The Series Has Landed/References

Episode	References	Appearances	Transcript	Goofs	Gallery

Trivia

• This is the 1st episode to have Maurice LaMarche credited.
• The redneck farmer says that "oxygen doesn't grow on trees", but trees (and other green plants) absorb carbon dioxide and excrete oxygen, so oxygen does grow on trees in a sense.
• Dr. Zoidberg has teeth for the first few episodes, starting with this one.
• Zoidberg's surname came from a game that David Cohen programmed named "Zoid". He sent it into a company to see if he could sell the idea, but was rejected.
• In this episode, as well as "The Lesser of Two Evils", it's shown that the people of the future have lost all touch with history, but in the rest of the series, they show remarkable knowledge of history.
• Opening theme caption: "IN HYPNO-VISION"
• Opening theme cartoon: Baby Bottleneck (1946, Warner Bros.)
• There is a sign that reads "Orlon Candy" above a stand. Orlon is a synthetic fiber resembling cotton, thus cotton candy. This is immediately followed by Fry remarking how artificial everything is.
• Leela pulls the "Archduke Chocula" cereal box out of nowhere.
• The moon farmer's hat reads "The Moon Shall Rise Again".
• Merchandise available at Lunar Park includes a t-shirt that reads "I'm With Stupid... on the Moon!", a bumper sticker that reads "My Other Car is a Porsche... on the Moon!" and a refrigerator magnet that says "What part of MOON don't you understand?!"
• The sign that appears outside the robot whalers ride reads "Whalers of the Sea of Tranquility".
• When on the Moon, there are bales of hay on the ceiling of the barn.
• One of the Goophy Gophers is missing an eye.
• There is a man in the "Lunar Park" admissions line with a t-shirt that reads "MOON-U", possibly meaning that there is a University on the Moon.
  • Alternatively, the man is wearing a t-shirt with a rude comment on it.
• The faces on the dollar bills Bender steals from Amy's wallet are not in the exact centre.
• Bender stole Amy's money, but she still has some to play the claw game with. This shows that she is extremely rich.
• While on the Moon in the amusement park, a pink sign in Alien Language #1 appears behind Bender, reading "TASTY HUMAN BURGERS".
• We learn that exposure to magnets messes up Bender's inhibition unit, causing him to sing folk songs.
• The plaque inside the Lunar Lander reads "Lander returned to this site by the Historical Sticklers Society".
• When Fry and Leela were jumping across a "stream" of crocodiles, you can see that they have helmets on... but where do they get their air from?
• While under the influence of a souvenir magnet, Bender sings a line of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind", namely "How many roads must a man walk down?". In addition to this being one of several Dylan references in the series, it's worth noting that "How many roads must a man walk down?" is chosen by Loonquawl and Phouchg in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the ultimate question of life, universe, and everything.
• Many of the characters have quieter voices. This is usual for the first few episodes.

Notes

• This episode was nominated for an Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production".
• According to the show's producers, and the Season 1 DVD, a scene in an early version of this episode had the Crushinator indicate to her father that she was pregnant with Bender's child.
• According to rough sketches on Disc 3 of the Season 1 DVD, Hermes' name was originally going to be "Dexter".
• According to the DVD commentary, the Professor's line about the commercial being aired during the Super Bowl was written when they thought this episode would premiere right after the Super Bowl, but Family Guy took the time-slot instead.
• According to the DVD commentary, Amy does, in fact, speak actual Chinese when she gets upset.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Amy Wong, Hermes Conrad, Dr. John Zoidberg, Sal, Mr. H.G. Blob, and the Crushinator.

Allusions

Luna Park

Luna Park was the name of a real theme park in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

LEGO

The emblems on Fry and Leela's spacesuits are identical to the emblems on old LEGO astronaut figures. In recent years, they've been making more intricately decorated spaceman figures, but on the old figures, they all had the same gold planet and rocket orbit logo.

Apple Macintosh 128K

Daisy May 128K is a possible reference to Apple's first Mac, the Macintosh 128K.

The Jetsons

The Crushinator looks like one of the robot football players from the animated TV series The Jetsons.

The Delphi Bureau

The scene where the Moon farmer chases Bender in a combine harvester is a direct reference to the TV miniseries The Delphi Bureau.

Star Trek

The "Admiral Crunch" cereal box is a subtle reference to Star Trek, most noticeably Star Trek: The Next Generation. Whenever we take a look into the "future", the captains are always admirals.

