Futurama

Futurama is an American animated television series created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen (also a writer for The Simpsons). Set in "New New York City" in the 31st century, it was introduced on the Fox Network and received airplay between March 28, 1999 and August 10, 2003. It is currently rerun on the Adult Swim scheduling segment of Cartoon Network in the United States, on Teletoon in Canada, on Channel 4, Sky One and Sky Two in the UK, and on Fox8 and Network Ten in Australia.

On January 19th, 2006, Billy West (the voice actor who plays Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, and various other characters) announced in a post to the message board of his official website that the Futurama team would be producing four new, direct-to-DVD movies beginning in the July or August 2006.

The series begins with Philip J. Fry, a New York City slacker and pizza delivery man, who is cryogenically frozen by accident on New Year's Eve, 1999. He is defrosted one thousand years later on December 31, 2999 and finds himself in New New York City. Fry's attempt to escape from his now-mandatory job assignment as a delivery boy ends when he is hired on at Planet Express, a small intergalactic package delivery company run by his distantly descended nephew, as a delivery boy. The series covers the adventures of Fry and his colleagues as they travel around the universe making deliveries on behalf of Planet Express.

The futuristic time frame allowed the show's writers to be creative with their humor by introducing ideas and events from pulp science fiction of the mid 20th century into the series.

Characters and plot

Futurama centers around seven main characters who work for Planet Express, as well as several secondary characters.

Characters

• Philip J. Fry a.k.a. Fry (voiced by Billy West) - Fry is a pizza delivery boy, cryogenically frozen at the beginning of the New Year, 2000 and revived just in time to usher in the year 3000. He seeks out his closest living relative, Professor Farnsworth, who employs Fry as a delivery boy at Planet Express. Much of the show revolves around Fry's attempts to adapt to the 31st century and his interaction with his friends, the rest of the staff of Planet Express.
• Turanga Leela a.k.a. Leela (Katey Sagal) - Leela is the captain of Planet Express's ship and usually the most disciplined member of the Planet Express crew. Orphaned at birth, she grew up believing that she was an alien of an unknown race, but it is revealed later in the show she is the child of outcast sewer mutants who left her at a minimum security orphanarium to give her a better life. She spends much of her time rejecting Fry's attempts to win her heart, although hints were numerous that she would eventually give in.
• Bender Bending Rodriguez a.k.a. Bender (John DiMaggio) - Bender is a foul-mouthed, drinking, smoking, shoplifting, misanthropic robot built in "America's heartland": Tijuana, Mexico. Built to bend girders, he abandoned his job when he found out he was helping to build suicide booths.
• Professor Hubert Farnsworth (Billy West) - Farnsworth is Fry's great-great-...-great grand-nephew who started Planet Express to fund his mad scientist-like experiments and inventions. In his 160s, he wears comically thick glasses, has bad posture, and frequently forgets whom or what he is talking about. His catchphrase of "Good news, everyone!" is usually followed by horrible news.
• Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr) - Hermes is the Jamaican manager of Planet Express. A bureaucrat and proud of it, he is a workaholic and a stickler for doing everything according to regulations, especially if it involves paperwork and filing.
• Dr. John Zoidberg a.k.a. Zoidberg (Billy West) - Zoidberg is a lobster-like alien from Decapod 10 and the staff doctor of Planet Express. Although a self-proclaimed expert on humans, he constantly provides incompetent medical care and mistakes Fry for a woman when they first meet.
• Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) - Amy is an intern at Planet Express and heir to half of Mars, constantly pestered by her parents about their lack of grandchildren. She is shallow, ditzy, and prone to overusing 31st century slang.

See also: Futurama's recurring characters.

Planet Express

Planet Express is a delivery company held by Professor Farnsworth to fund his "research" and "inventions".

The Professor often makes passing references to the brutal deaths of previous employees; the crew prior to Fry's arrival was said to have been devoured by a space wasp, while another was stung to death by a swarm of gigantic bees.

The Planet Express ship is helmed by Leela, with Bender serving as cook and Fry as delivery boy. Amy and Dr. Zoidberg accompany the crew as needed. The ship is equipped with autopilot and a shipboard artificial intelligence. Nearly every mission that the Professor assigns his crew is unusually dangerous.

Setting

The setting is first and foremost a backdrop for humor, and the show is not above committing continuity errors if they serve to further the gags. The capabilities of many things vary according to what is most appropriate for the situation at hand.

