Futurama/Tropes T to Z

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Take That:
    • In "I Second that Emotion", Fry, Leela and Bender visit the Sewer Mutants underneath New New York, whose entire civilisation is built out of things people have flushed down their toilets. Eventually they get to their library:

Bender: Nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand! [He holds up Atlas Shrugged]

    • Apple and Twitter in Attack of the Killer App. Includes subtle references to the Foxconn suicide controversy and portrays Mom as a much more (or possibly less) evil caricature of Steve Jobs.
    • An almost heroically extended one after Planet Express is "back on the air" (Farnsworth: "Yes, flying through the air in our spaceship,") after renewing their contract with the "Box Network".
    • In "Yo Leela Leela", Leela warns everyone not to get to excited about the premiere of her kids' show, because "we all know every good show gets canceled. Sometimes twice."
    • In "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", the gang visits Comic Con. The entire sequence is strewn with subtle Take Thats, but the part where the pilot of a new show-- Futurella-- is shown off by its creators takes the cake, as the show is canceled five seconds into the intro.

Matt Groening: Wow. Fox has really streamlined the process.

    • In "A Clockwork Origin", the entrance sign for Odulvai Gorge reads "Birthplace of Ryan Seacrest... And The Rest of Mankind"
    • The episode "Overclockwise" takes a stab at technology manufacturers for their somewhat draconian policies on dealing with people who mod their consoles.
    • In "Bender's Big Score" a Family Guy calendar can be seen in the background. It advertizes that it includes a season's worth of jokes from the show, which comes out to one per month.
    • "Mars University" takes a jab at professors:

Farnsworth: Please, Fry! I don't know how to teach. I'm a professor!

The Big Brain: Detecting trace amounts of mental activity, possibly a dead weasel or a cartoon viewer.

    • In "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid", when the Nibblonians tell Leela that the brains want to wipe out all thought in the universe:

Leela: My God! They're like flying televisions!

    • "Thank goodness most of our fans are huge perverts!"
  • Take That Me: Fry thinks Billy West is a stupid phony made up name.
  • Taken for Granite: Fry thinks this is what happened to the plinths the Professor shows Fry in "The Duh Vinci Code". Given that heads are kept alive in jars in the 31st century, this could have been a valid question.
  • Talking to Himself: Most of the main cast play multiple characters, though Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, and Tress MacNeille are the most frequent. In fact, the only voice actress who plays one character is Katey Sagal, who only plays Leela. She only counts if you include alternate universe Leelas in "The Farnsworth Parabox" and the robot Leela in "Rebirth".
  • Tangled Family Tree: The Fry-Farnsworth-Mom family tree is surprisingly complex when you sit down and draw it.
  • The Teaser
  • Techno Babble: subverted multiple times by many of the main cast. Scenes requiring a pseudo-scientific explanation often invoke the use of gibberish in the place of more traditional, partially plausible Applied Phlebotinum.

Bubblegum Tate: Looks like what we got here is a chronoton mass in the sub-atomic inferencees.
Prof. Farnsworth: Yes, something involving that many BIG words could easily destabilise time itself!

  • Temporal Paradox: Thinking about Bender's Big Score too much is guaranteed to make your head hurt. Paradox-Free Time Travel my (shiny metal) ass!
    • More like "paradox correcting". Pretty much every paradox that shows up (The second Nudar, Hermes' body, Lars) gets destroyed ("corrected") by the universe eventually. The one exception may be the thousands of Benders at the end. Not even the Universe could handle that much paradox.
  • Temporary Blindness
  • Tempting Fate: In "Benderama":

Bender: ...What?
Hermes: This place is crawling with yous!
Bender: So there's more Benders around. As far as I'm concerned, that's good news!
Farnsworth: Bad news, everyone!

