Episode Capsule: [1ACV02] The Series Has Landed

Title: The Series Has Landed
Written by: Ken Keeler
Directed by: Peter Avanzino
Opening theme promotion: IN HYPNO-VISION
Opening theme cartoon: "Baby Bottleneck"

Synopsis

After delivering a package to an amusement park on the moon, Fry shows Leela how to appreciate the celestial body. Meanwhile Bender finds a little robot romance with a farmer's daughters, which puts the whole crew in jeopardy.

Voice Credits

Starring

Billy West (Fry, Farnsworth, "PE" narrator, Dr. Zoidberg, Farmer)
Katey Sagal (Leela)
John DiMaggio (Bender, Sal)

Guest Starring

Ress MacNeille (Craterface, Gopher 1, Lulubell 7, Daisy May 128K)
Lauren Tom (Amy Wong)
Phil Lamarr (Hermes, Gopher 2)
Maurice LaMarche (H.G. Blob, "Destination Moon" narrator, Crushinator)

Did You Notice…

how tiny Prof. Farnsworth's VCR++ cassette was? — Dave Hall
that Prof. Farnsworth is crazy to use such a tiny egg-beater for those giant bird-eggs?
that the security gate outside the Planet Express office looks just like those in the 20th century, but simply vaporize when unlocked?
that the sign says "Sorry We're Closed" and "Sorry We're Open"? — Dave Sweatt
how Fry's pitcher of milk is shaped like a nuclear cooling tower? — Dave Hall
that Admiral Crunch isn't drawn in the Groening style? — Dave Hall
that the eggs were from the giant birds from the commercial? — Haynes Lee
how Leela is right-handed? (Many of Groening's characters are lefties) — Dave Hall
that Dr. Zoidberg's chart of the human body is upside down? — Dave Hall
that after telling Fry that everything will be alright, Farnsworth gives a rather unsettling hesitation on his way out?
Dr. Zoidberg told Fry he was "healthy as a crab" = "fit as a crab" = "fit as a fiddle" = "fit as a fiddler crab." — Dave Sweatt
Bender has a few loose nuts and bolts. — Dave Hall
From what we see of Amy's wallet, she has the "new" dollar bills? The peoples' faces are off-center.
that Bender looks quite bored during take-off? — Dave Hall
that the Planet Express ship is started with old-fashioned keys? — Dave Sweatt
a man in line wearing a shirt that says "MOON U."?
a kid with a helmet shaped like the moon?
one of the park rides missing a car? — Dave Hall
how it's the 30th century and still people are lazy? Also the clothing 1000 years from now is not that different. — Daniel Tropea
the similar controls in the 'claw' game and the Planet Express ship also showing up by the giant magnet that 'stole' their keys? I guess Amy's skills improved as the episode progressed.
how one package in the receiving department is turned upside-down? — Joe Klemm
the sucking sound as Bender walks? — Dave Hall
the robot who went to highschool with Bender plays a drunkard (somewhat like Bender)? — Mark Poyser
that a whaler is chasing a woman? (Disney changed that a couple of years ago for PC reasons. Now at Disney, the animatronic ladies hold platters of food.) — Mark Poyser
the Gophers coming out of holes that look like craters? — Paul Brinkley
that one of the Goophy Gophers is missing an eye?
the "gas pump" beside the drinking fountain? — Dave Hall
the crater-shaped trashcan? — Dave Hall
how Fry luckily manages to walk by the only window port that overlooks the moon? — Dave Hall
that Leela probably learned the words to the Whaling Song from the previous show, it being a "catchy tune"? — Paul Brinkley
that Leela wasted a lot of oxygen when she freed herself with the pump? She didn't need to go nearly that high.
the lazy receiving guy (Sal) using a robot arm on his belt? — Dave Sweatt
those coin-operated prize machines could accept $100 in real life? — Dave Hall
Bender stole Amy's money, but she still has some to play the claw game with. Guess he forgot to raid the change pocket. (Or it would've made too much noise.)
Bender's claw hand looks like the game's claw hand; both even have difficulty picking up things? — Dave Sweatt
there was also a stuffed Kermit toy in the Stuffed Toy Machine? — John Hutton
Luna Park patrol carry guns. — Dave Hall
that the farmer's tractor-like vehicle was parked outside the barn the whole time before we saw him use it?
that the redneck farmer's spacesuit has suspenders? — Dave Hall
that the redneck's spacesuit has patches? — Dave Hall
128K is a reference to computer memory? — Haynes Lee
that Crushinator robot speaks like the cop robot -- the mouth piece lights up as it says words? — Dave Sweatt
not just mutated aphids: mutated -Holstein- aphids? — Paul Brinkley
those giant menacing bugs were very still and well behaved? — Dave Sweatt
that there are bales of hay sitting on the ceiling in the barn?
Bender's obsession with hookers? — Dave Hall
Bender's diamond-shaped pupils? — Dave Hall
how the moon farmer wears his cap on top of his space helmet? — Paul Brinkley
the Stars and Bars design on the escape lunar rover? — Joe Klemm
Stars & Bars on lunar rover had 17 stars? — Mark Poyser
that Nike supplies the moon boots for the park? Quite plausible, since the "swoop" is already everywhere on earth... — Aaron Howald
a slow rendition of the theme song plays as Fry and Leela watch the Crescent Earth?
Bender is always out of breath when he runs? — Dave Sweatt
the irony that their whole mission was to ship the 'claw game' prizes to the park, but Amy ended taking nearly all of them back home?

