Community

Season 3

Biology 101

1. Jim Rash (Dean Pelton) now has his name appear in the opening and is officially a series regular.
2. This is the first time we see Inspector Spacetime. This is a parody of Doctor Who and is shown throughout the season.
3. At the beginning, the Dean says, "This is the kind of National Lampoonery that is coming to an end this year!" This is an allusion to Chevy Chase who is widely known for being in several of the National Lampoon's movies.
4. When Jeff is monkey-gassed he goes through a series of hallucinations (eye in radial color reverse, seeing himself age in a white version of the study room) that are clearly a parody of a similar sequence toward the end of 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Geography of Global Conflict

1. Troy represents the country of Georgia during the Model UN Battle Royale, speaking with a southern accent and referencing the American South several times. Actor Donald Glover, who plays Troy, is from the state of Georgia.
2. In the pre-production phase of the show, creator Dan Harmon wanted Annie to be portrayed as an Asian, but this was changed when Alison Brie was cast. The role of Annie Kim is an homage to the same idea.

Competitive Ecology

1. The ranking list: 1 Annie, 2 Abed, 3 Troy, 4 Todd, 5 Jeff, 6 Britta, 7 Pierce, 8 Shirley.
2. The mannequin leg that appears with Chang is a reference to creator Dan Harmon's former fetish with a mannequin leg that he discusses on his podcast, "Harmontown".
3. Although aired as the third episode of season 3, this was originally intended to be the fourth episode. This is confirmed in episode five when Britta remarks about the tests she collected last week.

Remedial Chaos Theory

1. In the opening, Annie and Britta argue about whether Troy and Abed's apartment is 303 or 304. This is a reference to the fact that this episode and episode 304, "Competitive Ecology", were aired out of order.
2. The label of the Serbian rum Pierce brought says "Generic Rum" in Cyrillic.
3. Gillian Jacobs (who played Britta) called this her favourite episode.
4. Among the pictures on Troy and Abed's apartment there are several pictures of them dressed in togas: after the food fight and with the Boob-a-Tron (Community: The Art of Discourse (2010)); one as cowboys at the group visit to an Old West town (Community: Paradigms of Human Memory (2011)); one doing "Troy and Abed in the morning!"; one during the blanket fort (Community: Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design (2010)); one in bee suits Community: Celebrity Pharmacology 212 (2011); and another with the space simulator (Community: Basic Rocket Science (2010)). There are also photos in the study room.
5. The highest rated episode of Community along with Season 1 Episode 23, Community: Modern Warfare (2010).
6. At the end of the episode, when Abed is talking about "the darkest, most terrible timeline" and creating the fake "Evil Goatees", there is writing on the chalkboard in the background; it reads: "Please return all books left in Study Room to the front desk. All special items were turned in at the Student Union BLDG. Have a great weekend.... My bad, see ya tomorrow." There is also an indication of the episode number "Tg 303" in the top right corner. This is seen as further proof that this episode and "Competitive Ecology" (S3: E3) were shown out of order.
7. On the wall behind Jeff can be seen a montage inspired by Andy Warhol's "The Marilyn Diptych" (1962). Warhol famously used Marilyn Monroe as the subject of his portrait compilation. Here, however, the images are not of one person; they are a mix of Troy and Abed.
8. Pierce only brings a house warming gift for Troy while Jeff doesn't bring a gift at all. Shirley's gift is presumably her baking while Britta's gift is never opened.
9. In the epilogue, when Abed briefly "senses" something is amiss, he and Troy are watching "Inspector Spacetime" in their apartment.
10. The die shown landing on the table several times is computer generated.
11. Britta's iPod contains the full album "Outlandos d'Amour" by the Police released in 1978. This was the group's first album and is now regarded as one of the strongest debut albums by any band or artist.

Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps

1. Once per season, someone says the word Beetlejuice (1988). This episode marks the third time it is said (this time, by Annie during the cold open), and an extra in a Beetlejuice costume walks by in the background.
2. Marks the first time that the piece of music "Daybreak" by Michael Haggins is heard on the show. Abed hums the tune during his story. The song would go on to be heard several more times during the series.
3. As Britta is describing how each member of the group may be killed, it is shown that she is reading a book called "Warren Piece." This is a play on Tolstoy's famous novel "War and Peace," spelled wrong to show Britta's pretentions to intellectualism.
4. In Annie's scary story when she teaches vampire Jeff to read, the line he reads successfully is from Shakespeare's King Lear.
5. The opening credits of the intro are Halloween-themed.
6. Troy mentions that the Dean got taco meat from the army. It was a biological weapon mistaken for taco meat that touched off the plot of the previous season's Halloween episode, "Epidemiology".

Advanced Gay

1. Larry Cedar, who plays Pierce's father, Cornelius, in this episode, is actually 12 years younger than Chevy Chase, who plays Pierce.
2. The plot of this episode concerns Pierce's family corporation, the moist-towelette company called "Hawthorne Wipes." Chevy Chase, the actor who plays Hawthorne, in real life also has a family fortune derived from a personal sanitation product. Chase, whose real name is Cornelius Crane Chase, is the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt Crane, who was heir to the Crane Plumbing company, which manufactures and distributes plumbing fixtures and products (most notably, toilets for home and commercial markets) in North America. Pierce's father, who appears in the present for the first time in this episode, is also named Cornelius. (His father had appeared previously in a home movie circa 1956 played by a different actor.)
3. When Abed shows the group the "Pocket Full of Hawthornes" music video, the artist is called "Urbana Champaign." These are the two towns in which the University of Illinois is located.
4. Pierce's full name is revealed to be Piercinald Anastasia Hawthorne.
5. Britta keeps referring to the "Edible Complex" instead of the "Oedipus Complex" (also known as the Oedipal complex). In M*A*S*H: Private Charles Lamb (1974), Hawkeye Pierce defined the Edible Complex as "where a boy liked his mother's cooking better than eating out."
6. Pierce says "You're dead and I'm not." This is a reference to Chevy Chase's famous line from SNL: "I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not."

Studies in Modern Movement

1. First instance of the Dream-a-torium. This is Troy's and Abed's name for what is clearly a nod to the Holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The room has a grid pattern same as the Holodeck when not generating any images.
2. Donald Glover (Troy) has stated that his favorite karaoke song to do is "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal. This is the song that the Dean and Jeff sing during karaoke.
3. All the situations / capers the group are part of in this episode, take place either in front of a Green Screen or as an altered perception. Jeff and Dean Pelton are actually in front of a green screen to sing Karaoke. Shirley and Britta are driving, this is filmed using a green screen. Pierce is hallucinating , while Troy and Abed perform for Annie on an imaginary Green Screen.

Documentary Filmmaking: Redux

1. In one scene, a windmill can be seen in the background. This is a reference to Terry Gilliam's unfilmed Don Quixote, a story in which the hero mistakes windmills for giants. Due to setbacks and going over budget, the movie took decades to complete. The documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002) details the film's initial failures.
2. Wilhelm Scream: The scream can be heard from Dean Pelton's computer when he shows his commercial to Luis Guzman.
3. IMDb is mentioned in this episode.
4. A frazzled Annie explains that the Dean must be a genius because otherwise he is an idiot and she just wasted two weeks of her life on an idiot, which is unacceptable, so the Dean must be a genius. It is an example of circular logic.
5. When Dean Pelton disrobes during his mental breakdown, we see that he is wearing the same underwear Jeff is seen wearing in a first-season episode.
6. In this episode, Jeff (Joel McHale) does an extended impression of the Dean (Jim Rash). In season four's "Basic Human Anatomy," we see the reverse. The latter episode was written by Jim Rash.
7. Abed and Luis Guzman both reference Apocalypse Now. A movie about a leader slipping into madness. Many of Dean Pelton's scenes are nods to that movie.

Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism

1. One of the Germans says to Jeff, "I wish there was a word to describe the pleasure I feel at viewing misfortune." The word "Schadenfreude," which comes from German, means "misfortune-joy," or, "joy at seeing another's misfortune." Psychology considers Schadenfreude, like other malicious emotions, to be a normal part of the human psyche, but, of course, it can become maladaptive or pathological if a person can only derive joy in this fashion.
2. After Leonard's frozen pizza review, a message appears very briefly on the screen and reads as follows:"First off, would someone please explain to me why, in the age of digital streaming, I have to pay late fees for the movies I rent. I'm a responsible person, I pay my taxes. Seriously, I'm not trying to be a dick about the. I really want to know. It seems to me that the only competitive advantage these rental stores have over the internet is face-to-face customer service. So why are your working so hard to make me not want to talk to you, just because I kept Dan In Real Life a couple extra days. There were a lot of discussion features, and I didn't ask my daughter for a blu-ray player not to see them all. Oh, and by the way? What happened to the days when these rental jockeys would actually WATCH the movies they have, so they could give you recommendations instead of just standing there like "Duh doy, yeah. I guess there's probably nudity in Dan In Real Life." Well, guess what, Chelsea. THERE ISN'T. That Juliette Binoche though. Va-va-Va-va-VOOM. That's one frozen pizza that gets MY oven going at 350 degrees. Anyway, hit me up on the comment side, unless you're a hater. Or catch me on twitter at @leonard_GCC. And remember: see something, say something. Watch the throne.
3. The flashback to Jeff and Shirley as children was filmed in the breakroom at the Greendale cafeteria.
4. Young Jeff (credited as "Tinkle Town" and played by Jacob Bertrand) was bullied so much that he peed his pants. Older Jeff Winger claims that because of this he had to change his clothes, hair, and personality. In Cobra Kai (2018) Bertrand has a similar transformation. He starts out as Eli, a shy, bed wetting target for bullies and then changes his clothes, hair, and personality to become the confident, even cocky, Hawk.

Regional Holiday Music

1. During Troy and Abed's "Baby Boomer Santa" song, right as Abed begins his disco verse, the camera pans to the rest of the group, and Britta, Annie and Shirley can be seen doing the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil", respectively, with Britta covering her ears, Annie covering her eyes, and Shirley covering her mouth.
2. Annie's musical number, "Teach Me How to Understand Christmas," is a parody of a certain sub-genre of "sexy" Christmas songs, including "Santa Baby" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside." "Santa Baby" in particular is a target here, since its combination of sexual innuendo and the infantilizing implications of the lyrics have been criticized in recent decades as awkward.
3. The line "We'll see you all after Regionals" is sung followed by a series hiatus. On the 21st of February 2012 Dan Harmon announced the return of the series via Twitter. This coincides with the air date for episode 3.14 (On My Way) of Glee (2009), in which the characters compete at regionals.
4. During Troy and Abed's Christmas Rap, the "clock" which appears has "hour" markers with 10 images from past episodes. The 11th (highlighted) circle contains an image from the act and scene currently underway. The fifth circle is the on-board computer system S.A.N.D.E.R.S. from season two's "Basic Rocket Science."
5. The hologram machine that the Space Time Inspector gives to the Constable is a Hungry Hungry Hippos boardgame painted silver with the Hippos removed.
6. The word "regionals" is mentioned 17 times in this episode.
7. When Britta sings her impromptu solo, she says, "Me so Christmas, me so merry!" She also used the same voice during "Remedial Chaos Theory" when exclaiming, "Me so hungy, me so hungy!" as the pizza arrives.
8. The episode contains a great homage to the end of the 70s version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers
9. The a cappella tune playing on the closeup of Mr. Rad after Abed leaves mimics the a cappella tunes used for scene breaks in episodes of Glee (2009), but with a sinister flair.
10. In the very beginning of the episode, Abed mentions the holiday special of the fictional show Inspector Spacetime and that it is "critically reviled". This is a nod to the 1978 Star Wars Christmas special that was universally disiked.

Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts

1. Pierce is asked if he's come "dressed as a millionaire murderer". He's wearing an outfit similar to Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000).
2. Andre mentions "Hypercolor and Hammer pants". The Hypercolor line of t-shirts utilized thermochromic dyes, the fabric changed color as it changed temperature.
3. Pierce introduces the "Trouser Bench", a wearable, automatic chair for the "man on the go." It's played for laughs and is presented as yet another of Pierce's absurd ideas. However, the patent for a wearable chair virtually identical to Pierce's "Trouser Bench" was issued in 1977. Furthermore, by the beginning of the 2020s, multiple companies were selling their own version of the wearable chair.
4. WILHELM SCREAM: Heard when Troy and Abed are in the Dreamatorium "deweirding" themselves.
5. While Andre is serenading Shirley, he reveals that her maiden name is Shirley Edwards.
6. Britta rails against being Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, one of the Steppenwolf wives. 'Steppenwolf' was a 1970s psychedelic rock band named after a German novel about asocial existential angst. 'The Stepford Wives' was a 1972 satirical novel about a town full of perfect and submissive wives who turned out to be robotic replacements of the original human wives.
7. Troy is seen wearing Cornelius Hawthorne's ivory toupee (from episode 3.6 "Advanced Gay") when he and Abed step out of the Dreamatorium.
8. A note on the whiteboard behind Shirley and Annie in the study room reads: "We will be fumigating the library to remove all insects, pest and as we say in Colorado...vermin". This is one of the few hints as to where the show is set until Jeff confirms it in season 5.

Contemporary Impressionists

1. A close look at Britta's Human Psychology textbook shows it was written by Prof. Ian Duncan.
2. A sticker appears briefly on the left side of Britta's car, reading ''Occupy Greendale''.
3. Pierce says that he replaced his VHS movie collection with Selectavision CED Videodisc. Though VHS VCR's predated videodisc (1976 vs. 1981), it was because of the increasing popularity of VHS in the mid 80's that videodisc players, which did not have the ability to record, went out of production in 1986.
4. This is the second time that J.P. Manoux has played a Moby lookalike on a show. The first time was in How I Met Your Mother: The Limo (2005), in the first season of How I Met Your Mother.
5. After Troy tells them to get out, the four celebrity impersonators that walk out of the blanket fort are Woody Allen from "Annie Hall," Rutger Hauer from "Blade Runner," Julia Roberts from "Pretty Woman," and Tom Cruise from "Risky Business."
6. The music playing when Jeff wakes up after his 'Hulk Out' is the theme from the 1970s Hulk TV show.
7. Vinnie, the celebrity impersonator manager, claims he was originally an impersonator before he became a manager. He claimed he was a French Stewart impersonator. Vinnie, The French Stewart Impersonator, is played by French Stewart himself.
8. This episode features a main character from Workaholics, Blake Anderson as an usher. This episode is also directed by the director of Workaholics, Kyle Newacheck. Newacheck was also a cast member on Workaholics.
9. Abed says "But friends don't lie to each other. You promised. October 15, 2009." On October 15, 2009 "Advanced Criminal Law" aired, which involved a story where Abed plays a long term pranks on Troy. In the end they decided friends don't mess with each other and promise not to lie.
10. During the closing credits, Abed has a daydream of piloting a starship with the designation of "SS Abed 1373". Show creator/producer Dan Harmon's birthday is January 3, 1973.
11. The end credits are a direct parody of the opening of the movie "Patton" (1970).
12. At around 3:20, Chang says to Dean Pelton: "You won't regret this unless I rise up against you." Which is exactly what happens later in the season.

Digital Exploration of Interior Design

1. John Goodman was filming Flight (2012) at the time which explains his goatee and ponytail.
2. John Goodman's character (i.e. the Vice Dean of Air Conditioning Repair School) puts on a hat that says "Kelvin & the Zeros" while he mentions heading to band practice. This is likely a nod to the fact that Kelvin is a scale of temperature measurement, and 0 degrees Kelvin is absolute zero: the point at which heat ceases to exist. (0 K is about -273 C or -460 F.)
3. When Britta is looking for George Orwell's 1984 book in the library, the section "Civil War" can be seen lit on the other side of the bookshelf. This is foreshadowing Troy and Abed's war between blankets and pillows, which is structured like Ken Burns' famous Civil War documentary.

