======================================================================== ============= THE FUTURAMA CHRONICLES ==== EPISODE CAPSULE ============= ======================================================================== Official Title: My Three Suns Episode Number: 1ACV07 (#7) First Airdate : Tuesday, May 5th, 1999 Written by : J. Stewart Burns Directed by : Jeffrey Lynch & Kevin O'Brien ======================================================================== = Additional tidbits =
Opening theme promotion : presented in
DOUBLE-VISION
DOUBLE-VISION
where available
Opening theme cartoon : [Unknown]
05-May-99 Neilsen ranking: [Unknown]
MPAA rating : TV-PG-V
Length minus commercials : [21:17]
========================================================================
= Foxworld Synopsis =The crew visits a planet inhabited by liquid aliens. Fry, after delivering a package under the scorching heat of the planet's three suns, finds a bottle of cool blue liquid to quench his thirst. But when that liquid turns out to be the civilization's ruler, Fry finds he has become the new leader. Initially drunk with power, he soon discovers his life is in danger and must turn to his friends to help him dry out.
======================================================================== = Minutiae =
- Robowash still takes quarters. {hl}
- Bender didn't try reclaiming his quarter. {br}
- He retracts his antennae before entering the Robot Wash.
- I love the expression in Bender's eyes when he's being rebuffed.
- The mechanical arms extend their pinkies when carrying Bender's air- freshener.
- After the carwash, Bender literally has a shiny metal ass. {vy}
- When he's caught watching a cooking show, Bender rushes for the
remote control and accidentally knocks over a bottle on the table.
- A head shop in the 20th century sells drug paraphenelia. {hl} [Head
shop in the 30th century sells actual human heads. {ml}]
- A kid in Little Neptune is eating fruit right out of the vendor's
bin.
- Good thing Dr. Zoidberg didn't go to the Little Neptune shop with
them. They sold lobster-meat.
- Fry says he has trouble breathing underwater _sometimes_.
- The "nurse" has an interesting tattoo. A heart with antennae.
- Bender wears gloves with only three fingers.
- It's funny that Fry is able to say he was delivering things before
Leela was born, even though they're around the same age.
- Emperor's bottle shaped like a Coke bottle. {hl}
- The Emperor's guards aren't very good at their jobs. :-) - Liquid planet has British parliamentary system. {hl}
- Almost everyone in the crew had a change of clothes for the
coronation. I guess the motto of interplanetary delivery crews is,
"Be Prepared!" {br}
- Amy is flirting with Gorgak during the pre-coronation. Remember that
this is shortly after she'd "touched him in ways he's never been
touched."
- On several places in the palace, you can see a symbol that looks like
a Mickey Mouse head with small ears. This is apparently a picture of
the three Trisolian suns. You can spot the symbol on Fry's and
Murg's crowns, on Bender's cane and many places at the pre-coronation
gala.
- Leela says that the average reign of an emporer is one week, and half
of the emporers are assassinated at their own coronation. This means
the other half must usually survive at least two weeks.
- There's apparently also a Coronation Oath Volume 2, 3, etc.
- One can assume that Throm the Chunky was the first Trisolian emperor.
- The bottom-most badge on Bender's sash has a somewhat-sketchy
picture of everyone's favorite fictional character ... Homer Simpson! - Amy lost her shoes running up the stairs to the throne room. (She
was barefoot when she came in.) {br}
- Bender's dialogue over the televideo machine implies that he doesn't
like Leela.
- If you listen to Amy closely after Bender puts his hand over her
mouth, you can hear a muffled "Oh!" when she finally gets his plan.
{br}
- Is it just me, or did Amy Wong look particularly hot when Fry was
trying to cry out the emporer? I know she is "just a cartoon" but
she looks better every episode. {rc}
- It looked like she had a little bit of a 'thing' for Fry there too,
with that placement of her hand. {rs}======================================================================== = Parallels to Science Fiction =
~ "The Abyss" (1989 James Cameron movie)
- The first movie to using "morphing" for liquid entities. It won an
Oscar for Visual Effects. James Cameron used the same effects
later for "Terminator 2." {hl} ~ "Enemy Mine" (movie)
- The Oath scene was a lot like the scene at the end of Enemy Mine
where the human had to site the names of the alien's parent, and
their parent, and so on. {rm} ~ "Space Goofs" (?)
