A deliberate reference, or coincidence?

In the episode "Where and When," Pete and Myka's minds travel back in time due to a machine developed by H.G. Wells. Part of the machine is a device that is a three-point electrical-arc looking number that looks similar in design to the flux capacitor from Back to the Future. Granted, the colour of the electricity is blue, rather than the yellowish colour in the movie, but that three-pronged device being present in two time-travel devices can't be coincidence, right?

I checked this entire board, and nobody had mentioned anything about it. I can't possibly be the only person that noticed the connection. Am I reaching, or is there something there?

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