Pillows and Blankets

1. According to a behind the scenes featurette, Community season 3 was over budget. This episode was conceived as a way to save money, as they could reuse all the props from the previous episode, and a lot of the episode would feature narration and stills, cutting down on shooting time and production costs.
2. The campus map used in this episode is based on the map of Los Angeles City College, where the exterior scenes for Community (2009) are filmed.
3. At the end of the episode, Jeff asks the narrator "weren't you in The Cape?" Although the narrator says no, Keith David, who provides the narration for this episode, actually was a regular on The Cape (2011).
4. The structure, style, and music used in this episode are parodies of the documentary films of Ken Burns, especially his 1990 five-night epic account of the Civil War. This reference is extended all the way to the PBS-style pledge drive plea for donations after the end credits.
5. According to Pierce's medical records, his full name is Piercenald Cornelius Hawthorne, and his address is 4319 Cranesworth Road, Greendale. Chevy Chase's full name in real life is Cornelius Crane Chase, and his address number appears to be a play on his (and Pierce's) birth year - 1943. Further, his medical records are from the office of Mr Dr Rosenrosen. Dr Rosenrosen is an alias used by the character Fletch, played by Chevy Chase.
6. The picture of "English Memorial" (the Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis) is actually a picture of the show's creator, Dan Harmon, made to look like a renaissance painting.
7. The song Fat Neil plays on the radio station is the same that Abed is humming in his scary story on the previous Halloween special and occurs many times throughout the series.
8. According to Pierce's medical records, he was born on 10/08/1943. This is the real life birthday of Chevy Chase.
9. Based on the dates shown in Pierce's medical records, the "Battle of Big Bulletin Board" takes place on April 1, 2012, meaning that "Pillows and Blankets" took place during this time.
10. Pierce's medical record show his full name is Piercenald Cornelius Hawthorne. But in "Advanced Gay," Pierce's father calls him by a different full name: Piercenald Anastasia Hawthorne.
11. The painting of "English Memorial", the "Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale, while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis", depicts Community's creator, Dan Harmon.
12. When Jeff goes to the dean's office to retrieve the imaginary friendship hats, the cushions from the dean's couch are missing, presumably because Abed took them to construct his fort.
13. The Narrator is played by Keith David, who would go on to play Elroy Patashnik in Season 6, three years later.

Origins of Vampire Mythology

1. As Britta is being dragged into Annie's room, the last insult she shrieks is "You're the opposites of Batman!", to which Troy replies, "You don't know what that means!" In the season premiere, "Biology 101," after Britta "broke" Abed, Troy told her, "You are human tennis elbow. You are a pizza burn on the roof of the world's mouth. You are the opposite of Batman!"
2. Wilhelm Scream: Just before Annie grabs Britta's phone to see what Troy texted, a Wilhelm can be heard coming from the movie they are watching.
3. Annie (Allison Brie) has a poster from the movie Charlie St. Cloud (2010) in her room. Dave Franco has a minor role in that movie. Franco and Brie would marry in 2017.
4. Troy mentions that a part of Abed's stand-up comedy act is "a reference to his album". This is a reference to the actor Donald Glover who is also a rapper named Childish Gambino and a stand-up comic (who in his show Weirdo references his album Camp several times).
5. During the flurry of texts sent by Britta to her ex-boyfriend Blade she asks him if he wants to meet their two year old.

Virtual Systems Analysis

1. When Jeff reads out Abed's file, Abed's patient number is 1373, which is Community creator Dan Harmon's birthday - 01/03/1973.
2. When Abed is impersonating Jeff, the vending machines sell buttered noodles.
3. In Abed's medical file, it shows that his Attending Physician is Dr S. Gagossian. This is a reference to Shoghig Gagossian, Set Dressing and Props Production assistant on the show.
4. The Dean comes in dressed half man/half woman. Before WWII this was a common sideshow performance called the heshe, half and half, or hermaphrodite. The performers would go so far as to strenuously exercise only the male side and protect the female side from tanning.
5. When Abed is freaking out at the end, Troy says "cut, Garrett." Garrett Donovan is an Executive Producer of "Community." Also, the character Garrett in the show is often seen as a cameraman for their films.
6. Troy and Britta go to a restaurant named "Señor Kevin's." Kevin is the name Señor Chang adopts when he changes his identity in season 4.

