The part of Zap Brannigan was originally going to go to Phil Hartman, but was changed when he was murdered by his wife in 1998.
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Zapp: It was almost the perfect crime, but you forgot one thing! Rock crushes scissors! But paper covers rock, and scissors cut paper! Kif, we have a connundrum. Search them for paper. And, er, bring me a rock.
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Futurama (1999) - 60 trivia entries
Directed by Matt Groening, starring Billy West, John Di Maggio, Katey Sagal, Lauren Tom, Tress MacNeille (add more)
Across whole show
The part of Zap Brannigan was originally going to go to Phil Hartman, but was changed when he was murdered by his wife in 1998.
The robot devil is voiced by Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson.
This is a very good example of the amount of detailed thought in these episodes. In S01E01 we saw Fry fall into the cryogenic tube and get frozen. In Season 5 Episode 8 (The why of Fry) we see this same freezing scene again but in this episode Fry and Nibbler are under the desk arguing since it appears Nibbler was the one to push Fry into the cryogenic tube. In Season 5 Episode 2 (Jurassic Bark) we see the freezing scene again but if you watch the scene where Fry is about to fall into the tube you can see the shadow of Fry and Nibbler on the floor since we learn that they are under the desk from S5E08.
In an act of desperation in searching for an actor to voice Bender, executive producer David X. Cohen auditioned when he was told that his natural voice was funny and robotic sounding. But when he sat in front of the mike and was told to speak in his normal voice, he forgot how.
Fry's first name, Philip, was given to him in honor of Phil Hartman.
Matt Groening has admitted that he named Bender after John Bender from The Breakfast Club.
David X. Cohen's name is actually David S. Cohen. He was asked why he changed the middle initial to an X and there are two explanations that he has given. Since there was another David S. Cohen who was member of the WGAE, it was necessary to alter the name, so he decided on the initial X change. One explanation for the letter X is because many aliens have an X in their name, and the other explanation is he thought it sounded cool.
Two of the original names pitched for Futurama were "Doomsville" and "Aloha Mars".
It took approximately one hour per frame at thirty frames per second for the 28 or so second intro to be generated in 3D.
When the series first started, the animators placed five Alienese letters in the background. IN one poster, it said "drink slurm" and in another, drink was replaced by the five Alienese letters. Going on that, fans of the show were able to decipher the whole language in a couple of hours to decode what was written in graffiti on the wall behind the grate Bender and fry used to escape into the sewers. It said "Venutians (People from Venus) go home".
Despite all the references to it in Futurama, Matt Groening has never seen an episode of Star Trek.
The version of Baseball in the 31st Century, Blurnsball, came about when, stuck for time, someone put up a schedule for the week with Blurnsday as an eight day.
The show's title was taken from one of the main exhibits at the 1939 New York World's Fair.
In the opening you can see Amy, Hermes, Kif, Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan go by in the people-mover tubes.
According to David Cohen, Mom's third son Igner (the rather dumb one) is the illegitimate son of Prof. Farnsworth (which explains the character's hair). While it has been shown that Mom and the Prof. had a relationship across a few episodes, there was not enough time in the series before cancellation to reveal this particular result of that relationship.
Hell is Other Robots (series 1)
In the original ending for this episode (as seen in the DVD's deleted scenes), Bender says he'll be less like his old self when robot hell freezes over, to which Fry replies that it does freeze over during the winter. He reads this out of a book. In the aired ending, when Leela asks Bender to be less like his old self, he asks her if she could stand a 100' drop (or something), and Fry says "Good ol' Bender." However, you can still see the book in his hand from the original ending.
My Three Suns (series 1)
In the scene where Amy is seen soaking her fingers (but not in that shot), one water-person on the far left has a face identical to that of Marge Simpson as depicted in the Tracy Ullman Simpsons shorts.
One of the pictures on Bender's sash is that of Homer Simpson (of another famous Matt Groening cartoon).
