Review: "A Big Piece of Garbage" (Season 1, Episode 8)

If only they played pool with the meteor.

Airdate: May 11th, 1999

Synopsis: Farnsworth botches his Academy of Science presentation twofold; first by planning to introduce an invention he presented a year prior- the Death Clock- than sketching something else he made a year prior- the Smell-o-scope. (He loses to former student and rival Ogden Wernstrom, who invents a "reverse scuba suit" for fish.) However, said smell-o-scope detects a mass of garbage headed straight for New New York City.

Thing is, back in 2000, to solve a crisis in pollution, Mayor Giuliani kicked a barge of trash out to sea, hoping other countries would take it. They didn't. Instead, scientists shot it into space. Now, it's back. On impact, Farnsworth fears it will take take out the entire city. Compounding matters is that few in the 20th century know what garbage actually is- everybody recycles now. The mass of garbage too gooey to shoot out with a missile, the Trio are sent up into space to blow the garbage mass up.

It goes as well as you would expect.

Review (SPOILERS): Much like "My Three Suns" and "Fear of a Bot Planet", "A Big Piece of Garbage" follows Futurama's trend of ripping on cliche science-fiction plots- what if a meteor were to begin falling to Earth?

Replace meteor with garbage mass, and you get the answer.

This subtle twist allows Futurama to not only send-up a B-plot, but also send up many "environmental" shows and films produced during the 90s... up to and including Captain Planet and the Planeteers.

Review: Season 1, Episode 7: "My Three Suns"

Airdate: May 4th, 1999

What, Fry usurp the Emperor? You may very well think that. He couldn't possibly comment.

Synopsis: Leela and Fry's professional relationship is rapidly approaching a boil- Fry gets himself in stupid situation after stupid situation (such as replacing his lungs with gills), and Leela has to bail him out. This comes to a head during a delivery to the planet Trisol 9, where Fry, dehydrated from Bender's cooking ("The sodium level was 10% less than a lethal dose!"), grabs a drink of nice, refreshing emperor.

Literally.

He drinks the emperor of Trisol 9. And, under Trisolian tradition, he is immediately crowned as the new emperor. A frustrated Leela points to the rapid succession rate of the emperors (the average reign lasting a week), but Fry dismisses her advice, essentially telling her to buzz off. All seems to be up for Fry... until the setting of the three suns.

Review: Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation might remember the episode "Reunion". In that episode, Picard winds up at the center of a succession scandal in the Klingon Empire- the chancellor was assassinated, and he has to preside over the struggle of power, as well as the swearing-in of the new chancellor. Science fiction TV shows often showcase a series of assassinations in order to obtain power.

So, what if this alien species consisted of a liquid? Assassination should be easy! And it is- you just need somebody unfamiliar with the species, make him/her thirsty, and sweet ascension is theirs for the taking. (Oh, thank god House of Cards wasn't sci-fi!)

"My Three Suns" continues on Futurama's world-building abilities first established in "Fear of a Bot Planet". In less than 15 minutes, we're introduced to a world, examine it's political system, it's beliefs, it's weaknesses. We'll probably never see Trisol 9 again, but it's as well-established (if not more so) than many Star Trek one-off planets.

However, that's not the heart of the story. That belongs to the relationship between Fry and Leela.

Review: "A Fishful of Dollars" (Season 1, Episode 6)

Mmmm... oil. The good-ol American gold!

Airdate: April 27, 1999

Synopsis: A trip to a local department store manages to send Bender to prison. After failing to post the $80 bail ("I'd love to chip in, but Bender stole my wallet"), Fry goes to his old bank, Big Apple Bank, to get the $.93 out from his account. With interest, the account has gained some money... $4.3B worth, in fact. While initially being generous with his money, Fry eventually takes to buying stupid things, eventually regressing to his 1999 lifestyle, low-def TV and all.

Bizarrely, one thing that Fry buys at auction is what is thought to be the last can of anchovies ever. (Thanks a bunch, Decapodians!) This catches the eye of Mom, a capitalist who made her billions in the robot oil industry. Behind the public image of a sweet old lady is a callous robber baron who wants to buy the anchovies to protect her industry.

Review: Since I started my last review with a mention of Star Trek, might as well start this review with a mention of Star Trek, as well.

One of the greater disappointments in the Trek fandom was the TV series, Voyager. It was thought that Voyager would revolve around forming new alliances, developing characters with sketchy backgrounds, and the tensions between the Federation and the Marquis, both of whom were merged onto the Voyager spaceship. However, come the middle of the second season, Voyager largely abandoned this premise with little warning of buildup, and turned more into a TNG-style series- episodes of the week featuring Voyager coming across a problem, solving it, and going on their merry way. Not saying that Voyager was bad- it just ignored it's premise.

Thing is, shows evolve over time- you just have to build up the transition, and not just let the original premise go to the wayside until the last two episodes. Thus, we have the greatest difference between Voyager and Futurama- the latter managed to ease it's way out of the initial premise.

Review: "Fear of a Bot Planet" (Season 1, Episode 5)

Even Judge Judy would call this a kangaroo court.

Airdate: April 20th, 1999

Synopsis: While at a blernsball game (Blernsball being the 31st century version of Baseball), Bender goes on a soapbox on how he feels robots have been mistreated and reduced to second-class citizens on Earth. Ironically, the trio have to go deliver a package to Chapek 9, a planet operated by Robot Separatists that has no tolerance for humans. Having to deliver the package himself, Bender gets carried off, and Fry and Leela have to disguise themselves to enter the planet. They eventually do come across Bender- who's become an anti-human radical, leading human-hunts.

Review: Before I begin, I must warn those that the following review discusses topics which might be considered sensitive.

It's no surprise that Futurama is heavily influenced by Star Trek. To this effect, I felt that, before I typed out a full review of this episode, it was necessary to watch two other episodes of Star Trek: "The Measure of a Man", from The Next Generation, and "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield", from The Original Series. (Ironically, both episodes are outstanding efforts in otherwise weak seasons.) The reason why is that, along with "Bot Planet", "Measure" and "Battlefield" discuss discrimination in a speculative fiction setting. "Measure" connected more to the episode, as in that one, there is actually a trial to analyze if androids are property of Starfleet, or second-class citizens.

A similar discussion develops in this episode- are robots permanently in the lower rungs of a caste system, and is the only way to break it outright separation? Of course, we can't answer that directly- robots aren't the same here than they are in Futurama. (It's fiction, damnit!)

Yet, we can see the effect that radical viewpoints, in either direction, has- irrational decisions that ignore the real problems facing society, leading to a cycle of insanity.