Beesbo has numerous tokusatsu figures in his house, most notably giant figures of Franchise/KamenRider and Anime/GreatMazinger.
73	* "All Hands" is basically one big ''Franchise/StarTrek'' reference.
74	** The action takes place on a research ship called ''Stargazer'', which Parker and [=McGee=] recognize from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.
75	** [=McGee=] refers to himself and the cyber team as a "Borg Collective" to Vance, who mentions that he's partial to ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''.
76	** That cyber team then starts talking about ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', especially Creator/KateMulgrew and Creator/JeriRyan.
77	** After Parker stows away on the helo with the thieves, he guides reinforcements to his location by hooking his [=iPod=] to the comms and transmitting the theme to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.

Context ShoutOut / NCIS