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List of recurring human characters from Futurama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article discusses human recurring characters. For robotic recurring characters, see List of recurring robot characters from Futurama. For all others, see List of recurring alien characters from Futurama.
Futurama has a large number of recurring characters which help add comic energy to the series. The most significant human recurring character is Zapp Brannigan.[1] Futurama's human recurring characters are listed here.
The technology to keep heads alive in jars was introduced in the pilot episode and is one of the most important of the fictional technologies featured in the series. In the episode "A Big Piece of Garbage", Ron Popeil reveals that he was the creator of this technology. The technology is crucial to Futurama's connection with 20th and 21st century culture since it allows significant figures from the past to make appearances in the series. This also allows for contemporary celebrities to make guest appearances as themselves.[1]
The opinion on life in a jar seems to be somewhat split as Nimoy's head initially refers to it as being "a life of quiet dignity." His opinion appears to change in a later episode, when he claims "I'm living in a gefilte fish jar." George Foreman's head has an even dimmer view, claiming to "envy the dead" (Rich Little's head agrees).
(Voiced by himself) - Al Gore is First Emperor of the Moon and has "ridden the mighty moon worm" (possibly a reference to Paul Atreides riding a sandworm in Dune). He sports an almost excessively elaborate jar; not only is the base colored silver-white, but possesses several hologram projectors, two small rockets for mobility, a pair of lasers, and is backed with the top of a cape. By the year 3000, Gore's head appears on the five-hundred dollar bill. In the episode "Crimes of the Hot", he claims to have invented the environment (a reference to Gore being popularly misquoted as having said he "invented the internet") and is the author of Earth in the Balance and the much more popular Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth, in which he explains that the environment must be protected from global warming and dark wizards.
Gore appears fully intact in "Anthology of Interest I", in which the characters watched a What-If machine simulation of events had Fry had not fallen into the cryogenics tube on New Year's Eve, 1999. This would have led to a tear in the space-time continuum which Gore, then leader of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers, was tasked by the U.S. Constitution to prevent.
Al Gore voiced his head again in the first of the four DVD movies, Futurama: Bender's Big Score. He initially appears in the year 2000, apparently supervising the Florida ballot counting. Bender walks in and vaporizes Gore's ballot box while searching for Fry. Gore appears again in 2012, now driving a hybrid taxi. Bender hires him to follow Fry's taxi, but is propelled from the vehicle by an unfortunate crash. Gore laments losing the $100 fare, complaining that it could have bought him a single gallon of gas. Finally, Gore's head appears as one of the many ships in Leela's fleet. He destroys one of the solid gold Death Stars by flying into the Achilles vent, happy to have the chance to "save the world with deadly lasers instead of deadly slide shows."
The real-life Gore has said that Futurama is his favorite show. His daughter, Kristin Gore Cusack, was a writer for the show in its later seasons. Gore has also voiced the cartoon version of himself in the promotional video, entitled A Terrifying Message from Al Gore for An Inconvenient Truth along with John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender) and Billy West (the narrator).
(Voiced by himself) - In addition to the pilot episode, Nimoy's head appears in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", along with the heads of other cast members of the original Star Trek: William Shatner, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols (who would also appear, intact, in "Anthology of Interest I") and Walter Koenig, all voiced by the real-life actors. An animated version of DeForest Kelley (by then deceased) appears but does not speak. The episode also contains a brief cameo by the head of Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Jonathan Frakes. Leonard Nimoy states at one point that life as a head in a jar is a quiet, dignified life. However, after being given a new body by an alien and later having to give it up, Nimoy is obviously upset and states "I am living in a gefilte fish jar".