The visually retro-futuristic world of Futurama is not a utopia but neither is it a dystopia. Unlike past cartoons like The Jetsons, which showed an efficient, clean, happy future, Futurama portrays a less idealistic view, with humans still dealing with many of the same basic problems of the 20th century. The show's vision of the future is very similar to the present in many ways: the same political figures and celebrities that we know today survive as heads in jars, a method invented by Ron Popeil; television remains the primary means of entertainment; the Internet is still slow and filled with pornography, and problems such as global warming, inflexible bureaucracy, and substance abuse are still pressing issues.

Race issues in 3000 are now centered around relations among humans, aliens, and robots. A common clash between the former two is alien immigration plaguing Earth. A specific issue on Earth is the large population of super-intelligent/super-incompetent robots (homeless robots and orphan children robots, like Tinny Tim); they are generally lazy, greedy and surly (with the exception of the sycophantic super-efficient Robot 1-X), and often unwilling to assist their human creators. Robots are treated as independent beings - indeed only twice in the series are robots referred to as property (in The Route of All Evil Qubert refers to Bender as "company property", and in The 30% Iron Chef the Professor shouts "That's my robot! I own him!")

Despite this, Futurama's world also showcases numerous technological advantages that have been developed by the year 3000. Wheels used in transportation have been made obsolete by hover technology, to the point that 31st century characters do not know what a wheel is. Among the robots, spaceships, and floating buildings, Professor Farnsworth introduced many memorable new inventions such as the Smell-o-scope, the What-if Machine, and the Parabox. Less inspiring 31st century innovations include coin-operated Suicide Booths (said in the show to have been in business since 2008) and Soylent Cola (the taste "varies from person to person").

Some of the show's humor comes from passing references to historical events of the past thousand years. For example, in the time that has passed formerly-endangered owls and marmosets have emerged as the primary urban pests, at the expense of rats and pigeons. Los Angeles has become a wasteland, Fry mistaking it for New New York in the year 4000 after believing he had been cryogenically frozen for a further 1000 years. Atlanta, after being moved to sea, sinks due to overdevelopment and becomes a "lost city" (a parody of the story of Atlantis); its residents evolve (with the help of Coca-Cola's caffeine) into mermaids. In another episode, Pamela Anderson mentions that she won an Academy Award for Baywatch: The Movie, the first ever to be filmed entirely in slow-motion.

The suicide booths are not the only sign of a devaluing of human life, despite their popularity. Murder is discussed casually, as if there were little or no penalty for it. ("Could you pick me up a license to kill?" "Sure. Bare hands or weapons?" "Hm. What does piano wire count as?") Grievous bodily injuries are shrugged off or treated with a sort of mild uncaring, perhaps in reference to the highly advanced medical technology as well as the general disregard for the lives of others or oneself. This sort of indifference to death and pain may be partly a mockery of the reactionary trend of citing rising crime statistics as a symptom of human life losing its value, partly on account of the failure to take proper precautions or care of themselves because of the availability of medicines and operations, and partly callousness (such as Fry's happy declaration that his organ transplant came from a guy who liked to ride motorcycles).

See also: Timeline of Futurama

Linguistics

Futurama's universe also makes several bold predictions about the future of linguistics. In "A Clone of My Own" (and "Space Pilot 3000"), it is implied that French is now a dead language, and that the official language spoken by the French will then be English (in the French version of Futurama, German is substituted for French as the dead language).

English itself has also evolved from today, but still remains comprehensible. These changes include the disuse of the word Christmas in favor of Xmas (with the X pronounced, as in "ex-mas") and the pronunciation of ask metathesizing as "aks". Ironically, "aks" represents an earlier pronunciation of the word, with the modern "ask" an innovation, so the 31st century sees the word coming full circle.

The show also often makes use of a pair of alien alphabets in background signage. The first is a simple one-to-one substitution cipher from the Latin alphabet, while the second uses a more complex modular addition code (officially an ancient alien language predating the universe). They often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages.

Galactic politics

Numerous other galaxies have been colonized or have made contact by the year 3000. Much of the Milky Way galaxy now operates under the Earth government's sphere of influence, similar to America's influence on world politics today. Apparently, Earth is in the process of embarking on a long-term campaign to conquer and/or eliminate all other worlds/races not allied with it. This campaign is spearheaded by 25-star General Major Webelo Zapp Brannigan, a conceited, self-absorbed, trouserless individual who makes regular appearances throughout the series.

