==============================================================================
Parasites Lost Written by Eric Kaplan
Directed by Peter Avanzino
==============================================================================
Production code: 3ACV02 Original Airdate on FOX: 21-Jan-2001
Synopsis:
A miniaturized version of the crew takes a fantastic voyage
inside Fry to cure him of worms -- which are actually
improving him.
Opening theme promotion: IF NOT ENTERTAINING, WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN Opening theme cartoon: Ub Iwerks studio, "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (1934)
Daniel L. Dreibelbis:
... owls have evolved in the last 1000 years to eat bread crumbs?
... Bender was actually eager to fix the nuclear boiler?
... at the beginning of Act II, the hovercar that flies over
Planet Express has the body of a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe?
Jym Dyer:
... on the Greasy Sue's Greasy Truck Stop sign, the neon "S" and "T"
in, respectively, "GREASY" and "STOP," are about to burn out.
... the metric system hasn't made it to Greasy Sue's; dark matter
is dispensed by the gallon.
... the 1940's-like cheesecake photo in the truck stop men's room?
(Shades of [3ACV19]!)
... truckers use mudflaps in outer space -- though it's not clear
what for, exactly -- and AOL/Time-Warner (which we know from
[2ACV09] is still in business) is still licensing Yosemite Sam
for them?
... Fry prepares for a confrontation by rolling up his sleeves,
then rolling up his pant legs?
... the human anatomy chart in Zoidberg's office is upside-down?
... Leela's apartment building has round windows that look like
cyclops eyes?
Joe Klemm:
... the chickens in the space truck are wearing helmets?
... the penny in Fry's stomach is dated 1982?
- Starring - Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth) - Katey Sagal (Leela) - John DiMaggio (Bender) - Tress MacNeille (Waitress) - Guest Starring - David Herman - Lauren Tom (Amy Wong) - Phil Lamarr (Hermes Conrad) - Also Starring - Maurice LaMarche
+ "Paradise Lost" (Poem by John Milton) {jk}
- Episode Title
+ Route 66 (Highway) {jk}
- An actual highway in the United States, which even had a
song made about it.
+ "Convoy" (Song by C.W. McCall) {dld}
- Opening song. A 1977 crossover country hit about a group of
truckers forming a convoy and going across the USA defying
the speed limit and the cops. Part of a short-lived public
craze for CB radios. Made into a really bad movie starring
Kris Kristofferson
+ Fantastic Voyage (Movie) {dld}
- A movie about a group of scientists and doctors minitiuarizing
themselves, placed in a minituarized sub and injected into a
man's body so they can perform life-saving surgery, based
on a story by Isaac Asimov. Starring Stephen Boyd and Raquel
Welch. (There was also FV animated series done by
Filmation in the early 1970s).
+ Dr. Who (TV Series) {tjm}
- "The Invisible Enemy" an episode in which the Doctor and his
assistant Leela are cloned, and the clones are miniaturized
and injected into the Doctor to defeat invading parasites.
+ X Minus One (Radio Show) {dld}
- In the "Shock Troops" episode of this classic radio series,
an army of parasites (or germs, they didn't elaborate) take
over a man's body for colonization. (I'm not going to spoil
the ending of this, as it takes a rather interesting twist
as to the man's fate -- you can find this one floating
around some of the stations at the Live365.com site.)
+ Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) {dld}
- The running gag about Bender yelling "abandon ship!" similar
to what Picard yells out several times in the episode "Time
And Again" (in which the Enterprise is caught in a time loop
and explodes several times).
- The final scene with Fry playing the holophonor is reminiscent
of the final scene with Picard and a flute in the episode
"The Inner Light", and is just as touching.
+ Ed Wynn (Comedian)
- The silly voice given the Worm King similar to this famous
comedian, who was a star of radio and later television.
+ Xanadu (Movie) {dgh}
- Some of the earlier holophonor sequences reminded me of Don
Bluth's fantasy scene in the movie. The part where the Fry
and Leela are swimming beavers and then emerge as people
from the oyster is a pretty close quote.
