This is a list of characters appearing in Futurama.
Main characters
Philip J. Fry
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Main article: Philip J. Fry
Turanga Leela
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Main article: Turanga Leela
Bender
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Hubert J. Farnsworth
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Doctor Zoidberg
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Hermes Conrad
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Main article: Hermes Conrad
Amy Wong
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Secondary characters
Calculon
Calculon, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is an acting robot who mostly acts in melodramatic roles. His most famous role is in the long-running robot soap opera All My Circuits, in which he plays the lead character named after himself. He is from the 21st century, having been created as a standard industrial robot called Calculon 1.0. He changes his appearances and name every few decades to hide his true age. It is revealed in Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV that in his career acting for All My Circuits, he only had to do one take for each scene. He comments that only ameteurs do two takes.
Celebrity heads
Various celebrities and historical figures are kept alive as heads in jars of liquids. The technology is crucial to Futurama's connection with 20th and 21st century culture since it allows significant figures from the past to make appearances in the series. This also allows for contemporary celebrities to make guest appearances as themselves.[1] The technology was invented by Ron Popeil in the series.
Cubert Farnsworth
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Dr. Ogden Wernstrom
Dr. Ogden Wernstrom, voiced by David Herman, is rival of his former college professor, Professor Farnsworth, in the field of science. He resents an "A-" grade given for sloppy penmanship by Farnsworth in 2900, and works for one hundred years in order to obtain revenge. He often competes against Farnsworth in various competitions, such as the Annual Inventors' Symposium.
Kif Kroker
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Lrrr
Lrrr, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8. He has an extreme hatred for other beings, often threatening to destroy Earth and its inhabitants. He and his wife, Ndnd, voiced by Tress MacNeille, go through periodic love-hate cycles. Lrrr and his inner circle are devout fans of 20th and 21st century Earth television which, due to the distance of their planet from Earth, they can watch "live", though Lrrr has a violent hatred of animated shows. Lrrr also has a soft spot for animals, which he tries to hide with his threatening persona. However, Ndnd states that the reason she fell in love with him was because of his sensitive, poetic side.
Mom
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Main article: Mom (Futurama)
Nibbler
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Richard Nixon
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Main article: Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon, voiced by Billy West, is kept alive as a head in a jar like many other celebrities. He originally resides in the Hall of Presidents in the head museum, but he eventually leaves and becomes the President of Earth, winning by a single vote.[1] Nixon's administration is marked by a violent and aggressive foreign policy, frequently entering into wars which have little or no purpose. Nixon's head is sometimes accompanied by the headless body of Spiro T. Agnew, Nixon's first historical Vice President.
Billy West has commented that he is not impersonating Richard Nixon for the role; he's impersonating Anthony Hopkins in the movie Nixon (with "a little bit of werewolf"). Matt Groening also frequently expresses his pleasure that he can continue to poke fun at Nixon thirty or forty years after he was in office.citation needed Nixon's head was included in TV Squad's list of the five best television appearances by Presidents in animated or puppet form. The character was considered to be particularly interesting because he could be "pure evil" but also command respect and also because "Nixon's head trapped in glass is just really funny."[2]
Turanga Morris and Munda
Turanga Morris, voiced by David Herman, and Turanga Munda, voiced by Tress MacNeille, are Leela's father and mother. They are sewer mutants who love Leela deeply and give her a normal human life by giving her to an orphanage by passing her off as an alien. They participate in her life as much as possible from the sewers until Leela finally learns the truth and attempts to form a real relationship. They both have one eye, Morris has a vertically oriented mouth and the ability to shed his skin, and Munda has a lion tail, ungulate legs, and octopus tentacles in place of arms. Their original appearance in I Second That Emotion shows them as plain cyclopes like Leela. The plot of Leela's Homeworld required the addition of extra mutations to fit with the idea of that Leela is able to live a normal life, while they cannot.[3][4]
Zapp Brannigan
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Main article: Zapp Brannigan
Minor characters
Al Gore
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Al Gore, voiced by himself, appears as a head in a jar during most of his appearances and also appears with his body during scenes involving Fry's time period. He is First Emperor of the Moon and has "ridden the mighty moon worm".[5] He sports an almost excessively elaborate jar; the base is colored silver-white, and possesses several hologram projectors, two small rockets for mobility, a pair of lasers, and is backed with the top of a cape. He plays a role in Futurama: Bender's Big Score,[6] where he appears in multiple scenes that take place in the past and during the space battle in the future.