- Elzar and some of the Little Neptune residence resemble Etno (now
if only one had a Orson Welles-like voice, then it's very close to
a dead ringer). {jk} ~ "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (franchise)
- Odo and the Founders live in a liquid state and refer humanoids as
"solids." {hl} + "The Twilight Zone" (TV show)
- Bender wears an apron that says "To Serve Man," which was an
important phrase in a Twilight Zone episode, as well as the title.
The joke is in the double-meaning of the phrase: To serve food to
man, or to serve man as food? And, we all know Bender's contempt
for humans ...======================================================================== = Other References =
~ "12 Monkees" (movie)
- Did the meat shop that Fry and co. visited to get the slug look
like the shop in 12 Monkees? I haven't seen 12M in a while, so I
can't remember what they sold in the movie. {jl}+ "Carwash" (movie) - The theme song plays as Bender uses the Robot Wash.
+ "Essence of Emeril" (cooking show)
- "Essence of Elzar" is an obvious parody of a cokking show called
"Essence of Emeril." The host of the show uses extreme sound
effects such as "Bam!" and "Pow!" to kick his dialogue up a notch,
just like Elzar does.
- Emeril Lagasse. From Fall River, Massachusetts, though his main
restaurant is in New Orleans and the show "Emeril Live" is taped
in New York. Before he did Emeril Live, they had a show called
"Essence of Emeril" and before I knew what the show was called and
the guy's name, I always refered to is as "Cooking with Vinnie."
{co}+ "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!" (food) - I Can't Believe It's Not Slug!
~ "Levis" (jeans)
- [The opening scene] reminded me of the Levis commercial where the
guy drives through the carwash in his AMC Levis-edition Gremlin,
with the windows down. They used the same music, and there was a
scene where the driver selected the type of wash he wanted from a
button board, as Bender did. {br}+ "My Three Sons" (TV show) - Title: "My Three Suns"
~ "Organleggers" (?)
- I thought of Larry Niven's "organleggers" (black market organ
dealers, by analogy to bootleggers) when Fry was talking to the guy
with a selection of black market organs. {sv} ~ "Pay Back" (movie)
- [While trying to make Fry cry, Amy] kind of reminded me of the
oriental dominatrix girl in "Pay Back" with Mel Gibson. {jj} + "The Simpsons" (D'uh!)
- The bottom-most badge on Bender's sash has a picture of Homer
Simpson's head.======================================================================== = Freeze Frame Fanaticism =
- PLEASE SELECT WASH
[REGULAR]
[DELUXE]
[SUB-STANDARD]
- PLEASE PUT
SELF IN
NEUTRAL- UNDERCOATING 25c
- HERMES CONRAD
BUREAUCRAT CHEWING OUT
[IN PROGRESS]- GIRLS, GIRLS, ALIENS
- All-tentacle Massage
- HEAD SHOP
- MARKET
- LITTLE NEPTUNE MARKET
- I Can't Believe
It's Not SLUG SLUG
SLUG!! TENDERS SHANK - TO
SERVE
MAN - CORONATION
OATH
--
VOL. 1- PRE-CORONATION GALA
- please DON'T DRINK THE EMPEROR
======================================================================== = Goofs =
- It doesn't make sense for Bender to insert his money, and _then_ select a type of wash. Either every form of wash costs the same or Bender already knew what he was getting. And if he'd already payed the extra money for a deluxe wash, why did he peruse the list a second time?
- Dr. Zoidberg isn't actually shown taking a second helping of slug.
{vy}
- Dr. Zoidberg has difficulty taking salt water, even though he's a
lobster/crab. {vy} [Maybe it wasn't salty enough? {rm}] - After he yells "In your face, Gorgak," Bender disappears.
- As the crew is lying on a stack of pillows in the palace, the clouds
out the window are moving to the right. In Fry's close-up, they're
moving in the opposite direction.
- What few garments the liquid beings wear do not show up through their
translucent bodies (i.e., we only see one side of a necklace, even
though we can see the wall through the person's neck).
- The little flap on Murg's chin is transparent as well. We can see
the wall through the flap, even though Murg is wearing a red cape
directly behind it.
