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Interesting Facts[]
- Interestingly enough, Bender is the one who causes the first destruction of New York City (c. 2308) during the time-lapsed segment when Fry is in the cryogenic freezer. This is also referenced in the Futurama movie "Bender's Big Score".
- Opening theme promotion: "IN COLOR"
- Opening screen cartoon clip: Little Buck Cheeser (1937, MGM Productions)
- The signs and billboards seen during the opening sequence:
- "Public Library"
- "Rent a Human" (in Alienese)
- "Drink Slurm!" ("Drink" in Alienese)
- "Eat Bachelor Chow: Now with Flavor!"
- "Mom's Robot Oil: Made with 10% More Love than the Next Leading Brand"
- "Liquid Wisdom" (On top of a hover taxi)
- "BAB - BIG APPLE BANK"
- "Girls, Girls, Aliens"
- "All Tenticle Massage"
- "Mass Hypnosis Hour: TV's #1 Show!"
- "Flesh-O-Poid Dating Service"
- "Sexatorium"
- "3D Rulez!" (in Alienese)
- "Park - $42"
- "Bachelor Chow: Makes its Own Gravy!"
- "Tasty Human Burgers" (in Alienese)
- "DEF-CON Kills Owls Dead"
- "Robot Wash", "MOM'S Friendly Robot Company"
- "Smart Sausages"
- "Got Protoplasm?"
- When Fry asks the head of Leonard Nimoy, aka Mr. Spock, to do the "Live Long and Prosper finger thing" (a.k.a. the Vulcan salute for all the "Trekkies"), Leonard says he no longer does that because he has no hands.
- Fry is frozen holding a LöBrau beer from 1999. But in later episodes he is seen drinking the same brand. If they've managed to stay in business for a thousand years, they must be that popular.
- The Panucci's Pizza box Fry is delivering reads: "Do not tip the delivery boy!"
- The Circle Line ship can be seen shipwrecked under New New York Harbor.
- In the intro, the Statue of Liberty holds a gun in her torch hand, but during the episode, in 2999, she is holding part of the Transport Tubes.
- In 1999, Fry rides past O'Grady's Pub. After getting unbfrozen, Fry and Bender go to O'Zorgnax's Pub, which looks quite similar.
- Bender and Fry hide out in the Head Museum in the day, and it's dark outside once they escape, when in reality, they only spent about 15 minutes there.
- When Fry gets to Applied Cryogenics, the label on the door reads "No Power Failures Since 1997". The "7" on the sign is a piece of paper taped on the door. This is a loose reference to the blackout in New York City on July 6, 1999, when 200,000 people north of 155th Street lost power for 18 hours.
- A sign on the wall reads "Drink Slurm". The same sign appears off to the left, but the word "Drink" is written in Alienese. This was to help viewers learn the code and try to decipher it.
- The newspaper caption seen in the pay-box just before Fry enters the Cryogenics lab reads '2000! DOOMSAYERS CAUTIOUSLY UPBEAT'.
- When Fry is delivering the pizza to Applied Cryogenics, he passes by a sign written in Chinese. Individually translated, the characters read "fire" and "women"; more likely than not, though, the sign is advertising 'hot women!'
- Bender takes Fry to the Head Museum since "it's free on Tuesdays." Interestingly enough, December 31, 2999 will, in fact, fall on a Tuesday.
- As Fry and Bender are going through the sewer grate, there is graffiti written in Alienese on the wall saying 'VENUSIANS GO HOME.'
- After each use, the suicide booth tells each 'customer', "You are now dead. Thank you for using Stop-N-Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008", despite the fact that the 'customer' the voice is addressing is already dead.
- While the "coin on a string" trick is one of Bender's most widely and frequently used hustles throughout the show, various manufacturers started integrating one-way "trap" doors and sharp blades into coin operated machines in the 1980s in order to deter theft and put the old Hollywood trope to rest, once and for all.
- In the alien ship, the aliens are counting down from 7 to 6. The symbols on the screen are not actual Alienese, but just fancy ways of writing 6 and 7.
- In the Head Museum, several famous heads make cameos, including Johnny Carson, Lucille Ball, Ed Begley Jr., David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Liz Taylor, Dennis Rodman, Billy Corgan, Barbra Streisand, and Matt Groening.
- In the Hall of Presidents, rest the heads of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, Warren Harding, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison.
- There are two heads of Grover Cleveland in the Head Museum. This is a reference to the fact that Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms as President, and is numbered as both the 22nd and 24th President of the U.S.
- Leela's officer code is 1B-DI (One Beady Eye).
- French became a dead language in the thousand years while Fry was frozen. This is evident during the New Year's 3000 countdown where the people of France say "seven" instead of "sept."
