This list of in-jokes is almost entirely based on Laura Witte's In-jokes list, I made only some little updates, mainly "retreads". Please visit also her site.

• In an interview with the LA Times (August 28, 1998), Chris Carter explains that the first thing in the opening teaser of the premiere is a shot of the sun. The camera then pans down to a desert landscape -- a scene they would never have been able to do in Vancouver. Carter says that these opening images are a "wink to the audience that we are now in the land of sunshine".
• Mulder & Scully's new boss, Kersh, is reportedly named after characters (Dr. Kersh & Anton Kersh) from one of Chris Carter's favorite movies, 1971's "Vampire Circus". The scoop was unearthed by GF2020.
• The guy sleeping at the controls in the nuclear power plant is named Homer, which is pretty self-explanatory.
• One of the assistant directors is named Bart, which could the same case (but see below).
• The nameplates of the two most antagonistic and insufferable of his inquisitors read: J. Maslin and P. Bart. When the X-Files feature film was released last summer, Janet Maslin dismissed it in The New York Times as a "middling, unfocused action-adventure", and Variety's Peter Bart slammed Chris Carter, the show's creator, as "the most arrogant writer-producer in television". In the opening scene the fictional Maslin mocks their "pie in the sky report" and asks "Is there going to be data to back this vague omnibus account?". The phrases "pie in the sky" and "vague omnibus" also appeared in Maslin's film review.
• There is a scene with a song featuring lyrics like "gray skies are gonna clear up" and "sunshine all over the place", which seems to be nod to ex-Vancouver.
• The very opening scene harkened back to the opening scene of the movie. In this case, however, it was two men running across the desert, rather than across an ice field.
• Rick Millikan, who does the casting for the show, dies in teaser sequence. Reportedly, he took the part because he looked a lot like the chest-bursted victim-dummy used in the X-Files movie (which was re-used in this episode).

• Country music star Junior Brown plays a bit part in this episode (as a farmer). He was approached for the part by producer/writer Vince Gilligan because he is a fan of his music.
• Drive was Vince Gilligan's homage to the movie Speed.
• The gas station where Mulder hijacks the station wagon is named "Holly's" after Vince Gilligan's girlfriend, Holly Rice.

• Tagline: Die Wahrheit ist Irgendwo da Draußen which means The Truth is Somewhere Out There in German. Some people have suggested that the additional "somewhere" in the phrase is yet another "Wizard of Oz" homage (as in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow").
• Much like "Post-Modern Prometheus" was an homage to Frankenstein, this episode is a homage to "The Wizard of Oz" filmed in the style of Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film "Rope" (with the story taking place in real-time and being shot in continuous takes with no cutaway shots)
• The story loosely followed that of "The Wizard of Oz" (with Mulder in a sort-of alternate reality, running into people who look amazingly like the important people in his life) and the filming style is much like "Rope" (the story takes place in real-time and was shot in continuous takes with no cutaway shots).
• Mulder's wrecked boat was named the "Lady Garland". Judy Garland was the actress who played Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz".
• The first scene in a ballroom includes a band named "Elmira Gulch and the Lollypop Guild". Elmira Gulch was the non-Oz name of the Wicked Witch of the West character (the mean old woman who wanted to take Toto), and the Lollypop Guild was the ruling body of the Munchkins.
• The events Mulder witnesses on the Queen Anne are taking place in 1939. The movie version of "The Wizard of Oz" was released in 1939.
• The Captain is named Yip Harburg, after the Oz lyricist.
• The song that played during the final "chase scenes" sounded like it might have been a big-band version of a song that was cut from "The Wizard of Oz" titled "Jitterbug".
• Either the powers-that-be at 1013 are still reading the newsgroups, or Carter just thinks like we do, because it is obvious that no matter what time he is in, Spender is a weasel!!
• Actress Arlene Pileggi (Skinner's assistant) is married to Mitch Pileggi in real life.
• Tara Parker, the girlfriend of Chris Owens (Spender), appeared in this episode as one of the dancers in the ship's ballroom.
• In the interesting information department, we finally have confirmation on exactly what the swing-song during the chase scene is. Written by Louis Prima, the song is titled "Sing, Sing, Sing" and was the theme song for Benny Goodman. (I still agree with Deborah Thomas -- that the song does sometimes resemble a swing version of the cut "Wizard of Oz" song, "Jitterbug").
• Retreads: Arlene Pileggi (Skinner's Assistant) reprises her role [Bad Blood, S.R. 819, Monday, The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati] and then she will become Woman Who Looks Like Scully [Fight Club] and Arlene [Sunshine Days].

