List of references to Futurama in popular culture
This article lists references to the show Futurama in popular culture, that means references outside of the show to the show itself.
Comics and Magazines
Action Comics
In Action Comics #863, Legion of Super-Heroes comic, there is a plot involving aliens being sent to a prison camp. Among the aliens is Dr. Zoidberg and possibly Kif Kroker.
Cracked
Much like Mad, Cracked is a humour magazine which bases most of its material on popular culture. The gallery shows all appearances of Futurama in Cracked.
Futurama parodied on the cover of #340 (December 1999),...
...whilst inside, there is a comic parody called "Futuredrama". The full 5 pages can be read here (under Cracked Magazine).
Life in Hell
In Matt Groening's comic, Life in Hell, a Bender "doll" appears in a 1999 Christmas strip.
Mad
The Mad magazine parodies many popular culture things, including Futurama. The gallery shows all appearances of Futurama in Mad.
On the cover of this summer issue, dealing with superheroes, instead of coming out in his usual armour, Tony Stark comes out as Bender instead.
In this translation of a German edition, there is a parody named "Botterama". The full 4 page comic and information on the more obscure jokes can be read here (under Botterama).
In another German magazine, Futurama is parodied on the front cover...
...and in a comic on the interior page. "Schraub" is German for "screw".
Mother Jones
Four panels of Futurama are featured on the back of the May/June 2001 issue of Mother Jones.
Off The Mark
The September 17, 2009, issue of the single panel comic Off The Mark, created by Mark Parisi, features Leela, with Fry and Bender in the background at the bar. Leela is trying to be chatted up by cyclops Mike Wazowski from the film Monsters, Inc., whilst his friend Sulley is at the bar.
Outer Orbit
The Planet Express Ship appears in the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Outer Orbit.
Transmetropolitan
Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan features a billboard depicting Leela and Bender in the background of a panel in issue 25.
Top Ten
Alan Moore's Top Ten (issue 11), a discoloured Fry, Leela, and Bender can be seen in the background of one of the frames.
Young Avengers
In Young Avengers Special #1, the logo for Slurm can be seen on a vending machine being thrown by the Hulkling.
Zits
In a Zits comic (published in the 2001 collection, Big Honkin' Zits), Jeremy is excited about a new Futurama episode.
Films
The Adventures of Pluto Nash
In the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, the Futurama theme song can be heard in some scenes on the moon.
Comic Book: The Movie
The mockumentary, Comic Book: The Movie, features a Futurama cut-out in it. Some Futurama voice actors also appear in the movie including Mark Hamill, Billy West, Matt Groening and Maurice LaMarche.
An Inconvenient Truth
- In An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore uses a scene from the episode "Crimes of the Hot" during his initial explanation of global warming.
- The Futurama cast and crew also made an animated faux-trailer for the film titled A Terrifying Message from Al Gore featuring Gore and Bender.
- Al Gore is a recurring guest star in Futurama, and he had said that Futurama is his favourite show, prior to his appearance on it.
- His daughter, Kristin Gore, also worked for the show in later seasons.
The Supermarket
In the 2009 movie, The Supermarket, some Futurama characters appear in a photo in a scene.
Unfaithful
Futurama appears in the movie Unfaithful. It is unknown where it appears in the movie, but Fox is credited for its use in the film.
Internet
Homestar Runner
During the 2008 Halloween toon, "Most in the Graveyard", of the Flash animation series Homestar Runner, The Poopsmith is dressed up as Zoidberg. The King of Town also says Professor Farnsworth's catch phrase, "Good news, everyone!" after mentioning that the ketchup in the ketchup fountain wasn't really ketchup after clicking on The Poopsmith at the end of the toon.
Mozilla Firefox
In Mozilla's Firefox browser (version 3 or later), if you type 'about:robots' in the address bar, a page will appear paying tribute to robots in popular culture. The last point is "Robots have shiny metal posteriors which should not be bitten." This a reference to Bender's catchphrase, "Bite my shiny metal ass!"
