Murder on the Planet Express

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Season 7 episode
Broadcast season 10 episode
Murder on the Planet Express
Murder on the Planet Express infobox.png
Zoidberg and Hermes being alerted that something is coming.
No.138
Production number7ACV24
Written byLewis Morton
Directed byFrank Marino
Title caption#1 Rated Show in Universe 3
First air date21 August, 2013
Broadcast numberS10E11
Title referenceThe 1934 Agatha Christie novel Murder on the Orient Express
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript

Pictures

Season 7
  1. The Bots and the Bees
  2. A Farewell to Arms
  3. Decision 3012
  4. The Thief of Baghead
  5. Zapp Dingbat
  6. The Butterjunk Effect
  7. The Six Million Dollar Mon
  8. Fun on a Bun
  9. Free Will Hunting
  10. Near-Death Wish
  11. 31st Century Fox
  12. Viva Mars Vegas
  13. Naturama
  14. Forty Percent Leadbelly
  15. 2-D Blacktop
  16. T.: The Terrestrial
  17. Fry and Leela's Big Fling
  18. The Inhuman Torch
  19. Saturday Morning Fun Pit
  20. Calculon 2.0
  21. Assie Come Home
  22. Leela and the Genestalk
  23. Game of Tones
  24. Murder on the Planet Express
  25. Stench and Stenchibility
  26. Meanwhile
← Season 6Season 8 →

"Murder on the Planet Express" is the one hundred and thirty-eighth episode of Futurama, the twenty-fourth of the seventh production season and the eleventh of the tenth broadcast season. It aired on 21 August, 2013, on Comedy Central. The crew get trapped aboard the ship with a horrific alien creature.

Plot

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"And they look like ass flakes."

Fry prepares to brush his teeth while Bender laughs. Soon, Fry realizes that there are metal flakes in his toothbrush and accuses Bender of using it to polish his ass. Bender denies the accusation while Fry glares at him suspiciously (like in the Fry meme). Later, Fry goes to see Nine at his discount spy store, For Your Eyes Mainly , to spy on Bender. Later, at the Planet Express Building, Hermes accuses Zoidberg of eating his lunch. Leela then accuses Amy of using her punching bag for golf-ball practice. In turn, Amy then accuses Leela of using her golf-clubs to pound dents out of the Planet Express ship. The crew gathers together later than day. Fry chooses now to publicly accuse Bender of brushing his ass with Fry's toothbrush. He shows the others the video he recorded. However, even after fast forwarding, it appears Bender told the truth all along. Fry is about to apologize to Bender when he notices something happening through the doorway. Fry zooms in to see a group of doctors preparing for surgery. Bender has stolen Fry's kidney in his sleep. A shocked Fry looks down to see the scar. Leela then reveals she also used a spy cam to spy on Amy only to find out that Scruffy had used Amy's clubs to kill a fly and that Zoidberg had been living in Leela's punching bag. Hermes also used a spy cam to catch Zoidberg eating his lunch, only to find out that Bender had thrown his lunch out and put Fry's kidney inside. They also learned, much to everyone's disgust, that Leela had eaten it. Professor Farnsworth enters complaining of a botched kidney transplant. Zoidberg uses the F-Ray to see what was wrong. It seems the manwitch Bender threw out was inserted into Farnsworth in place of the stolen kidney (which would explain why his urine smelled like a meal). The crew continue to bicker uncontrollably when Farnsworth has had enough and threatens to do something about it, after he see's someone about some "ground beef".


"Hello Planet Express Crew."

