"A Fishful of Dollars (1ACV06)" Episode Capsule Part Three

S01E06 A Fishful of DollarsretroMay 30, 19995 weeks later2 posts by 2 posters
2 posts
JEdraw

% Back in Mom's headquarters, the three boys stand attentfully before % their mother. Mom sits at her desk holding a can of her own robot % oil, and there is a large monitor on the wall next to her. Further % down the wall, her "fat-suit," the fake outer body that she'd been % wearing up until now, stands empty, and Igner is examining it.

    Mom: As you boys know, one of the cornerstones of my empire is
         "Mom's Old-Fashioned Robot Oil."  [slams the can on her desk]
         Think of it ... 10 billion robots, each one needing an oil
         change every 3,000 miles.  You don't have to do the math to
         know that's a butload of oil.
  Igner: Can I wear your fat-suit?
    Mom: [yells]  No, Igner, put that down!
           [Igner groans]
   Walt: What does this have to do with the anchovies?
    Mom: I'm _getting_ to the freaking anchovies!

% Mom picks up a remote control and turns on the screen to her left. It % displays a 3-dimensional model of a living anchovy. From here on, the % monitor will compliment her every word with visual aides.

    Mom: A single drop of the anchovies' natural oil would lubricate 10
         robots permanently.
  Larry: Wow, it's a shame it went extinct.
    Mom: [yells]  No, it isn't, shut your filthy clam!
           [Walt slaps him]
         Thank you, Walt.
           [she turns back to the screen]
         If anyone ever got hold of anchovy DNA, they could chop out the
         oil-making gene, stick it in a bunch of third-world kids, and
         _BAM_ ... cheap, effective oil.  Enough to put dear old Mom out
         of business.
   Walt: [strategically]  My God!  This Mr. Fry must be a mastermind of
         the highest order.

% We cut to Fry's apartment, where Fry is watching TV in the dark. The % "Sanford & Son" theme song plays. Fry is resting his glass of water % on top of his tin of anchovies. We hear someone on TV yell "Esther, % you ugly!," and Fry laughs. Cut back to Mom's office.

    Mom: We have only one option.  We'll have to bankrupt Mr. Fry, so
         he'll be forced to sell the anchovies to us.
   Walt: Mother, you are one clever old scag.
    Mom: And don't you forget it.
  Larry: But, how are we supposed to get Fry's money out of the bank?
    Mom: That part will be easy, thanks to the people at Mom's Old-
         Fashioned Video Surveillance Unit.

% Mom refers to the screen once more, and pops a tiny cassete tape into % the VCR. We see a low-quality, black-and-white video taken when Fry % was visiting the Big Apple Bank earlier in the episode. The scene is % reenacted where Fry enters his PIN number and states that it was the % price of a cheese pizza and a large soda back at Panucci's Pizza, only % from the POV of the ceiling. Mom replays that last scene twice for % emphasis.

    Mom: You know what needs to be done.
  Igner: [pause]  What?
    Mom: [yells]  Get his PIN number, you idiot!  [calm]  Now, I'm off
         to some charity B.S. for knocked-up teenage sluts.

% Mom is wearing her fat-suit again, and she leaves the room as she % fixes the sagging parts. Back in Fry's apartment, he's still sitting % at the TV when someone knocks on the door.

   Walt: [from outside]  Mr. Fry, it's those three plumbers you called
         for.
  Igner: We're here to tighten your drain.

% Walt slaps Igner once more. As Fry walks to the door and opens it, he % has time to say the words "I didn't order any ... " before the three % boys lunge at him and hold him to the ground. Larry slips Fry a % tranquilizer in pill-form, and forces it to be swallowed by rubbing % his neck. From Fry's perspective, the world goes hazy, and an unknown % amount of time passes by.

% When Fry finally comes to, he's in a small, white room. It has four % featureless walls, and no ceiling. It seems to be a cheaply % constructed cubicle in a large warehouse. There's a desk against one % wall, with a menu posted behind it, and on another wall hangs a % January 2000 calendar. Across from the desk, there's a door-shaped % opening, but no door, and it leads into darkness. Fry is lying on the % ground, and Walt stands over him, wearing a chefs' hat and a phony % mustache.

