Episode Capsule: [3ACV18] Anthology of Interest 2

Title: Anthology of Interest 2
Written by: Lewis Morton (I, Meatbag), David X. Cohen (Raiders of the Lost Arcade), Jason Gorbett & Scott Kirby (Wizzen)
Directed by: Brett Haaland
Opening theme promotion: Hey TiVo, Suggest This!

Synopsis

Three stories unfold when Professor Farnsworth fine-tunes his "What If" machine: Bender discovers how different he would be if he were human, Fry learns what life would be like if it resembled a video game and Leela wonders what would happen if she found her true home....and crash lands on Planet Ozz on this episode.

Voice Credits

Starring

Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth, Glermo)
Katey Sagal (Leela)
John DiMaggio (Bender, Ignar)
Tress MacNeille (Mom, Mrs Pacman, Cubert)

Guest Starring

Phil LaMarr
David Herman (Wernstrom)
Lauren Tom (Amy)
Frank Welker
Kath Soucie

Also Starring

Maurice LaMarche (Donkey Kong, Lrrr, Commander Pacman)

Did You Notice…

The Centipede game screens in the war room background? Each screen was from a different zoom level view of the same game. — Joe Klemm
The sign at Dinkin Donuts went from "Closed" to "Open" when human Bender entered, then back to "Closed" when he left?
The glassware used for drinks at each table in the Academy of Science were beakers and Erlenmeyer & Florence flasks?
The professor was able to determine the time of human Bender's death by taking only his pulse?
As Donkey Kong jumps across the roof of the UN building, the floors underneath drop at an angle to form slopes just like the beginning of the first level of Donkey Kong? — Ken Lilly
The "wakka wakka wakka" sounds the characters made when moving about are the same as those made by a moving, eating Pac-Man?
Three new ways to start the "What If?" machine: (1) Pulling a string like a speaking doll (2) Lighting incense and paying homage( 3) Pulling a large lever like a poker machine. — Boldra
Zoidberg vomits a pixelated pretzel, key, and cherry after leaving the escape tunnel.
The ship Fry was piloting was able to fire multiple shots at the Space Invaders. (see comment)
The space invaders video game characters that descended from the ship were Donkey Kong, Brain Wave from Robotron: 2084, Berserk robot, Burger Time egg, and Q-bert.
Scruffy the Janitor was the Man-Witch of the West? — Luther Miller
The creatures who "resembled, but are legally distinct from the Lollipop Guild" consisted of Tiny Timbot, a Grunka Lunka, Dwight (Hermes' son), Cubert, the Neptunian couple from "A Tale of Two Santas", and a baby slug from Wormulon.
Scarecrow Fry never complained that he wanted a brain, but everyone suggested that the Professor could give him one?
Scarecrow Fry gently patted out the fire on his arm caused by Tin Man Bender's whiskey induced burp, instead of freaking out like the scarecrow did in the "real" Wizard of Oz?
Nixon signs the treaty 'Richard M Nixon's Head' — Reed
As they talk to Commander Pacman the people in the background are all playing video games — Reed
Farnsworth has a box saying 'Leela's Organs' on it — Reed
Amy has never won a Nobel Price and she's upset about it. — Michael Nissen
The Nobel Price Comitee has relocated from Stockholm to New New York — Michael Nissen
Zoidberg doesn't collect any points for eating the chery. When you ate a fruit in Pac-Man a number appeared indicating how many points you got. — Michael Nissen
An attendee of the Nobel Prize Judging party takes off his lampshade hat in respect for Bender when he dies — RandomEngy
When the curtain at the wizard's castle is pulled away, Fansworth head is really this large and not an projection like in the real "Oz" — Schlund

External References

I, Robot (Book by Issac Asimov)

First story title (I, Meatbag) — Joe Klemm T.G.I. Friday's
D.U.I. Friday's — Joe Klemm Raiders of the Lost Ark (Movie)
Second story title (Raiders of the Lost Arcade) — Joe Klemm Asteroids (Video Game)
Vector Planet Express spaceship — Joe Klemm Battlezone (Video Game)
Vector Tank — Joe Klemm Colin Powell, Pac-Man (Video Game)
Colin Pac-Man — Joe Klemm Space Invaders (Video Game)
Space Fight between Fry and Nintendoians — Joe Klemm Q-Bert, Donkey Kong, Burger Time, Berserk, Robotron (Video Games)
Nintendoians include characters from these games — Joe Klemm Zero Wing (Video Game)
"All your base are belong to us" (see comments) — Joe Klemm The Wizard of Oz (Movie)
Third story plot — Joe Klemm NBC (TV Network)
Peacock in Oz world — Joe Klemm Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Movie)
One of the Munchkins is an Oompa Loompa (or Grunka Lunka, as they are calledin Futurama) — Joe Klemm Christine (Book)
Book Fry reads from to try to scare a crow — Joe Klemm Two Princes
the line "this one, he wants to buy you rockets" is in the song "two princes. " The episode is titled "love and rockets." — AC Atari (Computer Company)
MilATARI HQ Super Mario Bros.
Exit pipe from Pac-Man escape tunnels
Mario is a representative for Italy — Big Mike The Conga (Song by Gloria Estafan)
The song played in "I, Meatbag" while they party — edeltraut Frankenstein (Book and various movies)
The scene were Bender is transformed into a human resembles the scene in movies when Frankenstein makes his monster come alive, complete with arching electricity and light effects. — Michael Nissen Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV series)
Zoidberg examines human Bender with a device that looks exactly like a medical tricorder. — Michael Nissen Nintendo 64 (game console)
The name of the alien invaders homeplanet "Nintendu 64" — Michael Nissen Ms. Pac-Man (Video Game)
Colin Pac-Man's wife — Pentarou Zero DC Comics
One of the flowers that is panned over in Leela's "Oz" (the purple one with the red jewel in the middle) looks a lot like Starro, an evil alien starfish from DC Comics. — Wang

