My 10 Favorite Pop Culture References in Wizard101 & Pirate101

I make no bones about it. I am an aficionado of pop culture. I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons and Looney Tunes cartoons in the afternoons on the local station. I saw Star Wars in theater in the summer of ’77. I was old enough to drive myself to the movies when Ghostbusters was released in ’84. We had 3 channels to watch on TV (four if you count the fuzzy UHF PBS station) which aired late 60s and early 70s sitcoms reruns in the afternoons. I spent far too much time in my youth pouring over the minutia of Hollywood films, fanboying over Star Trek, Star Wars, and latest action/adventure film of the summer. I read comic books galore, devoured SciFi novels, listened to Weird Al and developed a love for pop culture that has lasted nearly five decades (seriously do NOT play against me at Trivial Pursuit).

As such chronicling the pop culture references of Wizard101 is something I’ve longed to do since 2009 when my wizard ran into Dorothy Gale, Tinman and Mr. Toto for the first time. I have been undertaking this project at a Facebook Wizards group that I belong to and have been archiving those articles here at my blog. I have chronicled the references from Wizard City, through Mirage and the Heroes of Lemuria. But I thought I would take a quick minute and tell you what my Top 10 all time favorite references are. (Historians note, this article was written and published in July 2022. Lemuria and Valencia pt2 are the most recent released worlds for Wizards and Pirates. Not all of the references have been archived as of the writing. Links will be added once the articles are archived to this blog)

#10 – Dorothy, Tinman & Mr. Toto; Unicorn Way, Wizard City – this cameo appearance afforded players a brief glimpse into the minds of KI’s writing staff, a staff who apparently have just as great a love for pop culture as I do. This Wizard of Oz reference resonated with the young child still living in my head who had grown up watching the annual CBS broadcast of the 1939 film. It also kept me on the lookout for further pop culture references in what was quickly becoming a favorite game.

#9 – Officer Anderson and Officer Stone; Newgate Prison, Marleybone – two of Scotland Yard’s finest. Taking each separately there is not a lot of clue to what they are referencing but since they are stationed close together it gives an insight in to their significance. The late Harry Anderson was a brilliant comedian, he got his break as conman Harry the Hat on Cheers. This lead to his more famous role of Judge Harold T. Stone on NBC’s Night Court. This also happens to be my second all-time favorite comedy (just behind M*A*S*H).

#8 – Destro-Uctor, Kobra Kommander, Street Viper, and Strato Viper; Istanboa, Mirage – remember I said I read comic books? Back in the day, the Marvel comic G.I.Joe was ALWAYS on my pull list (I still have the entire Marvel run in mylar bags). I followed this series faithfully from issue #1 until it ceased publication at issue #150. Alas, my parents thought I was too old to get the action figures. However, seeing the Street Vipers wearing the same colors as a Cobra Trooper made me go get out the old comic books and reread the series. Fond memories.
Addendum – When I was working on the Snake Plizkin article I realized that he was a G.I.Joe reference as well.

#7 – Samantha, Endora, and Tabitha; Black Licorice Forest, Karamelle – afternoons at my house were spent watching TV after school so long as homework was done and it was too nasty or too dark to go outside. After the local Bugs Bunny cartoon show was over we would watch reruns of sitcoms from the 60s and 70s, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeanie, and Bewitched. Bewitched starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens, a witch who married the mortal Darrin Stephens (Dick York and Dick Sargent). Her mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead) constantly showed up to make Darrin’s life miserable (yes his mother-in-law really was a witch). Tabitha (Erin Margaret Murphy) was Samantha and Darrin’s daughter. This was a VERY nice tie-in.

#6 – Istar the Dreamy Genie; Aggrobah, Mirage – another one of the 30-minute programs that occupied my time until dinner. From the color of her outfit to her ponytail mannerisms and her title. Istar the Dreamy Genie is a start-to-finish homage to Barbara Eden’s titular character in “I Dream of Jeanie”, the hit television show from the late 1960s. Either genie is enough to pique the interest of a pubescent young man just discovering girls. However unlike Jeanie, Istar DOES get to show off her navel.

