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.



Attack of the Drones was the fourth short of and was released in 2003, though not theatrically, because of the failure of . Dr. Zoidberg makes a cameo appearance in the council, even as much as having a line: "Uh, what do we do?” Billy West voiced him, due to his obligations as . The buildings and animation (2D with 3D sequences) are similar to Futurama's and this may be due to Dwayne Carey-Hill, Eric Kaplan and Rich Moore's involvement. It can be viewed here.



In the 2009 short film Logorama, over 2,500 logos are used to tell the story. Among these is the logo for Slurm, which appears among others at. Also the name is similar to Futurama. It can be viewed here.

In the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, released 16 August, 2002, a piece of music similar to the Futurama theme song can be heard in some scenes on the moon.

The mockumentary, Comic Book: The Movie (released 27 January, 2004), features a Futurama cut-out in it. Some Futurama crew also appear in the movie including Matt Groening, Mark Hamill, Maurice LaMarche, and Billy West.




 * In An Inconvenient Truth, released 24 May, 2006, 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 on Futurama, appearing in "Anthology of Interest I", "Crimes of the Hot", Bender's Big Score and "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular". He has said that Futurama is his favourite show, prior to his appearance on it, during the time of Season 1.


 * His daughter, Kristin Gore, also worked for the show as a screen writer for all of Season 3 and 4's episodes, bar three.

Futurama appears in the movie Unfaithful, released 10 May, 2002. It is unknown where it appears in the movie, but Fox is credited for its use in the film. Christopher Tyng is also credited for the song "Music from Futurama" in the soundtrack.

The Comedy Central Roasts are events hosted by Comedy Central, when a celebrity is made fun of by other celebrities. During the introduction to the Roast of William Shatner, clips of his appearances in movies and television shows were shown, including a clip of his appearance in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".

Through, Encyclopædia Dramatica claims that there are four memes associated with Futurama on it's page:



A supplement of the, the Heroes graphic novel "The Trip, Part 1" (#160, released 4 January, 2010) features the Planet Express ship in a full page panel.



In 's Firefox browser (version 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 is a reference to Bender's catchphrase, "Bite my shiny metal ass!"

Bender is nominated for the Robot Hall of Fame. He is currently in number two position, with 30% of the votes, to get a place.



The tooltip for comic 233 says "They'd use that Futurama episode with Fry's dog, but even spambots cry at that". This references the test to determine if a response is computer-generated, as well as very emotional nature of the episode "Jurassic Bark".



During the Halloween toon, "Most in the Graveyard" (released 30 October, 2008), 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!", when you click The Poopsmith at the end of the toon. It can be viewed here.

In the RiffTrax commentary for  (released 10 December, 2007), asks   to finish their Slurm. It can be viewed here.

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series



 * In episode 7 (released 7 August, 2006), (in robot monkey form) and  are dubbed over as Bender and Fry in the episode "Space Pilot 3000". It can be viewed here.


 * In episode 17 (released 17 March, 2007), appears as a parody of the Hypnotoad, with the same noise and eyes as it. It can be viewed here.

ETC: Entertainment, Technology, Culture
This short comedy news show is run by, a company that makes short films with popular video games, shows gameplay videos of video games, and shows video game trailers. ETC is their only show concerning non-video game things, and in their 58th episode(WARNING: video in link contains explicit language), the main focus of the show was the return of Futurama in 2010 after almost 7 years of being canceled.

Australian comedian Josh Thomas, who has stated he is an atheist before, says on his album Things That I Have Said Before (released 23 March, 2010), at the end of the track "Other Sexy Stuff", that he follows instead. This is possibly a nod to Oprahism in the episode "Hell Is Other Robots".

Bender vs Flexo
The band Bender vs Flexo takes it's name from Bender and Flexo.

As well as featuring characters from fellow animated television shows ', ', ' and ', the song "El Chupa Nibre", from DANGERDOOM's album  (released 10 October, 2005), references the monster El Chupanibre from Futurama, in its title. The song "Space Ho's", also on the same album, features the lyric "Look Leela eyeball to eyeballs".

MC Lars referenced the show in the song "Space Game", from his album  (released 21 March, 2006), with the lyric "Hey Fry, look, we can still be friends. I won't ask Leela out again".

Atomic Raygun Attack
The band Atomic Raygun Attack made a free download EP in 2007 which bases its six songs off the Futurama episode "The Sting".