External References

A Trip to the Moon (movie)

Craterface, after failing to confiscate Bender's alcohol, gets the bottle shoved into his right eye. The image of his face is a reference to a scene in this movie, in which a rocket ship collides into the 'eye' of the man in the moon. It was done by French filmmaker Georges Melies, who was one of the pioneers of Surrealist cinema. He was inspired by the science-fiction works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. (FYI, the Surrealists were a group of artists in the 1920s who based their work on dreamy and hallucinogenic images. Members included Max Ernst, Andre Breton, and Salvador Dali.) — Jennifer Kremer Mouse on the Moon (movie)
Fry driving into crater - rover sinks. — Mark Poyser Sleeper (movie)
Scene of the dismembered robot heads in this movie by Woody Allen. — Haynes Lee Star Trek (movies/TV series)
When we see that Captain Crunch is promoted to Admiral, and in Star Trek (most noticably "The Next Generation") whenever we take a look into the 'future' the Captains are always Admirals. — Mitch Fishman Alvin & the Chipmunks (TV show)
One gopher like Simon with glasses and mortarboard. — Mark Poyser Apollo 11
When Apollo 11 first landed, the phrase "The eagle has landed" was used. The title ("The Series Has Landed") is a play on that. Captain Crunch (cereal)
Admiral Crunch — Joe Klemm Centipede (video game)
Third arcade game at the Luna Park arcade. — Joe Klemm Count Chochula (cereal)
Archduke Chocula. — Joe Klemm Dark Side of the Moon (music album)
This 1973 album by Pink Floyd is mentioned, as Fry literally encounters the 'dark side of the moon — Dave Sweatt Deliverance (movie)
Hillbillies. — Haynes Lee The Delphi Bureau (TV movie)
Hillbilly chased Bender in harvester. — Mark Poyser Destination Moon (movie)
The place where Leela and Fry rent a rover, "Destination Moon," is the title of a 50's movie about a trip to the moon. — Steve VanDevender Disneyland (theme park)
Pretty much the entire Luna Park area. — Joe Klemm Federal Express
Planet Express commercial — Dave Sweatt The Honeymooners
The star characters from this 50's TV show are immortalized in Luna Park's educational lunar rover ride. Inspector Gadget (TV series)
Bender's arm stretching out reminds of the way Inspector Gadget's arms expanded and contracted.
After watching an episode of Inspector Gadget the television series, it seems that how Leela propelled Fry and herself out of the crater using the oxygen from their tank is very similar to how Brain pulled Gadget back to a space station while in space using the exact same method. — Justin Thomas Cass The Jetsons (TV series)
The Crushinator looks like one of the robot football players from The Jetsons. (Plus she's a Transformer.) — J. John Bloch Liberty Bell 7
Robot daughter Lulu Bell 7's name is reminiscent of the Mercury capsule which V. Grissom used for the 2nd manned suborbital space flight. — Mark Poyser Life In Hell (comic)
The Bunny wabbits from Matt Groening's comic strip — Haynes Lee Little Hot Riding Hood (cartoon)
Lulu Bell 7 looks like the "country" Red Riding Hood from Tex Avery's "Little Hot Riding Hood." — J. John Bloch Moon Patrol (video game)
The Moon Patrol is what throws Bender out of the park. It was the name of a popular arcade game in the 80s. — Paul Brinkley Mortal Kombat (video game)
Mortal Kooperation. — Joe Klemm MTV (TV station)
Fry marvels at "the flag from MTV." Nike
"The swoosh" on the bottom of Fry's boot. — Dave Sweatt Pac-Man (video game)
Gender Neutral Pac Person. — Joe Klemm She'll be Coming Around the Mountain (song)
This traditional song is sung by Bender. — Dave Sweatt

