Time Keeps On Slippin'

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = Time Keeps On Slippin'
episode_no = 46
prod_code = 3ACV14
airdate = May 6, 2001
country = USA
writer = Ken Keeler
director = Chris Louden
opening_subtitle = FOR PROPER VIEWING, TAKE RED PILL NOW
opening_cartoon = Unknown
guest_star =


caption = Fry and Leela's wedding.
season = three

"Time Keeps On Slippin" is the 14th episode in season 3 of "Futurama". It originally aired May 6, 2001. The title is from a lyric in "Fly Like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band.

Plot

Representatives from the Globetrotter homeworld land in Central Park challenge Earth's honor on the basketball court, for no apparent reason. Professor Farnsworth accepts the Globetrotters' challenge, resolving to create a team of mutant atomic supermen to take them on. Unfortunately, when he completes his work, he is left with a team of mutant infants. Needing to accelerate their growth, the Professor sends the crew to gather chronitons over Bender's objection that the particles in question were responsible for the destruction of an entire civilization. All the while, Fry is trying to woo an unreceptive Leela.

The crew returns with the chronitons, and the mutants' growth is successfully accelerated. The game proceeds, with Farnsworth's team of mutants maintaining a massive lead over the Globetrotters. But at the start of the second half, time begins inexplicably jumping forward. One of the atomic supermen is killed and Fry joins the team in the last minutes. Although the Earth team had a seemingly insurmountable lead the Globetrotters win by unknown means during a time skip. The Professor formulates a theory that the crew's collection of chronitons has destabilized space-time, and will lead to the premature destruction of the universe.

With the assistance of the Globetrotters' leader, "Bubblegum" Tate, Farnsworth builds a "bad ass gravity pump". With the pump, they intend to reposition stars around the source of the problem, thus diverting the time skips to the empty side of the universe. Thankfully, the time skips worked in their favor, enabling them to get the fund to build the "bad ass gravity pump" and attach it to the ship. Once they finish moving a ton of stars, Fry begins buttering Leela up again, but just as she's refusing him, time skips yet again—to their wedding, and then to their divorce. This leaves Fry wondering what he did to win her over. Meanwhile, the time skips are only getting worse.

With the assistance of the other Globetrotters (the greatest scientific minds in the universe), a new plan is devised. The Planet Express crew will use one of Professor Farnsworth's doomsday devices to implode the nebula, creating a black hole which will prevent further release of chronitons. As the crew gets into position, Fry notices a set of stars that spell out a love letter to Leela; apparently he used the gravity pump to move the stars into a love message for Leela during a time skip, and that apparently was what won her heart. However, these stars are too close to the nebula and are imploded along with it before anyone else can see them. Fry's feelings for Leela remain unresolved, but the time skips have been stopped for good.

Continuity

* This episode introduces Ethan "Bubblegum" Tate, who is later seen in the episodes "The 30% Iron Chef" and "Less Than Hero", as well as the first two DVD movies.
* In a previous episode, "A Fishful of Dollars", Professor Farnsworth states he was called mad because he "dared to dream of my own race of atomic monsters, atomic supermen with octagonal shaped bodies that suck blood..." In this episode he finally creates a team of atomic monsters, and although none has an octagonal body or sucks blood; the late Arachneon was for all intents and purposes a giant spider with eight legs and possibly the same feeding habits.
* Thorius, the nuclear mutant with a chest-mounted cannon is a reference to the episode "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" in which Amy and Fry dated. Farnsworth stated during that episode that he could graft a cannon on Fry's chest, to "crush those who disobey him". Amy also denies that Fry is a great lover, confirming that they had a sexual relationship when they were dating.

Production

Ken Keeler used the story "Strange Romance" from the book "Y. Cheung, Business Detective" by Harry Stephen Keeler (who isn't related to Ken Keeler at all) as the basis for this episode. Marv Albert is portrayed by comedian Jeff Cesario.

Broadcast and reception

In 2006 it was named by IGN as number 15 in their list of the best episodes of "Futurama". The episode is included in the list because of the last scene where Fry's star message "I Love You, Leela" gets destroyed. Although the ending is described as heartbreaking it still leaves fans looking forward to the future possibilities for Fry and Leela's relationship. [cite web |url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/716/716663p2.html |title="Top 25 Futurama Episodes" |accessdate=2007-07-01 |format= |work= ]

Cultural references

* A reference to Britney Spears and the cover of her album ...Baby One More Time were seen in this episode (in the part where a news report affected by the time-skipping chronicles a teen pop singer's rise to fame, followed by her death on the bathroom floor at a young age).

* Various elements of the story (growth of mutant basketball players, a challenge from outer space) parody the film "Space Jam", in which Billy West voiced Bugs Bunny. The episode's title is also taken from a line in the song "Fly Like an Eagle", which was featured in the movie.

* According to the audio commentary, the mutant with the dark skin, yellow hair, and glowing eyes is modeled after Dennis Rodman.

* The Professor throws (or, at least, attempts to throw) a folding chair onto the court. This is a reference to former Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight who once threw a chair in a fit of rage during a 1985 game against Purdue.

* The concept of a peculiar time distortion affecting widely separated regions of space is the main plot of the "" episode "We’ll Always Have Paris", wherein it is referred to as the "Manheim Effect". It is also similar to another episode on the series, "Parallels".

* The Globetrotters' saucer looks identical to the one Klaatu lands on Earth in the classic 1950s sci-fi movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still".

* The game takes place at Madison Cube Garden, a play on Madison Square Garden.

* One of Professor Farnsworth's Doomsday devices contained two separate liquids that mixed — similar to the type of explosives used in Die Hard 3.

* Professor Farnsworth references the song "Skills To Pay The Bills" off of The Beastie Boys 1999 album The Sounds of Science. When Fry asks if he can show Leela his skills, Farnsworth replies; "Hmm. Will said skills pay the bills?" The Beastie Boys had previously made an appearance in "Hell is Other Robots".

* The Globetrotter named "'Curly' Joe" is a dual reference to real Harlem Globetrotter Fred "Curly" Neal and to Joe DeRita, who was one of The Three Stooges from the late 1950s into the 1970s, and was called "Curly-Joe" to distinguish him from previous Sttoge, Joe Besser.

*The song that plays as the Globetrotters debark from their saucer and that Bender whistles at the end is "Sweet Georgia Brown", which is the Globetrotters' theme song.

References