Shout Out / Space Quest

Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter

• The name of Roger Wilco's home planet Xenon is a play on Krypton. The intro sequence and theme tune are also nods to Superman: The Movie.
• The Star Generator is based on the Genesis Device.
• The VGA remake, referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey, plays the first half of Richard Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra" when Roger meets the alien hologram in the Kerona caverns, and the second half when he returns with proof of Orat's death. The scene may also reference the titular Wizard from The Wizard of Oz. Speaking of which, if Roger gets melted by the dripping acid in the cave, he exclaims "I'm Melting!".
• The Sarien Spider Droid references the Imperial Probe Droid from The Empire Strikes Back, though crawling instead of hovering. The Ulence Flats buildings resemble the domed structures of Tatooine, both situated in the desert. The bar resembles Mos Eisley Cantina; the alien band may reference Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, the Mugger in the original version resembles Greedo, and the alien with eyestalks may reference an Ithorian.
• The Blues Brothers are also playing.
• In the intro of the VGA remake, the Arcada being captured by the Deltaur is a shoutout to the opening of A New Hope.
• The store Droids R Us is a reference to Toys "R" Us. In the VGA version, the store is known as Droids-B-Us. The store contains a Dalick and a Def-Tech droid, the HA-Y-AO droid refers to Hayao Miyazaki and the robots from Castle in the Sky, the Max-42 droid resembles the Maximilian robot from The Black Hole, the Murage droid may refer to Mecha and Kaiju in general, the YX-10 droid resembles the B-9-M-3 robot from Lost in Space, the SUX-9000 droid is named after the car 6000 SUX from RoboCop, the FB-001 sales droid resembles Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet, and there is the head of an Ultron-17 robot. In the original version, the Pilot Droid that Roger needs to buy for his ship, and the green Companion Droid, are based on the R2 astromech droids from Star Wars, and the latter breaks down shortly after purchase, like the unit with the bad motivator in A New Hope.
• In addition to The Blues Brothers and Madonna, one of the bands playing at the bar is ZZ Top, removed from later versions for legal reasons. A Galileo shuttlecraft is parked by the bar, with visible "NCC" intials.

Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge

• The landing platform on Labion looks like the Endor landing platform from Return of the Jedi, the forest creatures resemble Ewoks, and Sludge Vohaul is an obvious Darth Vader Expy.
• The Labion Terror Beast is based on The Tasmanian Devil.
• Roger gets chased by a Xenomorph expy that implants him with a Chest Burster if it catches him.

Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon

• In the junk freighter, there is "a bowtie fighter dating back to the cologne wars"; an Acme rocket; a Battlebot head that could refer to Optimus Prime or Gundam; an escape pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey; the Aluminum Mallard, referring to the Millenium Falcon; oversized Tinkertoys and LEGO bricks; a ship's wing that resembles an X-wing fighter; and a droid next to the grabber, resembling Johnny Five from Short Circuit.
• The in-game deaths reference the Iran-Contra affair, Gerald Ford, The Little Rascals, Purina Dog Chow, and Space Quest I, and II.
• On Phleebhut, Arnoid the Annihilator is a Terminator droid.
• Postcards at the World O' Wonders reference Disneyland, King's Quest, face huggers from Achoron, and Sandworms from Arrakis.
• Monolith Burger is a Fictional Counterpart based on McDonald's, and includes Tang in the menu.
• When docking at Monolith Burger, the Enterprise can be seen leaving.
• On Ortega, the thermal detonator and shield generator refer to Return of the Jedi.
• On Pestulon, the Nukem Dukem robots refer to Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.
• The Two Guys from Andromeda, an Author Avatar, are found encased in lime Jello.
• The ending is a shout out to Sierra, Ken Williams, and the Space Quest series.

Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers

• The Energizer Bunny makes an appearance in the starting area.
• The Magmetheus bar theme is similar to the Cantina Band theme in A New Hope, and the lit tables resemble the tables at the bar in Star Trek III.
• There is a Landspeeder in the Space Quest XII era.
• After capturing Roger Wilco Jr., the Sequel Police say to Sludge Vohaul, "This is the rebel scum we captured in the Space Quest 4 time sector."
• The Timebuster 2000 SUX is named after the 6000 SUX from RoboCop.
• The Space Quest X: Latex Babes of Estros era refers to the game Leather Goddesses of Phobos.
• When Zondra says, "Into the sub, flyboy", this is a reference to Princess Leia telling Han Solo, "Into the garbage chute, flyboy."
• While the Latex Babes are torturing Roger, Thoreen references Dirty Harry by introducing him to "the Epi-Rip 357, the most powerful hand hair remover in the universe... capable of shaving your legs clean off!"
• The Estrosian Sea Slug resembles an aquatic version of a Graboid, and is killed by feeding it a SCUBA tank, like the shark in Jaws.
• At the Galaxy Galleria, Dandy and Radio Shock refer to Tandy and Radio Shack in the disk version. The Sacks store refers to Saks Fifth Avenue, and the Maebot refers to Mae West.
• The games in Software Excess reference Carmen Sandiego, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator, Defender of the Crown, It Came from the Desert (1989), King's Quest, Loom, Pinball Construction Set, SimCity, and Trinity, game designers Bill Budge, Brian Moriarty, and Roberta Williams, and game companies Brøderbund Software, Cinemaware, LucasArts, Maxis Software, Sierra.
• The in-game hint book references Poltergeist, The Fugitive, Twin Peaks, Life Call/Life Alert ("I've fallen and I can't get up!") commercials, and Ovaltine commercials.
• The games at Buckazoid Bill's Arcade and Sushi Bar reference Bump 'n' Jump, Duck Hunt, Frogger, Hard Drivin', Spy Hunter (1983), Stunt Driver, and Super Monaco GP. Ms. Astro Chicken is a reference to Ms. Pac-Man, and features Cedric from King's Quest V. At the arcade, Agent 13 of Get Smart is in the trash can. When sitting in the time pod at the arcade, one of the aliens resembles Yoda.
• The security droids resemble the Imperial Probe Droid from The Empire Strikes Back.
• The Xenon Supercomputer GUI resembles a Macintosh and references Leisure Suit Larry 4, King's Quest XLIII, and Space Quest IV.

Space Quest V: The Next Mutation

• Cliffy the Scottyoid and Raemes T. Quirk refer to Montgomery Scott and James T. Kirk of Star Trek.
• Spike the Face Hugger is a reference to Alien.
• The WD-40 annihilator droid is named after WD-40 lubricant, and her ship resembles a Romulan Scout Ship.
• Genetix Research Corporation refers to Dynamix.
• When observing the opened trash picked up the the Eureka, the narrator says, "What a wonderful smell you've discovered," said by Han Solo in the garbage chute in A New Hope.
• At StarCon Academy, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader are occasionally dueling in the hallway. Two of the cadets resemble Worf and Spock. The Academy orbits Nova 9, a reference to the Stellar 7 series, and the Big Bad Gir Draxon is mentioned in the manual.
• Parodying the National Enquirer, the manual references the battle between Imperial troops and Ewoks in Return of the Jedi, incidents of teleporter accidents, the rotundity of Jabba the Hutt, the sighting and impersonation of Elvis, the real life dramas of The Jetsons and Lost in Space, the whimsicality of the The Far Side, the originality of the game designers using Star Trek and Star Wars reference manuals and an Alien Face Hugger model for inspiration, Sea-Monkeys, the longevity of Dick Clark, the hairstyles of Princess Leia, Spock, and William Shatner, and the strength of the Vulcans.

Space Quest VI: Roger Wilco in the Spinal Frontier

• The endodroid subplot is a reference to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
• Lick the wallpaper in the elevator, and Roger will say, "The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!" Talk to the elevator door, and the narrator will reply in the whiny voice of Cedric from King's Quest V.
• A Shuttle 1701-D is parked at the DeepShip 86 shuttle bay.
• Wriggley is a reference to Ripley from Alien.
• Stellar Santiago is a reference to Carmen Sandiego.
• The Dismembers Only arcade contains references to Amtrak, Encyclopedia Britannica commercials, Family Matters, Mortal Kombat II, Mixed-Up Mother Goose, Mother Teresa, NBA Jam, Street Fighter, and The Three Stooges.
• MC Cola is a reference to MC Hammer.
• The bar Orion's Belt contains references to Babylon 5, Star Trek, Isaac Asimov and William Gibson.
• The Boot Liquor store contains references to Jurassic Park, Kilgore Trout from Breakfast of Champions, Kira Nerys from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alan Dean Foster, Douglas Adams, Gene Roddenberry, Harlan Ellison, H. P. Lovecraft, Jerry Pournelle, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Piers Anthony, Raymond E. Feist, Richard Brautigan, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
• The "Hero's Waltz" music is a pastiche of Johann Strauss Jr.'s "Blue Danube Waltz", by extension referencing 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Other

• The Space Quest Companion hint book references an ArrakisCorp.
• In the Fan Sequel, Space Quest: The Lost Chapter, when typing "Pop claws" on the Vercotron and looking out the window, Roger appears as a 90's era Wolverine.

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