20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About Futurama

13. Fry's Named After Troy McClure

20th Century Fox

Whereas The Simpsons' main characters have names of very simple origins (they're named after Matt Groening's family), Futurama's cast are, typical for the show, much less obvious (and a lot more cultural).

Bender is obviously a tribute to Judd Nelson's character in The Breakfast Club (although his last name, Rodriguez, is clearly just a joke). I can't find the origins of Fry's surname, but his first name is a loving tribute to Phil Hartman (the voice of Troy McClure in The Simpsons and intended to be Zapp Brannigan before his untimely death), while his middle name is a tribute to the Simpsons men (who all have J. as their middle name). Leela and The Professor's names have even more distant origins; Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie and TV creator Philo Farnsworth.

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Contributor

Film Editor (2014-2016). Loves The Usual Suspects. Hates Transformers 2. Everything else lies somewhere in the middle. Once met the Chuckle Brothers.