#5 – Dos Amigos y Uno; Santo Pollo, Cool Ranch – if you have seen the Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Martin Short comedy this musical group references then KUDOS to you. Three out-of-work Hollywood actors who starred in the Three Amigos silent films, steal their old costumes to go do a paid appearance in Mexico (so they think). The village hiring them think they are hiring REAL heroes to save them from a serious threat. What makes this such a great homage is the fact that both groups (movie and Pirates) have a quest to get an invisible sword from an invisible swordsman who hangs around a singing bush. Classic. The movie The Three Amigos is highly recommended.

#4 – Judge Veg; Black Licorice Forrest, Karamelle and Wallaru – as much as I enjoy comic books, I have never read any starring Judge Dredd. That said I have seen both films; the 1995 version starring Sylvester Stallone and the much better 2012 Dredd starring Karl Urban. Avoid the first and watch the second. The second film is the reason why Judge Veg ranks as high on this list as he does.

Tied for #2 – El Toro; Santo Pollo, Cool Ranch – had he not already been given Cool Ranch as a home world, El Torro would have qualified as one of the Pulp Heroes of Lemuria. He references Zorro, a hero that first saw publication in 1919. Zorro has been the subject of many Hollywood films, most notably Antonio Banderas’ 1998 The Mask of Zorro. Zorro is one of the influences on the creation of Batman. In fact in comics Douglas Fairbanks The Mark of Zorro (1920) is the film young Bruce Wayne saw on the night his parent were gunned down in Crime Alley. If I could play a musical riff, I would play “El Torro {trumpet riff}” here.

Tied for #2 – The Professor, just outside of Scotland Yard, Marleybone – my third all-time favorite SciFi TV series. The Doctor has been played by many different actors of the years. The Professor seems to be taking his fashion sense from the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) {scarf and hat}, the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) {trench coat and Converse sneakers}, and the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) {bow tie}. His companion, Rose Piper, is based off Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), companion to the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. The version we meet in the Doomsday Krok Gauntlet is a dead ringer for the Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whitaker). Her companion Harq’ness is a reference to Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) an ally of the Doctor and leader of Torchwood.

Tied for #1 – Captain Reynolds; Cooper’s Roost, Cool Ranch and his crew Mrs. Washburne, Mr. Washburne, and Cobb; Yagizawa Village, Mooshu and Doctor Tam; Tumbleweed Docks, Cool Ranch – when we first see Captain Reynolds, I thought KI was making a Burt Reynolds joke, Bird Reynolds/Burt Reynolds, the thought was amusing enough that I snickered when I saw him. I flat out fell off my chair when Doctor Tam sends us to find Captain Reynolds. Firefly? a honest-to-God Firefly reference. FOX’s cult-favorite, near-perfect, cowboys and SF series that was canceled before it’s time? YES! This reference proved to me that if I ever did get to meet one of KI’s writers we would be able to sit down and chat over our favorite beverage.

Tied for #1 – Captain Pork, Beans, and Sparck; Ariel Shore, Empyrea – space, the, final, frontier… I have seen EVERY minute of Star Trek from the original series to the just finished second season of Strange New Worlds (most of those minutes have been viewed three to four times). I am a Trekker. I have been since my dad took me to see Star Trek the Motion Picture in the theater (he tried to get me interested in Star Trek much earlier by sitting down to watch the episode “Catspaw” with me [spoiler Alert: it scared 6-year old Steve badly]. When KI teased Empyrea with a picture of a Ninja Pig playing with a spaceship, my brain went to the Muppet’s Pigs in Space. Imagine my delight when we got to spend an entire world with homages to my favorite crew.

Those are my favorites. What are yours?