Cultural reference

Numerous easter eggs are one of the staples of the Fallout series. These are instances where something or someone from pop culture or the real world is referenced in the game itself, e.g. Fallout 2 has an encounter with King Arthur.

South Park
If you kill Officer Kenny in the Hub, a character will exclaim "Oh my god, you killed Kenny!"

Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
You can come across the dead carcass of a sperm whale, and a broken houseplant - obvious references to hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, where the ships improbabilitydrive turns 2 nuclear missiles into a sperm whale, and a houseplant - and 1 chapter details the thoughts of the two entities, as they plummet towards their death.

The Goonies
Reference to the movie "The Goonies" When you go down into the well in the center of town in Modoc, you'll see several bags of coins lying around. If you pick one up, then your character will say a line almost identical to the line spoken by "Mouth" (played by Corey Feldman) in The Goonies when he and his friends find themselves at the bottom of a wishing well.

Funny Farm
(it starred Chevy Chase) - In the town of Modoc when you go to Rose's Bed & Breakfast, you can enter into the Brahmin Fry Eating Contest. Right as you break the record, you learn the the Brahmin Fries are actually Brahmin testicles. In the movie "Funny Farm", Chevy Chase enters a Lamb Fry Eating Contest and his reaction (when he learns that they are sheep testicles) to it is identical to your character's in the game.

The Wizard of Oz
In the Northern California Republic, you'll come across a girl and her robot standing outside of a building. The girl's name is Dorothy, and her trusty robot who follows her everywhere is Toto.

Fallout 1
(beyond the issue of a related storyline, etc.)

On level three of the Vault in Vault City, you come across a guy who doesn't get out much and has very poor people skills. He passes his time by singing to himself. What does he sing? Well, he sings the song "Maybe" by The Inkspots. Fallout players will recognize this as the song in the opening and ending credits of the original.

Silence Of the Lambs
In Sierra Army Base, you can find the medical holodisc of Dr. H. Lector, who sends some liver and fava beans to some soldiers who played a joke on him.

Magic the Gathering
In Gecko location, go to the bar and talk to the bartender. He will try to get you to buy a card game called 'Tragic: The Garnering'.

They Live
When you go to Redding and talk the sheriff, somewhere along the line your character will say "I'm here to kick ass and chew bubblegum" - Duke's famous words

Star Wars
In Klamath, if you ask Whiskey Bob about the Den, he says "You will not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Obi-Wan said that in Star Wars when describing the Mos Eisley spaceport.

Fallout Team
When you are in New Reno, watch the graffiti for names like: T.Ray and other developer names. Also, when you're still in Arroyo or whatever, your nephew standing by the well, his name is Feargus. As Feargus Urquhart.

KFC
Talk to the Dunton Brothers. Ask them about their jerky, and they will say: "It's made with eleven herds and spices, and it's finger-lickin' good"

South Park
You can find boxes of Cheese Poofs at various points in the game.

Robert Service
Poet The two head miners, Dangerous Dan McGrew and Marge, from Lake LeBarge, from The Ballad of Dan McGrew, and the Ballad of Sam McGee. Both of them died very grisly deaths.

Short Circuit and 2001: A Space Odyssey
a robot in canyon near Klamath says "number five is alive" while attacking. That was robot's "Number Five" favorite words. He also says "Dave, I wouldn't do that", and "I'm sorry Dave" That's what Hal says from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Wallstreet
(movie) In Gecko, when you talk to the mutant outside the old (at least non functioning) reactor up North he starts saying the speech from the movie Wallstreet. "Greed, for lack of a better term, is good". Also, his name is Gordon, Gordon of Gecko. Michael Douglas' character in the movie was Gordon Gecko.

Punchout
(Nintendo game) - In the boxing place in New Reno, when your agent asks you what you want your nickname to be there was stuff like: Glass Joe, Bald Bull, etc.

As Good as it Gets
In Vault City, when you talk to the religious guy, you can end the conversation by saying "Go sell crazy somewhere else - we're all stocked up here." This is a Reference to Jack Nicholson's charecter in 'As Good as it Gets'.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
In the raiders cave there are three sets of dog tags that match the three main characters from the movie. Angel Eyes, Tuco and Blondie.

Monty Python's Holy Grail
You can encounter the Bridge Keeper during your journeys. He'll ask you three questions, and if you survive, you get his Robes.

In Ma's kitchen she says she has rat-pie rat loaf rat... another Monty Python Reference "Can I have something without so much rat in it?" the skit is called "the church police"

In Living Color
In NCR the guy next to the car tent is a blues player. He says, "I wrote a song about, like to hear it, here it goes.".

Start Trek : Borg
When you drop in on the Slags at the ghost farm, there is a veiled reference to the Borg when they ask, "...Are you resisting?" and one of your responses is "No, I know resistance is futile..."