+ FOX Network specials
- "Courageous Tales of Brave Animals" -- title of book Leela
was reading similar to the type of filler "specials" played
on the FOX Network (and I wouldn't be surprised if FOX did
air an episode with that title! )
+ Maxell Tapes (Advertisement) {jd}
- Leela's underfurnished apartment looks like a famous and
much-parodied ad for Maxell tape from the 1970s.
+ The Simpsons {dld}
- [1F18] et al. Fry's ripping off his shirt to reveal a
ridiculously buff body is similar to a long-standing
running gag about Groundskeeper Willie and Ned Flanders.
+ [1ACV05] A ringed planet squished against the Planet Express
ship's windshield.
- [2ACV04] Leela says "ax" instead of "ask."
- [2ACV16] Scruffy appears.
- Interstate-Style Route Sign:
Historic
___
\/66
- Ships in the convoy:
- A ship carrying chickens in space helmets
- A cement mixer with "QUICK-SETTING DNA"
- A tanker truck of HUMAN MILK (in alien language)
- Truck stop sign:
- Greasy Sue's \
GREASY |
TRUCK |
STOP V
- Fuel for Sale:
- Regular Matter, Dark Matter, Wassa Matter
- Ethanol, Ethanol & Tonic
- In the men's room:
- Employees
Must Wipe Hands
On Pants
- "Tastee Snacks 'n' Prophylactics" machine:
- Aldebaranticklers (50¢)
- Breakable Comb (75¢)
- "Fresh" Egg Salad Sandwich (20¢)
- Zoidberg's office door sign:
DR. ZOIDBERG
A Medical Corporation
- The book Leela had read before she fell asleep:
TRUE
STORIES
OF
COURAGEOUS
ANIMALS
- "Watch for Falling Humans" (in alien alphabet)
- Elevator buttons:
- Brain, Lungs, Liver, Ball Room, Door Close
I liked the Voyager probe but it was far under scale. {mz}
- Well for that matter, so was the ringed planet! {jd}
The woman pictured on the cover of Zero-G Juggs appears to be
wearing a brassiere designed for >0-G environments. {jd}
After the Professor places the Zoidberg microdroid on his
finger, the Farnsworth microdroid walks into frame on his own
finger. The wall, ceiling, and doorway can be seen in the
background. Then, when the Professor microdroid puts his finger
down at his side, the background doesn't change. Since the
motions of the microdroid's hands mimic the Professor's, this
means that the Professor put his finger down at his side,
and as the droids were all standing on the Professor's finger,
the area seen behind the microdroids should have been completely
different. {al}
If the microdroids were big enough for the Professor to pick up
with tweezers, then they would be too big to be the size which
they were inside Fry's body, relative to his red blood cells and
capillaries. {al}
Fry rips off his shirt to reveal a ridiculously buff body, but
then in the next scene, Fry's shirt is sewn back together and
back on. {lf}
It was pretty odd that Nibbler wasn't around in Leela's apartment.
{lf}
Wouldn't the work the worms already did still be there? Wouldn't
he still be smarter and healthier then he was before he contracted
them? {mz}
There are no pain detectors in the brain. Fry wouldn't have been
yelling ouch every time he sliced part of his brain. {lf}
- Unless he was hitting pain interpreters. {mz}
Daniel L. Dreibelbis: An amazing episode! Literally amazing!
We get a great sci-fi plot (the use of the nanobots was an
excellent touch), a major revelation about Fry regarding his
feelings for Leela, and a surprise touching ending, the type
we always saw on The Simpsons years ago. And of course it
wouldn't be a Futurama episode without some incredible gags
(best ROTFL moment -- the statue). Rating: A+++
Jym Dyer: A Fantastic Journey parody that evolved into a great
sci-fri premise in its own right, with excellent animated scenes
and non-stop humor. What makes this episode truly amazing is
that, while excelling in all of these rather abstract realms, it
also succeeds at delivering a powerful and wonderful exploration
into the characters' emotional lives. Before reading Daniel's
review, I independently concluded that this episode deserves an
A+++ rating! Best episode ever.
Catherine Johnson (in rec.arts.tv.mst3k.misc): I actually cried at
the ending, in fact. It's been a long time since an American
animated show has had that effect on me.
Mike Reed: I've been a Futurama fan from the beginning, and
tonight's episode blew me away. It was absolutely perfect.
