When Aliens Attack
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"When Aliens Attack" is episode 12 in season 1 of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on November 7, 1999.
Plot
The episode opens in the year 1999, with Fry making a pizza delivery to the control booth of WNYW, New York's Fox affiliate. While there, Fry spills beer on the console, interrupting the broadcast of Single Female Lawyer (a spoof of Ally McBeal). As the technician panics, Fry ominously states "Like anyone on Earth cares." The camera pulls back from the broadcast tower, away from Earth, and through the depths of space, settling on Omicron Persei VIII, a thousand light-years away.
Back on Earth, the Planet Express crew decides to take a trip to Monument Beach, where most of the world's monuments now stand. While there, flying saucers arrive and blast the monuments to rubble. Lrrr, ruler of Omicron Persei VIII, demands that the Earth produce "the one called McNeal". President McNeal, fearing for his own safety, orders Zapp Brannigan to lead an assault against the alien invaders.
After the attack ends in disaster, Earth's government hands over President McNeal. Lrrr announces that he is the wrong McNeal, and vaporizes the President. Lrrr shows the world a photo of the McNeal they want, and Fry recognizes her as Jenny McNeal, main character of Single Female Lawyer.
The Omicronians demand the broadcast of the television show, or they will destroy the Earth. Unfortunately, most videotapes were destroyed in 2443, during the second coming of Jesus. The Planet Express crew decides to fake the show in order to save the world.
Fry's script comes up short, and Leela (as Jenny), is forced to improvise. She proposes marriage to the judge (played by Professor Farnsworth). An aggravated Fry tells Bender (the camera) to go to commercial. Fry tells Leela that people don't watch TV for clever and unexpected situations, and Lrrr makes a public statement backing up Fry's assertion.
Fry quickly writes an ending where the judge dies, leaving Jenny McNeal as a single female lawyer. The Omicronians, satisfied with the ending, leave Earth to watch a one thousand year old Jay Leno monologue.
Quotes
- Leela: Fry, you're wasting your life sitting in front of that TV. You need to get out and see the real world.
Fry: But this is HDTV. It's got better resolution than the real world! - Amy: (After spraying on bikini) There. How do I look?Professor Farnsworth: Like a cheap French harlot.Amy: (offended) French?
- Zapp Brannigan: If we can hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Check mate. (Kif sighs)
- Zapp Brannigan: Stop exploding, you cowards!
- Zapp Brannigan: We're all from different cultures here. Some of you are white, and some of you are black. You're brown. (to Bender) And you're silver. But I don't care if your skin's red, or tan, or Chinese. You're all going to have to learn to die together.
- Zapp Brannigan: What's that!?Kiff: It appears to be the alien mothership, sir!Zapp Brannigan: Then what did we just blow up?Kiff: The Hubble Telescope, sir.
- Fry: Now just read these cue cards.Professor Farnsworth: (as the judge): Miss McNeal, I'm afraid I must decline your offer of marriage, for you see, I'm dying. (reading aloud stage direction) Cough, then fall over dead.Zoidberg: (as the prosecutor): My God, he's dead.(Farnsworth checks his own pulse)
- Bender: Bite my red hot glowing ass! Wait a minute... red hot glowing ass? (looks at himself) I'll be right back, ow ow ow ow ow! (entering the water) ohhhhh yeaaa
- Bender: Single Female Lawyer. Fighting for her Client. Wearing sexy mini skirts and being self-reliant!
- Lrrr: McNeal! You know! She is a single female human struggling to make it in a human male's world.
Zap Brannigan: Maybe that's just her excuse for being incompetent? - Lrrr: (Delivering a threat to the planet) We will raise your planet's temperature by one million degrees a day. For five days. Unless we see McNeal at 9PM tomorrow. 8 Central.
- Lrrr: Prepare the watercooler, that we may gather around it later and discuss thigns!
Trivia
- Though his coworker Linda appears, Morbo is strangely absent from this episode.
- The super villain mayor who stole all the worlds mouments and brought them all to Monument beach in New New York had his face engraved on Mount Rushmore over Thomas Jefferson.
- This episode is the first in which Matt Groening continues his tradition of poking fun at the show's network, 20th Century Fox, a tradition that began with Groening's previous show, The Simpsons.
- Among the many ships leading the attack on the Omnicronian mothership are a Slurm delivery truck and a school hoverbus with some sort of turret mounted on top.
References
- The title is a reference to the Fox series When Animals Attack.
- The show "Single Female Lawyer" is a parody of Ally McBeal.
- When the technician at the control booth of WNYW offers Fry to watch the show, he replies "ah, I don't know, that's a chick show. I prefer programs of the genre World's Blankiest Blank". This is a reference to such reality shows as World's Wildest Police Videos.
- The scene with the monuments being destroyed is a parody of the film Independence Day, especially the destruction of the White House.
- Earth president McNeal presents Zapp Brannigan as coming "Fresh from his bloody triumph over the pacifists of the Gandhi nebula". This is a reference to Mahatma Gandhi.
- The Earth forces accidentally destroy Hubble Telescope instead of the alien mothership.
- The scene where Zapp Brannigan is briefing his pilots before attacking the Omicronians is a parody of the scene from where Jan Dodonna briefs the Rebel pilots before attacking the Death Star. In addition, the scene where the Planet Express ship flies onscreen with other starfighters mimics the opening of the Battle of Yavin.
- During the shooting of the mock episode of "Single Female Lawyer", Fry explains that "TV audiences don't want anything original; they wanna see the same thing they've seen a thousand times before..." to which bender replies "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Fry?" This is a reference to Gary Coleman's famous catch phrase, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" from the television programme Diff'rent Strokes.
- In their final broadcast, the aliens state that they must return to their planet "to catch the end of a thosand year old Leno monologue", a reference to Jay Leno's monologues on The Tonight Show.
| Preceded by: Mars University | Futurama episodes | Followed by: Fry and the Slurm Factory |
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