Fear of a Bot Planet (series 1)
The planet Chapek Nine, where they deliver the goods to, is named after the author who coined the term robot.
Love's Labors Lost in Space (series 1)
The creatures on the list are: Purple Fruit Snake, Sharktopus, Chilean Space Bass, Parasitic Puppy, Gretchen Mole, WIndy Shrimp, Vampire Slug, Excommunicate, Four-Legged Mimic, Molotov Cockatoo and Hermaphlamingo.
I, Roommate (series 1)
Bender's apartment number is 00100100 which, on the ASCII chart, is a Dollar sign.
The title of this episode ("I, Roommate") is a parody of one of Isaac Asimov's books, entitled "I, Robot."
Episode Two: The Series Has Landed (series 1)
The creators were well into the late animation stage when the realised that the original moon landing site had been blasted off the moon. They then added the plaque in the background that says "Returned by the historical sticklers society".
When Amy is trying to get the keys out of the claw machine the games in the background have names like "Gender-Neutral Pac-Person" and "Mortal Kooperation(sic)"
The black and white scene Leela and Fry witness on the ride "Destination Moon" (In which the man says to his wife "One of these days, Alice, bang. Zoom. Straight to the moon.") is a scene from the 1950s TV show called "The Honeymooners".
There are actually two theme parks called Luna Park - one is in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and the other is in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. However, neither of them are moon-themed.
Space Pilot 3000 (series 1)
One of the heads you see when Leela chases Fry through the head museum is Futurama writer/creator Matt Groening's.
Ultimately proving that Matt Groening wasn't just making things up in the later episodes, if you watch closely, after Fry is leaning on the chair just after the countdown to ten reaches zero and he loses his balance, they cut to a close-up of the chair's legs falling over. You can see Nibbler's shadow cast on the wall in front of him.
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (series 2)
In this episode, when Fry and Amy are on Mercury, the only petrol station is called Hg's Gas. Hg is, of course, the elemental symbol for Mercury on the periodic table.
Xmas Story (series 2)
When Fry is in the pet shop looking for a present for Leela, the one eared rabbit in the cage, is a character from Matt Groening's first comic strip, Life in Hell.
Brannigan Begin Again (series 2)
One of the pieces in Bender and Fry's chess game at the beginning of the episode is Lurr of the Planet Omicron Persei 8.
I Second That Emotion (series 2)
In this episode, when the crew goes down to the sewers, they meet the mutants, then go back to the village. Just when they start to gather round for the song, you can see Leela's parents. However, we don't learn about Leela's parents until later on.
The broken bottle that Bender tries to use to kill Nibbler is labeled "Goose Laxatives."
Fry and the Slurm Factory (series 2)
Pamela Anderson voiced one of the babes.
Glurmo's original name was "Slurmy Slonka".
When the professor is playing 3-D scrabble, his letters appear to spell "futurama"
In the Slurm ad, there's a condition for the competition which fills the screen and is written in Alienese. It says "the following species are ineligible: Space wasps, Space beavers, any other species with the word space in front, space chickens and the elusive yak-face."
At the beginning when they are flying through the city on the big screen is one of Matt Groening's first Simpsons cartoons.
When Aliens Attack (series 2)
Omicron Persei 8 is actually a real star 1000 light years away from earth.
Mars University (series 2)
On the audio commentary, it says that Dean Vernon was named after John Vernon from Animal House .
In Mars University, when Fry goes to the arcade he passes a game and the prizes are a Homer or Bart Simpson figure.
That's Lobstertainment! (series 3)
Harold Zoid's name is a nod to the famous silent movie star, Harold Lloyd.
Parasites Lost (series 3)
When the main characters are watching Fry through the two-way mirror, Hermes is eating popcorn out of a jai alai scoop. This is explained in a deleted scene, where Hermes says someone is stealing silverware from the kitchen so everyone has to use the scoops. The missing silverware is also explained in a deleted scene, where it's explained that the parasites are forcing Fry to eat silverware because they need metal for their city. When the group goes inside Fry to get rid of the parasites, you can see the top of a butter knife as part of one of the buildings.