30 minutes of absolute hilarity. It had a great set-up: Fry
wishing that Leela would appreciate him was well-thought out,
as well as the truck stop guy hitting on Leela, which allowed
both plots to develop smoothly and related to each other.
Some nice touches on animation compliment it. Once they get
into Fry's body we get some good, easy laughs along the way,
with some nice Fry/Leela scenes that go well with it. But,
the third act is what seals this as the best episode ever.
We see Fry as much of a three-dimensional character as ever.
When he realizes that Leela only loves who he's become, he
sacrifices his love life to be himself, showing his true
character. Leela letting him down was easily done, so that
we could sympathize with Fry, but still laugh at Bender's
half-assed way of trying to cheer him up. Finally, at the end
when Fry plays the instrument, it gives us a thought-provoking
ending that makes the entire episode memorable.
(Many newsgroup postings had "Best Episode Ever" in the title.)
For his work on this episode, storyboard artist Rodney Clouden won
an Emmy for individual achievement in animation. {mz}
___
\/66 -- I imagined it as being pronounced "Root 66." :-) {al}
The buildings inside Fry's stomach have a silverware motif. I can't
tell whether this is because the worms built it from items they found
lying around (such as the 1982 penny), or in honor of their proud
culinary heritage. But sandwiches don't require cutlery. {jd}
A bunch of truck-like ships move through space on a historic
"square root" of 66. "Convoy" plays. Planet Express splits and
stops at Greasy Sue's Greasy Truck Stop.
Radio transmissions: Breaker, Big Ben, this here's the Duck, you
want to back off them hogs? 10-4 ...
Leela start refueling with some Dark Matter.
Leela: Hmm, I better check the fluid levels. [Pulls out a long
rod, looks at it] We're okay on coke syrup.
Bender is at the ethanol pump which gives two choices: "ETHANOL"
and "ETHANOL & TONIC." Bender selects Ethanol & Tonic, puts
the nozzle in his mouth and starts drinking. At the same time he
tries to light his cigar. The lighter won't work.
Bender: Oh, man, come on!
Leela is trying to put the rod back. Explosion is heard and a
flash is seen. Bender's head flies by.
Bender: Coming through!
Cut to Fry walking into the bathroom. He looks at the "Tastee
Snacks 'N' Prophylactics" vending machine above the toilet. It
has a choice of Aldebaran Ticklers, Breakable Comb, and "Fresh"
Egg Salad Sandwich.
Fry: Okay ... Hmm? Hmm!
He takes the egg salad sandwich. He walks back to the ship where
he unwraps the sandwich and is about to eat it.
Bender: What's that black cracker?
Fry: [Bites into it] A tomato.
Leela: You're not going to eat a sandwich from a truck stop
men's room, are you?
Fry: Ah, what's the worse thing that could happen? [Bites
the sandwich] Ugh! It's a like a party in my mouth
and everyone's throwing up.
Leela takes a giant window brush, gets on a hover stand and flies
up to the windshield. She wipes a giant insect, a tiny smashed
up ringed planet, and the Voyager spacecraft off the windshield.
Trucker1: [Points at Leela] Looky there, it's one of those
things like on our mud flaps.
Trucker2: Yosemite Sam?
Sal: Stands back. I'm going to puts my moves on her.
Whoa-oa-oa-oas!
Fry: That jerk! No one hoots at my Captain unless they're
prepared to take it to the next level.
Leela: Fry, please. That's sweet, but I'd rather not even
dignify them with an ass-whupping.
Sal: Yo, sexy mama, let's get busy and freaky, in that order.
Fry: Hey Jumbo, how would you like it if Leela said you were
sexy and she wanted to make love with you?
Sal: Ah, I gots five minutes. She looks pretty good for a
truck stop chick. [Truckers laugh]
Fry: You take that back! She does not look good for a truck
stop chick.
[Leela frowns, truckers laugh]
Sal: Yeah, you're right. She don't gots enough meat for a
guy like me.
Fry: She does, too! She's loaded with meat. She's got more
meat than a cow. [Leela grabs him by the hair and pulls
him up] Ow!
Truckers: [Laughing] More meat than a cow!
At Planet Express headquarters. Fry and Bender on the couch.
