Review of "Parasites Lost" - Spoilers Ahoy!

OPENING BLURB - "If This Is Not Entertaining, Write Your Congressman"

SYNOPSIS: after the crew is surprised when a mortal wound Fry suffers heals rapidly, it's discovered that he's hosting a colony of parasites which are building a city in his colon - which he got from eating an egg salad sandwich he bought in a truck stop men's room. Using a miniaturized PE ship and nanobot replicas of themselves controlled by VR suits, Farnsworth, Bender, Amy, Hermes and Zoidberg go inside Fry's body to try to literally flush out the invaders. But the worms are doing repairs to Fry's body that are actually improving him mentally and physically - and Leela (who's been left outside to distract Fry) discovers she loves what the improvements have done....

REVIEW: 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). If the rest of season three is this good, I think we know why Fox decided to go with season four. Good work everyone!

Rating: A +++

CULTURAL REFERENCES:

"CONVOY" - opening song in the episode a 1977 crossover country hit by C.W. McCall, about a group of truckers forming a convoy and going across the USA defying the speed limit and the cops. Great song that was made into a really bad movie starring Kris Kristofferson, it also started a short-lived craze with the public for CB radios.

FANTASTIC VOYAGE: 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 an FV animated series done by Filmation in the early 1970s).

"SHOCK TROOPS" - an episode of the classic radio series X MINUS ONE which was about an army of parasites (or germs, they didn't elaborate) taking over a man's body for colonization in much the manner the worms took over Fry. (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)

THE SIMPSONS - Fry's ripping off his shirt to reveal a ridiculously buff body similar to a long-standing running gag about Groundskeeper Willy.

STAR TREK: TNG - the final scene with Fry playing the holophone is reminiscent of the final scene with Picard and a flute in the episode "The Inner Light", and is just as touching.

- also, 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)

"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! )

ED WYNN - the silly voice given the Worm King similar to this famous comedian, who was a star of radio and later television.

DYN:

- this is the first appearance of Scruffy The Janitor since "Anthology Of Interest 1" ?

• owls have evolved in the last 1000 years to eat bread crumbs?

• Bender was actually eager to fix the nuclear boiler?

CAR WATCH:

at the beginning of Act II, the hovercar that flies over Planet Express has the body of a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe?

iDaniel L. Dreibelbis wrote:

I'm happy people still care about doing such reviews, if only frcr.com still existed to collect them

Convoy was a 1975 hit. I remember listening to that song and Wings' "Venus and Mars Rock Show" on my little round red Panapet while building model rockets in my Grandparent's basement during Christmas break '75. (Centuri forever!)

I was in the crowd of the Fireman's Ball in one of C.W. McCall's Old Home Bread commercials (probably the previous summer).

Some of the earlier holophone sequences reminded me of Don Bluth's fantasy scene in the movie Xanadu (1980).

They need more Studebaker references!

DGH

(Just crazy about a Studebaker!)

doug holverson wrote:

Model rockets you spend hours making them, they go up, they come down, They break beyond repair.

I've never seen it But it does reek of a parody. Sometimes you just know it even if you can't place it.

Well I for one think they need more DeLorean refrences.

(Coke snortin' Delerious 'bout DeLoreans)

Not necessary, sometimes they get caught in a tree or drift into the next state... :b

BTW- See those Fun Rockets "designed by Holverson" in hobby and craft stores? I designed those. Now if those stupid comic book people would ever get a clue (drawin' Cyclops babes since '77!)

Well, it's your life and your nose....

I do admit that I have a bit of tunnel vision when it comes to old cars, as if they ever only quit making one brand of car!

DGH

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001 03:28:20 GMT, Mike Zaite wrote:

(snip)

(snip)

It could be they were thinking of Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels; a very similar instrument called a Visi-Sonor appears in one of them.

Geoduck wrote:

I meant the sequence itself, not the device (Holophoner) causing it.

Well the part where the Fry and Leela are swimming beavers and then emerge as people from the oyster is a pretty close quote from Xanadu where the two lovers are pseudo-Disney fish and emerge as people from a rose. Probably more quoted from that animated fantasy scene but I haven't seen Xanadu since catching it in the theater back in '80.

And that Holophoner is no ELO. >:)

DGH (I can't get it out of my head.... http://showcase.netins.net/web/flexia/isodpex.html)

PS: Didja notice that one of the beavers only had just one eyeball? It makes me think of a Milton the Monster cartoon where Heebie and Jeebie got turned into frogs and one of the frogs had just one eyeball.... O)

doug holverson wrote:

*Rowdy colledge yell* E.L.O.!!!!!

Every time my friend puts in one of his ELO CD's I go "What is this you put in?" "ELO" "I'll have to look into that." Then I promptly forget and we have the same dialogue the next time he puts the cd in.

"Mike Zaite" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:[email]...

Wasn't that a parody on Disney's Fantasia (- 2000)?

