Futurama (TV series - season 4)
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This is a list of episodes of Futurama episodes in broadcast order, from broadcast season 4.
Template:Futurama (TV series - Seasons)
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Roswell That Ends Well
Production code: 3ACV19
First aired: 2001-12-09 Opening Subtitle: FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY EXCEPT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA
Title from Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well and the Roswell UFO incident
This episode won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming one hour or less)"
Summary
The crew takes a sight-seeing trip out to a star that is shortly to go supernova. In a hurry to get back to the show, Fry sticks non-microwavable popcorn into the galley's microwave. The microwave begins emitting a blue glow, which engulfs the back of the ship. At the same time, the star explodes, sending a red glow over the front of the ship. The two glowing fields meet, and the ship is sent hurtling through a clock-filled tunnel. The crew tries to return to Earth, but the global positioning system is missing, and Leela loses control of the ship. The ship crashes and Bender, who refused to wear his seat belt, is sent flying across the landscape, where he breaks into numerous pieces.
Fry recovers Bender's still-functioning head, and the crew returns to the ship, leaving Zoidberg to pick up the remaining pieces. That night, US military jeeps arrive, and take Zoidberg and the pieces of Bender back to their base at Roswell, New Mexico. The Professor assesses that the crew has travelled back in time to 1947, and that they are the cause of the Roswell UFO incident. Furthermore, they only have 24 hours to rescue Zoidberg, recover the rest of Bender, and locate a microwave oven to generate the radiation needed to reopen the time hole back to the year 3000.
While the Professor and Leela try to track down a microwave, Fry sneaks onto the air base. There he meets his grandfather Enos. In a misguided attempt to save his own existence, Fry begins desperately working to keep his grandfather alive. Fry drives Enos to a house in the middle of nowhere, and locks him in. Fry leaves, content that his continued existence is assured, but the house was built as part of a nuclear test, and Enos is killed by the blast.
Fry returns to town where the Professor and Leela have given up on microwave oven hunting, and escorts his grieving grandmother Mildred home. A distraught Mildred turns to Fry for affection. Fry, deciding that she can't be his grandmother, gives in. The next morning the rest of the crew discovers him, and tells him that he has just become his own grandfather. The Professor, convinced that they can't do any more damage to the timeline, decides that the best course of action is to steal the microwave radar dish from the air base, and head home.
The crew raids the air base, their superior technology making them impenetrable to 1940s weaponry. They pick up Zoidberg and recover Bender's body, steal the radar dish, and head into space. While making their escape, Bender's head falls out, and there isn't time for the crew to go back for him before the time rip closes. Arriving back in the year 3000, the crew scours the area around what was the air base, and finds Bender's still functioning head. With everything back to normal, the crew returns home.
Quotes
- Colonel: What the General means is, why did you come to Earth?
- Zoidberg: Not a day goes by I don't ask myself the same question.
- Farnsworth: Start the ship, Leela! Let's just steal the dish and get back to our own time.
- Fry: But won't that change history?
- Farnsworth: Oooh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-my-own-grandpa. Let's get the hell out of here already! Screw history!
- Farnsworth: Choke on that, causality!
A Tale of Two Santas
Production code: 3ACV03
First aired: 2001-12-23 Opening Subtitle: THIS EPISODE PERFORMED ENTIRELY BY SOCK PUPPETS
Title from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Summary
Christmas has rolled around again, and the Planet Express crew is locking down for the arrival of the murderous Robot Santa Claus. The Professor, concerned as ever for the safety of his crew, sends them to deliver children's letters directly to Santa at his fortress on Neptune. The crew lands at Jolly Junction, Neptune, home of malnourished Neptunian toy makers. The crew enlists the aid of a couple of Neptunians in sneaking into the fortress.
The crew confronts Santa, and Leela presents him with a logical paradox intended to destroy him. Unfortunately, Santa proves immune to paradoxes, and he takes off after them with a missile launcher. The crew escapes the fortress, and is about to leave in the ship, but Santa has grabbed the engine, and is preventing it from launching. The heat from the engine melts the ice under Santa's feet, and he sinks in and it refreezes around him.
