Shout Out / Wander over Yonder

Wander over Yonder has quite a few Shout Outs.

• The show's title comes from a line in the Cole Porter song "Don't Fence Me In".
• Sylvia is named after The Lone Ranger's horse, Silver.
  • And her species is Zbornak.
• One of the aliens◊ from Ward Kimball's "Mars and Beyond" (an episode of Walt Disney Presents) appears◊ as a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the intro.
• Lord Hater's army, the Watchdogs references the Patapons/Zigotons from the titular game Patapon.
• There are a ridiculous amount of references to Star Wars:
  • Lord Hater's name is an obvious nod to Darth Vader. In the animatic for "The Greater Hater", one of the Watchdogs even says he's been calling the former the latter for six months, though he only gets out "Lord Va-" before being interrupted by an explosion.
  • The Sarlacc makes an appearance of sorts in "The Buddies."
  • "The Rider" is crammed with Star Wars references, from Ryder's Han Solo outfit to the Mos Eisley cantina, to Hater's stash being kept in a Death Star, complete with a "that's no moon" line.
  • The entire climactic "battle" in "The It" is one giant reference to Bespin, including Hater getting frozen a la Han.
  • "The Matchmaker" starts with Wander and Sylvia about to get crushed in Hater's garbage disposal, mirroring a similar scene in A New Hope.
  • The opening shot of "The Family Reunion" mirrors the opening shot of Hope.
  • "The Day" has a sleeping, disguised Wander "escorting" a chained Sylvia in an elevator, akin to Han and Luke escorting Chewie on the first Death Star. When Sylvia is forced to drop the ruse when pressed by Commander Peepers, she delivers Han's "boring conversation anyway" line.
  • "The Hole Lotta Nothin'" has Lord Hater fitted with a Robotic Arm, in a similar manner to how Luke gets his one fitted in; "Empire Strikes Back"?
  • "The Night Out" features a Jabba-esque crimelord, complete with a rancor pit.
  • Sylvia's "help us, Neckbeard, you're our only hope" in "The Sky Guy" a reference to Princess Leia's hologram in A New Hope. "Skyguy" also happens to be Ahsoka Tano's nickname for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
  • Then of course there's Lord Dominator, who is positively dripping in references to Star Wars villains. Her intimidating Power Armor and conical helmet make her a pretty obvious Darth Vader expy and her massive, triangular-shaped flagship is a clear nod to a Star Destroyer, even having a similar introduction shot in The Greater Hater. Dominator's Sadist, Psychopathic Woman Child and Manipulative Bastard tendencies call to mind many Sith characters and even her Lava Adds Awesome powers can be seen as an ironic nod to the volcanic world that created Vader.
• In "The Greatest," you can clearly see Sylvia dancing like Snoopy in one scene.
  • She does it again in "The Birthday Boy", which has an additional Peanuts nod when Wander, after taming a giant beast, says that "Happiness is a warm puppy".
  • Another Peanuts ref shows up in "The Little Guy". When it starts snowing, the background music plays a piano bit that resembles Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• In "The Prisoner" Lord Hater holds a magical sword by its hilt and blade and claims that he has the power before Wander disrupts his plan.
  • The power crystal is also a reference to Crash Bandicoot.
  • Ted in Accounting holds up his finger with a lightning crack in "The It" the same way He-Man holds up the sword.
• The entrance to Lord Hater's bedroom features almost the exact same door sequence as Mystery Science Theater 3000.
• Wander's sinking into the mud as he becomes hesitant to stop Hater's sun-destroying missile is very reminiscent of Artax's drowning into the Swamp of Sadness from The Never Ending Story, with an inversion in roles; it's the hero himself that (almost) succumbs both metaphorically and literally, while it's the steed who tries (successfully) to snap him out of it.
• "The Pet" is pretty much a love letter to Alien. It takes place in a dark, enclosed spaceship. Sylvia dress up in an outfit that resembles Vasquez's (complete with face paint). The monster of the story is heavily Alien inspired with the fact that it spits acid and crawls around vents to kill people. At one point Sylvia rides around in an exosuit and quotes Ripley's famous line from Aliens almost word for word.
  • There's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sequence of Captain Tim^note the original Captain Tim, not the monster that Wander names after him doing a Captain Kirk-style speech.
    • And the Jump Scare at the very end of the closing credits is similar to one at the end of the Samurai Champloo episode "Cosmic Collisions".
