“Futurama” is a classic animated series created by Matt Groening, the same person who created “The Simpsons.” It’s a story about a 20th-century pizza delivery boy named Philip Fry from New York City who was accidentally frozen cryogenically, only to be defrosted one thousand years later.
The futuristic animated series had a successful run from March 1999 to Sept. 2014 and was critically acclaimed. So much so that in 2013, TV Guide ranked “Futurama” as one of the “Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time.”
With that said, here are a few interesting facts that you may not have known about “Futurama” as compiled by Looper.
Phil Hartman was supposed to voice Zap Brannigan
Phil Hartman was a masterful comedian who lent his voice in “The Simpson.” In the show, he voiced two characters; the lawyer Lionel Hutz and actor Troy McClure.
Hartman was also supposed to voice Zapp Brannigan, a parody of Captain Kirk from “Star Trek,” on “Futurama.” However, he tragically died in 1998, which brought the character to Billy West. In honor of Hartman, West voiced Zapp Brannigan in a way he thought Hartman would have with the character if he was alive.
Billy West and Katey Segal were not the original voices for Fry and Leela
Can you imagine Fry and Leela having different voices? Well, that almost happened, if producers hadn’t changed their minds of replacing the actors originally hired to voice the characters.
Initially, producers of “Futurama” went with Charlie Schlatter to voice Fry. He is best known for his role as Ferris in the short-lived TV version of “Ferris Bueller's Day Off.” Meanwhile, Nicole Sullivan was hired to voice Leela before production has started. At that time, she was a cast of Fox’s sketch series “Mad TV.”
Thankfully, the producers decided to go another way and hired Billy West and Katey Segal instead.
The show was almost titled “Aloha, Mars” or “Doomsville”
Matt Groening had a number of different titles in mind for the animated series. Some of those ideas were “Aloha, Mars” and “Doomsville.” However, the staffs working on the show weren’t thrilled with either one.
The final title for the show was actually taken from the New York World’s Fair held in 1939 where General Motors had an exhibit called Futurama.
Fry’s name is also based on Groening’s dad, just like Homer Simpson
In case you didn’t know, the names of the characters Homer and Marge from “The Simpson” came from Groening’s parents. Interestingly enough, the full name of Groening’s dad was Homer Philip Groening, which means Fry’s first name was taken from the middle name of Groening’s father, hence the name Philip J. Fry.