- The reaction to Florb's comic routine would suggest that the audience
members are from under the red sun, but the closest sun to them is
the yellow one.
- Love that jacket [Leela] has, even if it does tend to spontaneously
come unbuckled while holding certain books. {jb}
- Emporer Bont's picture is replaced with a different one with no name
(from which a spy tries to drink Fry). Fry's picture is replaced
with an empty frame, also with no name.
- As Fry gives his speech, the suns are setting to his right, but his
shadow trails behind him.
- In the wide shot during the coronation, Bender has a martini glass in
his hand. Then in the closer shot he had a different kind of glass
and anounced that he was switching to hard liquor. He then threw
that glass away and took out a martini glass. {jg}
- Bender's sash disappears in the shot from behind.
- In the amount of time that Fry swallows the emperor and the emperor
glows in his stomach, the emperor should have completely passed
through Fry's bladder. {vy} [Maybe the salt from the slug caused
Fry to retain the emperor. {jm}] - Amy lost her shoes running up the stairs to the throne room. (She
was barefoot when she came in.) Nevertheless, she had her shoes back
later in the scene. {br}
- The strings on the collar of Fry's unisex robe start out very thin,
but change to thick, black lines.======================================================================== = Extended Goofs / Technical Nitpicks =
It'd be awfully boring, anal and time-consuming if we were to sit down and discuss every bit of poetic license and inconsistent event in this obviously unrealistic show and dissected and discussed them week after week after week. So, what better time to start than right now? (I'm just kidding, of course ... we started way back with 1ACV01.) Here's my musings about the planet Trisol.
I'm not quite sure how it's possible for a liquid to have any sentient powers or qualify, by any definition, for the title of "living organism." Perhaps what the Trisol members are made of is only a liquid by our Earthly definition, and are actually only a very versatile and transparent solid matter, including their digestive and nervous systems, etc. Heck, they were never actually referred to, by a reliable person, as "liqid" (although they did do the reverse and refer to Fry as "solid"). I hear there was a race of supposedly liquid beings in a Star Trek episode. How was that explained?
Fry said he was emporer of the entire _planet_. These beings don't look like they're capable of forming an entire global community. Furthermore, the only reason they chose to make Trisol a barren and desert-like planet rather than a cool, lush jungle seems to be as an excuse for Fry to be thirsty upon arrival. A hot and dry environment is the exact opposite of what you'd expect for a race composed of liquids, as opposed to a jungle or possibly an underground society. Come to think of it, maybe a good deal of the Trisol society lies underground, and the above-grounders are just outcasts. Maybe they told Fry that was all that existed of their planet out of denial.
There is no sign of any villaiges or communities near the palace. Either the palace is actually an entire city or the tremendous crowds of people that appeared for events such as Fry's coronation and the Juice-O-Matic 4000 unveiling appeared out of nowhere. Or, this could be further evidence of an underground society.
Note the existence of clouds in the sky. From the establishing shot in space, there don't appear to be any major oceans, nor is there anything greatly blocking our view of the actual ground's color. Perhaps these clouds are made up of Trisol lawbreakers!
If anyone has more musings about the Trisolians, please contribute.