With Santa frozen in ice, Bender takes over the role of Santa, and toy-making resumes in Jolly Junction. Bender takes off with a load of toys, and heads to New New York. There, he gets a less than welcome reception from citizens expecting a blood-thirsty killer. While taking a beer break, Bender is arrested and put on trial for Santa's crimes. Bender is found guilty and sentenced to execution by magnetic dismemberment.
Fry and Leela rush back to Neptune to bring in the real Santa to prove Bender's innocence. They carve Santa out in a large block of ice, but the ice melts, and Santa is freed. Fry and Leela escape in the ship, but Santa has hitched a ride back to Earth. The Planet Express crew tries one last attempt to save Bender, but their effort fails, and the execution device is activated.
Moments later, the real Robot Santa bursts through the wall, having recovered his sleigh. He rescues Bender and the two go on a proper Xmas rampage. At the end of the spree of destruction, Santa tells Bender that if he tries a stunt like that again, Santa will kill him.
Quotes
- Bender: Isn't it true you that you have been paid for your testimony?
- Pramala: Yes. You gave me a dollar and some candy.
- Bender: And yet you haven't said what I told you to say. How can any of us trust you?
- Bender: Gee whiz, Santa. You want me to help you?
- Fry: Don't do it! He's evil!
- Santa: I know he is, but I have no choice.
Anthology of Interest 2
Production code: 3ACV18
First aired: 2001-02-06 Opening Subtitle: Hey, TiVo! Suggest THIS!
Summary
Professor Farnsworth hauls out his What-if Machine again (see Anthology of Interest I), and the crew takes a look at three alternate realities.
I, Meatbag
The title is from the book I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.
First up is Bender, who asks what would happen if he were human.
The simulation opens with Professor Farnsworth announcing that he has invented a process of reverse fossilization, which can turn robots into organic life-forms. He uses his reverse fossilization machine on Bender, who is successfully transformed into a human.
After a short period of adaptation, Bender's self-control is overwhelmed by his new sense of taste and emotional responses, and goes on a sensory input binge. A week later, at the Nobel Prize judging, the Professor presents Bender who has become a thousand-pound blob.
The committee initially condemns the Professor, but Bender begs them to consider his new lifestyle. The open-minded scientists spend the night in a state of wild hedonism. Just before dawn, the committee awards Bender his own Nobel Prize, but discover that he died shortly after the party started.
Raiders of the Lost Arcade
The title is from the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Next to ask a question is Fry, who wants to see a world that is more like a video game.
As the simulation starts, President of Earth Richard Nixon is preparing to sign a treaty with Ambassador Kong of planet Nintendu 64. Ambassador Kong attacks Nixon, and a state of war erupts.
Due to his extensive knowledge of video games, Fry is brought to the Milatari headquarters and introduced to General Colin Pac-Man. Before Fry can impart his wisdom to the military, the nintendians launch an attack on Washington, DC, and they are forced into the escape tunnels.
They emerge outside the Planet Express building, where the nintendian space invaders, led by Lrrr, are blasting New New York. Fry situates himself at the controls of a rolling AAA platform, and begins destroying the alien ships.
Unfortunately for Earth, Fry is unable to destroy the last ship, which lands, conquering Earth. After Fry enters his initials, the invaders emerge. They demand millions of dollars in quarters, but the earthicans refuse, as they need the quarters to do their laundry. A compromise is reached, with the nintendians throwing their laundry in with Earth's.
Wizzin'
The title is from the musical The Wiz (based on The Wizard of Oz).
The last person to ask a what if question is Leela, who wants to see her true home. When the Professor pulls the lever on the What-if Machine, he whacks her in the head, and she falls to the floor unconscious.
She wakes up at the helm of the Planet Express ship, which is caught in a tornado. It crash lands in a technicolor wonderland. The Cute Witch of the North (Amy) tells her that she should seek out the Professor, who lives in the Emerald Laboratory down Martin Luther King Boulevard, which is constructed from yellow brick.
