| Narrative
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Recurring or debuting plot points in this episode:
- Googly eyes:
- Middle Eastern Magic 8 Ball:
- Catchphrase: Shirley says "That's nice!" after Britta lies about praying.
- Winger speech: Jeff rallies the group to work together against City College with a toilet metaphor.
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| People
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| Recurring or debuting characters in this episode:
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| Places
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| Recurring or debuting places in this episode:
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| Things
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Recurring or debuting items in this episode:
- Sweet ride: The majority of the episode takes place aboard a Kentucky Fried Chicken themed Winnebago called "The Eleven Herbs & Space Experience".
- School supplies:
- Greendale's new logo debuts in this episode. It was submitted anonymously by the study group ostensibly as a symbol referring to the school as being "The Crossroads of Ideas" but in actuality it was just a representation of an anus.
- Jeff uses his cell phone to pinpoint the location of the group after they were towed away inside the Eleven Herbs & Space Experience to another location.
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| List of Running gags
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Recurring or debuting running gags in this episode:
- Gasp: When Annie admits that the group being trapped in the KFC EHS is all her fault and Jeff agrees, she gasps.
- Pansexual imp:
- When Jeff threatens to step on him, the Dean lets slip that he might enjoy it.
- Abed notices that Dean Pelton has circled public restrooms and truck stops on his city map and given them ratings.
- Dean Pelton's Dalmatian fetish pops up again. During the presentation at the episode start, the projected computer screen background shows the two dalmatians furries from Pascal's Triangle Revisited.
- Whoops!:
- Troy accidentally confirms to Dean Pelton that they did submit the anus logo design.
- Annie accidentally reveals that she was in on Dean Speck's plan to sabotage Greendale's launch.
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| List of Pop culture references
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References to popular culture in this episode:
- IMDb: Troy mentions the time for subtlety was before Scary Movie.
- Product placement:
- Kentucky Fried Chicken is prominently advertised in this episode along with its latest food item the "Doublicious."
- Pierce repeatedly mistakes his iPod for a cell phone.
- The Dean tells the group to keep snickering and pack themselves full of peanuts and really be satisfied.
- Shout out: Britta tells Pierce that he is not talking on his phone but listening to a Wesley Snipes narrated audio book.
- Use your allusion:
- The acronym of City College's space simulator C.C.C.P. (The City College Cosmic Pioneer) is the same as the acronym of the Soviet Union C.C.C.P. (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик).
- The design of the brochure for the EHASE is similar to the Star Wars logo.
- After Pelton shows off the new school logo to the study group, he tells them to keep "snicker"ing and to pack themselves with peanuts and "really be satisfied" which is a reference to the candy bar "Snickers".
- The Greendale flag, which is introduced in this episode, also uses an asterisk (*) as a symbol for an anus, a symbol which was popularized by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s book Breakfast of Champions.
- In the ending skit with Troy and Abed, a drawing of a flux capacitor can be seen on the back of Abed's cardboard box, referencing the device of the same name in the "Back to the Future" films.
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| List of Meta references
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Meta references in this episode:
- Homage: The episode also parodies a number of space travel films, including Apollo 13, The Right Stuff, Deep Impact, Armageddon and The Last Starfighter. The opening sequence of this episode satirizes the film The Right Stuff, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe. Later in the episode, Abed's role opens a satire of the film Apollo 13, with Abed playing the role of Gary Sinise's character. Pierce's claustrophobia mimics the "space dementia" contracted by Steve Buscemi'scharacter in Armageddon, and Troy's unexpected hug with a hitherto unknown woman is similar to another incident in the same film.
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- The episode was originally titled "The Fundamentals of Flight" and is still referred to by that name in the Apple iTunes store.
- The control station which Troy mans on the Eleven Herbs and Spices Experience is a prop that has been used many times on various TV shows and films. One of these productions was Joss Whedon's Firefly series It appeared on the episode titled "The Train Job" as a control station on an Alliance Cruiser.
- On the Community The Complete Second Season DVD commentaries, Dan Harmon mentions that KFC paid for the KFC 11H&S set.
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Community/Firefly connection.
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- “We make Greendale, not City College, the first community college to pretend to put a man in space.”— Dean Pelton
- “Can anyone get a phone signal?”— Jeff
- “Mine's working but it's a black guy with the wrong number again.”— Pierce
- “Pierce, I keep telling you that that is an iPod and you are listening to Wesley Snipes' audiobook.”— Britta
- “This is all my fault!”— Annie
- “Very much so.”— Jeff
- “Ugh!”— Annie
- “Hey, when you go fishing sometimes you catch a boot.”— Jeff
- “There is a time and place for subtlety and that was before Scary Movie.”— Troy
- “They'll never make it back, Craig. That thing may as well be on a simulation of the moon.”— Dean Spreck
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