Futurestock (series 4)
The banner in the robot bar mitzvah translates to 'Today I am a robot'.
Anthology of Interest 2 (series 4)
On the DVD commentary, David Cohens mentions that Matt Groening's favourite line in the entire show is 'You watched it, you can't unwatch it. Stay tuned for more Tales Of Interest' spoken by Maurice La Marche as the narrator for this episode. Groening confirms this himself.
A Tale of Two Santas (series 4)
In the elves' workshop, Leela turns the controls up to the highest speed- Lucy. This is a reference to a classic episode of I Love Lucy, where Lucy and Ethel work in a chocolate factory, and the candies come out on the conveyor belt much too fast for them to wrap.
The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings (series 5)
When Bender and Fry are with the Robot-Devil and he spins the wheel to decide whose hands he'll give to Fry, each and every name that appears on the wheel (freeze frame to see them all) are robots that have actually appeared in the series at one point or another. Verified on the DVD commentary.
On the commentary, Matt Groening says that in this episode every major character that has appeared in the show from the very start shows up in this one.
Spanish Fry (series 5)
When Lrr and Nd-Nd are dining at the park, trying to get in "the mood", Lrr gets very agitated at his wife. He jumps up and screams to her "One of these days, Nd-Nd, bang. Zoom. Straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8." This is a spin-off from the 50s TV show The Honeymooners, in which one of the characters says almost the exact same thing to his wife, Alice.
The Why of Fry (series 5)
At the beginning of the episode, when Fry walks into the room wearing an orange space suit, you can see that Amy is busy reading a book (so busy she doesn't mind the odd liquid inside Zoidberg's bathtub being splattered all over her). The book's title is "Martians are from Mars, Venutians are from Venus."
Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles (series 5)
Pazuzu, Dr. Farnsworth's gargoyle, is named after a winged demon in Mesopotamian folklore that protected pregnant women.
Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch (series 5)
Professor says they are going to deliver something to Nigel 7. In The Simpsons (also created by Matt Groening), the two aliens Kang and Kodos are from Rigel 7.
The Route of All Evil (series 5)
The voice actor for Dwight left to do a film in China before the show was finalised, and didn't return until 10 months later. This meant that the episode couldn't be improved completely until their return, thus it was aired in the fifth season.
Cubert is reading a "Radioactive Man" comic from The Simpsons.
Jurassic Bark (series 5)
The final "tear-jerker" sequence cuts exactly 12 times - one for every year the dog waited.
When Fry goes to the freezing place and discovers that he was sent on a hoax, he puts the pizza on the table, Nibblers eye pops out from the bin (it is revealed that Nibbler pushes Fry into the freezing unit).
The episode's downbeat ending, with Seymour waiting outsize the Pizza restaurant, mirrors the story of a Japanese dog called Hachiko, who spent 10 years waiting on a train station for his master who died at work and never returned. Page on Hachiko.
Crimes of the Hot (series 5)
When the head of Al Gore meets everyone in the big dome to discuss the problem with Global Warming, he comments that, according to his books, "Earth in a Balance" and "Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth", that everyone needed to protect the Earth from global warming and "black wizards." Then it cuts to Tim the Wizard, from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, sitting in the audience, rolling his eyes and saying "Sure, blame the wizards..." Also, whenever Gore shows that the prize for whoever can solve the global warming problem is a bag of moon sapphires, Tim says "Sapphires? I can use this to get through the gate. hahahaha..."
The scientist with the degree in homeopathic medicine has a degree from Evergreen State College, creator Matt Groening's alma mater.
All of series 5 (series 5)
This season was compiled of previously unaired episodes. There were 4 production seasons, but not all of the episodes had been aired due to various reasons. These include Fox thinking some were innapropriate (including "Tale of Two Santas") and schedules being limited.
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