While travelling, she meets a scarecrow (Fry), a mechanical man (Bender) and "the other guy" (Zoidberg). The Wicked Witch (Mom) sends her flying monkeys (Walt, Larry, and Ignar) to kidnap Leela and her friends. The Wicked Witch always wanted a daughter, and offers to take Leela in. Leela accepts, and as part of a celebration, Bender uncorks a bottle of champagne. Under tremendous pressure, the champagne shoots out of the bottle and lands on the Wicked Witch, causing her to melt.
Falling back to the original plan, Leela and co. make their way to the Emerald Laboratory. There they meet the great and forgetful Professor. The Professor tells Leela that she can go home by clicking her ruby boots together and wishing to go home. Leela decides that she wants to be the new Wicked Witch, and uses the boots' power to that end. She turns the Professor, the scarecrow, and the robot into frogs. Her reign of terror is cut short by Zoidberg, who has encountered a problem with the Emerald Laboratory's upstairs toilet, and accidentally splashes water on her.
As she melts in the dream world, she wakes up back in the Planet Express building.
Quotes
- Farnsworth: There. I've finished fine tuning my "What If?" machine. It can answer any "What If?" question, accurate to within 1/10th of a plausibility unit.
- Leela: That's so plausible I can't believe it!
- Farnsworth: Good news, everyone. I've discovered a way to make Bender human using a process I call "reverse fossilization."
- Leela: How does it work?
- Farnsworth: Well, in regular fossilization, flesh and bone turn to minerals. Realizing that, it was a simple matter to reverse the process. I've already tested it by turning the toaster into a racoon.
- Bender (shouting): Goodbye moderation!
- Fry: Alright, its Saturday night. I have no date, a two liter bottle of Shasta, and my all Rush mix tape. Let's rock.
- Hermes [from inside]: Yes?
- Leela [outside door]: We're here to see the Professor.
- Hermes [from inside]: No one sees the mighty Professor!
- Farnsworth [from inside]: Who's there Hermes? Is it visitors? I want to see them!
- Narrator: You watched it! You can't un-watch it!
Love & Rocket
Production code: 4ACV03
First aired: 2002-02-10 Opening Subtitle: WHEN YOU SEE THE ROBOT, DRINK!
The title is from the comic book Love and Rockets.
Summary
The Planet Express crew heads off to the most romantic city on Earth, Milwaukee, to land a delivery contract from Romanticorp, makers of all things romantic. After a tour of the facilities, Planet Express gets the contract. With the additional funding from the new contract, the Professor makes some upgrades to the ship. The upgrades include a new personality, complete with a female voice module. This voice and other elements in this episode are spoofs of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Bender and the ship's new personality fall for each other and start dating. Bender quickly grows tired of the ship, and starts cheating on her. The ship, suspicious of Bender, begins acting possessive and erratic.
The crew is assigned the task of delivering several tons of conversation hearts to Lrr of the planet Omicron Persei VIII. The Omicronians are highly offended by the chalky candies, and their poorly spelled messages. While escaping from the omicronian death fleet, Bender decides to break up with the Planet Express ship. This cracks the ship's fragile mind, and it comes to a stop, allowing the omicronian missiles to impact.
The ship is sent tumbling through space, dented and scorched, but otherwise physically intact. Leela attempts to console the ship, but she fails. The ship, acting irrationally, decides to fly into a quasar. Leela has Bender distract the ship while she and Fry try to shut down the ship's brain. The insane ship successfully shut down, Leela decides to dump the undelivered hearts into the quasar. The hearts vaporize, producing a romantic glow whose rays reach Earth on Valentine's Day.
Quotes
- Leela: Bender, dating your co-worker, and primary mode of transportation, is immoral, illogical, and a violation of international shipping statute 437-B.
- Bender: That's what makes it so nasty.
- Leela: Doesn't it bother you even a little to be taking advantage of your girlfriend's trust?
- Bender: Ha ha ha ha... oh, wait, you're serious, let me laugh even harder.
Leela's Homeworld
Production code: 4ACV02
First aired: 2002-02-17 Opening Subtitle: IT'S LIKE 'HEE HAW' WITH LASERS
The closing song for this episode is Baby Love Child by Pizzicato Five.
Summary
The Professor announces that Leela's old orphanarium has named her Orphan of the Year. In another announcement, he shows off a machine that makes glow-in-the-dark noses. Unfortunately, the machine produces enormous amounts of toxic waste. The Professor hires Bender to dispose of the waste, and he does so with his usual ethical standards in place.