Earth has a unified government called the United States of Earth headed by a single President of Earth. It seems that various sub-states may have prime ministers and similar leaders, much like the current American system of governors. This world government seems to be quite US-centric as Earth's capital is Washington, D.C. and the flag of Earth looks like the Flag of the United States, but with an image of the Earth (with the U.S. visible) where the stars are today. Citizens of Earth are called Earthicans.

The organization of political parties in Futurama is similar to the American two-party system with a number of third parties. The two main parties are the Tastycrats and the Fingerlicans, whose names sound similar to the current American parties, the Democrats and Republicans.

Despite having been elected President of the United States twice, the head of Richard Nixon is elected President of Earth by exploiting the fact that his old body is not being elected, and Earthican law only stipulates that no body can be elected more than twice. Nixon buys Bender's robotic body from a pawn shop to serve as his new body. After the Planet Express crew manages to retrieve it, Nixon's head is mounted on a gargantuan, weaponized cyborg body, helping to sway the robot vote. At times, Nixon's head is carried by the Secretary of Transportation or the headless body of Spiro Agnew. At the end of Futurama's last episode, however, the Robot Devil drags Nixon's head back to Hell, so the status of his presidency is now in question.

Earth's national holiday appears to be "Freedom Day", which is traditionally celebrated by doing whatever one wants without regard to the consequences, as well as nude hot tubbing parties, and by dancing and chanting, "Freedom, freedom, freedom, oy!"

Mars has been terraformed to a great degree (it is now the home of many wealthy socialites), and is home to Mars University. The Western Hemisphere of the planet is currently owned by the Wongs, parents of Planet Express intern Amy Wong.

Earth's moon is still mostly unsettled with the exception of some farms, but houses an amusement park (heavily parodying Disney theme parks even to the motto: "The Happiest Place Orbiting Earth"), and is the sole tourist attraction. Citizens of the 31st century have lost all knowledge of the lunar landing, mistaking Ralph Kramden of The Honeymooners for a typical 20th century astronaut due to his common phrase, "One of these days, Alice. Bang! Zoom! Straight to the moon!".

DOOP and intergalactic relations

The Democratic Order Of Planets (DOOP) was founded in 2945 after the Second Galactic War (a parallel to the United Nations' founding in 1945 after World War II). This organization, described by Prof. Farnsworth as being "similar to the United Nations... or like the 'Federation' from your Star Trek program", includes Earth and many other worlds. Earth sometimes acts unilaterally without the aid of other DOOP members. The inhabitants of Omicron Persei 8 are frequently engaged in conflicts with DOOP. The DOOP symbol has rotational symmetry.

Despite the existence of DOOP, interplanetary relations are poor, with constant wars and invasions, often poorly planned and fought for foolish and unnecessary reasons.

The series featured a bitter conflict between Earth and Spheron 1, a planet inhabited by giant, bouncing balls. A victorious war with the Arachnid homeworld of Tarantulon VI resulted in a silk surplus, which in turn led to a $300 tax refund from the head of Richard Nixon, the ruling President of Earth.

There is also at least one rogue colony of robots that kills humans on sight (this being Chapek 9, a reference to Karel Čapek who coined the term robot). A planet named Arrakis exists, a tip-of-the-hat to Frank Herbert's Dune novels. The universe ends after Dog Doo 7. At the edge of the universe, one can witness the alternate cowboy universe. It is unknown if it's possible to travel between these universes freely.

Since a matter of years after the Big Bang, an eternal war has been waged across space between the Nibblonians (Nibbler's race) and the Brainspawn (evil floating giant brains with telekinetic and telepathic powers). The war recently made its final end when the Nibblonians used Fry to sneak a bomb into the Brainspawn's main base that would seal them into a pocket dimension prison.

Religion

Religion has changed quite a bit since the year 2000. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism have all merged into one Amalgamated Church. There is some form of Space Catholicism, led by the reptilian Space Pope (Crocodylus pontifex) and based upon a platform of discouraging love between robots and humans (featured in I Dated a Robot, an episode wherein Fry breaks the robot-human love taboo by dating a robot version of Lucy Liu). Oprahism and Voodoo are now mainstream religions. (Waltermercadismo is also mentioned in the Latin American version.)

