A Bicyclops Built For Two

==============================================================================
A Bicyclops Built For Two		Written by Eric Kaplan
					Directed by Susan Dieter
==============================================================================
Production code: 2ACV09			Original Airdate: 19-Mar-2000

TV Guide synopsis:
    Leela, afraid that her race will die out, gets engaged to a cyclops

Title Sequence

Opening theme promotion:
	This Episode Has Been Modified
	To Fit Your Primitive Screen

Opening theme cartoon:
	[[[Frankenstein]]]

Did You Notice...

... the Internet ads look like Javascript pop-up banner ads,
    but wave around like the Microsoft Windows logo?
... Leela's email uses an AOLish "You've got mail" greeting
    and displays video attachments in a MacOSish window?
... Alkazar eats generic canned corn?

Haynes Lee:
... the Professor's computer has a monochrome screen?
... Hermes limbos down to avoid the ad banner?
... Bender had three goldfish bowls and a toaster inside him?

Voice Credits

- Starring
  - Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth)
  - Katey Sagal (Leela)
  - John DiMaggio (Bender)
- Also Starring
   - David Herman (Alkazar)
   - Maurice LaMarche (Calculon)
   - Phil LaMarr (Hermes, Preacher)
   - Lauren Tom (Amy)

Movie (and other) References

+ Daisy Bell, by Harry Dacre (Song)
  - Episode Title
+ 2001:  A Space Odyssey and 2010
  - "Also Sprach Zarathusa"
  - "My God!  It's full of ads!"  {pld}
+ Modern Times (Movie)
  - Bender going through the the works  {jk}
+ Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" (Painting)
  - The mosaic of the sacred Cyclops goddess of beauty
+ Superman (Comic Strip, Comic Book, etc.)
  - A doomed planet sends a baby off in a rocket to Earth
  
+ Married With Children (TV Series)
  - "Al" is a sexist low-life jerk
  - Leela does up her hair and clothes like Peg
  - Ugly living room and banter

Previous Episode References

- [1ACV09] Preacher from the Church of Robotology.

Freeze Frame Fun

- Internet Ads:
  - Human Brain Memory Upgrade -- brainslugplanet.web
  - MAD? -- ammo.web
  - Click Here to Be Annoyed
  - Steamy Presidential MP3s!
  - Stalk Anybody -- search.web
  - e-Vomit
  - [[[Tired of your cow????  Trade it for a pig at ... WEB]]]
  - Information Superhighway -- Howard Stern Rest Area
  - Be An Organ Donor -- Visit organs.org

- Porn "Sites:"
  - Virtual Massage
  - Smutter Butter
  - Filth-O-Rama
  - Sardine-On-Mackerel Action
  - Barely Legal Aliens
  - Galaxy of Love
  - Blurry Photso of Sasquatch Makin' Out
  - 100% Wireless Cybersex
  - Four Prostitutes Playing Bridge
  - Asexual Reproduction
  - GalaXXXy of LOVE
  - Claw Fetish
  - Blond Surfers With Low IQs
  - What's Your Fantasy?  Brain-Scan Will Tell You!
  - Talk Dirty With Eliza
  - GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!  (Girls Wanted)
  - Between-Tentacle Cam
  - Amy Wong Naked

- Adult Chat Rooms:
  - [[[Alien Alphabet ???]]]
  - Filthy, Filthy Chat Room
  - Filthy Chat Room

- Bender's MacOS-Style Pull-Down Menu:
  NEW...    %N
  OPEN...   %O
  CLOSE     %W
  DISGUISES  > SEXY NURSE
               NAPOLEON

- Video Game:
  Death Factory III: The Legend of Death Factory II

- Theater Grade Popcorn: Not For Animal Feed

- Signs:
  - Forbidden Valley, Permitted Valley, Required Valley
  - No Trespassing -- No Exception For Whiffle Balls

- Pre-Wedding Chug-A-Thon

Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs

Fry's a master of video games in this episode, but in [1ACV01]
he couldn't even survive the second screen of "Monkey Fracas Jr."
where the monkey threw barrels at him.

