McKay refers to Ronon and Teyla as "Conan and Xena" respectively. Jason Momoa, who plays Ronon, stars as Conan in Conan the Barbarian (2011).
This episode is reminiscent of the 1956 movie "Forbidden Planet" starring Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis, where most of the inhabitants of the planet either ascended or where killed by an invisible, yet powerful creature created by their own subconscious minds.