References Towards Other Animated Programs In Animation

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BossLady

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I realize that people hate these sorts of threads, but I was thinking about this the other day and I wanted to see just how many animated programs have done this sort of thing. Which animated programs do you know of that have directly referenced another animated program? I’m not talking about crossovers; I’m actually focusing on the subtle references. You know, the type that isn’t shoved down our throats and are merely a subtle homage for those who are aware of the reference.

For example, Jim Jinkins created “Doug”, but he also worked on “101 Dalmatians: The Series”. In the series finale for 101 Dalmatians, there was a character named Xenox Five who was a direct reference to Doug. You can see what I mean by the below images; sorry for the quality, but I’m merely trying to provide an example.
Doug.gif
XenoxFive.gif
As you can see, he’s wearing Doug’s outfit. The reference wasn’t blunt; they didn’t deliberately point it out or make a big deal out of it. It was merely a subtle homage for those who were aware of this fact.

Have any other animated programs made such references? If so, could you make a post and let me know?
 
I must add one little reference from Mucha Lucha. Now, this was too uncanny to be a mear coincidence.

I forget the name of the episode, but Flea refuses to take a bath, and becomes enveloped in garbage to the point where it takes control of him. In the battle between Flea and Buena Girl (who is armed with soap), Flea tsends an attack rat, who Buena Girl Cleans up, and the rat turns into Speedy gonzales (Due to it being a Warners cartoon, the character was unaltered, and exactly how he should look). But that's not it. After that, he sends 3 attack cats after her. When they get cleaned up, there'a a fat Purple one, a light beige one wearing headphones and rollerskates, and an orange one in a cap. Now, the purple one and the one with a cap would have just been a coincidence for me, but the one with rollerskates and Headphones clearly denotes a reference to The Cattillac Cats from Heathcliff.

I wish I had a picture of it.
 
Futurama: "The Route of All Evil" We get to see 'Space Doug' during a paper delivery montage, a reference to Billy West's (Fry's) former role.

Animaniacs While making Skippy Squirrel a healthy lunch, Slappy comments on his eating a food extremely high in sugar. "It's no wonder you like that Bonkers show.", which ironically aired in the same time slot on the Disney Afternoon across the dial.

Tiny Toon Adventures: During a Sherlock Holmes Parody, Buster and Babs chase Montana Max across London, ending up in the sewers, knocking very obvious Ninja Turtle parodies out onto the street, landing on their backs.
 
The one that always comes to mind when I see this topic is an episode of The New Batman Adventures. Can't remember which one, but I think Batman asks Batgirl what she's doing tonight, and she replies, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky." Batman's reply: "What?" :D
 
There's that one Time Squad that was an homage to Scooby Doo complete with the original music.

The Inspector Gadget theme song was whistled/hummed in The Real Ghostbusters, among other DiC cartoons.

The Legend Of Zelda overworld theme was played in the Super Mario Bros Super Show episode "Stars In Their Eyes" and Super Mario Bros theme was whistled by Link in The Legend Of Zelda episode "Doppleganger".
 
Heathcliff and (second Season) Gadget referenced each other a lot. On Heathcliff, it was not uncommon to see Gadget or Brain on TV or on a billboard (The episode the Blizzard Bandit, mice are watching Inspector gadget on Ice, and the theme song is audible for some time). The Least obvious would be in Monstro vs the Wolfman, in which Hector is dressed up as a police Inspector (wearing the exact same Gadget Outfit, color and style), and Riff Raff is clearly wearing Dr. Claw's exact Gauntlets.

Heathcliff popped up a couple times in Gadget. I know Magic Gadget featured a Heathcliff head popping out of the Lesser Wambini's hat.

But as for Gadget, i'm thinking this is too close to be a coincidence as well.
zenegadget.jpg


I'm not 100% sure, but I could swear that's Inspector Zenegatta's (from Lupin III) coat he's wearing. An inside joke, considering the production company that animated that episode. Clearly added in by a smart alec animator. it's a subtlety and al, but I'm conviced it's a sly animator gag.
 
When Blossom crashes into a coat rack in one episode of Powerpuff Girls, it for some reason results in her inadvertently dressing up like Eric Cartman. When she is asked if she is okay she says, "I'm Okay. Seriously." in a somewhat similar tone to that of Cartman.
 