- Nibbler's shadow can be seen as Fry falls backwards into the tube. The show delves much further into this storyline in The Why of Fry.
- When Fry is seen taking his first stroll in the new millennium, a couple passes by wearing transparent clothes censored with black bars. They are donning black obfuscatory "accessories" which are intended to reinforce the leniency, if not, complete lack of gender censorship stereotypes in the future.
- If Fry was frozen for what was supposed to be 1000 years, he would have woken up a few seconds after midnight on Wednesday, January 1, 3000. In the realm of the show, however, he was unfrozen in the afternoon on December 31, 2999.
- During the countdown into 3000 and the subsequent takeoff from Planet Express, Bender almost pulls the arms off the chair he was sitting on. A little later, the arms are missing.
- Technically, Bender did not bend the bars when attempting from Leela, he actually pulled the bars off and he bent the other bars to stop Leela.
Notes[]
- It took the cartoonists over 2 years to come up with the look of the characters on the show.
- The 30th Century Fox logo at the end of this and every episode almost didn't happen as FOX didn't approve of the idea. Matt Groening then commissioned it at his own expense, and seeing the results, FOX gave the go-ahead and reimbursed Groening.
- The Original Alien Language devised by the writers and hidden throughout the episode was solved completely by fans after only the first and one airing. The Second language took several months.
- In the rough draft version of the script, Michelle was named Janet, and Fry was actually named Curtis Fry. It was changed to Philip after Phil Hartman, who was set to portray Zapp Brannigan until he was unfortunately murdered.
- This was voted the best episode of Futurama during the Adult Swim marathon.
- When Matt Groening and David X. Cohen were starting this show, they decided to add little secrets to some episodes that would pay off in later episodes.
- This episode is the most watched premiere episode in FOX's history.
- According to the DVD's audio commentary, John DiMaggio had originally auditioned for the voice of the Professor, and co-creator David X. Cohen had actually considered doing the voice of Bender.
- Although Fry entered the freezer at midnight on January 1, 2000, he wakes up early on December 31, 2999. It is possible the freezer clock is not accurate enough to accommodate a thousand years or the timer was automatically set to an approximate 1000 years.
Censorship[]
- The original line when Fry gets inside the transport tube is "JFK Jr. Airport", but after John F. Kennedy, Jr. died in a plane crash, the line was changed to "Radio City Mutant Hall" in reruns. The original line can be found in the special features section on the season one DVD that has a full-episode animatic of the pilot. It can also be found on most international English dubs of the episode, most notably the version shown in the United Kingdom on the channels Sky One, Sky Showcase, and Channel 4.
Allusions[]
Matt Groening[]
The head of Matt Groening can be seen in the Head Museum. Matt is the creator of Futurama and The Simpsons.
The Watergate Scandal[]
When the head of Richard Nixon says "You just made my list!", this is a reference to the Watergate Scandal. Nixon kept an 'enemies list' of over 200 people whom he believed were part of a conspiracy against him.
Donald Duck[]
The 'Suicide Booth' is based on a Donald Duck cartoon where he went into the future and played numerous coin-op devices which injured him severely.
Sleeper[]
The premise for the series is similar to the movie Sleeper, and the concept of a "Suicide Booth" is similar to the film's Orgasmatron.
Life in Hell[]
A sign outside that reads "Akbar". Akbar was the name of a gay character in Matt Groening's comic book series Life in Hell.
The Caves of Steel[]
The way in which Bender swallows his empty liquor bottle is a reference to a robot in Isaac Asimov's novel The Caves of Steel.
War Games[]
The first scene where Fry is teaching a kid how to play a video game also occurs in the movie War Games. In the film, one of the first scene with the character David Lightman has him playing Galaga. He then leaves and gives the control of the game to a kid.
Young Frankenstein[]
The scene with all the heads in jars and the two live ones in the middle, and then the camera shot doing a double take is a direct reference to the film Young Frankenstein.
Volkswagen Beetle[]
One of the cars on the street before Fry and Bender visit the Head Museum looks like a Volkswagen Beetle. It swerves past a Slurm truck that was going too slow.
Star Wars[]
- The part where Fry gets hit in the head by the remote door is a possible reference to the scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, where one of the storm troopers accidentally bumps his head into a similar gadget.
- The lightsabers in which the police use look the same as those in the Star Wars series.
- A guy on a jet bike is wearing a helmet like Leia wore in Return of the Jedi on the speeder bike. Also, in the teaser, as a stunned Fry watches Michelle's cab drive a way, a wall-mounted sign in the background reads "ACKBAR".
The Simpsons[]
- Fry's middle initial is J. This seems to be a popular choice for Matt Groening's characters, having used it for Homer, Bart and Abe on The Simpsons.
- Fry also passes a three-eyed fish when going underwater in the tube, this fish being Blinky from The Simpsons episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish".