Fry: I just can't please Leela no matter what I do. I just
want her to like me.
Bender: Well, there's always hope. [Slams Fry on the back and
laughs] Come on. We got to go fix the plasma fusion
boiler.
In the boiler room. They find Scruffy lying on a bed next to the
boiler, reading a "Zero-G Juggs" magazine.
Bender: Who are you?
Scruffy: Scruffy the janitor.
Bender: Why aren't you fixing the boiler?
Scruffy: Schedule conflict. [Flips a page in the magazine.]
Bender gets to work on the boiler.
Bender: There, fixed forever.
The boiler starts shaking menacingly, letting out clouds of steam.
Fry and Bender gasp.
Scruffy: Scruffy's going to die the way he lived. [Flips page]
The boiler explodes, Fry and Bender scream.
Scruffy: Oh, marmalade!
Inside Dr. Zoidberg's office, Fry is sitting on the table with a
lead pipe through his gut. Bender taps curiously on the pipe.
Zoidberg: Ah, the hypochondriac's back. So, what is it this time?
Fry: Well, my lead pipe hurts a little.
Zoidberg: That's normal. Next patient.
The pipe suddenly starts shaking with a sawing noise. Both
protruding side of it fall off, leaving a gaping hole in Fry's
gut. Bender looks inside it. The hole quickly closes up.
Everyone gasps.
Bender: He's a witch!
Prof.: Fry, did you eat anything unusual recently?
Fry: No.
Leela: What about that bathroom egg salad from the truck stop?
Fry: I've had better.
Prof.: Egg salad? Hmm. Zoidberg will have to examine your
gastrointestinal tract. Come, everyone. Give Fry some
privacy.
They walk out of the room ... and file into an observation room.
Prof.: If you can't see well enough through the two-way mirror,
there'll be close-up on this video screen.
Zoidberg starts examining Fry.
Zoidberg: Hmm, we'll need to have a look inside you with this
camera. [Fry opens his mouth] Guess again.
Everyone in the observation room watches what the camera shows,
eating popcorn. The camera is traveling inside of Fry's bowel.
Amy: Gross!
Bender: Go, man, go!
Camera makes several turns. Everybody leans into the turns as
they watch.
Prof.: Watch for any subtle irregularity in Fry's bowel.
Suddenly the camera arrives at a futuristic city. Everyone gasps.
Amy: It's gorgeous. That place used to be a big dump.
They see the inhabitants of the city. They are worms. Everyone
gasps.
Amy: Worms? Eww! Pukatronic.
Leela: So, the eggs in that egg salad sandwich were ...
Prof.: Correct. Worm eggs. And the mayonnaise was probably none
too fresh, either.
Hermes: It's nauseating, mon. [Eats some popcorn] Is there no
way to get rid of the disgusting maggots?
Prof.: Only one. We'll have to travel deep inside Fry in this.
Pulls the cloth off the table. There's nothing on it but a small
dot. Everyone steps closer. Professor puts a magnifying glass
in front of the dot. It's a tiny Planet Express ship.
Bender: Shotgun!
Zoidberg: Shotgun! Oh ...
[End of Act One. Act Time: 5:32 Running Time: 5:32]
Bender, Amy and Hermes look over their gear for the mission.
Prof.: In each gastro survival kit you'll find a rain slicker, a
disposable fun camera, and something to protect you against
bacteria -- a harpoon.
Camera moves away to show that they are tiny and standing on the
Professor's finger. The actual people are in the room wearing
virtual reality gear.
Bender: Yo, old guy why do we have to use those tiny microdroids?
Can't you just shrink us?
Prof.: Oh, my, no. That would require extremely tiny atoms and
have you priced those lately? I'm not made of money.
Leave me alone!
Zoidberg: Me next!
He steps on a platform and gets scanned. When the scan is complete
an egg-shaped container with a tiny robot Zoidberg rolls out of
the machine. The Professor picks it up with tweezers and puts it
with the others. The Professor's droid also joins them.
Prof.: Anywho, your 'Net suits will let you experience Fry's
worm-infested bowels as if you were actually wriggling
through them.
Zoidberg: There's no part of that sentence I didn't like.
At the meeting table, which is empty.
