List of references to pop culture in Happy Tree Friends

In Happy Tree Friends, there are multiple references to pop culture throughout the entire show. Here is a list of all the pop culture references in Happy Tree Friends itself.

Not all references have been found yet, please help this page by adding ones you have found.

Back to the Future
There is a small but obvious reference to Back to the Future in the episode Blast from the Past, during the scene when Sniffles is watching TV, there is a DeLorean time traveling in the same way as in the movie.

Child's Play
Child's Play is parodied in A Vicious Cycle, where Flippy gets struck by lightning, and his soul continues to live on in a tricycle owned by Cub, similar to Charles Lee Ray, the main antagonist of the movie by transferring his soul into a doll.

Evil Dead II
There is a big reference to Evil Dead II in the episode Remains to be Seen, with Lumpy having his arm chewed off by zombie Flippy, he goes into a shed, and he attaches a leaf blower to his arm, like how Ash attached a chainsaw to his arm.

The Exorcist
The Exorcist is parodied in Read 'em and Weep, with Cub being possessed by a demon.

Final Destination 3
The plot of the TV episode The Wrong Side of the Tracks is a reference to the beginning of the movie.

Godzilla
Godzilla, a main character in a popular series of Japanese monster movies, is referenced in Wingin' It three times, with two onscreen cameos, and an off-screen one.

Ice Age
A possible reference to the Ice Age franchise appears in Snow Place to Go. The ice cracking because of Flaky's lawn gnome may be a reference to Scrat accidentally cracking ice with his acorn, both scenarios leading to destructive results.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Both the Pod Lumpys and the episode in which they appear are both an homage to the 1978 science fiction film.

Jaws/Orca
The Jaws films are referenced in Wipe Out. A tune resembling the films' popular theme song can be heard as The Sharks attack Flaky.

Another reference may lie in Snow Place to Go, as a similar tune plays when The Orca pursues Russell. Then again, it could be a reference to the 1977 horror film Orca, considering it involved an orca rather than sharks.

Lady and the Tramp
In Remains to be Seen, there's a scene where Cuddles and Giggles slurp a brain similar to the familiar "Spaghetti Kiss" scene.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
There are many references to Raiders of the Lost Ark throughout Happy Tree Friends. The most prevalent is the The Cursed Idol which makes multiple appearances through out the series. It has a very similar appearance to the fertility idol in the movie. In the episode Treasure Those Idol Moments, Cub is crushed by a boulder, which could be a reference to the boulder chase scene in the movie. In Easy For You to Sleigh, when Shifty is trying to escape from Flippy, he swaps a candle-holder with a bag of sand, which parodies the same scene from the movie, then plays part of the tune to the theme song. There is even a piece of the score that sounds similar to the theme of the movie. Another big reference to the movie is Idol Curiosity which is a loosely based parody of the movie, with Sniffles traveling to a remote jungle ruin to get an idol, and take it to a museum.

Saw III
In Out on a Limb Lumpy breaks his leg with a spoon to free himself from the tree he is stuck under. The whole episode is similar to when Detective Eric Matthews broke and shattered his foot with a toilet lid to break free from his shackle.

The Shining
The Shining is referenced in a scene in Aw, Shucks! where the crow goes into a bathroom, and Lumpy uses an axe to chop a way into the bathroom, and when he breaks in, he says, "Here's Lumpy!".

Sin City
The episode Without a Hitch parodies the Sin City-esque style of color use, which is mostly black and white, with splashes of color, like blood, through out the episode.

Spider-Man 2
In The Wrong Side of the Tracks there's a scene where Lumpy tries to stop the roller coaster cart Giggles and Petunia are in, only for his body to file down against the track's ties and lead the girls to their deaths. This is a reference to the subway scene from Spider-Man 2.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn
The title of the episode Wrath of Con, parodies the title of this film from 1982.

Star Wars
In Wrath of Con, Giggles was dressed as Princess Leia and playing with a lightsaber, while Petunia was dressed as an ewok.

Betwitched
A reference to this 1960s series was briefly referenced in As You Wish, in the scene where Lumpy wiggles his nose to grant Disco Bear's wish, similar to how Samantha wiggles her nose to cast spells.

George of the Jungle
In the same episode mentioned above, Sniffles swings on a vine until hitting a tree. The background music played during the scene sounds similar to the George of the Jungle theme song.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
The entire plot of the episode Easy For You to Sleigh is based on this 1957 children's book written by Dr. Seuss, which was then turned into an animated half-hour special in 1966.

The Itchy & Scratchy Show
The violence and brutality in this cartoon is often compared to this fictional cartoon from The Simpsons. The Happy Tree Friends series itself is inspired from it.

Looney Tunes
A reference appears in the episode Party Animal. Nutty, after tasting one drop of sugar, spins into a whirlwind, just like the Looney Tunes character Taz (or the Tasmanian Devil). To a lesser extent, the show has also been compared to the Looney Tunes due to its use of cartoon physics.

Peanuts
The ever famous comic book series/television specials has been referenced in the episode Eyes Cold Lemonade, during the scene where Giggles and Petunia sit at their lemonade stand in a similar fashion to Charlie Brown and Linus leaning against a brick wall. Kenn Navarro has stated that Peanuts served as some inspiration for Happy Tree Friends.

The Price Is Right
There is a small reference to The Price Is Right in Dream Job. It is during the scene when their is a wheel that has fruit on it, which looks very similar to the wheel on the show.

