Great animated characters don’t just appear out of thin air; they require creative ideas. Like how the inspiration for Mickey Mouse came from anti-Semitic old-time minstrel shows, which Disney certainly doesn’t like people bringing up these days, and Popeye the Sailor Guy was inspired by a real-life grizzled sailor guy.
Speaking of the scary, all-consuming power of Disney, Futurama is returned and is now available on Hulu. So where did the bizarre cast of eccentric characters from the program originate?
Matt Groening and his Futurama team looked to some genuinely unexpected sources for inspiration after quickly running out of close relatives to rapidly transform into cartoon characters for legal concerns, such as how…
Fry’s Look Was Copied From James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause
The most likable nut in the world is Philip J. Fry. Sure, he’s saved the universe once or twice, but he’s also had s*x with his grandmother after going back in time and becoming his own grandfather, as well as making out with a radiator.
Fry’s appearance was modeled after James Dean, one of the coolest movie stars in popular culture history, even though Fry is far from being stereotypically cool.
Yes, as Groening once disclosed, Dean famously wore the identical costume in Rebel Without a Cause, which, as far as we know, does not contain cryogenics or inebriated robots, in addition to Fry’s wardrobe of a red jacket, a white shirt, and pants.
Bender Was Allegedly Designed to Look Like a Robot From a Crazy ’70s Movie
Bender Bending Rodriguez, the world’s favorite alcohol-powered robot, is unquestionably one of Futurama’s most well-liked characters. Many people appear to believe that Necron 99, the robotic sidekick of an evil mutant sorcerer/neo-Nazi in Ralph Bakshi’s bizarre 1977 animated picture Wizards, had an effect on Bender’s design.
You can read our previous posts related to the character of other series or movies:
- Most Loved Monster Inc. Characters See Which One Is Your Favorite?
- The Top 10 Characters in Fire Emblem: Engage, Based on a Fan Vote
Although the two robots don’t exactly resemble one another, Bender’s antenna is reminiscent to its villainous counterpart from the 1970s. Groening has not acknowledged Wizards’ influence, although Bakshi has pointed out the parallels.
Leela Was Named After a 1949 Symphony
Although you may be excused for thinking that “Turanga Leela” is just one of the honorable sewer mutant people’s common names, Leela’s unique monicker actually comes from a posh location. It turns out that she was given the name Turangalîla after Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie.
The 1949 original performance of the symphony was about love and the meaning of life. Though its meaning is almost untranslatable the word Turangalîa is a combination of Sanskrit words. It hasn’t yet been modified for the Holophonor, for whatever reason. For more details see the tweet below:
The 8 actors that voiced more than 200 Futurama characters http://t.co/q4tdutPGZW pic.twitter.com/b0Par9Bhk7
— Catsuka
(@catsuka) July 18, 2015
Zoidberg’s Voice Came from ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’
The resident doctor/grotesque lobster-like monster (complete with stink glands) on Planet Express, Dr. John A. Zoidberg, is without a doubt one of the silliest characters on the program, regardless of species. This is a man who, in one of his more honorable moments, rode a coworker’s sperm like a cowboy – literally, not as a s*x euphemism.
Surprisingly, one of history’s most tragic tales has some influence on Zoidberg’s invention. Billy West, an actor, claims that the voice of Zoidberg is a combination of his impressions of the comedians Lou Jacobi and George Jessel. He was particularly influenced by Jacobi’s work on the 1959 movie version of The Diary of Anne Frank.
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