Who do the Futurama characters remind you of?

[on:]

Well all know that Zapp and Kif are a satire of Shatner and Nimoy, Elzar is like Emerald but what about the other Futurama characters?  Also, Futurama and Simpsons comparsions are also a given, so there is no need to point out that Bender is like Homer, because it goes with out saying

Zoidberg kind of reminds me of The mutant cat from Red Dwarf.  Jar Jar Binks from Star Wars, except fans love Zoidberg and Curly from the Three Stooges.

Leela is Trinity, Leia, Ripley rolled up into one.

Fry is Marty McFly, Luke Skywalker and a little bit of Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

[Reply #1 on:]

why dont you just say that there all like the cast aways from Gillagens island.

Fry = Gillagen

Leela = Skipper

Bender = the rich guy and his (wife = chick bender)

Profesor = Profesor+gill and skipper

Amy = Ginger all the way no diff in ether of them

Zoidberg = the Boat always saying its a boat but dosent now how to be a boat like zoid saying hes a doctor.

[Reply #2 on:]

I would have said that Amy's personality makes her more like Mary Anne and Bender would be the skipper since fry is Gilligan.  Leela would be like Ginger, based on the fact they each have good bodies.  Hermes and Labarbara would be the Howells. 

[Reply #3 on:]

well a bit backwards but i find when at work announcing on the microphone i sound more and more like brannigan.. very cheesy lol!

[Reply #4 on:]

If you think about it Futurama is similar to Red Dwarf,

Fry - Lister  ( both frozen in the past and a bit stupid)

Bender  -  Kat  ( the outgoing ladies robot/cat man)

Leela  -  Kochanski ( The woman who insists that they'll always be 'Just Friends')

Any ideas for Kryten?

[Reply #5 on:]

Probably Hermes, anally retentive, beaurecratic, hates pretty much everyone else on the crew etc.

[Reply #6 on:]

quote: by dogdoo8
why dont you just say that there all like the cast aways from Gillagens island.

Fry = Gillagen

Leela = Skipper

Bender = the rich guy and his (wife = chick bender)

Profesor = Profesor+gill and skipper

Amy = Ginger all the way no diff in ether of them

Zoidberg = the Boat always saying its a boat but dosent now how to be a boat like zoid saying hes a doctor.
you make a good pointe i believe, im inclined to agree.

[Reply #7 on:]

See http://web.archive.org/web/20000520002717/www.pettifogger.com/futurama/whoswho.htm

Anyway, I think Amy is a bit like Maggie Simpson, because they are both cute, younger (Amy younger than Leela and Maggie younger than Lisa) female characters with unclear personalities (Maggie's true personality is unknown as she's just a baby but she's gonna grow up to smart, Amy's personality has changed several times, in WAA she didn't seem to mind being called a harlot but in AWITM she hated sexist men, all that can be said about Amy's personality for sure is that she's smart when it comes to engineering and technical stuff, that she likes sex, cute stuff, bisque, shopping and Buggalo and dislikes her parents, wealth and coffee) that were orignally going to be major characters (Maggie was an important player in the shorts on the Tracey Ullman show, Amy was prob'ly created to be a more major character than she ultimately became) but in most episodes they mostly stay in the background and sometimes don't even appear at all, much to the dismay of their many fans (Amy is most popular Futurama female character next to Leela, and Maggie has a good amounts of fans).

[Reply #8 on:]

This reminds me of the other threads that are like this.

[Reply #9 on:]

This thread kind of reminds me of a thing Sonic fans used to do called, "Cross-Casting".  It's where you take characters and put them into movies, cartoons, TV Shows, and the whatnot.  I think the characters are a lot like the characters from Get Smart and Night Court.  Think about it.

Get Smart:
Fry = Maxwell Smart Agent 86
Leela = Sue Hilton Agent 99
Prof. Farnsworth = The Chief
Bender = Harmie the Robot
Zoidberg = Agent 13

Night Court:

Fry = Judge Harold T. Stone
Leela = Christine Sullivan
Bender = Dan Fielding (They're both perverts)
Zoidberg = Bull Shannon
Amy = Rozz Russell (without the cynicism of Rozz, it would work).
Zapp = That guy Christine married (name escapes me).
Hermes = Mac
LaBarbara = Quon Lee
Dwight = That little orphan kid Bumper Robinson played.

That's my two cents.