Star Trek - The motion Picture
The leader of the Slags at the ghost farm is named 'Vegeir'. In Star Trek there is an alien intelligence that found an earth space explorer 'Voyager' that they referred to as V'ger (pronounced vegeir) because the letters 'oya' on it were covered over with dirt.

Mike Tyson
In the basement of Desperado in New Reno, there's a boxer who says his name is Mike and he likes ears

Back to the Future
If you become a slaver sometimes the victims yell "run for it, Marty"

Final Fantasy VII
In combat, Cassidy will say, "I wish I had a limit break."

Wing Commander Prophecy
Random enemies will sometimes say: "You want a piece of me? YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?!" It's one of Lt. Casey's taunts in the game. The phrase also comes from the movie "Army of Darkness" where the lead character, "Ash" says that (among other things) to various miscreants and ghouls

Big Touble in Little China
Sometimes while attacking, Sulik refers to his seven demon bag. This is a Reference to Egg Shen's bag of magic.

Pinky and the Brain
In Gecko there is a large intelligent Mole Rat called "The Brain" you can get to him through the man hole in the Junkyard.

Interstate 76
Skeeter, the guy in Gecko, Junkyard is the character from this game.

From Dusk Till Dawn
guy near Cat's Paw in New Reno, starts talking References from this title.

Star Wars
In New Reno, the Golden Globe porn actress says "Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?". This is a line from Star Wars - A New Hope.

Fallout 2 Team
many tombstones mention names of guys in Fallout 2 team.

Red Dawn
If you have Cassidy in your team, sometimes he says this: "I wonder if Texas survived the war". Line from the Red Dawn movie.

Scarface
some addicts in New Reno say "Say hello to my friend", a quote from the movie.

Little Shop of Horrors
In Broken Hills, there's a talking Spore Plant Named Seymour. The talking plant in Little Shop of Horrors isn´t called Seymour but Audrey II, Seymour is the guy feeding Audrey II.

Bill Clinton
When you reach the Enclave Oil Rig, go to presidents chambers. You'll find his secretary that speaks as Monica. About the dress and... well, you know what

Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners
In Broken Hill residential area, the human woman in the hotel(?) will say "Come on .. Aileen"

Arroyo
Arroyo is the name of the town in Tennessee Williams post-apocalyptic one act "The Chalky White Substance"

Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness
In Klamath, the robot that guards the crashed vertibird among other things, he says "Klaatu Berada Nictu".

Addition: This phrase is actually from Reference to the black and white science fiction movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still".

Bethesda
There are ruins of Bethesda's office buildings overrun by Raiders. Bethesda Softworks is the company that made Fallout 3. However, this is easily explained, as the company is located in Rockville, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC.

Harold
The character Harold from Fallout 1 and 2 is back once again but Bob,the name for the tree on his head, has grown very rapidly and taken root in the Oasis of Capital Wasteland. He wishes for death now and it's up to the player to fulfill his wish.

Occam's Razor
One of the melee weapons called "Occam's Razor" is reference to the theory of William Ockham. His theory called Occam's Razor, boils down to "All other things being equal, the solution that makes the fewest assumptions is the best." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities. It is in this sense that Occam's razor is usually understood. Or, "all things being equal, the simplest explanation is usually right."

Farragut
One of the settlements is Farragut West, which is reference to a station on Washington DC's metro system. It is also the name of NPC Lucien Lachance's Hideout in Oblivion (Fort Farragut).

U.F.O
North of Minfield is an area where your Pip boy will get a new transmtion called the "Theta Transmission", exploring the area will result in the discovery of a crashed alien space ship. The aliens body can be found near the ship along with the extremely powerful alien blaster which can be used as a weapon as well as ammo for the weapon.

Raven Rock
It's also a mining village back in The Elder Scrolls: Morrowind, the Bloodmoon expansion. However, it is likely a coincidence, since the Raven Rock Mountain Complex is a real-world government complex.

Dogmeat
A homage to Fallout 1 & 2, Dogmeat is named after a similar NPC canine character in both games. You can choose to rescue him or not. Dogmeat can be sent to scavenge for food or items, but you must be cautious, as he cannot be revived if killed.

Mr. Burke
William Burke references a serial killer who killed at least 15 people in Scotland in the 1820's

Lunchboxes
These Lunchboxes are actually available from the Collector's and Survival editions of the game, and can be made into an explosive. It isn't recommended that you turn your Lunchbox into an explosive in reality - that would be illegal in most countries and a waste of a perfectly good Collector's item.

Fear Factory Lyrics
In the main quest mission "Galaxy News Radio", you must go to the Museum of Technology. When you access the terminal in the northwest corner near the entrance, the first log entry dated 20770103 ends with "After a complete cleanup on the mainframe's core, I am happy to announce that the infection has been removed... the soul of this machine has improved. - B. Bell, Research Lead" This is a reference to the Fear Factory song, "Archetype", in which vocalist Burton C. Bell repeats the refrain "The infection has been removed, the soul of this machine has improved." This is evidenced by the fact that the mainframe is called the "Archetype Model FF06", Archetype being the album name, FF being Fear Factory, and 06 being the album number. Vocalist Burton C. Bell's name can also be abbreviated to B. Bell, to match the researcher's name in the terminal.