Futurama References

[2ACV08] Raging Bender

The toaster's not working right either — Boldra [2ACV14] Mother's Day
Professor Farnsworth taught the toaster to feel love — Boldra [1ACV01] Space Pilot 3000
Fry is not really that good at video games — Boldra [2ACV16] Anthology of Interest 1
Bender dies followed by Fry saying "Goodnight sweet prince" — Joe25 [2ACV10] A Clone of My Own
One of the Munchkins is the Prof's clone Cubert — Liam Moran

Freeze Frame Fun

O'ZORGNAX'S PUB 
 Well Drinks $5 
Sewer Drinks $2

MILATARI HQ

Door signs inside MILATARI HQ:
MISSILE COMMAND 
SECRETARY OF DEFENDER 
MOON PATROL

Logo on ProfessorLand Fun Bucks: 
"In Fun We Trust"

FAL1 (Futurama Alien Language #1) references: 
1) TALE OF INTEREST 
2) in the upper right hand corner of the Professorland Fun Bucks:
   TOXIC INK

Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs

Human Bender says "butt" instead of "ass." Why? Note that "ass" is his favorite word, followed by "daffodil," "metal," "shiny," etc. He couldn't really make his customary use of "shiny" and "metal," but what stopped him from saying "ass?" — Jym Dyer
It wasn't an ass-less episode though. We got some A-S-S from Fry when he got the high score. — Luther Miller
In this episode Human-Bender is blonde, but in "Amazon Women in the Mood" we are told that he is actually Mexican! — Martin Fink

Comments and Other Observations

TiVo is one of many TV set digital video recorders available in the market. These devices allow you to record programs on television without the confusion of programming a VCR. Among the features on these devices includes one where the recorder would automatically record your favorite shows as well as those that the device feels you may like. — Joe Klemm
Zero Wing is a mediocre shooter video game that was released for the Sega Genesis in Japan and Europe, yet never arrived on American shores. However, it was able to receive some popularity in America thanks to one thing: the European version of the game, thanks to poor translation job, has some of the funniest examples of bad translation. Among them is the simple quote "All Your Bases Are Belong To Us," which has quickly become a recurring Internet joke on the Internet and has even inspired a song. — Joe Klemm
The original version of Space Invaders would only allow the player to have one shot active at a time on screen, so if the player missed his/her target they were forced to wait helplessly until that shot went off of the screen. There was a cheat to allow two shots to be active on one screen.
Another point on the Space Invaders sequence. Shooting through your own defenses so you could shoot back in safety was a strategy generally used by beginners. Better players realized that it only provided limited protection for a very short time and you were trapped in one place while you used it.
When Q-bert steps off the ship, he says one line in his characteristic backwards fashion. Reversed wav & mp3 files were created to unravel Q-bert's line: "Where can a guy get some pants around here?" Fitting indeed, since Q-bert wears no clothes! — Michael Herzog
In regards to the nearly eye bleeding color of the Oz world, color film started being used in the 1920s, a limited two-color system with red and blue-green prints. The full three-color system was used starting in 1932. Disney was one of the first to use it, for cartoons including "The Three Little Pigs". Technicolor was much more expensive than B&W (remember, not just the negatives but all the prints sent to each theater had to be in color as well), but it was popular so the studios used it more and more in the late 30s, including in the 1939 "Wizard of Oz". I think the B&W to color transition, plus the garish Oz, was a way of saying, "Hey, everybody! COLOR!" "Oz" was not colorized, and despite jokes about it, the Kansas segments are still in B&W.
The professor mentions Leela's "teetotaling aunt and uncle." Teetotalers were people who believed in total abstinence from alcohol. The word was most commonly used in the 19th century. — RandomEngy

Original capsule author: Tom Georgoulias