Every Sci-Fi Reference Ever in Futurama

Future-Reference:  Star Trek

Appearance: "Space Pilot 3000"

Because it's just not science fiction if the doors don't automatically open for you, like in Star Trek!

These doors recurr throughout the series, and always make that same Enterprise sound effect.

They WILL hit you in the face if you stop to look at them, though

Future-Reference: Star Trek

Appearance: "Space Pilot 3000"

And speaking of Star Trek, who better to welcome you to the world of tomorrow than Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy?  That is of course, ignoring the man who literally screams "Welcome, to the world of tomorrow!!!!"

Leonard would appear several more times, living his distinguished and quiet life in the head museum, dreaming of days spent outside a gefilte fish jar.

Future-Reference: Star Wars

Appearance: "Space Pilot 3000," Other

We all remember the collective "huh?" moment of 2000, wherein Smitty and URL ignited their lightsabers to beat poor Fry, and they didn't cut him into pieces, instead just being solid batons.

Much like the wheel ending up outdated, the year 3000 had much more sophisticated ways of beating suspects than simple wood.

Future-Reference: A Trip To The Moon

Appearance: "The Series Has Landed," Into the Wild Green Yonder

In one of the more obscure science fiction references, Craterface pays tribute to the French 1902 silent film A Trip To The Moon, most famous for its image of the moon's face being stuck in the eye with a rocket ship.

Or a beer bottle, in this case.

Future-Reference: Isaac Asimov's I, Robot

Appearance: "I, Roommate"

While having little to do with the short story itself, the title of this episode references Isaac Asimov's famed tale "I, Robot."

Thankfully, Will Smith has nothing to do with it.

Future-Reference: The works of M.C. Escher

Appearance: "I, Roommate"

Anyone who's either seen Inception or lived for longer than 10 years has likely come across M.C. Escher's unique images of optical illusions that seem physically impossible, particularly his staircases that go nowhere.

Why someone would go to the trouble of actually building one of these designs, and even altering the gravity is beyond me.

Future-Reference:  Star Wars - Return of The Jedi

Appearance: "Love's Labours Lost In Space," Others

We'd go on to see these types of holograms and projections many times over the course of the series, but they made their debut as the display of Vergon 6, sharing eerie similarities to the display of the forest moon of Endor.

Wait, was it farthest moon of Endor?  Was the MOON called Endor, or were they on the moon OF Endor? 

Future-Reference: Captain Kirk and Spock

Appearance: Recurring Characters

How could you ignore Zapp and Kif, an obvious riff on the pairing of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock?  One captain full of enough bravado to melt a green woman's heart, and the exasperated underlying rolling his eyes at every turn.

Could you even tell which I was referring to?

Interestingly, Zapp's based more on Williiam Shatner, so cue the double sigh from Kif.

Future-Reference: The Chapek Brothers

Appearance: "Fear of a Bot Planet"

You'd probably never realize the significance of this planet's name, what with all the zany adventures Fry, Bender and Leela had on its surface.

But little did you know, this robot-filled world gets its name from Josef Chapek and his brother, widely credited as the creators of the word "robot."

Knowledge accepted.