Lucy
In the town "Little Lamplight" the doctor, Lucy, is a reference to the character "Lucy" in the Charlie Brown comic strips and cartoons. Inside of the clinic where she is located, a sign reading "The Doctor is in" can be found, which was often seen on Lucy's stand in the series.

President Eden
During one of President Eden's radio broadcasts, he utters the phrase "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." While the quote originally comes from Thomas Jefferson, it was also prominently said by Admiral Tolwyn in Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom. Malcolm McDowell plays the part of both characters.

V For Vendetta/Guy Fawkes
In vault 87, a character named Fawkes is trapped in cell 5. V was imprisoned in cell 5 (or V) until November 5th in V For Vendetta when he was burned to the point most of his facial features were no long recognizable. Also, his name is a tip to Guy Fawkes who attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament on November 4th then hung and burned on the 5th, and is the basis for V for Vendetta. That is also one of the ideals V holds close, which he in the end he accomplishes blowing up Parliament but not before his death.

Rick Rubin
In Vault 92, the vault used for music preservation, the name of the overseer is Richard Rubin. This can be found while looking into the computer files. Rick Rubin is a real life music producer.

Lost
In Megaton, if you talk to Maggie with the Child at Heart perk, you can get a code to a safe. The code is 15, 16, 23, 42, which is also part of a reoccurring chain of numbers in the television show, Lost.

Doom & Fallout 2
One of the feral ghouls drops a Blue Key Card like the demons in the Doom video games another drops a Red....I haven't found a yellow one yet. This is also an Easter Egg to Fallout 2 where you must find a Red Blue and Yellow Key Card to have full access to the reactor in Gecko which is inhabited only by Ghouls. One of the notable ones is Harold who appears in Fallout 3 also

Dracula
Lucy West, the woman who kicks off the Blood Ties quest is probably a reference to Lucy Westenra, Mina Murry's friend in Bram Stoker's Dracula who's turned into a vampire and then staked by Van Helsing. The vampires choose to stay out of the sun much like movie versions of Dracula do.

Jericho
Jericho the mercenary in Megaton is probably a reference to the post apocalyptic television series of the same name.

Back to the Future
Butch DeLoria seems to be a clone of the past version of Biff. Further DeLoria is probably a reference to the DeLorian, the car used as a basis for the time machine.

Blade Runner
Chief Harkness in Rivet city is a reference to the movie Blade Runner. The title of his quest is "The Replicated Man". Fans of the Blade Runner movie can see obvious parallels within the quest.

H.P.Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror
In the extreme southwest of the world map you can find "the Dunwich Building,, which once housed the offices of a pretty innocuous company (Dunwich Drilling, a manufacturer of industrial mining and drilling machines). This is possibly the single "creepiest" or "spookiest" location in the game, as the ruins now form a very dark, chaotic three dimensional maze absolutely chock-full of feral ghouls.  The personal logs you find here and an object you find at the very end of the maze form a definite reference to Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos/setting.  The name of the location itself is a direct reference to Lovecraft's The Dunwich Horror.

Transformers
When following Liberty Prime to the Memorial in the first part of the quest Take it Back!, the robot Liberty Prime can be heard shouting "Freedom is the sovereign right of all Americans", a direct reference to Optimus Primes's famous quote, "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings".

Fallout 1 Reference
There is an obvious reference to Fallout 1 located on the diner bulletin board in Vault 101. A notice states: "Wednesday is Bingo Night in the Diner. First prize: A weeks supply of water rations!" The ball in the center has the number 13 on it. In Fallout 1, the Vault Dweller had to leave the vault in the hopes of repairing Vault 13's water supply.

Serenity
After the Dweller completes the Galaxy News Radio quest, Three Dog says"Can't Stop The Signal". This is a reference to the movie 'Serenity'. In the movie Mr. Universe says this a few times.

Star Trek: Voyager
Sawbones, the medical robot in the B Ring of The Citadel greets you with the phrase "Please state the nature of the medical emergency"; a phrase used by popular character The Doctor of Star Trek: Voyager.

Harry Potter
In Little Lamplight if you search around enough you will find a generic Little Lampligher who will bear close resemblance to a popular book character. Toting a pair of round glasses and a white and red striped shirt, you will find Harry Potter.

1984/Big Brother
In Tenpenny Towers, on the top floor, resides Irving Cheng and his wife, who (his wife reluctantly) refers to everyone as 'Comrade'. This is a reference to George Orwell's dystopian classic '1984', in which all members of the Party are required to refer to all other members as Comrade. Also, if you look on the computer in his suite, you will find a listing called 'Daily Affirmation'. One of the affirmations is "Mr. Cheng is Watching You", as opposed to "Big Brother is Watching You" in 1984.