References to Star Trek in Futurama
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This page lists references to Star Trek in the animated television series Futurama.
Space Pilot 3000
- When the episode begins, Fry is talking while playing a video game. His speech is somewhat similar to the speech in the beginning of most Star Trek series which begins with "Space, the final frontier". Also, the music is similar to the Star Trek theme.
- Right after the title sequence, a door opens with the same sound effect as the doors in Star Trek: The Original Series(ST:TOS) (actually, it's the sound effect for doors closing).
- Fry approaches a door which opens automatically and exclaims: "Cool, just like on Star Trek!" just as it slams on his face.
- Fry and Bender hide in the head museum where Fry meets Leonard Nimoy's head in a jar:
- Nimoy: Welcome to the head museum; I'm Leonard Nimoy.
- Fry: Spock?! Hey, hey, do the thing! (does the vulcan salute to Nimoy)
- Nimoy (laughing): I don't do that anymore.
- When Fry and the others board the starship, the door opens with the ST:TOS sound effect (this time the one for a door opening) and the coffee machine also makes a sound effect that we recognize from ST:TOS.
I, Roommate
When one of Bender's neighbors closes her cell phone it makes the same sound as the ST:TOS communicators.
Love's Labours Lost in Space
There are many references in this episode.
- Zapp Brannigan's outrageously self-centered personality is a parody of captain Kirk, and the bridge of his spaceship, particularly his chair, is similar to that of the USS Enterprise.
- Zapp says the uniforms are made of velour, just like the Star Trek uniforms are.
- Zapp files a captain's journal, giving a stardate.
- Zapp confuses chess with poker, a reference to Kirk and Spock's chess/poker discussion in The Corbomite Maneuver.
- Brannigan's Law, "The Democratic Order of Planets prohibits interfering with undeveloped worlds", is a parody of the Prime Directive.
My Three Suns
Trisolians (the people of the planet Trisol) are liquid lifeforms, and one of them refer to Fry as "the solid". This may be a reference to the Changelings/Founders from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine whose natural state is a gelatinous liquid and who also refer to people as "solids".
A Big Piece of Garbage
Fry finds a Mr. Spock collector's plate on the surface of the big ball of garbage.
A Flight To Remember
Zapp tells Kif: "Divert power from the shields. Full speed ahead!" This is probably a reference to the constant habit of diverting power from one thing or another in Star Trek.
When Aliens Attack
- When Bender frees Zoidberg from the lobster cage, they trip an alarm that sounds identical to the "red alert" siren from Star Trek.
- As Fry pilots the ship to defend Earth against invading alien ships, he says "I'm gonna be a science fiction hero, just like Uhura, or Captain Janeway, or Xena!". The first two heroes listed are Star Trek characters.
Fry and the Slurm Factory
Leela and Professor Farnsworth are playing a game of 3D Scrabble, a reference to the game Tri-D Chess which can be seen for example in the ST:TOS episode Where No Man Has Gone Before.
I Second That Emotion
The empathy chip that Professor Farnsworth installs in Bender may be a reference to the emotion chip that Data gets in Star Trek: Generations.
Brannigan Begin Again
- Professor Farnsworth and Hermes explain to Fry what the Democratic Order of Planets is:
- Professor: It's similar to the United Nations from your time, Fry.
- Fry: Duuuh?
- Hermes: Or like the Federation from your Star Trek program!
- Fry: Ohh!
- The fanfare during a ship fly-by (just before the DOOP ceremony) is very similar to the Star Trek fanfare.
- Zapp is wearing a girdle. This is a reference to William Shatner, who allegedly wore a girdle during the shooting of Star Trek.
Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?
This episode in many ways parodies the ST:TOS episode Amok Time. Dr. Zoidberg and Fry take on the roles of Spock and Kirk respectively.
- Dr. Zoidberg becomes violent and erratic when his species' mating season comes, just like Spock begins to lose control when he enters pon farr.
- The king of Dr. Zoidberg's homeworld is similar to T'Pau: a throne which is carried with removable handles, a similar staff and the same accent and speech pattern.
- The national anthem of Dr. Zoidberg's world is the "Amok Time" fight theme.
- Dr. Zoidberg and Fry must engage in a fight to the death over Edna, just as Spock and Kirk do over T'Pring.
- Fry is allowed to choose from three weapons. The top and middle ones are a lirpa and an ahn'woon respectively – both traditional Vulcan weapons used in the fight between Kirk and Spock.
- Dr. Zoidberg rips Fry's shirt, as Spock does Kirk's.
Put Your Head on my Shoulders
- In a commercial for a car outlet there is a car called "Plymouth V'ger", a play on Plymouth Voyager. V'ger is the name of the entity that threatens Earth in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
- The sound that Amy's make up kit makes when opened is that of the ST:TOS communicators.
