Everyone knows the original run of Futurama was filled with references to the greatest science fiction Franchise of all time, Star Trek. But following in the footsteps of Trek itself, cancelation wasn’t going to stop Futurama.
For this week’s Trek Tuesday, here are eight references to Star Trek from the four Futurama straight-to-DVD movies. Did we include your favorites? Be sure to let us know in the comment section.
Disaster
In the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 5 episode “Disaster,” the USS Enterprise-D collides with a quantum filament. This causes normal ship functions and communications to be disrupted. After Data (Brent Spiner) sacrifices his body, his head is directly wired into the ship’s computer. This allows him to take control.
RELATED: 10 Star Trek References on Futurama, Part 1
In the first Futurama DVD movie, Bender’s Big Score (2007), the climax of a subplot centered on Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr) pays homage to Data in “Disaster.” At the beginning of Bender’s Big Score, Hermes is decapitated. Fortunately, his head is preserved in a jar. This allows him to take control of the Planet Express Ship in the movie’s ultimate battle against invading scammers.
Francine
The second Futurama DVD movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), contains multiple Star Trek references. The first involves a gag regarding the voice of the Nimbus. Commanded by Zapp Brannigan (Billy West), as previously observed, the Nimbus bears more than a few passing similarities to Trek‘s Enterprise.
Among the similarities is the ship’s voice, Francine (Tress MacNeille). While Francine is actually a bridge officer, Futurama plays on the viewer’s initial expectations that her voice is emerging from the computer console. These expectations are subverted when Francine repeats a warning about a missile jam in The Beast with a Billion Backs. This prompts Brannigan to snap, “I heard you the first time, Francine!”
Deep Fried Captain’s Log
Later in The Beast with a Billion Backs, Brannigan records a Captain’s Log for stardate “the Year of the Tiger.” This calls to mind the convention of Captain’s Logs delivered in voiceover across myriad episodes of Star Trek.
RELATED: 10 Star Trek References on Futurama, Part 2
However, in The Beast with a Billion Backs, viewer expectation that the log is being recorded aboard the onscreen Nimbus is subverted. This transpires when the smash cut reveals Brannigan’s actual location to be the Times Square Applebee’s.
Boldly Sniffing
Another allusion to Trek in The Beast with a Billion Backs comes from Hubert Farnsworth (West) and Ogden Wernstrom (David Herman). After the pair use the Smell-O-Scope to inspect the tear in space-time, they realize they must share what they’ve learned with Earthican President Richard M. Nixon’s Head (West).
To convince Nixon of the validity of their discovery, Farnsworth asserts, “For we have sniffed where no man has sniffed before!” This pays homage to the opening of Star Trek: The Original Series. During the opening of the show’s theme song, James Kirk (William Shatner) delivers a monologue that includes the line, “To boldly go where no man has gone before!”
Takei vs. Bakula
In the third Futurama DVD movie, Bender’s Game (2008), Bender Bending Rodriguez (John DiMaggio) becomes obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons. But in the meantime, Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal) enters the PlanEx Ship in a brutal spaceship demolition derby.
RELATED: 10 Star Trek References on Futurama, Part 3
Among the other participants in the derby are George Takei’s Head (George Takei) and Scott Bakula‘s Head (non-speaking). Each of them are flying ships that pay direct homage to Star Trek ship design. Furthermore, Takei’s dialogue references the cancelation of Star Trek: Enterprise. However, it’s worth noting that this ribbing is keeping it in the family. Thanks to the success of Futurama season 4’s “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” Enterprise had a Futurama alum on its writing staff, David A. Goodman.
Botany Bay Casino
The final Futurama DVD movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009), contains multiple references to Star Trek. The first appears in the opening song. First, it’s worth noting that the song is sung by Seth MacFarlane. An outspoken Trekkie, MacFarlane played a small role on Enterprise. Meanwhile, the Into the Wild Green Yonder opening sequence sees the PlanEx Ship flying through Mars Vegas. One of the casinos which can be seen is the “Botany Bay.”
This name pays homage to the real world casino “Mandalay Bay.” But it has been Tuvix’d with an allusion to the SS Botany Bay. This ship was seen in TOS season 1’s “Space Seed,” and its wreckage appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Botany Bay was, of course, the vessel on which Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) and his followers were placed after being cryogenically frozen in the 1990s.
Cuddly Little Tribbles
Early in Into the Wild Green Yonder, Leela makes first contact with the Martian Muck Leech. After its natural habitat is destroyed by Leo Wong (West), Leela is inspired to make the preservation of this admittedly gross species her top priority.
RELATED: Read all of our Futurama recaps here!
But even Leela is forced to admit that the Leeches are pretty nasty. “They may not be cuddly like pandas or Tribbles,” admits Leela in dialogue. This references the adorable (but dangerous) Tribbles of Star Trek, which first appeared in TOS season 1’s “The Trouble with Tribbles.”
The Spock-O-Scope
And that’s not the last Star Trek reference in Into the Wild Green Yonder. On a mission to scan the black dwarf star, Bender confirms he’s detected life on the “Spock-o-scope.”
In addition to the reference to Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in the name, the device through which Bender peers when he makes this declaration does indeed bear a striking resemblance to the eyepiece equipment through which Spock often peers aboard the bridge of the Enterprise on Star Trek.
- Netflix Renews 3 BODY PROBLEM for More Episodes - May 16, 2024
- STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Recap: (S05E08) Labyrinths - May 16, 2024
- Just One More The Thing: FANTASTIC FOUR Adds Natasha Lyonne - May 16, 2024
