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Encyclopedia > Space Pilot 3000
Futurama episode
"Space Pilot 3000"
Image:Futuramapilot.jpg
Episode no. 1
Prod. code 1ACV01
Airdate March 28, 1999
Writer(s) David X. Cohen
Matt Groening
Director Rich Moore
Gregg Vanzo
Opening subtitle In Color
Opening cartoon Little Buck Cheeser by MGM (1937)
Guest star(s) Dick Clark as himself
Leonard Nimoy as himself
  1. Space Pilot 3000
  2. The Series Has Landed
  3. I, Roommate
  4. Love's Labours Lost in Space
  5. Fear of a Bot Planet
  6. A Fishful of Dollars
  7. My Three Suns
  8. A Big Piece of Garbage
  9. Hell Is Other Robots
  10. A Flight to Remember
  11. Mars University
  12. When Aliens Attack
  13. Fry and the Slurm Factory
List of all Futurama episodes...

"Space Pilot 3000" is the pilot episode of Futurama, which originally aired in North America on March 28, 1999.[1] The episode focuses on how the series protagonist, Philip J. Fry, was frozen then awoke in the future and introduces some of the other series regulars. It sets the stage for many of the events to follow in the series including foreshadowing plot points that would not be revealed until later in the show’s run and introducing viewers to the futuristic setting inspired by a variety of classic science fiction series from The Jetsons to Star Trek. It was written by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening,[1] and directed by Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo. Dick Clark and Leonard Nimoy guest starred as themselves.[2] In general the episode received good reviews, often contrasting it to Groening’s other series, The Simpsons. This article is about the television series. ... Image File history File links Futuramapilot. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... David X. Cohen (born 1966), born David Samuel Cohen, is an American television writer. ... Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist (Life in Hell) and the Emmy Award-winning creator of the animated series, The Simpsons and Futurama. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Gregg Vanzo is an American animator. ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... For other persons named Dick Clark, see Dick Clark (disambiguation). ... Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ... The Series Has Landed, alternatively titled Episode Two: The Series Has Landed, is the second episode of the first season of Futurama. ... I, Roommate is the third episode of season one of Futurama. ... Loves Labours Lost in Space is the fourth episode in season one of Futurama. ... Fear of a Bot Planet is the fifth episode in season one of Futurama. ... A Fishful of Dollars is episode six in the first season of Futurama. ... My Three Suns is episode 7 in season 1 of Futurama. ... A Big Piece of Garbage is episode 8 in season 1 of Futurama. ... Hell Is Other Robots is the ninth episode in season one of Futurama. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline for Television episodes. ... Mars University is episode eleven of season one of Futurama. ... When Aliens Attack is episode twelve in season one of Futurama. ... Fry and the Slurm Factory is the thirteenth episode and season finale of season one of Futurama. ... The complete Futurama DVD collection The following is an episode list for the FOX animated television series Futurama. ... A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. ... This article is about the television series. ... North America North America is a continent [1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... is the 87th day of the year (88th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Philip J. Fry is the protagonist of the animated television series Futurama and is voiced by Billy West. ... The Jetsons is a prime-time animated television series that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. ... This article is about the entire Star Trek franchise. ... David X. Cohen (born 1966), born David Samuel Cohen, is an American television writer. ... Matthew Abram Groening is an American cartoonist (Life in Hell) and the Emmy Award-winning creator of the animated series, The Simpsons and Futurama. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Gregg Vanzo is an American animator. ... For other persons named Dick Clark, see Dick Clark (disambiguation). ... Leonard Simon Nimoy (born March 26, 1931) is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. ... Simpsons redirects here. ...

Contents

Plot

On December 31, 1999 a depressed pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, delivers a pizza to "Applied Cryogenics" in New York City. The delivery order turns out to be a prank. At the turn of midnight, Fry falls into an open cryonics tube and is accidentally frozen. is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... For the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, see Pizza Delivery (SpongeBob SquarePants). ...