  • Terraform: Mars and the Ancient Egypt-style planet.
  • That Liar Lies: Bender responds with the accusation that he is being used as a beer distiller with "Lies! Lies and slander!"... right before he burps up a bit of foam.
  • That Man Is Dead: Made humorously literal in "The Late Phillip J. Fry". When Fry shows up on time for Leela's birthday dinner, she admits she didn't think he'd actually do so. Fry tells her that the Phillip J. Fry that stood her up before is dead... because through the use of the Professor's forward-only time machine, the Professor, Fry, and Bender have cycled all the way through their universe and an additional one to get back to their relative present, killing the Professor, Fry, and Bender of the latest iteration of the universe upon arrival.
  • That Russian Squat Dance: Done by Zoidberg in one episode, with Fry joining in.
  • They Called Me Mad: The Professor even called himself mad. "But I showed myself!"
  • Third Person Person: Morbo.
  • This Is a Work of Fiction: "The Route of All Evil" begins "DISCLAIMER: Any resemblance to actual robots would be really cool."
  • This Is Gonna Suck: Inverted in "Parasites Lost":

Professor Farnsworth: Anyhoo, your net-suits will allow you to experience Fry's worm infested bowels as if you were actually wriggling through them.
Dr. Zoidberg (cheerfully): There's no part of that sentence I didn't like!

  • Throw It In: The Hypnotoad's trademark droning sound was originally a placeholder, but it sounded so bizarrely wrong that they kept it.
  • Time Abyss: The Nibblonians were 17 years old at the time of the Big Bang, and the Brainspawn came into existence 1 millisecond after.
  • Time Passes Montage: In "Space Pilot 3000", we have this type of montage while Fry is frozen. It wouldn't be the last time this trope is utilized.
    • Used to soul crushing effect in "Jurassic Bark", where Seymour is seen waiting for him on the curb outside his old workplace for 15 or so years, until he lies down and dies.
      • Both of these were among the things nodded to in Bender's Big Score. Both times, a time-traveling Bender was responsible. It also shows that the dog was being watched after by an alternate Fry, somewhat lessening the impact of the preceding episode in hindsight.
    • It's also used breathtakingly in the climax of The Late Philip J. Fry when Fry, Bender and the professor witness the end and beginning of the universe.
  • Time Travel: At one point, the Professor builds a time machine that can only go forward. He has Bender and Fry help him test it, but they end up in the year 10,000.
    • In "All the President's Heads", Farnsworth discovers that licking the heads in the Head Museum causes one to travel briefly to the time period that head lived in.
  • Time Travel Romance: For Fry. Leads to My Own Grandpa.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: The Universal Time Code in Bender's Big Score is quite literally a Timey-Wimey Ball. It's even green.
  • Timmy in a Well: Parodied in "Jurassic Bark":

Mr. Fry: What's that, Seymour? You walking on sunshine?

  • Title Drop: At one point after seeing the bad influence he's caused, Bender says, "Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television."
    • The Robot Devil hands Bender a pamphlet entitled "Hell Is Other Robots" during the episode that he first premiers in.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Bender. The number of times he's sold out his closest friends is astounding. After a heartwarming moment, he puts Hermes on his "do not kill" list. They had worked together for 10 years before that.
  • Tom Hanks Syndrome: In-universe example with Harold Zoid, once a famous silent comedian, turned drama director.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Zoidberg took a large one in 'The Silence Of The Clamps' when he fights Clamps in claw-to-clamp combat.
    • He also seemed to have gained a lot of self-confidence by the end of the episode.
  • Top Ten List: Zapp Brannigan reveals Bender's ten most frequently used words in this manner during "War is the 'H' Word". For the record, the words are:
    • #10: Chump
    • #9: Chumpette
    • #8: Yours
    • #7: Up
    • #6: Pimpmobile
    • #5: Bite
    • #4: My
    • #3: Shiny
    • #2: Daffodil (as in "Hot diggety daffodil!")
    • #1: Ass
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Bender and all other robots love alcohol, as it is their power source.
    • Hermes and Manwich.
    • Fry seems to like pineapples, as shown in "The Why of Fry" and "Ghost in the Machines".
  • Trigger Happy: The machine gun robots from "Lethal Inspection".

"Someone said 'shoot'!"

  • Trojan Prisoner
  • Troperiffic: this show is pretty much the embodiment of this trope. It celebrates in every single cliche and trope, and often uses Rule of Cool just because it is so freaking awesome.
  • Trouser Space: While thinking he is a robot, Fry takes some sandwiches from his pants and offers them to his friends. They are not interested.
  • True Companions: The Planet Express crew, no matter what they go through, will always pull together for each other in the end.
  • Tube Travel: The Tube Transport System.
  • Tsundere: Leela is a tsundere
  • T-Word Euphemism: From "War is the H-Word":

"If you say the A-word, you'll blow this whole planet straight to the H-word!"

