Space Quest VII icon version contains some funny easter-eggs and jokes. If you happen to have found other ones, please send them to the e-mail address stated on the index screen.
First of all, the title is based upon the Final Frontier
Hang around inside the Arcade hall on Polysorbate LX. Eventually, the theme from Quest for Glory will play. If you click with any icons on the screen, though, the music will stop and the normal bleeps-and-bloops will resume.
R2D2 from the Star Wars-movies has been reduced to a GenBlood-blender in Fester's "Implants-N-Stuff".
E.T. is sitting in Boot Liquor on Polysorbate LX.
The gravedigger at Stellar's funeral is also the gravedigger at St. Louis Cemetery 1 in "Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers".
The posters on the wall in Nigel and Singent's apartment also contain a few cameos. For instance, there's a poster for GABRIEL NORTON, a sewer worker who doubles as a psychic investigator.
Also, there's an alien lounging atop a time pod. Look up in your Space Quest IV "Space Piston" issue - the centerfold is the exact same picture.
The shuttles in the DeepShip shuttlebay are all parodies of some popular
science fiction material. Unfortunately, I'm not as brilliant at American
culture as I probably should be, so I've only found three...
The Star Wars-shuttle to the left. Although it's an Imperial
shuttle, and it's described as a Rebel shuttle, it might be because
after the defeat of the Empire, the Rebels acquired a bunch of these
ships. The type of ship looks like a Lambada-class shuttle.
The ship in the bottom right row is a marine dropship from the
Alien movies. (Corrected by Theodore Reiker)
A Star Trek-shuttle (with the unmistakeable NCC-1701D insignia) is
located in the middle of the left row.
The shuttle in the upper left corner could be from Battlestar
Galactica.
Could the bottom left ship be from Lost In Space? When talking to
the ship, Roger asks if there's any little genius teenage brats
in there.
The red shuttle in the bottom-right corner is "Shuttle 2" from the
old TV-series, "Thunderbirds".
When you escape the DeepShip in the StarCon shuttle, several "Star Wars" Storm Troopers (relabelled "Storm Poopers") crawl out from everywhere to stop you, just like they tried to do with the Millenium Falcon in the 1st (4th) Star Wars flic.
The alien from the Ridley Scott's sci-fi thriller "Alien" pops up after Wriggley (pun intended, I guess) helps you with re-firing the shuttle's engines.
Elvis sometimes pops up in 8-Rear. He is also the victim of a poster manipulation in Nigel and Singents apartment - however, he has been re-labelled "Pelvis Brelsford - The Rock'n'Roll Programming Sensation."
Laurel and Hardy are disguised as guard nanites near the entrance to the brain.
Elton John appears during the transformation of Magnum in the shuttlebay entrance. However, the song he is singing is not an Elton John song, but in fact, the title music from KQ6, "Girl in the Tower". The original piece was only avaliable on the CD-ROM version of KQ6.
The frog from Loony Tunes also appear, with its cane and top hat, singing "Hello my baby, hello my honey...", when Magnum transforms. The frog appears in the Warner Bros. cartoon, "One Froggy Evening".
The Road Runner gets a mention in cyberspace - the unmistakable bowl of "Free Bird Seed" is below a huge rock.
The Tyrell Corporation from "Blade Runner" is visible through the window in the Dew Beam Inn (after you've taken the elevator up). There's also a Blade Runner-advertising ship flying by when you first enter the apartment terrace (y'know, the ones that keep saying: "Time to start a new life in the colony worlds!")
In the cyberspace office, clicking the EYE-cursor on the background produces the response: "You saw it here first. A preview of the famed information superhighway. Wow!". However, after six or seven more clicks, Gary will say: "Wow! This makes my nipples hard!" instead.
If you play Stooge Fighter III on the birthdays of three programmers, the
names of the stooges will change. The following birthdays work ...
Michael Lytton April 11th
Steve Conrad January 3rd
Bill Shockley December 29th
If you enter 8-Rear and your computer date is set to Halloween (31st Oct) or Michael Lytton's birthday, Circuit Sydney's head will start following you around, with its eyes glowing.