Reviews

Haynes Lee:  A good episode but the MWC gag felt a bit flat
    because Alkaseltzer didn't sound very much like Ed O'Neill.
    The ending created more questions than giving answers about
    Leela's past.  (B+)

Eric Sansoni:  This episode starts out with a complex vision of the
    future Internet so detailed, breathtaking, ambitious, and
    satirically multifaceted, that when it ends and the standard
    plot begins, the rest can't help but feel a bit routine by
    comparison.  The outcome of Leela's relationship is more or
    less predictable.  Bender, with almost no role in the plot,
    disappointingly marks time with one-note kleptomania.  The
    Leela/Peg Married with Children parody is cute, but I hope
    it's the last one we see, as it reminds us more of the actor
    than the character, breaking the storytelling illusion.  Some
    great moments involving Fry's escape and investigation, the
    slack-jawed yokel animal aliens, as well as a tour-de-force
    conclusion add to the fun.  (B+)

Comments and Other Observations

Eliza is a computer program that picks out words and phrase from what
you type and puts them into sentences that are designed to encourage
you to type some more.  It was named after Eliza Doolittle in My Fair
Lady, because it "learns to talk" with you.  Talking dirty with Eliza
could get very boring because you're just talking to yourself.  {jd}

Quotes and Scene Summary

A robot delivers mail to Planet Express, which lands on Nibbler's
head.  Nibbler spazzes out and then Professor Farnsworth accidentally
steps on him.

Prof.: Good news, everyone!  Several years ago, I tried
       to log on to AOL.  And it just went through.  Whee!

Bender: Behold ... the Internet!
        ["Also Sprach Zarathusa" plays]
   Fry: My God.  It's full of ads.

The ads, swooping like bats, attack our virtual friends.

They encounter an "AMY WONG NAKED" doorway.

   Amy: Hey!  That's me!
Bender: No it isn't.  I just took some pictures of your face and
        stuck them on someone else's body.
 Leela: [looks inside]  Hey!

They approach a "FILTHY, FILTHY, CHAT ROOM" doorway.

Bender: I'm telling you, Fry, they have a chat room for everybody.
        And here it is!
        [Bender and Fry walk in]
   Amy: Euwww, that is so gross.
 Leela: Yeah.  I'll stick with this one, thank you.
   Amy: Yeah.

They walk into a "FILTHY CHAT ROOM" doorway.

        Leela: I don't like to play games, so I'll just say I'm a
               cyclops, I'm a spaceship captain, I'm the only one of
               my species, and I'm interested in meeting a man.
Chat Room Guy: A woman.  I'm scared.

   Fry: Well, thanks to the Internet, I'm now bored with sex.  Is
        there a place on the web that panders to my lust for violence?
Bender: Is the Space-Pope reptilian?

Fry: Are you still made at me for wrecking your once-in-a-lifetime
     chance to learn the meaning of your existence?

Computer: Leela, you've got mail!
   Leela: [exasperated sigh]
Computer: It's not spam!
-- At last, Email that works, "Bicyclops Built for Two" 

Leela: Alkazar?  Are you real?  Or am I seeing single?
       [she pokes him in the eye]
-- That old depth perception problem, "Bicyclops Built for Two" 

Leela: After all this time, somebody else with one eye ... who
       isn't a clumsy carpenter or a kid with a BB gun.

Alkazar: No, Leela, I don't want to see tears in your perfect eye.
-- That's one cantelope-sized bloodshot eye, "Bicyclops Built for Two"

Bender: I dunno, Fry.  For the first time in my life, I feel
        like I've stolen enough.
   Fry: Bender!  Snap out of it!

Preacher: Does anyone have a reason why this couple shall not be
          joined in the irrevocable shackles of holy bliss?
   Prof.: Saving a race of one-eyed monsters?  Who could object
          to that?

Contributors

Capsule authored by Jym Dyer.

{pld} Phil Dennison
{jd}  Jym Dyer
{jk}  Joe Klemm
{hl}  Haynes Lee
{es}  Eric Sansoni