Prof.: Is everyone present?
Everyone confirms. The camera zooms in to show a tiny table
next to a pencil on the table, where everyone is.
Prof.: Here's the plan: We'll enter the ear drip down the back
of the throat and make for the bowel. There, we'll irritate
the pelvic splanchnic ganglion and cause an intestinal spasm
expelling, among other things, the parasites.
Bender: I'll tell Fry to wash out, among other things, his ear.
Prof.: No! Fry can't know anything about the mission. If he finds
out, the worms will try to defend themselves. They know
everything he knows.
Bender: They know how to make ice cream soup?
Prof.: [To Leela, who's looming over all them, as she's not a
microdroid] Leela, your role is to distract Fry so he
doesn't notice what we're up to.
Leela: [In a loud, echoing voice] Can do!
Amy: Leela, you should really try a facial scrub?
For your pores?
Leela blows on her, sending her flying.
In the other room, Fry drinks a can after can of slurm. Leela
comes in.
Leela: Look, a starling.
Fry: Really?
He turns to look. Leela spits the tiny Planet Express ship out
of a tube into his ear.
Meanwhile, inside the ear, ...
Prof.: Shh. Be very quiet. We're in the ear.
Amy: Okay, Professor.
Prof.: [Loudly] What?
Fry: What about what?
Leela: Uh, what if we go for a walk possibly because it's such a
lovely day, perhaps?
Fry: I'd love to. [Scratches inside his ear]
The finger moves after the ship. Everybody screams.
Hermes: We've got to get someplace where he won't stick his finger.
Bender: It's hopeless! Abandon ship!
Prof.: Wait, we just have to get past the eardrum.
The ship passes through the eardrum, leaving a small hole.
Immediately a worm arrives to patch it up. The ship moves on.
They are in the brain now.
Hermes: What are those worms doing to Fry's brain?
Prof.: They're giving it a complete tune-up. A cursory glance
would suggest they've doubled his thinking power.
Hermes: My God, soon he'll be smarter than Cher.
On the street, Fry is picking flowers.
Fry: Ah, the scent of a rose. Curious how an aromatic chain
of hydrocarbons can evoke our deepest emotions. [Gives
the bouquet to Leela] For you.
Leela: That's such a beautiful thought, Fry. And what's more
amazing is that you expressed it without spewing crumbs
at me.
Inside Fry.
Prof.: Brace yourselves, everyone. We're entering the interior
of Fry's nose.
Bender: We're at Finger Alert Five.
Prof.: Let's just pray nothing stimulates the delicate smell
receptors. Nobody make a smell.
Outside, Fry is smelling the flowers. Inside, a bunch of spiky
balls of pollen start hitting the ship. Everyone yells.
Zoidberg: Quick, we can escape through that nasal capillary into
the sinus!
The ship makes sharp turn to go into a capillary.
Hermes: Strange, you usually don't know anything about human
anatomy.
Zoidberg: I learned it from a decongestant commercial. "Soothing
action, action, action, action."
The ship moves through the capillary, and then gets to the blood
vessel. The ride gets bumpy. They arrive in the heart.
Bender: Where are we, the ass?
Prof.: We're in the heart better known as "the love muscle."
Zoidberg: Where the food is digested.
Prof.: We should be safe just so long as nothing makes it
beat faster.
Outside, Fry and Leela stand beside a puddle. Fry looks at
Leela, steps into the puddle and extends his hand to her. Leela
smiles and puts her hand into his. Inside, Fry's heart start
beating faster.
Bender: Abandon ship!
Prof.: No! Set course for that cholesterol-encrusted valve.
As the ship passes the valve, Zoidberg gets out of the hatch to
collect some cholesterol.
Zoidberg: [Spreads it on a cracker] It's good cholesterol, but
it spreads like bad cholesterol. [Eats it]
Shot of worms cleaning off the cholesterol deposits.
The ship now passes some muscles. Worms are massaging them.
Amy: Look, they're jazzercising Fry's muscles.
Hermes: He'll be as strong and flexible as Gumby and Hercules
combined.
Zoidberg: Gumbercules? I love that guy!
Outside, Fry and Leela walk past a construction site. Leela stops.