- The chef on the Panucci's Pizza box is very similar to the chef Luigi in The Simpsons episode "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song".
- Whilst in the Head Museum, Matt Groening's head is able to be seen, as well as Rodney Dangerfield, who is drawn as his Simpsons character Larry Burns from the episode "Burns, Baby Burns".
- Fry has 9 spikes in his hair, just like Bart Simpson.
- 'When Fry uses the travel-tube, a person who resembles Ralph Wiggum can be seen. The man who is giving the pizza to Fry looks like Superintendent Chalmers.
Got Milk?[]
When Fry walks out of the lab, an ad on a taxi behind him reads 'Got Protoplasm?', this being a reference to the "Got Milk?" series advertising slogans.
H.G Wells' The Time Machine[]
When Fry is frozen in the cryonic chamber, time is seen passing outside the window until the year 3000. New York City is leveled by aliens, rebuilt as a medieval city, leveled again by aliens, and rebuilt as New New York. This is a parody of the scenes in the film The Time Machine based on H.G Wells' novel of the same name, when the inventor pushes the lever forward on his Time Machine and sees the world, and time, moving forward very rapidly.
Monkey Fracas Jr./Donkey Kong Jr.[]
Fry is playing a video game called Monkey Fracas Jr. at the pizza place, during the start of the episode. The game starts out as a space shooter similar to Asteroids or Defender. At the end of the level, the ship approaches a Saturn-like planet, at which point, the planet breaks in half, and an ape resembling Donkey Kong emerges. The ape throws barrels at the spaceship and destroys it. The game's name itself, and the ape throwing barrels, are parodies of the game Donkey Kong.
Pulp Fiction[]
The Robot Policeman, URL, says he's "gonna get 24th Century on their ass". This being a reference to the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, where the character Marsellus Wallace says "I'm a get medieval on yo' ass" to Zed and the Gimp. This makes even more sense as a medieval civilization arises after the first destruction of New York and before New New York was built.
Fry's Appearance[]
Fry's primary costume of blue jeans and a red sports jacket resembles James Dean in the movie Rebel Without A Cause.
The Beach Pneumatic Subway[]
The pneumatic tubes that transport people all over New New York are an allusion to the Beach Pneumatic Subway, which was a failed attempt in 1870 by Alfred Ely Beach to move people around New York by air power.
Hot Dog On A Stick[]
The feeding lady at the Head Museum is wearing a uniform like that at the corn-dog specific restaurant, Hot Dog on a Stick.
War of the Worlds[]
The ships that level the city in the background during the time skip sequence are the same as the ones seen in the 1952 film War of the Worlds.
Star Trek[]
- The Star Trek theme played with the video game during the first scene.
- Fry comments on the door being "just like in Star Trek".
- Leonard Nimoy at the Head Museum tells Fry he no longer does the Vulcan 'live long and prosper' sign.
- The whole Head Museum concept is, possibly, a subtle reference to the original Star Trek series episode "Return to Tomorrow", where the alien minds were preserved in glowing spheres.
- Several sound effects used within the episode, which are direct references to the Star Trek series.
Mystery Science Theater 3000[]
The number '3000' can be seen written on the moon, and it looks like the Mystery Science Theater 3000 logo, it's in the same typeface.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy[]
Aside from having the same type of premise as Douglas Adams' novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Bender acts much like the cynical manic depressive, Marvin the Robot, and the coffee machine in Professor Farnsworth's ship is a reference to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, in which a spaceship's specialty was producing hot drinks.
Doctor Who[]
The countdown to the millennium occurring at the same time all over the world is the same as the countdown in the 1996 TV movie Doctor Who.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes[]
When Fry goes back to Old New York, it is a quick reference to the people going underneath the world in Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
Logan's Run[]
The chips that people have implanted into their hands is a reference to the the 1967 book and 1976 movie by the same title Logan's Run.
Phil Hartman[]
Fry's first name, Philip, is a tribute to the late Phil Hartman. Hartman was originally cast to do the voice of Zapp Brannigan, but was tragically murdered by his wife before production started.
Philo T. Farnsworth[]
Professor Farnsworth is named after the inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, a Utah native and television pioneer whose invention was premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair, along with the Futurama exhibit.
Futurama[]
The title of the show, Futurama, was the name of the famous General Motors exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair that depicted a futuristic landscape.
Olde Fortran Malt Liquor[]
In the pub, Bender can be seen drinking 'Olde Fortran Malt Liquor.' FORTRAN was the name of the first high-level computer language.
Atlas Shrugged[]
A directive put in place in this Ayn Rand novel is similar to the "Permanent Career Assignment", where to quit results in those who do it being referred to as "deserters" as part of the directive prevents anyone from changing their job or even quitting it.