The real-life Gore has said that Futurama is his favorite show. His daughter, Kristin Gore Cusack, was a writer for the show in its later seasons.[7][5] Gore has also voiced the cartoon version of himself in the promotional video, entitled A Terrifying Message from Al Gore for An Inconvenient Truth along with John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, and Billy West, the narrator.[8]
Boxy
Boxy is a crude robot only able to communicate by beeping. He is frequently seen in the company of Calculon, and played the role of Calculon's half-brother in the All My Circuits soap opera where his objections sound like he's backing up.[9] Boxy is also John DiMaggio's favorite robot character.citation needed
Brainspawn
The Brainspawn are a race of flying telepathic brains that wish to collect all of the data in the universe and kill all other intelligent beings. They are able to use "stupefaction fields" to render all intelligent beings on a planet too stupid to resist them. This allows them to collect all knowledge on the planet and destroy it. Their main enemies are the Nibblonians, who send Nibbler on a mission to find Fry, the only being resistant to the Brainspawn. Fry lacks Delta Brainwave, so he is able to repel the Brainspawn when they attack Earth. Fry later manages to send the Brainspawn and their space station, the Infosphere, into another dimension with a bomb given to him by the Nibblonians. The Brainspawn were inspired by the movie Fiend Without a Face, which features invisible, flying, tentacled brains that kill by sucking out the victim's own brains.citation needed
Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium residents
The Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium houses a large number of orphans, including Leela during her childhood. The orphans often suffer harsh conditions and various disappointing set backs. It is run by Mr. Vogel, voiced by David Herman, who takes care of the orphans and keeps all records. Three orphans, Albert, Nina, and Sally, are featured most often. Albert and Nina are voiced by Kath Soucie and Sally is voiced by Nicole St. John. Sally has a third ear on her forehead which she is teased about by the other orphans. She also claims to have a tail.
Dwight Conrad
Dwight Conrad, voiced by Bumper Robinson, is the son of Hermes Conrad and LaBarbara Conrad. He is the close friend of Cubert Farnsworth, and takes after his father in the ways of accounting and bureaucracy.
Father Changstein-El-Gamal
Father Changstein-El-Gamal, voiced by David Herman, is a priest in the First Amalgamated Church, a mixture of many 20th century religions. He wears a bindi on his forehead (Hinduism), wears a mitre and clerical collar (Catholicism) with a yin-yang symbol on the peak (Taoism), payot (Judaism), an orange wrap (Buddhism) with a shoulder scarf adorned with stars and moons (spiritism). He serves over weddings and funerals and counsels others.
Elzar
Elzar, voiced by John DiMaggio, is a famous four-armed Neptunian chef with his own New New York restaurant, "Elzar's Fine Cuisine", and television show. Elzar is crass and unpleasant, and has a very high opinion of himself. He never passes up an opportunity to milk money from his customers and fans. He has also been known to steal from his own cash register on occasion. Elzar's favorite cooking implement is his Spice Weasel, a mustelid-like creature which propels a cloud of spices from its snout upon having its body squeezed. Elzar often uses the phrases "knock it up a notch" and "Bam!" Elzar is a parody of the celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, while his physique is a nod to the four-armed television chef Gormaanda of The Star Wars Holiday Special.citation needed The phrase "knock it up a notch," is a parody of Emeril's catchphrase "kick it up a notch"; Emeril is also famous for yelling "Bam" when adding spice to his dishes.citation needed
Flexo
Flexo, voiced by John DiMaggio, is a bending robot who looks and sounds exactly like Bender with the exception of having a small triangular metal goatee, a reference to the Star Trek mirror universe.citation needed Flexo first meets and befriends Bender in "Lesser of Two Evils". Fry believes Flexo to be an "evil twin" of Bender, though it turns out that Flexo attempts to stop Bender from stealing the crown from the Miss Universe pageant. Flexo is mistaken for Bender and he is arrested. Critics have claimed Flexo's appearance in this episode one of the "Great Moments" in Futurama.[10] He returns in "Bendless Love" in which Bender briefly dates Flexo's ex-wife, Anglelyne, and impersonates Flexo. Flexo is targeted by the Robot Mafia because of this and he eventually reunites with Anglelyne.
