Two wrecked ships are shown with the registration numbers C57D, a reference to
Forbidden Planet (1956) put in by the graphic designer,
Geoffrey Mandel. Jayne points out the first one as they explore. The second is the rescue ship, the source of the beacon. Writer/Director
Joss Whedon says in the DVD commentary that the name of the world, Miranda, was taken from
William Shakespeare's The Tempest, where it is the name of a character who says, "O brave new world that has such people in't!" Forbidden Planet was loosely based on The Tempest.
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