Spanish Fry

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = Spanish Fry
episode_no = 71
prod_code = 4ACV17
airdate = July 13, 2003
country = USA
writer = Ron Weiner
director = Peter Avanzino
opening_subtitle = (In Alienese) Thanks for watching, Futurama slave army!
opening_cartoon = Unknown
guest_star = |

caption = Fry's nose is stolen by Aliens.
season = four
"Spanish Fry" is the seventeenth episode of Season four of "Futurama". It originally aired in North America on July 13, 2003, with a beatbox rendition of the opening theme performed by the characters.

Plot summary

While camping in the woods on a company outing, Fry is abducted by aliens as he searches for Bigfoot. He wakes up the next morning to find that his nose has been stolen from his face. Fry learns that human noses are treated by aliens as an aphrodisiac, called "Human Horn". Bender, Leela, and Fry discover that Fry's nose was stolen by an alien sex toy merchant, who sold the nose to Lrrr.

The three travel to Omicron Persei 8, where they learn Lrrr and Ndnd are having marital troubles, explaining Lrrr's purchase. After retrieving Fry's nose, Leela reattaches it by laser. However, once Bender has finished explaining some details of human anatomy to Lrrr, Lrrr orders that Fry's penis (his "lower horn") now be removed for consumption. Leela stalls the Omicronian by suggesting that he and Ndnd share a romantic dinner in the woods and work on their relationship. The dinner nearly fails; as Fry is about to get his penis cut off, Bigfoot shows himself.

The park's ranger also arrives, pleased to have finally gotten a look at Bigfoot. The ranger tries to amputate one of Bigfoot's feet as a trophy, but Lrrr prevents him. Lrrr then delivers a moving speech: Fry's wing dang doodle (penis), like Bigfoot, is one of God's most beautiful creatures (around this time, the park ranger manages to at least cut off part of Bigfoot's fur coat). Ndnd then realizes that her husband is still the sensitive Omicronian she fell for. The crew quickly retreats (to a Lrrr-suggested "safe distance") as the now-happy couple passionately make love. Bigfoot looks on for a bit, gives a satisfied nod, and then disappears into the forest.

Behind the credits, an episode of "The Scary Door" shows a mad scientist creating a creature from the DNA of the universe's most evil animals, which will thus be the universe's most evil creature of all; the machine's door swings open to reveal—a Rod Serling twist—a human being, who merely says, "It turns out it's man."

Cultural references

* The episode's title is based on Spanish fly, a poisonous blister beetle, wrongfully thought by many to be an aphrodisiac. As a cross reference it also is a joke on the Native Spaniard lisp which is prominent in the Spanish accent which is being compared to Fry's voice without his nose.
* The reference to "human horn" is based on the belief that rhinoceros horn is also an aphrodisiac.
* Joe Camel can be seen at the galactic bazaar.
* The sex shop at the Galactic Bazaar is named "The Beast With Two Bucks", a reference to "the beast with two backs", a common euphemism for sex. The phrase originates from Shakespeare's "Othello".
* Eagle-5, the Winnebago spaceship from "Spaceballs" is seen amongst the RVs in the parking lot.
* A vehicle resembling a sand crawler from the "Star Wars" universe can be found in the parking lot.
* Bender's constant mockery of Fry's genitals is a parody of Fox sitcoms such as "Married... with Children", in which similar sexual gags provoke raucous laughter and hooting from the audience.
* Lrrr's quote "One of these days Ndnd...Bang, zoom! Straight to the third moon of Omicron Persei 8!" is a reference to Ralph Kramden's classic line in "The Honeymooners". A similar line was cut out of the episode "The Problem with Popplers". Another reference to Kramden's line was made in an earlier episode, "The Series Has Landed".
* The tubes that come out of the saucer that abducts Fry are similar to the popular Windows screensaver "3-D Pipes".
* The final shot of the episode is very similar to the infamous shot of Bigfoot walking away in the Patterson film.
* One of the satellites that carries Ranger Park's exercycle advertisement resembles Sputnik 1, the first manmade object launched into space.
* The scene where Fry is abducted is a parody of the very first episode of "The X-Files", "Pilot".
* When Farnsworth first sees what happens to Fry's nose, he says the following: "Fry! What in Sega Genesis happened to you!?"
* Lrrr refers to Bigfoot as an "innocent giganto"; some people believe Bigfoot may be a living example of an ancient ape species called gigantopithecus.
* A green Pacer can be seen roasting on a spit in the background when the characters are walking through the bazaar.
* The episode's main premise bears a striking similarity to "The Nose" by Russian author Nikolai Gogol.
* Leela sings "I Will Always Love You" to Lrrr and Ndnd.

Continuity

* This is the third time the opening theme is different and the second time it is replaced by a version sung "a cappella" by Billy West and John DiMaggio. The first time is in "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV", albeit done in a human beat-box style (by West and DiMaggio), over the normal "Futurama" theme.
* The 3D car being roasted over a fire at the outer space bazaar is the same car used in the episode "The Lesser of Two Evils".
* "The Twilight Zone" parody ("The Scary Door") over the ending credits was originally going to be used in the episode "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz".
* When describing his stolen nose to the aphrodisiac dealer, Fry shows a photograph of himself and Slurms McKenzie, a character first seen (and now presumed dead) in "Fry and the Slurm Factory".