The Problem with Popplers

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Season 2 episode
The Problem with Popplers
No.28
Production number2ACV15
Writers
Patric M. Verrone
StoryDarin Henry
Directors
Chris Sauve
Gregg Vanzo
Title captionFor external use only
First air date7 May, 2000
Broadcast numberS02E18
Title referenceStar Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles
Opening cartoonUp to Mars (1930)
SponsorMolten Boron
Nomination(s)Environmental Media Awards
Comedy — TV Episodic, 2000 (won)
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript
Storyboard

Pictures

Season 2
  1. I Second that Emotion
  2. Brannigan, Begin Again
  3. A Head in the Polls
  4. Xmas Story
  5. Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?
  6. The Lesser of Two Evils
  7. Put Your Head on My Shoulders
  8. Raging Bender
  9. A Bicyclops Built for Two
  10. A Clone of My Own
  11. How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back
  12. The Deep South
  13. Bender Gets Made
  14. Mother's Day
  15. The Problem with Popplers
  16. Anthology of Interest I
  17. War Is the H-Word
  18. The Honking
  19. The Cryonic Woman
← Season 1Season 3 →

"The Problem with Popplers" is the twenty-eighth episode of Futurama, the fifteenth of the second production season and the eighteenth of the second broadcast season. It aired on 7 May, 2000, on Fox. The crew mistake Omicronian children for a snack food and begin selling them to the people of Earth.

Plot

Act I: "We taught a lion to eat tofu."

Returning from the Planet of the Moochers, the crew has no food. After some foraging they discover a delicious, bite size, motionless animal, and pack the ship full of them. the rest of the staff approve and Fry comes up with the name Popplers. Bender decides to sell them. Fishy Joe decides to sell them at his restaurant, paying the crew $1 a dozen. Soon over a million are sold. Hippies, led by Free Waterfall Jr., protest the eating of Popplers outside Planet Express. While getting things to throw at the protesters, Leela discovers a week-old Poppler. Before Leela can throw it out, the Poppler opens its eyes and calls her "mama".

Act II: "Parrots talk and we eat them, right?"

Leela tries to stop people from eating Popplers, and has the rest of the crew join the protesting at Fishy Joe's. Joe, Free Waterfall Jr. and Leela appear on Datenight with Linda to debate eating Popplers, with the young Poppler joining in. The Omicronians invade Earth again and tell the world that the Popplers are Omicronian young and announce that, in revenge, they'll eat the people of Earth. Zapp and Kif begin negotiations with the invaders to reach a peaceful settlement. A deal is struck stating that only one Earthling will be eaten, the one that first ate one of Omicronian young, Leela.

Act III: "Try our new, extreme walrus juice!"

The eating of Leela is broadcast on TV with a large audience. Zapp devises a plan to fool the Omicronians, Kif disguises an orangutan as Leela. Lrrr almost falls for it, but Free Waterfall Jr. interrupts and tells him the truth to save the orangutan. Ndnd eats it anyway. Leela is sent out to Lrrr, but the young Omicronian, now calling itself Jrrr, convinces him to stop. Lrrr, instead, eats Free Waterfall Jr., to the delight of the crowd, and becomes high. The Omicronians leave and Leela is safe. The staff has a feast of animals to celebrate, including a veal, a pig and a dolphin. The crew are disgusted by this and refuse to eat the dolphin because dolphins are intelligent. Bender assures them that this is different since this dolphin blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.

Reception

On 25 February, 2009, the episode was named #10 on TV.com's list of top 10 Futurama episodes[1]. It was also named #14 on IGN's list of top 25 Futurama episodes.

Additional Info

Poppler song lyrics

See List of song performances#Popplers Song.

Trivia

  • This episode marks the tradition of killing off members of the Waterfall family.
  • Over 198 billion Popplers were eaten before the end of the episode. The gross income that Planet Express and staff would have received from the sales comes to $16.5 billion (before tax), but where the money went is unknown.
  • This episode marks the first usage of Fry's first name and Leela's last name (Philip and Turanga, respectively).
  • Free Waterfall, Jr., despite being such an animal-lover and animal rights activist, mispronounces "orangutan" as "orangutang".