(Voiced by Billy West[1]) - Nixon's Head is introduced in the pilot episode when Fry and Bender run into the head museum to evade the police. They wander into the Hall of Presidents, and Fry knocks Nixon's head off the shelf by accident. In "A Head in the Polls", Nixon's head achieves mobility by having his jar mounted on Bender's body. He then runs for President of Earth, winning by a single vote.[1] Nixon's head returns Bender's body the night before the election, blackmailed by an audio recording Bender had made of Nixon's head ranting about the stupidity of voters and his intent, if elected, to go into people's houses at night and "wreck up the place" and to sell children's organs to zoos for meat. He manages to quickly secure a much larger robotic body, smashing his way into the White House after his election.
Nixon's head's administration is marked by a violent and aggressive foreign policy, frequently entering into wars which have little or no purpose, and which occasionally backfire, leading to Earth being invaded by alien forces. Nixon's head is a common character throughout the series, providing humor through his 1960s outlook on life and his aggressive, unpredictable persona. Nixon's head is sometimes accompanied by the headless body of Spiro T. Agnew, Nixon's first historical Vice President. Agnew's body, however, is given to Ogden Wernstrom as a form of payment in "Crimes of the Hot". In the final episode, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", Nixon's head is taken to Robot Hell by the Robot Devil for their poker game.
In several commentaries, Billy West has commented that he is not impersonating Richard Nixon for the role; he's impersonating Anthony Hopkins in the movie Nixon (with "a little bit of werewolf"). Matt Groening also frequently expresses his pleasure that he can continue to poke fun at Nixon thirty or forty years after he was in office.
In the episode "A Head in the Polls", it is shown that he has a head in a jar of his dog, Checkers, whom he tells to shut up.
(Voiced by David Herman) - A priest in the First Amalgamated Church, a mixture of many 20th century religions. Wears a bindi on his forehead (Hinduism), wears a mitre and clerical collar (Catholicism) with a yin-yang symbol on the peak (Taoism), payot (Judaism), an orange wrap (Buddhism) with a shoulder scarf adorned with stars and moons (spiritism). Father Changstein-El-Gamal counsels Fry in "Godfellas" and later presides over Fry's funeral in "The Sting" (the funeral actually occurs during Leela's coma; in actual life, Fry was seated by her hospital bed for two weeks, talking to her in order to keep her mind together and in an attempt to wake her). He is generally not very helpful. In reality the term El-Gamal refers to a widely used public key cryptosystem.
(Voiced by Bumper Robinson) - 13 year-old son of Hermes Conrad and LaBarbara Conrad. He has a friendship with Cubert Farnsworth. Dwight takes after his father in many ways, such as finding accounting and bureaucracy more entertaining than more conventional sources of fun. He also resembles his father in his references to the sloppy Joe brand, Manwich; i.e., the way in which Dwight screams "My Manwich!" in the episode "The Route of All Evil" is very similar to the way Hermes screams the same words as Bender uses his sandwich as fishing bait in the episode "The Deep South". Dwight sports dreadlocks and a T-shirt with the Jamaican flag on it. In the episode "The Route of All Evil", a bully throws Dwight's lunch pack into a black hole he and Cubert made for their science project. He also was once the shared owner of the delivery company Awesome Express and helped take over Planet Express when it was discovered that Professor Farnsworth had previously declared himself dead as a tax dodge.
(Voiced by Dawnn Lewis) - Hermes Conrad's wife. She is considerably taller than Hermes and is usually seen wearing revealing clothes. LaBarbara was previously married to Barbados Slim, a tall, muscular athlete (whom she refers to as "that mahogany god") who won the 500m limbo gold medal in the 3004 Olympics. She accompanies her husband on a trip on the Starship Titanic and another to Spa 5, which turns out to be a slave labor camp. She and her husband often refer to each other only as "husband" and "wife". In "The Route of All Evil," Hermes and LaBarbara's home is shown as very sumptuous. She always seems to wear clothes that expose her navel just like Amy Wong.
The orphans from the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium (where Leela spent her childhood) are first featured in the episode "The Cyber House Rules". Bender briefly adopts twelve of them, seeing a chance for profit in government stipends; but he is arrested, as are the orphans. The orphanarium is briefly renamed in honor of Bender but the "Cookieville" name returns in a later episode.