• Numerous references to Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera, right down to sound effects.
  • "The Void" is even possibly a Whole-Plot Reference to Duck Amuck.
  • "The Gift 2" has a chase scene reference to a classic Droopy short.
• Amid the planets moving into alignment in "The Picnic" are a katamari, an Everlasting Gobstopper, and a twenty-sided die.
• The watchdogs have a chant: "Hate's great! Best villain!" Which is a riff on the Miller Lite slogan. "Tastes great! Less filling!"
• The Watchdogs themselves may be a reference to the best-known costumes◊ of The Residents, a long-running music and performance art group.
• Sylvia is a Zbornak, which was the last name of Dorothy from The Golden Girls.
  • Her mother, introduced in "The Family Reunion", is named Dorothy, bringing the reference full circle. She also calls her mother "Ma" like how Dorothy calls her mother Sophia.
• During a Fantasy Sequence in "The Bounty," Lord Hater's rule spreading over the Galaxy is represented by an expanding Symbol of Chaos — actually resembling the original Michael Moorcock version from The Elric Saga rather than the better-known Warhammer version.
• In "The Hero", when Wander is singing Brad Starlight's theme song, Brad tells him to mention that he fought a bear so folks will know how strong he is. This is an obvious shoutout to Billy's theme song from Adventure Time.
  • The guards inside Draco's castle bear a strong resemblence to Maleficent's Evil Minions in Sleeping Beauty.
  • Inside the Maze of Delusion there is a sword embedded in stone, which Brad tries to pull out, to no avail (while Wander is able to remove it easily).
• In "The Lonely Planet", Wander and Sylvia explain that "there ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, and ain't no river wide enough" to keep the two of them apart.
  • Cue Janet to test that theory and even eat Sylvia.
  • Also, at the beginning of the episode, planet Janet's just a rose on a small, empty planet.
  • While it may be a coincidence, Janet's name could be a reference to "Interplanet Janet".
  • Janet calls Wander Wubbzy at one point.
• When Wander and Sylvia use the speed boosting arrows toward the end of "The Time Bomb," they emit a very familiar-looking streak of pink, green and blue colored light.
  • The speed boosting arrows themselves are similar to tricks from the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games.
  • Harvax and Stox, being Jerkass garbage collectors who antagonize our heroes, might be a reference to Burke and Murray from SWAT Kats; Stox is even voiced by Charlie Adler!
  • Harvax resembles a blue version of Scroop from Treasure Planet, while Stok looks a lot like Bendy from Craig McCracken's previous series. Thankfully, the latter gets his comeuppance.
• What do you get if you stick Wander and Sylvia in Michael Crichton's Sphere? You get "The Void." There's even a herd of jellyfish and a giant squid! (Who just wants to sell you insurance).
• Sourdough the Evil Sandwich- anybody getting any vibes of Bob the Killer Goldfish yet?
• In "The Epic Quest of Unfathomable Difficulty" Wander and Sylvia come across a neon knight, and must answer "the riddles three" of a bridge guard.
• In "The Void", Wander's "Inside Your Mind" number is to the tune of "We Both Reached For The Gun" from Chicago.
• In "The Helper", the manager of the diner and several other characters are drawn in the style of Yellow Submarine.
• Wander accidentally triggers a classic Kaiju attack in "The Good Guy".
• Ryder takes a swim in Hater's treasure stash in "The Rider".
• In "The Gift", Wander believes that all the gifts Hater and the Watchdogs will be receiving will be enough to make Hater's heart grow three sizes.
  • The ornament aliens' town is almost a direct match of Whoville.
• In "The Enemies" Lord Hater has half of a powerful sword, just like Skeletor, another skull-faced villain had half of the Power Sword during the second wave of Masters of the Universe minicomics.
• Commander Peepers rushing towards the door in "The Big Day" is based on Lancelot storming Swamp Castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
• The scene where Wander shoos loopy Hater away is a reference to a similar scene in Harry and the Hendersons.
• "The Boy Wander" is an episode-long love letter to Batman, especially the 60's Batman series, right down to the spinning scene transitions and Wander calling Sylvia "old chum".
  • It's obvious who inspired Dr. Screwball Jones, but the reference is cemented here:
    Sylvia: This joker is who you think is the most dangerous villain in the galaxy?
  • The design of Wander in this episode was seen in the previous episode "The Fremergency Fronfract" in a short clip mimicking the Batman: The Animated Series opening sequence.
