Colonel Post says angrily to the Sleestak "Get your dirty claws off me, you..." This may be a reference to Planet of the Apes (1968), when Colonel Taylor, under similar circumstances, said "Keep your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape."
Producer Sid Krofft was a fan of The Wizard of Oz (1939), which was the first movie he ever saw. The shows which Krofft produced with his brother Marty Krofft are full of Wizard of Oz allusions. In this one, Colonel Post, with his balloon and his humbugging showman personality, appears to be based on the movie's titular Wizard.