WhiteKiboko said:
Leela
rocks! She is one of my favorite animated heroes. Aside from that cool cyclops eye, kick-ass attitude, and voice suspiciously reminiscent of MARRIED WITH CHILDREN's Peg Bundy (yeah, I know it's really Katey Sagal), her full name is actually an in-joke for classical music fans.
In the episode where she became the world's worst baseball player, you may remember that when she enters the stadium the announcer identifies her as "Turanga Leela". Believe it or not, this is a reference to the Turangalila (pronounced the same way) Symphony by 20th-century composer Olivier Messiaen -- a massive work which blends Hindu spirituality with modern sounds, featuring the rarely-used Ondes Martinot (an eerie-sounding electronic instrument similar to the Theremin).
Now for those of you who think I'm just showing off -- damn straight I am!
However, someone I used to know owned a record of the Turangalila Symphony. (
Record, what's that? Yep, I've dated myself again.) Anyway, I heard it a couple of times, and the name -- which I believe means "play of God" in Sanskrit -- stuck with me. Obviously the FUTURAMA writers thought they could slip that one past their viewers, but they didn't reckon on the extreme nerdiness of TONMO members, especially that of a were-squid often referred to by her friends as "Cliff Clavin".
Taningia "It's A Little-Known Fact That...." Danae