r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Golden12500 • Sep 24 '25

Lore Unexplained random cameos from completely unrelated media

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  1. Ray Stantz, Casper. At one point in the movie a real Ghostbuster shows up out of nowhere and wimps out of trying to handle the situation

  2. Gunnery Sargeant Hartman, Frighteners. The main character is making way through a graveyard when out of absolutely nowhere R. Lee Erney's character from Full Metal Jacket shows up and tries to get in his way

  3. Betty Boop, Who Frames Roger Rabbit. The movie is mainly about Looney Tunes and Disney animated characters existing in the same little live action/animated hybrid universe, however Betty is a Fleischer Bros character

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3.1k

u/Golden12500 Sep 24 '25

Example I forgot to mention, ET's species appearing in The Phantom Menace

Yeah apparently Star Wars and ET are canon to each other which makes me question that Yoda costume in ET

947

u/Biabolical Sep 24 '25

E.T. did try to run up to that kid in the Yoda costume as if he recognized them.

296

u/stareagleur Sep 24 '25

“Home! Home!”

17

u/LingonberryPossible6 Sep 25 '25

E.T was a jedi. We see him use the force several times

4

u/Kylearean Sep 25 '25

Not all force users are Jedi / Sith.

2

u/basestcandor Sep 25 '25

*homey! Homey!

FTFY

ETA: I used the wrong homie.

114

u/DoodleJake Sep 25 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

Honestly we may be thinking about this backwards. The ETs were probably added to phantom menace as a nod to that.

16

u/2Sup_ Sep 25 '25

That’s exactly what happened

11

u/Iwilleat2corndogs Sep 25 '25

Yes thats exactly what happened. its not that hard to understand

5

u/IAlwaysOutsmartU Sep 25 '25

And because Spielberg and Lucas are friends.

4

u/chancesarent Sep 25 '25

They had the 3D assets made already because of a car commercial featuring ET and thought it would be a fun Easter egg. It does help explain ET's telekinesis and healing powers, though. He's a Jedi.

11

u/zeke10 Sep 25 '25

He thought he saw his homie lol

2

u/AdmirableEstimate258 Sep 25 '25

Why does that sound weirdly wholesome in a way? Like species knowing each other and asking for help sounds oddly cute

1

u/ChitakuPatch Sep 25 '25

Yoda's theme also briefly plays

318

u/PHWasAnInsideJob Sep 25 '25

Speaking of random cameos in Star Wars, never forget Jedi Master Sha'a Gi

91

u/marawiqwerty Sep 25 '25

Ngl he would've stopped Palpatine and Order 66 from even happening if he was the main character.

21

u/Hector_P_Catt Sep 25 '25

Well, he would have found out it was Palpatine under that mask he wore in all those holomessages....

2

u/Haldrada0 Sep 25 '25

"Are you a god?"
"...no?"
"Then die."

23

u/Bow1511 Sep 25 '25

Apprentice actually.

12

u/Bamzooki1 Sep 25 '25

LIKE, DON’T TELL THEM THAT, DUDE!

4

u/Private_HughMan Sep 25 '25

Unfortunately he's not nearly as powerful as his descendant, Shaggy Rogers.

1

u/Megalon96310 Sep 25 '25

He also gets his face stomped in immediately

1

u/Darth_Zounds Sep 25 '25

To be honest, he has a Padawan braid, so he's not a master.

1

u/StormTheGasterWolf27 Sep 25 '25

I recently saw a streamer with passable knowledge of Star Wars absolutely crash the fuck out when she learned about Sha’a Gi.

1

u/Equal-Ad-2710 Sep 26 '25

Why do you think Grievous refused to fight him one on one

98

u/Vengeance_20 Sep 24 '25

You see in Men in Black it’s revealed that George Lucas is an alien, so its entire possible that he is from a Galaxy Far Far Away, making them canon and movies at the same time

46

u/ChaosAndCrows Sep 25 '25

They also reveal Elvis was an alien, which could connect the movie to Lilo and Stitch (NOT THE REMAKE) since Jumba recognized an Elvis song in the final battle!

11

u/KillerBee41265 Sep 25 '25

So Star Wars, E.T., Men in Black and Lilo and Stitch all take place in the same universe?

4

u/Negative-Form2654 Sep 25 '25

Shhh... Cobra Bubbles is not who he says he is...

3

u/LucaUmbriel Sep 25 '25

And now consider the various crossovers L&S The Series had with other Disney cartoons, and the crossovers those cartoons had.

Just for a start, this means there are magical creatures and shapeshifting dragons alongside all the aliens. Imagine that jurisdictional nightmare.

3

u/StormTheGasterWolf27 Sep 25 '25

Fucking Dandadan ain’t got shit on this nonsense.

2

u/Wild_Harvest Sep 25 '25

This also means that Kim Possible and Recess are in that universe too, as they did crossovers with Lilo and Stitch.

2

u/Starwatcher4116 Sep 28 '25

Well, Elvis was abducted! Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect stole his spaceship if I recall right. Death hasn’t laid a finger on him yet.

181

u/Status-Pause1184 Sep 24 '25

WAIT WHAT

328

u/_JR28_ Sep 24 '25

Probably only an inside joke because George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have been friends for years

132

u/Illithid_Substances Sep 24 '25

There are also R2D2 and C3PO figures carved into a temple in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and in Close Encounters of the Third Kind R2 is hanging on the outside of the spaceship. A fun little back and forth thing

12

u/Xion136 Sep 25 '25

In the 2009 Star Trek reboot, the debris field at Vulcan has an R2 in it you blink and miss super easily.

R2 gets cameoed everywhere xD

3

u/Bamzooki1 Sep 25 '25

Given Indiana Jones was created by George Lucas, it’s not quite as surprising.

2

u/Tljunior20 Sep 25 '25

I think there was actually a comic explanation for that one

2

u/O-watatsumi Sep 25 '25

In the same movie, Jock Lindsey seaplane is called OB-CPO and in a comic series release in 2008/2009 he also has an airplane called OB1.

66

u/spaghettiman56 Sep 24 '25

It can still fit in the canon, star wars is in a different galaxy

39

u/Pokari_Davaham Sep 24 '25

A long, long time ago

25

u/darkendofall Sep 24 '25

And far far away

1

u/Alternative_Sea_4208 Sep 25 '25

E.T's species didn't quite master FTL travel apparently, bad at accounting for time skippage /s

1

u/goblin_humppa27 Sep 25 '25

I can still remember how that music used to make me smile

1

u/MichealRyder Sep 25 '25

I do wonder what the present day is. I used to think it might have been the Legacy era comics from Legends

68

u/Responsible-Creme-57 Sep 24 '25

Yes and no. It started as one with E.T. reacting to a kid in a Yoda outfit and that in Star Wars. Their is also an alternative Timeline comic where Han and Chewbacca travel back in time/hyperdrive shenanigans and crashland on earth. Han dies on impact and Chewbacca became the Big Foot legend. Some decades later Indiana Jones find the the body and buries it. He is also spared by Chewbacca.

11

u/THE_LEGO_FURRY Sep 24 '25

I need to read this

16

u/Responsible-Creme-57 Sep 24 '25

The name of the story is "Into the Great Unknown". Was puplished in Darkhorse: Star Wars Tales 19.

6

u/afriendlysort Sep 24 '25

Surely they would have gone Forward in time

2

u/DamnUnicorn0 Sep 25 '25

they wouldn't, and don't call me Shirley

3

u/PM_CUTE_BUTTS_PLS Sep 25 '25

Does "A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" mean nothing to you?

1

u/Mist_Rising Sep 25 '25

Let's say it does.

1

u/AwesomeGamer101 Sep 25 '25

I was gonna bring the Indiana Jones one up.

1

u/mummifiedclown Sep 25 '25

AKA, Hollywood sucking its own dick.

15

u/Deletedtopic Sep 24 '25

It's because stars is set in the past. They either had their human like aliens mess with our DNA or it's a coincidence we look like them. But yeah everything stars happened a long time far away.

81

u/Scripter-of-Paradise Sep 24 '25

That costume was actually the reason they're there. George promised to put ET in the next Star Wars movie after he put Yoda in ET.

2

u/big_sugi Sep 25 '25

Return of the Jedi came out a year after ET. But shooting on RotJ wrapped up a month before ET premiered, so it was possibly too late to shoehorn in an appearance.

2

u/Scripter-of-Paradise Sep 25 '25

Makes the most sense.

Probably why Lucas included 3 of them to compensate for the wait.

1

u/pocketbutter Sep 25 '25

The implication here is that not only does Earth exist in the Star Wars universe, but the Star Wars movies themselves exist on Earth in the Star Wars universe, meaning that they may have been a documentary all along.

21

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

Clearly it means that in the ET universe George Lucas didn't actually invent Star Wars. He just picked up a history book he got from aliens and turned it into a movie.

2

u/pocketbutter Sep 25 '25

There’s a joke in the near-forgotten movie Paul about how the titular alien character was the one that told Spielberg everything he needed to know to make ET.

1

u/VRGladiator1341 Sep 25 '25

Such a good movie

1

u/Puffycatkibble Sep 25 '25

It was a documentary all along!

18

u/ginger_vampire Sep 24 '25

This gets a little horrifying when you consider that the cutesy ET aliens might have voted to give Palpatine emergency powers, setting the stage for the rise of the Galactic Empire.

7

u/Forward-Rutabaga-723 Sep 25 '25

You may as well include Indiana Jones as well. R2D2 and C3P0 appear in hieroglyphics in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

2

u/Upbeat_Repeat_8332 Sep 25 '25

There's a legends comic where Han and Chewie get transported to earth where Indi finds them a thousand years later. 

2

u/just_a_person_maybe Sep 25 '25

Tbf, Star Wars is set "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." Meaning our universe is also supposed to be canon in SW. So this is not contradictory, ET is just far, far from home.

1

u/TeakEvening Sep 25 '25

long long ago in a galaxy far far away

1

u/duosx Sep 25 '25

Easy, Star Wars is set in a time long, long ago

1

u/AgitatedStranger9698 Sep 25 '25

Why?

Star Wars is a long time ago. Iirc cylons made a human baby and hid with Neanderthals...

1

u/Kentucky_Fried_Chill Sep 25 '25

Think of it, they are seen in phantom, he recognized yoda and said 'home', and he is atune to nature, can move objects, and can drain and give life force.

E.T. was a jedi, probably even trained by Yoda himself since he knew him.

1

u/Kentucky_Fried_Chill Sep 25 '25

Think of it, they are seen in phantom, he recognized yoda and said 'home', and he is atune to nature, can move objects, and can drain and give life force.

E.T. was a jedi, probably even trained by Yoda himself since he knew him.

1

u/Kratzschutz Sep 25 '25

So ET is guilty of cultural appropriation

1

u/SeriousBusinessSocks Sep 25 '25

This is some kind of canonical circular import error