Cultural References
TV critic Rob Owen perceived the episode to have touched upon many of the plot devices and themes commonly seen in time travel stories, most notably the Back to the Future and Terminator movies. The episode also shares much in common with the episode "Little Green Men" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The plot device of having Bender's head being lost for many years on Earth while the rest of the crew returns to their own time also alludes to "Time's Arrow", a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, and to the robot Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, who is left waiting for his masters for millions of years until the end of the Universe. Additionally, the episode may be alluding to an event in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, where Zaphod Beeblebrox is discovered to be his own grandfather due to an accident with a time machine and a contraceptive.
Much of Enos' character is taken from The Andy Griffith Show’s Gomer Pyle, such as his accent and use of Pyle’s trademark “Gol-ly!”. Enos's sexuality is likely a reference to long standing rumors surrounding Jim Nabors' sexuality.
At one point, the song "I'm My Own Grandpa" is referenced, when Professor Farnsworth says "a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-my-own-grandpa".
The soylent products that the professor attempts to order is a reference to the 1973 film, Soylent Green.
The scene where Fry's grandmother becomes attracted to him is similar to Back to the Future (film) when Marty goes back in time, disrupts the normal events of time, and causes his mother to become attracted to him.
Read more about this topic: Roswell That Ends Well
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“At times it seems that the media have become the mainstream culture in children’s lives. Parents have become the alternative. Americans once expected parents to raise their children in accordance with the dominant cultural messages. Today they are expected to raise their children in opposition to it.”
—Ellen Goodman (20th century)