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Easter Eggs: See what they did there?


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This thread spins off a post by George. 

For the uninitiated, Easter Eggs are subtle (or not-so-subtle) allusions to trivia that are not central to the plot of a show or movie, but are included to reward audience members in-the-know for paying attention.

For example, George posted the following in the "Newer Star Trek Shows" thread:

Quote

Susan Bay Nimoy guest starred this week on Brilliant Minds, starring Zachary Quinto.  When she is introduced to him as her doctor, she says, "I like him.  He reminds me of a younger version of my late husband."  :wave:  :biglaugh:

The gag, for those who don't know, is that Zachary Quinto played the younger version of Spock in the last three theatrical movies, making him a younger version of Susan Bay Nimoy's late husband, Leonard Nimoy.

This thread is for such Easter Eggs, whether you spotted them in a movie or a TV show. Go wild.

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Suggestion, and you can take it or leave it, but in my humble opinion a true Easter Egg has nothing to do with the plot itself. People passing around sandwiches while watching a concert in How I Met Your Mother is a "callback," not an Easter Egg. A callback is when an idea is revisited without explanation, just to see if you're paying attention. (In HIMYM, "eating a sandwich" is code for smoking marijuana).

William Shatner guest starring as the Big Giant Head in 3rd Rock from the Sun, complaining that he saw someone on the wing of his airplane, and John Lithgow saying "I saw it too!" is an Easter Egg. The two actors played the same character in different iterations of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet on The Twilight Zone.

The scripture quoted on Nick Fury's headstone in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the same scripture Samual L. Jackson's character repeatedly quotes in Pulp Fiction.

Etc

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2 hours ago, modcat5 said:

Suggestion, and you can take it or leave it, but in my humble opinion a true Easter Egg has nothing to do with the plot itself. People passing around sandwiches while watching a concert in How I Met Your Mother is a "callback," not an Easter Egg. A callback is when an idea is revisited without explanation, just to see if you're paying attention. (In HIMYM, "eating a sandwich" is code for smoking marijuana).

William Shatner guest starring as the Big Giant Head in 3rd Rock from the Sun, complaining that he saw someone on the wing of his airplane, and John Lithgow saying "I saw it too!" is an Easter Egg. The two actors played the same character in different iterations of Nightmare at 20,000 Feet on The Twilight Zone.

The scripture quoted on Nick Fury's headstone in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the same scripture Samual L. Jackson's character repeatedly quotes in Pulp Fiction.

Etc

"The same thing happened to me!"

 

The Twilight Zone movie mentioned some troops shooting an officer dead "accidentally" in a "friendly fire" incident. The specifics are identical to the note at the end of "Stripes", where a character with the same name was said to have been killed by his soldiers in a "friendly fire" incident.  (BTW, according to "Murphy's Laws of Combat",  "Friendly fire- isn't."   

 

In "Animal House", John Belushi/Bluto came across a guy playing a guitar badly. He snatched the guitar, smashed it against the wall, then handed back the stick. "Sorry." In an episode of ST TNG, (Q pid), Geordi was trying to play a mandolin- and failing. Worf walked over to him and signaled him to pass over the mandolin.  Worf smashed it against a tree, then handed back the stick. "Sorry."

 

In "Brotherhood of the Wolf", very early in the movie, they're investigating a murder.  It's believed to have been a wolf attack that killed someone. When the corpse is found, it's a young woman wearing a red cape. 

 

I've forgotten so many of these.

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43 minutes ago, WordWolf said:

The Twilight Zone movie mentioned some troops shooting an officer dead "accidentally" in a "friendly fire" incident. The specifics are identical to the note at the end of "Stripes", where a character with the same name was said to have been killed by his soldiers in a "friendly fire" incident.  (BTW, according to "Murphy's Laws of Combat",  "Friendly fire- isn't."   

 

In that episode, one of the American soldiers quips. "I wish we hadn't fragged Lt. Niedermeyer!"  In Animal House, when the futures of the main characters are revealed, Niedermeyer is "Killed by his own troops in Vietnam."

George

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In Legends of Tomorrow, Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) helps break the Atom (Brandon Routh) and Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell) out out of a Russian prison.  Miller quips that this was "not my first prison break."  The whole first season of "Prison Break" had Miller breaking his brother (Purcell) out of prison.

George

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Hat tip to WW for pointing this one out to me when it appeared.

In another Arrowverse crossover, one of the Legends (Sarah Lance, I think) mentions that a symptom of time travel can be aphasia.  Felicity Smoak gets transported through time, and the first thing she says is "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra!"  This, of course, was from the Next Generation episode "Darmok," about a species who communicate using allegorical references to their history/mythology.

George

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