Robot Hall of Fame
Bender is currently nominated for the Robot Hall of Fame. He is (as of September 2009) in number two position, with 29% of the votes, to get a place in the Hall of Fame.
Television
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force called "Bible Fruit", Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake have a discussion about watching Futurama.
Meatwad: Why don't you ask that TV if he minds showin' me some Futurama. I like me some Futurama.
Shake: Well now we're too damn cheap to receive it, so go the hell over to Carl Central and watch it to your heart's content.
Meatwad: Carl gets Futurama?
Shake: He didn't even want it until we started watching it.
The Colbert Report
During the intro for the 22 June, 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, Colbert's interview with author Simon Schama was headlined "Future-Schama" — a pun on the name for Futurama.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a news show hosted by Keith Olbermann which regularly uses catchphrases from The Simpsons and Family Guy, but has recently taken to common use of Professor Farnsworth's catch phrase, "Good news, everyone!"
Doctor Who
The relaunched Doctor Who contains a few possible references (or just similarities) to Futurama.
- In the series 1 episode, "The Long Game", a character pretends to be a student at Mars University, to which a medical technician replies, "The Martian boondocks. Typical!"
- The series 2 episode, "New Earth" (set in the year five billion and twenty-three), takes place in the city of New New York. However, if the city had been more accurately named, it would in fact be "New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York" (as it was the fifteenth New York).
- New New York also appears in the series 3 episode, "Gridlock", which is set 30 years after "New Earth". It features a character called "Branagan", and has a similar skyline to Futurama.
- The series 4 Christmas Special, "Voyage of the Damned", has an interstellar cruiser modelled after the original RMS Titanic. This is very similar to the space cruise ship, Titanic, in the Futurama episode, "A Flight to Remember".
The Einstein Factor
Contestants in the Australian ABC1 quiz show The Einstein Factor choose a specialty on which to be quizzed during the first round. During episode ten of the 2005 season, a contestant chose Futurama as his specialty. He was the second placing of three contestants in the episode.
Family Guy
- During the premiere skit in Family Guy's Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, a reporter on the red carpet asks Stewie Griffin if Fox has any plans to bring back Futurama. Family Guy and Futurama were both animated series on Fox which were cancelled and subsequently aired on Adult Swim; at the time of release Family Guy was scheduled to return but Futurama was not.
- Bender was seen during the Chalmun's Cantina scene of the Family Guy episode "Blue Harvest".
Good News Week
In an episode of Good News Week, broadcast 31st August 2009, Paul McDermott, the host, went to a commercial break saying "Stay tuned meatbags!" Meatbag is a word frequently used by Bender.
Journeyman
From the series Journeyman, in episode "Emily", the main character travels back in time to the year 2001, and enters his own house at that time, on a TV screen is seen and heard (namely, Professor Farnsworth's "Come on, let's all give Fry some privacy.") a clip from "Parasites Lost", meaning the character probably travelled to January 21st.
Kenan & Kel
In season 4 of the sitcom Kenan & Kel, there is an episode named "Futurama".
Looney Tunes
On the show Looney Tunes, in the Daffy Duck episode "Attack of the Drones", Dr. Zoidberg makes a cameo appearance.
The PJs
In the episode "Hangin' With Mr. Super" of the show The PJs, Fry makes a cameo appearance on a wanted ad on a milk carton, referring to Fry's disappearance after being frozen. This was an act of reciprocation for an advertisement of The PJs etched onto a manhole cover in the episodes "I Second that Emotion" and "The Luck of the Fryrish", like The PJ's opening scene.
South Park
In the South Park episode "Go God Go", Cartman is stuck in the snow and is buried by an avalanche and is defrosted 500 years later. Although not an explicit reference to Futurama, there is brief reference to cryogenics, and the name of the city "New New Hampshire" is familiar to other names of cities used in Futurama, like "New New York" or "New New Jersey".