Farnsworth was therefore forced to hire Dan McMasters for a team building exercise. On the way to the corporate team building retreat, they pick up a random hitchhiker at the behest of Dan. The hitchhiker is brought about and is used by Dan to be the first trust fall. To the shock of the others, Dan is apparently eaten by the hitchhiker. It's revealed that he's some sort of shape-shifting alien monster as he transforms and crawls through a ventilation shaft. It soon shuts off the power. Jackie Jr. is soon eaten by the creature. Farnsworth tells the crew to go to the panic room, assuring them they'll be safe inside as the room is impregnable and that they have enough food and board games to survive for weeks. However, Farnsworth soon laments that they'll be dead within the hour after the creature shuts off the life support for the ship. Farnsworth splits the crew into three teams. Zoidberg and Hermes must restart the life support system. Leela and Amy must travel to the bridge to get the steering wheel so as to pilot the ship from the panic room. Bender and Fry must space-walk to the engine and re-light the pilot light to get the engines started again. Fry asks Bender to go outside first, fearing Bender would lock him outside. They both make it outside, only for fry to forget his magnetic boots and begin floating away before Bender saves him. They manage to restart the engines, but Bender's gyroscope was rendered non-functional when the engines ignited in his face leaving him unable to control his movements. Zoidberg and Hermes crawl through the vents when they come across Jackie Jr.'s skeleton, his skull being the object that crippled the life support system. Zoidberg removes the skull and celebrate, until Hermes's motion detector reveals the monster's coming. With nowhere to go, they begin to panic. They soon realize that the movement was just a rodent. They sigh in relief briefly before the monster comes out of nowhere and eats it. Hermes then gets stuck in the vent and Zoidberg tries, in vein, to un-stick him. Zoidberg tries to assure Hermes that they'll be ok, only to recant the sentiment when he the motion detector begins beeping again. Amy and Leela are in the basement of the ship and encounter the monster first-hand. Leela attempts the fight it, but is captured. It's Amy's golf shot to the monster's face saves her and they make a run for the bridge. Outside the ship, Bender's gyroscope is still not working. Bender, while panicked, accidentally breaks Fry's helmet causing him to suffocate in the vacuum of space. Bender, in a bid to save his life as well as fix his gyroscope, stuffs Fry into his compartment. Fry then takes over Bender's body by wearing him like a suit and get's him under control. Bender is impressed with Fry's ingenuity and they decide to call themselves "Frender" as they waltz their way inside the ship. Leela and Amy finally make it to the bridge and take the steering wheel. Happy with their success, they proclaim themselves "Layme". They run back to the panic room and see what they think is the monster (but is actually Hermes who's stuck in the vent) and begin attacking it. Zoidberg, calling themselves "Hermberg", un-sticks Hermes by squirting him with his oil. They all meet up and laugh as "Frender" enters. Fry exits Bender's compartment, thus Bender is back to not being able to control his movements. Amy fixes this by bashing him with her club. Bender gleefully jumps about and eventually comes face to face with the monster. Professor Farnsworth and Scruffy are playing "Candyland" as the crew hurriedly enter the panic room.

"One of us must be the bad creature."

Once they get the ship up and running again, Professor Farnsworth reveals that the whole thing was an exercise in trust. The three teams congratulate each other, but Hermes is abruptly eaten by the monster who was disguised as the Professor. The creature then walks off and the lights flicker while the Professor walks in. This professor was also the monster in disguise and ate Scruffy. The lights flicker once again and the professor walks in for a second time. The crew is suspicious, but the Professor says he can prove it. While attempting to do so, Amy walks up and eats him while the real Amy reveals herself to have been hiding behind the couch. They run out of the panic room and Leela decides to try and kill the creature as she reveals several guns behind a panel on the wall. Bender objects, as any one of them could be the creature. Bender then notices that they're two Zoidbergs. One of the Zoidbergs ate the other as the others fled. Fry runs down the hall joins Leela who's hiding in a closet. A terrified Leela asks to kiss Fry. A little too rough for Fry's liking, he soon realizes that he's the monster before eating her. In the engine room, Bender is sitting scared as Amy enters to hide with him. As they talk, Amy notices that Bender has human ears. When Amy questions it, Bender reveals himself to be the monster and eats her. Only Fry and Bender are left now. They meet up and begin testing themselves with questions only the other person would know. In the end, they proclaim that they trust each other as Dan McMasters enter the room. Naturally, they don't trust him. Dan assure's them that the whole thing was staged to help build trust. He asks them to join him and the rest of the crew to a pizza party of the bridge, but Fry and Bender are convinced that he's the monster and kill him. Afterword, the crew reveal themselves to be alive and well. Bender hides what little is left of him underneath one of the floor-boards. At the Planet Express Building, a news report is talking about the mysterious disappearance of Dan McMasters and are calling it a possible homicide. Fry and Bender agree to not tell a anyone about what happened. The newswoman then stated that the police would give 1,000,000 dollars for information leading to an arrest. In the event of two killers, they would give total immunity to whomever turned in the other and 2,000,000 dollars. Bender and Fry then glare at each other and at the phone on the table.