At the orphanarium's award ceremony, the headmaster presents us with a flashback of Leela's arrival. We see that she was left with a note written in an alien language, and a bracelet. Back at the Planet Express building, Leela is in tears over not having parents. Fry takes her for a walk, and she looks up to the stars, wondering which alien world her parents were from. The camera pans back down, and we see two one-eyed sewer mutants looking up from a drain.
Meanwhile, Bender has expanded his one-time dumping into a full waste management service. The mutants grow angry with Bender's disposal technique (pouring toxic waste into the sewer), and make a rare surface trip, capturing Bender, Fry, and Leela. The mutants sentence the crew to be lowered into a lake of chemicals, which will turn them into mutants as well.
Two hooded mutants call out to Leela, then swing the crane around, dropping the crew on the far side of the mutagenic lake. The mutant mob, immune to the effects of the lake, dive in and swim across. Fry, Leela, and Bender take refuge in a mutant home, where they find a shrine to Leela's life. The mob captures them, but after a whispered word from the hooded mutants, the crew's sentence is commuted to exile. They ride a hot-air balloon to a surface access ladder hanging over the lake. Fry and Bender emerge on the surface, but Leela, determined to find out what the hooded mutants know, dives into the chemical lake.
She swims to shore, and finds she is unaffected by the chemicals. Fry heads to the orphanarium to try to get some clues as to what's going on, and the headmaster gives him the note that was left with Leela. Fry takes the note back to the Professor for analysis. As they read the analysis output, we learn the truth: Leela is a mutant, and her parents sent her to the surface to try to give her a chance at a real life.
Meanwhile, an armed and irrational Leela has pursued the hooded mutants through the sewers, back to the home with the shrine to herself. Leela comes to the irrational conclusion that the mutants killed her parents, leaving her an orphan. She is about to take revenge on them when Fry falls through the ceiling, and tells her the truth: the hooded mutants are her parents. A tearful reunion ensues, and the episode closes with a montage of scenes of Leela's parents watching over their daughter during her life.
Where the Buggalo Roam
Production code: 3ACV10
First aired: 2002-03-03 Opening Subtitle: KRAFTED WITH LUV BY MONSTERS
Summary
The Planet Express staff head to the Wong Ranch on Mars for a Mars Day barbecue. Amy's parents are happy to see her, but considerably less enthusiastic about her co-workers, especially Dr. Zoidberg, who immediately begins making a nuisance of himself. Kif arrives, and is nervous about meeting his girlfriend Amy's parents for the first time.
The barbecue proceeds, with Amy's parents being thoroughly unimpressed with Kif. Everything is going well until a strange sound begins, and a dust storm rolls in. Eveyone takes cover in the Wong's mansion, but the unprotected buggalo outside are rustled during the storm, ruining the Wongs.
Kif sets off with the last remaining buggalo in an effort to draw out the rustlers. The Professor sends Fry, Leela, and Bender along with him, and Amy sneaks out to join them. Kif and the crew find the stolen buggalo hidden in the crater of Olympus Mons. They find a way to eject the buggalo from the crater, but when they are about to head back to the ranch, the same strange sound from the barbecue begins, and another sand storm whirls in.
Trapped in the center of the storm, the rustlers fly in on buggalo. They are the native martians, who are angry over their ancestors' sale of Mars for one bead. The martians had planned to ruin the Wongs by stealing the buggalo, but with the opportunity staring them in the face, they kidnap Amy. Kif and the crew return the buggalo to the Wong Ranch, where the Wongs have just received a ransom note.
The Wongs, more unhappy with Kif than ever, call in Zapp Brannigan to resolve the situation. Brannigan, Kif, and the crew set off for the face on Mars, entrance to the martian reservation. Brannigan botches the negotiations, and the martians call up another sand storm, which engulfs Amy. Kif jumps on the back of a buggalo, and flies it into the whirlwind, recovering Amy. The martians, impressed by Kif's skill, call off the storm and offer peace.
Unfortunately, when smoking the martian peace pipe, Kif chokes on the smoke, angering the martians. The martians sentence him to be killed, crushed by the bead they traded the planet for. As the bead lowers from the ceiling, the crew discovers that the "bead" is a gigantic diamond. When they inform the martian chief of the bead's value, the martians call off the execution, and leave to find a planet they can purchase.
Quotes
- Leela: Thanks so much for inviting us, Mr. Wong. I've never been to a Mars Day barbecue.
- Leo Wong: Oh, Mars Day much better than Earth Day. Dump trash wherever you want. Big empty planet.
- Leo Wong: Oh, no. Martians kidnap Amy! I know it them because they no use good grammar.
- Zapp Brannigan: I am the man with no name. Zapp Brannigan, at your service.
A Pharaoh To Remember
Production code: 3ACV17
First aired: 2002-03-10 Opening Subtitle: PSST... BIG PARTY AT YOUR HOUSE AFTER THE SHOW
The title is a reference to the 1957 film An Affair to Remember.
Summary
Bender grows concerned that he will be doomed to obscurity, and sets off to rectify the situation. His efforts fail, and Bender starts sulking around the office. The Professor assigns the crew a new mission: deliver a giant sandstone block to the planet Osiris IV.
The crew arrives to find a desert world whose society is modeled after ancient Egypt. The crew is enslaved to work on the building of the funeral pyramid of Pharaoh Hamenthotep. The crew is put to work alongside the other slaves, moving heavy stone blocks manually. Bender, impressed by the Osirin Pharaohs' method of ensuring their place in history, becomes a workaholic, working so fast the slavedrivers can't even keep up with him.
Pharaoh Hamenthotep arrives to inspect his newly completed pyramid, and is killed when the nose falls off a giant statue of himself. The priests entomb Hamenthotep, and the next day they consult their wall of prophecy to select the new pharaoh. They discover that, thanks to a few surreptitious modifications to the wall, Bender is the new pharaoh.
Newly crowned Pharaoh Bender demands a statue of himself, one billion cubits tall, so that he will be remembered forever. Construction proceeds, and the statue is completed. But when it is unveiled, Pharaoh Bender announces that he is displeased with it, and wants it to be torn down and rebuilt. The high priests, disgusted with Bender, wrap him for burial, and toss him into the tomb. Unfortunately, they also toss Fry and Leela in with him.
Fry and Leela want to blast their way out using the explosive schnapps from the tomb's distillery, but Bender objects, worried that he won't be remembered if the statue is destroyed. Fry and Leela make a show of not remembering Bender, and he relents. After blasting a crack in the statue's foot, Fry, Leela, and Bender escape and run back to the ship. As the ship departs Osiris IV, the statue explodes in a gigantic fireball. Bender is distraught, but Leela consoles him with the knowledge that his reign of terror will be remembered longer than any statue.
Quotes
- Hermes: Holy spitz! He's sportin' skintight speedos!
- Amy: They don't leave much to the imagination.
- Hermes: Actually on a robot they sorta do.
- Osiran: You are now slaves of the great Pharaoh Hermenthotip. Guards!
- Fry: Call it a hunch but, I've got a bad feeling about this.
- High Priest: Great Wall Of Prophecy, reveal to us God's will that we may blindly obey.
- Priests: (chanting) Free us from thought and responsibility.
- High Priest: We shall read things off you.
- Priests: (chanting) Then do them.
- High Priest: Your words guide us.
- Priests: (chanting) We're dumb.
Godfellas
Production code: 3ACV20
First aired: 2002-03-17 Opening Subtitle: PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AND TRICORDERS
The title is from the 1990 film Goodfellas.
Summary
During an attack by space pirates on the Planet Express ship, Bender is accidentally fired out of a torpedo tube and into deep space. Unable to catch up to him, Fry and Leela are forced to abandon him to drift forever. While Fry and Leela return to Earth, Bender settles in for a long trip to nowhere. While passing through an asteroid field, an oddly-shaped rock sticks to his body, and he discovers he has been colonized by the Shrimpkins, a race of tiny people. The Shrimpkins begin worshipping Bender as a god, and Bender begins trying to play the part.
