Brannigan, Begin Again
From Futurama Wiki
| Brannigan, Begin Again | |
|---|---|
| |
| Episode | 6 |
| Season | 2 |
| Air date | 21 November 1999 |
| Running Time | 30 minutes |
| Directed By | Jeffrey Lynch, Pam Cooke (Assistant director) |
| Written By | Lewis Morton |
| Storyboards By | Albert Calleros, Orlando Baezza |
| Preceded by | I Second That Emotion |
| Followed by | A Head in the Polls |
- "Just let me work for a little food. Perhaps I could paint a fence, or service you sexually, or mop the floor."
- ―Zapp Brannigan, to Leela[src]
Brannigan, Begin Again is the sixth episode of Futurama Season Two. It was written by Lewis Morton, and directed by Jeffery Lynch.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The Planet Express crew arrives at the new Democratic Order of Planets (D.O.O.P.) headquarters in orbit around the Neutral Planet, in order to deliver the oversized scissors for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Zapp Brannigan interrogates them, thinking they are assassins, but he shortly thereafter destroys the entire station by attempting to use the Nimbus' laser to cut the ribbon.
At the former D.O.O.P. headquarters in Weehawken, New Jersey Brannigan is court-martialed and he and Kif Kroker are stripped of their titles and dismissed from D.O.O.P. service, the latter being dismissed after Brannigan unjustly points to him as the true guilty party. Unable to find employment, the pair wander the streets until they finally arrive at the Planet Express building. Leela tries to turn them away, but Professor Farnsworth decides hiring Brannigan would be good for the company's public image.
The augmented crew is sent to deliver pillows to a hotel on Stumbos 4, a high-gravity planet. Despite Leela's order to deliver one at a time, Fry, Bender, and Zapp decide to deliver all the pillows at once, which in the intense gravity causes the hover dolly to collapse. As punishment, Leela orders them to deliver the pillows by hand, which causes resentment among the crew.
Fry, Bender, and Zapp stage a mutiny against Leela, and lock her in the 'laundry brig'. Brannigan decides to attack the Neutral Planet, thinking this will make him a hero and get him reinstated as a D.O.O.P. captain. When Fry and Bender discover the plan is a suicide mission, they free Leela; and she retakes command.
After returning to Earth, Leela testifies that Brannigan was an amazing hero; so the D.O.O.P. will reinstate him, and thus keep him out of her life.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Characters
[edit] References Explained
- The title quotes a common phrase from Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, and refers to a 1985 HBO original film called Finnegan Begin Again. It is also a repeated line in the children's song "Michael Finnigan".
- The game Fry and Bender play at the beginning of the episode is a parody of Dejarik, the game played by R2-D2 and Chewbacca in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
- D.O.O.P. is explicitly compared to the United Federation of Planets from the Star Trek Universe (even though later episodes have established that mentioning Star Trek in the future is considered taboo). Also, the "neutral zone" in which its headquarters are located may be a reference to the neutral zone between the Romulans and the Federation, or more likely to politically neutral countries such as Switzerland.
- When the Planet Express Ship comes into the new station, a riff on the theme of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine can be heard.
- The laser Zapp uses to cut the ribbon has settings of "Stun", "Kill" and "Hyperdeath™", a reference to phasers from the Star Trek universe.
- The slogan on the neutral planet "Live Free or Don't" is a paraphrase of New Hampshire's state motto "Live Free or Die".
- The woman in the car who wants Kif Kroker is Hattie McDoogal, Fry and Bender's landlady from "I, Roommate" in season 1.
- The sequence where Zapp attempts to make a living as a gigolo is taken from Midnight Cowboy, including the film's theme, "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson
