“The Addams Family” spinoff was filled to the brim with references to the previous versions and the original lore.
Netflix’s “Wednesday” spinoff of “The Addams Family” is an unique and interesting series which opens the lore created by Charles Addams with intriguing details, depths and reference to the original Addams world.
‘Old’ Wednesday meets ‘new’ Wednesday
A die-hard fan of the 1991 movie version of “The Addams Family” must never fails to recognize the actress behind Ms. Thornhill in Netflix’s “Wednesday”. She was actress Christina Ricci, who portrayed the classic Wednesday role in the 1991 movie version. Despite being the ‘predecessor’, Ricci and Ortega have never had any exchange on the role, the reason being Ortega wanted to create her own version of the character.
A tribute to Tim Burton
“Wednesday” has made several references to the distinct cinematic world of Tim Burton. Specifically, the taxidermied mouses in an old shop were actually inspired from Burton’s movies.
The coffee shop where Tyler works was dotted with references to Tim Burton’s old movies: “Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory” and “Sleepy Hollow”.
The two snaps
The two snaps were an iconic feature that made its way in the theme song of the 60s television show about the Addams family. The snaps were the ‘code’ to the secret passageway that led to the Night Shades’ library and secret meeting point. Wednesday and Ms. Thornhill were seen to snap twice in order to get in.
Pilgrim World
‘Pilgrim’ is Wednesday’s most hated word to the point and Wednesday found herself volunteering at a theme park called the Pilgrim World to uncover the truth about Crackstone. In the 1993 version, the hate was so much she was ready to burn up the whole ceremony related to the Pilgrims.
Raven
Ravens have a special connection to Wednesday. There are crows at the top of the gate to Nevermore, taxidermied crows at the office of Principal Weems and crows in her vision of Rowan’s death.
The name of the female character
Originally, Charles Addams did not name his character and only did so later on. Wednesday’s name apparently took inspiration from a nursery rhyme, as revealed by Morticia in the first episode, “Wednesday’s child is full of woes”.
Ignatious Itt
Ignatious Itt is a special character in the Addams lore but rarely made appearances in the Addams franchise. In his Netflix version, he had a cameo in the Night Shades’ meeting room. In the lore, cousin Itt often visits the married couple Gomez and Morticia and leaves an indelible impression with a small body covered in lustrous golden hair with a black hat and glasses.
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe is both a fictional alumni at Nevermore and a 19th-century American writer and poet. The imagery of raven was especially relevant since Poe himself had a famous narrative poem titled “Raven”. Moreover, the names of boat teams in the Poe Cup were direct references to his short stories.
Payback to Girl Scouts
In the third episode, Wednesday’s saying “I eat a girl scout for breakfast” alluded to the 1991 version where Wednesday made a snide remark against the girl scout by asking if the cookie she was selling was made of real girl scouts after being told if Wednesday’s lemonade was made from real lemons.
Wednesday doing archery
In her club tryout in Nevermore, Wednesday showed a good command of archery which directly referred to the 1993 version when she and her brother Pugsley frequently trained this sport at home.
Wednesday’s Aunt
While there was no aunt in the flesh in “Wednesday”, she was mentioned through her name, Ophelia, which was used to name the doom where Wednesday stayed.
Names of the two producers
The series also made tributes to the production duo of the series. In episode 1, Wednesday had a therapy session in a building with the name ‘Millar & Gough’ on the window, last names of the producers Miles Millar and Alfred Gough.
Tyler’s real identity
Tyler and Xavier were interesting additions to the series as the love interests to Wednesday. Despite their initial closeness, there was only one to trust.
In the sensational prom dancing scene, Wednesday had a dance routine against the “Goo Goo Muck” playing in the background that resembled a predator lurking a prey. The background song itself also told of a teenager transforming into a killer beast at night to look for its prey. The detail foreshadowed Tyler’s real identity as the merciless Hyde at the end of the series.
Source: Cosmopolitan