Back on Earth, Fry begins searching the cosmos for his lost friend, with no success. He is eventually directed to the Shuban monastery, where monks have been using a powerful radio telescope to search for god. Fry and Leela outfit an expedition to the monastery, located high in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, Bender has discovered that his one commandment ("God needs booze") has had negative effects on the Shrimpkin society. Bender begins trying to grant the Shrimpkins' prayers, but his efforts backfire. Eventually, the Shrimpkins living on Bender's back come to disbelieve in him, and make war on the believers.
The war completely wipes out the Shrimpkins, and Bender uncharacteristically mourns for them. Fry and Leela reach the monastery and lock the monks in the laundry room, so Fry can take over the telescope, which also has the ability to transmit, and begins searching for Bender.
Bender, now alone again in the vacuum of space, encounters a galaxy signalling to him in binary. They begin conversing, and Bender comes to the decision that this galaxy is God, or at least some derivative thereof. The galactic intelligence remains enigmatic about its identity, although it does not deny its god-like nature.
At the monastery, Fry's search has been in vain, and at Leela's request, he gives up. As he leaves the controls, he gives the targeting trackball a final spin, and wishes he had Bender back. The scope comes to rest on the god-like galaxy, and Fry's request is received. The galaxy straps a parachute to Bender's back and hurls him back through space towards Earth. Bender reenters the atmosphere successfully, and resumes life with a few lessons learned.
Quotes
- Bender: Ah, the pity, fated to drift forever through the void as gravity’s plaything. Oh cruel fate, to be thusly boned, ask not for whom the bone bones, it bones for thee. The only thing that keeps me sane is the thought that I have all eternity in which to perfect my art…
- Bender: Who would have known playing god could have such terrible consequences?
- Bender: You speak English?
- Galactic intelligence: I do now.
- Bender: You know, I was God once.
- Galactic intelligence: Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everyone died.
- Galactic intelligence: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
- Bender: Guys, you'll never believe what happened. First, I was God, then I met God.
- Fry: We climbed a mountain and locked up some monks!
Futurestock
Production code: 3ACV21
First aired: 2002-03-31 Opening Subtitle: LOVE IT OR SHOVE IT
Title probably from the book Future Shock by Alvin Toffler
Summary
Planet Express holds its stockholders meeting, and the state of the business is not good. Disinterested in the meeting, Fry and Zoidberg wander off in search of food. Fry finds his way into a cryogenic defrostee support group meeting, where he meets a sleazy 1980s businessman (referred to only as That Guy) who froze himself to await a cure for his terminal boneitis.
Fry and That Guy return to the Planet Express stockholders meeting, where a revolt against Professor Farnsworth is in progress. Fry nominates That Guy as new CEO, and That Guy beats out the Professor by one vote. That Guy names Fry his new Vice President, and sets out to remake Planet Express by giving it an expensive image overhaul.
After That Guy wastes piles of money on flying chairs, expensive suits, and an enigmatic television commercial (which bears a striking resemblance to the 1984 Macintosh commercial), Zoidberg gets fed up and sells his stock to That Guy for a sandwich. After draining the company's funds and its employees' morale, That Guy announces that he is selling Planet Express to Mom.
The takeover begins at the orbiting Intergalactic Stock Exchange, and all the Planet Express employees vote against it. Unfortunately, the stock That Guy bought from Zoidberg gave him controlling interest. But before the final approval takes place, That Guy's uncured boneitis enters its final stage, killing him. Fry gains control of That Guy's shares, and moves to vote against the merger.
The Planet Express staff initially tries to convince him to sell the company, because the sale of their stock will make them all rich. But Fry has already given a speech that drove the stock's price through the floor, and he votes against the merger. The staff leaves to spend the weekend in disappointment over the loss of their potential wealth.
Quotes
- Scruffy (the janitor): Now hold on there. Scruffy votes his forty thousand shares for the mysterious stranger.
- Leela: Forty thousand? How come you have four times as much stock as the rest of us?
- Scruffy: (tearing up) Scruffy believes in this company
A Leela of Her Own
Production code: 3ACV16
First aired: 2002-04-07 Opening Subtitle: SCRATCH HERE TO REVEAL PRIZE
The title is from the 1992 film A League of Their Own.