If you Ctrl+Click on the video screen in 8-Rear 7 times, the programmer's "Renegade Credits" will appear. You'll also be rewarded by Roger saying "I'm Roger Wilco and I'll kick your ass! I know where you live" at the end.
If there's a nebulae in the 8-Rear window, click on it several times. Eventually it should start to palette cycle.
In the cyberspace file room, there's a secret drawer under "S", that you don't really need in order to complete the game. You can find it by looking at the outline of the drawers - the drawers with a slightly thicker outline than the others can be opened. Among the files in the drawers, two instantly spring to eye: "Space Quest 7" and "Space Quest Team".
Among the many movie titles on the Polysorbate Theater-marquee, one reads "MICHELE ALESHIRE, WILL YOU MARRY ME?". Michele Aleshire is Bill Shockley's fiancee, and they were recently married.
A reference to Wayne's World in one of the shuttles. When looking at it, Gary gives a description, afterwhich Roger delivers the W.W.-clich?: "It will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine."
When Roger looks in the mirror, Gary says he sees a brunette overacting in a stone tower, afterwhich Roger squeals, "Mother, mother, come quick!". A reference to King's Quest VI.
The Popular Tecktronics CD-ROM in Nigel and Singent's apartment mentions an e-mail magazine called Mired. This is a spoof on an actual e-mag called "Wired".
Circuit Sydney might be a poke at Data from Star Trek: TNG. Gerald Dangerfield)
A lot of people claim that Commander Kielbasa is a poke at both Jean-Luc Picard from ST:TNG and the Kilrathi's in Origin's Wing Commander series.
When Gary during the intro says, "In a deserted warehouse just outside the galaxy", it could be a poke at the Carmen Sandiago game, where each game begins with a similar remark.
Admiral Toolman could be a spoof on the Admiral Tolwyn from the Wing Commander series.
The "Abby Normal" brain in Fester's Implants-N-Stuff is from "Young Frankenstein".
The endodroid is a mixture of the T-1000 Terminator from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and Roy Batty, who was the leader of the escaped Replicants in the movie "Blade Runner". This becomes apparent when Roger freezes the endodroid, and makes fun of the "Hasta la vista" phrase from T2. He says, "Frosta la kiester, baby".
Blaine Rohmer is obviously a spoof on the Blade Runners, from Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" movie.
Another Star Trek reference: Click the EYE-icon on the Sectors-command in the cyberspace office. Gary says, "You probably want us to say something corny, like 'klingons in sector 2.8, Captain'." Reiker)
Flembukit's multimedia wondermachine, 3DOA, is a spoof on Panasonic's 3DO console. Also manufactured by Goldstar. And yes, the 3DO console is also highpriced and plays a half dozen bad arcade games. ;)
One of Singent Flembukit's 3DOA CD's is "The Outpost Project Survival Guide". A spoof on Bruce Balfour's space strategy game, Outpost.
Stellar's first name might be derived from Dynamix's Stellar 7 games.
Stellar's last name, Santiago, might be derived from Broderbund's "Carmen Santiago" games.
An UN-COMPLETE movie title guide to the movies at the Polysorbate LX
cinema marquee:
Aliens's (Aliens with Sigourney Weaver, or Sir-Tech's Jagged
Aliens?)
Bucket Dreams (Hoop Dreams)
Fist Full of Buckazoids ("Fistfull of Dollars", a Clint Eastwood
western)
For a Few Buckazoids More ("For a Few Dollars More", another
Clint Eastwood spaghetti western)
Future Schlock ("Future Shock", a scifi thriller in VR, ca.1994)
Gumby vs. Mr Bill (Gumby is a green stop-motion character and
Mr. Bill is a character from the TV show Saturday Night Live,
fighting as in Godzilla vs. Mothra)
Hudson Hawk Goes to Washington ("Hudson Hawk", Bruce Willis)
Johnny Pneumatic ("Johnny Mnemonic", William Gibson scifi with
Keanu Reeves)
Josh Mandela: The Legend Continues (Josh Mandel was the original
designer of SQ6, "Mandela" is a reference to Nelson Mandela)
The Last of the Andromedans ("The Last of the Mohicans")
The Last Stoogefighter ("The Last Starfighter")
Linoleum Cheese: A Janitor's Tale (?)