• Title - the name "Dreamland" is a nickname for the infamous Area 51 in Nevada. "Dreamland" actually stands for "Data Repository Establishment and Management Land".
• 1013? - Scully arrives at the convenience store at 10:12pm. That would mean that she found the "11 cent piece" at 10:13. Does that count?
• Michael McKean's character, Morris Fletcher, was named for McKean's son, Fletcher.
• Retreads: Christopher Stapleton (Pilot) will return as ??? [The Truth].

• Scully comments, "I'd kiss you if you weren't so damn ugly." Zira said it to Charleston Heston at the end of "Planet of the Apes".
• This is the fourth episode to have a character named "John Gilnitz". A conglomeration of the 3 writers' names (John Shiban, Vince Gilligan, Frank Spotnitz), this episode's John Gilnitz is the real name of the man hired to play the role of Saddam Hussein.
• The "mandroid army" mentioned in the Gunmen's paper was a reference to "Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space'".

• 1013 - The time that the baby's body was placed in the fire (10/13 is Chris Carter's birthday)

• During that long take before they enter Rain King Enterprises for the first time Mulder and Scully saunter by Vince's cafe. This may be a reference to writer Vince Gilligan.
• Kroner, Kansas was named for Paul Kroner, writer Jeffrey Bell's college roommate at the University of Cincinnati.

• 1013: as the episode opens, Mulder is listening to Christmas music on radio station 101.3.
• ACLU was a sly reference to Ed Asner - he's notoriously liberal and has been linked repeatedly with the ACLU, which stands for "American Civil Liberties Union".
• The haunted house's address, 1501 Larkspur Lane, may be a reference to a Nancy Drew mystery story, "Password to Larkspur Lane".
• R. Grimes, the author of the book "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" seen in the episode, was named after X-Files assistant props master Marty Grimes.

• One of Fellig's pseudonyms was "L.H. Rice". This name was an homage to (Lucy) Holly Rice, Vince Gilligan's girlfriend.
• One of Fellig's press passes also bore Holly Rice's birthday, April 4th.
• Other than the "L.H.Rice" reference to Holly, all of Fellig's other pseudonyms were references to real-life photographers.
• Alfred Fellig was probably named for Arthur Fellig (also know as "WeeGee"). WeeGee was a New York City photographer in the 30's, 40's, and 50's who covered the police murder beat. He took graphic photos of the victims, which the newspapers usually printed along with their stories. He also photographed the high society beat.
• Alfred Fellig's first name came from Alfred Stieglitz, another famous photographer much admired by Vince Gilligan.
• Henry Strand might have been named for Paul Strand. Paul Strand was a New York City photographer in the early 1900's. He went through a period of photographing his subjects without their knowledge in attempt to extract a "quality of being" from them. At the time this act was quite controversial.
• Lewis Brady might have been named for Mathew Brady, a photographer who covered the Civil War era when photography was still a new thing. He was an accomplished portrait photographer in his time. His subjects included Abraham Lincoln, Edgar Allen Poe, Frederick Douglas, and Susan B. Anthony. He was most famous as a war correspondent who collected images on the Civil War battlefields.

• Arlene Pileggi (Mitch Pileggi's wife and Gillian Anderson's former photo double) reprised her role as Skinner's assistant.
• St. Katherine's hospital was named for writer John Shiban's sister, Katie.
• Dr. Katrina Cabrera was named after a researcher on The X-Files staff.
• Retreads: Arlene Pileggi (Skinner's Assistant) reprises her role [Bad Blood, Triangle, Monday, The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati] and then she will become Woman Who Looks Like Scully [Fight Club] and Arlene [Sunshine Days].

• 1013 - Date and time stamp on the teaser: 10/13/1973, 10:56 (Chris Carter's birthday 10/13 -- month & day, 10/56 -- month & year)
• 1121 - the time everyone meets at the air force base - 11:21 (Chris Carter's wife's birthday)
• 1013 - Time stamp when Spender is looking for his mother
• Actress Jo Black-David, who played the murderous nurse, was casting director Rick Millikan's high school drama teacher.

• The pseudonyms used by Mulder and Scully in this episode are "Rob and Laura" after Rob & Laura Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke Show, where Dick's character was Rob Petrie and Mary Tyler Moore played his wife, Laura.
• The name Polizzi on one of the neighborhood mailboxes is in honor of Lauren Polizzi, one of the art directors on design director Corey Kaplan's staff.