Futurama References

[1ACV01] Space Pilot 3000

Bender interrupts a 'moment' between Fry and Leela
Farnsworth: "...But I am already in my pajamas." — Jesse Barboza

Freeze Frame Fun

Luna Park signs

   MOON STREET U.S.A.

   MOONVENIRS

   Whalers of
   the Sea of
   Tranquility

   GOOPHY GOPHER REVUE

   Orlon Candy

   DESTINATION
      MOON

Luna Park merchandise

- T-shirts

   I'M WITH
    STUPID-
    ON THE
     MOON

- Bumper stickers

   My other car is a porsche-
     O N   T H E   M O O N!

- Refrigerator magnets

   What part of
       MOON
    don't you
    understand?

Luna Park arcade games

   Skeeball

   Virtual
   Skeeball

   Virtual
   Virtual
   Skeeball

   DODECAPEDE

   Gender-Neutral
   PAC  -  PERSON

   MORTAL
   KOOPERATION

The redneck farmer's hat  {dh}

   THE MOON SHALL
     RISE AGAIN

Plaque inside the Lunar Lander

   Lander returned
   to this site by the
   Historical Sticklers
   Society.

>> Alien Language #1 sightings

   Awning in Luna Park:  "TASTY HUMAN BURGERS"

Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs

The Planet Express' delivery boy from the commercial wears an astronaut suit with oxygen mask; why, if Evans is on the same planet and does breathe its atmosphere without any problem? — Leandro Pardini
Hermes hands Leela a paper with a pen on its top. The camera angle changes, and the pen is at the right of the paper. — Leandro Pardini
When Fry and Farnsworth are outside Zoidberg's office, Fry is way too tall. — Leandro Pardini
After Zoidberg says "Excellent, excellent", he picks up something that looks like a little drill. But then he asks Fry to open his mouth so he can look at his brain, and the drill dissapears and doesn't appear in the rest of the scene. — Leandro Pardini
While Farnsworth is trying to remove Bender's head, Leela's left boot is only a black silhouette. — Leandro Pardini
When Bender says "a little" to Amy, the space around his eyes is not painted black. — Leandro Pardini
Bender's beer bottle disappears from table while Fry talks about his breakfast. — Dave Hall
Leela pulls the Archduke Chocula out of thin-air. (Must be one of those magical cereal boxes.) — Dave Hall
The interior of the rocket ship changes shape during take-off. Amy and Bender were seated on a couch, which disappears later on, along with both of them. — Dave Hall
Redneck Farmer "magically" puts on a space suit while chasing Bender. — Dave Hall
Bender's head is unscrewed counter-clockwise. Later (seen in the background) when he is securing it to his torso, the movement is also counter-clockwise. — Mark Poyser
Standard nitpick: The moon has no atmosphere so sound can't travel. — Haynes Lee
Fry walks magically through his oxygen tube when he declares "It's every man for himself!" the second time.
Fry's oxygen tube disappears when Leela yells to him from insides the lunar lander.
The shadows on the ground should be a lot longer that close to the dark side of the moon.
U.S. flag vanishes from landing site when Amy rescues the gang. — Dave Hall
When Fry says "that's one small step for Fry...", he puts one foot on the surface and keeps the other on the stairs. The camera angle changes, and he's standing about 20 cm from the stairs. — Leandro Pardini
How come the heads in the museum couldn't tell the people how we first landed on the moon? With all the technology in the world, how could they not be able to find something as standout-ish as the moon landing site? It took Fry and Leela barely a day to find it, and they were travelling on foot. — Joe Lorraine
Any comments as to the the existence, condition or completeness of the moon landing site as Fry and Leela discovered it are to be called off, because a plaque on the inside reads "Lander Returned to this Site by the Historical Sticklers Society." For once, the writers pick up on this sort of thing before us nerds do! IMO, this makes the sudden disappearance of the original moon landing site all the more unbelievable.