Hattie McDoogal
Hattie McDoogal, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is an old woman who lives alone with her cats and often uses nonsense words and phrases, such as "kerjigger". She briefly serves as the landlord of Fry and Bender, and she is a shareholder of Planet Express, allowing her the decisive vote for its CEO. She has been married twice, surviving both of them, and often dates.
Hedonismbot
Hedonismbot, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is a golden robot built that displays the typical characteristics of hedonism and decadence, such as constantly eating from a bowl of grapes on his stomach. He was built with tax-payers' dollars and features round pupils instead of the square pupils of other robot characters.citation needed He has a servant robot named Djambi and he has stated that "I too have known unconventional love." He enjoys having a bath of chocolate and seeing how long he can remain entertained during an opera.citation needed
Horrible Gelatinous Blob
Horrible Gelatinous Blob, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is a three-eyed, green, translucent, ill-tempered alien. He contemptuously refers to humanoids as "solids" and ridicules their one-way digestive system. He has a son named Brett Blob, who regularly bullies Cubert and Dwight.
Hyperchicken
The Hyperchicken, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is a large blue/green rooster-like attorney with southern mannerisms and a pince-nez perched on his beak. He is a terrible lawyer, and routinely loses cases for the main characters. The hyperchicken is a parody of incompetent attorneys from movies such as My Cousin Vinny.citation needed
Hypnotoad
The Hypnotoad is a large toad with oscillating, multicolored eyes which emit a loud, ominous buzzing noise. It has the power to hypnotize almost any living thing at will, even mass numbers of creatures. It has its own television show, Everybody Loves Hypnotoad, in which it hypnotizes the audience. The film Futurama: Bender's Big Score includes a full 22-minute episode on the DVD.[11][12][13] The episode mainly features the Hypnotoad staring into the camera, occasionally intercut with a laugh track or shots of the exterior of various locations to indicate a scene change. The finale of the show consists of a voiceover telling the audience that they will wake up remembering nothing and feeling refreshed, and the credits are all attributed to Hypnotoad. The loud noise made by the toad is a stock sound dubbed "Angry Machine," which was originally used by the editors to remind themselves to replace it with a more appropriate sound effect.citation needed
LaBarbara Conrad
LaBarbara Conrad, voiced by Dawnn Lewis, is the wife of Hermes Conrad and mother of Dwight Conrad. She is the ex-wife of Barbados Slim, the rival of Hermes, who she refers to as "a human Adonis." Hermes is insecure when Barbados is around, and LaBarbara leaves Hermes temporarily in Bender's Big Score to be with Barbados Slim after Hermes loses his body.
Leo and Inez Wong
Leo Wong, voiced by Billy West, and Inez Wong, voiced by Lauren Tom, are the very wealthy parents of Amy Wong. They are human Martians of Chinese descent that own the entire western hemisphere of Mars (which they claim is the best one) and the Wong buggalo ranch. They often pester Amy about their lack of grandchildren and meddle in her love life, trying to find a man to father their grandchild. They introduce Amy to Kif Kroker; but when the two begin dating, they decide he is not man enough for Amy. They do seem happy, however, when he and Amy have children.
Linda
Linda, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is the co-anchor of Morbo. She is blissfully unaware of or indifferent to his hatred for humanity, often giggling absentmindedly when he calls for the death of humans. Linda was inspired by Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight, even hosting a television series with Morbo called Entertainment and Earth Invasion Tonite.citation needed
Malfunctioning Eddy
Malfunctioning Eddy is a robot that runs a hovercar dealership. It turned out that his prices were so low that he really was insane. He had an exploding problem associated with surprise in Insane in the Mainframe. His character refers to the real life Crazy Eddie, whose prices were also insane and who was convicted of fraud.
Michelle
Michelle, voiced by Kath Soucie and Sarah Silverman, is Fry's on and off girlfriend from the 20th century. She dumps Fry shortly before he is frozen New Year's Eve for a man named Constantine (called Charles in The Cryonic Woman, who she later marries). They split up eventually, and she decides to freeze herself. She wakes up in 3002, where she starts her relationship with Fry again. It doesn't work out for them, and she later is shown in a limo with the unfrozen Pauly Shore.
