Wait.... is that Cap'n Crunch?
- In general, Bortronians have names that sound like those of Earth vegetables just like Saiyans, though a lot more on-the-nose.
- A cereal similar to Cap'n Crunch appears in the comic book transition as Mitchell is talking about his case in "Detective Mindy".
- In "Detective Mindy", Mitchell tells Mindy "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Junior Detective Mindy.", which is a reference to Casa Blanca.
- In "Jet's First Halloween - Part 1", Mindy wants to see a witch fly across the moon on Halloween night. Then, Jet recalls an Earth movie he saw and says that the movie had a witch with green skin, a black outfit, a pointy hat, and says that a quote from the movie is "No place like Earth." To take it a step further, Jet says its called the "...Wizard of something". You do the math.
- In "How Come the Moon Has Craters?", Jet performs an original song of his. After that, he says "Thank you, thank you very much" like Elvis Presley.
- In a presentation
, the creator Craig Bartlett said that Commander Cressida is supposed to be a long running and successful franchise like Doctor Who, and that there are many Commander Cressidas. - The music in this show is a big reference to '50s music, most specifically rock 'n' roll and Broadway.
- In a brochure, Sunspot is said to be similar to Gerald McBoing-Boing (with the communication by sound effects), Snoopy (with the rich inner life), Harpo Marx (due to being like a pantomime), and R2-D2 (with his independence).
- In "Mindy's Weather Report", an image for Dinosaur Train, another PBS Kids series, can be seen when Sunspot flips over the channels on Face, and also, a second of the theme song can be heard.
- In the same aforementioned episode, The Real House Pets of Bortron 7, a spoof of The Real Housewives is on the channel Sunspot finds on the TV on Face 9000.
- In "A Kid's Guide to Mars", Sean and Carrot sing a parody of "Row Row Row Your Boat", "Fly, Fly, Fly Your Saucer"
- In "Just the Right Distance From the Sun", there are constant references to the fairytale Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, due to the episode being about how Earth is a "Goldilocks" planet, which means its just right for life.
- In "The Plant From Bortron 7", the titular plant behaves similar to King Kong.
- In "Mindy's Mystery", Sydney interrogates several characters such as Carrot and Sunspot. She asks them "(full name).....if that is your real name", which is a reference to Dr. Strangelove.
- Some of the episodes have references in their titles:
- "My Fair Jet" - My Fair Lady
- As a matter of fact, that episode is a Whole-Plot Reference to My Fair Lady. Sean and Sydney tried to transform Jet into a regular Earth kid in the same way that Professor Higgins tried to transform Eliza into a lady.
- "Total Eclipse of the Sunspot" - "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler.
- "From Pluto With Love" - From Russia with Love
- Even some of the season 2 episode titles have references
- "Measure for Measure" is a reference to the William Shakespeare play Measure for Measure.
- There's Racing on Sunshine, a reference to Walking On Sunshine.
- There's also The Tide is High, which also happens to be the name of a song by The Paragons.
- And then there's "My Three Suns", which is also the name of an episode of Futurama.
- There's "Water, Water Everywhere", which happens to be a line in a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
- "Magnet P.I.", a reference to Magnum, P.I..
- "Pet Sounds" is also the name of a Beach Boys album.
- "You Can Call Me Albedo" is a reference to "You Can Call Me Al".
- "Freebird" is also the name of a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
- "I Feel the Earth Move" is also the name of a Carole King song.
- "Ain't No Mars Mountain High Enough" is a reference to the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
- "My Fair Jet" - My Fair Lady
- In "Castaway Carrot", Jet mentions wanting to play Bortropoly when he gets home. Bortropoly is a reference to Monopoly.
- In the same episode, Carrot says "DOES ANYONE REMEMBER LAUGHTER?!?"
- At one point in Mindy in Space, Carrot does the Tarzan yell.
- Lillian herself is one. She is based off of a character from one of the shorts that Craig Bartlett made for Sesame Street, called "Lillian, Big Sister". She has the name of the big sister from the short, but the appearance of the little sister.
- In "The Mindysphere", Sunspot reveals a picture of Mindy as The Mona Lisa. Important to note that said image was actually done by Etch-a-Sketch master Christoph Brown, and the picture can be seen on Craig Bartlett's Instagram.
