The Series Has Landed

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = The Series Has Landed


caption = Fry, Leela and Bender stuck on the moon.
episode_no = 2
prod_code = 1ACV02
airdate = April 4, 1999
country = USA
writer = Ken Keeler
director = Peter Avanzino
opening_subtitle = In Hypno-Vision
opening_cartoon = Porky Pig in "Baby Bottleneck"
season = one"The Series Has Landed", alternatively titled Episode Two: The Series Has Landed, is the second episode of the first season of "Futurama". It originally aired in North America on April 4, 1999. The episode was written by Ken Keeler and directed by Peter Avanzino. In this episode the remaining major characters are introduced and the crew goes on their first mission. After completing their delivery a series of mishaps occurs which puts Fry and Leela's lives in danger and nearly leaves all of them trapped on the moon.

Plot

Settling into their new jobs, Fry, Leela, and Bender are introduced to the other Planet Express employees: Doctor John A. Zoidberg, intern Amy Wong, and bureaucrat Hermes Conrad. It becomes apparent that the ship needs a captain and Leela is chosen.

On their first mission, a delivery to the Moon, Fry undergoes severe culture shock. Rather than being a daring voyage of exploration, lunar travel has become a day trip to an amusement park called 'Luna Park'. The actual documentation of the events of Project Apollo are lost by the 31st century, and instead they are replaced by musicals about "whalers on the moon" and "goofy gophers". This upsets Fry, who wants to see the "real" moon.

Attempting to see the real moon, Fry hijacks a car from the lunar rover ride, despite Leela's orders not to, and takes it off road. They fall into a crater, forcing Leela to use up almost all of their oxygen to save them. Meanwhile, Amy loses the keys to the ship, and has to recover them from a video arcade claw game. Bender attempts to help her, but he is caught reaching through the prize slot with his extendable arm and thrown out of the park, leaving him stranded on the Moon's surface.

Running low on oxygen, Fry and Leela take refuge on a hydroponic farm. Bender arrives and seduces the farmer's robot daughters and the three end up on the run, trying to out-distance both the farmer's shotgun, and the lunar terminator. Leela berates Fry for refusing to accept that the moon, other than the amusement park, is nothing but a wasteland. As night begins to fall on the Moon, Fry and Leela find the Apollo 11 lander and take shelter in it.

Fry apologizes to Leela for hijacking the car from the ride; he explains he did this because he had a childhood dream of being an astronaut. After hearing this Leela begins to sympathize with why he wanted to see it and they view an Earthrise together. Eventually Amy manages to rescue all three with her newly-developed crane operation skills.

Continuity

After Bender's magnet malfunction, it is revealed that he has a secret desire to become a professional folk singer. This later happens in the episode "Bendin' in the Wind", where he gets to sing with Beck, and Bender's magnet malfunctions are seen throughout the series. The giant beetles that Fry and Leela are milking on the Moon are buggalo, which appear later in "Where the Buggalo Roam".

Broadcast and reception

Ken Keeler was nominated for an Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production" in 1999 for this episode.cite web |url=http://www.annieawards.com/27thannieawardwinners.htm |title=27th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners |publisher=International Animated Film Society |date=1999 |accessdate=2007-06-28 ] For its original run, the episode had Nielsen ratings of 8.1/14 in homes and 6.8/19 in adults aged 18-49. While this was a decrease from the pilot episode it did still build 5% from its lead in, "The Simpsons". This was the second episode to air following "The Simpsons" and the final scheduled to air on Sunday evenings before the show moved to the Tuesday night lineup, where it was expected to suffer in the ratings.cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117492973.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 |title='Futurama' cools, but still holds on to auds |author=Tom Bierbaum |date=1999-04-06 |accessdate=2006-06-29 |format= |work= ] In 2006 IGN ranked the episode as number 19 in their list of the top 25 episodes of "Futurama" due to its humor and the effective way in which it portrayed Fry's discovery of the changes in the future.cite web |url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/716/716663p1.html |title="Top 25 Futurama Episodes"| date=2006-07-07 |accessdate=2006-06-27 |publisher=IGN |format= |work= ]

References

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Series_Has_Landed&oldid=153225126#Cultural_references List of cultural references (from prior revision)]

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/futurama/the-series-has-landed/episode/1535/summary.html Episode Two: The Series Has Landed] at TV.com
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756891/ The Series Has Landed] at the Internet Movie Database