Morbo
Morbo, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is the human-hating anchor for √2 News, Entertainment and Alien Invasion Tonight, Good Morning Earth, and other shows on the √2 Television Network. Morbo has an extreme hatred for humans, expressing his contempt during live news broadcasts and frequently comments on his species' extremely violent invasion plans. His co-host, Linda seems either blissfully ignorant or entirely dismissive of Morbo's hatred and usually responds with an empty-headed laugh to Morbo's contempt.
Morbo's character design is based on the aliens from the 1957 science fiction movie Invasion of the Saucer Men.citation needed Maurice LaMarche often points out in DVD commentary that two of the characters he voices, Morbo and Lrrr, "sound nothing alike", as a running gag.citation needed LaMarche asserts that Morbo, being a newscaster, has better diction.citation needed The pitch of Morbo's voice was digitally altered lower than LaMarche's original recordings, and that in subsequent episodes, LaMarche simply read the voice lower to match the—as David X. Cohen referred to it—"sub-human level" of the altered tone.citation needed
Nibblonians
The Nibblonians are an ancient race that came into existence 17 years before the moment of the Big Bang. They have extremely long life spans, eat animals whole to fill their stomachs, which are thousands of times larger than themselves, and excrete extremely dense and potent dark matter. Despite their nature, other beings find their small stature to be extremely adorable. Their arch-enemy is the Brainspawn. They believe Fry is the only hope of the universe in that he can stop the Brainspawn due to his lack of the Delta brainwave. The three main Nibblonians in the series are Nibbler, Ken, voiced by Billy West, and Fiona, voiced by Tress MacNeille.
Reverend Preacherbot
Reverend Preacherbot, voiced by Phil LaMarr, is a preacher at the Temple of Robotology. He presides over weddings and funerals of robots and humans. His speech patterns, accent, and mannerisms are modeled on those of stereotypical African-American Evangelical preachers.citation needed
Roberto
Roberto, voiced by David Herman, is a criminally insane, psychotic robot who appears to be some kind of stab-bot. His insane acts include targeting the same establishment for robbery three times in a row, killing other robots to provide a disguise, and "practicin' my stabbin'."[14] This violent nature is enhanced by a body that Daxid X. Cohen and Matt Groening say is based on the shape of a tombstone.citation needed
Robot Devil
The Robot Devil, voiced by Dan Castellaneta and Maurice LaMarche, serves as the leader of Robot Hell, which is hidden beneath the "Inferno" ride at the amusement park "Reckless Ted's Funland" in New Jersey. His function is to torment robots who have committed various sins under the practice of Robotology. He first appears in Hell Is Other Robots to kidnap Bender and torment him, but Fry and Leela manage to save Bender. He plays another major role in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" in which Fry makes a deal with the Devil to improve his holophonor skills. Fry wins the Robot Devil's hands, though the Robot Devil manages to obtain them after setting up a large chain of events. He appears briefly in The Beast With A Billion Backs offering Bender the Armies of Hell in exchange for his first born son. Bender complies, causing the Robot Devil to comment "That was pretty brutal, even by my standards." The voice acting of the Robot Devil by Dan Castellaneta has been described as a "bravura performance" on his part.[1]
Robot Mafia
The Robot Mafia is a three-member crime syndicate operating out of "Fronty's Meat Market", who periodically dine at Elzar's, hijack shipments of Zuban cigars, arrange "accidents" for robots who act against them, as well as other unspecified Mafia-related illegal activities. Robots are generally better at organized crime than humans, so they were built specifically to industrialize the mafia.citation needed They are made up of Donbot, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, The leader of the robot mafia; Joey Mousepad, voiced by John DiMaggio, a burly goonbot wearing a computer-mouse necklace; and Clamps, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, a psychotic robot obsessed with using the clamps that act as his hands.