The Project
The song "Bend It Like Bender!", from The Devin Townsend Project album (released 17 November, 2009), is a reference to Bender. Additionally, the song contains the line "Game's over, losers! I have all the money!", spoken by Bender in the episode "A Head in the Polls". The music video can be viewed here.



In an issue of the comic series 52 (#21, published September, 2006), the Australian mechanic Johnny Warrawa wears a welding mask shaped like Bender's face whilst repairing the droid head of the.



In Action Comics (#863, published May, 2008), a comic, there is a plot involving aliens being sent to a prison camp. Among them is what appears to be Zoidberg and possibly Kif Kroker.

Deadpool / GLI - Summer Fun Spectacular
In the Deadpool / GLI - Summer Fun Spectacular, published July 2007, Bender can be seen on the television screen in the GLI headquarters.



Bender, (Star Wars), and Maximillian () make a brief cameo appearance. Interestingly, Countdown to Futurama author Matt Tobey, who posted "Futurama Fanarama: Bender in FoxTrot", mistook R2-D2 for " from Star Trek" (actually from Star Wars) and Maximillian for " from '" (actually from '). It is possible, however, that he did so knowingly.



In Matt Groening's comic, Life in Hell, a Bender-like doll appears in a 1999 Christmas strip.



The 17 September, 2009, issue of the single panel comic ', created by, features Leela trying to be chatted up by cyclops Mike Wazowski from the film ', whilst his friend Sulley is at the bar with Fry and Bender.

Outer Orbit
The Planet Express Ship appears in an issue of the miniseries Outer Orbit.

In issue 11 of Top 10, a discoloured Fry, Leela, and Bender can be seen in the background of the first frame of page 11. Nibbler is also featured two panels later wearing a shirt saying "Slam", a reference to the DC Comics' Message Board poster who suggested Nibbler as an Easter egg.

In Transmetropolitan #25, there is a billboard which depicts Leela and Bender.

In Young Avengers Special #1 (published February, 2006), the logo for Slurm can be seen on a vending machine being thrown by the.



In a Zits comic (published in the 2001 collection, Big Honkin' Zits), Jeremy is excited about a new Futurama episode.

Cracked was a humour magazine which based most of its material on popular culture. This gallery shows all appearances of Futurama in Cracked:

Mom was included in the 2007 Forbes. 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.

The Mad magazine parodies many popular culture things, including Futurama. This gallery shows all appearances of Futurama in Mad:



Four panels of Futurama are featured on the back of the May/June, 2001 issue of Mother Jones.

In the sixth book of the  series, Ark Angel (published 1 April, 2005), the hide behind the pseudonym "Creative Ideas Animations". In their SoHo office, they sell, among others, Futurama original drawings.

In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force called "Bible Fruit" (aired 23 March, 2008), Frylock, Meatwad and Master Shake have a discussion about watching Futurama. It is a joke about Futurama being removed from Adult Swim, as Comedy Central had bought the rights to the show.


 * In the episode "", aired 9 April, 2006, sings a song without his inspiration (marijuana). His lyrics are possibly describing the Tube Transport System in New New York.


 * During the premiere skit in , released 27 September, 2005, a reporter on the red carpet asks 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 ; at the time of release Family Guy was scheduled to return but Futurama was not.


 * Bender was seen during the scene of the "", released 23 September, 2007.


 * In the fifth "" episode, "", aired 27 September, 2009, Stewie keeps the multiverse remote in a safe, which has what looks like alienese characters on the buttons. Also the multiverses are a similar concept to Futurama's Parallel universes and the first one looks very similar to New New York.


 * Bender makes a non-speaking appearance in the episode "", aired 16 May, 2010, who heard the dirty joke from Al Harrington and passed it on to Tom Tucker. Peter describes this as "oddly enough, for some reason".

In the episode "Dream Mutt" (aired 17 June, 2005) of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Wiggy Jiggy Jed's line "So you can lick my Candy-striped..." may be a reference to Bender's line of Bite my shiny metal ass.



In the episode "Cliffhangin' With Mr. Super" (aired 18 August, 2000) 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 The PJs being etched onto a manhole cover in the episodes "I Second that Emotion" and "The Luck of the Fryrish", like the ''The PJs' opening scene.



In the Shaun the Sheep episode "The Visitor", aired 4 September 2007, the alien's space ship can use sheep feces as fuel. This resembles Nibbler's waste.

In the South Park episode "" (aired 1 November, 2006), 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".

