Xmas & Holiday Lemmings - Level Name References

[Ron_Stard]

First of all, Merry Xmas to everyone!

As many of you, I've been playing and revisiting these days the whole Xmas/Holiday Lemmings packs, which comprises 71 levels.

Here are some of the notable puns I've found:

Xmas Lemmings 91

01. Merry Christmas Mr Lemming is a pun on the 1983 movie "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence", starred by David Bowie. Xmas Lemmings 92 has a level with almost the same name, replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays", which perhaps is also a pun on the aforementioned movie.
02. Christmas Bonus A Christmas bonus is a mandatory payment that employers must give to their employees during the month of December. Also, this mini-pack of levels was back then -and now!- a Christmas Bonus itself for the players


Xmas Lemmings 92

01. Jingle Lemming Yeah, I know, and all of you know this is a play on that famous christmas carol, but it's high time we know what a "jingle" is? As a verb, means to make tinkling (i.e., high-pitched metallic) noise. And as a noun... well, it means the same, but without the verb
02. A Lemming Holiday Frankly, I didn't expect to see a lemmon pun (yet another one on the whole saga!) on a Christmas game. But in fact, there is a Hebrew holiday involving lemmons: Sukkot. The protagonist citrus of this celebration is called Etrog.
04. The North Poles This two-lemming puzzle has some ice "poles" as the main obstacles along the level; hence the name and the pun.


Holiday Lemmings 1993

Vacation in Gemland was a unique level for the PC version of this game, which replaced the Amiga level Clouds Of Lemmings at Flurry 07. I don't know where in the World (sorry for the pun) is Gemland, but given the lack of snow on its surface when Christmas time comes, that land of the gems must be south of equator

FLURRY

01. Climbing to the Top! is a generic expression of mountaineering, a metaphorical improvement in business and work, and also a Lionel Richie song... but it was released 3 years after this game arrived, so we can ommit this meaning.
03. Holiday Mining A pun on holiday meaning. What is for you the real meaning of Christmas?
05. Christmas South of the Equator A nod to the half of the world that receives Summer instead of Winter when Christmas comes. Specially, our friends from Gemland
07. Lemming Snowjourn A play on sojourn, a synonym for a temporary visit.
09. A Block from Home A double entendre, regarding the main obstacle of the level.
10. 32 Lemmings Below Zero This double entendre will amuse the Fahrenheit Scale fans. But technically, you are not below (nor over) "zero" at EXACTLY 32 ºF.
11. At Home in a Cave Since the game is thematically linked to Christmas, let me adventure this is a biblical reference: while traditionally Jesus' birthplace is said to be a stable, many think that Jesus might have been born in a cave. Who knows? Anyway, this is a literal depiction of the level layout.
12. Presents of Mind A pun on presence of mind, an expression that means clarity of thought, self-control. This is a tricky level that requires concentration and serenity from the player (yeah, yeah, I know: at the end of the day, EVERY LEVEL requires that )
13. Yo-yo Lem-lem A yo-yo is a rounded toy, consisting on a couple of discs attached between them, with a cord rolled around the groove in the center. By shaking up and down the yo-yo, you can make some incredible tricks. However, I think the level of this game is also a pun on the spanish meaning of "yo", which translates to "I" (or me, or myself, depending on the context).
14. Marshmallow Land Not the land of this kind of candy, but the land of the breed of those beautiful dogs, whose nose shape reminds of this candy, of which the samoyeds are the most cute of them all
15. Head for the Hills! An idiom that means to move to higher grounds, in a response to a natural disaster; and also, it means to depart quickly. In this level, the first meaning is clearly ironic, due to the position of the snow shelter.

BLIZZARD/BLITZ

01. Oogilemming! A pun on Oogie Boogie, the main villain in the Tim Burton movie "A Nightmare Before Christmas".
02. Lemmings Up High Up high is an idiom that means at an specially high level. Also, it means a position indicating someone's pride, dignity.
03. Check your hints! Once you know which exit is the only one working on the level, is easy to complete it. But I don't think any elements of the level (skills, release rate, etc) give you any hint at all about the real exit.
04. Santus Lemmingus He is the one that gives presents to the Lemmings that behave well along the year
05. It Came Upon a Lemnight Clear A pun on a famous christmas poem of almost the same name, by Edmund Sears.
06. A Single Lemming... Arguably, the most infamously easy to solve of all Christmas levels. As the title says, you will only need one lemming and one skill to save all of them.
07. Break on through... ...to the other side? There is another Christmas level also named Break On Through at Hail 02 (Holiday Lemmings 1994). Any Doors or Jim Morrison fans here?
08. Presents of Mind II The sequel to Flurry 12, harder this time. Same play on words, see the comment of that level.