In one episode of Foster's in which Terrence recruits a reluctant Eduardo to compete in staged fights between imaginary friends for the amusement of other teenagers, 3 of the teens in attendance are Foster-ized versions of Ed, Edd & Eddy.

There are numerous such references on Nickelodeon's Kappa Mikey alone:
  • "The Lost Pilot"-Mikey's limo driver looks like an older Speed Racer.
  • "Ship of Fools"-one of the Kappa Mikey cosplayers resembles Zangeif from Street Fighter II. Later Mikey is seen trying to bum a video game off of Chun-Li.
  • "The Fugi-Kid"-the detective resembles the inspector from FLCL, complete with thick eyebrows. The Cat Burglar looks like a Lupin III character.
  • "Battle of the Bands"-pop-stars Orie and Yorie resemble the animated Puffy AmiYumi. Celebrity reporter Masako Masako resembles the old witch from Spirited Away. Other celebrities spotted are lookalikes of Yugi Moto (from Yu-Gi-Oh!) and Kimba the White Lion.
  • "Camp!"-acting coach Von Fabio resembles Usopp from One Piece.
 
I need to see that episode again. I don't remember seeing a "Space Doug", but I do remember Qubert and Dwight delivering a paper to the Little Prince (from the book of the same name), who is standing on top of his home planet, B 6-12. Interestingly, the Little Prince also makes a cameo in an episode of The Tick titled "Alone Together", in it, Omnipotus, devour of worlds, makes a meal out the Little Prince's planet. The Prince flies off in a spaceship and shouts to Omipotus, "Big jerk!".
 
Some Disney show references:

Darkwing Duck directly references Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers in the episode "Twitching Channels."

Also, in a Darkwing Duck episode, Fenton and Launchpad Mcquack meet with Drake Mallard and Launchpad comments, "Fenton and I used to work for the same boss together."

In Hercules: The Animated Series, when the Romans want to call the Greek Gods different names, Hades get his Roman name "Pluto" and of course you know exactly what reference Hades is going to make at that point.

The same reference occurs in an episode with aliens in Ducktales, with the ending joke being "Greetings from the people of the planet Pluto." "Pluto? I hate dogs!"
 
I remember that there was a reference to The PJ's on the cover of a manhole in an episode of Futurama. I remember reading about how that was done out of thanks to The PJ's for advertising Fry on a milk carton in one of their own episodes. :)
 
In addition, the plastic surgeon in "Saving Face" is a dead ringer for Kakashi from Naruto, and Chi from Chobits can be seen in the background on several occasions.
 
In the manga version:
Yugi equates the Millenium Puzzle Box with the Dragonballs.

The Egyptian shamans on Shaman King's anime admit they got the idea off a tv show.

I've heard FMA's anime has lots of background cameos but I don't know specifics.
 
I don't really remember cameos, but I'm sure the Psiren episode was basically a big Lupin III parody/homage, what have you. The police chief who didn't trust Ed looked almost exactly like Zenigata.

On a related note, Dante had a cameo in the "Let's Nab Oprah" episode of The Boondocks, just like Jin from Samurai Champloo had in... the episode that debuted A Pimp Named Slickback. ^^;
 
Dexter in the later run of Dexter Lab had a Samurai Jack action figure on his shelf.

Also I think that One episode of Duck Dodgers counts when he parody SJ. Then of course there were the times that Green Lantern Appeared on DD.
 
You can't have a thread like this and not mention Kappa Mikey. There are plenty of anime characters in the background. I remember once seeing a green (?) haired Yoh Asakura from Shaman King.

EDIT: And...I just noticed the Kappa Mikey post.
 
In the Avatar episode, Seige of the North, Pakku said to one of his students that if he practiced more, he could take on a sea sponge.
The creators in the commentary said that was a reference to Spongebob Squarepants.
 
Dexter (from Dexter's Lab) makes a cameo in the Powerpuff Girls short "Powerpuff Bluff". We see him sleeping amongst the napping students in Ms. Keane's class. Also, in another PPG short, "Toy Czar Us", we see dolls of Dexter, Dee-Dee and Monkey.
 
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