Difference between revisions of "Attack of the Killer App"

From The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(→‎Reception: grammar, brevity)
Line 51: Line 51:
"Attack of the Killer App" aired 22:00, 1 July, 2010 on Comedy Central, following a rebroadcast of "[[In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela]]". It received 2.2 million viewers and 1.1 million adults age 18-49.<ref name="603ratings107">{{cite web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/02/thursday-cable-ratings-usas-royal-pains-bethenny-lags-futurama/56051|title=Thursday Cable Ratings: USA's ''Royal Pains'' & ''Burn Notice'' lead Thursday cable pack; ''Bethenny'' lags ''Futurama''|work=TV by the Numbers|author=Seidman, Robert|date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref>
"Attack of the Killer App" aired 22:00, 1 July, 2010 on Comedy Central, following a rebroadcast of "[[In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela]]". It received 2.2 million viewers and 1.1 million adults age 18-49.<ref name="603ratings107">{{cite web|url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/02/thursday-cable-ratings-usas-royal-pains-bethenny-lags-futurama/56051|title=Thursday Cable Ratings: USA's ''Royal Pains'' & ''Burn Notice'' lead Thursday cable pack; ''Bethenny'' lags ''Futurama''|work=TV by the Numbers|author=Seidman, Robert|date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref>


Due to it's more topical nature compared to other episodes and the arguable out-of-character moments of some of the characters, several fans have an extremely low opinion of the episode, with some ranking it among the worst in the history of the series.
Because it is more topical than most episodes, and because of the arguable out-of-character moments of some characters, some fans rank the episode among the worst in the history of the series.


=== ''iPhone'' controversy ===
=== ''iPhone'' controversy ===
After having the aired "Attack of the Killer App", [[Comedy Central]] decided to remove the "eyePhone" reference in their online video previews,<ref name="maclife-iphoneremoval">{{cite web |url=http://www.maclife.com/article/news/why_did_comedy_central_remove_eyephone_reference_futurama_online_clip | title=Why Did Comedy Central Remove EyePhone Reference from Futurama Online Clip? |author=Baldwin, Roberto |publisher=MacLife |date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref> resulting in an awkward reaction to nothing by the characters.<ref name="gizmodo-iphoneremoval">{{cite web |url=http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/07/futurama-weirdly-removes-eyephone-reference-from-online-clip/ |title=''Futurama'' Weirdly Removes EyePhone Reference From Online Clip |author=Chen, Jason |publisher=Gizmodo Australia |date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref>  By this point, neither Comedy Central nor Apple Inc. have made a comment on why the line was removed, but MacLife holds that only one company could be interested in removing it.<ref name="maclife-iphoneremoval"/>
[[Comedy Central]] removed mention of the "eyePhone" in their online video previews,<ref name="maclife-iphoneremoval">{{cite web |url=http://www.maclife.com/article/news/why_did_comedy_central_remove_eyephone_reference_futurama_online_clip | title=Why Did Comedy Central Remove EyePhone Reference from Futurama Online Clip? |author=Baldwin, Roberto |publisher=MacLife |date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref> resulting in an awkward reaction to nothing by the characters.<ref name="gizmodo-iphoneremoval">{{cite web |url=http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2010/07/futurama-weirdly-removes-eyephone-reference-from-online-clip/ |title=''Futurama'' Weirdly Removes EyePhone Reference From Online Clip |author=Chen, Jason |publisher=Gizmodo Australia |date=2010-07-02 |accessdate=2010-07-03}}</ref>  By this point, neither Comedy Central nor Apple Inc. have made a comment on why the line was removed, but MacLife holds that only one company could be interested in removing it.<ref name="maclife-iphoneremoval"/>


== Additional info ==
== Additional info ==

Revision as of 21:34, 13 February 2013

Season 6 episode
Broadcast season 7 episode
Attack of the Killer App
Attack of the Killer App.png
The zombie people walking towards Mom Store.
No.91
Production number6ACV03
Written byPatric M. Verrone
Directed byStephen Sandoval
Title captionThere Will Be a Test
First air date1 July, 2010
Broadcast numberS07E03
Title referenceAttack of the Killer Tomatoes
Special guest(s)Craig Ferguson
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript
Storyboard

Pictures

Season 6
  1. Rebirth
  2. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
  3. Attack of the Killer App
  4. Proposition Infinity
  5. The Duh-Vinci Code
  6. Lethal Inspection
  7. The Late Philip J. Fry
  8. That Darn Katz!
  9. A Clockwork Origin
  10. The Prisoner of Benda
  11. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
  12. The Mutants Are Revolting
  13. The Futurama Holiday Spectacular
  14. The Silence of the Clamps
  15. Möbius Dick
  16. Law and Oracle
  17. Benderama
  18. The Tip of the Zoidberg
  19. Ghost in the Machines
  20. Neutopia
  21. Yo Leela Leela
  22. Fry Am the Egg Man
  23. All the Presidents' Heads
  24. Cold Warriors
  25. Overclockwise
  26. Reincarnation
← Season 5Season 7 →

"Attack of the Killer App" is the ninety-first episode of Futurama, the third of the sixth production season and the seventh broadcast season. It aired 1 July 2010 on Comedy Central. It guest stars Craig Ferguson as Susan Boil. After Mom launches the new eyePhone, Fry and Bender race to getting a million followers on the Twitcher app.