Leela: Ugh! It's that jerk from the truck stop. Let's cross the
street and blend in with that crowd of pimps.
Fry: I don't think so. [Walks up to Sal] Sir, I believe you
owe this lady an apology.
Leela: Fry, no! He's bulging with what could be muscles.
Fry rips his shirt revealing a very well toned physique.
Leela: Ooh ...
Sal: I got your apologies right heres.
He takes out a knife and lunges it at Fry, but Fry catches his
wrist and throws him over the head, dropping him to Leela's feet.
Sal: Whoa! [Groans] Sorrys, ma'am. I've learns the lesson
about not ogling cans that I won't soons forget.
Inside Fry.
Prof.: Ah, the stomach: scenic gateway to the bowel.
The ship passes a 1982 penny. Worms notice the ship, the alarm
goes off and several tanks start the pursuit. They shoot some
projectiles that bounce right off.
Bender: Abandon ship! [Tries to reach for the door as Zoidberg
and Hermes try to restrain him]
Prof.: No, don't give up now. We're but a stone's throw from
the pyloric sphincter.
They go for an opening in the distance. It's slowly closing up.
The ship gets caught by it midway, but projectiles fired from the
tanks push it through. The opening closes completely and the tanks
bump into it, exploding in flames.
Everyone: [Cheers] We made it!
The ship flies through the bowel and finally reaches the worm city.
Prof.: There it is, the stately capital of Fry's bowel:
a heavily-guarded fortress surrounding the pelvic
splanchnic ganglion.
Zoidberg: I've heard of that. Who said I haven't?
Prof.: If we can stimulate that nerve the bowel will convulse,
expelling the entire worm society.
Hermes: But what about the worms in other parts of his body?
Prof.: Listen, this is going to be one hell of a bowel
movement. Afterwards, he'll be lucky if he has any
bones left.
Bender: All right, let's mush some worms. [Reloads and makes
the first shot]
Worm King: Worms to battle stations!
[Worms start shooting back]
Outside. Fry and Leela are drinking tea in a café across the
street from Planet Express.
Fry crumbles some of his muffin for the owls sitting nearby.
Leela: I had a great time today. The flowers, the puddle, the
way you hurt that guy ... but can I ax you something?
Fry: Anything.
Leela: Why did you do all that stuff?
Fry: Oh, Leela, there's something I've wanted to tell you
for a long time, but every time I try, I get nervous
and my mouth feels like it's stuffed with peanut butter
even when it's not.
Leela: What is it? Is it about Bender?
Fry: No, it's about you and me.
Leela: And Bender?
Fry: Bender's not involved. [Puts his hands on hers]
Leela ... I love you.
Leela: You do?
Fry: Yes, but it's only recently that I've been able to
articulate my thoughts. I love you, Leela, and I
always have.
Leela: Fry, that's the sweetest, most wonderful -- wait!
Recently? Like since you ate that toilet sandwich?
Fry: Yeah. I don't know why, but my life really turned
around that day.
Leela: Stay here. [Fry sighs]
Waitress: Freshen your noc-a-tina?
Fry: Please, I need something to settle my stomach.
Inside, the battle is raging on. The crew reaches a metal door.
Prof.: The nerve is through here. Where's Zoidberg?
Zoidberg: [Rides in on a spermatozoid] Yippee-ki-yay. You'll
never guess where I've been.
Leela is in the scanner. She shoots her droid through the window
into Fry's tea. Fry drinks it.
Inside Fry, they're using Bender's head as a battering ram against
a vault-like door.
Bender: One, two, three ... [The door falls, and Bender rubs
his head and groans]
Prof.: There it is, the pelvic splanchnic ganglion. Tickle it,
then get ready for the ride of your lives.
Leela: [From the doorway] Don't even think about tickling
that ganglion.
Prof.: Leela, you're just in time to help. If we don't get rid
of the worms now, they'll burrow so deep into the bowel
that not even Hermes' famous jerk prunes could dislodge
them.
Hermes: I call it Caribbean Drain-o.
Prof.: Fry will be stuck with the worms forever.
Leela: Perfect.
Takes an axe from behind her back and chops the Professor's head
off, then proceed to chop the rest of the microdroids to pieces.
