Writer's Notes On "Virtual Smurfality"
- The title of this story is a play on the term
"virtual reality".
- Smurfette mentions the "dirty rocks" that were found
in "Journey To The Center Of The Smurf".
- Sloppy is established as a guitarist, who is the
inventor of the "caterwauling guitar" in "Smurphony Of The Night".
- Tapper is established in the EMPATH story series as
being the village bartender. The character's name is based on the
title of a Bally/Midway arcade game from 1984, where the player/character is
a bartender.
- There is a humorous reference to The Who's song
"Pinball Wizard" from the rock opera Tommy.
- Papa Smurf refers to Homnibus the wizard having an
Imaginarium in the cartoon episode "Papa's Day Off", in which Papa Smurf
sees how various Smurfs would handle Bigmouth the ogre threatening their
smurfberry bushes.
- The Smurf Village Imaginarium is based on the Star
Trek modern series' "holo-decks", including some of their particular
limitations.
- Brainy's King Smurf fantasy world recognizes that the
cartoon version of "King Smurf" has happened.
- Having Smurfette drag Brainy out of his King Smurf
fantasy world castle by his ear was my "answer-back" to the Smurf cartoon
strip gag where Brainy suckers Smurfette into giving up her dessert by
making her think she would get fat by eating it.
- Clumsy wrestling with Warmongers in his fantasy world
refers to the cartoon episode "Mud Wrestling Smurfs".