The Honeymooners Reference You Missed In Futurama

The creators of "Futurama" have never been above parodying classic sitcoms. Heck, it's the core premise of Matt Groening's other massive animated franchise, "The Simpsons." In fact, "Futurama" served as a farce of many early examples of workplace sitcoms before shows like "The Office" made them the industry standard. Just take a look at the episode, "When Aliens Attack," which uses an episode of a fake courtroom sitcom entitled "Single Female Lawyer" (a parody on the 1990s show, "Ally McBeal") as a key element in an alien invasion of earth.

But even as "Futurama" took a closer look at relationships in the workplace, its writing team still couldn't shake its love of classic, family-focused sitcoms. The show often goes out of its way to reference this type of sitcom, both new and old. One classic sitcom bit, an iconic line from the 1955 series "The Honeymooners" has made its way into "Futurama" more than once. It's an obvious reference, but one that you might have missed if you don't know much about old-school sitcoms.

For those who didn't manage to catch it when it aired in the 1950s, "The Honeymooners" is a classic family sitcom starring Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden and Audrey Meadows as his wife, Alice. In typical sitcom fashion, Ralph and Alice tend to bicker, dispensing one-liners throughout their disputes to make light of the frustrations that arise in a marriage. When irritated, Ralph would jokingly threaten Alice that he'd send her "straight to the moon."

Nowadays, a joke like that would probably be seen as too dark. Domestic abuse isn't considered nearly as appropriate to joke about as it once was, something "Futurama" acknowledged the first time it referenced the iconic line in the episode, "The Series Has Landed." When the people of the future misinterpret Ralph's line literally and inaccurately name him the world's first astronaut, Fry remarks that "he's just using space travel as a metaphor for beating his wife."

Even so, "Futurama's" creators seem somewhat attached to the line. At the very least, they enjoyed it enough to use in another episode. Remember those aliens that invaded earth over a spoof of "Ally McBeal?" Well, they would return again in the episode, "Spanish Fry." This time, the Omicronians come to earth so that their rulers, Lrrr and Ndnd, can fix their relationship. And, much like Ralph Kramden, Lrrr tells his wife "one of these days Ndnd...bang! Zoom! Straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8!"