Bye, Jens

The Bluth piece in Xanadu was an affectionate parody of Disney. Some of the Holophone image in Futurama was a spoof of the Xanadu animation.

I've seen Fantasia 2000 umpteen times since getting the tape for Xmas. There's no flamingos with yo-yos, no whales that look like they flew out of a prog rock gatefold, nor jazzy construction workers cracking walnuts in pile drivers in Futurama (so far....)

DGH (Now a I gotta go back and get a Gershwin, Hirschfeld, and that weird Warners-wannabe fix....)

<< > STAR TREK: TNG - the final scene with Fry playing the holophone is

Some of the earlier holophone sequences reminded me of Don Bluth's fantasy scene in the movie Xanadu (1980). >>

Actually, I saw quite a bit of FANTASIA in this sequence, especially when the furry fry and leela crashed out of the water ala FANTASIA 2000's 'Pines of Rome'

Benjamin.

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001 02:54:42 GMT, "Daniel L. Dreibelbis" wrote:

Definitely!!

I seem to remember my family already having CBs when that song first came out. It did fuel the fad for a while though.

And "a really bad movie starring Kris Kristofferson" is redundant.

Asimov novelized the script, but he didn't write it.

I downloaded some old X-1 episodes from an old time radio group. They are kind of a self parody today. Occasionally good sci-fi with weak acting and poor sound effects. Enjoyable in a classic Star Trek sense.

Then in the next scene, Fry's shirt is sewn back together and back on.

I remember that episode.

And it was pretty odd that Nibbler wasn't around in her apt.

Leela snored like a chain saw.

I the third episode, I, Roommate, owls are considered pests.

Hermes: "Someone's been leaving food around and it's starting to attract owls And I for one am tied of cleaning the owl traps. (sound effect SNAP- whooo)

Later, when bender is in the alley drunk (or sober) from not drinking, there are owls in the alley with him.

In the opening sequence there is a sign for owl spray that says "Kills owls dead". In order to live with human encroachment, they have to evolve to live in the city. They appear to be competing for the pigeons's niche in the city.

I remember that episode.

I think he called it a plasma boiler. I like the fact that it was an just an old boiler with a fancy sci-fi name. Also, the pipe that hit Fry was a lead pipe. Who would be using lead pipe in the year 3,000?

Why did Fry through the worms out. He could have just asked them to stop fixing things for 24 hour, find out if Leela really liked him then they could start again. Normally, I'd say "Fry is just really stupid, but this time he didn't have that excuse.

There are no pain detectors in the brain. Fry wouldn't have been yelling ouch every time he sliced part of his brain.

When Leela was cleaning off the "windshield", there is a small ringed planet stuck on it. In a previous episode, before the opening sequence Leela ask Fry what he thinks of the view. Fry something like "from here an entire planet can seem insignificant, then they hit a tiny ringed planet. I don't remember which episode it was off hand.

Since the worms were actually helping Fry, they would be symbiotic, not parasites. That wouldn't make a funny and ironic episode title though.

--Larry

Larry F wrote:

As I recall from a Pre-1999 Article, Matt or David X. or someone noted that Pigeon's are all but extinct in the year 3000 where as Owl's are now severely overpopulated.

A cheap old man who wouldn't even spring for really tiny atoms.

Easy, they needed a way to get the old Fry back for the next episode. Also 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?

Unless he was hitting pain interpreters.

They sure did take their time to clean it off though. that was in 1ACV04 I think. I liked the Voyager probe but it was far under scale.

"The owls are not what they seem..."

<snip>

DGH

PS: That was great television in its day....

doug holverson wrote:

I'm having the creepy feeling of knowing something I've forgotten. What was that from.

Twin Peaks, the *other* mid-season replacement wonder from early '90. For a while it did look like the two shows would start a much needed huge trend towards major weirdness.

DGH

doug holverson wrote:

Sadly I was to young to have appreciated Twin Peaks at the time. And now sadly like Night Court it's gone for ever. Must have heard it quoted from something else.

"Mike Zaite" wrote in message news:[email]...

1ACV05 actch, "Fear of a Bot Planet".

Grosseyboy wrote:

You are correct. It came right after "Loves Labors Lost in Space" I tend to watch more then one episode at a time and they kinda ooze together in my memory.

Speaking of Asimov, was anyone else reminded of the...visual instrument the...Mule's jester played in the second Foundation book (the one that plays on the back of the eyelids, that very few people could play well)? If anyone can figure out what I'm talking about (I've gotten really bad at remembering sci-fi trivia).

Phreke

Definitely! What the hell was it called? A harmonium or something? Damn, if nobody comes up with it by tonight, I'll check my copy when I get home.

Was it visual, though? It's been years since i read the book, but I vaguely remember the instrument acting on emotional centers of the brain and not the visual cortex. You know, to create feelings of dread or fear or whatever in the listeners. Am I mistaken?