Fry is defrosted in what is now New New York City one thousand years later, on December 31, 2999. He is brought to fate assignment officer 1BDI, Turanga Leela, who assigns him the computer-determined permanent career of delivery boy. Refusing to accept his "career chip", Fry flees "Applied Cryogenics" into the city with Leela in pursuit. While trying to track down his only living relative, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Fry befriends a suicidal robot named Bender. After a talk with Bender at a bar, Fry and his new best friend evade Leela and hide in the New New York Head Museum, where they encounter the preserved heads of many historical characters. Fry and Bender eventually find themselves underground, in the ruins of Old New York. is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This will be known as the end of the third millennium. ... Turanga Leela (often referred to simply as Leela) (born A.D. 2975) is the primary female character in the animated television series Futurama. ... Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (born April 9, 2841) is the extremely elderly proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service in the fictional animated television series Futurama. ... Bender, full name Bender Bending Rodríguez or designated Bending Unit 22, is a fictional robot character in the animated television series Futurama. ...


Leela finally catches him and Fry gives up, sad that everyone that he knew and loved is dead. Fry tells Leela that he must accept his fate of being a delivery boy and abandon his dream of traveling in outer space. Leela unexpectedly sympathizes with Fry, instead of implanting his career chip she removes her own and joins Fry and Bender as job deserters. The three track down Professor Farnsworth, founder of Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery company. All four evade the police by launching the Planet Express Ship at the stroke of midnight amid the New Year’s fireworks. As the year 3000 begins, Farnsworth hires the three as replacements for his recently deceased crew. Fry cheers at his acquisition of a new job: delivery boy, as his work at Planet Express means that he will be able to travel in outer space. The Planet Express Ship is a fictional spaceship in the animated series Futurama. ...


Continuity

The shadow of Nibbler on the floor in "Space Pilot 3000"
The shadow of Nibbler on the floor in "Space Pilot 3000"
Nibbler's shadow along with Fry's in "Jurassic Bark"

While the plot of the episode stands on its own it also sets up much of the continuing plot of the series by including Easter eggs for events which would not occur until much later.[1] Image File history File links Nibbler-SpacePilot3000. ... Image File history File links Nibbler-SpacePilot3000. ... Lord Nibbler is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A virtual Easter egg is a hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, book, CD, DVD, computer program, or video game. ...


Before Fry falls into the freezer, a scene shows a strange shadow cast on the wall behind him. It is revealed in "The Why of Fry" that the shadow belongs to Nibbler, who intentionally pushes Fry into the freezer as part of a complex plan to save Earth from the Brainspawn in the future. Executive producer David X. Cohen claims that from the very beginning the creators had plans to show a larger conspiracy behind Fry's journey to the future.[3] The Why of Fry is the tenth episode in the fourth season of the animated television series Futurama. ... Lord Nibbler is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. ... Futuramas recurring characters: // The Brain Slugs are small, gelatinous, fist-sized aliens that attach themselves to human heads and act as mind-control devices, reducing their hosts to a zombie-like state. ...


At the end of the episode, Professor Farnsworth offers Fry, Leela, and Bender the Planet Express delivery crew positions. The professor produces the previous crew's career chips from an envelope labeled "Contents of Space Wasp's Stomach". In the later episode "The Sting" the crew encounters the ship of the previous crew in a space bee hive. When discussing this discontinuity in the episode commentary, writer of “The Sting” Patric Verrone states "we made liars out of the pilot".[4] Professor Hubert Farnsworth Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth is the extremely elderly proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service in the animated television series Futurama. ... The Sting is episode twelve in season four of Futurama. ... Patric Miller Verrone is an American television writer and labor leader. ...