[Reply #10 on:]

Matt Groening has said that Fry was based on himself when he was young.  In a larger sense, though, Fry is basically the everyman character.

Some of the characters seem to fit archetypal roles.  I don't remember everything I learned in school about archetypes, but Bender is sort of a Trickster character, and the Professor could possibly be considered a Wise Old Man.

Many of the characters also fit, and at the same time, parody typical sci-fi roles: mad scientist (Professor Farnsworth), robot with human intelligence (Bender), weird alien (Zoidberg), heroic space captain (Zapp), etc.

Zoidberg has a lot of contradictions to his character.  He's a doctor, but a lobster isn't exactly a creature that is well-suited to performing surgery.  (In fact, "lobster" used to be used as a slang term for a bungler, which fits Zoidberg pretty well.)  He's also a shellfish with a Jewish accent.

[Reply #11 on:]

Nibbler- The White Rabbit[seems to have caused Alice's transportation]
Philip- Alice[is sent to a new world]
Leela- Cheshire[a sort of guide to Alice]
Amy- the Caterpillar[obtuse and self-satisfied]
Zoidberg- the Mock-turtle[sad sort of fellow, forced to be someone who he is not]
Hermes Conrad- the Dodo[leads the ever-bureaucratic-seeming Caucus race]
Hubert- The Mad Hatter[for obvious reasons]
Bender- The March Hare[as mad as the Hatter, but always at counterpoint with him]
Mom- The Queen of Hearts[for even MORE obvious reasons..]
Ignar, Walt and Larry- Card Soldiers[it follows naturally]
Zapp and Kif- Pepper and Pig[This is a stretch.. but Pepper is constantly making the baby Pig sneeze with its spices and then shouting at Pig when he cries because of it. Seems like the proper cyclical relationship..]
And many other things could follow as well, like.. the Popplers could be MomeRaths, El Chupanibre could be the Jabberwocky.. and so on. Kinda cool ^.^

[Reply #12 on:]

Think about The Simpsons.

Fry=Homer
Bender=Bart
Leela=Marge or Lisa
Nibbler=Maggie (almost)
Amy=
Zoidberg=
Hermes=
Professor=

(empty fields to be filled in later)

[Reply #13 on:]

Well if anyone has seen a film called The Breakfast Club then there'll see where im coming from....The main character it in is a guy called John Bender many aspects of his character mirror those of Bender....as well as the similarity in name.
(John Bender also says 'Eat My Shorts', baring in mind that it was made in 1985 is it possible that Matt Groening copied that most famous of lines for his ingeneous creation that is Bart?)

[Reply #14 on:]

Interesting, EvilLunch. I like the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland comparison; that's a new one on me.

[Reply #15 on:]

You can mirror almost any show to Alice in Wonderland. It works well with anime, too[as evidenced by a picture recently put up in Boobs Guns and Cosplay that also appears in my sister's deck of Tenchi cards].

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by EvilLunch:
Nibbler- The White Rabbit[seems to have caused Alice's transportation]
Philip- Alice[is sent to a new world]
Leela- Cheshire[a sort of guide to Alice]
Amy- the Caterpillar[obtuse and self-satisfied]
Zoidberg- the Mock-turtle[sad sort of fellow, forced to be someone who he is not]
Hermes Conrad- the Dodo[leads the ever-bureaucratic-seeming Caucus race]
Hubert- The Mad Hatter[for obvious reasons]
Bender- The March Hare[as mad as the Hatter, but always at counterpoint with him]
Mom- The Queen of Hearts[for even MORE obvious reasons..]
Ignar, Walt and Larry- Card Soldiers[it follows naturally]
Zapp and Kif- Pepper and Pig[This is a stretch.. but Pepper is constantly making the baby Pig sneeze with its spices and then shouting at Pig when he cries because of it. Seems like the proper cyclical relationship..]
And many other things could follow as well, like.. the Popplers could be MomeRaths, El Chupanibre could be the Jabberwocky.. and so on. Kinda cool ^.^

That's the best one of these things yet.   

 

Originally posted by Prince:
Well if anyone has seen a film called The Breakfast Club then there'll see where im coming from....The main character it in is a guy called John Bender many aspects of his character mirror those of Bender....as well as the similarity in name.
(John Bender also says 'Eat My Shorts', baring in mind that it was made in 1985 is it possible that Matt Groening copied that most famous of lines for his ingeneous creation that is Bart?)