Lesser of Two Evils
Flexo – an 'evil' Bender – has a goatee. This is a reference to the mirror Spock in Mirror, Mirror.
Raging Bender
Sitting around the briefing table, Fry discovers that Hermes has a brainslug:
- Fry: Wait a second, he's got a brainslug on his head!
- Leela: Sssh! You're gonna get us all assimilated.
- Amy: Just act normal and switch to a garlic shampoo.
This is a possible reference to the Borg and their practice of assimilation, or the Ceti eel and its mind-controlling ability.
A Clone of my Own
- Captain Muskie (a former member of the Planet Express team) has a disfigured face and sits in an advanced wheelchair covering everything but his head and shoulders. His appearance closely resembles that of Captain Christopher Pike in the ST:TOS episode The Menagerie. Muskie is an abbreviation of muskellunge, a member of the pike family. The music that plays while Muskie rolls in is from Star Trek: The Original Series. Muskie beeps once, which in the ST:TOS episode means "yes".
- Professor Farnsworth has invented a universal translator, a device used in all Star Trek series. Unfortunately "it only translates into an incomprehensible, dead language", French (possibly a reference to a similar statement Commander Data made, stating French to be a dead language; although Captain Jean-luc Picard is supposedly French in origin, he speaks with a clearly British accent, leading many people to believe that French is a dead language during the 24th century).
The Deep South
The alarm that sounds when the Planet Express ship is dragged down under water is the ST:TOS red alert effect.
The Problem With Popplers
- The title parodies the ST:TOS episode The Trouble with Tribbles.
- Leela takes some readings on the distant planet and concludes: "Well, it's a type M planet, so it should at least have rodden berries."
- In Star Trek, a Class M planet is a planet with conditions similar to Earth.
- Rodden berries are a reference to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek.
Anthology of Interest I
Nichelle Nichols, dressed as Uhura, appears in this episode with the Vice Presidential Action Rangers to protect the space-time continuum.
The Cryonic Woman
Fry plays with a model Planet Express ship: "Giant space robot, this is Captain Fry of the USS Planet Express ship. We come in peace." USS is the prefix of most Federation starships, e.g. the USS Enterprise.
Amazon Women in the Mood
At the restaurant one character says about Zapp Brannigan, "He sickens me!" This is a reference to an outtake from a dialog recording session for a Star Trek movie. The director was coaching William Shatner on his line, to which Shatner replied, "Don't tell me how to do the line. It... sickens me." Zapp's bad singing is also a reference to William Shatner's musical career.
That's Lobstertainment!
One of the nominees for "best soft drink product placement" at the Academy Awards ceremony is Star Trek: The Pepsi Generation.
The Luck of the Fryrish
Bender uses a hypospray at the track to sedate the competing horses.
The Cyber House Rules
Leela undergoes "phaser eye surgery".
Bendin' in the Wind
The wharf where Bender falls out of the sky is named Fisherman's Worf, parodying Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. See Worf.
I Dated a Robot
While on the Internet (which in the year 3000 is a virtual reality environment) Fry and Leela walk past a chatroom called OldTREK-vs-NewTREK.web, where two men are arguing:
- Man 1: No way, Kirk could kick Picard's ass!
- Man 2: Yeah? At least Picard had the guts to admit he was bald.
- Man 1: What? You take that back!
Roswell That Ends Well
Bender loses his head in Earth's past, where it lays buried for centuries before being excavated and reattached to his comparatively younger body in the present. The same happened to Data's head in ST:TNG's Time's Arrow.
When the Planet Express ship crashes in the Roswell desert, it becomes lodged in rocks that resemble the rock formation Kirk and the Gorn fight at in TOS' Arena.
Anthology of Interest II
Dr. Zoidberg assesses Bender's vital signs with an ST:TOS tricorder.
Love and Rocket
When Bender and the Planet Express ship are walking in the park, a profile view of the front of the ship is shown which makes it appear to be shaped like the NCC-1701-D.
In Dr. Zoidberg's monologue at the end, he refers to the planets that were destroyed by the radiation resulting from the dumped candy hearts: "two gangster planets and a cowboy world". "Cowboy planets" have been in abundance in Star Trek, including the ST:TNG episode A Fist Full of Datas where Worf and his son Alexander find themselves trapped in the holodeck, and the ST:Enterprise episode North Star. The Original Series episode A Piece of the Action features the quintessential "gangster planet".
Godfellas
- Opening credits tagline: "PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AND TRICORDERS"
- Free-floating through space, Bender encounters a celestial entity that he suspects is God:
- Bender: But why would God think in binary? Unless... you're not God, but the remains of a computerized space probe that collided with God!
