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Strictly speaking, the following are not all shout outs; some are actually minor sources that just end up acting like shoutouts. Feel free to correct or add anything that previous contributors have overlooked, because there's always going to be something that previous contributors have overlooked. This list is all but guaranteed to not be complete and exhaustive. No one, not even the creators, is sure how many sources have contributed to the setting over the years. (For a quick idea of how densely a single UF story can be packed with references and sources, check out this thread on the EPU Forums. This is, it should be noted, for one of the shorter pieces. Also check out the quote at the top of the main page, which packs seven references into a single In the Name of the Moon speech.)

  • 801 T.T.S. Airbats — The cast joins Redneck's Freespacer army in "The Quagmire Project".
  • Adam-12 — When Ed Tivrusky spoofs the Boston police radio system in Wounded Rose.
  • Alien — Reference is made a couple times to "xenomorphs" from a world called Acheron.
  • Better Off Dead — This classic 80s teen movie gets a two-in-one reference when Buttercup Utonium sings its title song at her high school prom. (Elizabeth Daily, Buttercup's voice actress, performed the song in the movie.)
    • Arguably the most famous line in the movie — "Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that." — is (mis-)quoted at least twice in various stories (in reference to both Utena Tenjou and Paige Guthrie).
  • Blade Runner — In Cybertron Reloaded chapter six, the classic Tannhäuser Gate lines get played with a little for Priss Morgan.
  • Blazing Saddles — In the 2008 Christmas ministory A Walk In The Woods, Nall quotes Bart's line "'Scuse me while I whip this out" just before shifting to his full draconic form.
  • Charles Dickens — Sir Victor Creed is reading History of the Middling Ages during the events of the Exile-era ministory Direct Action.
  • Chess — A photo found by Kei early in Aegis Florea 2 reveals that the Hanagumi put on a production of this musical in 2354; it's hard to tell from the description, but it appears that Gryphon was cast as Freddy and Sumire as Florence.
  • The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny — Commissioner Amberson in Secrets is Prince Julian of Amber. The Chronicles exist in-world as fiction; Corwin is named for Prince Corwin, and takes his personal style from the Prince's. Corwin also buys a copy of the Chronicles for Utena as a gift.
  • Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P.C. Hogdell — the city of Tai-tastigon is mentioned.
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind — When Kaitlyn meets the Stig during her appearance on Top Gear in the bonus story Road Film (With Fighting), the two of them hold a brief musical "conversation" which is clearly the opening of the "dialogue" between the base at Devil's Tower and the Mothership.
  • Crest of the Stars — Lafiel Abriel and Jinto Lin Kirk are Gryphon's helmsperson and nav officer on the IPS Challenger.
  • The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon — referenced in the title of chapter one of Star-Crossed, "The Crying of Lot 490".
  • Doonesbury — Raoul Duke in Manhunt seems to draw on Uncle Duke as well as Hunter S. Thompson.
  • Dragnet — Devlin Carter's AEGIS badge number is (deliberately) one off from Joe Friday's LAPD badge number.
  • Dragonlance — Some of the spells/words of power Tsuwabuki uses come from these books.
  • Duran Duran — Kaitlyn's ragged stuffed tiger "Seven" is a reference to the Duran Duran album "Seven and the Ragged Tiger".
  • Electric Light Orchestra — The phrase "I have a message from another time..." which appears in the title block of all of the later stories, is a line from ELO's song "Twilight", which was famously used by the animators who would later form Studio Gainax in the Daicon IV opening, itself a Mega Crossover.
  • The Flying Nun — Sister Bertrille, slightly altered, appears in a teaser "trailer" for an upcoming story set in "The New Frontier" era.
  • Fallout — The presence of Rad-X antiradiation medication in shipboard medical supplies. In Desolation Angel, Azula conquers New Vegas and rebuilds its civilization.
  • Fall Out Boy — After songs from Save Rock and Roll and other albums were used as BGM in stories such as "Desolation Angel" and "First Dates and Firefights", they finally got a proper reference in the supporting documents for the K-On! sidestory, "The Federation Lives Forever", with Azalynn's affectionate dig at FOB's pre-SRAR penchant for long song titles and an likely unintentional Ritsu Tainaka-Pete Wentz comparison.
  • Fatal Fury — Eiko Rose winds up fighting (and winning against) Joe Higashi in a martial arts tournament.
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off — Gets quoted in Second Chances are Illogical.
  • Firefly — Due to the ban on any Mutant Enemy production, the brown coats worn by the crew of the Surprise in Manhunt is possibly the only Firefly reference that will ever be found in UF.
