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Futurama episode
"Future Stock"
Episode no.	53
Prod. code	3ACV21
Airdate	March 31, 2002
Writer(s)	Aaron Ehasz
Director	Brian Sheesley
Opening subtitle	LOVE IT OR SHOVE IT
Opening cartoon	Unknown
Guest star(s)	Tom Kenny
Season 3 January 2001 – December 2002
Amazon Women in the Mood Parasites Lost A Tale of Two Santas The Luck of the Fryrish The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz Bendless Love The Day the Earth Stood Stupid That's Lobstertainment! The Cyber House Rules Where the Buggalo Roam Insane in the Mainframe The Route of All Evil Bendin' in the Wind Time Keeps on Slippin' I Dated a Robot A Leela of Her Own A Pharaoh to Remember Anthology of Interest II Roswell That Ends Well Godfellas Future Stock The 30% Iron Chef
List of all Futurama episodes...

"Future Stock" is the 21st episode in the third season of Futurama. The episode first aired on March 31, 2002.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Cultural references 4 Goofs

Planet Express holds its stockholders meeting, and the state of the business is not good. Disinterested in the meeting, Fry and Dr. Zoidberg wander off in search of food. Fry finds his way into a cryogenic defrostee support group meeting, where he meets a sleazy 1980s businessman (referred to only as That Guy) who froze himself to await a cure for his terminal bone-itis. Prior to the actual moment of death, bone-itis apparently displays no visible symptoms.

Fry and That Guy return to the Planet Express stockholders meeting, where a revolt against Professor Farnsworth is in progress. Fry nominates That Guy as new CEO, and That Guy beats out the Professor by one vote. That Guy names Fry his new Vice President, and sets out to remake Planet Express by giving it an expensive image overhaul.

After That Guy wastes piles of money on flying chairs, expensive suits, and an enigmatic television commercial (which is a reference to the 1984 Macintosh commercial), Zoidberg gets fed up and sells his stock to That Guy for a sandwich. After draining the company's funds and its employees' morale, That Guy announces that he is selling Planet Express to Mom.

The takeover begins at the orbiting Intergalactic Stock Exchange, and all the Planet Express employees vote against it. Unfortunately, the stock That Guy bought from Zoidberg gave him controlling interest. But before the final approval takes place, That Guy's uncured bone-itis enters its final stage, causing his body to contort and bones snap, twist and curl until dead. It is remarked he was so busy with the merger he had forgotten to get it treated.

Fry gains control of That Guy's shares, and moves to vote against the merger. The Planet Express staff initially tries to convince him to sell the company, because the sale of their stock will make them all rich. But Fry has already given a speech that drove the stock's price through the floor, and he votes against the merger. The staff leaves to spend the weekend in disappointment over the loss of their potential wealth.

• That Guy's name, although never said during the episode, is given in the script as Steve Castle.
• In this episode Amazon Kug, identifiable by her blue mohawk, is delivered a package in the movie shown to the Planet Express stockholders. Kug also makes appearances in Amazon Women in the Mood when members of the crew crash land on her planet and again in The Sting as one of the women mourning Fry's death.

• The title of the episode is a reference to either the book Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, or the album Future Shock by Herbie Hancock^{[citation needed]}.
• The businessman from the 1980s is loosely based on the character of Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street. In turn, Gekko was modeled after real world corporate raider Ivan Boesky (DVD commentary).
• Fry and "That Guy" initially bond while discussing "The Safety Dance", a 1982 single from one hit wonder Canadian band Men Without Hats. The version they briefly sing is actually the dance remix.
• In the scene where "That Guy" and Fry are watching an ape fight, Calculon is struck by an oversize tricycle hurled from the ring. His angry "Get your stinkin' trike off me, you damn dirty ape!" is an obvious parody of George Taylor's line "Take your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!" from the 1968 film Planet of the Apes.
• During the voting for the future of Planet Express--with the option of two buttons, one in favour, the other opposed--Mom's son, Ignar, inexplicably registers a vote that reads "Pat Buchanan". Ignar attempts to explain by saying that the ballot was unclear. This is a reference to the infamous Florida voting controversy of the 2000 U.S. Presidential election.
• The PlanEx commercial is a parody of the famous 1984 commercial for Apple Computer.
• The stock exchange's giant-image holographic public-address system ("I am Jor-El, Master of Scheduling!") is a reference to a scene in the 1978 Superman film, featuring a character named Jor-El and a tribunal of larger-than-life projected faces.
• "That Guy" had a Miami Vice lunchbox.
• Planet Express becomes PlanEx for a brief period in this episode. This is an obvious parody of FedEx, the courier / logistics service that shortened its name from Federal Express.
• When upset in this episode, Leela states "this toads the wet sprocket". This is a play on the southern California alternative rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket, which in turn comes from a Monty Python skit.
• A stock broker robot orders to "Sell one hundred soylent beans!", referring to the movie Soylent Green.
• The stock exchange space station shows stock abbreviations including RUN and DMC (in reference to hip-hop group Run-D.M.C.), KIRK and GORN (Star Trek references) and FOX (20th Century Fox, the producer of Futurama), the last showing a loss of 61 points. The station's appearance, as well as a waltz playing on the soundtrack, is a reference to a similar scene in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• The sign in the robot Bot mitzvah is in Hebrew and it's meaning is "today you are a robot", as similar to the "today you are a man"/"today you are a woman" line from most of B'nai Mitzvah.
• The musical theme at the end of the Planet Express video is very similar to the music at the end of the Throne Room and End Title music from Star Wars Episode IV
• In the first line by the guy, he says "I was having whiskey with Boesky and cookies with Milken."

• The Hebrew word "Hayom"(Today) in the "Today you are a robot" sign at the Robot Bar Mitzvah ends with the Hebrew letter "Mem" instead of a "Mem-Sophit", the character used in place of a mem when it is at the end of a word.
• Even though Dr. Zoidberg sold his shares to "That Guy" for a sandwich, Dr. Zoidberg is shown voting against the Mom Corp / Planet Express Takeover at the Intergalactic Stock Exchange.