| Easter Eggs

Fun Notes About STAR WARS: THE SMUGGLER’S RUN Radio Play.

Varen Tyrell

  • Varen is a character name I have frequently used in Star Wars related games
  • His last name is a reference to my father

Shankha “Shank” Blackwood

  • The first name is a reference to a shell Maico got while traveling in India for work

The First Episode title “The X-Treme Gambit” is a reference to two Marvel Comics characters:

  • Adam-X (also known as X-Treme)
  • Remy LeBeau (of the X-Men, known as Gambit)
  • These characters are favorites of Tawmis & Maico respectively

I knew I wanted to have an R5 unit.

  • Maico’s birthday is May 5th (5/5), so it became R5-D5.
  • R5’s colors are mentioned as blue and gold; which is a reference to the San Diego Chargers (Football) team which is Maico’s favorite football team.

Stormtroopers voice by Tawmis & Maico

  • There is a Stormtrooper with the name of TL7-70 (TL = Tawmis Logue, and the number is the birthday)
  • Similar for MM-55 (Maico Moreno, and birthday)

Commander Tranis Cole

  • He is a reference to the leader of one of my favorite fantasy books that Nick is also a fan of (who voices him) – Tranis is a reference to Tanis. And the last name of Cole comes from one of my favorite XBOX games, Gears of War, and a reference to the often over the top Augustus Cole. (Not to say that I think Nick is super animated or over the top or anything…)

The Protocol Droid PC-05

  • This is voiced by Paul Crowder, and his favorite number is 5. So, PC-05.

Adora, the Twi’lek:

  • Twi’leks are often very sexualized. So when I was thinking of a name of a beautiful alien, I couldn’t help but think of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and Gamora. So I wanted something that sounded similar and came up with Adora.

Tariody 

  • Her name is based off the combination of Colleen (who voices the character) two children: Tarin and Melody.

The Sun Charger Ship

  • The name, like R5’s name, is a reference to the San Diego Chargers. The “Sun” is a reference to San Diego’s “nickname” of “Sunny San Diego” and the Chargers is once again, a reference to Maico’s favorite football team, the San Diego Chargers.
  • The model of the ship is MT-4190. MT stands for Maico Tawmis and the 4190 is a reference to my wedding anniversary (married to Amiee)

The Wrangler

  • This ship is intentionally named after a Jeep. It was originally named The Prophet (because Travis’ religious beliefs).
  • The Ship Model (JE-0516) spells out Jeep (as Travis is a big Jeep advocate). JE-and then the 5th letter in the alphabet is E, and the 16th letter in the alphabet is P).
  • When I was discussing this with Maico, he said the ship should be renamed to Wrangler (a type of jeep) and also makes sense, since Bounty Hunters wrangle people

Ortegganaught

  • Ortega is a Spanish sur name (being from Spain, I had to put a Spanish reference), I just threw in an extra “g” so it wasn’t obvious.
  • The “naugght” portion of the name was because I wanted to give it an exotic sound. I had a big planet envisioned in my head, and as an avid X-Men fan, thought of Juggernaught, so the whole planet name became Ortegganaught

Korokone

  • I knew this was going to be a planet for the Hutt I would have in the story
  • I wanted something that sounded vile and dirty
  • I made the name Korokone based off the word “cocaine” because I always envisioned Hutts and running illegal and illicit drugs

Moregil VII

  • I was in need of another planet name (and as I have been ripping all my DVD’s to digital), so I can box them away – on my desk was my wife’s Gilmore Girls DVDs. The top one was Gilmore Girls Season 7. So I took Gilmore and split the word so it became Moregil and used the VII since it was the Season 7 discs on top.

Proctor The Bounty Hunter

  • Travis is a big fan of Bounty Hunters, especially Mandalorian Bounty Hunters (as far as having his own costume)
  • So I knew I would put him in the show as a Bounty Hunter
  • As I struggled to come up with a name, I saw some Bounty paper towels
  • How fitting, since he was a Bounty Hunter, I looked up the company name (P&G)
  • And changed it from Procter to Proctor

Volarian Spice

  • I have used the name “Volarian Spice” probably in every single Star Wars story I have ever written

Bristlethorn

  • In most of my ElfQuest stories I have written, I usually have “Bristlethorns” which are creatures that are essentially like a tick and mosquito having a baby; they’re ticks (who are shaped like thorns, so swatting them off hurts), and the “thorn” portion turns red when it’s filled with blood

The title of Episode 3 “The Hand of the Empire” is a reference to a Westwood Game from the Legends of Kyrania series called “The Hand of Fate”

Episode 04’s title “No One Escapes The Empire Inquisition” is a reference to Mel Brook’s “No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition” (once again, throwing in another Spanish related reference)

Episode 05 ties in to the Proctor name; in that it’s called “The Last Gamble” and it’s the episode that introduces the Bounty Hunter (Proctor) – so it’s Proctor & Gamble

Episode 06’s title “The Tooka & Wamp Rat Game” is a reference to “The cat & mouse game” because Tooka’s are like felines in Star Wars, and Wamp Rats are like… well, mouse/rats.

Episode 07’s title is clearly a reference to Adora being the cargo on the ship, and the “Forced” is a reference to her revealing she’s a Jedi.

Episode 08 “The Blade of Destiny” is a reference to the first Realms of Arkania games (one of my favorite Computer RPGs series – ever).

Episode 09 “Star Trail” is a reference to the second Realms of Arkania games (Star Trail is actually my favorite of the Realms of Arkania CRPG trilogy)

Episode 10 “Assassin Nation Protocol” is a reference to what Lizzy Borden (the heavy metal singer, not the accused murderer) has done with his albums (such as “Terror Rising” and “Visual Lies” where you take two words that can mean one; so for us it was “Assassin Nation” to “Assassination”)