Also, in the specials, Bender, Fry, and Leela make cameo appearances on the good side of Imaginationland, where many good characters from shows, movies, and video games appear. Mom and the Robot Devil make similar appearances on the evil side of Imaginationland.



In the second episode of this Japanese anime, several characters from other animes or cartoons can be seen in the background for a brief moment, including Fry.

During the intro for the 22 June, 2009 episode of The Colbert Report, 's interview with author was headlined "Future-Schama", a pun on the name for Futurama.

When talking about the U.S. government not shutting down, Colbert was dismayed in his 11 April, 2011 episode (clip available to all but Canadian and British audiences) that all the countdowns on news channels were unemployed. He even had his own countdown, which he decided to repurpose for a countdown to another Futurama rerun, where he further specified that it would also work for rebroadcasts of his show, as, on Comedy Central, people are never more than an hour away from a Futurama rerun.

Countdown with Keith Olbermann is a news show hosted by who regularly uses catchphrases from The Simpsons and , but has recently taken to common use of Professor Farnsworth's catch phrase, "Good news, everyone!"

During the recent premeire of the episode "Rebirth", an ad for Tosh.0 came on, where Daniel uses Futurama as a reference to his show.



The relaunched Doctor Who contains a few possible references (or just similarities) to Futurama.


 * In the episode, "" (aired 7 May, 2005), a character pretends to be a student at Mars University, to which a medical technician replies, "The Martian boondocks. Typical!"


 * The episode, "" (aired 15 April, 2006), which is set in the year five billion and twenty-three 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 episode,  (aired 14 April, 2007), which is set 30 years after "New Earth". It features a character called Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and has a similar skyline to Futurama.


 * The Christmas Special,  (aired 25 December, 2007), has an interstellar cruiser modelled after the original . This is very similar to the space cruise ship, Titanic, in the Futurama episode, "A Flight to Remember".

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.



In the Gilmore Girls episode "Scene in a Mall" (aired 24 February 2004), Brian has a set of action figures from the show, which he and Zach discuss at length.

In an episode of Good News Week, broadcast 31st August 2009,, the host, went to a commercial break saying "Stay tuned meatbags!" Meatbag is a word frequently used by Bender.



In the series Journeyman, in the episode "Emily" (aired 19 November, 2007), travels back in time to the year 2001, and enters his own house and at that time, on a TV screen, a clip from "Parasites Lost" is seen and heard (Professor Farnsworth saying "Come on, let's all give Fry some privacy."). This means that he probably travelled to 21 January.

In season 4 of the sitcom Kenan & Kel, there is an episode named "Futurama" (aired 31 December, 1999) which is set in the year 3000.


 * In the episode "" (aired 9 May, 2007), the plot element of the arrivals being assigned their new jobs and one being angry about it, is similar to the Career chip in the Futurama episode "Space Pilot 3000".


 * In the episode "", released 21 January, 2009, Daniel describes the time skips like a needle skipping on a record player. This is a direct quote from the Futurama episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'".

On the 8 September, 2003 episode of Media Watch, a man called Jonathon complained about Futurama being broadcast on Channel Seven. The transcript can be read here.

In the Stargate Universe episode "Earth" (aired 6 November, 2009), goes under the alias of "Philip Fry".

The Australian quiz show, Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, asks many popular culture questions.
 * On episode 9, aired 30 June 2009, 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.
 * On the episode aired 26 October 2010, Zoidberg was featured as a cut-out in the game "¡chronoloco!".

On the 8 September, 2009 episode of the series Warehouse 13 (episode 10, "Breakdown"), Claudia says, "Oh, we're boned!" This is one of Bender’s catch-phrases.



Bender appears credited with his full name on the Special Thanks section in the Contra 4 credits, released 13 November, 2007.



On Gears of War 2, released 7 November, 2008, 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 franchise's main character Marcus Fenix and supporting character Franklin in the game.

In Halo 3, released 25 September, 2007, there is an easter egg called the "I Would Have Been Your Daddy" skull which makes characters say rare, weird, or uncommon dialog. One of the quotes that may be heard from the UNSC Marine Corps after killing an enemy is "He's pending for a bending!", a phrase which Bender has exclaimed on the rare occasion.



In Team Fortress 2, released 10 October, 2007, an unlockable headgear called "Triboniophorus tyrannus" (released with the first community contribution update on 18 March, 2010) is modelled after the Brain Slugs on Futurama. It can be seen being made and used here.