Little Debbie Does Delta Burksilon (an American porn film,
Debbie Does Dallas)
Mary Ann vs. Ginger ("Gilligan's Island", the Mary Ann/Ginger
sweetness feud)
The Organ ("The Piano")
Outpost: The Movie (A reference to Bruce Balfour's scifi strategy
game, Outpost)
Raiders of the Lost Semicircle ("Raiders of the Lost Ark", the first
Indiana Jones movie)
Razing Arizona ("Raising Arizona", with Nicholas Cage)
So I Married an Endodroid ("So I Married an Axe-Murderer", horror)
Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter
Space Quest 2: Vohaul's Revenge
Space Quest 3: The Pirates of Pestulon
Space Quest 4: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
Space Quest 5: The Next Mutation
Space Quest 6: Roger Wilco and the Colon of Doom
Space Quest 7: The Musical
Star Trek XVIII: The Search for Kahn's Implanted Pecs
("Star Trek 2: Kahn's Revenge" and "Star Trek 3: The Search for
Spock)
Superman vs. Batman
Tango & Cash XXVII: The Sequel ("Tango and Cash", Sly Stallone)
Think Tank Girl ("Tank Girl", comic based movie)
Triple X-Files ("X-Files", supernatural tv-series)
True Flies ("True Lies", Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Zorbot the Greek ("Zorba the Greek, Anthony Quinn)
Beleauxs' books in the lab include "The Hunt for Red Corpuscle" (The Hunt for Red October) and "All I Need to Know I Learned from the Q Continuum" - the Q Continuum is the being-place for the Q entity in Star Trek TNG and DS9.
A graffiti on the wall outside the arcade on Polysorbate LX reads "DARMOK+JALOD 4EVER". A reference to the Star Trek: TNG episode, "Darmok".
The Qodrac Mobile Photo Booth is a spoof on the Kodak Non-Mobile Photo Booth.
The Mister Soylent food replicators is a spoof on an old scifi movie entitled "Soylent Green". The movie is in the future where humans have used up all of the Earth's resources and have to live underground because the air is so polluted. The only thing left to eat on the planet is a nutrient supplement called Soylent Green. Also in the future, the "leaders" decide when you're old enough to die. When it's your "time", you're sent to a special room where you can be "enlightened" before dying. Well, the story goes, two guys who were deemed fit to die, didn't want to. So they got away and began to wander around. They found the "enlightenment room" and found out what they were doing with the dead people. They were processing them into, yes you guessed it, the Soylent Green machines! So now you know what the Soylent Clear jingle means when it says, "Clearly less people, clearly more taste!"
During the introduction, Admiral Toolman throws Roger's underpants up into the air, and they turn into the DeepShip 86. This is a take-off of the intro from Stanley Kubric's "2001: A Space Oddysey", in which a monkey throws a skeleton bone into the air which turns into a spaceship.
Jebba the Hop is a spoof on the evil snail-guy, Jabba the Hutt, in the third (sixth) Star Wars movie.
Several elements from "Back to the Future" are mentioned in the Popular Tecktronics CD-ROM at Nigel and Singent's apartment. Check under the section "Building a Time Machine out of a DeLorean".
When using Doctor Beleauxs' computer's communications system, the name "Plodigy" pops up. This is a spoof on "Prodigy", and yes, it's as slow as the artists made it out to look like in SQ6! ;)
Dorff mentions "Daventry VIII" as a planets name when Roger's locked up in the brig, occasionally. Daventry is, as we all know, the home of the characters in the King's Quest series.