Some of the orphans also appear as cameos in other episodes, including "The Why of Fry" (while on a Cookieville field trip to a skating rink); "Leela's Homeworld" (cheering for Leela after she is crowned "Orphan of the Year"); "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" (as "cool kids" attending Cubert and Dwight's birthday party); and in "Three Hundred Big Boys" (in the audience while watching Mushu the Whale perform stunts). The three orphans that appear most often are named Albert, Nina, and Sally.
Albert is voiced by Kath Soucie; he has been seen smoking cigars and is known to drink espresso. He is described by Leela as "kind of fatty". Nina is also voiced by Kath Soucie. Sally is voiced by Nicole St. John. Sally has a third ear on her forehead which she is teased about. She claims to also have a tail. Leela wants to adopt her after feeling sympathy for her since they were both teased because of their abnormalities.
The orphanarium is run by Mr. Vogel, voiced by David Herman. In "Leela's Homeworld" he is shown to have found Leela on the doorstep of the orphanarium after being left there by her parents. He also finds the note from her parents written in Alien Language One and saves it in her file. As part of his duties, he keeps records on all of the Cookieville orphans. He has a photographic memory and has held the rank of Level 135 Bureaucrat throughout the time covered in the show. He makes short appearances in "The Why of Fry" and "Three Hundred Big Boys".
(Voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Morbo's human co-anchor, she seems to be blissfully unaware of or indifferent to his hatred for humanity, often giggling absentmindedly in classically unaware news anchor fashion, as Morbo says things like "Morbo congratulates our gargantuan cyborg president. May death come quickly to his enemies!" (on Richard Nixon's election). Linda appears to be vapid and unintelligent, providing comic relief to Morbo's violent comments. She also flashes her chest to Zapp Brannigan in exchange for some beads on Freedom Day. Linda was inspired by Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight, even hosting a television series with Morbo called Entertainment and Earth Invasion Tonite.
Hattie McDoogal is the resident crotchety-old-lady of the Futurama universe. She lives alone with her cats in New New York. Her wardrobe always consists of her pink nightgown and slippers. She also has a lazy eye. Frequently she likes to use nonsense words and phrases such as "whatcha-ma-call-it", "kajiggers", and "thingy" to refer to different objects and people.
In "I, Roommate", Hattie is the brief landlady for Philip J. Fry and Bender and, in "Brannigan Begin Again", hired Kif Kroker, then unemployed, as a male prostitute, which, considering Kif has no bones, may be related to her comment of liking "a man who is flexible." She was robbed in "Xmas Story" by Bender and his gaggle of homeless, Xmas-chorusing robots. Their loot included a slipper tree, wedding pictures, and two urns containing two former husbands. It is revealed in "Future Stock" that Hattie owns one share of stock of the Planet Express Delivery company, which proved decisive during a vote to elect a new CEO; she voted against Hubert Farnsworth whom she angrily called "the cat-hater". Hattie also apparently survived another boyfriend, as heard in "The Sting". In "A Flight to Remember," she is seen dating the Professor.
She is comparable to Eleanor Abernathy ("The Crazy Cat Lady") from The Simpsons. Hattie's surname is revealed in Futurama Comics #5.
Hattie is voiced by Tress MacNeille.
(Voiced by John DiMaggio) - A recurring generic surly, overweight, blue-collar worker with a thick Bronx accent. His first appearance is as a janitor on the moon in "The Series Has Landed", servicing the machines in the amusement park. He has appeared many times since, always employed in a tedious job which he does not do well ("What's do I looks like, a guy who's not lazy?"). In this regard, he is similar to the nameless balding smart aleck who appears in a variety of jobs on The Simpsons. Some fans have speculated that there are numerous Sals, all cloned from the original, which would account for his showing up working many jobs. Either that, or he simply gets fired/resigns and finds new employment on a regular basis. Even among the series' writers, there is confusion on the matter. He has a habit of pluralizing words that needn't be pluralized; ("He's busteds, gets hims outta heres") and vice versa (Whoas! Cripe!), which becomes more pronounced as the series progresses. He shows close similarities to Sgt. Luther Rizzo from M*A*S*H, in his lines, demeanour and appearance, and also bears an uncanny resemblance to Onslow from the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, in his attitude, attire, and personality. Interestingly, on at least one occasion, he bears a resemblance to the farmer on the moon from the second episode. However, this is thought to be simply coincidental by many.