In Call of Duty: Black Ops, released 9 November 2010, Richard Nixon is a playable character in the zombie survival mode. Occasionally, he makes references to Futurama by saying things like "NIXON'S BACK!" and "AROOOO!"

In the game TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, released 21 March, 2005, the Gingerbread Man says Bender's quote of "Bite my crunchy brown ass!" in the character select menu. It can be viewed here.

In the hospital, of the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (16 November, 2004), a patient named D. Marsh is diagnosed with frequent bouts of Sexlexia.




 * The Sea slugs' ability to take over a human's mind is similar to the Brain Slugs of Futurama.


 * During the final dialogue of the quest Troll Romance (released 5 January, 2005), Arrg says "This concept of 'love' confuses and infuriates Arrg." This is a reference to a quote said by Lrrr in the episode "Love and Rocket".


 * In the 100th quest, Recipe for Disaster (released 15 March, 2006), when the player is informed by Gypsy Aris that the universe could be destroyed, the player exclaims, "Not the whole universe! That's where I keep my stuff!", a quote originally appearing in Futurama.




 * In the game World of Warcraft (released 23 November, 2004), Professor Putricide's voice and many parts of his quotes (such as "Good news, everyone!") are based on Farnsworth. It can be seen here.


 * Outside The Exodar, a small black cat called Nibblet can be seen walking around. This is probably a reference to Nibbler from Futurama.


 * In the Apothecarium area. there is a large, stitched together thing that periodically excretes a load of the green goo that fills the Canals. This is vaguely reminiscent of the Slurm Queen's behind in the episode "Fry and the Slurm Factory".

The Simpsons


The Simpsons is Matt Groening's other TV show. It easily references Futurama the most of all media because of this connection. This is a small sample of the references. For more, see it's main page.


 * In "", there is a head in a jar in a dream about the future from . This episode aired approximately 5 years and a month before Futurama started, on 3 February, 1994.


 * In #99 (published October, 2004), there is a cameo appearance by Bender.


 * In "", aired 17 April, 2005, Bender appears in the hovercar 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 resembles one that Fry considers buying in "I, Roommate". The title, "Future-Drama", is an obvious reference to the title of Futurama itself.


 * In , released 30 October, 2007, Bender and Dr. Zoidberg are characters at the end of Level 15 - "5 Characters In Search Of an Author." Fry also appears in a painting from Matt Groening.


 * In #6 (published January, 2008), the Planet Express crew appear at the end of this comic.

Star Wars



 * In the comic ' (published in ' on 29 September, 1999), Bender is seen making fun of.


 * Bender is seen in the comic ' (published in ' on 20 December, 2000) as a scrapped droid.


 * The also appeared in the novel , published 16 October, 2007. It is unknown if they are related.


 * A droid with the name "Probulator" appears in the online game , first released 26 June, 2003.


 * The droid, and other droids from the  have been known to use Bender's phrase of "".


 * Appearing in ' (published in ' on 24 December, 2003), 's name was probably derived from Bender and Fry.


 * A clip from "War Is the H-Word" appears in the "" featurette on the.


 * Bender was seen in the Star Wars  (released 23 September, 2007), in the  scene.


 * There are a few characters in the Star Wars Galaxy with names shared in Futurama, though these might just be coincidences. Among them are, , and.


 * 's species,, has been jokingly referred to as being the same species of Zoidberg, Decapodian.


 * In the  comic "The Wreckers: Finale Part 1", Bender appears as a resident of CSSB-16 Spaceport.


 * In the  story "Gone Too Far" (published 13 March, 2008), Old Fortran is mentioned.


 * In the Transformers: Timelines script reading "Bee in the City" (presented 26 April, 2008), the  incarnation of Bumblebee says "My manwich!", a line used by Hermes and Dwight Conrad in Futurama (Dwight and Animated Bumblebee were both voiced by Bumper Robinson).


 * In the Transformers Animated episode "A Fistful of Energon" (aired 24 May, 2008), the Starscream clones #2716057 and #3370318 are references to Bender and Flexo's serial numbers.


 * In "The AllSpark Almanac", a Transformers Animated guidebook (published 19 August, 2009), there is an advertisement for many films, including Bikini Party Summer from the episode "That's Lobstertainment!".


 * The voice actors Frank Welker, Phil LaMarr, Bumper Robinson, Kath Soucie and John DiMaggio have done work for both Futurama and Transformers.