• The Cradock Marine Bank is named for a suburb of Portsmouth, Virginia where Holly grew up, and Holly's mother's maiden name is Bernard (the name of the man who tries to hold-up the bank).
• Retreads: Arlene Pileggi (Skinner's Assistant) reprises her role [Bad Blood, Triangle, S.R. 819, The Sixth Extinction II: Amor Fati] and then she will become Woman Who Looks Like Scully [Fight Club] and Arlene [Sunshine Days].

• Parts of this episode take place in Bellflower, California -- which is creator Chris Carter's home town.
• Characters Dr. Detweiler and Karin Bergquist were named for friends of writer Jeffery Bell. In "real life", Detweiler and Bergquist are married to each other and play in a Cincinnati band called "Over the Rhine".

• "Trevor" was written by props master Ken Hawryliw and by Grammy-nominated composer Jim Guttridge. For other "appearances" on the show by Ken Hawryliw, check out the in-jokes for Season 5's "The Unusual Suspects" and Season 3's "D.P.O." and "Pusher".
• I'm not sure whether or not this is an intentional reference, but it is amusing that the "electric" man at the center of this episode is named "Pinker" Rawls, while the character that Mitch Pileggi played in the movie "Shocker" (who was made of electricity) was named Horace Pinker.
• The character Trevor Gurwitch was named for Trevor Marquiss, a young nephew of producer John Shiban.

• In the cemetery, the camera seems to linger on a tombstone engraved with the named "Diana and Nicholas Salinger", which are the names of the late parents of the kids on "Party of Five". Of course, this adds to the already legendary 1013 problem with geography, since the Salingers are buried in San Francisco, and this murder took place in the DC metro area.
• This episode marks the third appearance of Angelo Vacco, Vancouver production assistant turned actor. In this episode he played the ill-fated 16 year old Romeo.
• The name "Phillip Padgett" was also the name of a character Nick Lea played on his appearance in the SciFi series "The Burning Zone" (in the episode "The Hall of the Serpent"). Lea played a cult leader and evil psychic-surgeon.
• Another possible in-joke? Dr. Ken Naciamento -- a variation of his last name (spelled Nascimento) is Portuguese for "birth" (and the character is Brazilian, where they speak Portuguese). Another variation (spelled Nacimento) is Spanish for birth. It is also worth mentioning that the name is also shared with that of a lake in California.
• Retreads: first real retread in this season Angelo Vacco (Kevin) was gas station attendant Angelo Garza [F. Emasculata] and a miraculously healed Door man [Talitha Cumi] and will be Bartender and Guido [Improbable].

• A few people have sent in as a possible in-joke that the unit mentioned at the poker game by Byers (AE-135) in the episode is named the same as the one HAL uses to lure Poole and Bowman outside the ship in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Actually, in 2001 it is called the AE-35, not the AE-135. So was this an intentional in-joke or tip-of-the-hat? I'll let you know if/when I find out.
• Retreads - Rick Garcia (News Anchor) will be Reporter #1 [Underneath].

• David Duchovny's brother, Daniel, plays the role of "Piney" in this episode.
• There is a little tribute to the late Dimaggio next to the TV: "Joltin' Joe Has Gone".
• The baseball announcer on the television as Scully is on her way to Mulder's office is none-other than Vin Scully, the man whom Chris Carter named Agent Scully after.
• Vin Scully also mentions Bellflower, Chris Carter's hometown (which has appeared in various in-jokes, particularly in the Pilot Episode).
• "My Best Friend's Martians?" M. Emmet Walsh's Arthur Dales (who was filling in due to Darren McGavin's unfortunate illness) obviously a played with the title of "My Favorite Martian", but maybe it was also a play on "My Best Friend's Wedding", which M. Emmet Walsh also appeared in.
• "Josh Exley" may had been modeled on "Josh Gibson" (whose jersey Mulder was wearing at the end of the episode) who played for the real-life Homestead Grays. Gibson was one of the greatest batters ever, and if he had been allowed to play in the major leagues he would have had the home run record.
• Retreads - Daniel Duchovny (Piney) will return in another's Duchovny episode [Hollywood A.D.] as Assistant director.

• The small gray alien was played by seven year old Cody Weselis, son of X-Files stunt coordinator Danny Weselis.

• Retreads - Bill Dow (Chuck Burks) is also known from before [The Calusari; Leonard Betts; Rush] and also as Father [The Jersey Devil] or Dr. Newton [War of the Coprophages]. Marty Zagon (Landlord) will appear as Mr. Coeben [Within].

List compiled by: Laura Witte
laura.witte@nashville.com
The X-Files In-Jokes List © 1996