(BTW, IIRC again, the jester *was* the Mule, it wasn't the Mule's jester.)

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:34:39 -0500, Dave wrote:

(snip)

(snip)

(SPOILERS for Foundation and Empire)

It was called a Visi-Sonor, and it did create actual pictures, although it created them inside people's heads. It could also be used to implant emotional responses, and the Mule uses it to break down the will of the people who are opposing his space fleets.

In article , [email] wrote:

wrote:

the...visual instrument

Foundation book (the one that plays on

could play well)?

(I've gotten really bad at

harmonium or something?

check my copy when I

read the book, but I

emotional centers of the brain

feelings of dread or

actual pictures,

could also be used

it to break down the

fleets.

Bingo! Visi-Sonor. Thanks G. And thanks to the tiny taste Larry provided, I now have to reread the entire series.

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:34:39 -0500, Dave wrote:

WOW! I had completely forgotten about that. It's been years since I read The Foundation "trilogy". I just opened it up and found two passages about it.

The instrument is first introduced in Foundation and Empire.

Mis Shrugged, and turned again to Magnifico. He unwrapped the package, "Know what that is, boy?" Magnifico fairly hurled himself out of his seat and caught the multi-keyed instrument. He finger the myriad knobby contacts and threw a sudden back somersault of joy, to the imminent destruction of nearby furniture. He croaked, "A VisiSonor-and of a make to distill joy out of a dead man's heart."

<snip>

Ebling Mis said "Alright boy, you said you could pound on one of these gadgets, and there's your chance. You'd better tune it, though. It's out of a museum." Then in an aside to Bayta, "Near as I can make it, no one on the Foundation can make it talk right."

(Foundation and Empire chapter 17 "The Visi-sonor" )

They do refer to Magnifico as the clown, which is pretty close to jester.

It is then used as a weapon in Second Foundation.

"A man died on Neotrantor with no one touching him. Isn't that true? Magnifico played on his Visi-Sonor and when he was finished, the crown prince was dead." <snip>

"The music and the light-effects", said Toran, have a profound emotional effect." (Second Foundation Chapter 26 "End of the Search")

That might explain why Fry was so effective at accidentally killing the mood with Leela.

For anyone not familiar, Asimov wrote the Foundation "trilogy" in the late 40's. It consisted of Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation. In the 1980's, he added more to the series both before and after the original trilogy.

--Larry

Larry F wrote in message news:[email]...

<snip!>

In addition, in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", when Morgan and Fry walk into the apartment and it shows the full view, there's a spider web in the corner by the window with a struggling owl in it.

-Fraggler?

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, Larry F stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -

I recall something similar in a late S7 Red Dwarf episode, and in an Outer Limits episode too.

'Symbiotes' is more appropriate than 'parasites', but it still doesn't accurately describe the relationship. Unfortunately we have no word for a relationship whereby one organism actually improves another because I don't think it actually occurs in nature.

Since the worms were 'fixing' Fry, I would submit that they were 'Repairasites.'

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001 10:30:39 -0500, Dave wrote:

Good point. Symbiotes help each other, but they don't directly improve each other in that way. The closest I can think of is a virus which delivers a gene that cures a disease. That has been done with genetic engineering, but is not known in nature.

For that, I am nominating you for a Peabody award. Peabody and Sherman that is.

--Larry

In article ,

Yep, that's Larry, who bought the original WayBack machine on eBay...

On 22 Jan 2001 20:23:49 GMT, [email] (Janet F Caires-Lesgold) wrote:

Nitpick: It's spelled WABAC. And I can't believe that Mr. Peabody's fortunes would fall so low that he had to sell off his possessions like that.

In article , [email] wrote:

[email] (Janet F

wrote:

submit that they were

award. Peabody and Sherman

machine on eBay...

Actually, it's the Zwieback machine. It was used primarily to transport toast through time.

his possessions

You can't? When's the last time Peabody (or Sherman for that matter) found work in Hollywood? Last I heard they were both put through the mill and spit out at the bottom of the porn industry.

In article ,

wrote:

would be symbiotic,

ironic episode title

but it still doesn't

Unfortunately we have no word for

improves another because I

don't directly improve

is a virus which

done with genetic

Just wondering, do they have a term for that type of virus that might be analogous to parasite or symbiote?

that they were

Peabody and Sherman

Sweet. I just hope it's capsuleworthy.

The idea, not the award.

On Mon, 22 Jan 2001, Daniel L. Dreibelbis stated this considered view. Waking from my doze, I hastily scrawled -

With Leela being Rachel Welch? Certainly a comparable figure! :)

Paul Hyett wrote:

I thought of "Innerspace" (1987) with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short.

Damian P.

Innerspace was a very loose spoof of Fantastic Voyage. But then again most of Joe Dante's movies seem to be loose spoofs.

DGH