She turns around and swings the axe at the others. Hermes and
Amy duck, but she chops Zoidberg's head off.
Zoidberg: Ouch.
[End of Act Two. Act Time: 8:38 Running Time: 14:10]
Leela's killing spree continues. She chops off Hermes', Bender's
and Amy's heads, then proceeds to chop them all up to smaller
pieces. They scream in horror.
Bender: Oh, the pain and anguish.
Finally, Leela stops, takes off her VR gear and walks off.
Others take off their gear as well.
Amy: Oh ... I'm okay.
Prof.: Leela, you ignorant dope. Now the worms will be in Fry
forever.
Leela: So? Did you ever stop to think that Fry is better off
with worms?
Prof.: Oh, that's stupid.
The door opens up and Fry comes in.
Fry: If anyone wants to tell me what's going on here, I'll be
in the lounge.
At the meeting table.
Fry: Of all the parasites I've had over the years these worms
are among the -- Hell, they are the best. Leela, how can
I ever repay you for saving them?
Leela: I'll think of something.
Fry takes her hand and they look lovingly at each other.
Bender: 'Ello, wot's all this then?
At Leela's apartment.
Fry: Apartment 1-I. The old me would have made a joke about
that.
Leela: I should warn you it's a little under-furnished. [There's
only a chair and a TV in the room] I'm thinking of having
a window installed.
Fry: I think the view's perfect already.
Leela: Oh, that's the corniest thing I've ever heard. Let me show
you the bedroom.
Fry: Wait. In a minute. [Takes out a box with a funny-looking
instrument]
Leela: A holophonor? Only a few people in the whole universe can
play that, and they're not very good at it.
Fry: They don't have you to inspire them.
He starts playing. A hologram appears showing Fry and Leela
dancing on the ring of Saturn, accompanied by a soothing
violin-like "cosmic" music. The camera goes in the hologram.
Saturn swiftly moves away to the distance. The setting moon
above the sea moves into the frame. Camera focuses on the moon
glares on water, that change into shaking silhouettes of Fry and
Leela's heads. They close their lips and in the splash of light
the camera is transported underwater, further descending to the
sea floor. Some strange creatures bearing an distinctive
resemblance to Fry and Leela swim by, playing. They rise to the
surface and jump out like dolphins. The wave covers everything.
When the wave rolls back, it's the shore. A clam is lying on
the shore. It opens up, revealing a pearl inside. The camera
closes in on the pearl, which has a reflection of Fry and Leela,
dancing. After a graceful dance pas, Fry lifts Leela up by the
waist. The screen fades, everything slpashes into soft white
sparks and ends.
Leela silently takes Fry's hand, gets up and takes him to the
bedroom. In the bedroom, they are kissing.
Leela: I don't have words to say how wonderful you are, Fry. I
haven't felt this happy since Double-Soup Tuesday at the
orphanarium.
Fry: When I'm with you, every day seems like Double-Soup Tuesday.
Leela: Oh, Fry, I love what you've become.
Fry: What I've become ... [Sighs]
Leela: What is it?
Fry: There's just something I have to find out.
He gets up and walks out. Leela runs after him, stops in the
doorway and looks at him go.
At Planet Express headquaters, Fry is on the scanner. When the
scan is done, he takes his microdroid, looks at him, then drops
him down the back of his pants.
At the worm city.
Fry: Who controls this bowel?
Guards: Who wants to know?
Fry points to the golden statue named, "THE KNOWN UNIVERSE," which
is him, standing in exactly the same pose. Worms gasp and bow.
At the Worm King's quarters.
Worm King: I am the Lord Mayor of Cologne.
Fry: You mean colon?
Worm King: State your business.
Fry: Your excellency, have you ever been in love?
Worm King: No, I thought I was once, but then I remembered our
species reproduces with a cloud of spores.
Fry: Well, a wonderful girl loves me but I need to know if
it's really me she loves, or just what you worms have
made of me. That's why, with all due respect, I'm
asking you to leave.
Worm King: Listen, you, I was born here, I raised a cloud of
children here, my ancestors came over here on the
sandwich. [Takes out a sword] No one can make me
leave! [Charges at Fry]
Fry dodges and grabs a sword from the coat-of-arms on the wall.
They start fencing. Fry backs up to the elevator and gets in,
with the Worm King following. Inside the elevator he presses
the BRAIN button.
In the brain, Fry and the Worm King get out of the elevator, still
swordfighting. Several worms join the fight. Fry starts climbing
up a nerve. The worms follow. Fry climbs to the top.
Fry: Everyone out of my body or the brain gets it!
[Worms stop]
Worm King: He's bluffing. No creature would willingly make an
idiot out of itself.
Fry: Obviously, you've never been in love.
[Slashes the nerve]
He then jumps on a catwalk and runs by it, cutting nerves as he
does and ouching in pain each time. He reaches the end of it.
Fry: And now, the hand-eye coordination lobe.
He chops off its tip and gets disoriented.
Worms: Stop it, man.
He falls down. Worms advance on him.
Worm King: You've damaged your brain, universe, but no more than a
week of binge drinking or five minutes on a cell phone.
Fry: I was just working my way toward the medulla oblongata,
control center of the heart and lungs. And if I kill
myself, you die with me.
Worms: No! Stop!
Worm: Wait a minute, man!
Fry: I hope Satan has a nice colon, 'cause that's where
you're going to be living.
He draws back his sword, ready to strike. A tense pause.
Worm King: Stop! We'll leave, but one day you'll be eating a
fast-food burger and boom! you'll be crawling with us
again. Ever wonder what makes special sauce so special?
[Points at himself with his thumbs] Yo.
Worms turn around and leave.
Back at Leela's apartment. Leela, in sexy underwear, lies on the
bed and snores loudly under a book about animals. Fry comes in.
She wakes up.
Leela: Fry? I missed you. Did you find out what you needed to
find out?
Fry: I'm about to. Leela, let me play for you one more time.
Leela: You don't have to do that. I'm still seduced from before.
Fry: Please, it's important to me.
Starts playing. Grating eerie music plays, and a Frankenstein's
head appears, groaning. Then it disappears in a pop of sparks.
Leela: What's that supposed to mean?
Fry: I don't know. I got nervous and I started thinking about
neck bolts. [Reaches to put the holophonor on the night
table and knocks down a vase full of flowers] Wow, did
you see that vase break? It was all, like ... [Imitates
smashing sounds]
Leela: [Pulls a blanket on herself] What's happened to you?
Fry: Nothing. I got rid of the worms.
Leela: What? Why would you do that?
Fry: Leela, I had worms. I needed to know who you loved: me
or them.
Leela: Well ... which of you wrote me that sonnet?
Fry: I did, I think. It was probably about 50-50. But that's
how I really felt about you, I swear.
Leela: Oh ... I don't know.
Fry: Please, give me a chance to be romantic on my own. I've
got a baggie of massage oil and I'm going to give you my
super backrub just like I used to give Amy when I was
going out with her and she always seemed to ... uh-oh.
Leela hands him back the holophonor.
Later, at the Robot Arms apartments, Fry is sitting on his bed,
sad and lonely.
Bender: Sorry you struck out, sausage link. If it's any
consolation, my life is great: babes, bucks, I got it all!
Fry: Well, at least I learned Leela's a lost cause. I give up.
Bender: There you go! [Yawns] Good night. I got to get up
early to go parasailing with movie stars.
Fry sighs and picks up a book "My First Holophonor". Then he
takes the holophonor and starts playing. A pleasant chord
plays, and a pink ball appears in the hologram. The ball grows
a mouth, then an eye and finally some purple hair, making a
crude, but cute likeness of Leela.
[End of Act Three. Act Time: 7:36 Running Time: 21:46]
Capsule authored by "Me."
{} "Me"
{dld} Daniel L. Dreibelbis
{jd} Jym Dyer
{dgh} Doug Holverson
{lf} Larry F
{jk} Joe Klemm
{al} Andrew Levine
{tjm} Theodore Jay Miller
{mr} Mike Reed
{mz} Mike Zaite
TV Guide synopses by TV Guide
Opening Theme cartoon information from:
http://www.palmy.net.nz/futurama/opening/
The capsule has been compiled and the transcript written by Me whose name I prefer not to mention.
You can do whatever you want with this capsule, but be reasonable.