  • F³ (Frantic, Frustrated and Female) — Troubled main character Hiroe Ogawa was Kaitlyn's last roommate at boarding school before Utena; after finding a cure for her condition, she became a Companion to Time Lord James Burke.
  • Girl Genius — Comments made by characters which are obscure enough to cloud whether they are citing a work that exists in-world, or referencing historical figures.
  • The Great Escape — When Janice is held by the Psi Corps in Hunter Rose, a Corps guard gives her a ball and glove to amuse herself with in solitary.
  • Gulo's Tale — source of planet "Gulo"?
  • Heat Guy J — a robot based on J appears in Second Chances.
  • Hellsing — Geoff Depew's custom pistols are based on Alucard's Casull and Jackal.
  • Highlander — It seems that almost no one in UF can resist making Highlander references.
  • Homestar Runner — An IPO personnel file for Strong Bad (using the appearance of Strong Badman) was posted to the forums in the early 2000s, but he was never used as an actual character in the stories.
  • Humanx Commonwealth ("Flinx and Pip") novels by Alan Dean Foster — The world Moth is mentioned as a candidate for the title "hive of scum and villainy" in The Antianeira Incident.
  • The Hunt for Red October — a ship in Manhunt is named for a Navy frigate from this film.
  • I Love Lucy — Hammer and Eiko do a "Loosey, I'm home!" bit.
  • IRIA: Zeiram the Animation — Corwin owns a cloak explicitly described as being the kind Iria's type of bounty hunter wears.
  • Irresponsible Captain Tylor — Justy Ueki Tylor is a Freespacer, and appeared "on screen" in Day of Infamy.
  • Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds — The ministory "The Honor of Mars: A War Story" echoes the lyrics of the first part of this musical adaptation of the Wells novel with the lines
    "...The chances of anything hostile coming to New Woking were confidently estimated at a million to one.
    But still they came..."
    • The Art of Noise, with the BBC Aetherophonic Orchestra and Rose Tyler as the Narrator, perform the album in concert in DSM Panic!.
  • Juno Reactor — In a flashback in A Rose for the New Year, MegaZone quotes the spoken dialogue from the beginning of this group's track "Guardian Angel".
  • The Karate Kid — One of Laura Kinney's trainers was named Miyagi, and his vocal patterns, as remembered by Laura, match the movie's Miyagi-sensei.
  • Ladyhawke — Phillipe "The Mouse" Gaston is mentioned as an ancestor of the UF version of Sorata Muon from Mouse in the story "Icebreaker/Thankless".
  • Larry the Cable Guy — Inspiration for Q-Boss Earl in The Antianeira Incident.
  • The Legend of Black Heaven — Oji "Gabriel" Tanaka is a member of Mylene's band in The Sterling Saga.
  • The Lion King (1994) — Gryphon quotes the movie to T'Pol in a flashback in Second Chances Are Illogical.
  • Lord Peter Wimsey — Devlin's "Upper-Class Twit" accent is explicitly compared to Wimsey.
  • The Man Who Laughs — The 1928 silent film adaptation of this Victor Hugo book is referenced twice in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper" through the known aliases of The Joker: first as Conrad Veidt (the star of the film) and second as Francis Gwynplaine (the character he portrayed). It should probably be noted that this film was a primary inspiration for the Joker, and a 2005 comic about the origin of the Joker was released under the same name.
  • Mars Attacks!! — The fungoid aliens who used Mars as a staging ground for an abortive early 21st-century invasion of Earth are the Gnards and/or Paeecs.
  • Mighty Orbots — Nick is seen watching this cartoon on TV while in hiding during the events of Outward Trajectory.
  • Monty Python's Flying Circus — Kei references the "Me Doctor" sketch when Iris and Gryphon meet again in Aegis Florea 2.
  • Mouse — Sorata Muon and his lovely assistants help defeat a cell of Nazi terrorists in "Icebreaker/Thankless"
  • Mystery Science Theater 3000 — It was in the Bubblegum Crisis spinoff series Hopelessly Lost where Gryphon originally quoted Joel and the bots' rant at the end of the "Rocket Attack USA" episode to prove he was from another universe. ("Well, first of all, Sam Waterston sends the spy guy in the Piper Cub over to Russia....") It doesn't appear in UF proper until over 20 real-world years later in Lensman: The Brave and the Bold — "New Tricks".
  • Nero Wolfe — Utena remembers Anthy quoting him in Page of Swords.
  • Ocean's Eleven — A tongue-in-cheek reference to a movie called Godzilla's 11 in DSM Panic! More recently, a Future Imperfect miniseries Shepard's 11.
  • Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis — the UF version of The DCU's Green Martians call their world "Malacandra" and themselves "Malacandrans".