Some of today's holidays still exist, but with slightly different mascots. Christmas, now Xmas, is celebrated with the fear of a giant robotic Santa Claus, who is located on Neptune. He was originally created and programmed by Mom's Friendly Robot Co. to judge people, whether naughty or nice, and distribute presents accordingly, but his standards were set so high that he invariably deems everybody naughty (except for Dr. Zoidberg), and attempts to punish them on Christmas Eve if they are caught outdoors after sun-down. Hanukkah is now represented by the Hanukkah Zombie and Kwanzaa by Kwanzaabot.

Robot religions exist as well, with the most popular being the quasi-Christian religion of Robotology, which has its Hell located in an abandoned New Jersey amusement park, presided over by the crafty Robot Devil. Robot Jews exist as well, although all we know about them is that they hold functions to celebrate a robot becoming a "Bot Mitzvah". They believe that Robot Jesus was a very well built robot, but he was not their messiah, and they do not permit decapodians to attend their functions (presumably because shellfish aren't kosher, although ironic since the Decapodians are a parody of Jewish stereotypes).

Over the years, as life began to imitate Star Trek more and more, the sci-fi series evolved into an enormous mainstream religious cult that swept the world. This caused the "Star Trek Wars" (not to be confused with the "Star Wars Trek", the mass migration of Star Wars fans). The destruction because of the "Wars" ultimately led to its banning by the Earth government and the execution of its followers "in the manner most befitting virgins", i.e., by being thrown into a volcano to the phrase "He's dead, Jim." By the year 3000, even discussing the show is a serious legal offense. (It is mentioned with no penalties, however, once by Hermes Conrad while describing the Democratic Order Of Planets, and again in the episode where the Planet Express crew uses the Internet, and once more in the first episode when Fry says the doors are just like the ones from Star Trek.) There is little mention of what happened to The Next Generation and the other spinoffs, but the head of Jonathan Frakes lives on in a glass jar (normally on a shelf directly behind the jar housing the head of Leonard Nimoy). Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation does, however, get an Oscar nomination for best soft-drink product placement.

Production

Futurama takes its name from a General Motors exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair which depicted future technologies. Also demonstrated at that World's Fair was Philo Farnsworth's vacuum tube television; Professor Farnsworth is named after him.

Actors lending their voices to the series include Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and Tress MacNeille. Phil Hartman was cast as a voice actor on the series, but he died before production began. Some believe Billy West performs the character of Zapp Brannigan in a Hartman-ish voice as a tribute to him (hence why Zapp looks so much like Hartman's Simpsons character, Troy McClure), but the DVD commentary reveals that West's version of Zapp's voice is actually unchanged from the way he did it originally in auditions. The character Philip J. Fry's first name was originally going to be Curtis. It was changed to Philip as a way to remember Hartman.

Celebrities who have lent their voices to the show include Dick Clark, Beck, Donovan, Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, The Beastie Boys, Sigourney Weaver, Lucy Liu, Pamela Anderson, John Goodman (as Robot Santa), and the Star Trek cast, in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". (This episode did not include a speaking role for the character of Dr. McCoy, DeForest Kelley, by that time deceased, or James Doohan, who refused to appear; his character was replaced by 'Welshy'.)

The theme and incidental music for the show were composed by Christopher Tyng. The original theme song for the show was to be the 1960s electronic music recording "Psyche Rock" by Pierre Henry, but the inability to license the track for the show led Tyng to compose a theme strongly reminiscent of it. Three remixes of the theme song were produced and used as the main theme in three different episodes. This show is also one of the few animated series to use fully orchestrated original music in almost every episode.

Many of the spacecraft and backgrounds appearing in Futurama were made using 3D computer graphics. The scenes were first painted by hand and then implemented in 3D. This way, camera movements provided a perfect geometry of the environment and characters (for example, at the beginning of the series when the camera flies around the Planet Express building).

While Futurama ended after its fifth broadcast season, there were actually only four production seasons. Due to numerous preemptions and other schedule shuffles, Fox had enough new episodes backlogged for another full year of shows. These delays account for the difference in Fox's broadcast season number and production season number. (Note: the production season forms the basis for the DVD and video sets.) The 72nd and final episode, called "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", aired in the USA on August 10, 2003. With this episode, the fifth television season (fourth production season) and the whole series ended. The episode was not a true series finale however, and though many plot issues were resolved in the last season, the final episode was in no way a clear "conclusion" to the series. The last line of dialogue (recorded months after the episode was taped, after the show's cancellation), aptly enough, was "Don't stop playing, Fry... I want to see how it ends".

