List of pop culture references in the Halo series: Difference between revisions

{{Title|List of pop culture references in the ''Halo'' series}}

{{Cleanup}}

==Film==

===300===

*With the IWHBYD skull activated, Marines in ''Halo 3'' will sometimes shout "THIS IS SPARTA," a reference to a line in the movie and a popular internet meme.

===2001: A Space Odyssey===

In ''[[Halo: The Thursday War]]'', [[Evan Phillips]] requests the [[Black-Box]] fragment to ''"drop the sorry-Dave-I-can't-do-that crap"'' in response to the latter's malfunctioning while stranded in the [[Temple of the Abiding Truth]].<ref>'''Halo: The Thursday War''', ''page 102''</ref> This is referring to the famous line by the AI [[Wikipedia:HAL 9000|HAL 9000]].

{{main|List of references to Aliens in the Halo series}}

[[File:AJ - Comparison.png|250px|thumb|Sergeant Apone from ''Aliens'', and ''Halo''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Sergeant [[Avery Junior Johnson|Johnson]].]]

The ''Halo'' universe, particularly ''[[Halo: Combat Evolved]]'', has been heavily influenced by the film ''[[Wikipedia:Aliens (film)|Aliens]]'' in terms of story, characters, designs, and technology. In addition, a number of direct references are made to the ''Alien'' franchise throughout the ''Halo'' series.

*The four mandibles of the [[Sangheili]] are similar to those of the Predator.

*The cloaking device of the Predator is similar to active camouflage.

===Ghostbusters===

When picking up a Spartan Laser, Dutch will occasionally shout "Don't nobody cross my stream!". This is a reference to the proton beams in the ''Ghostbusters'' films, which would theoretically annihilate the entire universe if crossed with one another.

===Star Wars===

*The scene in ''Halo: Combat Evolved'' where the Halo is shown and when the camera pans out to show the ''[[UNSC Pillar of Autumn|Pillar of Autumn]]'' looks quite similar like the opening scenes of each ''Star Wars'' episode.

*Sometimes, with the IWHBYD skull activated, a Marine can be heard saying "They remind me of Wookiees from ''Star Wars'',"  after they kill a Brute. When fighting Brutes, Sergeant Stacker occasionally says, ''"Hey, Chewie. You're about to be turned into a foot rest!"'', in reference to Chewbacca.

*The [[M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle|Elephant]] bears a great resemblance to the Jawa Sandcrawlers.

*Edwards Buck's line ''"Look at the size of that thing!"'' in regard to the assault carrier over New Mombasa is a quote from Wedge Antilles, commenting on the size of the ''Death Star''.

*[[Noble Six]]'s line ''"The last transport is away,"'' is likely a reference to ''Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back''. A similar line, ''"The first transport is away,"'' is said when an orbiting Star Destroyer is disabled by a land-based ion cannon, allowing a transport vessel to evacuate Echo Base; In ''Halo: Reach'', SPARTAN-B312's line is said when an overhead Covenant corvette is damaged by a land-based missile battery, allowing a civilian transport vessel to escape.

*The game stats description for the [[BOB]]s in ''Halo: Reach'' is ''"Wipe them out..."'' In addition to referencing the tendency of players to kill the similarly-named non-player characters in Bungie's ''[[Marathon]]'' series, this could be a reference to Palpatine's line ''"Wipe them out... all of them"'' from ''The Phantom Menace'', given that Bungie had previously referenced dialog from that film in their ''Halo: Reach'' updates (namely, ''"A communications disruption can mean only one thing..."'' in relation to the [[Invasion]] gametype).

===Terminator===

*In ''[[Halo: Last One Standing]]'', the scream can be heard moments after [[T. Rymann]] is killed, when the Marines take cover from a Banshee's [[fuel rod]]. It is barely audible through the noise of the explosion.