  Walt: Wake up, Mr. Fry.
   Fry: [dazed]  Where am I?
  Walt: You're in the good old year 2000, working here at Panucci's
        Pizza.  You fell asleep on the job.
   Fry: Well, that sounds like me, but I thought I got frozen.  Wasn't I
        in the future?
  Walt: No, you only "dreamed" you were in the year 3000.
   Fry: So, I'm really back!?  Oh, that's exactly what I wanted ... I
        guess.  Who are you?
  Walt: I'm Mr. Panucci.
   Fry: You are?  [squints]  Did you grow a mustache since last night?

% Walt pulls the mustache off of his face in the blink of an eye and % holds it behind his back. He nervously tells Fry to work the % "currency register," because a customer is on the way. In another % white room next door, furnished like a lady's dressing room, Larry % and Igner are standing with Pamela Anderson's head in a jar. Igner is % standing still, wearing a red cloak over his body, and Pamela % Anderson's jar sits on the table.

  Pamela: Hurry up, please.  I want to get back to the head museam.
   Larry: Don't worry, Ms. Anderson, this won't take long.  Now, your
          motivation is you're back in the year 2000 and your head's
          still on your body, and you want a cheese pizza.

% Larry dusts her off and places the jar on top on Igner's head. He % folds up the red cloak so that is looks like Igner is her body (no one % seems to care that her neck is now three feet long ... and did I % mention Igner was wearing phony breasts?), and Pamela reassures them % that she's only doing this so people will take her head seriously as % an actress. Meanwhile, Fry is sitting at the desk in his little room, % and he notices anochivies on the menu behind him.

   Fry: Hey, look, anchovies!
  Walt: Of course, they're not extinct _yet_.  And, if you need further
        proof that this is really a thousand years ago, well, here's
        contemporary actress, Pamela Anderson!

% Igner stumbles into the room with Pamela on his head. Walt claps his % hands, and Igner claps his hands too, even though they're supposed to % belong to Ms. Anderson. She walks up to the counter and leans over to % Fry.

  Pamela: Hello, Fry.  Remember me from "Baywatch: The Movie?"
     Fry: Uh ...
  Pamela: It was the first movie to be shot entirely in slow-motion.
    Walt: [whispering to her]  It hasn't been made yet.
  Pamela: [whispering back]  Then he doesn't know I won the Oscar?
    Walt: Nope.
  Pamela: Crap!
     Fry: Wait ... you're Pamela Anderson!  Cool, what can I get you?

% Pamela begins to ask for a cheese pizza and a large soda, but she % forgets the line halfway through and Larry has to yell it to her from % backstage. She repeats the line again loudly but unnaturally. Fry % echoes Pamela's order to Walt, who stands next to him, and Walt % instantly produces the two items. Fry is confused, but carries on % with his job anyway. When Pamela asks what she owes him, everyone % leans in and listens carefully.

Pamela: So, what do I owe you? Fry: $10.77. Same as my PIN number.

% Everyone but Fry starts laughing, including the man inside Pamela's % red cloak. Fry tries to laugh along with them, but then Igner tells % him "Hey, you don't get to laugh!," lifts Pamela's jar up in the air, % and hits Fry over the head with it. On the street outside Fry's % apartment, a white limo pulls up (with bags of money strapped to the % roof), and Fry is thrown out on the sidewalk. The three boys inside % laugh maniacally as they throw money in the air.

Igner: Thanks a billion! Larry: More like 4.3 billion.

% They all laugh, but Walt slaps each of his brothers in the face. The % limo pulls away, and Fry is left lying on the sidewalk, when another % dream sequence begins. Fry imagines himself floating in the air, with % pizzas, anchovies, and the number 1077 zooming past him. Bender's and % Leela's heads appear like ghosts in front of him.

     Fry: Oh, I had a nightmare I was in the year 2000 and you guys
          never existed.  I'm so glad I'm awake now, and you're really
          here.
   Leela: Since when do you care about us?
  Bender: We thought you only cared about cans of anchovies and stuffy
          old songs about the buttocks.
     Fry: No, that's not true!

% Both of his friends say goodbye to him as they fade away into the % background. An announcer's voice comes out of nowhere and says "This % dream brought to you by LightSpeed briefs!" and a giant 3-pack of % LightSpeeds flashes into the foreground. Fry wakes up, and it's still % the midafternoon. A truck labelled "Robo-Repo" sits in the street, % and a robot is busy carrying pieces of furniture from the apartment % building into the back of the truck.

    Fry: Bender ... Leela ... don't leave me ...  wait a minute!  [turns
         to the robot]  Hey, buddy, what year is this?
  Robot: Uh, 3000.
    Fry: 3000?  Yes!  I'm still in the future!  Life is wonderful!
         [realizes]  Wait, what are you doing with my stuff?
  Robot: Check bounced.  We're taking it all back.

% Fry reminisces about his ATM card and secret PIN number (he reminds % the robot that it was 1077), and says he's got nothing left. But he % realizes that's not true when he reaches into his sock and pulls out % his tin of anchovies. Meanwhile, Bender and Leela watch TV at Planet % Express, and Professor Farnsworth sits at the table writing on a pad % of paper.

   Leela: [to Prof.]  _You're_ Fry's relative.  Do you have any idea how
          he got so crazy?
   Prof.: A-wha?  Oh, yeah, they say madness runs in our the family.
          [dead-pan]  Some even call _me_ mad.  And, why?  Because I
          dared to dream of my own race of atomic monsters!  Atomic
          supermen with octagonal-shaped bodies that suck blood ...
            [Prof. walks out and Fry walks in]
     Fry: Leela!  Bender!  I missed you so much.
   Leela: You did?  What happened?
     Fry: I was robbed.  They got everything, except these.  [holds up
          his anchovies]
  Bender: Who did?
          [Mom enters]
     Mom: Hello, Fry.
   Leela: [gasps]  It's Mom!
     Mom: I felt terrible when I heard about your money troubles, and I
          thought maybe I could help out a sweet young man by buying his
          anchovies.
     Fry: Sorry, but the anchovies aren't for sale.
     Mom: [yells]  What?!  Listen, you little bastard, I control the
          robot oil business and I won't let _you_ ruin me.  How much do
          you want?  [takes out her checkbook]
     Fry: You might as well put that checkbook away, because I've
          discovered something even more important.  My friends.  And
          they aren't worth even a penny to me.
            [Bender and Leela exchange glances]
          That's why _these_ anchovies are going on a pizza.  So I can
          share the food I love with the people I like.
     Mom: [incredulous]  Holy hell!!!  You're going to _eat_ them?  Oh,
          well ... [sweetly]  Just make sure you eat them all.  You're a
          growing boy.  Toodle-loo, _dumbass_.
     Fry: What a nice lady!

% Mom leaves. Later that night, Leela, Nibbler, Amy, Hermes, Bender, % Fry and Professor Farnsworth are gathered around the table with a piza % pie in the center. Fry opens up the tin of anchovies and puts some on % everyone's slice.

Fry: Okay, my friends, get ready for the most delicious extinct animal you've ever tasted. Amy: I don't know ... I've had cow.

% They all take a bite of their pizza, and everyone but Fry instantly % chokes and grabs his/her neck in disgust. Fry continues to eat his % pizza happily.

       Fry: Ah, no one likes 'em at first, but they'll grow on ya.
              [Dr. Zoidberg enters and sniffs the air]
  Zoidberg: That stench ... that heavenly stench!
              [he rushes over and eats the whole pizza pie in one gulp]
            More!!!
       Fry: [cheerful]  There aren't any more, and there never will be!
  Zoidberg: More ... more ... more ... more!!!

% Zoidberg hunches over in anger. He knocks over the table and lurches % towards Fry, chanting "More!!!" Suspenseful music plays. He lurches % closer and closer to the camera, until his black pupil fills the % screen and the executive producer credits are waiting inside.

% End of Act Four (7:49)

========================================================================
= Contributers =
{dga} Dale G. Abersold              {ksp} Kelly Shane Pickell
{hl}  Haynes Lee                    {mo}  Matt O'Connell
{jb}  Jason Barrera                 {mr}  Matt Riley
{jh}  Justin Headley                {zz}  Zachary Zulkowski
{jk}  Joe Klemm
========================================================================
Futurama, its characters and "screen ======= First uploaded: 30-May-1999
door" are registered trademarks of   ======= Revision A    : ??-???-????
30th Century Fox.  Compiled with 10% ======= E-mail me: 
more love than the previous leading  ===================================
capsule by Jordan "Mom" Eisenberg.   ===================================
========================================================================
This capsule was partly intended to be a source of information for  ====
other, superior capsule compilers with nowhere else to turn.  For   ====
direct theft, I prefer the abbreviation {je}, but more subtle ones  ====
need no credit at all.  Thank you for your thought and cooperation. ====
Available on the web at: <http://futurama.simplenet.com/episodes/1ACV06.txt>
D AdamsJEdraw

JEdraw wrote:

Thank you for posting it. Even though I saw the show, I still enjoyed reading about it.

maro