Several television stations are currently airing the series in syndication. In the United States, Futurama can be seen on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, usually playing adjacent to another (once) cancelled series, Family Guy. On October 28, 2005, Comedy Central announced that it had signed a multi-year deal to broadcast the series, paying a reported $400,000 each for all 72 episodes, presumably beginning when Cartoon Network's broadcast rights end in 2007. In Britain, the series was picked up by Sky One shortly after its US premiere, and Channel 4 later acquired terrestrial broadcast rights.

Since Futurama's cancellation, Matt Groening's The Simpsons series has made several references to Futurama:

• "Missionary: Impossible": Bender can be seen answering calls on FOX during a fundraising telethon.
• "Fraudcast News": a person jumps off a cliff, screaming "Why did they cancel Futurama?"
• "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade": Bender appears in one of Bart Simpson's dreams.
• "My Big Fat Geek Wedding": Matt Groening appears as himself (animated) and was introduced at a convention as the creator of the hit show Futurama. He then signs Bender dolls and draws a sketch of Fry for Bart's friend Milhouse.
• "Future-Drama": Bart and Lisa Simpson explore their teenage years with the help of Professor Frink. During this sequence, Homer and Bart drive through a "tunnel" where they shift dimensions temporarily. When they exit, Bender is in the car with them and says, "All right! You guys are my new best friends!" Homer then says, "You wish, loser!" and throws him out of the back of the hovercar, breaking him.

Similarly, Futurama references The Simpsons. In an early episode of Futurama, the crew are sent to destroy a huge ball of garbage in space by placing a bomb on it. Bender finds a Bart Simpson doll which says "Eat my shorts" when its string is pulled. Bender eats the shorts, then says "mmmm... shorts" imitating the popular mannerism used by Homer. Groening revealed in the DVD audio commentary for this episode that he intended The Simpsons to be a television show in the Futurama universe, and conversely Futurama was a television show in The Simpsons universe, which is somewhat confirmed in the Simpsons episode in which he guest stars.

There is also a reference to Futurama in the Family Guy movie. Stewie, when walking down the red carpet to the premiere, is stopped by various reporters asking questions. The last reporter asks "Stewie, do you know if Fox has any plans to bring back Futurama?" Stewie then asks "What magazine are you from?" and the reporter replies Entertainment Weekly, Stewie then angrily snaps the reporter's neck, killing him. It should be noted that Entertainment Weekly disparaged Family Guy early in production, leading to the show's animosity towards the magazine.

Possible revival

Even though there were no official words on the revival of the show, there have been rumors of it since the news broke that Family Guy was being revived. On May 22, 2005, the Can't Get Enough Futurama website carried the following unofficial post, attributed to Billy West's discussion board:

Well, I spoke to David X. Cohen [...] and he said that they did have talks with the top guys at FOX and they were extremely impressed with the sales of the Futurama DVDs. The idea was to make a Futurama movie right to DVD and then a 2nd and a 3rd [...]

In July 2005, Billy West seemed to have confirmed a "straight to DVD" Futurama movie on a video blog. Several months later, Matt Groening told The Sydney Morning Herald that he "has faith in the relaunch of Futurama". He stated that the Fox Network did not understand the show, and he discussed the possiblity of the show's return and a straight-to-DVD movie. The Internet Movie Database has a Futurama movie page, which claims that the movie will be released in 2007. The IMDb once had a plot summary, but Can't Get Enough Futurama reported that the plot summary was submitted by a user who wished to show that the IMDb would report "unconfirmed rumours". The summary has since been deleted [1]. In January 2006, Variety reported that there have been negotiations to bring back Futurama as a television show, though only a 'limited' amount of episodes may be produced [2].

