Difference between revisions of "Pop Culture References"

Revision as of 23:44, 15 July 2017

Scott Sigler likes to put references to pop culture into his books.

Novels

The Rookie

The Starter

• After Ju Tweedy joins the team, Quentin Barnes invites him to extended practice sessions:^[1]

Ju laughed. “Practice? What are we talkin’ about, man... practice? 
Not a game, not a game... we talkin’ about practice? I save it for the games, Q.”

This references a press conference held by NBA star Allen Iverson in which he states much the same thing.

The All-Pro

• After Quentin shoots and destroys a pirate ship:^[2]

"I got him!" Quentin said. "I got him!"
"Great, Quentin," Virak said. "Do not grow overconfident."

This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars when Luke shoots a TIE fighter and has pretty much the same conversation with Han.

• Tarat the Smasher tells Akbar,^[3]

"Akbar, you are starting to make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

This is a nod to a line by David Banner in The Incredible Hulk TV show.

• Quentin is yelling at Tom Pareless in practice:^[4]

Tom straightened, hands on hips, eyes scrunched. “My ankle ... killing me. I’m ... trying ... Q.”
“There is no try!” Quentin screamed at the entire team.

This is a reference to the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Yoda is counseling Luke.

• After the sentient dolphins successfully sued for their independence, they were released to the ocean:^[5]

Dewey swam back only long enough to utter the famous words, 
“So long and thanks for all the fish,” and then the three weren’t heard from for another two years.

This is a quote from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and is the last words the dolphins say before they leave the doomed planet Earth.

Excerpt From: Scott Sigler. “The All-Pro.” iBooks.

The MVP

• The Prawatt play The Game, which is an on-ground version of Quidditch, from the Harry Potter books.
• After Quentin answers, "No, I'm not!" to a Sklorno priestess who asks him is he is their Godling. Don Pine pulls Quentin aside and says:^[6]

"When someone asks you if you are a godling, you say YES."

This is a reference to a scene in Ghostbusters.

• Virak says to Choto:^[7]

"I despise these primitive screw heads."

"Primitive screwheads" is a phrase from Army of Darkness, though the actual phrasing is a little different.

• When Quentin Barnes sees Jeanine Carbonaro dressed as a Buddha City Station trooper:^[8]

Quentin smiled at her. "Aren't you a little small to be a Green?"

This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars when Leia first sees Luke dressed as a stormtrooper.

• When the Prawatt starship captain Cormorant Bumberpuff first introduces himself, Captain Kate is incredulous:^[9]

“No military in, like, the entire galaxy would ever send a ship captain to board another vessel. 
That would be as dumb as, I don’t know, sending a ship captain down to the surface of an unknown planet or something.”

This basically pokes fun of how often Captain Kirk was a part of the away team in the original Star Trek series.

• When Petra asks Quentin to speak to the Sklorno on her behalf, he asks for some reciprocation. Petra asks if that means she'll owe him a favor:^[10]

“That day may never come, but yes. I haven’t agreed to help you, but if I choose to do what you ask, then you will owe me.”

This is very reminiscent of a scene in The Godfather.

• Tom Skivvers, in a live broadcast from the border between the Sklorno Dynasty and the Prawtt Jihad, refers to the amassed sklorno armada as:^[11]

"...the rag-tag, fugitive fleet of the Sklorno..."

This is a reference to the closing narrative of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica TV show:

"Fleeing from the Cylon tyranny, the last battlestar, Galactica, 
leads a rag-tag fugitive fleet on a lonely quest...
a shining planet known as Earth."

The Champion

• The bar where Quentin and the others ended their pub crawl around Neptune is called Kessell's Run.^[12] This is a reference to the scene in Star Wars when Han is incredulous that Ben and Luke have never heard of the Millennium Falcon.
• Paul "Bandit" Preston is killed in the attack on Bord.^[13]

“Paulisdead Paulisdead Paulisdead,” Denver said, her tone sad for once.

This is a reference to the Paul is Dead hoax about The Beatles' Paul McCartney in 1969.

• Quentin winds up on the cover of Madden 2686, then by season's end falls victim to the Madden Curse.
• During a press conference, Quentin observes how Creterakian reporter Kinizzle is dressed:^[14]

Quentin saw a Creterakian dressed in a black bodysuit with bright images of bouncing cherries moving on it. 
The cherries were being chased by what looked like a yellow pie missing one slice, except the slice opened and closed 
like it was the pie’s mouth.

This is a description of the 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.

Contagious

• Dew Phillips cant keep up with Perry Dawsey:^[15]

Dew stopped and put his hand on his hips. He was too old for this crap.

This is a reference to the Lethal Weapon franchise, in which Sergeant Roger Murtaugh repeatedly expresses similar age-related laments.

• When Colonel Ogden is attacked by his own men:^[16]

“Sir, yes sir!” Climer said. “I want you to get your mind right, sir!”

This is a nod to a scene in Cool Hand Luke.

Pandemic

• Clarence Otto says:^[17]

“Everybody out!” he screamed as he stumbled around to the other side. “Move, move! Get to the chopper!”

This is a reference to the scene in Predator where Arnie calmly advises someone to get aboard the helicopter.

Novellas

The Reporter

• Yolanda Davenport is desperately searching for an escape route:^[18]

Yolanda again looked right — no way out — and then left — no way out there, either. She had only seconds.
“Follow me if you want to live,” she said.

This is a reference to the Terminator franchise. Like Star Wars' I've got a bad feeling about this, the phrase appears in multiple Terminator movies.

• Turon the Ugly is holding a welder aloft, threatening to burn Yolanda Davenport to get information out of her.^[19]

“You don’t need that,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything.”
“I know you will.” He walked out from behind the desk, the flame still hissing from the welder.
He walked closer.
She pulled harder, as hard as she could, but it was no use. The trembling increased. They were going to burn her?

This is a reference to the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark (from 1:57 to 2:12), between Marion Ravenwood and Toht.

References

(hardcover, unless otherwise noted)

1. ↑ The Starter, p.num
2. ↑ The All-Pro, p.num
3. ↑ The All-Pro, p.num
4. ↑ The All-Pro, p. 129
5. ↑ The All-Pro, p.num
6. ↑ The MVP, p.num
7. ↑ The MVP, p.num
8. ↑ The MVP, p.num
9. ↑ The MVP, p.num
10. ↑ The MVP, p.num
11. ↑ The MVP, p.num
12. ↑ The Champion, p.num
13. ↑ The Champion, p.num
14. ↑ The Champion, p.num
15. ↑ Contagious, p.num
16. ↑ Contagious, p.num
17. ↑ Pandemic, p.num
18. ↑ The Reporter, iBooks p.231
19. ↑ The Reporter, iBooks p.116-117