Trivia for
Monsters vs Aliens (2009) More at IMDbPro »

• The fighter jets are F-14 Tomcats and the helicopters are AH-64 Apaches.
  
  
• During the jet fighter attack on the alien robot one of the missiles is emblazoned with the logo "E.T. Go Home" and is accompanied by a musical burst from John Williams' score from the same movie: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
  
  
• The large aircraft used to transport the monsters to San Francisco is based on an actual Guppy aircraft. The first Guppy was built in 1962 for NASA by Aero Spacelines of California to transport spacecraft components.
  
  
• The head of fellow Dreamworks character 'Shrek' is visible on W.R. Monger's uniform, a pin among his other decorations.
  
  
• Wilhelm scream: During the fight with the "Gallaxhar" clones.
  
  
• While confronting the giant robot, the President plays, (and dances to) "Axel F" (theme from Beverly Hills Cop (1984)) by Harold Faltermeyer - who is of German descent, like Hans Zimmer the musical director of this film.
  
  
• While in the War Room, Gen Monger is showing footage of each captured monster. The footage of B.O.B.'s escape through the two doors faithfully mirrors the scene in The Blob (1958) where the Blob oozes through the theater's doors.
  
  
• When The President, voiced by Stephen Colbert, is ascending the staircase to address the alien robot, security is heard to refer to him by his code name, "Papa Bear." This is a running joke from "The Colbert Report" (2005). Stephen Colbert's character on the Colbert Report is afraid of bears, and also always ironically refers to right-wing commentator Bill O' Reilly as "Papa Bear".
  
  
• The tune the President initially plays on the keyboard in front of the alien robot is the five note sequence used to communicate to the spaceships in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
  
  
• All of the monster characters are modeled on well known classic horror monsters: Dr. Cockroach came to be via a machine like the one in The Fly (1958), The Missing Link is based on Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), B.O.B is based on The Blob (1958), and Susan suffers the same fate as the titular character in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958). Insectosaurus is based on Mothra, who first appeared in the Japanese film Mosura (1961).
  
  
• The conference room in which the President and his men discuss the alien problem is based on the War Room from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). General W.R. Monger shares several characteristics with Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson, George C. Scott's character from Dr. Strangelove.
  
  
• Numerous Sci-films and TV shows or characters are mentioned by characters in the film. For example, the scientists who first spot the meteor are code named "Red Dwarf" (1988); at one point, Gallaxhar curses by saying Spaceballs (1987); when describing the prison, General Monger refers to it as an "X-File" ("The X Files" (1993); and an order can be heard to "Destroy All Monsters", the English title of the Japanese monster film Kaijû sôshingeki (1968).
  
  
• The synthesizer that President Hathaway uses to communicate with the giant robot is a Yamaha DX7.
  
  
• At some point in the film B.O.B. makes calling/coocooing noises. This is a reference to the movie Evolution (2001), where Wayne (Seann William Scott) makes the same call in a shopping center to attract an alien.
  
  
• In the scene during the closing credits, the President asks the audience if anyone wants to freeze his head. Stephen Colbert, who provided the voice of the President, gives detailed outlines on how to unfreeze his head in an apocalyptic future in his book, 'I Am America and So Can You'.
  
  
• The film has a localized version in Australia where the News Reporter is not voiced by Ed Helms but instead by David Koch, a co-presenter of the morning show "Sunrise" (2003) seen on Channel 7 Australia-wide.
  
  
• When the meteor is first spotted on radar in Antarctica, the radar operator picks up a red phone and calls in a "Code Nimoy" - a reference to Leonard Nimoy of "Star Trek" (1966) fame.
  
  
• When Susan is shot by the tranquilizer dart, she pulls it out and throws it at the ground where it pierces a soldier's foot. This is a reference to The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), where, after being poked in the big toe by a giant syringe, the giant pulls out the syringe and throws it down, piercing a soldier through the chest.
  
  
• While the President bears a slight resemblance to Stephen Colbert, the character's look had been finalized some time before Colbert had even been cast for the part.
  
  
• During the jet fighter attack on the alien robot, the missiles and bullets are unable to penetrate the robot's force field, like in the movie Independence Day (1996), and there is a burst of music from that movie's original score at that instant.
  
  
• In the scene where Gallxhar is spreading his message around the world, a clip from Madagascar (2005) can be seen playing in the background on a screen in Times Square.
  
  
• Missing Link's first meal in the movie is a pile of fish, referencing the piles of fish fed to Columbia/Tristar's eponymous Godzilla (1998). Even his origin (an ancient creature sleeping in the ocean for ages) vaguely mirrors Godzilla.
  
  
• When the teenage couple witness the landing of Gallaxhar's first UFO, their car bears a slight resemblance to '70s form Bumblebee of Dreamworks' Transformers (2007) - even its radio shifts frequencies by itself in the same manner (and with the same sounds) as Bumblebee's radio.
  
  
• Susan bumping her head as she climbs out of the air carrier may be a reference to the infamous Stormtrooper blooper from Star Wars (1977).
  
  
• The way Susan is trying to poke Gallaxhar in the eyes and the way Gallaxhar is defending himself is the same way The Three Stooges would do it in their routines.
  
  
• The character of B.O.B. is an homage to The Blob (1958). There is a brief scene in which B.O.B is shown bouncing a ball against the wall of his cell in an homage to The Great Escape (1963). Both of those films starred Steve McQueen.
  
  
• The first computer animated movie to be directly produced in a stereoscopic 3-D format, instead of being converted into 3-D after completion.
  
  
• A code title used during production was "Showdown".
  
  
• The scene where The Missing Link is found frozen in a block of ice but thaws and escapes is similar to the discovery an escape of the being in The Thing from Another World (1951) and The Thing (1982).
  
  
• When the government arrive at the church to investigate the crash site when the camera pans to the back of their van when the door closes you can see a camera crew visible in the reflection of the door.
  
  
• The multi-colored pads that Dr. Cockroach dances on use the same sound effects as the light-up memorization game "Simon". The dancing in sync with the lighted pads is a reference to the arcade game Dance Dance Revolution (1998) (VG), in which you do the same thing, only in sync with the on-screen prompts.
  
  
• The San Francisco streetcar that Dr. Cockroach modifies with rocket engines is an Italian-made vintage Peter Witt streetcar in the 1928 white-and-yellow color scheme. The streetcar in the movie has number #2930 (as of release, not an assigned number)
  
  
• Movie is set in Modesto, CA, birthplace of George Lucas.
  
  

Related Links