Allusions

Continuity

  • Fry says "Parrots talk and we eat them, right?". In "Xmas Story", Fry's parrot was killed and ended up being served by Bender as Xmas dinner.
  • "Fishy" Joseph Gilman states that the reason we don't eat people is because they taste lousy. But, in "Fry and the Slurm Factory", Leela reveals the existence of a soda called "Soylent Cola", whose taste apparently "varies from person to person".
    • Exactly. They don't eat people because they taste lousy, but that doesn't stop them from processing them for beverages. Besides, they probably loaded Soylent Cola with a lot of sugar and artificial ingredients, like with real soda, so you can't even taste the human remains in Soylent Cola.
  • Zapp's pronunciation of "guacamole" as "gwack-ah-mol" is a continuation of his problem pronouncing foreign loanwords, first revealed in "Love's Labours Lost in Space" ("champagne" as "sham-pag-in").

Goofs

  • When Leela first discovers that Popplers are intelligent creatures, she throws Jrrr away and licks her fingers. There are five "finger-licking" sounds, even though she only has four fingers. The fourth finger-licking sound is the one with no movement to it. The fourth being the transition between licking her last finger and going to lick her thumb.
    • Although this is only speculation and unconfirmed, it is likely that whoever did the finger-licking sound effect simply licked their own hand, not thinking to skip a finger in order to match the four-fingered hands of the Futurama universe.
  • When the first batch of Popplers is sold and the sign starts working, it should count by twelve, as Popplers are sold in batches of twelve and it reads "over # Popplers served" and not "over # batches of Popplers served".
    • This could be just a marketing and advertising decision, after all "Over # Popplers served" is much catchier than "Over #/12 bags of Popplers served". So they could treat a "Poppler" as a whole serving.
  • Fishy Joe claims that "The only reason we don't eat people is because it tastes lousy!" He seems to be unaware of the number of soylent products which exist in the 31st century.
    • Being an industry tycoon, he might be privy to some knowledge about how they *really* make soylent products. Or maybe he meant to say that Fishy Joe's restaurants don't serve humans because of the awful taste.

Quotes

    Leela: Great, we're two days from Earth with no food!
    Bender: [He gestures to Fry and Leela.] Problem solved: You two fight to the death and I'll cook the loser! [In an undertone to Leela.] Work his gut, I like it tender.

    Leela: Well, it's a type M planet, so it should at least have Roddenberries.
    Fry: I'm experienced at foraging. I used to find edible mushrooms on my bath mat!
    Bender: I found some rocks! You guys eat rocks, right?
    Leela: No...
    Bender: [Invitingly.] Not even if they're sautéed in a little mud?

    Professor Farnsworth: Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in... get the hell off my property!
    Free Waterfall Jr.: You can't own property, man.
    Professor Farnsworth: I can. But that's because I'm not a penniless hippie.

    Professor Farnsworth: Oh, God! They're back!
    Amy: We're doomed.
    Hermes: Doooooomed!
    Bender: [Breathes in.] Doooooooooooooooooooo...

    Zapp: Hmm. A hundred and ninety eight billion babies in a few weeks. We'll need an army of super virile men scoring 'round the clock! I'll do my part. Kif, clear my schedule. [Kif takes out an Etch-A-Sketch and shakes it.]

    Lrrr: Where's the real female?
    Zapp: I'll never tell.
    Lrrr: [He pulls out a gun.] Where is the real female?
    Zapp: I'll get her for you.

    Ndnd: Would you like some Human with your salt!?

    Bender: Who wants dolphin? [The crew gasps.]
    Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent!
    Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on lottery tickets!

    Fry: [Confused.] Turanga?
    Amy: That's her name, Philip.
    Bender: Philip?

    Leela: Well, this Poppler spoke to me.
    Bender: Well, maybe it's just like a parrot and only learned to talk as a parlour trick. Like Fry.
    Fry: Like Fry! Like Fry!

    Bender: I'll miss you, Leela. I know you're just a carbon-based life form, but I'll always think of you as a big pile of titanium! [starts crying]
    Fry: What Bender means is, you're really brave and smart and beautiful and a great friend.
    Bender: [sobs] Just like titanium!

    Leela: Thank you, Jrrr. I hope you'll always think of me as your mom.
    Jrrr: When my speicies grows up, we eat our moms.

Appearances

(In alphabetic order)

Characters

Miscellaneous

Episode Credits

References

  1. ^ Surette, Tim (25 February 2009). "TV.com Top Ten: The best Futurama episodes". TV.com. Retrieved on 17 April 2012.