Sal's numerous jobs have included:
- Janitor in Luna Park ("The Series Has Landed")
- Bus driver ("Put Your Head on My Shoulder")
- Cleaner ("The Honking")
- Tattooed art exhibit on loan from the Louvre ("The Cryonic Woman")
- Truck driver/construction worker ("Parasites Lost")
- Factory foreman ("Bendless Love")
- Working on the New York Hole Project ("Bendin' in the Wind")
- Newspaper-truck driver ("The Route of All Evil")
- Owner/operator of Sal's Wrecking Co ("I Dated a Robot")
- Robot Mechanic ("Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV")
- Demolition worker ("A Pharaoh to Remember")
- Sewage treatment worker ("Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles")
- Owner/operator of an asteroid junkyard (Futurama (video game))
- Pulling the cart holding the heads of the Supreme Court Justices ("A Taste of Freedom")
- Dumping a load of pandas for the scammer aliens, and as part of the fleet against the scammer aliens ("Bender's Big Score")
(Voiced by David Herman) - The Planet Express janitor, appearing in 12 episodes in the original 4 seasons. He first appears in the episode "A Fishful of Dollars", where he is seen metal sanding Bender's back after Fry takes the crew to Le Spa. A recurring joke is that because he interacts so little with the rest of the employees, nobody ever remembers seeing him before. When fellow employees ask who he is he answers with: 'Scruffy, the janitor', his explanation of why they haven't seen him before is that he hasn't seen them before either. Scruffy frequently refers to himself in the third person and speaks in a voice reminiscent of Karl Childers, the protagonist of the movie Sling Blade. In "Future Stock", it is revealed that he has vast holdings of Planet Express stock because "...Scruffy believes in this company...[sniff]". Also when in an unfavorable situation Scruffy will often mutter "Oh marmalade..." In later episodes it is revealed that Scruffy is actually quite intelligent and can concoct brilliant plans almost immediately. Scruffy is an ex-con, stating: "Prison ain't so bad. You can make sangria in the terlet. 'Course it's shank or be shanked."
Another recurring joke is that everyone does know who Scruffy is. In the episode "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry tells his co-workers that he didn't tell anyone the location of his clover, "not even Scruffy", which cuts to a brief scene of Scruffy glaring at Fry before leaving the room.
Scruffy is lazy and can usually be found in the basement of the building, watching the boiler (but never actually fixing it) and reading Zero-G Juggs or National Pornographic (parodies of real-life magazines Juggs and National Geographic). His inertia is such that when the boiler begins to dangerously rumble, seconds from exploding, his only reaction is to calmly declare "Scruffy's gonna die the way he lived," and turn the page in his magazine. In the Futurama video game, he is asleep in the (flooded) basement of Planet Express with an adult magazine. In Futurama Comics, he tells Zapp Brannigan that he has "naked pictures of Leela". He also is seen doing many odd jobs, such as in "Hell Is Other Robots" where he pushes a cart holding the heads of Mike D, Ad-Rock, and MCA from the Beastie Boys onto the stage for a concert which Leela, Fry and Bender were attending.
He also takes some pride in his appearance, getting a new haircut and pink dye job in Three Hundred Big Boys, stating that his previous hairstyle had "lost its pizzazz". He is Scottish, as shown in "The Sting", where he plays bagpipes and wears a kilt at Fry's "funeral" (it occurs during Leela's coma).
