Plot
The crew travels to Mars where the Wongs are celebrating Mars Day, the day when the Wongs bought the planet from Martians for a single bead. Zoidberg immediately makes himself at home, and starts acting like a rich man who has no care for what he destroys. Kif arrives but the Wongs are not impressed, even though they introduced him to Amy in the first place, as he can't take a smoke. They want her to hook up with her friend, R.J.
As things go well, everyone hears a strange noise and then a dust storm rolls in, forcing everyone inside. Outside, the buggalo, the Wongs' main selling, are swept up in a dust tornado. Kif then resolves to find the buggalo, to impress Amy's parents. Along with Fry, Leela and Bender, they take the last buggalo, Betsy, who the Wongs intend to cook on Amy's wedding, to attract the rustlers. They camp out on Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain on Mars, hoping to attract the rustlers. While telling ghost stories, Amy jumps out, having followed them. They then discover the buggalo inside the Olympus Mons' crater. Kif lays dynamite beneath them to dislodge them but Leela suggests using hundreds of helicopters, which the Wongs' happen to own but Bender considers blowing up more fun. But another storms comes in, sweeping the crew inside of the eye. They then meet the native Martians, who claim that those who have true connection to Mother Mars can fly buggalo. But because their plan to ruin the Wongs has failed, they kidnapped Amy.
Returning to the ranch with the buggalo, the Wongs are impressed and then not impressed when a mini tornado brings a ransom note. They decide to call on Zapp Brannigan's help, who takes Kif and the crew to the face of Mars, a Martian reserve, to negotiate Amy's release. The Martians demand their land back so Zapp botches the negotiations. Angry, the Martians conjure up another storm to suck Amy. Kif flies on Betsy to rescue her. The Martians see he is connected to Mother Mars and offer peace smoking. Though he initially does good at first, a pat on the back caused him to cough, angering the Martians yet again. They strap him down and prepare to crush him with the bead. But it turns out the bead is a giant diamond, which Bender confirms. They Martians decide to let Kif go, alleviate hostilities and go to another planet and act like its sacred. They already realized that the planet is a dump.
Back at the ranch, the Wongs believe that Zapp saved the day. They then kick Zoidberg out for being a nuisance. Out on the porch, Amy informs Kif that if her parents liked him, she wouldn't like him. As they kiss, the buggalo herd stomps by, fooling Kif into thinking they made love.
Quotes
- Chief Singing Wind: I am Chief Singing Wind.
- Zapp Brannigan: Take me to your leader.
- Chief Singing Wind: ...Moving along.
- Zapp Brannigan: Where we come from, we have a law and that law is "no backsies".
- Chief Singing Wind: The time for stupid statements is over!
- Bender: (singing) Somebody wants to pick a fight with us, he better bite my ass!
References
- The attire, accent, facial features and much of what is seen of the culture of the Native Martians is similar to that of Native American Indians. Mr. Wong says that his ancestor bought all of Mars' western Hemisphere for a bead, referencing the sale of the land on which rests present day New York was bought for a bunch of beads worth approximately $24, and named New Amsterdam.
- Kif's experiences taming and riding buggalo are reminiscent of Paul Atreides riding sandworms in Frank Herbert's famous novel Dune.
- Music remiscent of the theme to Star Trek is heard as Zapp and Kif's ship, the Nimbus, is onscreen.
- The purported Face on Mars is seen as an alien home. The Face was featured in the 2000 movie Mission to Mars.
- R.J., the cigarette-smoking cowboy, is a reference to the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. He bears a generic resemblance to the Marlboro Man, a generic mascot of another tobacco company, the Altria group, formerly Philip Morris Companies.
- The camel-like character Joe is an obvious spoof of the Camel cigarettes mascot Joe Camel, also of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The 'kids love him' line references the controversy of the mascot supposedly targeting children as future smokers.
- When Zapp Brannigan throws the Slurm can to the ground, one of the Martian natives cries. This is a reference to the anti-littering television advertisement featuring Iron Eyes Cody: A Native American looks down over a sweeping landscape intersected by a highway far below him. A bag of trash is thrown from a moving car. A single tear is seen on the Indian's cheek. However, the Martian native cries because "Cynthia used to drink Slurm".
- A newspaper on Mars is called the Martian Chronicles, as in the Ray Bradbury stories collected under the same name. Not necessarily related facts: Bradbury's anthology has many native Martians killed by chickenpox introduced by Earth colonists. The Futurama Martians resemble American Indians. Real Native American Indian populations were diminished by smallpox.
- When Zapp Brannigan appears after Amy's been kidnapped, he declares, "I am the man with no name. Zapp Brannigan.", referencing Clint Eastwood's character in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy"
- The Martians appear to summon these dust storms via throat singing in a Tuvan style.
- The term "buggalo" is a combination of the words "bug" and "buffalo". Sadly, there is no reference to "buggalo wings".
- Leo Wong says that buggalo are "number one money maker," a reference to Charlie Chan and his "number one son."
- The Native Martians' "laser bows'" projectiles resemble Lightsabers .
- Amy Wong's mother uses the expression "hai-ya" while pacing. This classic Cantonese expression indicates that she (or her family) is from Hong Kong, or at least Southeastern China.
- The Martians' hideout makes a return appearance in the movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder". It was speculated to be deserted for 1,000,000 years, until Fry notes it has only been 5 years (the time between when this episode first aired and the movie was released).
External links