This episode introduces the fictional technology which allows preserved heads to be kept alive in jars. This technology is used by the writers to comment on the 20th and 21st centuries in a satirical manner. The technology is an important step in the series which makes it possible for the characters to interact with celebrities from the then distant past. This allows the writers to connect with popular culture of the 20th and 21st century.[2]


Production

In the DVD commentary Matt Groening notes that beginning any television series is difficult, but he found particular difficulty starting one taking place so far in the future on account of the amount of setup they had to do. As a trade off they included a lot of Easter eggs in the episode which would pay off later. They point these out throughout the episode.[5] The scene where Fry emerges from the cryonic tube and has his first view of New New York was the first 3D scene which the animation team worked on. It was considered to be a defining point for whether the technique would work or not.[6] Originally, the first person entering the tube network declared "J.F.K., Jr. Airport" as his destination. After John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s death in the crash of his private airplane, the line has since been redubbed on all subsequent broadcasts and the DVD release to "Radio City Mutant Hall". The original version was heard only during the pilot broadcast and the first rerun a few months later.[6] According to Matt Groening, the inspiration for the suicide booth was the 1937 Donald Duck cartoon, "Modern Inventions," in which the Duck is faced with - and nearly killed several times by - various pushbutton gadgets in a Museum of the Future.[5] John F. Kennedy, Jr. ... A Stop and drop style Suicide Booth on Futurama A suicide booth is a fictional machine for committing suicide. ... Donald Duck is an animated cartoon and comic-book character from Walt Disney Productions. ... Modern Inventions is a Donald Duck cartoon. ...


Broadcast and reception

In a review by Patrick Lee in Science Fiction Weekly based on a viewing of this episode alone, it was noted that Futurama was not as funny as The Simpsons, particularly as "the satire is leavened with treacly sentimental bits about free will and loneliness". The episode was rated as an "A- pick" and found to "warrant further viewing" despite these concerns.[7] Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that although the episode contained the same skewed humor as The Simpsons, it was not as smart and funny and he attributed this to the large amount of exposition and character introduction required of a television series pilot, noting that the show was "off to a good start".[8] In its initial airing the episode had "unprecedented strong numbers" with a Nielsen rating of 11.2/17 in homes and 9.6/23 in adults 18-49.[9] Futurama was watched by more people than either its lead-in show (The Simpsons) or the show following it (The X-Files) and it was the number one show among men aged 18-49 and teenagers for the week.[10][11] The episode was ranked in 2006 by IGN.com as number 14 in their list of the top 25 Futurama episodes.[1] Science Fiction Weekly (1995-), a component of SciFi. ... When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by the New York City-based firm Nielsen Media Research to determine which shows television viewers watch at what times. ... The X-Files is an American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning science fiction television series created by Chris Carter, which first aired on September 10, 1993, and ended on May 19, 2002. ... IGN is the oldest and most visited general gaming website, and runs one of the most popular forums on the Internet. ...


Cultural references

In their original pitch to FOX, Groening and Cohen stated that they wanted the futuristic setting for the show to be neither "dark and drippy" like Bladerunner nor "bland and boring" like The Jetsons.[5] They felt that they could not make the future either a utopia or a dystopia because either option would eventually become boring.[6] The creators gave careful consideration to the setting and the influence of classic science fiction are evident in this episode as a series of references to, and parodies of, easily recognizable films, books and television programs. In the earliest glimpse of the future while Fry is frozen in the cryonic chamber, time is seen passing outside the window until reaching the year 3000. This is a parody of a similar scene in the film The Time Machine based on H.G. Wells' novel.[5] In addition to the setting, part of the original concept for the show was that there would be a lot of advanced technology similar to that seen in Star Trek; but it would be constantly malfunctioning.[6] The automatic doors at Applied Cryogenics resemble those in Star Trek: The Original Series; however, they malfunction when Fry remarks on this.[7] In another twist, the two policemen who try to arrest Fry at the head museum use weapons which are visually similar to lightsabers used in the Star Wars film series; however, they are functionally more similar to nightsticks.[7] The interaction between the characters was not overlooked. The relationship formed between Fry and Bender in this episode has been compared to the relationship between Will Robinson and the robot in Lost in Space.[12] Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Jetsons is a prime-time animated television series that was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. ... For other uses, see Utopia (disambiguation). ... This article is about the philosophical concept and literary form. ... In contemporary usage, a parody (or lampoon) is a work that imitates another work in order to ridicule, ironically comment on, or poke some affectionate fun at the work itself, the subject of the work, the author or fictional voice of the parody, or another subject. ... The Time Machine (sometimes known as H.G. Wells The Time Machine) is a 1960 science fiction film based on The Time Machine, an 1895 novel by H. G. Wells about a man from Victorian England who travels far into the future. ... The starship Enterprise as it appeared on Star Trek Star Trek is a culturally significant science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s. ... Jedi activate their lightsabers in the Battle of Geonosis. ... This article is about the series. ... Hercules fights the Lernaean Hydra with a club A club or cudgel is perhaps the simplest of all melee weapons. ... For other uses, see Lost in Space (disambiguation). ...