- In the same episode, Sunspot shows a picturenote on his tablet of Carrot and Celery posing as the American Gothic Couple, complete with Carrot holding a rake instead of a pitchfork.
- In "Sean's Neptune Tune", Sydney actually says at one point, "That's so Jet".
- In "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Jet calls Sunspot "Sunspot the Red-Tailed Flying Animal".
- In "Jet Can't Sleep", the characters are playing charades. Sunspot acts out a thunderstorm by dancing around with a flashlight and drum. Jet guesses "I got rhythm, I got music".
- In "A Star is Born", Face 9000 says "I'm ready for my closeup!"
- "Mindy Turns Five":
- Celery at one point says "where no five-year-old has gone before", which is a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".
- At the end of the episode, Mindy says "Goodnight Moon".
- In "Measure for Measure", while Jet is measuring how many astronomical units Neptune is from the Sun, a video progress bar appears that looks exactly like the video progress bars on YouTube. Sunspot appears behind the bar and fast forwards. The same progress bar appears at the end of the episode.
- In "Mindy's Bedtime", Jet keeps offhandedly mentioning that he likes yellow, which is a reference to the "I Like Turtles" kid.
- In "Galileo, Galileo!", Sean is listing his heroes, and name-drops Patti Smith.
- In season 2, the saucer gets upgraded and now has a mini on-board lab on it, a la Star Trek.
- In "Pet Sounds", during step 6 of the Scientific Method song, images of Cody are aligned to look like the famous scene from the theme song to The Brady Bunch. Complete with the number 6 in the center.
- In "I Feel the Earth Move", the Commander Cressida comic issue 446, "The Day the Earth Didn't Stand Still", is a reference to The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).
- Also, Sean imitates Michael Jackson's moonwalk dance while playing on the bounce house.
- The title of "Earth, Wind, and Flyer" is a reference to Earth, Wind & Fire.
- "Endless Summer" is a Whole-Plot Reference to The Endless Summer, as both are about going to the Southern Hemisphere in search of summer.
- "Treasure Map" has Mitchell read Treasure Island.
- The Rube Goldberg Machine that Jet and Sean built in "Sydney 2" is a reference to the one seen in The Goonies.
- "Potatoes on Mars":
- The overall plot of planting potatoes on Mars is a reference to The Martian.
- The song "Potatoes on Mars" is a reference to "Life on Mars?" by David Bowie. They even sound similar.
- In "Fact Or Fiction?", a baking powder similar to Arm & Hammer appears.
- In "Moon Circus", Carrot does a dance similar to the one John Travolta's character did in Saturday Night Fever.
- In "My Three Suns", Jet says "Sun, sun, sun, here we come!"
- The book Starry Starry Night, an adaptation of "Night of a Bazillion Stars", gets its name from the refrain of the Don McLean song "Vincent", which, in turn, is about Vincent van Gogh, and the refrain is derived from his painting "The Starry Night".
- In "Sunspot's Sunspot", Jet says "Set the controls for the heart of the sun!", which is a reference to the Pink Floyd song "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun".
- When Mindy says "Round and round she goes, where she stops, nobody knows!", it is a reference to The Original Amateur Hour.
- In "Sean Has a Cold", the kids get their kites stuck in a tree. Jet calls the tree a "kite-eating tree".
- During the "Space Racin'" song in "Asteroid Belt Space Race", Jet is seen doing the Batusi.
- "One Small Step":
- Sydney constantly mentions how the astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission had "the right stuff".
- When Jet 2 arises from the hatch, "Also sprach Zarathustra" by German composer Richard Strauss is heard. It was famously used in Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- "Mindy's Meteorite Stand": While leading the kids to the garage, Jet quotes Aerosmith. The music that plays afterwards pretty much is their song "Walk This Way".
- "Which Moon is Best?": While slipping on Europa, Celery tells Carrot "Easy there, Fred Astaire".
- Ready Jet Go! Space Camp:
- After Mitchell meets Stella, he records a voice note saying "There are two of them now."
- The space monster looks extremely similar to the Black Beast of Aaaaargghh, since they are both monsters with big lips and Extra Eyes.
- The imagery of the "Space Hero" song, black silhouettes running on a red background, is quite similar to some of the James Bond opening sequences. Thunderball, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Licence to Kill, and Tomorrow Never Dies all come to mind.
