50 Fun Facts About Futurama

Who created Futurama?

He dreamed it up in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons and brought in Simpsons writer David X. Cohen to develop it.

On what date is Fry revived from cryogenic sleep?

He fell into the tube just after midnight on January 1, 2000, and the show's writers later revealed that Nibbler pushed him.

What was Fry's job in 1999 before he was frozen?

He worked at Panucci's Pizza and was delivering to Applied Cryogenics on a prank order when he fell into the tube.

Where does Futurama take its name from?

General Motors' exhibit promised "The World of Tomorrow," a slogan the pilot episode mocks.

What is Bender originally programmed to do?

His girders were used to build suicide booths, which is why he tries to kill himself in one when Fry first meets him.

What does Bender need to drink to power his fuel cells?

When he sobers up he behaves like a drunk, complete with slurred speech and rusty stubble.

What is Bender's catchphrase insult?

His most terrifying nightmare, by contrast, is a vision of the number 2, a binary joke.

Bender's in-universe designation is 1729. Why did the writers pick it?

His serial number 2716057 is also a sum of two cubes, a joke he shares with his double Flexo.

Who built Bender?

Mom owns 99.7 percent of MomCorp and has a monopoly on robot production, which she uses to attempt a robot uprising.

Who voices Bender?

He described the voice as a mix of a sloppy drunk, Slim Pickens and a college friend's character called Charlie the sausage-lover.

Billy West voices Fry, Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan, plus which other main character?

He built Fry's voice from an impression of himself at age 25.

Which cast member is the only one to voice a single character?

She plays Leela; every other regular doubles as several minor characters.

Leela turns out to be what, rather than the alien she assumed?

Her parents Morris and Munda live under New New York; David X. Cohen planned the reveal before the show was even pitched.

What was Leela's job when Fry first met her?

She quit after meeting Fry and became captain of the Planet Express ship.

The Planet Express boss is Fry's distant relative in which direction?

Because Fry becomes his own grandfather, the Professor is both his great-times-30 nephew and his direct descendant.

Complete the Professor's catchphrase: "Good news, ..."

He uses it to unveil an invention or announce a delivery, usually a suicide mission.

What is Zoidberg's home planet?

Billy West performs the crustacean doctor with a Yiddish-inflected accent inspired by George Jessel and Lou Jacobi.

Where is Hermes Conrad from?

Phil LaMarr says the character was originally named Dexter and had no accent; the bureaucrat's other passion is limbo.

Why did Hermes give up competitive limbo?

He returns to the sport in the episode "Bend Her" and again in the Comedy Central era.

Amy Wong is heiress to what?

Her parents Leo and Inez run a buggalo ranch there, a hybrid of buffalo and bug.

Zapp Brannigan was originally created for which actor, who died before the show aired?

Billy West took over and gave the character a self-satisfied William Shatner cadence.

What is the name of Zapp Brannigan's starship?

He first appears in "Love's Labours Lost in Space," jailing Fry, Leela and Bender for violating Brannigan's Law.

Kif Kroker, Zapp's long-suffering aide, is an amphibious alien from which planet?

He compares his own body plan to a sea cucumber, and he ends up the partner of Amy Wong.

Which former US president's head serves as President of Earth?

His head is sometimes accompanied by Spiro Agnew's headless body.

Lrrr, who always introduces himself by his title, is ruler of which planet?

Maurice LaMarche won an Emmy in 2011 for voicing him alongside Orson Welles in "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences."

Fry is immune to the Brainspawn because his brain lacks what?

The defect exists because he is his own grandfather, and it also makes him immune to the Hypnotoad.

How does Fry become his own grandfather during the crew's accidental trip to 1947?

The Professor's warning about killing his grandfather Enos backfires spectacularly, and the episode won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program.

Which episode won Futurama's first Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, in 2002?

The crew is thrown back to 1947 by a microwave-supernova accident and become the Roswell incident.

In "Jurassic Bark," Fry finds the fossil of his dog. What was the dog's name?

The closing flashback of Seymour waiting outside Panucci's Pizza for years is routinely called one of the saddest scenes in animation.

Where did Fry's dog faithfully wait for him after he vanished?

The episode lost the Emmy to The Simpsons' "Three Gays of the Condo," a decision fans still complain about.

Writer Ken Keeler proved an original math theorem to resolve which body-swapping episode?

Keeler holds a PhD in applied mathematics; the theorem shows any body swap can be undone using two extra people.

Which 2010 Futurama episode, in which Fry, Bender and the Professor reach the end of the universe, won an Emmy?

They watch the universe end and restart twice, landing back a few feet from where they began.

How did Fox end Futurama's original run in 2003?

The show was never officially cancelled, which is why Comedy Central could pick it up after the four DVD films.

Which cable block ran Futurama reruns from 2003 to 2007, helping revive it?

Cartoon Network bought Futurama and Family Guy, another Fox cast-off, at the same time.

Which direct-to-DVD Futurama film was released second, in June 2008?

It was released in June 2008; Bender's Big Score came first and premiered on Comedy Central that March.

Which streaming service revived Futurama in 2023?

The twenty-episode order announced in February 2022 was released as two seasons, starting July 24, 2023.

Futurama's theme has been noted for its similarity to which 1967 piece?

Christopher Tyng wrote the theme; the resemblance to Henry's musique concrète track is widely acknowledged.

The show's writing staff collectively held how many PhDs?

They also had seven master's degrees and more than 50 years at Harvard between them, which explains the math jokes.

What is Alienese?

Fans cracked it quickly, so the writers introduced a second, harder alien alphabet.

How many viewers watched the Futurama premiere between The Simpsons and The X-Files in March 1999?

It outdrew both its lead-in and the show that followed it, and was number one among men 18-49 that week.

How many Emmy Awards had Futurama won by the end of 2025?

That was from twelve nominations; it had also won nine Annie Awards.

What is Fry's older brother's name?

Fry believes his brother stole his name and dreams, until he learns Yancy named his own son Philip in tribute.

What did Fry get in exchange for trading hands with the Robot Devil?

"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" was written as a series finale, one of four episodes given that job.

Which character is the Professor's clone, raised as his son?

Igner is a different relation: the Professor's illegitimate son by the industrialist Mom.

What is Calculon famous for?

He supposedly got his acting talent from the Robot Devil and claims never to have needed a second take.

Which alien news anchor is openly an advance scout for an invasion of Earth?

He is good friends with President Nixon's head, despite regularly announcing plans to destroy humanity.

Whose shadow can be seen as Fry falls into the cryogenic tube in the pilot?

The reveal came four seasons later in "The Why of Fry": the Nibblonians froze him so he could one day defeat the Brainspawn.

According to the show's creator, what inspired the suicide booths?

Fox executives were particularly disturbed by the booths, along with Zoidberg and Bender's antisocial behaviour.

Which malt liquor, named after a programming language, is Bender's favourite?

The joke splices Olde English 800 with Fortran, one of the oldest high-level languages.

Zoidberg is the only character ever good enough to receive a present from whom?

He is also a skilled theremin player, and Robot Santa was originally voiced by John Goodman.