Bender: On the count of three you will awaken feeling refreshed. As if Futurama had never been canceled by idiots, then brought back by bigger idiots. One... Two... (scene change)

Bender: He did it! And he's not looking back at that cool explosion! He's a hero!

  • Unnecessarily Creepy Robot:
    • Sure, Robot Santa Claus is evil now, but as originally designed he shouldn't be that scary.
    • One episode has a robot nanny who not only looks frightening, but speaks in a loud, angry voice and claims to have replaced the baby's mother before feeding it with a bottle from its toothy maw. Leela thinks it's cute. Notably, the baby doesn't seem to mind either.
  • Un Paused: In the pilot, Fry pushes Leela into a stasis pod mid-lecture, and sets the release time for later that day. When she comes out she's still yelling at him.
  • Unrobotic Reveal: In a horror movie for robots.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Amy uses "Gleesh" for "Sheesh", words that rhyme with "duh" for "duh".
    • As though!
    • Snu-Snu.
    • Let me axe you something...
  • Useless Accessory: Bender and many other robots have antenna that serve no apparent purpose, which gets a Lampshade Hanging several times. First when the thing turned out to be interfering with the satellite transmission in his new apartment, and Fry says he should just cut it off since it doesn't do anything, after which it's treated as a robot equivalent of his penis. Again when it's suggested he has a toilet somewhere in his body and pushing down on it flushes.
    • Subverted Trope again when Mom says most people think she puts antenna on her robots just to make them "more science-fictiony" but they really let her take control of everything with a remote control.
    • The antennae also allow DOOP to take military control of the robots.
  • Uranus Is Showing: According to Professor, astronomers changed the name of the planet Uranus to stop that stupid joke once and for all. It's now named "Urectum".
  • Vetinari Job Security: Hermes apparently has this at Planet Express. During the events of "Lethal Inspection," he leaves Leela in charge for a few days. During that time things fall apart completely: he returns to find that the ship has been repossessed, unexplained alarms are going off, the Professor is trapped in a giant beaker, Leela has been reduced to a gibbering mess, and the crew is preparing to cook and eat Zoidberg. It only takes him an hour to get things back to normal.
  • Virgin Sacrifice: In 'I Second That Emotion', Leela is a virgin sacrifice to lure out sewer monster El Chupanibre, despite the fact that the sewer mutants have seen Zapp Brannigan's website.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds Bender and Fry, type 1.
    • Zapp and Kif seem to be a more extreme and subtle example, though it's usually always Kif showing the hidden friendship aspect, not Zapp.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Mom
  • Viewers Are Geniuses: there are a lot of complex jokes on science, science-fiction, and engineering and mathematical principles that may have just been accidental... but considering that this development team literally thinks of everything, I seriously doubt it.
  • Violent Glaswegian: Parodied in "Yo Leela Leela" with Extreme Toddler Wrestling held in Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Voices Are Mental
  • Vocal Evolution: Many examples, but the ones that stand out the most are Hermes, Morbo, Bender, and Professor Farnsworth. Hermes had a much deeper voice, his accent slightly more prominent. Likewise, Morbo had a more prominent guttural tone to his voice, but now, it only shows when he coughs.
  • Voodoo Shark: Parodied. Often. Hell, the most prominent example is the page quote.
  • Wallpaper Camouflage
  • Weaponized Landmark: Done as a variation with 20th Century Fox's iconic searchlight logo, which is an actual building in Hollywood. The tour guide explains that the searchlights are designed to blind pilots so Fox can film the resulting crashes.
  • We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum: In Love's Labours Lost in Space, Bender forgets to replenish the ship's dark matter supply.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Apparently Lrrr's reason for entering the Universal Poker Championship during the events of "Into the Wild Green Yonder" was to win his Father's approval.
  • We Will Have Perfect Health in the Future: Subverted on a few counts. The Professor's back, memory, and mental stability are often called into question; Leela is put in danger by giant space bees, Zapp Brannigan claims to suffer from the "very sexy learning disability" of Sexlexia--even the robots get sick!
    • On the other hand, the average human lifespan has been extended to the point where robots collect people when they turn 160, then process them a la The Matrix.
    • Certain conditions that used to be fatal, such as decapitation, can be recovered from pretty easily. On a related note, it seems blood has also been totally replaced by medication and nanobots.
    • Even Americans that have been taken over by Britons in an Alternate Universe are not immune to this, as proved by "All The President's Heads". Given a brilliant lampshade by a Cockney version of Bender.