When talking to the portal in the Ascend-o-Pad on Delta Burksilon, you get a highpitched voice saying "If you're going in there, Graham, I'm staying out here!". This is from King's Quest V, where Cedric the Owl sais that to King Graham. (Names brought on by Fred Zanfardino)
8-Rear is a spoof on 10-Forward, the ship's lounge on "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
The Bjorn collective is a spoof on the Borg from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Almost all the drinks on Polysorbate LX are spoofs of famous scifi writers.
Raymond E. Feisterbray (Raymond E. Feist)
Samuel Douglas Adams (Douglas Adams + Sam Adams (beer))
Alan Dean Foster's Draft Ale (Alan Dean Foster)
"wicked ale from Ray's Bradbrewery" (Ray Bradbury)
Silverberg Bullet (Robert Silverberg)
Ursula K. LeGuinness Stout (Ursula K. LeGuin + Guinness (beer))
(This one is the winner of the Nebuale award (Nebula Award))
Harlon Aleison (Harlan Ellison)
Beers Anthony (Piers Anthony)
"a wild-roddenberry flavored stuff" (Gene Roddenberry)
Heinleinekin (Robert Heinlein + Heineken (beer))
Sappournelle (Jerry Pournelle + Sauvignon (white wine))
Marion Zima Bradley (Marion Zimmer Bradley)(Who has corrected me on this one?)
Watney's Red Planet (A Monty Python skit which involved a man who kept on repeating "Watney's Red Barrel"(Who has corrected me on this one?)
Asimov Cocktail (Isaac Asimov)
William Gibson (William Gibson)
Peltz.
Drinks on Polysorbate LX that are not spoofs on scifi writers:
Jurassic Dark (a spoof on Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" movie)
Babylon .45 (a spoof on the tv-series "Babylon V")
Star Beck (a spoof on "Star Trek"; the slogan for this beer is
"it makes you go where no man has gone before", a spoof on the
wellknown Star Trek opening monologue)
Major Kirin (maybe Major Kira, from Star Trek DS9?)
Red Dog (maybe Red Bull, energy drink?)
The game's "slogan", "In Space No One Can Hear You Clean", is a spoof on Ridley Scott's slogan for the Alien movies, "In Space No One Can Hear You Scream".
Check out page 10 of the Popular Janitronics manual that comes with SQ6. Under ANNOUNCEMENTS, there's a bit titled "Public Notice: Fictitious Business Name Statement", which confirms everybody's true fear: That Sierra-programmer Bill Shockley is doing business as a cyberdate!! ;)
Doctor Hayden Beleauxs' computer monitor is from Cyberdyne, which we all know is the hightech company that invented the Skynet-chips in the Terminator- movies. (Undying thanks to Tovi here... ;)
The opening sequence is kidding around with the movie JUDGE DREDD, in which Stallone is also stripped, although they didn't go as far out as in SQ6.
About the name of the DeepShip 86... "DeepShip" is a re-write of the colorful phrase, "being in deep shit". To be "86'ed" means to be forced to leave a place or premises and be encouraged not to come back. (86 explanation corrected by Scott Murphy)
The name kielbasa, as in Commander Kielbasa, is actually that of a Polish sausage.
The arcade games on Polysorbate LX are all spoofs on some recognizable
games.
"NBA ToeJam" --> Acclaim's "NBA Jam"
"Mixed up Mother Theresa" --> Roberta Williams' "Mixed Up
Mother Goose"
"Stooge Fighter III" --> Capcom's "Street Fighter II"
"Secret Recipes of the
Luftwaffe" --> LucasArts' "Secret Weapons of the
Luftwaffe"
"Beat the Crap out of Urkel" --> (Urkel was the annoying geek-star
of a comedy show in 80's. He would
constantly play accordion and act
all stupid and clumsy.)
"More Dull Kombat II" --> Acclaim's "Mortal Kombat II"
"Disembowling for Dollars" --> "Bowling for Bucks" (a US game
show)
As a side remark, the parody on MK2 features two clay fighters fighting,
as in the game "Clay Fighter", but they're pitted against each other on a
tall, narrow stone bridge like in the first MK-game from Acclaim. Hmm...