Production

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On 5 February, 2013, Vulture.com released a preview clip for the tenth broadcast season,[1] which contained footage from the episode.

On 14 August, Comedy Central released a two-minute preview clip featuring the crew picking up Blorgulax.[2]

Image gallery

Additional information

Trivia

  • After Bender denies having polished his ass with Fry's toothbrush, Fry's eyes narrow. An image of Fry with narrowed eyes in "The Lesser of Two Evils" became popular as an internet meme.
  • It's implied that Professor Farnsworth may have hired Bender to steal Fry's kidney for his transplant, as they are from the same bloodline.[1ACV01]
  • When Dan McMasters introduces himself to the crew, all three of the pairs that are fighting — Fry and Bender, Leela and Amy, and Hermes and Zoidberg — are separated by two crew members.
  • Fry and Bender name their winning combination "Friender". "Friender" is also the name of the Fry/Bender merger in one of the special features on the D.V.D. for Bender's Game.
  • Bender asks Fry what the square root of 2345.4 is. The answer is approximately 48.43.
  • The word "blorg" was previously used in "Reincarnation".
  • The police offer stated at the end of the episode is a reference to the prisoner's dilemma, a concept in game theory.

Allusions

Click here to see cultural mentions made in this episode.

Continuity

Goofs

  • In this episode Bender is completely hollow, but in previous ones only his chest compartment was hollow and the rest of him was full of circuitry.
  • Bender shouldn't reshape with Fry in him, as it's impossible for Fry to be strong enough to reshape the metal.
    • The metal that Bender is made of may for some reason be extremely soft now.

Quotes

The Fry/Bender merger in one of the special features on the D.V.D. for Bender's Game.

    Hermes: Enough of this foolishness! Amazingly, I too set up a spy camera, to catch Zoidberg stealin' my lunch.

    Dan McMasters: So I hear we've been having some trust issues, huh? Well, for the next week... we'll be doing hundreds of trust falls from every possible height and level of gravity.
    Bender: Or we could not do that.

    Dan McMasters: Hello Planet Express! I'm Dan McMasters, and I'll be your retreat leader for a week of fun and personal empowerment!
    Professor Farnsworth: [looking annoyed at the crew] I hope you're happy!

    Bender: Fry. You saved my ass out there.
    Fry: Aw... I couldn't let anything happen to something that shiny.

    Scruffy: I weren't fooled. The real professor—
    [The professor eats Scruffy.]

    [Leela opens up a cabinet full of weapons inside the Planet Express ship and takes a rifle from inside; stood around her are Fry, Bender, Amy and Zoidberg.]
    Leela: It's time we solved this problem the old fashioned way. By shooting it!
    Bender: Wait, wait, wait, wait, you can't give everybody guns! What if one of us is the creature? It could be any of us: [The camera pans to each character as Bender calls out their name.] Fry. Leela. Amy. Zoidberg. [The camera pans to another Zoidberg stood next to the original.] Zoidberg.
    [Everyone gasps and backs away.]

Appearances

(In alphabetic order)

Characters

Places

Miscellaneous

References

  1. ^ Jesse David Fox (05 February 2013). Watch a Preview of Futurama’s Seventh Season. (Vulture.com.) Retrieved on 23 June 2013.
  2. ^ Team Building Retreat - Video Clip. (Comedy Central.) Retrieved on 08 August 2013.
  3. ^ Countdown to Futurama: Alien Form. (Comedy Central's Tumblr page.) 05 June 2013. Retrieved on 05 June 2013.
  4. ^ Countdown to Futurama: Alien Sneaking Up Behind Bender. (Comedy Central's Tumblr page.) 06 June 2013. Retrieved on 06 June 2013.
  5. ^ Countdown to Futurama: Fry with a Monster Mouth. (Comedy Central's Tumblr page.) 07 June 2013. Retrieved on 07 June 2013.