30 of the best Futurama Easter eggs ever!
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Summary The long-running animated series Futurama is packed with Easter eggs. Many of them are references to the earlier creations of cartoonist Matt Groening, including The Simpsons and the comic strip Life In Hell.
Others are nods to classic literature, science fiction, and advanced mathematics, meant to amuse the well-read audience to whom Futurama was meant to appeal. Many episodes of Futurama benefit from repeat viewing. While the show's continuity is somewhat loose, particularly in regard to whether Futurama shares a universe with The Simpsons or not, there are a number of Easter eggs that foreshadow the events of later episodes. Futurama also often shows important characters in silent cameos before they make their first speaking appearance later in the chronology. Here is a run-down of 30 of the best Futurama Easter eggs. 30 The Alien Languages Many fantasy and science fiction series inspire fictional languages, from the Klingon language of Star Trek to Dothraki in Game of Thrones. Futurama is no different, featuring two made-up alien languages. Billboards and signs sporting alien words appear throughout Futurama, including the opening credits. One repeated alien phrase in the billboards, once translated, promotes "TASTY HUMAN BURGERS," though it is unclear if these are burgers meant for humans or made of humans. 29 Blinky The Fish Blinky the Fish was something of a mascot to The Simpsons during the show's earliest seasons. The three-eyed mutant fish appeared most prominently in the episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish," where Mr. Burns ran for governor as part of a scheme to cover up how his nuclear power plant was mutating Springfield's wildlife. Blinky has a cameo in the pilot episode of Futurama, briefly appearing as Fry is riding through a transport tube that passes underwater. 28 Matt Groening's First Cameo Cartoonist Matt Groening has made a number of cameos in the shows that he created. He famously played himself as a head in a jar, hosting a panel at Comic-Con 3010 in the Futurama episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences." However, many missed Groening's non-speaking cameo in the Futurama pilot, "Space Pilot 3000," where his head can be seen next to Barbra Streisand, among the celebrities in the Head Museum. 27 Leela's Parents' First Appearance Abandoned on the doorstep of an orphanage as an infant, Leela spent the early seasons of Futurama presuming that she was an alien abandoned on Earth. It was ultimately revealed in the Futurama season 4 episode "Leela's Homeworld" that Leela's parents were sewer-dwelling mutant humans who gave her up, hoping she might pass as an alien and find a better life than they could give her. This revelation was teased two seasons earlier, in the Futurama season 2 episode "I Second That Emotion." During the Planet Express crew's first journey into the sewers under New New York, Leela's parents are briefly visible in the upper-left corner during a crowd scene. 26 Nibbler's Shadow The Futurama season 5 episode "The Why of Fry" revealed that Nibbler and his race had been manipulating Fry for his entire life. Indeed, Nibbler himself was responsible for the accident that trapped Fry in a cryogenic chamber for 1000 years, ensuring he would survive to help the Nibblonians in their eternal battle with the Brain Spawn. This was hinted at in the first episode of Futurama, "Space Pilot 3000," where Nibbler's shadow is briefly visible just before Fry loses his balance and falls into the cryo-chamber. 25 Honoring Phil Hartman A frequent guest performer on The Simpsons, where he voiced both actor Troy McClure and attorney Lionel Hutz, comedian Phil Hartman had been cast as Zapp Brannigan in Futurama just before his tragic death in 1998. The show went on to honor Hartman in two distinct ways. The main character of Fry, who had not been given a first name at that point, was named Philip J. Fry in Hartman's honor. Additionally, actor Billy West, who was recast in the role of Zapp Brannigan, gave the character a close approximation of Hartman's trademark smooth baritone voice. 24 Mystery Science Theater 3000 At one point in the Futurama season 2 episode "Raging Bender," the Planet Express crew goes to the movies. When Fry starts heckling the newsreel, he is told to be quiet by the silhouettes of two uniquely designed robots. These robots are meant to be Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000, a revolutionary cult comedy series in which the two robots and a human friend make fun of bad movies. While the original run of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had ended at the time "Ranging Bender" originally aired, the show has joined Futurama in enjoying multiple revivals and now has its own self-funded streaming platform. 23 To Serve Man One of Futurama's sillier running gags involves the robot Bender's desire to become a master chef, despite having no sense of taste. He is still employed as the Planet Express ship chef, sometimes wearing an apron that says "To Serve Man." This is a reference to a classic science fiction story by Damon Knight, which was later adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1962. The story centers around a race of seemingly benevolent aliens who come to Earth, and one of their books, titled "To Serve Man," is later determined to be a cookbook. 22 Go, Ladybuggle, Go! Twenty years after they became parents in the Futurama season 5 episode "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch," Kif and Amy began raising their children directly in the season 11 episode "Children Of A Lesser Bog." At one point, they read their children a book titled Go, Ladybuggle, Go! Beyond being a parody of the Dr. Seuss book Go, Dog, Go!, this is a callback to the character of Ladybuggle. She was one of the cute alien creatures Leela exploited to become a successful children's entertainer in the Futurama season 8 episode "Yo Leela Leela." 