======================================================================== = Reviews =
Joe Klemm: The show is now starting its average episode plan with this one. Not as funny as some of the other episodes of the show, but with a plot that can be enjoyed. Now if Bender is still the ship's cook in later episodes, then continuity can be kept. (C)
Haynes Lee: The first half was good but the second half was hit and miss. (B-)
Patrick McGovern: Second best yet, behind I, Roomate. The entire ep was hilarious, with generous airtime for Zoidberg and Amy. Of course, the plot setup was the funniest thing, but Bender as a chef is worth the price of admission alone. (Bam! Well, wasn't this an obvious Emeril parody?) (A-)
Paul Melnyk: God, things can't get really that much worse. Can Futurama get out of the stereotyped sci-fi? A slug from Neptune is stereotyped sci-fi, constant defying vacuum in space is sci-fi, I'm sorry to take things seriously, but this is a sci-fi show. Well, we start off with a boring parody of "Car Wash." Then, Bender becomes a cook, and could it be any more predictable? And what's with Fry the jerk? Geez, apparentely the writers have an illusion this is humorous. When I first saw Futurama, I thought it had hope, I was looking forward to watching it each week. Why? The characters were actually human, now, every week, I get to look forward to a silly episode full of stereotypes. (C-)
Matt O'Connell: I really liked this episode. (A-)
Vince Yim: On the whole, pretty good. Better than Fishful of Dollars, not quite as good as Zap Brannigan. Some of the animation is really, really nice, especially when you have Fry going through the desert. The emperor's palace is well designed as well. (B+)
Yours Truly: Sadly, this episode takes its place at the very bottom of my list so far. Were it not for the excellent opening act, my grade might've been even lower. I'm not saying it wasn't enjoyable, but there were a lot of things here that got boring and/or overdone near the end. I hope that the other episodes this season are indicative of the show's future, but not so much this one. (C+)
Average Grade: [40/7=5.714285714286] (B-) ======================================================================== = Final Thoughts / Comments =
David Nott: When Bender was watching the cooking show, the TV chef at one point mentioned giving the dish he was preparing a "good blast from your spice weasel." If they really wanted to "kick up a notch" the joke, it should have been a spice WORM.
Jason Barrera: Leela seems to have a rather large wardrobe. She's got the green tank top, and then she's got the white tank top, and maybe some evening wear stashed away somewhere for when she actually gets a date.
Haynes Lee: Dutch folklore has a little boy preventing a flood by sticking his finger in the leaking dike.
Classic false urban legend about newbie in the Big City waking up finding that various orgrans have been removed from his body.
There is a Neutral Zone today. It's near Saudi Arabia. See <http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_304.html>
Also, the Little Neptune Market selling human meat is a false urban legend about ethnic eateries (Chinese/E. Indian/Italian) using cat/dog/human meat instead of expected meat. See <http://snopes.simplenet.com/horrors/food/chinese.htm>.
Mark Poyser: In the DrinkEmperor program, Fry & company go to Little Neptune. Among the characters seen on the sidewalk is a bald guy in a white robe that has a large number "9" on front. He is trying to hand out some literature (or so it seems).
What's that about? The only thing I can possibly think of, is a virus-writer who is known as "=9". (Refered to in <http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~kes65601/>. Be careful, incautious use of this site will ruin your computer.)
Any thoughts?
Theodore Jay Miller: I don't know if other places got this or not, but where I am, the scene where Fry is incredibly thirsty, and drinks the Emperor, was immediately followed by this commercial announcement: "Futurama is brought to you by Gatorade Thirst Quencher."
======================================================================== = Fun Stuff =
Sign in front of Little Neptune head shop: "OPEN" Televideo machine: "TELEVIDEO" On the signpost next to the throne: "DON'T DRINK THE EMPEROR"
Robert X. Smith: On the signpost in My Three Suns, we've all seen the sign with 7 red letters, all of them different, that seems to be drawn to jump out on purpose. I haven't run across any decryption of it, and I think it's the first instance of this particular alphabet we've seen. I believe that the mummy sarcophagi are covered in gibberish, by the way. I have a guess as to what the red lettered sign says. Time will tell if I am right.
I believe it says "CAUTION."
There was a total of 12 signs next to the emporer's throne. It looks like we'll be referring back to this episode for a very long time ...
- [1ACV01] Fry lies on an operating table
- [1ACV01] Quarters used in dispensing machine {hl}
- [1ACV02] Sonic Diarrhea, cf. Terrible, Nightmarish Diarrhea
- [1ACV01] Dr. Zoidberg forgets an essential element of human anatomy
- [1ACV03] Fry: "Whaddup?"
- [1ACV04] Videophones used "Honey, I Drank the Emperor" {hl}
"The Glassed Emporer" {pm}======================================================================== = Voice Credits =
Billy West ........................... Elzar, Fry, Junkie, Neptunian,
"Nurse," Farnsworth, Zoidberg, Guards
1 & 2, Gorgak, Emporer Bont
Katey Sagal ................................................... Leela
Joe DiMaggio ................................................. BenderDave Herman ....................................... Shopkeeper, Florp Phil LaMarre ................................................. Hermes Maurice LaMarche ........................... Shady Guy, Guard 3, Murg Lauren Tom ................................. Amy, "Collect Call" lady