10 Best 'Futurama' Quotes, Ranked
"I'm back baby!"
Over its 11 seasons and counting, animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama has given fans a hilarious look at the future as the series follows pizza delivery guy Fry after being accidentally cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve in 1999, only to awaken 1,000 years later. The show, created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, originally aired on Fox, then was revived by Comedy Central and again more recently by Hulu, after 10 years off the air.
Among Futurama’s smart humor and memorable moments, there are also plenty of quotes, some of which have become catchphrases. Others have taken on a life of their own after the show and now dominate the Internet as memes. And although many of them showcase the show's humor, others go a little deeper with commentary on society, life in general and more.
In “Amazon Women in the Mood,” Zapp and Kif are on a double date with Leela and Amy at the restaurant Palm D’Orbit. After Zap’s lackluster karaoke performance results in the other patrons leaving on escape pods, he pilots the restaurant, saying, “Ahh, she’s built like a steakhouse, but she handles like a bistro!”
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Fans often cite this quote as one of their favorites and one of the best quotes from Zapp Brannigan specifically. It’s a perfect example of the kinds of absurd things he says and suggests the restaurant ship looks tough but handles smoothly.
The crew accompanies him Zoidberg as returns to his home planet for mating season in Season 5’s “Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?” While there, he experiences new feelings, which include, as he puts it, “love jealousy, and passion for disemboweling,” and at one point asks, “Fry, it’s been years since medical school, so remind me. Disemboweling in your species, fatal or non-fatal?"
Zoidberg’s medical expertise, especially when it comes to human, is lacking, to put it lightly, and this is an example of just how little he knows—even when the answer should be pretty obvious and shouldn’t be something one forgets, no matter how long it’s been since med school. It also implies disemboweling isn't fatal for Zoidberg's species, or if it is, it has something to do with their mating process.
In Season 4 episode “Bend Her,” as Bender watches Olympic games, he’s impressed with the athletes but frustrated by his own shortcomings. He says he couldn’t even win a metal at bending, the very task he was built for, and says, “I'm so embarrassed, I wish everybody else was dead.”
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It’s a funny play on melodramatic statements wishing death upon one’s self, especially after something embarrassing. It’s also an example of Bender’s selfishness and an expression of his desire to kill all humans.
On a rescue mission for animals on a doomed planet in Season 1 episode “Love's Labours Lost in Space,” the crew meets Zapp. Fry is impressed and mentions Zapp’s singlehanded defeat of the killbots. “It was simply a matter of outsmarting them,” Zapp explains. "You see, killbots have a preset kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shut down.” And in typical Zapp fashion, he then asks Kif to show off the medal he was awarded.
It’s another classic example of Zapp’s character—he overstates his intelligence, and in reality, his solution was to essentially send an untold umber of his own men on a suicide mission. The point is reinforced later in the episode, when Zapp tells Leela he’s willing to put “wave after wave of men at your disposal,” and his men sit in silence, with the exception of one, who yells, “You suck!”
In Season 4 episode “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings,” Fry wants to impress Leela by learning how to play the Holophone, so he makes a deal with the Robot Devil that leads to the two swapping hands. As Fry writes an an opera commissioned by Hedonismbot, the Robot Devil criticizes his writing, saying, "Your lyrics lack subtlety! You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!"
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It’s a great joke about writing, as the Robot Devil does the very thing he insists is indicative of bad writing—announcing feelings. It’s also a funny moment in what ended up being the show’s finale on Fox.
In Season 3’s “Godfellas,” Bender is shot into space and is worshiped as a god by tiny organisms living on his body—and things don’t go well when he attempts to interfere to improve their lives and get even worse when he becomes completely uninvolved. Eventually, Bender has an interaction with God, who tells him, “When you do things right, people won’t be sure you've done anything at all.”
The quote has resonated with fans over the years. It’s funny while also raising a valid point—when something is done well, the end result and the effort put into it sometimes go unnoticed, and mistakes sometimes receive more attention.
In Season 4’s “A Leela of Her Own,” a new pizza place owned by Cygnoids opens across the street, and Farnsworth isn’t happy about it. When he declares they should “go back where they came from,” Leela chastises him, saying, “Society is never gonna make any progress until we all learn to pretend to like each other.”
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Futurama also offered up social commentary at times, and Leela’s observation here is a perfect example. It’s a sort of half-hearted attempt at correcting Farnsworth that also makes a decent point, and it’s made funnier by the fact the Leela immediately follows it up with an insult, calling them “hideous strangers.”
“Bite my shiny metal ass!” is basically Bender’s iconic catchphrase, most often deployed when he’s annoyed with someone and especially after he’s been insulted. The phrase is among those he uses most often and was his very first line spoken in the very first episode.
It’s a funny line, made even better by the fact that it’s said often enough—it’s one of the most well-known catchphrases on Futurama and has been used in memes. It also perfectly sums up Bender’s abrasive personality.
In Season 6 episode “Attack of the Killer App,” Fry decides to buy an “eyePhone,” and as the clerk describes the problems with the phone, Fry shoves a fistful of cash at them and shouts, “Shut up and take my money!”
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Of all of Futurama’s memorable quotes, “Shut up and take my money!” is among the most recognizable, thanks to its life online as a meme. The sentence perfectly captures excitement for a new, must-have product.
Futurama episode “A Clockwork Origin” takes on the debate of creation versus evolution. When Farnsworth is told his discovery of “Homo Farnsworth” disproves evolution, he states, very matter-of-factly, “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”
“I don’t want to live on this planet anymore” has become another familiar meme, typically used to express frustration with everything from minor annoyances to larger issues. It’s among the most recognizable and memorable Futurama quotes.
NEXT: 5 Times Futurama Predicted the Future
FuturamaMatt Groening David X. Cohen