List of pop culture references in the Half-Life and Portal series

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This page contains a list of pop culture references in the Half-Life and Portal series.

Half-Life series

• The Vortigaunts are a clear reference to the Vorticons of the Commander Keen series, both in name and premise, as they are a peaceful raced enslaved by a malevolent entity who are forced to act as enemies.

Half-Life

• The door texture C1A3SECDR02 contains the text 7G, which is a reference to The Simpsons. Homer Simpson works at Sector 7G in the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. It can be seen in the security office in "We've Got Hostiles" (map c1a3), and in the Hazard Course (map t0a0d). It is also used in the Gearbox expansions.
• A newspaper bearing The Onion's logo and title can be found in the trash cans gibs (garbagegibs.mdl). This is a reference to The Onion, a satirical news website.
• The generic security guard character was named after Barney Fife (played by Don Knotts), a fictional character from The Andy Griffith Show. The early version of the character (from 1997) was based on Don Knott's appearance.
• The Egon Gun was named after Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis) from the movie Ghostbusters. The weapon seems to be inspired by the Proton packs from the movie. The early version of the fourth scientist model from Half-Life was also named after Egon.
• Before the events of the Black Mesa Incident, in the locker room, a scientist can be heard asking "Why do we all have to wear these ridiculous ties?". This might be a reference to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Liaisons (S7E02) where Worf says a very similar line with equal meaning and accent on the same word: "I do not see why it is necessary to wear these ridiculous uniforms." about the Starfleet dress uniform (formal attire).

Half-Life: Opposing Force

• The generic Drill Instructor character was inspired by the character Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (played by R. Lee Ermey) from the Stanley Kubrick's film Full Metal Jacket.
• In "We Are Pulling Out" (map of1a5b), at the point where the Shock Trooper is first introduced, the security guard in the room can be heard saying "Have you seen the new IG-88?". IG-88 is the name of the assassin droid which is one of the six bounty hunters chosen to capture Han Solo in the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. A similar line is spoken in Star Wars: A New Hope, in which a stormtrooper asks another "You seen that new BT-16?"
• In Vicarious Reality (map of4a3), the scientist in the hologram message is speaking to another scientist named Walter, likely a reference to Walter Bennett.
• In Worlds Collide (map of7a0), during the ending sequence, there is message hidden in the skybox that is hidden to the player. The message says: "HACK HACK HACK ALL DAY LONG. HACK HACK HACK WHILE I SING THIS SONG [sic]". This is a reference to Adam Sandler's comedy track, The Beating of a High School Janitor. This is also a reference to the fact that the developer used a hack that allows both the Earth and Xen to be seen in the same map.

• 

  The skybox texture.

Half-Life 2 leak

• There is a reference to Superfly Johnson, one of the sidekicks from the game Daikatana in a temporary voice line recorded by Marc Laidlaw. "Sorry sir, you know I can't let you through here without your good friend Superfly Johnson...Just kidding, Gordon. Go on through."

Half-Life 2

• Dr. Kleiner's pet Headcrab, Hedy Lamarr, was named after the actress and the inventor Hedy Lamarr.
• In Point Insertion (map d1_trainstation_01), Dr. Kleiner exclaims "Great Scott!" upon seeing Gordon Freeman. This line was famously said by Emmett "Doc" Brown in the 1985 film Back to the Future.
• According to Marc Laidlaw, the Consoling Couple is a reference to the characters Honey and Darling from the Legend of Zelda video games Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.
• A cat is mentioned several times by Barney Calhoun. This is a reference to the movie The Fly (1958). In the movie, scientist Andre Delambre is experimenting with teleportation and uses the family's pet cat, Dandelo. The cat disappears and never reappears. The cat's sound can be heard in the room.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two

• In Our Mutual Fiend (map ep2_outland_11), there is a small room hidden behind a fuel tank in Uriah's office. This room contains a computer monitor that is displaying the numbers sequence from the television show Lost. A cross between the Dharma Initiative logo and the White Forest logo can be seen on the wall.