Years of pollution, radioactive waste, and "good old American feces" poured into the sewers under New New York have created a society of mutants. They have established schools, businesses and churches in an effort at normalcy and are forbidden to travel to the surface without special permission. In the pilot episode Leela says that mutants are just a myth, though everyone seems to know about them and there are laws to keep them off the streets. They first appear in "I Second That Emotion", though the underground ruins of Old New York are seen as early as "Space Pilot 3000".
Among the more prominent mutants in the series are Dwayne, Raoul and Vyolet. Dwayne is a mutant with two noses and a large forehead, voiced by David Herman. He is a teacher at Martin Luther Thing, Jr. High School ("Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"), and has been known to play the guitar. He also appears to be the resident folklore expert. Inglis Raoul,[2] voiced by Maurice LaMarche, is the "Supreme Mutant", the democratically elected leader of the sewer mutants. His most notable mutation is a third arm, which has grown in place of his right ear. He has a slight British accent. He is romantically involved with (and possibly married to) Vyolet, voiced by Tress MacNeille. She is a chain-smoking mutant with gills and a pig nose. In the episode "Leela's Homeworld", Bender ruins her wedding dress, indicating that following that episode she was married, most likely to Raoul.
(Voiced by David Herman) - Father of Leela. A mutant who lives in the sewer, he has one eye, a vertically oriented mouth, and sheds his skin. Very irresponsible; encourages the consumption of alcohol by practically everyone, including children. ("No beer until you finish your tequila!") Both he and his wife appear in the first episode to feature the sewer mutants, "I Second That Emotion", though they are not wearing the hoods they later use to conceal their identities from Leela, nor do they speak to or confront their daughter. They are only shown while Dwayne is telling the story of El Chupanibre. In the DVD commentary for that episode, Matt Groening and the others indicate that they would shout out when an important hint was dropped, and they all say "DING!" repeatedly when Morris and Munda appear.
(Voiced by Tress MacNeille) - Mother of Leela. She has one eye, a lion tail, ungulate legs, and octopus tentacles in place of arms (though shown with normal arms in "I Second That Emotion", the writers on the commentary do entertain the possibility that they could have been fake arms over her tentacles), as well as purple hair. Has a Ph. D in Exolinguistics, which enabled her to write the indecipherable note left with Leela at the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium to convince them that she was an alien, which would allow her to live a more comfortable life on the surface.
(Voiced by Billy West) - Policeman in New New York. Together with URL, they are the partners of police patrol car 718. He is sometimes seen with a lightsaber that he uses as a nightstick. He appears primarily in the episode "Space Pilot 3000", and later in the episode "I, Roommate", but is in almost every episode in which police are involved. In "A Tale of Two Santas", it is revealed that he has been fired from his job, but anticipates reinstatement following his capture of Bender, whom he and URL mistook for Robot Santa. He is partnered with URL, whom he may be attracted to in a romantic manner, in a parody of buddy-cop movie formula.
Members of the Waterfall family represent stereotypes of environmental left-wing politics. All their appearances have been voiced by Phil Hendrie, and the male members of the clan have a pattern of dying in comically violent ways. The first appearance of a Waterfall family member was Free Waterfall, Jr. in "The Problem with Popplers" as a vegetarian environmentalist who acted as spokesman for "Mankind for Ethical Animal Treatment" (MEAT). At the end of the episode he was eaten by Lrrr. Free Waterfall, Sr. appeared next as the founder of Penguins Unlimited in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" and is pecked to death by the end of the episode. Old Man Waterfall also appears in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" where he vows to avenge his son's death. He later appears in "A Taste of Freedom" where he admits to being a bisexual, Satan worshipping, polygamist, Libertarian and acts as Zoidberg's lawyer. He is eventually crushed by the Decapodian Mobile Oppression Palace, at which point his great-granddaughter Frida Waterfall appears and laments his death ("another victim of the man-o-centric male-ocracy!"). Free Waterfall III appears only in Futurama Comics, issue 5 where he is a contestant on "Who's Dying to be a Gazilionaire?" He is killed during the million-dollar question by a giant laser. It is possible another Waterfall family member will be introduced in the Futurama movie, The Wild Green Yonder, in which Hendrie is again providing a voice.