*The scream is heard in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', in the opening cutscene of the level [[Tip of the Spear]], as a Warthog falls off a bridge, accompanied by another trooper screaming. However, the Wilhelm Scream is not heard on all difficulties as the scream varies according to difficulty.

*In ''[[Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn]]'' the scream is heard in the classified video [[Michael Sullivan]] shows to his fellow cadets, as an Insurrectionist is thrown against a wall, just after the Spartan announces an unknown hostile.

==Television==

===Battlestar Galactica===

===The Dukes of Hazzard===

*Sometimes [[Gunnery Sergeant]] [[Stacker]] will say: "Drive her like she's got a trunk-full-of-moonshine!" when ordered out of the drivers seat of a [[Warthog]], a reference to the Dukes' family moonshine smuggling business.

===Firefly and Serenity===

*[[Reynolds|Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds]], (who is voiced by Nathan Fillion), is named in reference to Malcolm Reynolds, Fillion's character from ''Firefly'' and ''Serenity''. Fillion returned in ''Halo 3: ODST'' as [[Edward Buck|Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck]], who boasts a very similar personality to Reynolds and is based on Fillion's likeness.

===Star Trek===

*The [[Portal at Voi]] is also referred to as "the Excession at Voi" or simply "the Excession". This echoes the Culture's designation of the titular object in the novel ''[[Wikipedia:Excession|Excession]]''. Although different in scale and technology level, the term is also applied in a similar manner as in Banks' novel: an atypically high-technological object that presents what is referred to as an [[Wikipedia:Outside Context Problem|"Outside Context Problem"]] and may become a contested prize for multiple parties due to the potential technology it may contain.<ref>'''Halo: Evolutions''' — ''[[From the Office of Dr. William Arthur Iqbal]]''</ref>

*[[Neural interface]]s are also referred to as "neural laces", which is also a term used for the neurally-integrated data terminals used by Culture citizens.

*Banks' 1993 non-Culture novel ''[[Wikipedia:Against a Dark Background|Against a Dark Background]]'' makes a passing reference to a vast, sentient space habitat called "Halo".

===Lord of the Flies===

''[[Wikipedia:Lord of the Flies|Lord of the Flies]]'' is an allegorical novel written by William Golding in 1954. It discusses how culture created by man fails and how man shall always turn to barbarism, using parallels of a group of school-boys stuck on a deserted island who unsuccessfully try to govern themselves and consequently have disastrous results, leading to many acts of horrible barbarism and deaths. [[Franklin Mendez|CPO Mendez]] and [[Kurt-051]] had both read the book some time before beginning the training of the first generation of [[SPARTAN-III program|SPARTAN-III]] soldiers in [[2531]]. Mendez fears that the results of training hundreds of child soldiers would be similarly disastrous, but Kurt disagrees, believing he would provide the leadership to make the SPARTAN-IIIs successful.<ref>'''[[Halo: Ghosts of Onyx]]''', ''page 70''</ref>

===Man in the Iron Mask===

===Moby-Dick===

*The achievements [[From Hell's Heart]] and [[I Thrust at Thee]] in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' and ''[[Halo 4]]'', respectively, are named in reference to Captain Ahab's last words from the novel (''"...from hell's heart, I stab at thee!"'').

**In the fifth Mayday Text, she makes one more ''The Tempest'' reference with "All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!" and "What, must our mouths be cold?" from the first scene of the play, during a shipwreck.

*[[Mack]]'s misquoting of Shakespeare is a running motif throughout ''Halo: Contact Harvest''.

In the [[axon]] [http://images.wikia.com/halo/images/a/ab/Shipwrecked.ogg shipwrecked], [[Kamal Zaman]] says "People think time is a river that flows in one direction, but time is an ocean." This is a reference to "Some say time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction, but I have seen the face of time and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm." said by the Prince in ''Prince of Persia''. Both characters are voiced by [[Wikipedia:Yuri Lowenthal|Yuri Lowenthal]].

{{Halo References}}

[[Category:Lists|Pop Culture]]