The Story

Act I: "Good news, nobodies!"

At the New New York annual e-Waste event, Mayor Poopenmeyer announces the importance of throwing out dated e-waste. The Planet Express crew is there to throw out their old electronics, such as doomsday devices, Japanese toilets and evidence. When asked where all the waste goes, Poopenmeyer says they get some "minimum-wage nobodies" to fly it off to the third world. This cues Farnsworth to announce to his crew that they are the nobodies.

The third world turns out to be the Third World of the Antares system, where all e-waste is dumped and burnt, turning it into ash and releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere. While the lead alien explains the process to the crew, the other aliens partially dismantle the ship and Bender. Leela is horrified by the devastation caused by e-waste polution, and decides that the crew should avoid throwing out electronics just because it is dated, and takes back her old phone.

Her noble actions are short-lived: when an ad for the new eyePhone appears on television, the crew immediately throw out their current phones and head for the queue, which stretches across town. After a day of waiting, the crew begins to suspect that they are nothing but consumer zombies. Luckily, Dr. Ben Beeler is there to relieve them of their worries, as the eyePhone have all the apps you need.

Upon finally arriving at the Mom Store, a giant screen with Mom announces that the eyePhones are in short supply, which spreads panic among the shoppers. The short supply line is revealed to be a method for increasing demand. Despite being told that the eyePhone has no choice of carrier, can't change the battery and more, Fry becomes impatient and demands the man at the counter to take his money. Fry is about to ask why the device is called an 'eyePhone' when the salesman installs it directly in Fry's eye.

Act II: "Did you know these eyePhones are phones too?"

A promo pic showing the crew using the floating screens from their eyePhones

Soon all the crew members are addicts to their eyePhones and especially the extra service, Twitcher, which allows them to send small video messages to everyone who wishes to see it. Bender becomes obsessed with the popularity he can easily gain from sending out videos and increasing his amount of followers. Fry, on the other hand, is not doing so well in numbers of followers, but decides to accept a challenge from Bender about who can first reach one million followers. The loser of the bet must bathe in a pool filled with puke and diarrhea from a two-headed goat.

Meanwhile, Mom is very pleased with the sale of her eyePhones, because they are a much more efficient way of sucking information out of people than her "old-fashioned methods like spybots and Infosquitoes". With Twitcher, people are apparently willing to post everything they do, which all eyePhones record and Mom can see all this information. In addition, she is pleased to learn that Bender and Fry are holding their million follower-Twitcher challenge, because when one person reaches one million followers, she can initiate her Twitt-worm, what she calls the true killer app of the eyePhone, but never fully explains what it does.

Back at Planet Express, Bender's follower numbers are rising fast, while Fry is still in the two digits. Fry learns about Leela's horrible secret, that she has a singing boil on her right butt cheek that she calls Susan Boil. In discovering it, his eyePhone also films it. Leela begs Fry not to upload it, even though it will increase the number of his Twitcher followers. Desperate not to lose, Fry uploads it anyway.

Act III: "Impending news, everyone!"

The video is a huge success, and Leela is devastated when she discovers that Fry lied to her. Walking through the streets of New New York, Leela feels she has become a freak show and desperately wants to hide her shame.

The video results in Fry and Bender reaching one million followers at the same time; with no loser, no one has to swim in the pool. Mom is even more pleased with the results, as she now has two million people she can infect with the Twit-worm. In front of the Planet Express headquarters, Leela finds Fry, who reveals that, to show his remorse, he published a video of himself diving into the pool. But Leela has discovered that her boil is already yesterday's news, and nobody cares about it any more.

Meanwhile, around them, swarms of people walk zombie-like towards the Mom Store, where they are going to be the first to purchase the new eyePhone 2.0.