I've been saying that for years.  I'm glad somebody else finally noticed that.

Welcome to PEEL, Prince.

[Reply #17 on:]

Thanks David!!
On that tone...If you could cast your minds back to Mars University you will (hopefully) remember that the Dean's surname was Vernon....The teacher holding the kids for saturday morning detention in the breakfast club is also called Vernon..Another possible coincidence...I think not!!

[Reply #18 on:]

I think so!!  In National Lampoon's Animal House the Dean's name was Dean Vernon Wormer and was played by John Vernon, so it's more likely a refernce to that.

(Personally though, I've always thought that John Vernon and Paul Gleason [who played Principal Vernon in TBC] looked a lot alike.)

[Reply #19 on:]

Fine prove me wrong!!
*Runs off weeping*

[Reply #20 on:]

Stereotypes are important in animation, and television in general. It makes it easier to play on character traits if you've already guessed what they are...

[Reply #21 on:]

Also, Fry and Bender remind me of the 2 main guys in the first three Kevin Smith movies.  Dante and Randal, T.S. and Brodie, and Holden and Banky.  All six of those characters from his movies act a lot like Fry and Bender.

[Reply #22 on:]

 

Originally posted by Coilette:
If you think about it Futurama is similar to Red Dwarf

I made a topic that listed a lot of similarities between Fry and Lister.  But I really don't think any of the other characters are specifically comparable, except Zapp sees himself being like Ace Rimmer (even though he isn't).

[Reply #23 on:]

Bender reminds me quite a bit of Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot from MST3K.

Zapp reminds me a little of Johnny Bravo.

Leela is a bit like Bongo, the 1-eared rabbit in Life in Hell.

Futurama=Simpsons

Fry=Homer
Leela=Marge or Lisa
Bender=Bart
Amy=Maggie or Edna K.
Mom=Burns
Walt, Larry and Ignar=Smithers, Lenny and Carl
Morbo and Linda=Kent and Scott
Zoidy=Dr. Nick
the Professy=Abe or Frink

Futurama=MST3K

Fry and Leela=Joel and Mike
Bender and Robot 1-X=Crow and Servo
Amy=Gypsy
the Professy=Dr. Forrester
Wernstrom=Dr. Erhardt
Hermes=Frank
Mom=Pearl
Mom's sons=Bobo, Dr. Peanut and Brain Guy

[Reply #24 on:]

 

Originally posted by John Pannozzi:
Bender reminds me quite a bit of Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot from MST3K.

Zapp reminds me a little of Johnny Bravo.

Leela is a bit like Bongo, the 1-eared rabbit in Life in Hell.

Futurama=Simpsons

Fry=Homer
Leela=Marge or Lisa
Bender=Bart
Amy=Maggie or Edna K.
Mom=Burns
Walt, Larry and Ignar=Smithers, Lenny and Carl
Morbo and Linda=Kent and Scott
Zoidy=Dr. Nick
the Professy=Abe or Frink

I agree with some but not all:

Zoidy = Gil, Milhouse
Bender = Bart or Nelson

[Reply #25 on:]

 

Originally posted by John Pannozzi:
Zapp reminds me a little of Johnny Bravo.

Yes... me too!  I secretly liked to call Zapp "Johnny Bravado."  Tis my pet name for him!!!!!  *hugs name*  It's mine!  You can't have it!

Sorry.  Must be the Pixy Stix talking.     

[Reply #26 on:]

Fry is like a peanut.
Bender is like the letter "X".
Farnsworth is like God.

Don't question, just accept.

[Reply #27 on:]

wow, okay, a peanut?

Heh, those are quite ... er ... apt ... comparisons.

I know a guy who looks pretty much like Fry but is less stupid. Anybody think I should tell him and then maul him?

Perhaps Fry, rather than being a peanut, is like peanut butter. All sticky on the roof of the mouth.

I really liked the Alice comparison, EvilLunch.

Don't really have anything to add except that I would also agree Fry is like Homer, but younger. And sexier.

Also: Am I really young to not have seen Gilligan's Island, or is it repeated on television?

[Reply #28 on:]

 

Originally posted by redskirts:Also: Am I really young to not have seen Gilligan's Island, or is it repeated on television?

It's repeated on TV, on TV Land. 

And I really like your comparisons, EL!