Episode Capsule: [3ACV07] The Day the Earth Stood Stupid

Title: The Day the Earth Stood Stupid
Written by: Jeff Westbrook (Story, Teleplay), David X. Cohen (Story)
Directed by: Mark Ervin
Opening theme promotion: 80% Entertainment by Volume

Synopsis

The Earth is conquered by flying brains with the power to turn normal human beings into idiots. On a distant planet, Leela learns that humanity's single hope is Fry -- the only being immune to the brains' moron-making power. So Leela must return and enlist Fry's help without becoming an imbecile herself.

Voice Credits

Starring

Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth)
Katey Sagal (Leela)
John DiMaggio (Bender)
Tress MacNeille (Linda, Female Nibblonian)

Guest Starring

Phil Lamarr (Hermes Conrad)
Lauren Tom (Amy Wong)
Frank Welker (Nibbler, animals)
David Herman

Also Starring

Maurice LaMarche (Morbo)

Did You Notice…

Nibbler's space ship has extra space to accommodate his 3rd eye? — Marc Wichterich
Even the landmass the Nibblonians live on and some trees are heart shaped? — Marc Wichterich
The meaning of existence is "NEH!" I thought it was 42? — Martin Fink
The librarian trying continually to put in a book sideways? — ST

External References

Löwenbräu (Beer Brand)

A "Löbrau beer" truck (with a girl in a bikini) drives by. Probably a reference to the german brand Löwenbräu (lion's brew) — Marc Wichterich The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Novel by Mark Twain)
The second story the brain reads to trap Fry and Leela — Marc Wichterich Moby Dick (Novel by Herman Melville)
The first story the brain reads to trap Fry and Leela — Marc Wichterich Pride and Prejudice (Novel by Jane Austen)
The third story the brain reads to trap Fry and Leela — Marc Wichterich Forbidden Planet
Robbie the Robot is in the diagram depicting the effects on humans, robots, and trees — Alan Hamilton The Day The Earth Stood Still
Episode title — Joe25 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
When Tweenies 12 went kaplooie the image is similar to the subspace shockwave when the Klingon Moon of Praxis explodes. — Michael Nissen

Futurama References

[2ACV01] I Second That Emotion

Dave Spiegel and Fluffers appear at the vet — Me
KIBBLES 'N' SNOUNTS reappears — Me
Rover and Pepper, the two-headed (one in the front and one in the "behind") dog, that left the vet just before Leela got in reappear with their owner, an attractive woman with a heart-shaped cutout — Cosmic F [1ACV04] Love's Labour's Lost In Space
A planet blows to tiny bits. — Michael Nissen
We see the interior of Leela's cabin. — Michael Nissen [2ACV04] Xmas Story
We see Leela's prom dress. Amazing what you can do with carpet remnants. — Michael Nissen [1ACV01] Space Pilot 3000
The beer Fry drinks in 1999 before he falls in the cryo chamber was also LöBrau — Mitch Fishman

Freeze Frame Fun

Madison Cube Garden:

     Champion Pet Show Today
Kids: See Toucan Sam's Death Mask

Booths at the contest:

* Flee Collars
* Cream 5c
* Kibbles 'n' Snouts
* Soylent Chow

Fry's Dumb School

New New York Public Library:

* Reference Books
* Books on Tapeworm
* Stephen King A - AARDVAKK
* Ancient Literature

Planet Express Meeting (everyone is sleeping):
Graph with increasing line reads:
Employee Sleep During Meetings

Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs

At the pet show, on one shot there's an information booth on the left of the SOYLENT CHOW booth, on another - there's a 5c Cream booth. — Me
Leela's ponytail waves in the wind in space outside the ship. Which is kind of strange in vacuum. That's intentional, of course. — Me
Nibbler has acted stupidly to the point of forgetting about self-preservation in previous and this episode(s). Which is kind of suicidal, not mentioning irresponsible considering his mission, if he really were intelligent. — Me
The label on George Washington's jar changes from all upper case to mixed case. — Alan Hamilton
At the beginning, Nibbler communicates with Leela in his native language. Later we are told that just pronuncing his name would take a gazillion years, he really must've shortened it down! — Martin Fink

Comments and Other Observations

One comment about "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid": Nibbler was referred to as "ambassador to Earth", yet he wasn't originally sent to Earth; he was picked up on a dying planet. — Don Del Grande
My biggest question is how he got his little spaceship to earth. And surely this retroactive continuity has to cause other problems, like why didn't Nibbler help out when the robots or popplers or Omicronians were attacking earth? Oh well, can't take the plot too seriously. — Eric S.
This episode turned out to provide the "Rosetta Stone" for Alien Language 2 (AL2). Outside the Hall of Forever, there are two obelisks which have both Alien Language 1 (AL1) and AL2 on them. AL1 was long cracked as it was a simple letter replacement code. The text on the stones read "yummy tummy". AL2 was seen in some episodes before, but was never cracked back then. It was assumed that the AL2 on the obelisks say "yummy tummy" as well, and so it was. The code turned out to be a differential one with each symbol standing for a distance in the alphabet. — Marc Wichterich
Have you ever considered that Nibbler is the embassador to Earth because he was sent back in time to cause Fry's time travel in order to be able to defeat the brainspawn in the year 3000? I mean, Nibbler's Race has always been and they kinda know that Fry is some kind of a chosen one. As their eternal struggle against the brainspawn continues and the brainspawn hits Earth in 3000, they might just have "picked up" Fry in the year 2000 to make him defeat the evil enemies in the year 3000+ when they arrive on earth. This would explain the mysterious nibbler-like shadow on the wall when Fry is falling into the freezer tube. Also, Nibbler knows about Leela's prom dress, which means he must have been on Earth for a long time (or he went through her drawer). — Cosmic F

Original capsule author: me whose name I prefer not to mention