Tolkien's works in popular media

Over the years, many visual and verbal references have been made to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. While some of them predated Peter Jackson's film trilogy, most of them are references to the movie (or the movie's portrayal of Gollum).

Movies

Cellular

• Jessica's son bears a school bag with the Lord of the Rings film trilogy logo. Cellular was produced by New Line Cinema.

Date Movie

• Frodo, Sam, and Gandalf try to pawn off the One Ring, with Gandalf pleading that the Ring could "destroy all evil". Ignoring him, Frodo accepts fifty dollars; they then beat up Gandalf and run off to "get some wine coolers... and hookers!". Tom Lenk plays Frodo, Tom Fitzpatrick Gandalf and Scott Bridges is Sam.

Duplex

• Alex comments that a stool that is too small for him was designed for a Hobbit.

Epic Movie

• During the final battle, several Middle-earth characters appear on the battlefield.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

• Harry Lockhart, played by Robert Downey Jr., says: "Don't worry, I saw Lord of the Rings. I'm not going to end this 17 times." This is a reference to the many plot points that were tied up at the end of the third film.

Kronk's New Groove

• In one scene where Kronk gives a naked Rudy one of Yzma's Scam Youth Potions, he imitates the posture of Gollum, even saying "My Precious!".

Futurama: Bender's Game

• In this tv-movie, Bender comes up with the world "Cornwood", and the entire plot then shifts to The Lord of the Rings.
• The map of Cornwood is actually one of Gondor and Mordor mirrored, where Mount Doom is replaced by the "Geysers of Gygax".
• A toilet-bowl version of Minas Tirith is called "Wipe Castle"; it even has a mad leader.
• Main characters Fry and Leela are renamed into Frydo and Leegola.
• Professor Farnsworth becomes the Great Wizard Greyfarn.
• Amy Wong is Gynacaladriel, queen of the Nympho's
• The object that needs to be destroyed ("in the Geysers of Gygax from whence it came") is a anti-backwards crystal. It has the shape of a D&D-die, and is therefore called "the Die of Power". A heavily Gollum-like Frydo refers to it as "my duodecalicious" (referring to its twelve sides).
• The Die doubles as a palantír.
• The character Mom has been renamed to Momon, mirroring Sauron.
• The Argonath are one heroic statue and a stack of garden gnomes. A rickety bridge hangs in between them.
• A walking tree, named Treedledum, appears. He ends up as firewood.
• Moria is portrayed as "the Cave of Hopelessness". The gang is attacked by Morks there.

Imaginationland: The Movie

• This South Park three part episode turned movie features several homages to The Lord of the Rings.:
• Episode Two, "The Drying Of The Balls", opens with an aerial shot of mountains, followed by the titles in "Ringbearer" font, similar to the opening of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The music accompanying the scene is based on the film's soundtrack.
• There's an Ent among the good characters.
• Sauron and the Balrog are one of the evil imaginations.
• One of the orcs resembles those from the Rankin/Bass productions.
• Castle Sunshine is an exact replica of Rivendell as featured in the movie trilogy.
• Gandalf is a member of the Council of Nine, along with Jesus, Aslan, Popeye, Wonder Woman, Luke Skywalker, Zeus, Morpheus (from The Matrix) and the Tooth Fairy.
• During the Battle of Castle Sunshine, several visual references are made to Peter Jackson's Battle for Helm's Deep.

Superhero Movie

• One of the social cliques mentioned are the "Frodo's", kids dressed as Hobbits.

Taxi (2004)

• Features a Gollum-like "My Precious".

Television

American Dad!

• "Dungeons and Wagons" features a World of Warcraft-like game. The "heroes" fight a troll in a cave, which turns to stone after being exposed to sunlight. One of te characters is a wizard named Flandag - Gandalf backwards. Hayley appears as a character called "Morwen Nerdbane".
• In "All About Steve", an obsessed terrorist dresses as Frodo.
• In the episode "Escape from Pearl Bailey", as the four nerds struggle to escape from the jocks and cheerleaders, Debbie yells "You shall not pass", before blocking the road of the jocks with a goth dance.
• "Black Mystery Month", a Da Vinci Code-homage, end with president Jimmy Carter falling in lava, and a backback with evidence with him. He grasps for it much how Gollum grasped for it in the film.

Angel

• In "The Magic Bullet", Jasmine considers herself verbose, and then compares it to the prologue of The Fellowship of the Ring.

Archer

• In episode 3, "Deviersity Hire", one of the missions mentioned by the team is "Operation Frodo". It turned out to be just blowing up a weapons truck; reviewing footage, one technician remarks the bad guys should have been wearing "Bilbo's coat of Dwarven mithril". The technician wants to go on to explain his pun, but is cut short.

Babylon 5

• The God of the Underworld is called Morgoth.
• In the episode "The Geometry of Shadows", Elric says "There is an old saying: "Do not try the patience of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger", Gildor Inglorion's warning to Frodo Baggins.

