The masked outlaw Zero is a spoof of the fictional masked vigilante, Zorro (first appearing in Johnston McCulley's 1919 novel, "The Curse of Capistrano", and popularized in the films The Mark of Zorro (1920) and The Mark of Zorro (1940), and the television series Zorro (1957)). Zorro and Zero both dress in black and wear masks over their eyes. Each leaves a trademark: Zorro's three-slash "Z", and Zero's "O" mark, left by a branding iron. While Zero terrorizes the Mexican town of Mucha Loma, Zorro was a hero to the people of Spanish California.
(Bullwinkle draws a different comparison, saying Zero looks like Warner Baxter. Baxter won an Oscar playing Mexican bandit the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1928), and reprised his role in a handful of sequels in the 1930s. The Cisco Kid first appeared in O. Henry's 1907 story, "The Caballero's Way", and has starred in popular film, radio, and television series.)
(Bullwinkle draws a different comparison, saying Zero looks like Warner Baxter. Baxter won an Oscar playing Mexican bandit the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona (1928), and reprised his role in a handful of sequels in the 1930s. The Cisco Kid first appeared in O. Henry's 1907 story, "The Caballero's Way", and has starred in popular film, radio, and television series.)
In the "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties" segment ("Mother Whiplash's Log Jam"), the silent film-style on-screen "credits" include:
Snidely's credit is a nod to Elisha Cook Jr., a Hollywood character actor whose career spanned several decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s. He is remembered for his supporting performances in movies like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Shane (1953), The Killing (1956), House on Haunted Hill (1959), and Rosemary's Baby (1968), among many others.
- Dudley Doright played by Fenton Fagg
- "Inspector Fenwick" played by Ronald Alice Miller
- Snidely Whiplash played by Elisha Cook, Sr.
Snidely's credit is a nod to Elisha Cook Jr., a Hollywood character actor whose career spanned several decades, from the 1930s to the 1980s. He is remembered for his supporting performances in movies like The Maltese Falcon (1941), Shane (1953), The Killing (1956), House on Haunted Hill (1959), and Rosemary's Baby (1968), among many others.
When Rocky and Bullwinkle are questioned about their knowledge of the bandit Zero, Bullwinkle says, "He used to run around with a little feller named Gloriosky." This is a reference to the "Little Annie Rooney" comic strip that ran from 1927 to 1966. In the comics, Zero was the name of Annie Rooney's dog, and "Gloriosky!" was her signature expletive.
The name of the town, Mucho Loma, is explained as being "Much Mud" in English. Actually, "loma" doesn't mean "mud", but if it did, the Spanish for "much mud" would be "Mucha Loma".