Talkin' 'bout your Generation
The Australian quiz show, Talkin' 'bout your Generation, asks many popular culture questions. On episode 9, in the round "Your Generation", a true or false question was asked: "Did Darren Shatner, the son of William Shatner, compose the theme song to Futurama?" Generation Y answered true and got the question wrong. Futurama's theme song was actually composed by Christopher Tyng.
Warehouse 13
On the 8 September, 2009 episode of the SyFy series Warehouse 13 (episode 10, "Breakdown"), Claudia says, "Oh, we're boned!" A common phrase in Futurama.
Xiaolin Showdown
In the Xiaolin Showdown episode "Days Past", Dojo is instructing Omi about the dangers of travel to the past, he mentions the possibility to him "of being your own grandfather". This is probably a reference to the incident in "Roswell that Ends Well".
Video Games
Contra 4
Bender appears credited with his full name on the Special Thanks section in the Contra 4 credits.
Gears of War 2
On Gears of War 2, in the special thanks section for the makers, Mikey Spano says That Guy's quote of "My one regret is that I have Boneitis!". John DiMaggio voices the main character Marcus Fenix and Franklin in the game also.
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect
In the game TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, the gingerbread man says Bender's quote of "Bite my crunchy brown ass!"
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
In the hospital, of the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a patient named D. Marsh is diagnosed with frequent bouts of Sexlexia.
Other
The Graduate
MC Lars referenced the show in the song "Space Game", from his album The Graduate, with the lyric "Hey Fry, look, we can still be friends. I won't ask Leela out again".
Forbes
Mom was included in the 2007 Forbes list of the richest fictional characters. She was ranked at #4 with an estimated net worth of $15.7 billion. MomCorp was also included in the list of "The 25 Largest Fictional Companies" which estimated its sales at $291.8 billion.
RiffTrax
In the RiffTrax commentary for The Star Wars Holiday Special, Ackmena asks two aliens to finish their Slurm.
The Simpsons
- Main article: The Simpsons
- In "Bart Gets Famous" (1F11), there is a head in a jar in a dream about the future from Bart Simpson. This episode aired approximately 5 years and a month before Futurama started.
- In "Future-Drama" (GABF12), Bender appears in the hovercar Homer Simpson and Bart are driving after crossing a "quantum tunnel". There are references to heads preserved in jars, Hovercars and cities similar to Futurama. Homer's under water house is resembles one that Fry considers buying in "I, Roommate". The title, "Future-Drama", is an obvious reference to the title of Futurama itself.
- In The Simpsons Game, Bender and Dr. Zoidberg are characters at the end of Level 15 - "In Search Of an Author." Fry also appears in a painting from Matt Groening.
- In Simpsons Comics #99, there is a cameo appearance by Bender.
- In Simpsons Super Spectacular #6, the Planet Express crew appear at the end of this comic.
Star Wars
- Main article: Star Wars
- The droid HK-47 and other droids from the Star Wars Expanded Universe have been known to use Bender's phrase of "Meatbag".
- In the comic Skippy the Jedi Droid, Bender is seen making fun of Skippy.
- A droid with the name "Probulator" appears in the online game Star Wars Galaxies.
- Bender is also seen in the comic Junkheap Hero as a scrapped droid.
- The "Bender Droid" also appeared in the novel Death Star. It is unknown if they are related.
- Bender was seen in the Star Wars parody Family Guy: Blue Harvest in the Chalmun's Cantina scene.
- Bendu Fry's name was probably derived from Bender and Fry.
- There are a few characters in the Star Wars Galaxy with names shared in Futurama:
- Jedi Master Xamar's species, Khil, has been jokingly referred to as being the same species of Zoidberg, Decapodian.
- A clip from "War Is the H-Word" appears in the "The Birth of the Lightsaber" featurette on the 25 anniversary trilogy DVD
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