Slurms Mac Kenzie - Cultural References

Cultural References

The episode, including its title, is a parody of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, a movie adaptation of the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The characters whom the factory paid to pretend to be workers, the Grunka Lunkas, resemble the Oompa Loompas from the film version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the tour guide, Glurmo, also wears a Willy Wonka-like attire, and speaks in a Gene Wilder-like voice. Slurms McKenzie, the Slurm party slug, is a parody of Spuds MacKenzie, the Bud Light spokesdog.

Professor Farnsworth's F-Ray reveals a 6502 microprocessor in Bender's head, a widely used CPU in home computers of the 1970s and early 1980s.

There is also a reference to Soylent Green, when Leela talks about Soylent Cola, a soft drink made out of people.

The conspiracy theory surrounding New Coke is parodied when the Queen talks about releasing "New Slurm" for the sole reason of knowing that people will hate it so they can release "Slurm Classic" to great fanfare.

Both this episode and the 1985 film The Stuff feature a strange goo that becomes a merchandised item, and makes people addicted to it; also, Fry says "Soon enough is not soon enough!", mimicking the "Enough is never enough!" of the Stuff commercials.