Cultural references in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

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This is a list of parodies and references to the popular culture from American animated television series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

Contents

[edit] Parodies of popular movies

[edit] Star Wars

  • In Something Stupid This Way Comes, when learning about second "C" of friendship Nergal is running with Billy on his back. Billy says "Yeees, feeel the friendship flowing through you". This is parody of scene from "Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back" when Luke Skywalker is running with Yoda on his back during Jedi training.
  • In the episode Here Thar Be Dwarves, the scene in which Billy turns off the shield generator protecting the elves' evil cookie factory is a parody of the famous scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which Obi-Wan Kenobi deactivates the tractor beam aboard the Death Star.
  • On several occasions it was implied that Grim is a Jedi Knight(or just a big Star Wars fan). In the episode Aren't You Chupacabra To See Me?, the way Grim pulled the video tape out of the VCR is the same way a Jedi Knight do to take the lightsaber. In the episode My Fair Mandy he even said "I sense a disturbance in the force." In the episode Brown Evil, Grim turns his scythe into a red lightsaber and fights with Hoss Delgado.
  • In the Secret Decoder Ring, Billy's "decoder ring" translated text from back of the cereal box as a picture of woman asking for help. This is a homage to Princess Leia's plea for help broadcast from R2D2, in the famous scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
  • In the episode Chicken Ball Z, when Mandy told Billy that he looks like a nerd, he said " When I left you, I was but a nerd. Now, I'm the Master!" This is a parody of a quote from the Star Wars, "When I left you I was just a learner, now I am the master."
  • In the episode Fear and Loathing in Endsville, Grim and his idol, Dracula, were stranded in the desert and saved by a character which appears as an English-speaking, green Tusken Raider, complete with a sandcrawler and a house similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi's sand hut. Grim calls him a raider to which he humorously responds, "Actually, we prefer People of the Sand". Referencing Star Wars and political correctness in refererring to minorities.
  • During Grim's version of how he, Billy and Mandy met in Billy And Mandy Begins, Mandy cuts off his arm and he hangs onto a bar over a pit, a parody of the famous fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker's battle in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
  • In the episode The Wrongest Yard, Irwin says:"Is it possible to learn from this power".Mandy then says"Not from a football coach",referencing a quote from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith where Anakin Skywalker and Palpatine are discussing the dark side of the force

[edit] Harry Potter

[edit] Kill Bill

  • In the episode Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack, the movie Kill Bill was referenced several times. When Mandy arrives in Japan (riding a motorcycle from the classic anime Akira), she is dressed in a yellow jumpsuit, similar to that worn by The Bride (which is itself a reference to Bruce Lee's outfit worn in the film Game of Death). She then takes out a list, crossing out Mindy, leaving Billy, Irwin and Grim. The closeup on Mandy's face mimics that of The Bride, with a similar rendition of Quincy Jones's Ironside and the screen turning red.

[edit] The Lord of the Rings

[edit] Evil Dead

  • The character Hoss Delgado has many similarities to Ash Williams from The Evil Dead movie series, as they both battle evil super-natural forces and have a metal hand that can be exchanged with the various attachments, such as the chainsaw.

[edit] E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

  • In the episode Modern Primitives Billy, Mandy, Irwin and Grim fly on the bicycle, while the full moon is glowing in the background (a parody of the famous scene from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial). Billy noticed that "this is like in that one movie with the Extra-Terrestrial which makes friend with those kids... and Grim always cries at the end!" Grim starts to cry, and yells "Shut up, Billy!"

[edit] Pee-wee's Big Adventure

  • In The Crass Unicorn Billy gets into an agruement, and someone calls him stupid, and he replies "I know I am, But what am I?". Which is a spin off of an agruement between Francis and Pee-wee in which Pee-wee says,"I know you are, but what I am I?"

[edit] Other

[edit] Horror

[edit] Anime

[edit] Music

  • In the episode Duck!, Grim has a vision of being married to a dragon and living in a large house. In his dream, he looks around, then exclaims, "Wait a minute. This is not me beautiful house! This is not me beautiful wife!" This is a reference to the popular song Once in a Lifetime by the band Talking Heads. Billy even makes a reference to the song in the episode when he shakes Grim awake by repeatedly yelling "Same as it ever was!" in his face.
  • In the episode Goodbling and the Hip-Hop-Opotamus, Irwin makes a reference by dressing up and dancing across the cafeteria like MC Hammer in his music video "U Can't Touch This".

Also later in the episode Goodbling and the Hip-Hop-Opotamous, the hip hop showdown between Goodbling and Irwin's Grandmama, with contesters insulting each other's "momma", is a parody of the MTV show Yo Momma.

  • In the episode Skarred for Life, the former general Skarr invites Billy into his home, and after Skarr refused to allow Billy to play with his war machines, Billy turns and states: "I thought you were bad." He then takes a few steps, pauses, and turns around to add: "You ain't bad! You ain't nothin!". This is a direct parody of Michael Jacksons music video "Bad", which showed the same sequence between Jackson and two "gangsters" in a subway.
  • In the episode Pandora's Lunch Box, while Mandy and Dora are at the football field having a conversation, Mindy can be heard saying "don't stop, get it, get it" which is a lyric from the group Gorillaz' song, Feel Good Inc. Afterwards, Mindy yells out "shake it like a polaroid picture!," which is a lyric from OutKast's song "Hey Yaa."
  • In the episode Little Rock of Horrors, Billy performs a dance with the brainless zombies of Endsville reminiscent of Michael Jackson's dance in Thriller.

[edit] Video Games and consoles

  • In the Christmas special, Billy and Mandy Save Christmas, Mandy said that Christmas is a big set-up for video-game profits, paroding popular games Halo 2 (as "Hello 2"), Grand Theft Auto (as "PTA") and World of Warcraft (as "World of Dork Crud").
  • In the episode Opposite Day, Billy and Mandy were playing a video game on Nintendo 64. Grim, trying to join the game, said "What is this! I can't even figure out how to hold this thing!", referencing to Nintendo 64 controller. The game they were playing highly resembled Mario Kart 64.
  • In the episode Night of the Living Grim, Billy was playing a game called "Attack of Non-Toxic Edible Slime Monsters", which features a superhero who eats slime monsters while shouting "It's time to eat some slime!" Billy was playing this game on a "LameCube", a parody of GameCube.
  • In the episode The Loser from the Earth's core, there was a game console on fire, "The Burning Box", referencing to the power cable problems of the original Xbox.
  • On the same "LameCube," in the episode Brown Evil, Billy was playing "Pat the Baker" game, and Mandy was playing the game "President Evil", a parody of the video game Resident Evil.

[edit] Television

  • During her battle with Grim in Grim Vs. Mom, Gladys grabs spice rack and shouts "It's time to kick it up a notch!" This is one of many catch phrases of Emeril Lagasse.
  • One of Mandy's episode comments that she does at the beginng of every episode is, "Today's password is...Mmfth Yagh." Which is a reference to Pee-wee's Playhouse in which every episode Pee-wee would have a secret word, and you had to scream every time it was uttered, but instead of saying "Today's Password is...." he would say "Today's Secret Word is....."
  • In the Happy Huggy Stuffy Bears episode, Billy cheers "Big bucks, no whammies!" as he and Mandy await her payment for her TV ad. The phrase was often uttered by contestants on the Press Your Luck game show.

[edit] Cartoons

[edit] Walt Disney

[edit] Other Cartoon Cartoons

  • In Mortal Dilemma, while Billy is having breakfast, Cow and The Red Guy from Cow and Chicken can be seen on the milk carton and cereal box, respectively.
  • In the episode Reap Walking, Grim was watching a show called "Fister's House for Crazy Weirdo Made-Up People". The house blew up a few seconds after the "episode" began. The title and show is a direct parody of another Cartoon Network show, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
  • In the end of the episode My Fair Mandy, Mandy, Grim and Billy become The Powerpuff Girls, with Professor Utonium coming in to tell them to save the day. Irwin ended up becoming Mojo Jojo.
  • In the episode Sickly Sweet, Mandy said to Billy and Grim "... I will open a can of powerpuff on you two". This is a reference to the original name of the Powerpuff Girls. Their original name before they were made into a cartoon is "The Whoopass girls". This is a clever way of saying "opening a can of whoopass" on someone.
  • In the same episode, Grim is watching a TV show in which one of the characters says "Number Three! Get back to the treehouse and clean all of the Number Two mess before Number One gets back!". It is obvious that the show he is watching is a Codename: Kids Next Door parody.
  • In Billy and Mandy vs. the Martians, Billy states of the Mars base, "Hey, this isn't Codename: Kids Next Door"
  • In the episode Fear and Loathing in Endsville, one of the questions asked on a TV game show was "What is the name of a cancelled TV show about a talking brain attached to a bear? ...C'mon! Anybody?! Oh, give me a break, someone has to have seen this show!". This a reference to Evil Con Carne, the other Maxwell Atoms' show. Since the cancellation of Evil Con Carne, there have been numerous references to it, slipped as in-jokes. Also, General Skarr, Hector Con Carne's millitaery leader, has became a recuirring character in the show, after moving to Billy's neighbourhood in the episode Skarred for Life.

[edit] Hanna-Barbera

[edit] Others

  • In the episode Pandora's Lunch Box, Billy mentions a show that happens to feature a "little girl that wanders around the jungle without any adult supervision, averting crisis, and conversing with wild animals with the aid of her foreign-language-speaking monkey?" to which Grim replies that it's his favorite show. This could be seen as a reference to Nick Jr's Dora the Explorer. Dora also closely resembes Dora the explorer.
  • In the episode Complete and Utter Chaos, when zapped by Billy and Mandy's Apple of Discord slices, Grim turns into the same creature Daffy Duck was drawn like in Duck Amuck. He even says Daffy's catch phrase "You're dissssspicable!".
  • In the episode Be a-Fred, Be Very a-Fred, SpongeBob SquarePants briefly appears, portrayed as a blue demon businessman, wearing high-heels, also referencing the alleged accusations that Spongebob is gay.
  • In one episode, Grim says (after being complimented by Billy), "And then my little heart grew three sizes that day" and shows an x-ray being broken by Grim's growing heart, which were both taken straight from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

[edit] Dungeons & Dragons

[edit] Other

  • Pop culture references abound in both the visuals and the dialogue, like game show Press Your Luck and the Keebler Elves from television, to literary references from Edgar Allan Poe and Shakespeare making appearances in the various episodes. In Hog Wild nearly the entire town's populace is turned into 1960's era Ratfink-like creatures (an homage to Ed "Big Daddy" Roth). The character of Eris, the Greek goddess of Chaos, is probably a reference to Madonna, who is known for her blonde hair and coquettishness and for adopting a faux British accent. Eris even has a gap in her front teeth in several (but not all) of the episodes she appears in, similar to Madonna's. The series also mentions names of celebrities, such as Molly Ringwald, Kelly Clarkson, and Jennifer Lopez.
  • Throughout the series Billy, Mandy or Grim, will say lines which are slight parodies of famous lines from Star Trek or Star Wars. One example is found in the episode My Fair Mandy, in which Mandy wants to beat Mindy in a beauty contest. In response to being asked if he can help make Mandy beautiful, Grim replies "Darn it boy, I'm a skeleton, not a miracle worker!". This is an obvious allusion to the original Star Trek and a line by Doctor McCoy of "Damn it, I'm a doctor not a miracle worker". Similar moments have occurred for famous quotes from Star Wars.
  • In the episode Just the two of Pus, Sperg is afflicted with a horrific case of acne that can only be cured by (allegedly) rubbing the bones of the Grim Reaper on his face. When attempting to snatch Grim's hand, there's a momentary pause before they break into an armwrestling scene. Grim turns his hat backwards and states: "When I turn my hat around, it's like a switch. Like a switch, mon!" Billy walks in moments later and asks: "Are you guys playing Over the Top without me?", after which he exclaims: "Tear his arm off!". This scene is obviously based on scenes and lines from the movie Over the Top.
  • In the Season 2 episode Tween Wolf, Irwin is seen walking to the grocery store and repeating the line "Quart of milk, loaf of bread, stick of butter". The quote actually came from an old Sesame Street piece where a mother sends her child to get a "loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a stick of butter" at the store. The child kept repeating the list over and over so he wouldn't forget it. This line was also parodied in Johnny Bravo.
  • In the episode Terror of the Black Knight, when Irwin calls Grim "Lady Grim", he says "Don't make me go medieval on your..." and then Irwin interrupts saying "as I was saying." This is a parody of Marcellus Wallace's famous phrase "I'm gonna go medieval on your ass" in the movie Pulp Fiction.
  • One of the episodes features Grim's magic words "mamasay, mamusah, ma-ma-pusa" which is from Michael Jackson's "Wanna be startin' somethin'"
  • In Billy's Growth Spurt, Grim and Mandy have to find "Screaming Mimi's" to cure billy. "Screaming Mimi's" is also the name of a high-end thrift store that Cyndi Lauper worked at before achieving fame.
  • The character Dracula is a Mr. T pastiche.
  • In Billy and Mandy vs. The Martians the martian grim reaper Morg laughs when Grim says "What happened to all the other grim reapers? Mercury? Venus? Uranus?" referring to that Uranus sound like the phrase "your anus".

[edit] Books

  • Another book-oriented parody was in Billy and the Bully, in which in a background scene when Sperg and Billy are running through a field happily there is the Black Rabbit of Inle from "Watership Down".
  • The episode Fear and Loathing in Endsville, is a parody to Hunter S. Thompson's book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The art shown at the beginning of the episode is a parody of the cover of the book. Grim's hallucinations after being stung by a scorpion are reminiscent of the trips of Hunter's character in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
  • In one episode, Grim states that "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." Contrary to popular belief, the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name was probably NOT the original source for this line. Instead, both derive from a famous line by an English philosopher John Donne, "Therefore send never to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

[edit] References

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