  • The ending of the episode has Commander Peepers paraphrase the famous "And so once again, the day is saved. Thanks to The Powerpuff Girls!" ending, even with the same pink lines flashing around Wander and Sylvia (which is no surprise since the two shows are directed by Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust). Bonus points for being voiced by Tom Kenny.
• The curator in "The Boy Wander" is the Son of Man with a Picasso face.
• Hater's addled speech from "The Fremergency Fronfract" is a parody of Lois Lane's "Can You Read My Mind" voiceover from Superman: The Movie.
• Stella Starbella from "The Loose Screw" is an Old Superhero combo of Stella Star and Barbarella, especially as seen in the poster of her younger self.
  • Stella owns a Supersonic Socketwrench that she confiscated from a Organized Time Syndicate.
  • Stella's Arch-Enemy, Mandrake the Malfeasant is clearly a geriatric Ming the Merciless.
• A scrapped scene in "The It" would have featured a cameo from Iggy Starbeam and the Maltars of Flarn. Three guesses who it's based off of.
  • For a scene that made it in, Lord Hater at one point falls into a lava pit with his finger sticking out a la Terminator 2.
• In "The Battle Royale" Wander says that love is like a battlefield, which could be referencing either Pat Benatar or Jordin Sparks.
• Also in "The Battle Royale", during Hater's fight with Dominator, there were a few times Hater would charge his lightning attacks with his hands in the kamehameha or hadouken position.
• Episode titles for the second season include "The Bad Hatter" and "My Fair Hatey".
• At one point in "The Rider," Sylvia aptly refers to Rider as a frood.
• In "The Wanders", Sylvia's way of collecting Blonde!Wander, Bad Guy!Wander and Hero!Wander is by setting up a scene right out of The Perils of Pauline.
• The end of the episode "The Cartoon" is a reference to Scooby-Doo, Gravity Falls, and The Jetsons. Even with the voice actors from Gravity Falls.
  • The Episode also shows Lord Hater & The Watch Dogs watching said Cartoon, with their silhouettes shown in theater seats, very similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000.
  • The entire propaganda cartoon is basically a shout out to the old Filmation cartoons.
  • Cartoon!Sylvia's voice is an imitation of Mr. Ed.
• Blink and you'll miss it, but during Dominator's Villain Song in "My Fair Hatey", while singing about not being a "frightened princess" Dominator moves her hair over her shoulder in the same way Elsa does in Frozen (2013).
• Dominator's "If your nasty!" line in "The Rival" is a variation of a quote used by Janet Jackson.
• Major Threat is based heavily on The Dude from The Big Lebowski. His name is even Jeff, which is after Jeff Bridges (who played The Dude).
• Myrtle the Eternal Turtle's voice is based on Dame Maggie Smith.
• Bloo is among the refugees in "The End of the Galaxy".
• In "The Hole Lotta Nothin'", Hater makes a face very reminiscent of The Grinch when he realizes that he can annoy Wander while he's stuck.
• "The Legend" had one of the children liken their version of Wander and Sylvia to Shotaro and Tetsujin #28, otherwise known as Gigantor.
• "The Search For Captain Tim" is crowded with references to Alien.
  • Captain Tim forming a lump on Hater's tunic similar to the way the chestbusters do before popping out of someone's chest (only to be Subverted when it comes out of his mouth).
  • Emily Ripvov, who is a clear shout out to Ellen Ripley, protagonist of most of the Alien movies. She is a more Ax-Crazy version of the character who hates the creatures much more and is completely obsessed with exterminating all of them. Her motivation for killing them is also that her crew was completely massacred by the creatures.
  • The Arachnomorph are a clear shoutout to the Xenomorphs. Among their most prominent features we encounter acid blood, their lack of eyes, and the fact that their species if comprised of a colony that serves a Queen, which is a larger, stronger and more powerful version of them.
• "The Waste of Time":
  • When Wander and Sylvia get stuck in the future, and Wander is told that they need to go back to the present, they take off like so:
    Sylvia:...We gotta get back!
    Wander: Gotta get back. Back to the past!
  • The creators of orbble juice are named Wilmur and Orbble Wright.
• In "The Heebie Jeebies", the song Wander sings to try to calm himself down is a parody of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
• The opening to "The Robomechabotatron" is a near perfect parody of the one from Voltron.

---