1. Roswell That Ends Well (aka All's well in Roswell)

09/12/2001

FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY - EXCEPT GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

During a supernova explosion, Fry uses the Planet Express's microwave oven, and the two forces collide, they are sent back to 1947. They crash in the desert outside of Roswell, and Dr. Zoidberg and Bender's headless body are imprisoned and taken to a military base, where Fry's grandfather is stationed. The Professor and Leela work on how to return to 3002, while Fry and Bender's head try a rescue at the base and make a contact that might put Fry's own existence at risk.  Futurama received its third Emmy Nomination (Outstanding Animated Programming for Programming Less Than One Hour) for this episode and it won, finally taking The Simpsons off of its seven year winning streak in this category. The missile that the ship fires at the base has "Roswell That Ends Well" written on it with a little sketch of Dr. Zoidberg on the side.  Director Rich Moore has been nominated for best Directing in an Animated Television Production, in the Annie Awards for 2002.  In this episode, Bender becomes the oldest 'living' robot.  In the scene where Leela and Professor Farnsworth are looking for a microwave. Prof. Farnsworth is wearing a Zoot suit which was the late 30's early 40's. Also he's an extremely old man, and it would have been a little odd to see a old man in a pimp suit. With Leela acting as his wife. who is obviously a lot younger, wearing her cute 18 year old schoolgirl outfit.  One of the stores in the episode is called Gil's Televisions. Gil is a character from the Simpsons who sold many different items.  The producers changed the show's opening in which a Planet Express rocket crashes into a giant TV screen. This scene was removed after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A few months later the scene was put back into the show's opening. This did not apply to East Coast airings of the episodes between late Sept. 2001-early April 2002 or any reruns of the episodes of this era.  Just to cover their bases, the U.S. flag has 48 starts on it.  Roswell Daily Record headlines: "Flying Saucer Captured," "Crackpot Photographs Truman Again."  Some of the stores you see in the past: "Fedoras For Boys," "Hard Croon Cafe," "Gil's Television Radios."  If you can zoom or squint really good, you can see WB's Bosco cartoon on the small black and white television.  On the table in the diner, there's a Star Trek insignia in the glossy table pattern.  In the diner, there are little drawings next to the telephone. One of them is a fighter plane shooting down a UFO.  Was originally to be titled 'All's well in Roswell.'

2. A Tale Of Two Santas

23/12/2001

Coolio (Kwanzaabot)

THIS EPISODE PERFORMED ENTIRELY BY SOCK PUPPETS

In this Christmas episode, Santa is not as we know him. In the future, Santa is not the bearer of gifts, but an evil robot, intent on bringing terror to the holiday. Unfortunately, the crew has the mission of delivering Santa's mail on Xmas eve. As the people on Earth lie in wait for Santa to arrive, the crew accidentally freezes Santa. This brings the opportunity for Fry to bring his "antiquated" notion of Christmas to the 21st century. To Bender, falls the unenviable task of replacing Santa and discovering the wrath of yuletide cheer, until Santa returns and makes Bender his partner in Xmas crime.  This episode was originally slated to air in December of 2000, but was deemed too violent for the show's Sunday 7pm timeslot. However, the episode finally aired a year later on December 23, 2001 at 9:30PM (Eastern Standard Time). Even though John Goodman played Santa in "Xmas Story," John DiMaggio (Bender) takes over the role in this episode.  Beelzebot has a cameo.  If you look closely when the guy was giving the safety message on the TV you'll see parts of Santa's rampage that we saw from "Xmas Story."  The blinking warhead is an homage to Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.  The book that Kwanzabot holds up is titled "What The Hell is Kwanza."  Some of the names on Santa's list are members of the Futurama staff.  The things pulled out of the Mayor's pockets by the magnet were a watch, a bottle of liquer and an iron.  Santa's Workshop is using non-union workers. This is just one of many links between the Neptunians and Mexicans.

3. Anthology Of Interest 2

06/01/2002

HEY TIVO, SUGGEST THIS!