The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show
Splendid and Lumpy, respectively, were inspired from the characters Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Star Trek
In Something Fishy, Sniffles and Mime were wearing Vulcan ears and sweaters and using the Vulcan salute. Sniffles wore that same outfit in an earlier episode, Remains to be Seen. If one looks closely when Mime and Sniffles perform the Vulcan salute, they were seen with four fingers and a thumb. This was probably done intentionally, as they needed this amount of fingers to perform the salute correctly.

A Christmas Carol
The episode We're Scrooged! is named after the protagonist of the Charles Dickens novel. Lumpy is also portrayed as greedy and selfish just like Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character/anti-hero of the story. The beginning text "Based on a true story" may refer to the original story.

Little Golden Books
Starting with Wrath of Con, the end credits for the majority of episodes reference the back designs of the Little Golden Books series.

Pinocchio
There are about two references to Pinocchio in the episode Get Whale Soon. After Russell is engulfed by the whale, the camera pans through the creature's stomach, revealing a wood doll resembling Pinocchio as one of the swallowed objects. Also, Russell and Lumpy try to escape by lighting a fire in hopes the whale will sneeze them out, just like in the story.

Twilight
Twilight was parodied twice in the episode Breaking Wind: the book Splendid was reading throughout the episode parodied the first book in the saga, "Twilight", and the episode title parodied the fourth book in the saga, "Breaking Dawn". Splendid was shown crying over this book but was dissatisfied with the ending.

The Monkey's Paw
The events of the episode As You Wish is similar to this supernatural short story written in 1902 by W.W. Jacobs. In the story, a family receives a monkey's paw, and says that the possessor can wish for anything they want, and the wish will come true. However, every wish will have a catch.

In this episode, Lumpy gives wishes for people who have summoned him, but every one of the wishes he grants will give a disastrous consequence for the character who made the wish.

Astro Boy
The special episode Cubtron Z is a homage to this manga series, as it involves Pop rebuilding Cub into a robot following the latter's death from a vehicle.

Batman
Nutty could be seen wearing a Batman mask in Wrath of Con, during the scene in which Splendid prepares to make his speech.

Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider is briefly parodied in the episode Brake the Cycle, where Lumpy was doing a motorcycle stunt, when suddenly, he is set alight by Toothy, who had the back wheel of his bike on fire, and the fire touched some spilled gas below him. At the end of the episode, Lumpy, had the appearance of Ghost Rider, since all of his flesh was burnt away to the bone, and his body was still on fire. They even mentioned this in the Blurb version of this episode by saying "Get ready to be sued by Marvel," as Ghost Rider is property of Marvel.

Superman
Aside from Splendid being based off of Superman, there are a few other references. In Better Off Bread, Splendid turns back time by spinning the earth backwards. Also in Gems the Breaks, Splendid's weakness is Kryptonut, a parody of Kryptonite. A third reference lies in See What Develops, where Splendid has a job as a news reporter and wears a disguise similar to Superman's alter ego Clark Kent. He is also seen attempting to use a phone both to change out of his disguise which Superman is known to use most often.

Watchmen
Three references appear in Wrath of Con. Sniffles carried a badge that very much resembles the blood-stained smiley face. A Generic Tree Friend was dressed as one of the protagonists, Rorschach. Lumpy was also briefly seen dressed as Doctor Manhattan.

Anteater
A possible reference to the Anteater arcade game appears in Crazy Ant-ics, when Sniffles sends his tongue down the anthill.

Do​nkey Kong/Whac-A-Mole
In the False Alarm episode, The Mole gets trapped in a barrel as it rolls toward Nutty. Aided with a mallet, Nutty smashes the barrel several times, killing The Mole.

Grand Theft Auto
In the False Alarm episode, Nutty carjacks Cuddles' after seeing Lifty and Shifty drive off with tons of game consoles. Carjacking is a typical reference to GTA games where the payable character can steal a car within their vicinity (hence the name Grand Theft Auto). Furthermore, Cuddles' car resembles the car Peyote, which is from the game series.

Pac-Man
Yet another video game reference from the False Alarm episode occurs when Lifty and Shifty are killed. Their heads are sliced to resemble Pac-Man being chased by a ghost.

Paperboy
In the False Alarm episode, Petunia is shown delivering newspapers along a suburb, in a similar fashion to the 1985 game Paperboy.

Tetris
Tetris is referenced in Chore Loser and in the False Alarm episode. Which both scenarios, body parts from one of the characters (respectively Cub and Petunia) form into the shape of Tetris pieces.

Dueling Banjos
In Banjo Frenzy, Lumpy plays this song on his banjo during the episode. It can also be heard during the credits. It is best known from being used in the film Deliverance.

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
Flaky, Cuddles, Toothy, and Sniffles are heard singing this in Party Animal while celebrating Flippy's birthday. Like some cases, it was chosen instead of the "Happy Birthday" song to avoid copyright issues, as that song was not in the public domain at the time.

Helter Skelter
The episode Swelter Skelter is named after this song by The Beatles.

Stayin' Alive
Disco Bear's debut episode is named after this song by the Bee Gees, a band known for their performances during the disco music era.

Coppertone
When Whistle tears the skin off Giggles' buttocks, the scene clearly references the logo and an old advertisement for Coppertone sunscreen.

Keep Calm and Carry On
This meme, inspired from motivational posters produced during World War II, is briefly referenced in the Take a Hike Blurb.

San Diego Comic-Con International
The episode Wrath of Con mostly parodies real life convention centers and gatherings, most notably, the Comic-Con event held annually in San Diego, California.

Winnie-the-Pooh
A possible reference to the popular teddy bear character may lie in Take a Hike, in a scene where Nutty becomes obese devouring honey from a bee hive.

Care Bears
Almost every known main character in Happy Tree Friends has a heart-shaped nose, just like the ones the Care Bears have.