Robot Santa
Robot Santa, voiced by John Goodman and John DiMaggio, is a robot created to judge beings as naughty or nice and distribute presents or punishments accordingly. Due to a programming error, his standards judge everyone except for Dr. Zoidberg as naughty, which he punishes with death and destruction. This leads him to go on destructive rampages across Earth every Xmas using various Christmas themed weapons such as grenades of Christmas ornaments and T.O.W. missile launcher. He resides in a death fortress on Neptune along with a number of Neptunians that act as labor for the closed down toy factory.[15] In Bender's Big Score, he assisted the Earth's population in reclaiming their planet after it was purchased by the devious scammers, forcing his Neptunian elves to build weapons and participating personally in the ensuing battle. He is part of an alliance called 'The Trinity', a trio of holiday-themed madmen, comprising Santa, Kwanzabot, and the Hanukah Zombie.
Sal
Sal, voiced by John DiMaggio is a surly, overweight, blue-collar worker with a thick Bronx accent. His first appearance is as a janitor on the moon in "The Series Has Landed", servicing the machines in the amusement park. He has appeared many times since, always employed in a tedious job which he does not do well. His trademark is to add an 's' to many words that don't need it: "Let's gets him outta heres!"
Scruffy
Scruffy, voiced by David Herman, is the enigmatic Planet Express janitor. He first appears in the episode "A Fishful of Dollars", where he is seen metal sanding Bender's back after Fry takes the crew to Le Spa. The other members of Planet Express are so unfamiliar with him that they often ask who he is, to which he responds: "I'm Scruffy... the janitor". Scruffy is lazy and can usually be found in the basement of the Planet Express building, reading various porn magazines.
Sewer mutants
Sewer mutants are humans mutated by years of pollution and radioactive waste poured into the sewers under New New York. They are forbidden by law to travel to the surface without special permission, so they reside in a community made out of objects flushed down toilets. Among the more prominent mutants in the series are Dwayne, Raoul and Vyolet. Dwayne is a mutant with two noses and a large forehead, voiced by David Herman. Raoul, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is the "Supreme Mutant", the democratically elected leader of the sewer mutants. His most notable mutation is a third arm, which has grown in place of his right ear. Vyolet, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is a chain-smoking mutant with gills and a pig nose.
Smitty
Smitty, voiced by Billy West is a Policeman partnered with URL in New New York. He is sometimes seen with a lightsaber-like nightstick. The two often use excessive force in non-violent circumstances.
Tinny Tim
Tinny Tim, voiced by Tress MacNeille, is an ill-fated orphan-bot with a crutch for an arm. He is programmed to beg, sell oil-ade, and write in cute backwards letters on signs. He was used by Bender and the robot mafia.
URL
URL, voiced by John DiMaggio, is a robot police officer paired with Smitty. The two often use excessive force in peaceful situations, and make use of various features built into URL, such as a siren, megaphone and violations printer. They can also be seen frequently embracing one another. He also appears in the parody of Cops, Cop Department.
References
- ^ a b c Booker, M. Keith. Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, 115-124.
- ^ Finley, Adam (2006-02-20). "The Five: Presidents' Day Spectacular!". Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Cohen, David X. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Leela's Homeworld" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Gore, Kristin. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Leela's Homeworld" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Associated Press (November 8, 2002). "Al Gore reprises role on 'Futurama' cartoon". Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ Zulkey, Jack (June 7, 2007). "Al Gore, The Futurama President". Huffington Post. Retrieved on 2007-06-08.
- ^ Associated Press (May 22, 2000). "Veep guest stars in TV cartoon". Retrieved on 2007-06-06.
- ^ David X. Cohen, Al Gore and Matt Groening. (2007). Futurama:Bender's Big Score DVD commentary for "A Terrifying Message From Al Gore" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "I, Roomate". Eric Horsted (writer). Futurama. Fox Broadcasting Company. 1999-04-06. No. 3, season 1.
- ^ Hofstede, David. 5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD. Back Stage Books, 120.
- ^ DVD Talk Review: Futurama: Bender's Big Score
- ^ CHUD.com - A film site for the brilliant
- ^ Futurama DVD news: Press Release for Futurama - Bender's Big Score | TVShowsOnDVD.com
- ^ "Insane in the Mainframe". Bill Odenkirk (writer). Futurama. Fox Broadcasting Company. 2001-04-08. No. 43, season 3.
- ^ Nettles, John (2005-08-23). "FUTURAMA MONSTER ROBOT MANIAC FUN COLLECTION". Retrieved on 2007-11-30.
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