Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Futurama.
Summary
- Futurama is filled with Easter eggs, including references to other Matt Groening creations, classic literature, and science fiction.
- The show often foreshadows events in later episodes and features important characters in silent cameos before their speaking appearances.
- There are numerous references to other pop culture icons, such as Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Simpsons, and Weird Al Yankovic.
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 es 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 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 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 ed 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.