On January 19, 2006, Billy West confirmed on his message board that four Futurama direct-to-DVD movies will begin production in July or August 2006:

HERE'S GREAT NEWS! Here's the official word on Futurama!! David X. phoned me about an hour ago and said that this Futurama project is a done deal! Here's the word from DX--- There are 4 DVD movies that we'll start recording at the end of July or August. Full feature length FUTURAMA movies. Everybody is excited to get back together--as I am! Into the Future, Billy

Post-production presence

Syndicated broadcasts

Futurama now appears in syndication on the Cartoon Network and the TBS Superstation in the US, Sky One, Sky Two and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, Teletoon/Télétoon in Canada, Fox 8 and Channel 10 in Australia, Fox España and Antena 3 in Spain, Pro7 in Germany, Italia 1 in Italy, Canal Fox in Latin America, One TV in the Middle East, MTV3 in Finland, TV400 (formerly aired on TV4) in Sweden, SF2 in Switzerland, Telemundo in Puerto Rico and Azteca 7 in Mexico. Comedy Central in the US will begin airing Futurama when its contract with Cartoon Network expires in 2008.

Non-broadcast production

In the USA (DVD Region 1), the first season of Futurama was released on DVD on March 25, 2003; the second season on August 12, 2003; the third season on March 9, 2004; and the fourth (and final) on August 24, 2004.

In Europe (DVD Region 2), the first and second seasons were both released in 2002; the third season was released on June 2, 2003; and the fourth on November 24th, 2003. The DVDs were released in Europe first as a test to see if they would sell, and sales were very good on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite the different release dates, the content of the DVDs are identical for both Regions.

Unique Development Studios released a video game titled Futurama for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles in August 2003. Critical reviews raised the issue of poor play control and graphic quality, but noted that the game possessed an excellent storyline and voice acting. Due to an extremely small production run, the video game is quite scarce and generally sells for more than most games that are just being released.

Matt Groening's Bongo Comics group is still producing a spin-off series of Futurama comic books. These are currently the only new stories featuring the Futurama characters. There are two sets of comics available, the US series and UK series.

The US series was first published in 2000 and so far consists of 22 issues plus 2 2-part crossovers with The Simpsons. The comics are A5-size and now published 4 times a year.

The UK series was first published in 2002 and so far consists of 28 issues, incorporating the Simpsons crossovers. The comics are of a larger size in the UK, and although the stories are exactly the same as the US comics, they are published in a different order. See Futurama Comics for more details.

Season details and references

Note: There were four production seasons, but the FOX network broadcast most episodes out of order, and split them into five seasons. The DVD releases are based on the original sequence of episodes.

• Futurama season 1 details
• Futurama season 2 details
• Futurama season 3 details
• Futurama season 4 details
• Futurama season 5 details

DVD releases

Credits gags

Opening credits

At the start of each episode, just as the "Futurama" logo appears on the screen, a caption appears on the bottom of the screen, different in every episode. Some captions include "Coming Soon to an Illegal DVD", "Dancing Space Potatoes? You Bet!", "Condemned by the Space Pope", "Krafted With Wuv (By Monsters)" and "Hey, TiVo! Suggest this!". Occasionally, a joke advertisement is displayed as well. The first season also sometimes featured cold openings, which were often short gags or sequences (such as Bender using a car wash-like "Botwash").

A Planet Express Ship then flies through the text, and around a futuristic city. During the final shot of the opening credits, a billboard screen appears in view, upon which the executive producer credits appear. Just before they do, a clip from a classic public domain cartoon is shown on the screen. A number of classic cartoon stars have been featured on the billboard, including Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Little Lulu, Felix the Cat, The Simpsons and Bosko [3]. During the last episode, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", the billboard shows the Futurama billboard inside of it, implying a visual infinite regression. The opening ends with the ship crashing into the billboard and becoming stuck (in one episode, Leela flies into a billboard to which Fry exclaims "Leela! That's the second billboard you've crashed into this week.").

The opening theme pays homage to the 1967 piece "Psyché Rock" from the album Messe pour le temps présent, a collaboration between a rock band and Pierre Henry, one of the founders of musique concrète and electronic music as a genre.

Closing credits: "30th Century Fox"

"30th Century Fox" is a variation of the "20th Century Fox" closing logo listed in the end credits. Fox initially rejected the idea of show creator Matt Groening, who sponsored the design of the logo by himself. Later, it became popular, with Fox embracing and taking some credit for it.

The episode "That's Lobstertainment!" reveals that 30th Century Fox is a television and film studio within the Futurama universe. The studio building is shaped like the logo. The spotlights surrounding it are used to blind pilots, so that the resulting plane crash can be filmed.