A running theme throughout the series, though, has been Archer's many literary references. Below are the top five referenced most often and/or are the ones that made me laugh the most.
5. Where the Red Fern Grows
by Wilson Rawls, Yearling Books, $7.99, ISBN: 978-0440412670, PaperbackReferenced in Season 2 Episode 4: "Pipeline Fever" and Season 5 Episode 6: "Baby Shower"
Synopsis: A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.
***
Archer: I'll plant a red fern for ya jug.
***
Remy (to his dog, Annie): And some guard dog you is! Annie! Annie? Aw, well that's just great. Now both my dogs is dead! (pan to shot of Old Dan's grave)
4. Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck, Penguin Books, $11.00, ISBN: 978-0140177398, Paperback
Referenced in Season 2 Episode 2: "A Growing Concern"
Synopsis: Two laborers, George and Lennie, work from ranch to ranch in the Salinas Valley of the 1930s, frustrated in their hope of having a place of their own.
***
Len: Actually can I have all of it? And the bunny attached to it? He is attached, right? Can I have the bunny and the lettuce?
Archer:
Len: And the lettuce!
Archer: ...sure thing. Go to town.
Len: Yeah, 'cause you know...they're brothers.
Archer: Um...is he always gonna be like this now because I feel bad.
3. Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street
by Herman Melville, in Billy Budd, Bartleby, and Other Stories, Penguin Books, $11.00, ISBN: 978-0143107606, Paperback
Referenced in Season 1 Episode 6: "Skorpio"
Synopsis: A Wall Street lawyer hires a new clerk who, after an initial bout of hard work, refuses to make copy and any other task required of him, with the words "I would prefer not to." The lawyer cannot bring himself to remove Bartleby from the premises, and decides instead to move his office, but the new proprietor removes Bartleby to prison, where he perishes.
***
2. The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien, Del Rey Books, $8.99, IBSN: 978-, Paperback
Referenced in Season 1 Episode 8: "The Rock," Season 2 Episode 4: "Pipeline Fever,"Season 2 Episode 13: "Double Trouble," Season 4, Episode 2: "The Wind Cries Mary," and Season 6 Episode 9: "Pocket Listing"
Synopsis: Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.
***
Archer: Let's see, so judging from the shell ejection she was firing at...What I really hope was not an Ent. Because that is, like, the last thing we need--an Entmoot.
Archer:
Troy: Dude. Seriously, not that it's gonna matter in thirty seconds...but what is your problem?
Cyril: Well, besides Lana ditching me...
Troy: For what, an Entmoot? Ya know, cause she's got those big-ass tree-hands?
***
Lana: Where's the hobbit guy?
Archer: [laughs] A frickin' hobbit works here?
Lana: No, he's just a...
Archer: Lana, they're called "little people," not "hobbits."
Lana: Will you--he's a hobbit enthusiast!
Archer: Ew.
***
Archer:
Bilbo:
Katya: One ring?
Archer: No, don't engage him, from there it's all just orcs and gollums and balrogs.
1. Animal Farm
by George Orwell, Signet Book, $ ISBN: 978-0451526342, Paperback
Referenced in Season 3 Episode 10: "Space Race"
Synopsis: A satire on totalitarian government where a farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and slurring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality.
***
Cadãron: Meat is whatever the tiger says is meat,
(Shane the tiger roars)
Archer: Hang on, buddy. And thank you, George Bore-well, for that clunky analogy in defense of totalitarianism, but I'm not feeding Shane an elephant.
***
Astronaut: I didn't sign up for Animal Farm in space!
Archer: Wait, there are animals?
Lana: Wh--? No, Animal Farm?
Cyril: How do you not get that?
Archer: No, I know what an animal farm is.
Cyril: Not an animal farm.
Archer: Maybe we can stampede a flock of goats down the hall.
Lana:
Archer:
Though I was talking about an actual animal farm, so never mind.
For a mash-up of all literary references from Archer, click here.
For a complete list of Archer's cultural references, click here.
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