Influences and references

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The Star Control 1 manual mentions "Inspired by the Works of Fiction of: Orson Scott Card, Larry Niven, Andre Norton, David Brin, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Vance, Alan Dean Foster, Keith Laumer, A.E. Van Vogt, E.E. "Doc" Smith, Joe Halderman, Dan Simmons, Fred Saberhagen and 100 worthy others."

The Orz and the disappearance of the Androsynth were influenced by H. P. Lovecraft's writings. (XXX: need more exact references).

The Ilwrath were named after a friend of the creators (XXX: both?) named McIlwraith.

The name Melnorme is a reference to jazz singer Mel Tormé.

When the Spathi Safe Ones ask the player for the Secret Spathi Cypher, one of the incorrect options is "Wagh-nagl Fthagn", which spelled a little bit differently ("Wgah'nagl Fhtagn") comes from "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!", a liturgical phrase in H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulu mythos.

One of the other options for the Spathi Cypher, "Gort, merenga!" comes from the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still".

The Syreen are based on the Sirens from classical mythology. They were sea nymphs who would use enchanting song to lure ships onto the cliffs.

The Yehat are inspired by the Scottish clans.

The Shofixti are inspired by the historical Japanese culture.

The Mosquito Mange is mentioned in the Androsynth computer records immediately prior to their disappearance. It is a reference to the term found in Roadside Picnic refering to graviconcentrates - areas of heightened and directed gravity.

The Roadside Picnic might also be the inspiration for the 'Empties'. In the novel they are one of the common alien artifacts found in the Zones. In the game they are a Precursor artifact that Commander Hayes mentions in relation to the Ultron.

The name Androsynth is taken from the Greek "andros" ("man") and "synthetic" from Greek "syn" ("together") and "thesis" ("put"), or as the Star Control II manual says it "fake men".

The Mycon is taken from the Greek prefix "myc-" or "myco-", which means Fungus.

Tanaka's opening comments, "you killed my father, my mother, my many brothers, all six of my sisters - prepare to die," may pay homage to the movie The Princess Bride, in which the character Inigo Montoya has prepared a similar comment for when he confronts his father's murderer, Count Rugen.

Ship Captains

Numerous ship captain names are actually references.

Androsynth

• 1040-EZ is a common tax return form in the United States.
• 976-KILL is probably meant as an American phone number. It may also refer to the movie 976-EVIL. The "976" prefix is reserved for pay services.
• AK-47 is the famous Avtomat Kalashnikova assault rifle
• BHS-79 (just a wild guess here- is this the initials of one of the high schools they attended, and their graduation date?)
• BIM-XT is an anagram for the IBM XT personal computer from the early 1980s
• BOOJI-1 is a possible reference to the character Booji Boy from the band Devo.
• CRC-16 is a 16 bits "Cyclic redundancy check (an error-detecting checksum).
• DORN-3
• DOS-1.0 is a reference to one or all of the various early disk operating systems (PC-DOS, MS-DOS, Apple DOS, etc).
• HAL-2001 is a reference to the HAL 9000 computer from Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey
• JOR-15
• KORB-7B
• ME-262 is a reference to the Messerschmitt Me-262, the first operational jet powered aircraft.
• NECRO-99 may be a reference to the robot NECRON-99 from the movie Wizards. It might also be a reference to another Star Control captain name, Death 999.
• SR-71 is a reference to the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, an advanced reconnaissance aircraft.
• XR4-TI was a car model manufactured by the short-lived Merkur brand.

Human

• Adama is the captain of the Battlestar Galactica in the television series by the same name.
• Belt is a reference to Henry Belt, captain of a solar sail vessel in Jack Vance's short story Sail 25.
• Buck refers to Buck Rogers, a character who appeared in popular Sci-fi serials in the late 30's, as well as a later television series.
• Decker is likely a reference to Willard Decker, captain of the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 in the movie Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
• Ender is a reference to the main character of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender's Game.
• Graeme is a reference to Donal Graeme, a protagonist in the Childe Cycle novels by Gordon R. Dickson. (This may also be a reference to other characters in this series with this same lastname.)
• Halleck is a reference to Gurney Halleck of the Dune series.
• Kirk is a reference to James T. Kirk, captain of the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 in the original series of Star Trek.
• Pike is a reference to Christopher Pike, captain of the Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 in the pilot episode of Star Trek.
• Pirx is a reference to a fictional test pilot in a series of stories by Stanisław Lem.
• Solo is a reference to Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars episode 4 through 6.
• Spiff is a reference to Spaceman Spiff, the fantasy identity of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes
• Trent
• Tuf is a reference to Haviland Tuf, the protagonist in Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin.
• VanRijn is a reference to the merchant prince Nicholas Van Rijn in Poul Anderson's stories.
• Wu is a reference to Louis Wu, the protagonist of Larry Niven's Ringworld series.

Kohr-Ah

• All of their ship names appear be Death followed by a prime number.

Pkunk

• Tweety is likely a reference to Tweety Bird.
• WudStok is Snoopy's friend Woodstock in the comic strip Peanuts.

Shofixti

• Bonsai! is actually the Japanese art of pruning trees, but is most likely a reference to the cry Banzai.
• Busu is a Japanese word for ugly
• Chimchim most likely refers to the pet chimpanzee in Speed Racer.
• Daikon is a giant, white radish popular in Japanese cooking.
• Gaijin is one of the Japanese words for foreigner.
• Genjiro
• Ginzu is probably the Ginsu knife.
• Hiyata
• Ichiban is the Japanese word for the number 1, or first
• Kimba refers to the main character in the Japanese animation Kimba, the White Lion.
• Katana is a Japanese sword.
• Kudzu is an Asian plant that can be found in southern Japan.
• Naninani is Japanese for "such and such"
• Sushi is Japanese for seasoned rice, usually associated with raw fish.
• Tanaka is Japanese for enexpected good fortune.
• Tofu is bean curd, popular in Japanese cooking.
• Tora-3 refers to the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora!
• Wasabe is a Japanese condiment, usually spelled wasabi.

Supox

• Crinoid is a reference to the Krynoids, hostile sentient plants in the Doctor Who episode The Seeds of Doom.
• Trifid is a reference to the carnivorous, mobile (and possibly intelligent) plants in The Day of the Triffids.

Syreen

• Aelita possibly refers to the early Soviet silent film Aelita:Queen of Mars.
• Alia is a reference to St. Alia of the Knife, the sister of Paul Atreides in the Dune series.
• Alura is possibly a reference either to the mother of Supergirl, or to Princess Allura in the Voltron cartoon series. This could also simply be a play on the word allure.
• Ardala is a reference to the Princess Ardala, nemesis of Buck Rogers.
• Be'lit is a possible reference to Belit, a pirate queen in the Conan the Barbarian stories.
• Brawne refers to Brawne Lamia, a character in Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos books.
• Dale is a reference to Dale Arden, the girlfriend of Flash Gordon.
• Danning is a reference to the actress Sybil Danning.
• Dejah is a reference to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, in the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
• Maya refers to the attractive female Space: 1999 character gifted with shapeshifing abilties.
• Munro possibly refers to another genre actress, Caroline Munro.
• Penny possibly refers to the lead female character in the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
• Ripley is a reference to Lieutenant Ripley, as portrayed by Sigourney Weaver in the movie Alien.
• Sparta is a reference to the beautiful female protagonist with a mysterious past in the Venus Prime series by Arthur C. Clarke and Paul Preuss.
• Teela is a reference to Teela Brown, one of the heroines of the Larry Niven's Ringworld novels.
• Yarr may be a reference to Natasha Yar who appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Umgah

• Brewz'k is likely the slang word brewski.
• Ei'Ei'o is probably referring to the refrain of the children's song "Old Macdonald had a farm".

Zoq Fot Pik

• RinTin is likely named after the famous movie dog Rin Tin Tin.

Ship Designs

• The Earthling Cruiser seems to be inspired by the Federation Starships from Star Trek.
• The Syreen Penetrator is shaped after the V-2 rocket, and a dildo.