21 A Revealing Envelope When Professor Farnsworth originally hired Fry, Leela and Bender to replace the crew of the Planet Express in "Space Pilot 3000," he was shown to have saved the previous crew's career chips in an envelope labeled "Contents of Space Wasp's Stomach." This foreshadowed the full story of the last crew's fate, which was revealed in the Futurama season 5 episode "The Sting," where Fry, Leela and Bender were sent to steal space honey from a hive of giant space bees. This has prompted considerable debate among Futurama fans regarding whether there is a difference between space bees and space wasps or if the Professor just got the species mixed up. 20 Binky The Rabbit Binky the Rabbit was the main character of Matt Groening's comic strip Life In Hell. Binky has a cameo in the second Futurama episode, "The Series Has Landed," as one of the plush animals in a claw machine game that Bender has to break into to recover the keys to the Planet Express ship. 19 Jar Jar In A Jar There are a number of Easter eggs in one quick crowd shot at the Academy Awards ceremony in "That's Lobstertainment!" The most notable is the head of Star Wars' Jar-Jar Binks in a jar, sitting next to news anchor/alien invader Morbo. On the other side of Jar-Jar is the head of the legendary costume designer Edith Head, who inspired Edna Mode in The Incredibles. Fry's ex-girlfriend Michelle Jenkins and actor Pauly Shore, who were both unfrozen after years in cryogenic suspension in "The Cryonic Woman," are seated behind them. 18 All the TV Parodies in Season 11 Premiere The premiere episode of Futurama's run on Hulu featured a number of parodies of popular streaming series and multiple callbacks to earlier Futurama episodes. The most notable of these included Neptunian chef Elzar's new cooking show, The Great Neptunian Bam-Off and Melllvar Place, a Melrose Place parody named for the Star Trek-loving energy being from "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." There is also a nod to Matt Groening's fantasy series Disenchantment, with a parody titled Disenpantment. 17 Homer And Marge Simpson's Heart When Fry and Leela set out to rescue Bender from Robot Hell in the Futurama season 1 episode "Hell Is Other Robots," a graffiti heart with the initials HS and MB can be seen in the abandoned amusement park ride that conceals the entrance to Robot Hell. This is a reference to Homer and Marge from The Simpsons, where Marge's name before getting married was Marge Bouvier. 16 Weird Al Cameo Undoubtedly the most successful song parodist of all time, Alfred "Weird Al" Yankovic is almost as famous in modern times as a nerd pride icon as he is for songs like "Eat It" and "Like A Surgeon." Weird Al has a cameo in the Futurama episode "The Cryonic Woman," where he is among the cryogenically frozen celebrities that Fry and Bender tend to do during their brief employment at the cryogenics lab where Fry was frozen for one thousand years. 15 Maxwell's Demon The Futurama season 11 episode "How The West Was 1010001" gives some new background for the character of The Borax Kid, revealing him to be the star of a series of self-published thrillers. Fry reads one of the books, "The Borax Kid and the Outlaws of Thermodynamics," in which The Kid battles an outlaw known as the Maxwell Demon. This is a reference to a thought experiment proposed by physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who envisioned a powerful entity that could violate the laws of thermodynamics by separating fast-moving particles from slow-moving ones through a series of doors. 14 3-D Scrabble In the episode "Fry and the Slurm Factory," Leela and Professor Farnsworth can be seen playing a version of the board game Scrabble that uses multiple game boards on different levels. This is a parody of the three-dimensional chess game made famous by Captain Kirk and Mister Spock in Star Trek: The Original Series. However, three-dimensional versions of chess have existed since at least the 19th century. Amusingly, a glance at the Professor's pieces reveals that he is almost able to spell "Futurama." 13 A Binary Warning When Bender inherits a seemingly haunted mansion in the Futurama episode "The Honking," he isn't worried until he sees the number "1010011010" written in blood on a mirror. In binary code, this sequence translates into the number 666. Known as the Number of the Beast, this number is traditionally associated with evil, demons and ill fortune in Western culture. 12 Pazuzu The Gargoyle Pazuzu is a gargoyle like demon who has twice saved Professor Farnsworth over the course of Futurama. The history between the two has never been clarified, but Pazuzu was apparently bound into Farnsworth's service until he saved the Professor the first time and earned his freedom. Curiously, Pazuzu spoke with a French accent and made his home in Paris after being freed. This is because Pazuzu is based on the Demon of the Eiffel Tower, from the French graphic novel series The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec by Jacques Tardi. 11 All of Fry's Lovers Attend His Funeral The Futurama season 5 episode "The Sting" supplied one of the show's better continuity-based gags, with one row of mourners at Fry's funeral made up of all the women Fry had sex with since traveling to the future. This included Fry's ex-girlfriend Michelle Jenkins, the Amazonian warrior Kug, bureaucrat Morgan Proctor, elderly prostitute Petunia, and the unnamed woman from the 21st century Fry picked up in "Love's Labour Lost in Space." There was also a radiator, referencing Fry's apparent attempt to romance with what he thought was an alien woman, in the Futurama season 2 episode "The Leser of Two Evils." Sadly, only Kug thought Fry "do good snu-snu."
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