Although both Futurama and The Simpsons were created by Matt Groening, overt references to the latter are mostly avoided in Futurama. One of the few exceptions to this rule is the appearance of Blinky as Fry is going through the tube.[5] Another inside joke of the series is Bender's fondness for "olde fortran malt liquor".[7] The following is a list of animals appearing in the Fox animated television series The Simpsons. ... Fortran (previously FORTRAN[1]) is a general-purpose[2], procedural,[3] imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing. ...


References

  1. ^ a b c d "Top 25 Futurama Episodes". Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
  2. ^ a b Booker, M. Keith. Drawn to Television:Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy, 115-224. 
  3. ^ Cohen, David X.. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "The Why of Fry" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  4. ^ Verrone, Patric. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "The Sting" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  5. ^ a b c d e Groening, Matt. (2003). Futurama season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Space Pilot 3000" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ a b c d Cohen, David X. (2003). Futurama season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "Space Pilot 3000" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ a b c d "Futurama: The future's not what it used to be ". Sci Fi Weekly (March 22, 1999). Retrieved on 2007-06-25.
  8. ^ Rob Owen (1999-03-26). Simpsons meet the Jetsons; 'The Devil's Arithmetic'. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  9. ^ Tom Bierbaum (1999-03-30). Fox sees 'Futurama' and it works. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
  10. ^ Lisa de Moraes (1999-03-31). `Futurama' Draws Them In. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
  11. ^ "Futurama" has popular premiere (1999-04-04). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  12. ^ Joyce Millman (1999-03-26). . . . . . . . that 31st century show . . . . . . ..

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 308th day of the year (309th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 81st day of the year (82nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 89th day of the year (90th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 180th day of the year (181st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 323rd day of the year (324th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Futurama episodes
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13
14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32
33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54
55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72
Bender's Big Score • The Beast with a Billion Backs • Bender's Game • Into the Wild Green Yonder

  Results from FactBites:
 
Futurama: Volume 1 (1999) (3513 words)
When I first saw “Pilot” in 1999, it didn’t impress me. However, I figured I might like it more now since I grew to enjoy the series after that; I thought maybe my initial reaction stemmed from high expectations.
Once in space, love is in the air as Bender falls for a beautiful robot Countess (MacNeille) and Fry dates both Leela and Amy.
To be sure, they’re generally fun and likable, but an awful lot of empty spaces occur, and the pace rarely really moves anywhere.
SPACE.com -- U.S. Military Wants to Own the Weather (2035 words)
While in this case it was joint air and space operations to deal with after-the-fact problems, perhaps the foundation for how to fend off disastrous weather may also be forming.
Space capabilities were leveraged immediately after the tsunami to help in the search and rescue effort…but what about before the disaster?"
After about 5 years of such research, and further development of weather codes, a pilot experiment to modify the steering winds of a mesocylone might be safely attempted.
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