From Blizzard 09 to Blizzard 14, there is a tribute on every level name to a Star Trek movie from that saga, via puns or simply using the same movie name. They are in chronological order:

Blizzard 09 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Blizzard 10 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Blizzard 11 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Blizzard 12 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Blizzard 13 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
Blizzard 14 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

15. The Needs of the Many... The string of puns on movie names gets interrupted by this quote from Spock, taken from the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The complete quote is as follows: Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Indeed, the level requires some sacrifices in order to be completed...
16. The Next Lemeration Yet another pun on the Star Trek universe, this time referencing the name of the TV series from 1987 to 1994.

It won't be the last time we find a Star Trek reference on a Holiday level


Holiday Lemmings 1994

FROST

01. Chains of Command A reference to a famous Star Trek: The Next Generation tv series episode. By the way, how many links do you see on this stage? Five? Four?
02. Sky Jump! This risky winter amusement is the first sport officially challenged every year, starting on the very first day of January, at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, as part of the famous Four Hills Tournament.
03. CindyLand A pun on Candyland. Another level that takes the Lemmings to a foreign "-land". Does anyone knows who could be the titular Cindy of the title?
05. Lemming Reunification A pun on German Reunification. Strange oblique political commentary, but I suppose it's better than use lemmon puns constantly
08. Division Bell A bell rung in, or around parliament, to signal a division (i.e., a vote) to members of the relevant chamber, so that they may participate. A division bell may also be used to signal the start or end of parliamentary proceedings.
09. Quest for Kieran I've heard this level was designed and delivered to the titular Kieran, a boy -I think is the same Kieran of this very forum- who was very ill at the time, by the Lemmings programmers, to amuse him and cheer him up, in order to get well soon. Of course, he eventualy recovered
Please, correct me if this story is not very accurate as I have told it.
10. Four Play Ehm... A pun on foreplay!? In a game for all audiences!? . Anyway, this level involves 4 lemmings, and requires a very good timing for releasing them via mining and digging.
11. Maybe not such a doddle A snowy and harder revisit to Tricky 01, from Lemmings (the first and original game)
12. It's Boxing Day! The 26th of December receives that name, due to the tradition of exchanging boxes of presents on that day. Also, the lemmings are trapped inside a steel box! How will they escape?!
13. 2 Minutes before midnight A reference to both an Iron Maiden song from 1984, and to the ominous Doomsday Clock, the symbolical clock that signals how close we are to our very extintion via nuclear risk, world war or climate change. Currently, as of Saturday, December 24, 2022, we are at only 100 seconds before midnight, according to that clock...
15. Plethora of Presents Isn't it nice when Santa leaves you three boxes loaded with Lemmings as a present?
16. Up On The Rooftops Speaking of Santa, I hope he doesn't slip on Christmas night and fall to the ground!


HAIL

01. Go Thataway! "Thataway" is a strange slang word for indicating the specified method or direction.
04. Lemmintaschen? A pun, this time in German, referencing the entaschen (similar to "cleaning", concretely, the removal of ashes) from the famous seven-branched candelabrum called Menora, one of the most important symbols of Judaism. The layout of the level depicts one of these peculiar candelabrums. For further info, see the Mishnah Tamid 3:9.
05. Get the Point? A double entendre. Refers to the final part of the level, and of course, to the titular idiom, which means to understand.
06. Surprise Package? The Lemmings Saga was infamously known during some time as "that game where you can explode some rodents"... Well, this is a strange tribute to that ominous fame... This level is unique in that you should explode the Lemmings in order to save them. Now, that really is a surprise!
07. Steel Ice Span A pun on Steelye Span, a British folk band from the 1960s.
08. Sir Edmund Hillemming The New Zelander Edmund Hillary was not only the first man, along with Tenzing Norgay, to reach the literal top of the world: he also managed to arrive to both poles, North and South; it was the first person to do those three tour-de-forces. This rocky and icy level serves as a fine tribute to him.
10. Lemmy in the cold, cold ground A pun on a verse from the poem "Sgt. MacKenzie", from Joseph Kilna MacKenzie: Lay me down in the cold, cold ground
11. Emmings! (No L) Probably, the most clever of the many play on words of the whole Lemmings saga. Ho, ho ho!
14. Rendezvous II Another snowy revisit to a classic level from the original game, slightly more difficult than the first one.
15. Steel Block Party A pun on block party, a party in which many members of a single community congregate, either to observe an event of some importance or simply for mutual solidarity and enjoyment. The name comes from the form of the party, which often involves closing an entire city block to vehicle traffic or just a single street.
16. Peak of Performance A pun on peak performance, i.e., the best and optimal level of a person, mentally and/or physically. Once you reach this final peak of the game, you can save mountaineering tools until the next expedition

[NieSch]

Nice work Ron!

And a happy Christmas.

[Ron_Stard]

Updated and completed, at least, as far as I can. Please correct me where I am wrong.

Nice work Ron!

And a happy Christmas.

Thank you, Niesch! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you, too!