Synopsis: Leela and Amy drag Fry and Bender to a gym. Zoidberg, extra-frisky, comes along, and manages to mess around the place. The reason - it's mating season for the Decapodians. Thus, they have to go back to Decapod 10 so that Zoidberg can join his species in the frenzy. Zoidberg has limited success in attracting a mate, but finds a potential partner in Edna. However, Fry tries to get Zoidberg to engage in a deeper relationship with her. Once Edna learns of Fry's strategies... she tries to seduce him. Zoidberg catches them, and declares that they shall settle this with claw-plach!
Fry: "What's that?"
Zoidberg: "A fight to the death!"Review: Another Star Trek: TOS parody here - they are a plenty in the first two seasons. This time, the episode parodied is among the most famous in the history of Star Trek: "Amok Time." The results here are quite funny, if not the best Futurama has to offer.
For all two of you unaware, "Amok Time" focused on Spock entering the Vulcan mating state, Pon Farr. Having to return to Vulcan, he realizes that the one he is destined to mate with has already found another lover. Said lover invokes koon-ut-kal-if-fee, a fight between Spock and a person of her choosing. Said person is Kirk, who takes up... not understanding until too late that it's a fight to the death.
Here, the option is less complicated, and is used to lend itself to exploration of the culture of one of the most recognizable characters in Futurama.
Dr, John Zoidberg has been a fan favorite since he first appeared. Pathetically hilarious, an examination of his character and the species he represented - to the naked eye, he's just a funny alien lobster - was absolutely necessary. And, to an extent, it works.
Decapod 10 is, in many respects the anti-Vulcan. Whereas Vulcan operates in a series of rules and logic, only expressing emotion in the ancient traditions of Pon Farr and Koon-Ut-Kal-If-Fee, the Decapodians resort to almost base viewpoints on what makes a particular mate more interesting than another particular mate. Law and order are only enforced because of the heavy implication that the leader of the planet is a complete lout. Nothing is really sacred - claw-plach is more downright gladiatorial than anything else.
On that note, Decapod comes off more like the stereotypical portrayal post-Pax Rome - a bunch of madmen who thrive in the lowest desires. That, plus what I believe are jokes taken from info taught in an oceanography class.
I think that this episode was going for a quick analysis on what attractiveness was. The answer is that, in short, it can't easily be defined. Different strokes for different folks. Nothing mind-bending, but nothing worth ignoring, either. This episode, overall, did a pretty good job at that.
In terms of character development, this episode is actually reasonably good. To see the normally pathetic Zoidberg finally driven to genuine rage, even in a fit of misunderstanding, is hilariously brilliant. Even better, it's against his... sorta... friend. Beyond the "mating season" possibly driving Zoidberg's mood swings up to eleven, we're still early enough in the show where his desire to kill Fry isn't completely out of character. In fact, even as he's getting ready to disembowel Fry, he's still very much a sympathetic character. His frustration is understandable, and while his reaction to the misunderstanding between Fry and Edna is extreme, he was sorta boiling over through the entire episode.
This episode also gives a sizeable amount of attention to Fry's attitudes toward romance. While not nearly as bad as the Zapper's, he still seems a bit overconfident in trying to force romance where there wasn't any. Some of his ideas seem reminiscent of old romantic comedies. Makes sense, since he stayed in his apartment for three years to maintain his workman's comp.
Speaking of which, Edna is certainly a character I have mixed feelings over. On one hand, from the start, we do get a sense that she is quite shallow against Zoidberg, willing to succumb to the old romance cliches. Then again, the romance cliches on Earth seem inverted over on Decapod, which makes this character more interesting. Still, had the show developed her character a bit more, in lieu of Zoidberg messing up the place, would've made her a great character instead of just merely a good character.
The ending confirms that theory. I'm not going to spoil anything. I'll just say that it is downright hilarious. In fact, it makes the entire episode that much more hilariously dark, and adds a new light on Zoidberg's inability to use romantic lines. Let's leave it at that, and move on.
Tidbits;
- This was the first episode that FOX aired in the 7-8 hour on Sundays. The ratings were all but halved, because there was no football lead-in, and because FOX doesn't even bother to promote anything in that time slot, even today. If FOX had to drag down Futurama's ratings, they should've been more honest and stuck it on Friday nights.
- Bonus points to "Red Primate".
- The gravity control panel in the Gym is actually pretty ingenious.
- Is it sad that, when Zoidberg said "More weight" while weight-training, I thought of Giles Corey, from the Salem Witch Trials/The Crucible? (Oh, by the way - Happy Halloween.)
Favorite Scene: Claw-Plach!
Least Favorite Scene: Not a bad scene at all, but cutting a few seconds off the Gym segment could've allowed for some time to flesh out Edna a bit more.
Memorable Quote: "Disemboweling in your species - fatal, or non-fatal?" - Zoidberg. This is the guy Planet Express hired. Good sign.
Score: 8.
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