Basic Lupine Urology

1. The episode's title "Basic Lupine Urology" is a reference to Dick Wolf, who developed "Law & Order."
2. Leslie Hendrix, who plays the botanist who examines the yam, also played ME Rogers in many episodes of Law & Order.
3. On the commentary Rob Schrab says that in the background of the scene where Jeff is getting a hot dog, there is a woman who comes out a door wiping her mouth, followed by a man doing up his zipper. Apparently, no one on the production knew about this, until people started making GIFs of it.
4. The tie that Troy wears the majority of the episode has Spider-Man on it. This is a reference to a grass roots campaign for Donald Glover to play Spider-Man in both the Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland reboots.
5. The show "Law and Order" takes place in New York, the characters often drinking coffee from the uniquely NY blue and white Greek style paper cup. One of these 'Anthora' cups is on Annie's desk in the scene where we learn "Starburns is in the wind".
6. Michael Kenneth Williams and Chevy Chase both appeared in Law and Order. Gillian Jacobs was in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
7. Danny Pudi's children were born during the filming of this episode.
8. The episode centres around what happened to the study group's "yam". What Americans call a yam is technically a sweet potato; elsewhere, a yam is a different root/tuber that is larger, round, has a dark skin and a white, starchy centre.

Course Listing Unavailable

1. WILHELM SCREAM: briefly heard during Abed's Starburns Memorial video.
2. Starburns' last will and testament was delivered by a one armed lawyer who, according to Abed, was missing his right arm. This perfectly describes Jeff's doppelganger from the evil timeline created in season 3, episode 3, "Remedial Chaos Theory".
3. When "The Greendale Seven" are in the board members' office, about to be expelled, there is a subtle nod to Greendale's location: There is a Coloradoan flag right next to Britta.
4. When Pierce says "13 years of college down the drain", it's a reference to "Animal House" (1978) where Bluto says "7 years of college down the drain!"

Curriculum Unavailable

1. The role of Dr. Heidi was written for Nathan Fillion.
2. Annie reacts to Abed's impression of Don Draper of Mad Men. Alison Brie played Trudy on Mad Men.
3. Dr. Heidi says, "I think I've heard everything I need to hear in order to make a decision." Guest star John Hodgman often says something similar as he prepares to decide the verdict in his "Judge John Hodgman" podcast.
4. Abraham Benrubi makes an uncredited appearance as an orderly, much like the character he played in ER (1994).
5. When the group is remembering the crazy things Chang has done, Chang is shown snorting corn chips and he says "I said hot damn!", this is a reference to Uma Thurman snorting cocaine in "Pulp Fiction."
6. During the flashbacks showing Chang doing crazy things, Annie walks in on Chang who says he's predicting future crimes. Garrett is shown being forced to lay with multiple leads connected to him, floating in a pool. Chang is trying to prove that Garrett is a "pre-cog" This is a reference to the film "Minority Report" in which "pre-cogs" are mutants with the ability to see future crimes and are used as a means to prevent them.
7. When showing Garrett as a scientist observing the study group, his voice is replaced with that of creator and showrunner Dan Harmon.
8. When Dr. Heidi is explaining to the group why he lied to them, he says, "The Indian kid got it right," referring to Abed. Shirley quickly corrects him with, "He's half Arabic." and Abed chimes in, "And half Polish." In reality, Danny Pudi, who plays Abed, is half-Indian, half-Polish.

Digital Estate Planning

1. The ugly and public outburst of long-running tensions between Dan Harmon and Chevy Chase peaked over the filming of "Digital Estate Planning", which was the final episode filmed for Season 3 due to the time needed to complete the extensive "1980 video game" special effects (although it was never intended to be the season finale and ended up airing as the 3rd-to-last show of the season). Dan Harmon said that he wrote a scene after the story's resolution where Abed handed Pierce Hawthorne a floppy disk to use, and Pierce was left in tears when he saw it was a computer simulation of Pierce's late, horrible father having a game of catch with his son. But Chevy Chase was tired of the delays in the shooting schedule and left the set after his final scripted scene was done, even as Harmon tried to explain this extra scene and begged him to stay and film it. Harmon later said he was so angry over Chase's actions that he over-reacted and this led to their problems becoming embarrassingly public.
2. The legal agreement that Gilbert has to digitally agree to in order to receive Pierce's fathers inheritance is actually Article I, section 2 of the US Constitution, better known as the 3/5th Compromise.
3. Jeff's sprite jumps with the same animation as the 1980s video game character Mega Man.
4. After Abed has maxed out Hilda's trust and affection, some of the show related actions she can perform in the front-end scripting language are "Kickpunch(er)" and "(Inspector) Spacetime RPG."
5. The computer voice that counts down seconds to disqualification from getting out of their seats is the voice of GlaDOS from the Valve game series Portal.
6. There's a picture of Hilda in the Blacksmith's hut.
7. The plot of this episode is almost certainly inspired by the novel 'Ready Player One' by Ernest Cline (published 2011), in which participants in a virtual reality compete in order to receive an inheritance.
8. The opening credits of the intro are in the style of a 1980s 8-bit video game.
9. After his character is killed by drinking Britta's potion, Gilbert accesses the game code The screen displays the following:C:\hawthornelabs\hawkthorne.parameters.dir >Weapons Override >Nullify Oponents >God Mode >Enhanced Potency >Ripple Time >Demux Parameters >Unlimited Strength >Unlimited Running >Testicular Fortitude >Giraffe Mode >Enhanced Knowledge >Potion Skills >Speechcraft >Max Inventory >Unlimited Running >Intestinal Fortitude >Resperitory Powers >Invulnerability >Infinite Regeneration >No Fall Damage >Nuclear Health Execute? (Y/N) >>
10. Last filmed episode for season three.
11. At the end of the episode, as the mother walks out with the baby, you can hear the "cool, cool, cool" line that the digital Abed babies repeated over and over again.

The First Chang Dynasty

1. There are three file folders in the drawer in Chang's office: LOCK COMBINATIONS, MISC. CHANG PUNS, and EXTRA FILE FOLDERS.
2. Troy and Abed's plumbers disguise is for "Rod and Barry" plumbers. On the DVD commentary, writer Matt Fusfeld reveals that these names were chosen because the staff writers of Community prefer to use the toilet in the nearby Roddenberry building (named after Gene Roddenberry the creator of "Star Trek") rather than the bathroom adjacent to the writers' room.
3. J.P. Manoux, who plays the fake dean says "It's hard out there for a fake Moby." In How I Met Your Mother: The Limo (2005) episode of How I Met your Mother, Manoux plays a character that is mistaken for Moby.
4. The opening sequence, showcasing Chang, uses footage from the comedic sci-fi film What Planet Are You From? (2000).
5. When Chang and Jeff are facing off with stun batons, Jeff's has a blue tip while Chang has a double-ended one with red tips. This is a nod to Star Wars when Obi-Wan Kenobi had a blue lightsaber and faced off against Darth Maul who had a double-ended red lightsaber.
6. When Chang starts playing the Keytar, it is the theme song to Beverly Hills Cop (1984).
7. When Troy busts through the wall to Chang's office, he inserts his head in the hole he just made, exactly where Chang's face was in the portrait he just destroyed. In the debris hanging from the wall (made of foam to allow actor Donald Glover to break through easily) a hand-drawn circled X can be seen, put there to help Glover hit the exact right spot in the wall to make the "face in the hole" gag work.

Introduction to Finality

1. In the first shot of air-conditioner repair class there is a credo on the chalk board, "This is my Limpkin wrench..." That is a parody of The Rifleman's Creed (also known as My Rifle and The Creed of the United States Marine) that begins "This is my rifle...".
2. The line #sixseasonsandamovie is displayed in the closing credits