Sleeper

The scene with the dismembered robot heads is reminiscent of the Woody Allen movie Sleeper.

Nike

The Nike "swoosh" logo is seen on the sole of Fry's spacesuit boot.

Little Hot Riding Hood

Lulubelle 7 looks like the "country" version of Little Red Riding Hood from Tex Avery's cartoon Little Hot Riding Hood.

Liberty Bell 7

Lulubelle 7's name is a reference to the Mercury capsule Liberty Bell 7, which Virgil "Gus" Grissom piloted during his suborbital spaceflight in July of 1961.

Deliverance

The moon farmer and his robot daughters chasing the Planet Express crew is a reference to the 1972 film Deliverance.

Cereals

Cereals seen within the episode include 'Admiral Crunch', which is a parody of Captain Crunch, and 'Archduke Chocula', which is a parody of Count Chocula.

Apollo 11

When Apollo 11 first landed on the moon, the phrase "the eagle has landed" was used by Neil Armstrong. The title of the episode is a play on that.

Kermit the Frog

A stuffed Kermit toy can be seen in the claw machine when Bender and Amy are trying to retrieve the Planet Express ship keys.

Destination Moon

The moon-buggy ride is called "Destination Moon", a reference to the Robert Heinlein short story and the 1950 film of the same name, as well as the sixteenth story of the Adventures of Tintin comic book series.

MTV

Fry refers to the moon flag planted by Neil Armstrong as the "flag from MTV". A promo using the Apollo 11 landing footage was the first thing shown when MTV was launched in 1981.

Disneyland

• Amy calls Luna Park "the happiest place orbiting Earth". This is a take-off on Disneyland's tagline "The happiest place on Earth".
• A door within the park with a 33 on it can be seen, a reference to Disneyland's "Club 33", the only place within the park where alcohol is served.
• The first ride the team go on is a take-off of the Disneyland Anaheim ride Pirates of the Caribbean.
• The "Goophy Gopher Revue" is presented by Monsanto, a corporation that also sponsored many Disneyland and Walt Disney World rides, specifically many of the Tomorrowland rides.

"The South shall rise again"

The moon farmer's hat bearing the caption "The Moon will rise again" is a parody of "The South shall rise again", a rallying cry used by Confederate sympathisers.

Life in Hell

A rabbit that resembles Binky from Matt Groening's syndicated comic-strip Life in Hell can be seen in the claw machine.

"The Farmer with Three Daughters"

Bender encounters a farmer on the Moon who has three robot daughters. This is a recurring theme found in jokes ranging from the dirty to the clean variety, but each of them has the same central plot of a young man meeting a farmer who has three available daughters that he is very protective of and never allows to date.

Moon Patrol

The security service that throws Bender out of the park is called the "Moon Patrol". This is a small homage to the '80s arcade game of the same name.

Inspector Gadget

• Bender's arm stretching out is a reference to the way Inspector Gadget's arms expanded and contracted.
• The way Leela propelled Fry and herself out of the crater using the oxygen from their tank is very similar to how Brain pulled Gadget back to a space station in the episode "M.A.D. In The Moon".

The Honeymooners

Ralph and Alice Kramden from The Honeymooners television series are a part of the ride that shows how people came to the moon. The ride itself also depicts how people misunderstand history by taking Jackie Gleason's famous catchphrase out of context.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

The gophers sing and talk a lot like the 1960s version of the Chipmunks, and one of the gophers has glasses like Simon.

Games at Luna Park

Arcade games seen within the Luna Park complex include:

• "Gender-Neutral Pac Person", a parody of Pacman and Ms. Pacman.
• "Dodecapede", a parody of Centipede and Millipede.
• "Mortal Ko-operation", a reference to the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon

Fry: "Hey, cool! Dark side of the moon!" Just after Fry says this line, you can hear the opening chord to the song "Breathe" from the 1973 Pink Floyd album Dark Side of the Moon.

Le Voyage dans la Lune

Bender shoving a beer bottle into Craterface's eye is a reference to the film Le Voyage dans la Lune ("A Trip to the Moon"), in which a group of scientists travel to the Moon by way of a large, hollow bullet shot out of a cannon. The bullet flies through space and hits the moon (specifically, the "Man in the Moon") in the eye. The film, directed by Georges Méliès and based upon Jules Verne's classic novel From the Earth to the Moon, is considered to be the first in the sci-fi genre.