Going to the World of Tomorrow 06.24.08: The Problem With Popplers

Posted by Jerome Cusson on 06.24.2008

Proving once again why you shouldn't eat strange foods

Fry/Professor Farnsworth/Zapp Brannigan/Dr. Zoidberg…Billy West
Bender…John DiMaggio
Leela…Katey Segal
Amy Wong…Lauren Tom
Hermes Conrad…Phil LaMarr
Various Voices…Maurice LaMarche

Writer: Patric M. Verrone and Darin Henry
Director: Chris Sauve and Gregg Vanzo

Production Code: 2ACV15
Original Airdate: May 7, 2000

And now we move onto discuss another favorite topic. That would be endangered species. I gets touched on in a very light-hearted and subliminal way so that you may actually miss it. But believe me, it’s there. Plus, we get the return of our favorite aliens who enjoyed Single Female Lawyer so much they accepted the crappy Planet Express version.

Opening Subtitle: For External Use Only

We open with Planet Express coming back from the planet of the moochers. Bender has cooked a disgusting meal. Because they’re two days away from earth with no food, Bender suggests a fight to the death between Leela and Fry. Bender is so confident Fry will win, he tells Leela to work the gut to make it tender. They notice a planet and decide to head down there for some food. They notice what appears to be a shrimp like substance. It’s not poisonous so Leela tries it. Now she’s addicted. Fry eats one and is addicted as well. Planet Express stuffs the ship and they bring it home with them.

The rest of Planet Express is also enjoying this tasty treat, not tasticles though. That’s a bad name. Hermes looks up some non-copyrighted names and decides on Popplers. So Popplers it is. Zoidberg seems to enjoy them too. Bender suggests selling the Popplers so that’s exactly what they do. Bender does an excellent job taking care of the competition. A random guy name Joe Gillman, owner of the fast food franchise Fishy Joe’s. He makes them an offer they can’t refuse to make them more money. Then we get a song about Popplers. I’m really enjoying the set-up of this episode because you’re not quite sure where it’s going.

Leela and the others are coming home and notice some protesters outside. Farnsworth tries to get the damn hippies to go away, but the group with the acronym of M.E.A.T is not listening. They consider the Popplers living creatures and will boycott the fast food restaurant. Considering they’re vegetarians, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Leela yells at Fry for leaving one Poppler. Then this is where things get good. The little Poppler comes alive. Uh-oh.

So with the little creature alive, the whole dynamic has changed because the creature has others like itself and clearly earth has been chowing down on an entire species. A delectable and very tasty species, but aliens that are nonetheless still alive. What this all means is Leela is joining the damn hippies because the alien is alive. Maybe you should have found that out earlier when you were on the actual planet. Of course, the Poppler won’t talk for a bit so no one believes her. Leela’s protest at Fishy Joe’s doesn’t work out too well. At least Fry and the others have decided to join her, but the others aren’t having luck either.

The gang watches Joseph Gillman, Leela, and one of the hippies. This discussion turns into one of those conversations you might see on FOX News. Gillman wonders who can possibly stop him. That was dumb because of course Lurr of the planet Omicron Persei Eight invade and they are wicked mad about their entire race being eaten by humans. Boy, if chickens could do that, KFC would shut down rather quickly. After fixing the feedback, Lurr announces the Popplers were beating eaten off a nursery planet in their sector . To get them back, they’ll be eating all of the children of earth. Lurr thinks the transmission is over, but little does he know it’s still on.

Zapp Brannigan tries to negotiate with the aliens, but he can’t stop eating the Popplers. Lurr wants to eat an earth human for every Poppler that was eaten. A fair enough request but 198 billion is a little extreme. There aren’t 198 billion humans on the planet. Zapp tries to think of a solution but can’t
Brannigan announces an agreement, a compromise if you will. Only one human of their choice will be eaten. It’s Leela and she will be sacrificed. Everyone except Leela gets to live. Yay.

The scene shifts to Madison Cube Garden. The world is going to watch a human being get eaten alive. Only difference is this time it’s for reals. It would only make sense that this event is sponsored by Fishy Joe’s. The Omicronians make their way out first and seem very happy for a group that’s lost close to 200 billion little Omicronians. Lurr is soundly booed as Leela is in a cage. Bender is going to miss his friend. Leela complains about trying to save the Popplers and says Fry and Bender should be in that cage. Once again, Leela should have taken second look at the Popplers before scarfing them town.

Luckily, Zapp Brannigan has a plan. They’re going to take a monkey and pose it as Leela. The only thing Kiff does to make the monkey look like our favorite captain is the hair and covering one of its’ eyes with a patch. Lurr doesn’t like his waiter so he makes him disappear. The monkey is brought out and Lurr doesn’t seem to know the difference. They really treat Leela inconsistently. In some episode, she’s a royal hottie. Here she’s treated like a hairy ape.

The hippie decides to ruin everything by spoiling the whole damn thing. Brannigan rightfully yells at the hippie. Lurr’s wife eats the orangutan. Zapp brings over Leela and I guess it’s time to be eaten. That is until Jurr of the planet Omicron Persei I Eight or number 198,000,000,0001 as far as Popplers go saves Leela’s life. If Leela is eaten, he’ll be eaten too. He essentially gives a South Park speech about not eating for revenge. The hippie decides to talk. Thankfully, Lurr eats him instead. And it all works. Everyone wins except Lurr who announces he’s having stomach problems. Then he gets high.
We end at Planet Express with a celebration for Leela. Bender’s meal of choice is various animals that if actually eaten, would be offensive to even those in our current time.

The “Bite my shiny medal ass!” moment for best line/moment : The hippie getting eaten in the end works for me.

The Zoidberg moment for worst line/moment: Leela is a twit.

The 411: There’s a lesson to be learned from this episode. What it actually is I have no idea. That’s really the biggest problem with this episode. It’s almost like the writers of Futurama wanted to go a more South Park with a message episode, but they couldn’t quite determine what the point was. Lurr and the aliens from the planet Omicron Persei I Eight are always good for laugh, as were Zapp Brannigan’s usual shenanigans. Still a better plot would have equaled a better episode.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]