Commander Kielbasa's scratching post/command center is capable of getting him to level six of "Super Nunzio World". (This is a parody of Nintendo's "Super Mario World".) Also, a part of the console looks exactly like those Gravis GamePads. (I'm convinced now. It's NOT an SNES joypad!)
The cyberspace receptionist is called Sys Inny - a name which, when pronounced "correctly", becomes a Windows system file, SYSTEM.INI. (Name correction by Tovi Almozlino)
One of the building machines in cyberspace is a spoof on one of the weapons in DOOM. The yellow machine to the left is called a BFD-9000 Cyberearth mover - the seventh weapon in DOOM is called a BFG-9000.
A graffiti in the brig on the DeepShip 86 reads "Sarek Lies!", in reference to Star Trek, where one of the characters is a Vulcan named Sarek.
When talking to the brig replicator, Roger will say: "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot," in reference to Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
During Stellars funeral, Roger says: "Of all the souls I have
encountered in my cleaning, her's were the most scu ... scuff ... SCUFF-
RESISTANT!
When Roger is being chased by the gigantic gallstone in Stellar's
digestive systems, Josh Mandel was clearly trying to get on LucasFilm's
nerves. That's a downright steal of the opening sequence in the Indiana
Jones movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
The Vulgar nervegrip is obviously a spoof on the Vulcan nervegrip, that
Spock so often uses in the original Star Trek series.
The sentence "Big Brother is watching you!", which appears on the scrolling
board in the shuttlebay entrance, an often-used sentence in the book "1984".
The name "Polysorbate" (as in Polysorbate LX) is a food additive.
Josh originally wanted to call the SQ6 documentation "Janitalia: The
Magazine of Space Janitors", but management wouldn't let him, so it was
changed to "Popular Janitronics". In the words of Leslie Balfour, "Josh is
a very bad lad".
Okay, this is a weird one: In the intro, Kielbasa says "Thank you" 36
times. On the screens shown during that time, there are definitely not 36
crew members. However, if you count ALL the people showing up on the
DeepShip, including the 7 storm poopers, excluding the monster in the brig
and the gravedigger at the funeral, the summa is 36. Strange.
In the basement of Orion's Belt, to the far left there's a spider on one
of the pipes in the foreground. Click the HAND-icon on it. It will fall
screaming to the floor. This can only be done ONCE per game.
When the game was in development (and Josh Mandel was still on the
project), the Marketing Director was a bit concerned about the DeepShip 86
being formed as a jockstrap. He tried to get Josh and Scott to turn it into
a "normal" ship, but they ignored him. Then, when the first advertisement
for SQ6 comes out, what picture do they use? The DeepShip jockstrap!
Josh Mandel wrote Doctor Beleauxs' office, the Ascend-o-Pad (which
actually has an overflooding of messages), and the entire DeepShip? One of
Josh's favourite hobbies is to write those small, humerous messages, and if
you look carefully, roughly all these scenes have different messages to all
the icons. The rest of the game, with a few minor exceptions, was written by
Scott Murphy, and it's clear that he isn't very big on writing those
messages.
The insignia of the DeepShip 86 reads "DEEPSHIP 86", and below that in
small types, "LSL6 BFD". Maybe the latter part means "Leisure Suit Larry 6:
Big F___ing Deal".
One of the random exit-messages is "Aren't you glad your middle name
isn't Lawrence?" This is actually a poke at designer Josh Mandel, inserted by
a programmer, whose name currently remains unknown.
When you arrive at Delta Burksilon with the stolen shuttle, you'll see a small
animation of Roger landing. This looks almost the same as the scene in "the
empire strikes back" where the heroes land in the cloud city.
Click your mouth cursor and different things you'll
usually get funny messages(Thanks to Freak7845 for telling me this joke)
Example:
CLICK ON WALL IN ASCEND-O-PAD:
Narrator: You mistake the wall for some kind of taste able wallpaper
Roger: The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!