(Voiced by David Herman)- Wernstrom is the ponytail-wearing rival of Professor Farnsworth (who usually greets Ogden with a contemptful "Wernstrom!") who resents the "A-" grade Farnsworth gave him for sloppy penmanship when Wernstrom was completing his senior year in 2900. Wernstrom is in his 120s, at least forty years younger than Farnsworth. Wernstrom swore revenge, "even if it takes [him] a hundred years!" In 3000, Wernstrom finally achieves his goal when Wernstrom beat Farnsworth in the Annual Inventors' Symposium, publicly giving Farnsworth's Smelloscope the worst grade imaginable, an "A - -".
Despite this condemnation, the Smell-o-scope proves essential in saving the Earth from a giant mass of waste in orbit from the 21st Century. Wernstrom is given the task of stopping the great mass of trash when Farnsworth's plan, to blow it up with a time bomb, fails when he incorrectly wires the timer. For his cooperation, Wernstrom demands and receives tenure, a big research grant, a lab, and five graduate students (at least three of them Chinese by his request). He then abandons the city of New New York to its doom (since he has tenure, he cannot be fired). Wernstrom's Inventors' Symposium award is stripped from him after Farnsworth and the Planet Express crew come up with a second plan, which manages to save New New York, thus prompting another promise of revenge, "even if it takes another hundred years!"
Wernstrom's voice bears a close resemblance to that of Dr. Strangelove, whose eponymous film is once again referenced in the closing credits ("A Big Piece of Garbage").
Wernstrom also appears at the Professor's 150th birthday party ("A Clone of My Own") and in the audience of the Nobel Prize ceremony ("Anthology of Interest II"). He later devises a plan to combat global warming with a giant space mirror in "Crimes of the Hot"; but after this goes awry, he teams up with President Nixon's Head to use the mirror to deactivate every robot on Earth - the robots having been revealed as the source of greenhouse gasses. His final appearance is in "Obsoletely Fabulous" presenting his killbot at Roboticon 3003; he manages to get into a fistfight with Professor Farnsworth over whose killbot was better. The killbots are disgusted by this display of violence and go for a paddleboat ride together.
Leo Wong, (voiced by Billy West) and Inez Wong, (voiced by Lauren Tom) are the very wealthy but meddlesome parents of Amy Wong. They are human Martians of Chinese descent. They own the entire western hemisphere of Mars (the best hemisphere), and live on the "Wong" buggalo ranch. At an undefined point, their ancestor Sir Reginald Wong bought half of Mars from the native Martians for only one bead (a reference to the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Native Americans for 24 dollars worth of beads). It is later revealed that the bead in question is a gargantuan diamond.
Throughout the series Leo and Inez are often seen pestering Amy about their lack of grandchildren and meddling in her love life, trying to find a man to father their grandchild. In "A Flight to Remember", they introduce Amy to Kif Kroker; but when the two begin dating, they decide he is not man enough for Amy. They do seem happy, however, when he and Amy have children; though considering their kids will not be old enough to raise for twenty years, it is possible they will continue to pester her about her love life.
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| Media | Episodes (by Broadcast Order) · Comic books · Video game · DVD movies |
| Main characters | Philip J. Fry · Turanga Leela · Bender B. Rodríguez · Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth · Doctor John Zoidberg · Hermes Conrad · Amy Wong |
| Recurring characters | Zapp Brannigan · Kif Kroker · Nibbler · Cubert Farnsworth · Calculon · Mom · Recurring human characters · Recurring robot characters · Recurring alien characters |
| Politics and religion | United States of Earth · Religion in Futurama |
| Technology | Cryonics · Nimbus · Planet Express Ship · Robots in Futurama · Suicide booth |
| Other | Planet Express Corporation · Chroniton · List of guest stars on Futurama · List of Futurama crew |