10 Times Star Trek Appeared In Other TV Shows

Back to Matt Groening now, who amped up the Star Trek references considerably in his glorious sci-fi comedy show Futurama.

All in all there are close to 100 separate Trek references across Futurama, though the pièce de résistance must surely be the season four episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before."

This widely acclaimed, Nebula Award-nominated episode reveals that Star Trek is banned on Earth after it became a global religion in the 2200s, and in the wake of the bloody "Star Trek Wars," the remaining tapes of the TV show and movies were jettisoned into space.

And so with the help of Leonard Nimoy's head, Bender (John DiMaggio), Fry (Billy West), and company set off on a mission to recover the tapes, bringing them into contact with almost every major cast member from the Original Series.

The exceptions are James Doohan, whose agent flatly refused, and DeForest Kelley, who had passed away a few years prior and so only appeared in likeness form.

With its loving array of homages to Trek while making light fun of the fandom's obsessiveness, there's arguably been no single better sustained parody of Trek than this. Certainly not in animated form, at least.