Summary
The Planet Express staff heads off to Central Park to play a friendly game of blernsball against the Cygnoid owners of the new pizzaria across the street. Leela takes the pitcher's mound, and due to her lack of depth perception, begins pelting every Cygnoid batter in the head. A crowd gathers to laugh at Leela's terrible pitching, and the owner of the New New York Mets offers to hire her as a novelty act. Leela is blinded by the excitement of being the first woman to play major league blernsball and immediately agrees.
At her first game, Leela takes the field, and the crowd goes wild over her ability to consistently hit the other team's batter in the head. Although she's a terrible player, Leela quickly becomes a fan favorite, and gets endorsement contracts. But while signing autographs, Leela is confronted by Jackie Anderson, the best female college blernsball player. Anderson makes Leela realize that she is hurting the cause of female athletes.
In a desperate attempt to avoid going down in history as the worst blernsball player of all time, Leela enlists the aid of the current holder of the title, Hank Aaron XXIV, descendant of Hank Aaron. Hank tells her to take her eye off the ball, turning conventional advice on its head. Leela begins pitching with her eye closed, and succeeds in getting the ball across the plate without putting it through the batter's head.
The last game of the season rolls around, with the Mets facing off against the Boston Poindexters. With the Mets ahead in the 9th inning with the bases loaded and 2 outs, Leela begs the coach to let her pitch. After hearing that she has been training with a Hank Aaron, he agrees. But as she takes the mound, the Poindexters bring in a surprise pinch hitter: Jackie Anderson.
Leela surprises Anderson and the crowd when her first pitch goes straight over the plate unopposed. Her second pitch follows suit, but on the third Anderson realizes Leela's pitching is no fluke, and swings. The bat connects, and the ball flies deep into the outfield, where it hits the instant win target. The Mets lose, and Leela becomes the worst player in the history of blernsball, and Hank Aaron XXIV has to settle for being the worst football player of all time.
Quotes
- Owner: That was great, kid! You got us more publicity than a cowboy in a shark tank. Poor Tex, he was quite a shark.
- Fry: Hey, look. The players who broke the various color barriers.
- Bender: When will man learn that all races are equally inferior to robots?
- Bob Uecker: Welcome to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Poindexters, where the Mets close out a season that will rank among mankind's most awful crimes.
30% Iron Chef
Production code: 3ACV22
First aired: 2002-04-14 Opening Subtitle: IF ACCIDENTALLY WATCHED INDUCE VOMITING
This episode's title, as well as much of the episode itself, is a reference to the competitive cooking television show Iron Chef.
Summary
Bender cooks a lavish meal for the Planet Express staff, with specialized dishes for each employee. After everyone is disgusted by the terrible food, Bender runs away. Bender initially turns to celebrity chef Elzar, and begs him to teach him to cook. After Elzar refuses, Bender ends up in the seedy part of town. There he meets two hobos, and together they all ride the space rails.
They arrive at Bum Base Alpha, a colony of hobos located on a planetoid under a major space rail switch. There he meets Helmut Spargle, former master chef. Spargle was ruined when the sponsor of his cooking show fired him in favor of Elzar. Bender tells Spargle the story of his own dream being ruined by Elzar. Spargle, intrigued by the thought of a robot chef, agrees to teach Bender to cook.
Bender completes his training, and prepares a meal that Spargle will use to judge if Bender has succeeded. Spargle declares the meal "acceptable", but his stomach immediately begins causing him intense pain. Spargle gives Bender a vial of the "Essence of Pure Flavor", and tells Bender to defeat Elzar. Spargle dies, falling face-first into Bender's lethal meal.
Bender arrives at Elzar's restaurant, and challenges him to a cooking duel. They meet at Kitchen Coliseum, where Bender becomes the first robot ever to compete. The cooking proceeds, and the clock quickly runs down. Just before time is called, Bender adds some of Spargle's "Essence" to the food he has prepared.
Elzar's meal is the first to meet the celebrity judges, and receives highly favorable reviews. But when Bender's meal is presented, the judges find his food delicious, with judge Morbo being moved to tears. Bender is declared the winner, and scams his way into extra prize money. Back at the Planet Express building, Professor Farnsworth analyzes the "Essence of Pure Flavor", and discovers that it is LSD in water.