"Oy, 'ow come we Brits got unionized healthcare, but our teeth still look like this?"

  • What Could Have Been: Originally the newest season was to take place in another universe, but Matt Groening wanted to do the rebirth episode instead.
    • The role of Zap Brannigan was written for the late, great Phil Hartman.
    • The original title was going to be "Aloha Mars." Also, early character designs showed Bender with satellite antenna ears.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Hermes is a master of tedious office work. He is sometimes called upon to display his superhuman ability to fill out paperwork, balance accounts and so forth.
  • What Is One Man's Life in Comparison?: In The Why Of Fry, it's revealed that Fry was frozen by Nibbler so he could live long enough to fight the Brain Spawn. While explaining himself and trying to convince Fry to go through it all over again, Nibbler asks the all important question of "what is one man's life weighed against the entire universe?"
  • What Is This Thing You Call 'Wuv'?:
    • The Omicronians' reaction to Valentine's Day.
    • Parodied in "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?", when Fry tries to help Zoidberg to get a woman.

Zoidberg: I'm confused, Fry. I'm feeling a strange new emotion. Is it love when you care about a female for reasons beyond mating?
Fry: Nope. Must be some weird alien emotion.

  • Wham! Episode: The last few minutes of Luck of the Fryrish. It doesn't get any less shocking or impacting on further re-watches, either.
  • What We Now Know to Be True: According to Farnsworth, genetic engineering is preposterous science-fiction mumbo-jumbo.
  • Who Even Needs a Brain?: The episode "Roswell That Ends Well" has Bender's brain (a collection of computer chips) being mistaken for food and eaten. Bender isn't happy but he suffers no ill effects.
  • Who You Gonna Call?:

Fry: All I know is I've got a ghost that needs busting. (dials a phone)
Hermes: Who you gonna call?
Fry: Ghostbusters--
Phone: (BEEP!) The number you have dialled has been lame since 1989.

Number 1.0: Don't quote me regulations! I co-chaired the committee that reviewed the recommendation to change the color of the book that regulation's in. We kept it gray.

  • X Days Since...:
    • In one episode a sign counts the days since the last time a certain planet invaded Earth.
    • In another episode there's one in a working ground for slaves counting the days since the last accident (and Fry accidentally nails his own hand to the sign while changing the number).
    • When Fry enters the cryogenics lab, the sign says "No power failures since 1997," with the "7" being handwritten and taped on.
  • X Makes Anything Cool: The trope namer.

Leela: You're blackmailing me?
Bender: Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer 'extortion'. The 'X' makes it sound cool.

    • In a more meta example, Producer David X. Cohen said he changed his middle initial from the original "S" (which he used when he worked on The Simpsons) because X "sounded cool and science-fictiony."
  • Yandere: Interestingly enough, the Planet Express crew's primary mode of transportation, as seen in "Love and Rocket".
  • You Make Me Sic: Multiple examples. Happens frequent with robot mafia henchman Joey Mousepad, whose mangled English is a Running Gag.
    • From "Love and Rocket":

Lrr (Ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8!): "THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!"

    • From: "Bendless Love"

Joey Mousepad: "But what if management remains intragnizent?"
The Donbot: "From the context it is clear what you mean."

  • You Say Tomato:
    • Zapp Brannigan enjoys drinking "champaggin" and eating "guacamowl".
    • Bender makes the same mistake with "guacamole" when showing off his "flawless" Spanish accent.
    • And on "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid", Fry confronts the Giant Brain in the "libary".
  • You Will Be Beethoven: Fry replaces/becomes his own grandfather.
  • You Will Be Spared
  • You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: In "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", Bender is caught cheating in a game of poker using X-ray glasses. When he's cornered, he nervously states, "Hey...you wouldn't hit a guy wearing X-ray glasses, would ya?" Unsurprisingly, it doesn't work.
  • Your Brain Won't Be Much of a Meal: We see a Brain Slug starve to death after it gets on Fry's head. This is originally played as this trope, but eventually Retconned into being because he's his own grampa.
  • Zeerust: Some of the parody targets in early episodes are showing signs of this, such as the episode with Kidnappster.
  • Zero-G Spot: The "Zero-G Juggs" magazine.
  • Zip Me Up: Happens in Bender's Big Score with Hermes.
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