Production

The plot of "Attack of the Killer App" was among the plots mentioned at the Futurama panel at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con.[1] And Craig Ferguson was among the first guest actors of the production season to come to the recording studio. During Comedy Central Insider's Countdown to Futurama, a storyboard was released showing Farnsworth and Hermes throwing out dangerous doomsday devices.[2]

Reception

"Attack of the Killer App" aired 22:00, 1 July, 2010 on Comedy Central, following a rebroadcast of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela". It received 2.2 million viewers and 1.1 million adults age 18-49.[3]

Because it is more topical than most episodes, and because of the arguable out-of-character moments of some characters, some fans rank the episode among the worst in the history of the series.

iPhone controversy

Comedy Central removed mention of the "eyePhone" in their online video previews,[4] resulting in an awkward reaction to nothing by the characters.[5] By this point, neither Comedy Central nor Apple Inc. have made a comment on why the line was removed, but MacLife holds that only one company could be interested in removing it.[4]

Additional info

A promo pic showing the dismantled ship.

Trivia

Continuity

Goofs

  • The hinges of Bender's chest cavity door are on the wrong side after the Antarians strip him halfway down.
  • Right after every crew member tosses their phones in the garbage, Zoidberg's pants are white instead of aqua.
  • How was Zoidberg able to afford an eyePhone when he is so poor?
    • It could have been a gift from someone.
      • However, it is stated many times that no one likes Zoidberg.
  • When the eyePhone salesman that Fry talks to opens the eyePhone box, the Mom Store logo is properly oriented, but, once the box is opened and the camera angle changes, the logo is flipped upside-down, thus again properly oriented in relation to the camera. Also, after he reaches for the eyePhone, his hand grabs more than one copy. Strangely, in the very next scene, he has only one to give to Fry.
  • When Leela is talking to Fry after discovering the eyePhone functions as a phone, she is flying through space, as shown by the stars flashing by through the window. However, in the next second, she crashes the ship into the Planet Express building.
    • The ship moves at 99% the speed of light (4ACV09), so it is possible that it was in space one second, and landing at Planet Express in the next second.
  • The sitting arrangement changes when Leela crashes the ship.
Before: Fry - Amy - Empty - Zoidberg - Bender - Hermes - Empty - Empty
After: Fry - Amy - Zoidberg - Bender - Empty - Hermes - Empty
Note that there is one chair missing. Interestingly, the first sitting arrangement is the same as the one in "The Late Philip J. Fry".
  • Bender should be seated where Hermes was seated so the angle of the video he posted would be accurate.
  • In the final scene where everyone turns into a zombie, Fry and Leela are unaffected, even though both have eyePhones. Arguably, Fry could be unaffected because he is the worm carrier, but there is no explanation as to Leela.
    • The worm only affects the between 1 and 2 million of Bender and Fry's followers, and, when the crew had lunch at the pizza place across the street, Leela mentioned she had unsubscribed from Fry's Twitcher feed the day before, and was implied not to be a follower of Bender when Bender tweeted and no beeps were heard in the room.
  • The second time Fry and Leela hug, Fry has 4 legs.

Allusions

Quotes

    Bender: Flexo, what are you doing in a hazardous waste bin?
    Flexo: Haven't you heard? Us Bending Units are dangerously outdated. We overheat, we're radioactive, we cause erectile dysfunc— [Bender shuts e-wastebin.]
    Professor Farnsworth: Bender, who were you talking to?
    Bender: No one? Your mama? Shut up? Take your pick.

    Scoop Chang: Isn't all this e-waste dangerous?
    Mayor Poopenmeyer: Not at all, Scoop! Not after it's hauled off to the Third World by a team of expendable, minimum wage nobodies!
    Professor Farnsworth: [Turns to the crew.] Good news, nobodies!

    Leela: So long, overly complicated Japanese toilet.
    Japanese toilet: [Japanese accent.] Please, not to throw away. I give you happy poopy time.
    Fry: Sorry, you know too much.

    Professor Farnsworth: These old doomsday devices are dangerously unstable. I'll rest easier not knowing where they are.

    Alien on Third World: We burn your e-waste down to the usable metals, safely releasing the toxics into our air and drinking water.

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

References

  1. ^ Perkis, Ed (25 July 2009). "Comic Con: Futurama Ignores Controversy, Promises To Take On Twitter". Cinema Blend. Retrieved on 26 July 2009.
  2. ^ Tobey, Matt (20 May 2010). "Countdown to Futurama: Doomsday Devices Storyboard". Comedy Central Insider. Retrieved on 20 May 2010.
  3. ^ Seidman, Robert (02 July 2010). Thursday Cable Ratings: USA's Royal Pains & Burn Notice lead Thursday cable pack; Bethenny lags Futurama. Retrieved on 03 July 2010.
  4. ^ a b Baldwin, Roberto (02 July 2010). "Why Did Comedy Central Remove EyePhone Reference from Futurama Online Clip?". MacLife. Retrieved on 03 July 2010.
  5. ^ Chen, Jason (02 July 2010). "Futurama Weirdly Removes EyePhone Reference From Online Clip". Gizmodo Australia. Retrieved on 03 July 2010.