Comments and Other Observations

Assuming they didn't skip any years, Professor Farnsworth's commercial will air during either Super Bowl MMXXXIV or Super Bowl MMXXXV. The first episode took place about a month before that year's Super Bowl should have taken place, so we don't know if that month has passed yet or not. (But for all we know, the next millennium's Super Bowls could be played biannually during the summer!)
Luna Park is a popular name for amusement parks around the world. It is a particularly popular name for parks in Europe. — Gary Wilson
The invisible dog leash is a popular novelty today. I've seen clowns walking around with it as a visual gag. — Paul Brinkley
I could have sworn that in Luna Park there was a door with a little "33" to the right of this. If this is so, this refers to Club 33 at Disneyland, the only place in the park where alcohol is served. — Robert X. Smith
Also, the "Orlon Candy" stand ... orlon being a synthetic fiber resembling cotton. And this is immediately followed by Fry griping about how artificial everthing is. — Clay Halliway
Wondering who has to drink that moon bug milk... — Dave Sweatt
When MTV launched in the early 1980s, it's launch began with a rocket launching and an astronaut putting a flag with the MTV logo on the moon. To this day, that symbol is still used as the trophy given out by the network for the best music videos of the year. — Joe Klemm
Regarding Bender's line "Next Year in Jerusalem!": Since Bender wants to go to Jerusalem to visit the Sexateria, "next year in Jerusalem!" is also said after the Jewish traditional Passover meal (this airing during the week of Passover), signifying that next year, we'll do this in Jerusalem, but people rarely go there the next year. — Mitch Fishman
Regarding Daisy May 1-28K: this is probably spelled "128K" without the hyphen, as 128K means 128 kilobytes, which is 1 followed by 17 0's in binary, or more simply 2 to the 17th (2 to the anything is common when working with computers). — Mitch Fishman
I am almost positive that Amy Wong screamed 'Jaam-an-a-how' and something else ... (I have absolutely no idea how to spell that) when she was frustrated with the toy grabber thing ... which is the equivalent to F-you in Chinese. Sure as hell sounded like it at least. Anyone else notice that, or if I am wrong, know what she really did say? — Anne Bach
According to the show's producers (and the DVDs), a scene in an early version of the episode had the Crushinator idicate to her father that she is pregnant with Bender's child.
Bender sounded EXACTLY like my old 8086's hard drive crashing when Fry stuck a magnet on his head. Click, whirr, smoke comes out of the case... — Jason Barrera
Monsanto is a real-life company which, here in 1999, specializes in genetically engineering vegetables and/or grains for consumer use. I'm not sure what they have to do with animatronic gophers, but complaints directed at them are nothing new. Bioengineering tends to get a bad rap, and some nicknames for Monsanto are "Monsatan" and "Mutanto."
Did anyone else recognize the emblems on Fry and Leela's spacesuits as being identical to the emblems on old Lego astronaut figures? In recent years they've been making more intricately decorated spaceman figures, but in the olden days they all had the same gold planet and rocket orbit logo. At least, that's what it looked like to me. — Aaron R. Teitlebaum
The original Mercury 7 astronauts were allowed to name their own capsules. They agreed to end each name with the number 7. Gus Grissom named his "Liberty Bell 7." This is the capsule that was recently raised from the ocean. — Larry Finkelstein
Apparently, between 1ACV01 and 1ACV02, someone corrected Fry, because he says "A thousand years ago, I dreamed of the moon ... " or something like that. The point is that he no longer believes that a million years passed, as he stated in the pilot. — Pablo del Moral
Daisy May 128K could also be a reference to Apple's first Mac, the Macintosh 128K — Max

Original capsule author: Futurama Chronicles, compiled by Jordan Eisenberg