The Cryonic Woman

Episode Number: 2ACV19

Title: "The Cryonic Woman"

Original Airdate: Dec 12, 2000

Abstract:

Starring:

Also Starring: ??

Special Guests Pauly Shore, Sarah Silverman

Intro Promotion: Not a Substitute for Human Interaction

Intro Cartoon: ??

Directed by: ??

Assistant Director: ??

Written by: ??

Storyboarded by: ??

Storyline

Finding that Leela has left the keys to the Planet Express Ship inside it, Fry and Bender go on a joyride. Leela had planned for such a contingency by tethering the ship with the ever-handy unbreakable diamond filament, but had not foreseen the ship being able to lift the entire Planet Express building along with it. Hermes Conrad, on Professor Farnsworth's orders, fires Fry and Bender for taking the ship, and Leela, for leaving the keys in the ship.

Leela accidentally re-implants her career chip in Fry's hand, and Fry's in hers. Fry gets hired for Leela's old cryogenics counselor job; Leela must work as a delivery boy. Bender joins Fry at the cryogenics facility; luckily the arm of the Prime Minister of Norway he pulled from his case gives him carte blanche in choosing a career rather than overqualifying him. Fry finds a frozen Pauly Shore, and thaws him prematurely. When Fry goes to greet the next thawee, he finds that it is his ex-girlfriend, Michelle (played by Sarah Silverman).

Fry introduces Michelle to the world of the year 3000, but she is unable to adapt to the strange new world of the 30th C. She re-freezes both herself, and Fry, for another thousand years. They awake in a desolate wasteland; in their search for the means of survival, they encounter, and join, a society of feral adolescents. Prodded by Michelle's ambition for Fry, he challenges the leader and successfully gains his authority. When the children are picked up for Hebrew lessons by an adult woman in a heavily armored SUV, a confused Fry, tired of Michelle's refusal to accept him as he is, leaves her and wanders through the wilderness on his own.

After wandering through a cloud of green mist, Fry finds on the ground the handprints of the Avenue of the Stars, and looks up to see Grauman's Chinese Theater. The Planet Express ship lands in the street, and the crew explains that Fry is in Los Angeles, in the year 3000. Fry and Michelle had frozen themselves in Pauly Shore's tube, and when the delivery crew discovered en route to Hollywood that Pauly Shore wasn't in the tube, they had tossed it overboard. A limousine passes by, with Michelle and Pauly in it; Michelle says, "It's not working out, Fry" as she had while driving out of Fry's life the first time, in the year 2000.

When Professor Farnsworth is reminded of Fry's ship theft, he jettisons Fry over New New York. The credits roll.

Quotes

Terry: Remember, when the tube opens, say ... (melodramatically) ... "Welcome to the world of tomorrow!"
Fry: Hey, I was frozen. I think I know what people wanna hear when they first wake up. [The freezer pings and opens. A man walks out, clutching his head. Fry points.] Bathroom's that way.

References Explained

• The title for this episode is a pun on the title of the '70s TV show The Bionic Woman.
• The circumnavigation of the globe by the Planet Express Ship passes by some notable landmarks: the Golden Gate Bridge, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After the ship smashes a gap in the Great Wall of China, an invading Mongol horde immediately passes through it.
• Gangs of savage children and adolescents are found throughout science fiction, including "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome", the "Escape from New York" and "Escape from L.A." films, "Logan's Run", and the Star Trek episode "Miri". Predating all of these, and notable as the decline into savagery is the entire subject of the book, is "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. It is interesting to speculate whether the Lost Boys of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" play and books fit into this category.
• The painting tattooed on Sal's stomach, which was previously shown in Fry's apartment in "A Fishful of Dollars", is done in the style of 1980s pop-artist, Patrick Nagel.
• While Fry is deciding which celebrity to unfreeze for his amusement, "Weird Al" Yankovic can be seen in the middle capsule. Yankovic regularly shows this clip in his concerts.
• The 30th C sign on the building of the Museum of Modern Art reads "Museum of Really Modern Art".
• The handprints on the Avenue of the Stars include some real 20th C actors: Clark Gable, Calista Flockhart, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and James Mason, the last possibly an ironic reference to the fact that James Mason was thrice nominated for an Oscar but never won one; imaginary 30th C celebrities from other Futurama episodes are also represented: Slurms MacKenzie and Calculon.

Foreshadowing

• Fry mentions that in the 30th century, "brains flew through space". Brainspawn, levitating brains, are introduced into the series in the episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid".

External Links

Episode Transcript