Friday, May 25, 2007

Reference to anime, including Ranma, on Star Trek


Someone involved with Star Trek: The Next Generation was a fan of anime. There are quite a few references/shout outs to various anime. One such reference is a Ranma ½ gyro block which is said to be an important component of nanites in the TNG episode Evolution. According to set manager, Rick Sternbach, there is at least one anime reference per episode. I have not seen anything like a complete list but some other examples are:

1. Oneamisu receiver a likely reference to Wings of Honneamise (Ôritsu uchûgun Oneamisu no tsubasa)
2. Season 2 episode Peak Performance has a computer display with two ships called Kei and Yuri a reference to Dirty Pair.
3. The Otomo calibration is most likely to Japanese director Katsuhiro Ôtomo.
4. In the episode The Icarus Factor the Japanese characters in the "ambo-jitsu" ring that Comander Riker are references to Urusei Yatsura (another series by Rumiko Takahashi creator of Ranma).
5. The Akira-class ships are a reference to the anime movie Akira.

There are also many references to other works besides Anime in Star Trek. For example, the TNG episode Rascals mentions the fictional elements Daffyduckium (a reference to Daffy Duck), Duckdodgers (a reference to Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century), Disneyium (a reference to Walt Disney), Groucho (a reference to Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers), Stoogeium (a reference to the Three Stooges), and Kryptonite (a reference to Superman) amongst many others.

The picture is of the Federations flag since I do not have a screencap of one of the anime references (preferably the Ranma one). If I do acquire one I will switch it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So you haven't seen the Ranma reference either, huh? I'm trying very hard to find it, but I'm starting to doubt that it is in Evolution in the first place. X_x