  • Our Man Flint — The Eyrie Crew indicates some connection exists in recent works (as of April 2009).
  • The "Pepsiman" commercials — Pepsiman androids exist, basically as humanoid drink dispensers.
  • Pink Floyd — Adam Johnson picked "pfloyd" as his WPI username because he was a fan. Zoner uses The Wall as a metaphor for the way he distances himself from his friends when he gets depressed, and Gryphon quotes The Wall in Manhunt 3.
  • Planet of the Apes (1968) — Brief mention of "Heston's Planet", the home planet of Mojo Jojo.
  • Pokémon — Wapiko has brought home six Jigglypuffs, even though Pokemon aren't supposed to exist in New Avalon.
  • The Princess Bride — "Sleep well, Major, I'll most likely kill you in the morning" becomes a Running Gag in Lensman: The Brave and the Bold "New Tricks".
  • Pulp Fiction — In a flashback in Weapon of Choice, Laura Kinney appropriates part of Jules' "hamburger speech" ("Do they speak Standard on 'What'?") while confusing some guards into letting her pass.
  • Real Genius — In A Rose for the New Year, Zoner quotes the line about dreaming you're on an pyramid in sun-god robes.
  • Red Dwarf — "BTLs" as a street-level "drug" are mentioned in Upward Mobility.
  • Scud the Disposable Assassin — In an early-2012 microstory, Rei Ayanami gives HK-47 an assignment to be executed with "Contempt Level 10".
  • Sex and the City — Valeris' personality after her... exposure... to Raoul Duke and his medical bag may reference Samantha (both were played by Kim Cattrall).
  • The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut — the use of the word "chronosynclastic" as Time Lord jargon.
  • Sneakers — Gryphon uses the voiceprint password "My name is Werner Brandes" in order to access the BRIGHTEST DAY project center.
  • Spaceballs — Folding back to the Planitia shipyards in part 2 of core has the universe going plaid.
  • Spy Hunter — The Sunrise Motorworks Griffon 6155 Interceptor makes an appearance in The Santero Affair
  • Steam Detectives — Provided character design inspiration for Corwin Ravenhair.
  • Charlie Stross's Laundry stories — A Hand of Glory wired to a palmtop computer in Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper".
  • The Tick — The Tick and Arthur make a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo during the motorcycle chase in Undocumented Features 1.
  • Thieves' World — a world called "Sanctuary", known for its criminal element.
  • Tintin — A Wedge Defense Force ship called the Unicorn, captained by "A. Haddock", appears in the forum extra "Preliminary Report: Operation TRIDENT".
  • Tom Lehrer — While jokingly calculating on his fingers how "too much" older he is than Utena in Christmas Rose, MegaZone briefly quotes the song "New Math" from That Was the Year That Was.
  • A Touch of Frost — According to the Eyrie crew, Corwin's threat to the demonically-empowered shade of Akio Ohtori in Sympathy For the Devil was inspired by a moment in that series when the normally-happy-go-lucky Detective Inspector Jack Frost suddenly shifted entirely into Bad Cop mode with a suspect who was about to get away with a crime.
  • True Blood — A "synthetic blood analogue" drunk by Saya Otonashi during the events of Hellbringer and the After-School Special Mission Force #1: "The Bad Bank Caper" may be a reference.
  • Vividred Operation — Professor Isshiki and Gryphon watch the Vivid team take on Big Fire in the Cold Open of Lensman: The Brave and the Bold — "New Tricks", but this doesn't have any connection to the rest of the story.
  • Wanted — The Stig performs a maneuver lifted from the film version of Wanted in The Santero Affair.
  • War of the Worlds (1988) — The Sarmak Martians use the Catchphrase "To life immortal" from this series.
  • Watchmen — Although the name of "The Veidt Savings and Loan" bank on Kane's World is a direct reference to The Man Who Laughs as noted above, it's not out of the realm of possibility for it to be a portmanteau reference to Adrian Veidt as well.
  • Winnie the Pooh — a small stand of trees on the campus of Deedlit Satori Mandeville Memorial Institue is called "The Single-Acre Wood".
  • Wise Blood — In Manhunt chapter three, Gryphon resists the urge to quote "Where you are ain't no good unless you can get away from it" from this 1979 film.
  • The Wizard of Oz — Ace's real name from Doctor Who, Dorothy Gale, is used to annoy her.
  • The X-Files — In the 24th century, the WWWA had an "X-Class" classification for paranormal events and investigations thereof.
  • Zeiram (live-action film). Teppei works as a technician for the TPG in Nekomikoka.
  • Zork — A White Legion survival kit includes 100 zorkmids. In addition, a character is referred to as tearing into another "like a grue in the dark".

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