All The Simpsons & Futurama Easter Eggs In Disenchantment Season 2

There are many Easter eggs hidden in Disenchantment season 2 that pay homage to The Simpsons and Futurama. This is par for the course for series creator Matt Groening, who loves hiding shout-outs and in-jokes in his work – to the point of creating original languages just for the sake of planting coded messages into the backgrounds.

The first season of Disenchantment started the tradition, by hiding a number of Easter eggs relating to the earlier animated series throughout its ten episodes. Most of these were simple sight-gags, like a wig which resembled the distinctive hairdo of Futurama protagonist Phillip J. Fry and 3-eyed animals similar to Blinky the Fish from The Simpsons. There were also some Easter eggs which inspired the fan theory that Futurama and Disenchantment share a universe.

Season 2 of Disenchantment had even more Easter eggs than season 1. Some of them were not very subtle, yet others required a pausing of the Netflix stream to fully perceive. Here is our inventory of every subtle nod and sudden sight-gag referring to The Simpsons and Futurama in Disenchantment Season 2.

The Bender Zog Connection

Every Disenchantment fan worth their salt knows that Bean’s overbearing father, King Zog, is voiced by John DiMaggio – the same actor who played Bender in Futurama. However, those Disenchantment fans who are not yet salt-worthy will probably take the hint by the end of season 2, due to Zog delivering a number of lines connected to Bender Bending Rodriguez’s most famous catchphrases.

In episode 2, “Stairway To Hell,” Zog reclaims his warrior’s spirit, while trying to rescue Prince Merkimer from a hoard of hungry Bozaks, who raided Dreamland, stole its treasures and ran off with the prince-turned-pig. Inspired by the smell of roasting bacon, the hunger-crazed Zog leaps into battle with the warcry, “Bite my shiny metal axe!” This is a paraphrase of Bender’s catch-phrase “Bite my shiny metal ass!”

Later, in episode 8, “In Her Own Write,” Zog goes to the theater to see a play called The King And Me. Showing his usual impatience, once Zog is seated in his royal box, he demands the play start by shouting “Let’s go, already!” Again, this is one of Bender’s catch-phrases on Futurama. It is also worth noting that Zog’s crown has a protrusion very much like Bender’s antenna, which makes the same springy sound effect when it is touched.

Hell’s Assembly Line

When Elfo arrives in Hell in episode 2, “Stairway To Hell,” he is sent on a painful trip through a torturous assembly line. Pummeled by boxing gloves and prodded by pistons before being beaten with a stuffed bunny, this gives Elfo a taste of the torment that is to come. The whole sequence is reminiscent of Homer Simpson’s journey to Hell in the “Devil And Homer Simpson” sequence from “Treehouse of Horror IV,” where Homer was beaten and cut into pieces while enduring a similar factory line.

Transport Tubes

Once he is off of the assembly line, Elfo is stuffed into a tube, which painfully transports his soul across Hell at breakneck speeds. The design of these tubes is exactly like the transport tubes used in place of subways in New New York in Futurama. Talk about your soul-crushing commutes!

Escape From Hell

“Stairway To Hell” sees Luci earning his wings (in a dark parody of It’s A Wonderful Life) by betraying Bean and Elfo to the forces of Hell. Luckily, this is all part of Luci’s plan, as he intends to use the power he gains from being promoted to a Level 2 demon to fly himself and his friends out of Hell. This is similar to how Bender was able to escape from Robot Hell in the Futurama episode “Hell Is Other Robots” by acquiring a set of wings and flying himself, Fry and Leela to freedom.

A Primitive Holophoner?

In the world of Futurama, the holophoner is a musical instrument which creates beautiful illusions based on the tune played by the musician. According to Leela, only a few people possess the skill to play the instrument and even they are not very good at it. A scepter resembling the holophoner (or perhaps a magical version of it) can be seen in the background of one store room, as Zog talks with Bean in episode 4, “The Lonely Heart Is a Hunter.”

All Glory To The Plush Hypno-Toad!

In episode 7, “Love’s Slimy Embrace,” we get a glimpse of Prince Derek’s stuffed animal collection, which Elfo reportedly helped him alphabetize. In the middle of all the toys, we see a stuffed frog wearing a crown, whose distinctive eyes resemble those of the Hypno-Toad from Futurama. The plushie also wears a collar around its neck, like that of Kermit The Frog from The Muppets.

The Gunderson Family Name

Episode 9, “The Electric Princess,” centers around Bean’s efforts to help a young airship pilot named Sky Gunderson return home to Steamland and her own journey to the science-based nation. The Gunderson name has been mentioned before in both of Matt Groening’s earlier animated series. In The Simpsons, it’s the last name of “good old Gil” – the unluckiest salesman in Springfield and “The Futurama Holiday Spectacular” was sponsored by Gunderson’s Unshelled Nuts.

A Connection Between The Gundersons And Farnsworths?

The Gunderson family may have a connection to the Farnsworths of Futurama, as Sky Gunderson looks like a younger version of Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. Flashback episodes of Futurama have revealed that before going bald, Professor Farnsworth had red hair and that he needed thick glasses even as a young man. Sky Gunderson has red hair and wears thick goggles. Episode 9, “The Electric Princess,” reveals two more connections between the families; Sky’s business, Gunderson Airships, is located on Farnsworth Boulevard and Sky has a model of the Planet Express ship Professor Farnsworth designed in his secret research lab.

Assorted Lengths Of Wire

Perhaps the most compelling evidence of a connection between the Farnsworths and the Gundersons comes when Bean is searching through Sky’s crashed ship. At one point, she opens a drawer and discovers that it is filled with assorted lengths of wire. In the pilot episode of Futurama, Professor Farnsworth took great care in showing the drawer where he kept “assorted lengths of wire” to Fry, Leela and Bender while offering them a tour of his office. A close examination of both drawers reveal that all the wires are the exact same shapes.

Otto’s Automatons Has A Fry-Bot

Episode 9, “The Electric Princess,” has a sequence in which Bean escapes into Steamland and is enraptured by all the scientific wonders on display. The scene is somewhat reminiscent of Fry’s first time being exposed to New New York in the Futurama pilot. Indeed, as if to drive the point home, a clockwork robot who resembles a better-groomed Fry can be spotted in the window of one of the stores that fascinate Bean.

The “How To Spell…” Gag

“Tiabeanie Falls,” the season finale of Disenchantmentseason 2, sees Princess Bean put on trial for witchcraft and the attempted murder of King Zog. Many of Dreamland’s citizens are called to testify against her, including spa-worker/bartender Chazzzzz, who advises the court stenographer that his name is spelled with 5 Z’s. The surly scribe responds, “I think I’ve done enough court reporting to know how to spell Chazzzzz.” This joke has the same punchline as one of the most famous one-liners from “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” – the Star Trek/Futurama crossover, where an equally irritated George Takei informed his energy-being captor that he was well aware of how to spell the name Melllvar properly (i.e. with 3 L’s) after years of working conventions.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1836 Articles Published)

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Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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