ZBS Spoofs and References
The yellow brick road in The 4th Tower of Inverness is right out of The Wizard of Oz.
Moon Over Morocco is probably a parody of the song Moon Over Miami.
Jack Flanders stumbles into the mansion of Inverness (from The 4th Tower of Inverness) and meets his aunt again in Moon Over Morocco.
This isn’t exactly a spoof/reference, but the month that Tired of the Green Menace takes place in is July, and the birthstone for July just happens to be a ruby.
Ruby Tuesday is the title of a song by the Rolling Stones.
When accused of painting a mustache on a portrait of the black Mona Lisa in Incredible Adventures, and
asked his name, Jack Flanders calls himself Marcel Duchamp, a French artist
known for doing just that on a portrait of the normal Mona Lisa.
In Incredible Adventures, when Jack and the Marquis of Carumbas are in the Never Mind and looking for a way to earn money, the Marquis announces that Marcel Duchamp (Jack) is going to perform his "critically acclaimed" dance, entitled "Nude Descending a Staircase," which is a cubist painting by Marcel Duchamp.
The Marquee of Carumbas may be a parody of the name Puss in Boots gives his master (the Marquee of Carabas).
When Merlin Mazoolah’s mechanical
demon is tearing the arms off Dr. Marlin Mazoolah’s demon, Jack remarks "Oh
boy, a farewell to arms." This could be an intentional/unintentional reference
to Hemingway’s book A Farewell to Arms.
TJ Teru’s yelling "STELLA!" in Ruby 2 is a line from the film A Streetcar Named Desire.
The two authors mentioned in one of the episodes of Ruby 2 (Telephone Terror Theatre) are spoofs on real authors. Steven Queen is Steven King, and Edgar Allen Poo is Edgar Allen Poe.
In Ruby 2, Ruby 1 describes
a place to eat on Summa Nulla as "like the Star Wars Bar and Grill."
When the guy at the Cool Canals of Chloe in Ruby 2 is trying to get Ruby 1 to rent one of his "Jet Geese" to her and is demonstrating the "nice horn," it sounds just like the swans Jack Flanders encountered in The 4th Tower of Inverness. He even
says the same thing Jack said, "Hail, fair birds!" When Ruby asks what he
meant, he replies: "Nuthin’."
In Ruby 2, the Buldada’s threat to tear Kapoor "from limb to shining limb" is a twist on the last line of "America the Beautiful" (I think)
The Boogerman says that his coming "was predicted by the prophet Nostrildamus", a very tasteless parody of the prophet Nostradamus.
The Robot Guide that Kapoor hires in Ruby 2 quotes Jack Flanders while fleeing the Spoolaga: "Robotics, do your stuff." This is a variation on Jack’s frequent saying, "Feet, do your stuff."
In Ruby 3, Ruby asks Monet if the security guards of Zumzamin are like Thought Police (the antagonists of George Orwell’s 1984).
And/Or uses Jack Flanders’ saying, "Feet, do your stuff" near the end of Ruby 3, Part 1.
In case you were wondering, yes, Nikola Tesla was a real person, very eccentric, as you may already know. He is probably exaggerated in Ruby 4.
After Kapoor is hit by the Reptoid stunners in Ruby 4: The Moon Coins of Sonto Lore and his voice is slowing down, he starts singing "A Bicycle Built for Two". The computer HAL sings the same song when Dave is shutting him down in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (along with the same "slowing down" effect).
Francois’ waltzing off into the field of flowers on the Reptoid planet singing, "We’re off to see the wizard" in Ruby 4 is an obvious
spoof on The Wizard of Oz. In fact, the whole scene is a parody on the
movie.
The Android Sisters are an obvious spoof on the Andrew
Sisters.
The Printer Sisters are a spoof on the Pointer
Sisters.
Teru’s line near the end of Ruby 4
introducing Ruby ("Heeeeeere’s Ruby!") is a variation of the introduction line
of The Johnny Carson Show, which is worded, and I quote: "Heeeeeeere’s
Johnny!"
In Ruby 3, when Kapoor is telling Zumzamin that he
would like to be "somebody," he describes this as "A leader of mice and men."
This just might be a reference to John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men.
In Stars & Stuff, Rocket Pierre’s assistant, Professor Flash Felix is probably a spoof on Flash Gordon, a futuristic space-guy hero type.
The girl with the codename "Duke of Earl" in one of the stories in Stars & Stuff is, of course, a reference to the old ‘50s song. In fact, the story "Come Back, Duke of Earl" is
one big mix of oldies from beginning to end.
In Ruby 4, on the planet of Jar-Jar 3, Kapoor and the little alien bargain for several familiar forms of memorabilia, including a model of the Starship Enterprise (Seventh Generation),
a Buck Rodgers ray gun, a "Flashy" Gordon decoder badge and other various
things.
Short Top Detroit quotes from the movie Casablanca when he is talking to Carmen for the first time in Dreams of Rio ("So who were you before and where did you go and what did you do and what did you think?")
Mojo Sam is a spoof on the character Sam in Casablanca, who is very much like him in many ways.
In Ruby 3 and 4, Father Mojo is obviously an upbeat parody of Mojo (from the Jack Flanders Series).
