- ""Oh no! Martians kidnap Amy! I know it them, cause they no use good gramma.""
- ―Leo Wong
Plot
The Planet Express 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.
During the celebration, everyone hears a strange noise and a dust storm rolls in, forcing everyone inside. Outside, the buggalo, the Wongs' main source of income, are swept up in a dust tornado. Kif resolves to find the buggalo to impress Amy's parents. Fry, Leela, Bender and Kif 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, waiting. While telling ghost stories, Amy jumps out, having followed them. They discover the buggalo are inside the Olympus Mons' crater. Kif lays dynamite beneath them to dislodge them having learned the basic princple from a seminar on ejecting chickens from a sand dune. Unfortunately, another storms comes in, sweeping the crew inside the eye. They meet the native Martians, who claim that those who have true connection to Mother Mars can fly buggalo. Because their plan to ruin the Wongs had 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 for Zapp Brannigan's help, against the wishes of Kif. Zapp takes Kif and the crew to the face on Mars, a Martian reserve, to negotiate Amy's release. The Martians demand their land back and Zapp botches the negotiations. Angry, the Martians conjure up another storm to take Amy away. Kif flies in on Betsy to rescue Amy. The Martians see he is connected to Mother Mars and offer to smoke the peace pipe together. Though he initially does well at first, a pat on the back causes him to cough, angering the Martians yet again. They strap him down and prepare to crush him with the bead. It turns out the bead was a giant diamond, which Bender confirmed. The Martians decide to let Kif go, alleviate hostilities, go to another planet and act like it is sacred, having already realized that Mars is a dump.
Back at the ranch, the Wongs believe that Zapp saved the day. They 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 reminiscent 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 has 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".
- 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. Amy also uses this expression at least once, in Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch.
- 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.
- The Wong's own 17.9 billion acres, which calculates to roughly half of Mars.
Goofs
- When Amy does marry Kif in The Beast with a Billion Backs, Betsy isn't eaten.
Debut Appearances
- Betsy
- Mixmaster Festus
- R.J.
- Singing Wind
External links