The Big Bang Theory

• Leonard dresses as Frodo in "The Middle Earth Paradigm".
• Sheldon has a Sideshow Gollum statue on his desk in episode 3.11, "The Maternal Congruence".

Black Books

• Bernard frequently refers to bumbling assistant Manny Bianco was "Lord of the Rings", "Gandalf" and several other bearded characters, in reference to Manny's unkempt appearance.

Bones

• In "The Man in the Morgue", Seeley Booth dismisses voodoo as "and then we just toss the ring into the molten river, and blah blah blah"; a reference to the end of the One Ring.

Chowder

• In the episode "The Sleep Eater", Schnitzel and Mung Daal guard a fridge from a sleep eating Chowder. When confronted by a giant hairy version of Chowder, Mung Daal yells "You Shall Not Pass!", and causes the ground to shudder with a giant fork. Chowder simply bends the fork and eats Mung Daal and Schnitzel.

Danny Phantom

• In the season finale/TV film "Reality Trip", a fan at a convention yells "You shall not pass".

Dexter's Laboratory

• In the episode "D&DD" (a "Dungeons and Dragons"-themed episode), Dexter is forced to play "Hodo, the Furry-footed Burrower", a Hobbit parody.

Doctor Who

• In "Last of the Time Lords", The Master refers to a speedily aged Tenth Doctor as "Gandalf".

Drawn Together

• In the episode "The One Wherein There Is A Big Twist", Clara puts on an invisibility ring.
• The ring returns in "The Other Cousin", where Foxxy hangs over the edge of a cliff, much like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and asks Clara to give her her hand. Clara refuses, and takes the ring instead. Though the visual reference is to The Lord of the Rings, the lines are taken from Aladdin.
• In "A Very Special Drawn Together Afterschool Special", it is revealed that the parents of Xandir live in a Bag End-like house.

Fairly OddParents

• In "Wishology", Timmy's second wish "trilogy wish" is The Lord of the Rings. Timmy and Wanda become Frodo and Sam, Cosmo becomes Gollum, and Poof an Elf. The One Ring says "Made in New Zealand".

Family Guy

• In the episode "Sibling Rivalry", Stewie pushes the kid on the ground and says "Cry, cry like Sauron when he lost his contacts." The scene then shifts to a cutaway showing the Eye of Sauron frantically searching for his lost contact.
• In the episode "I Take Thee Quagmire", Quagmire falls in love with Joan, the maid. It his first idea of how love could be, they hold hands as Aragorn and Arwen did in the first film. Joan then speaks faux-Elvish (untanslatable: "Day univen hablendeth hal univen led hansed de-un, Quagmandir"), translated in the subtitles as a paraphrase of Arwen's words in that scene. Quagmir then answers "Denedain raydun habbledeth Mithrandir veon hellmisano", translated as his trademark phrase "Giggity". See on YouTube.
• In "Petergeist", Chris is thrown from his bedroom window into the clutches of a living tree. The scene eventually parodies the epic confrontation between Gandalf and Durin's Bane when Herbert the Creepy Old Pedophile shows up to save Chris. After uttering the line "You shall not pass!", he brakes open the ground with his walker and fights off the tree, until they fall in a pond.
• In "Baby Not on Board", Chris and his boss discuss the movies. Among the things mentioned is the age-old "Why didn't the Eagles fly the Ring to Mount Doom?".

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends

• The episode "Duchess of Wails" features a version of the Battle of Helm's Deep, in which the main characters Mac and Bloo attempt to storm Duchess back into Foster's Home. However, those inside refuse to take the obnoxious Duchess back, and fight out a battle. Several elements from Peter Jackson's adaptation are covered, including ladders, battering rams, quotes, and even a character sliding down a wall on a shield.
• In the episode "Partying is Such Sweet Soiree", a sugar-rushed Mac calls an item of sugar "My Precious", and hisses at sugar free gum.

Friends

• In the season 4 episode "The One Where They're Going to Party!", Ross and Chandler speak about a university friend, called Paul "Gandalf" Ganderson, the Party Wizard. When Joey asks why they call him Gandalf they reply "Didn't you read The Lord of the Rings in high-school?" to which they get "No, I had sex in high-school".

Gilmore Girls

• The Lord of the Rings is referenced in the episodes "Keg! Max!", "Scene in a Mall", "Swan Song" and "So... Let's Talk", among others.
• There is a Middle-earth-themed party in "The Hobbit, the Sofa, and Digger Stiles"

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

• The episode "Beasts and Barbarians", an overall homage ot Dungeons and Dragons, has a Gollum-like creature that riddles with Mandy: "What's black and blue and red all over?", so which Mandy answers "You if you don't give me that Ring, pronto!". The Ring can be used to rule an evil army.
• The episode "Here Thar Be Dwarves" spoofs the Council of Elrond, and the Elf headquarters is basically Isengard with a large tree rather than a tower.
• "Complete and Udder Chaos" features several references to the films.
• In "The Secret Decoder Ring", Billy thinks he is invisible after putting on a decoder ring.

Magnum P.I.

• In a flashback to the Vietnam war in episode "Birds of a Feather", a signals officer uses the callsigns "Frodo" and "Gandalf".

My Hero

• Crazy neighbor Tyler often claims he has fantasy characters, like Gandalf and Frodo, in his apartment.

My Parents Are Aliens

• In the episode "The Wedding", Josh refer to a wedding ring as "My precious".

The Office

• In The Alliance (US series), it is revealed that Dwight Schrute's passwords are "Frodo" and "Gollum".

One Tree Hill

• In "Pictures of You", Lucas does a Gollum impression.

Operation: Kids Next Door

• The episode "Operation K.N.O.T." features "Froggy McDougal", a Gollum-lookalike. Froggy is voiced by Dave Wittenberg.

Portal

• Shorty the Dwarf frequently yells "You have my axe!".

Robot Chicken

• The cast of Surreal Life become the Fellowship of the Ring in "A Piece of the Action".

Scrubs

• In the episode "My Old Man", Elliott does a Gollum-impression.
• In "Our Meeting with J.D.", J.D. gives Howie the nickname "Gollum".

The Simpsons

• In the episode "Dude, Where's My Ranch", a Gollum-parody called "Cleanie" appears. He is voiced by Andy Serkis.
• The episode "Rome-Oh and Julie-Eh" spoofs the Battle of Pelennor Fields, the Battle of the Hornburg and also contains dialogue from Dáin Ironfoot's encounted with the messenger of Sauron.
• The Comic Book Guy's comic store has competition from stores called Mylar Baggins in North Haverbrook and Frodo's in Shelbyville.
• In The Simpsons Game (a video game spin-off of the series), Homer exclaims "My precious!" upon receiving a much desired keycard. The game also features Mobbits, Hobbit parodies.
• In the episode "That '90s Show", Comic Book Guy tells people The Lord of the Rings can not be made into film. The episode is set in the nineties, but created in 2008.
• In episode 3 of season 20, "Double, Double, Boy in Trouble", Simon Woosterfield's horse is called Shadowfax.

South Park

• "Nurse Gollum" is a nurse with a conjoined twin fetus on her head.
• The episode The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers is a completely Tolkien-themed episode.
• In the episode "Go God Go", the otters prepare for war in a similar fashion as the Rohirrim in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
• In "Make Love, Not Warcraft", a statuette of Durin's Bane can be seen.
• The episode 6.14, "The Death Camp of Tolerance" features several references, both to Peter Jackson's films as to Rankin/Bass' The Hobbit.

In order to get fired for being gay (and sue the school for millions), Mr. Garrisson stuffs Lemmiwinks the gerbil up his assistants ass. The gerbil's voyage inside the assistant is accompanied by a variation of "The Greatest Adventure":

A great adventure
Is waiting for you ahead
Hurry onward Lemmiwinks
Or you will soon be dead
The journey before you
May be long and filled with woe
But you must escape the gay man's ass
So your tale can be told.

The song goes on any time Lemmiwinks journey is told. When the assistant takes a pepto pill, it falls down his throat and plunges into the stomach like Gandalf and the Balrog did in The Two Towers. In the stomach, Lemmiwinks meets the katatafish, who will only let him pass the esophagus if he solves a riddle. What the riddle is is never shown.

Spaceballs: The Animated Series

• The episode "Lord of the Onion Rings" spoofs The Lord of the Rings.

SpongeBob SquarePants

• In the episode "Banned in Bikini Bottom", a banner reads "Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe".
• "Dunces and Dragons" features references to many fantasy series. The domain of the evil Plankton resembles Mordor, and his fortress Barad-dûr.

Stargate Atlantis

• Dr. Bill Lee is a Tolkien fan, and in the episode "Critical Mass", he uses the concept of the warning beacons of Gondor to explain how to relay a message to Atlantis.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

• In the episode "Family Business", the Ferengi are shown to live in Hobbit-like houses.

Still Standing

• In the episode "Still Flunking", Bryan has to climb a wall to pass gym. When he finally tries it, he says "It's Hobbit time", referring to his less-than-athletic body shape.

Superman: The Animated Series

• In the episode "The Hand of Fate", the wicca character Rainsong is owner of a bookstore called "The Dancing Hobbit".

VeggieTales

• The 27th episode, "Lord of the Beans", is a pretty overt parody. The series was created to teach Christian lessons to children; this episode is (quite fitting) about unselfishness.

Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light

• This series, which has been set in a fantasy world, features several characters named after Arthurian legend - Mortdredd, Merklynn, Ectar - and also one distinctively similar to one from Arda: the main female protagonist, "Galadria", who has the power to heal.

W.I.T.C.H.

• In "G is for Garbage", the character Blunk does a Gollum-like "precious" when someone tries to steal a prized piece of garbage from him.