Once again, the crew asks three stories to the What If machine. Bender wonder how would life be if he were human; Fry asks what life would be like if it resembled a video game; and Leela wonders what would happen if she found her true home...  The money the Professor gives Bender says "In Fun We Trust".  Mom, her sons, Professer Wornstrum, Lrr, Nixon, and more can be seen in the anthologies.  Farnsworth says "Goodnight, Sweet Prince" to Bender after he dies. In "Anthology of Interest I," Fry says the same line to Bender - after he dies!  The song in the background for "I, Meatbag" is by "Miami Sunfactory".  After the video game aliens land on earth and the shot starts to pull away, Alien Code #1 appears in bold green text. No surprise, when translated it reads: "Tale Of Interest."  When Bender is holding up the money with the Professor's face on it, you can see Alien Code #1 in the corner of the bill. It reads: "Toxic Ink."  When the Q-Bert looking character jumps out of the ship, he says something backwards, voiced by Billy West. When translated forward, he says "Where can a guy get some pants around here?"  Among the objects that Zoidberg coughs up is a key. The key is an object you could swallow in Pacman if you made it to the end.  In the Wizzin' story, the fences are made of crayons.

4. Love And Rocket

10/02/2002

Lucy Liu (Herself) Sigourney Weaver (Planet Express Ship)

WHEN YOU SEE THE ROBOT, DRINK!

Professor Farnsworth secures a lucrative contract with Romanticorp, the company known for making heart shaped candies with sayings on them. With the contract, the Professor is now able to make upgrades, including a new female voice for the Planet Express ship. Bender is so enamored by it, that him and the ship soon become an item. Then, just as quickly, Bender gets sick of her and ends up breaking up with her. The ship goes insane with jealous and grief and puts the crew's lives in danger.  Lucy Liu has a cameo. This is her second appearance, with her first being "I Dated a Robot." The crew had recorded her saying several lines for future use, to be used at moments like this.  This is the only time Kif appears in an episode that Zapp isn't in.  Garbage was being used to produce the heart shaped boxes.  The wireframe dummies in the Romanticorp Romance Acceleration Lab were modeled after those used by psychologist Harry Harlow in his experiments on surrogate mothers for rhesus monkeys. We later see the dummy ina rowboat with the lady.  Several signs we see in this episode: Welcome to Romantic Milwaukee; Birthplace of Beer Goggles, Romanticorp; A Division of General Emotions, Central Park Zoo; Now With More Goats.  Sigourney Weaver was originally not going to do this episode, until after watching an episode for herself, and seeing an Alien reference.  A dumb joke added in by the animators was the "Bear Hospital" sign, which wasn't in the original script.

5. Leela's Homeworld

17/02/2002

IT'S LIKE "HEE HAW" WITH LASERS

After Bender dumps toxic waste into the sewers, the mutants become angry and kidnap Bender, Fry and Leela. They suspend the crew over a radioactive lake and threaten to dump them in, altering their human genes and mutating them, but two hooded mutants save them. Leela decides to pursue the mysterious mutants, who seem to have a suspicious fixation with her.  Kristin Gore, the writer, is the daughter of frequent Futurama guest star former Vice-President Al Gore.  Leela's parents had appeared in "I Second That Emotion," as part of the Crowd.  During the chase scene in the sewer, in the background, we see a resturant called, "Bob's Big Mutant Boy."  When looking at a baby Leela, there is a note attached to her writing in Alien Code #1. It really does read: "Your Parents Love You Very Much."  When Leela looks down at her bracelet, you see the first official appearance of Alien Code 3. While the code hasn't officially been translated, its rumored to stand for "Chump."  Hermes badge had an eagle on it, holding a folder that read "To Be Filed."  The pedestrian crossing sign in the sewers had an image of a person with two heads and three legs.  Leela's father's mouth was rotated 90 degrees so that it opened horizontally instead of vertically. This was done so that he looked even more like a mutant.  Signs in the sewers: Big & Strange Men's Store, Bed Bath & Beneath, Bob's Big Mutant Boy, Starbucks, Head Reduction Surgery.  Orphanage Plaques: Often Seen in the Background of News Spots, Diligent Flosser, Has Tasted Every McDonalds Sandwich, Successfully Switched from Heroin to Methadone.  A number of scenes were delted from this episode, including the Warden going through files with Fry abotu what children used to do, like peeing the bed. You can find these scenes on the Futurama Season 4 DVD.  20 years ago, Leg is wearing a Boston Red-Sox hat.  The song at the end of the episode is called "Baby Love Child" by Pizzicato Five.

6. Where The Buggalo Roam

03/03/2002

KRAFTED WITH LUV - BY MONSTERS.

Kif goes to Amy's home on Mars to meet her parents. They immediately dislike him saying he's too much of a wimp. Native Martians rustle away the family buggalo because they feel they got cheated when they traded away their land in exchange for a bead. Trying to prove himself, Kif volunteers to get them back. He does, but loses Amy in the process. The Wong's then hire Zapp Branigan to bring her back. The bead the Martians received is actually a gigantic diamond. When told of it's worth, the Martians leave Mars to buy a better planet.  Buggalo were first seen in "Episode Two: The Series Has Landed."  The sound of the tornado is Billy West and John DiMaggio doing Tuvan throat singing!  A sign attached to the Face Of Mars reads "Martian Reservation. Trespassers Will be Guilt-Ridden."

7. A Pharaoh To Remember

10/03/2002

PSST... BIG PARTY AT YOUR HOUSE AFTER THE SHOW

Fry, Leela, and Bender have to deliver a giant sandstone to Osiris 4, a planet resembling ancient Egypt. Once there they are enslaved to work on pharoah Hamenthotep's pyramid. After the pharoah dies, Bender tricks everyone into thinking that he's the next prophesied pharoah.  This is the second time the Australian appeared. He was a slave in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back."  When the priests go to look at the ancient markings, you can see Alien Code #1 written within the symbols. When translated they read: "Rock On! Eddie Rosas 22." Eddie Rosas appears in the final credits as a "Character Layout Artist". The "22" appears because Bender is a "Bender Unit 22."  Proving that not every planet is the samea as Earth, the Egyptian world has a green sky.  Some of the phrases you see on the Egyptian World: Slave Chess Club, Don;t Be A Slave To Credit, Consolidate Your Bills, Lose Weight Now - Ask Me How, What Would Pharaoh Do?  The Piano player at Pharaoh's funeral is a quick joke to Elton John playing songs at every UK funeral.

8. Godfellas

17/03/2002

PLEASE TURN OFF ALL CELL PHONES AND TRICORDERS

When the Planet Express Ship is attacked by space pirates, Bender, sleeping in a torpedo tube, gets launched into space. He speeds through an asteroid field and accidentally accumulates a microscopic civilization on his stomach, who declare him God, and worship him despite his constant inability to provide for their needs.  Originally scheduled to air January 13,2002. The writer of this episode, Ken Keeler, won the 55th Annual Writers Guild Awards (WGA) on March 9th 2003. He won for "Outstanding achievement in Writing".  The skull on the space pirate flag had 3 sockets as the pirates have 3 eyes.  The Pioneer 10 plaque Bender engraves on his chest is made "prudes-proof".  Apparently Swiss Army Knifes still exist!  The coin Bender gives to the people has Coolio on the side. A quick shout-out to him for doing the voice of Kwanzabot in "A Tale Of Two Santas".  The First Amalgamated Church combines Buddism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.  Bender's Bible: "The Bible - by Bender - with Malachi"  To clear things up, Billy West (doing his best impression of Vic Perrin, the Cointrol Voice from the Outer Limits) is the voice of God.

9. Futurestock

31/03/2002

LOVE IT OR SHOVE IT

Professor Farnsworth is having a shareholders meeting to discuss the problems Planet Express is having. Fry and Zoidberg wander off and Fry meets a Wall Street power player from the 1980's. Fry nominates "That Guy" to replace Farnsworth as the CEO and ends up taking over by one share. "That Guy" then appoints Fry as Vice Chairman since they're both from the same time period. The new CEO emphasizes the company's image instead of any work. Mom starts to notice the company and meets with "That Guy". He then tells the crew that he plans to sell the company off to Mom and that they're all fired. The crew is mad at Fry, but that's before they realize that their shares are worth a fortune. After "That Guy" dies of his bone-itis that went untreated, Fry takes over the company and decides not to go thru with the deal.  According to the DVD commentary, That Guy's name in the script is Steve Castle, although the name is never said aloud on screen.  At the Robot Bar mitzvahs, a sign written in Hebrew can be seen above the child robot. When translated it says "Today You are A Robot."  Although the seats in the Planet Express meetings are overwhelmingly empty, Fry never sits in the front row  One of the giant apes wears traditional Bavarian "Lederhosen."  That guy thinks that Nazi-Germany was kinda misunderstood. In his opinion they "were just ambitious men and he finds it quite positive."  If you do the math right, you'll find there exists exactly 204,083.67 stock-shares of PlanetExpress (counting the ones Dr Zoidberrg owned. He never voted in the beginning of the episode).  When the guy used a 5 instead of S on the sign, he's using l337-speak.  While it isn't mentioned in the episode itself, the script name of "That Guy" is Steve Castle.  That Guy has a Miami Vice lunch box.  Stock Ticker Symbols WIN: Microsoft Windows KIRK, GORN, Q: Star Trek characters RUN DMC: 1980s rap music group FOX: Everybody's favorite television network MG: Matt Groening BYOB: Bring Your own (insert B-word here) OSX: New operating system for the Apple Macintosh.  When the ship is flying downtown, it passes by a few streets. 2nd Ave, 3rd Ave, and (Pie)th Ave. The number relating to the symbol is in the right place.  Scruffy starts to read a porno magaine with the title "National Pornographic."  This is the first time that an Ape Fight is shown, though they have been mentioned before.

10. A Leela Of Her Own

07/04/2002

Hank Aaron (Himself) Bob Uecker (Himself) Dawnn Lewis (Jackie Anderson) Tom Kenny (Abner Doubledeal)

SCRATCH HERE TO REVEAL PRIZE.

When Leela is signed to the New New York Mets, she is thrilled to be the first female major league blernsball player. Drawing huge crowds at the games, Leela believes she is an inspirational role model to all women. What she doesn't realize is, she has such a following because she is the worst blernsball player to ever play the game.  Dawnn Lewis returns to the show, however not voicing LaBarbara Conrad this time but Jackie Anderson, the world's best female blernsball player. LaBarbara and the Conrad's son Dwight are seen in this episode however during the original Blernsball game in the park, playing for the Planet Express team.  Abner Doubledeal, Owner of the Ultimate Robot Fighting League from the Season 2 episode "Raging Bender," makes a return. He is now the owner of the NNY Mets (the character's name is mentioned in the DVD commentary).  Behind the batter before Leela's first pitch with the mets, you can see a gork 3:16 sign held by a guy with a rainbow wig. This is a refrence to the rainbow man who wore a rainbow afro and looked for video cameras to show his john 3:16 signs in a way to spread the word of Jesus Christ.  All the players have fractions as player numbers, now that all the FULL numbers have been retired.  Check Hank Arron's uniform. Instead of a tomahawk like the current Brave's uniform, it's a Trident (Atlanta is underwater).  Leela takes advice on Blurnsball from a descendant of Hank Aaron. He wears and Atlanta uniform, but instead of there being a tomahawk on it, like there would for an Braves jersey, it has a trident. This is a reference to the episode, "The Deep South", where it is revealed that the city of Atlanta was moved to the middle of the ocean where it sank to the bottom of the sea.

11. 30% Iron Chef

14/04/2002

IF ACCIDENTALLY WATCHED, INDUCE VOMITING

Bender attempts to become a chef, and is quickly rejected by the Planet Express crew. He then turns to the chef that inspired him, Elzar who also rejects him. Bender soon makes friends with some space hobos and, coincidently, one of them is Helmut Spragel, formerly the world's greatest chef. Helmut takes Bender under his wing and trains him to be a master chef by giving him a secret weapon—a crystal vile containing "the pure essence of flavor". A now confident Bender challenges Elzar to a competition in the televised kitchen coliseum known as the "Iron Cook" show.  The show that Bender went on to face Elzar in a cooking contest was Iron Cook. That is actually a take on an Asian show titled Iron Chef that airs on FoodTV.  At the end of the show, the cooking ingredient for the competition is Soylent Green. This was based on a little known sci-fi film called "Soylent Green", where the ingredient for this was actually people.  This is the second time Fry sings Walkin' on Sunshine The first time was when he washed Kiff in "War is the H-Word."  Zoidberg's first name is John.  After Bender runs away and is walking down the street, you see a sign with Alien Code #1 written on it. When translated it reads: "Used Human Probes."  When watching Iron cook, the title of the show keep appearing written in both English and in Alien Code #2. As usual, it reads: "Iron Cook."  The "dark side of cooking", by which Elzar was seduced, includes selantro, mango suffle and rasberry vinegrette.  Spargel is a goof on the chef of Spago's in Hollywood, Wolfgang Puck, who is from Austria.  Hattie is sitting at the table Elzar is attending when Bender comes in. Her cat is swept off the table by Bender.  Some of the robot hobos from Xmas Story appear in this episode.  By the end of the series, Bender claims to be 30% iron, 40% titanium, and 40% dolemite.  Another appearance of the Accusing Parlor.

12. Where No Fan Has Gone Before

21/04/2002

William Shatner (Himself) Leonard Nimoy (Himself) George Takei (Himself) Walter Koenig (Himself) Nichelle Nichols (Herself) Jonathan Frakes (Himself)

Fry is put on trial for his life for traveling to the forbidden planet of Omega 3 to retrieve all 79 episodes of "Star Trek", and he must defend the claim that human kind needs "Star Trek" to give them hope for the future. In the 23rd Century, "Star Trek" fans had evolved to such a level that they corrupted the world's governments and all things "Star Trek" were then banned to Omega 3. Fry sets out on his mission with Leela, Bender and Leonard Nimoy's head in a jar, only to discover William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koening are living on Omega 3 under the watchful eye of Melllvar, an evil energy creature -- and "Star Trek's" biggest fan.  This is the second time Lt. Uhura appeared. The first was "Anthology of Interest I". The opening theme promotion and the title of this episode coincide.  The space ship that disposes of the Trek tapes looks very much like an Eagle spaceship from the series "Space:1999".  Two of the videos in the store are Planet Of The Clams and Galaxy Wars. Both were showing at the cinema in "Raging Bender".  The Professor does not appear in this episode. In broadcast order, this is his first non-appearance, but production wise, his second - he does not appear in "The Why of Fry" (shown in Season 5) either.  This episode was voted the best episode of Futurama at the Adult Swim marathon.  In the audio commentary for this episode creator Matt Groening confesses that he has never actually seen an episode of the original Star Trek the whole way through.  Writer David Goodman actually won a job writing for Star Trek: Enterprise because of this episode.  Bender Says "Another Classic Science Fiction Show Cancelled Before Its Time", can be a reference to the short-lived "Roswell". Also when fry takes Leonard Nemoy's head off the shelve, he is replaced by Jonathan Frakes, which is not only from Star Trek, he was also the executive producer of "Roswell"  All but two of the original Star Trek cast are present for this episode. DeForest Kelly who played Bones, obviously due to his death 3 years earlier. But the only living member to turn it down was James Doohan who played Scotty. When the request went out to his agent, the crew got only a two-word reply. "NO WAY!"  In return for turning down the role, Cohen got revenge by writing int he character of "Welshy." The one line we hear him speak is actually in welsh. Translated is says "I am very drunk." The other writers took it a step forward and had Welshy killed, showing one of the few constants in Star Trek -- if you wear a red suit, and you're only an ensign... you'll eventually get killed!  Church of Trek Sign: The Sci-Fi Religion That Doesn't Take All Your Money.  Shirt on nerd getting killed: Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life here.  Trivia Contest: Ambassador Sarek's Trivia Challenge.  "George and Walter will have to share" was a stab at the fact that the show didn't have the budget in the second season for both Koenig and Takei, so they had to appear in alternate episodes.  While it's only hinted that he was there, that is really the voice of Jonathan Frakes who played Riker on The Next Generation.  Before he agreed to do the show, Shatner talked to Billy West to make sure everything was on the up-and-up.  The energy being had several different forms that were drawn up for consideration. But int he end, the staff admitted most of them looked too "good" to ever look like anything from the original series. So they went witht he simplest form, which was the sparkly cloud.  When Leela tells teh crew to "lose some weight," you'll see that the three main cast members are posed in the same areas as the people standing next to them. Shatner next to Leela in the captain's chair, Fry sitting at the communication desk with Nichols behind him, and Bender standing with his hands behind his back the same way Nimoy is posed.  There was one deleted scene which was taken out at Shatner's request, and when you see it, you'll know why. It can be found on the Season 4 DVD.