The ST:TOS episode The Changeling involved Nomad, a sentient machine created in the collision of a 21st-century Earth probe and an alien probe. Bender's question may also refer to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier in which Kirk asks the false 'God' "What does God need with a starship?".
A Leela of Her Own
At the Blernsball Hall of Fame, we are introduced to several legendary players who "broke the various color barriers". Among them is one of the half-white, half-black aliens from ST:TOS' Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.
The 30% Iron Chef
A train car reads "Wrath of Conrail", in reference to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Conrail was a railroad company.
When the Professor activates a piece of equipment, the TOS tricorder sound effect is heard.
Where No Fan Has Gone Before
Image:Futurama trek.jpg Template:Main The title is derived from "where no man has gone before", and this whole episode is centered around Star Trek and Trek fandom. The original cast appears as themselves, with the exceptions of James Doohan (who declined to appear) and the late DeForest Kelley (who was animated into the episode anyway without speaking parts, as seen at right). It would take pages to cite all the in-jokes and references, but three notes of significance:
- In this episode, it is revealed to be an unthinkable crime in the 30th Century to mention Star Trek, since the series at one point spawned a cult that threatened mankind. However, characters have openly discussed Trek in past episodes with no apparent fear of repercussions.
- As with most of the Trek references in Futurama, those in this episode are confined to the original series and movies. The closest the episode comes to acknowledging the spin-offs is a minuscule cameo by TNG's Jonathan Frakes, who takes over Nimoy's space at the Head Museum in his absence and exclaims "Yes! Front row!"
- Bender mentions that the original series was cancelled before its time. By the time this episode was in production, Futurama's own future was in question, and a fourth season looked doubtful (although it was eventually renewed for a fourth and final season). Still interesting is that the original Star Trek itself was cancelled after its third season.
Jurassic Bark
Fry uses his three fingers and a thumb to form a Vulcan salute and says the well known words "live long and prosper".
A Taste of Freedom
The warlike Klingons have an embassy on Earth. It is decorated entirely in pink and purple and resembles a girl's dollhouse. Originally it was the Barbie Planet embassy, but the writers changed it at the last minute.
Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch
- The crew visits the Nimbus' "holoshed", a takeoff on Trek's holodecks, where any imaginable situation can be brought to virtual life (and more often than not, proceed to malfunction and run amok - see quote below). Sure enough, the simulation is hijacked by an army of historical characters led by Professor Moriarty (the same holocharacter who took over the ship in two ST:TNG episodes).
- Two of the other evil characters have appeared in Star Trek as well. Abraham Lincoln (good version) appeared in The Savage Curtain (ST:TOS). Jack the Ripper appeared in Wolf in the Fold (TOS). Attila the Hun was not in any episode, but a different Asian warlord, Ghenghis Kahn, appeared in The Savage Curtain.
- In the aftermath, the crew are treated by a Dr. McCoy analogue in the ship's "Sick Bay & Horta Burn Clinic". (The Horta were silicon-based life-forms seen in ST:TOS' The Devil in the Dark, who tunneled through solid rock by secreting acid.)
- Zapp quips that Kif's toilet must have been "set on 'stun', not 'kill'", like a phaser.
- Kif: This is the Holo-Shed. It can simulate anything you desire, and nothing can hurt you. Except when it malfunctions and the holograms become real.
- Amy: Well, that probably won't happen this time.
- Amy: This is so beautiful! [A pony gallops by.] Spirit! Kif! That's the pony I always wanted but my parents said I had too many ponies already!
- Kif: Yes. I programmed it in for you! 4 million lines of BASIC![1]
- Also similar to the Enterprise episode "Unexpected" (Season 1 episode 5) where the Commander Charles Tucker III (Trip) becomes pregnant by the Xyrillian's. This (in the star trek universe) was the first human recorded interspecies pregnancy and the first ever human male pregnancy.
Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles
- The Planet Express ship's headlights accidentally destroy a space station identical to Deep Space Nine.
- Children's books seen in this episode include "A Child's Garden of Space Legends", which depicts a Gorn on the cover, and "Charlotte's Tholian Web".
The Sting
Similar to Spock's funeral in Star Trek II, Fry's coffin is fired into space like a torpedo while Scruffy (cf. Scotty) plays the bagpipes.
Three Hundred Big Boys
Kif is imprisoned on "Commander Riker's Island" (an interpolation between Rikers Island and Commander Riker.)
Spanish Fry
The ziggurat-like Omicronian palace resembles the Klingon homeworld matte painting used throughout ST:TNG. Template:Futurama