Quotes
- Hobo 1: Get ready! We's gonna jump off at that switching prism up ahead.
- Hobo 2: We're going nearly the speed of light, so roll when you land.
Where No Fan Has Gone Before
Production code: 4ACV11
First aired: 2002-04-21 Opening Subtitle: WHERE NO FAN HAS GONE BEFORE
This episode's title is a play on the line "boldly go where no man has gone before...", used in the opening of the original Star Trek series.
Celebrity guest voices
Notably absent are DeForest Kelley and James Doohan. Kelley died three years before this episode was aired, and is represented by an animated version of himself with no lines. Futurama producer David X. Cohen has reported that Doohan simply refused to participate. There is speculation that Doohan's refusal was due to a personal conflict with Shatner.
Summary
The episode opens with the Planet Express crew, Zapp Brannigan, and the cast of the original Star Trek series aboard a modified Planet Express ship. Brannigan has charged the Planet Express crew with visiting the forbidden planet Omega III. Fry begins testifying on the circumstances, and an episode-long flashback begins.
A few days earlier, the crew finds themselves at a local video store. Fry suggests renting the Star Trek movies, but the mention of "Star Trek" sets off alarms and sirens. Back at the trial, George Takei explains that the television show was banned after it had become a religion and threatened the existing power structure. The last copies of the episodes and movies were dumped on Omega III.
The flashback continues, with Fry rushing to the Head Museum to talk to Leonard Nimoy about the ban. Nimoy feigns ignorance, but can't maintain the act. Nimoy tells Fry that the other cast members left Earth hundreds of years ago, and have never been seen since. Fry grabs Nimoy's jar, and heads back to the Planet Express building with the intention of retrieving the lost recordings.
Arriving at Omega III, Leela loses control of the ship and it crash lands. Emerging from the ship, they discover the rest of the cast (with James Doohan replaced by "Welshie"), who have been given new eternally-young bodies. With the crew reunited, a glowing energy cloud reveals itself as Melllvar, the self-proclaimed ultimate Star Trek fan. Melllvar regenerates Nimoy's body, and announces that they will be taking part in a Star Trek convention until the end of time.
After various convention activities, Melllvar announces a performance of his own Star Trek fan script, starring the original cast. The Planet Express crew uses this as a pretext to escape in the ship. While escaping, Leela formulates a plan to rescue the Star Trek cast. But the plan backfires, and the ship again crashes on Omega III, this time destroying the engine.
Melllvar, realizing he has been idolizing mere actors, decides to pit the Planet Express crew against the Star Trek cast in a battle to the death to gain his devotion. The battle begins, but when Melllvar's mother interrupts, calling him to dinner, both groups take the opportunity to escape. They take the still-functioning engines from the Star Trek cast's ship and graft them to the Planet Express ship, which is otherwise spaceworthy.
Everyone escapes, but Melllvar pursues in a heavily-armed spacecraft. The crew comes across the DOOP flagship Nimbus, but rather than being their salvation, Zapp Brannigan charges them with trespassing on a forbidden world, and puts them on trial. The flashback ends, and we find that the trial started before combat with Melllvar was resolved. Everyone returns to the bridge, where Fry manages to convince Melllvar that Star Trek should not be his purpose in life. Melllvar returns to Omega III, and everyone returns to Earth.
Quotes
- Fry: The world needs Star Trek to give it hope for the future.
- Leela: But it's set eight hundred years in the past!
- Walter Koenig: When we woke up, we had these bodies.
- Fry: Say it in Russian!
- Walter Koenig: (groans) Vhen ve voke up, ve had these wodies.
- Fry: Eeee! Now say "nuclear wessels"!
- Walter Koenig: No!
- Bender: Can people who hate Star Trek leave?
- Walter Koenig: Good question!
- Melllvar: No, you have to stay even longer.
- Bender & Koenig groan disappointedly
- Fry: All this time we thought he was a powerful superbeing! Yet he was just a child...
- Melllvar's Mom: He's not a child, he's 34!
External links
- Futurama (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/20th_Century_Fox/Television/Futurama/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase