Episode Capsule Submission - 4ACV10 - The Why of Fry

Submissions are welcome both here and at CGEF under http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Capsules/4ACV10/ While that allows for a larger contributer base, it might result in some double entries where I'll have to pick the nicer written one.

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                            FUTURAMA CAPSULE
                       [4ACV10] - The Why Of Fry
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Written by David X. Cohen

Directed by Wes Archer

Originally aired 04/06/03 as episode number 08 in season 05

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When Leela gets swept off her feet by Chaz, an aide to the Mayor, Fry falls into a deep funk thinking that she could never like a non-important guy. Adding to Fry's funk, a bizarre genetic abnormality is discovered that qualifies him for a mission to save the universe. While on this mission, we learn what really happened on Dec. 31, 1999, the night Fry was frozen. Meanwhile, Chaz ruins a skating date, and Leela realizes Fry is much more to her than she ever knew.

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Opening theme promotion: Dancing Space Potatoes? You Bet!

Opening theme cartoon: unknown

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 + Starring
   - Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Nibblonian)
   - Katey Sagal (Leela)
   - John DiMaggio (Bender)
   - Tress MacNeille (Nibblonian)
 + Guest Starring
   - Bob Odenkirk
   - David Herman
   - Lauren Tom (Amy)
   - Frank Welker
   - Nicole St. John
   - Kath Soucie
 + Also Starring
   - Maurice LaMarche (Nibbler)

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... Leela has a single contact lens? {e}

... that we hear an off-voice for the first time outside of the Anthology of Interest episodes? {MW}

... that Albert is missing from the orphanarium group? Did he get adopted? {MW}

... that Fry was drinking a bottle of "Shiz" in the pub? {MW}

... that the police robot URL has a siren on his head? {MW}

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+ Dave Matthews Band - According to the Nibblonians, they do not rock. {e}

 + Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (book)
   - A guide to communication in relationships by Dr. John Gray. In this
     episode Amy is reading "Martians are from Mars, Venusians are from
     Venus".  {e}

 + Star Wars (movie)
   - The Brain-made Infosphere is reminiscent of the Imperial Death
     Star.  {MW}

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 + [1ACV01] Space Pilot 3000
   - Fry is pushed into the cryogenic chamber. You can see Nibbler's
     shadow below the table.  {MW}

+ [3ACV07] The Day the Earth Stood Stupid - Fry fights the Brains a first time and meets the Nibblonians. {MW}

 + [3ACV09] The Cyber House Rules
   - The kids from the orphanarium reappear at the rocket skating rink.
     {MW}

 + [3ACV19] Roswell that Ends Well
   - Fry does the nasty in the pasty with his grandmother. This
     inbreeding causes his brain to lack delta brain waves, which in
     turn makes him immune to the Brains.  {e}

 + [4ACV07] Jurassic Bark
   - Fry is pushed into the cryogenic chamber. You can see Nibbler's and
     future-Fry's shadows below the table.  {MW}

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In Elzar's:

  Bathroom
   is for
 Stroganoff
 Customers
    only

On the two obelisks in AL2:

Fuzzy Wuzzy

At the Data Port:

• Beavers mate for life
• 11 > 4
• For Quality Carpets, Visit Kaplan's Carpet Warehouse

On the scooters:

• Who's ready for safe fun?
• The Doom-Bringer Scooty-Puff. Sr.

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 ... Two math/computer science things at the Infosphere: It scans all
     knowledge in a sequential way. One knowledge chunks is "11 > 4".
     There are unlimited pairs like that, so the scan could never be
     completed. Also, the Infosphere does a selfscan witout having a
     complete copy to compare it to.  {MW}

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{MW} Marc Wichterich {e} edel

Original Capsule Author: Can't Get Enough Futurama <www.gotfuturama.com>

"[-mArc-]" wrote in message news:b6qd8q$n9t$06$[email]...

Nibblonians 1, Ex-wife 0

"Howard Wilson II" wrote

The capsules aren't only for people who watched the episode. These are new details that people might be interested in knowing or searching for.

Your computer checks for completeness of all knowledge? There is a huge difference between checking some criteria ("no defective clusters") and checking for completeness. We could argue that the Sphere only checks its file system...

mArc

"[-mArc-]" wrote in news:b6rebr$8nv$04$[email]:

My take on this was that after scanning the entire universe, the infosphere had to scan itself (it's physical structure, makeup, etc.) as the last step to acquiring all information (since information on the infosphere itself was the only thing that couldn't be collected and brought back). I didn't get the idea that it was checking for 'completeness of all knowledge', or trying to verify all previously stored data (and I didn't hear any dialog that would suggest that) ... as such, I don't think there is any flaw here.

It's also not in the "goof" section. Never intended to point it out as a flaw. I changed the entry to "Also, the Infosphere does a selfscan (presumably for completeness) witout having a complete copy to compare it to." to reflect the fact that no dialog supports the "completeness check".

mArc

Isn't Lord Nibbler's voice Frank Welker, not Maurice LaMarche?

On Mon, 07 Apr 2003 02:27:09 -0700, Alan Hamilton spewed forth:

His babbling animal voice is Frank Welker, don't think his speaking voice is

Rev.Bleech wrote:

I think it is Frank Welker. It sounds like a deeper Ray Stanz or Freddie Jones voice, and Frank Welker voiced those characters.

"Alan Hamilton" wrote:

Frank always did the cute Nibbler as far as I know. Wasn't sure about the Lord Nibbler, but yeah, it seems to be him.

mArc

"[-mArc-]" wrote in message news:...

According to the season 1 Commentary tracks it is indeed Welker as Nibblers "noises" and his speaking voice.

You are correct, sir

Spoiler space: [] "[-mArc-]" wrote in message news:b6qd8q$n9t$06$[email]...

If you're going to list plot holes (which is silly for a show like this), add:

Fry1 shouldn't have disappeared from 1999 when he blew Fry2 into the cryonic capsule.

cryonic

Yes he should. By telling Nibbler not to use the Scooty-Puff Junior he won't get trapped with the Brains and won't be sent back in time.

"Geert Jan" wrote in message news:...

     Back in the "What If" episode when Fry asks the what if machine
what would happed if he never got frozen.  The universe goes bye-bye
because something that should have happened, didn't.  Al Gore and
crew failed to prevent this.
     So even if future-Fry succeeded in stopping himself from being
frozen, the Universe would've been destroyed 1000 before the Brains
were ready.
     Either way, the Brains lose.

On Mon, 7 Apr 2003 8:12:07 -0400, Geert Jan wrote (in message ):

That's exactly how I see it as well. To spell it out for anyone who may still have questions...

The Fry who went back to 1999 is from the timeline in which the Nibblonians were not tipped off to the structural deficiencies of the Scooty-Puff Junior, they sent Fry off in said defective scooter, he gets trapped with the Brains, has the opportunity to go back in time, et cetera. But as soon as future Fry gives Lord Nibbler that warning in 1999, that timeline ceases to be a possible divergence, and that future Fry vanishes.

In the new timeline, the upgraded scooter doesn't fail, so that Captain Braxton -- er, I mean Philip Fry -- never experiences any of the events following the averted breakdown, including the trip back to the past.

And in case anyone wonders if the events leading to the time trip never happened then how did Fry appear to confront Lord Nibbler and give him the warning...the answer is that, up until the warning was given, that trip was still a possible future and so a time traveller could appear from that timeline. Once the possibility was closed off, not. Damn these temporal paradoxes!

RAB

Richard Bensam wrote in message news:...

Hmmm....someone's been watching some ST Voyager.

"Geert Jan" wrote in message news:b6rpv7$2et$[email]...

won't

No, Fry2 wouldn't have been sent back in time. Fry1's timeline wasn't changed by that.

Apparently time travel doesn't work that way.

On Mon, 7 Apr 2003 14:12:07 +0200, "Geert Jan" wrote:

That seemed un-characteristically perceptive for Fry to figure that out.

On the other hand, perhaps Fry didn't figure it out at first. He ended up in a loop, being sent back in time over and over until luck and deja vu saved him. Hmm, they did that on Star Trek, didn't they??

--Larry

On Mon, 07 Apr 2003 22:36:10 -0700, Larry spewed forth:

heheh...well he didn't exactly tell him "don't use it", he just said it "sucks"

What? It's a standard time-travel cliche -- send a message to future self to bring better equipment on the mission, or whatever. I think ten year old children on the playground are likely to come up with ideas like this -- I think Fry can probably handle it.

[email] (Matthew Miller) wrote in news:[email]:

Heh. A good line of reasoning is: "If Bill & Ted could think of it ..."

On Tue, 08 Apr 2003 14:16:14 +0000, Joshua wrote:

LOL!

Tom

On or about Mon, 07 Apr 2003 22:36:10 -0700, Larry made the sensational claim that:

And the X-files.

Also, I don't really think the 11>4 counts as a plothole, since it was a deliberate joke. A very funny one imho :D

WHAT?!!! I thought it started with a ?.

The scene where the giant brain shows Fry that he killed the dinosaurs: the T-Rex roars like Godzilla.