A Big Piece of Garbage
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| Futurama episode | |
| "A Big Piece of Garbage" | |
 Fry and Leela on the Trash Asteroid |
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| Episode no. | 8 |
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| Prod. code | 1ACV08 |
| Airdate | May 11, 1999 |
| Writer(s) | Lewis Morton |
| Director | Susie Dietter |
| Opening subtitle | Mr. Bender's Wardrobe by ROBOTANY 500 |
| Opening cartoon | Elmer Fudd in "A Corny Concerto" |
| Guest star(s) | Ron Popeil as himself Nancy Cartwright as the Bart Simpson doll |
| Season 1 March 1999 – June 1999 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"A Big Piece of Garbage" is episode eight in season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 11, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Susie Dietter. Ron Popeil guest stars in this episode as himself. Nancy Cartwright also has a brief cameo as a Bart Simpson doll. Much of the episode is a spoof of Armageddon; however, instead of Earth being threatened by an asteroid, it is threatened by a giant ball of garbage.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Cold opening
Professor Farnsworth invites the crew to attend the Academy of Inventors' annual symposium, where he will present his newest invention, the Deathclock before they are sent to the virus planet, Ebola 9. This device calculates how long a person has left to live just by jamming the person's finger in it. When Fry tests the device, Bender calls dibs on his CD player.
[edit] Episode summary
At the symposium, the crew encounter one of Farnsworth's former students, Professor Ogden Wernstrom. When he was still a student, Wernstrom received an A-minus on a pop quiz and vowed revenge, even if it took him 100 years. Just over 99 years have passed, so Farnsworth considers himself to be essentially in the clear.
Wernstrom presents his invention, a reverse SCUBA suit that allows fish to breathe water while walking about on land, demonstrated by his fish, named Cinnamon. He taunts Farnsworth over his invention from the previous year—the Deathclock. Mortified that he had previously presented the device and forgotten about it, Farnsworth hastily begins drawing on a napkin. He presents the drawing, which depicts both a smelloscope, a device that allows people to smell distant cosmic objects, and a doodle of himself as a cowboy. As the audience laughs he sweats and wipes the napkin on his head by accident, blurring the picture. Wernstrom announces that the invention deserves "the worst grade imaginable: an A-minus-minus."
Back at Planet Express, Farnsworth invites everybody to see the smelloscope that he had constructed last year and also forgotten about. Fry begins smelling Jupiter, Saturn, and other objects around the solar system and quickly discovers the smelliest object in the universe. After calculating its trajectory, Farnsworth announces that the object will collide with New New York City in 72 hours, reducing it to a "stinky crater" (Bender immediately starts looting at this news). After some research, they find a video that reveals the object to be a giant ball of garbage from Old New York, launched into space from a mob-obtained rocket during 2051.
After warning Mayor Poopenmayer, a plan is hatched to destroy the garbage ball. The Planet Express crew (being the only ones who'll take on such a suicidal mission) is sent on a mission to plant a bomb on a fault line next to coffee areas and deposits of AOL floppy disks on the ball. Farnsworth also reminds them that if it blew up any time later, the explosion would cause garbage to rain across the entire earth, killing millions. Then, once set off, the bomb will been set to allow the crew twenty-five minutes to escape. When the crew lands on the ball, Fry is amazed of all of the 20th–century items on the ball; but Leela reminds Fry that these things were garbage, which is why they are in the garbage ball in the first place. Unfortunately, after starting the bomb, they find out the Professor put the bomb's countdown display in upside down, and it actually only allows 52 seconds. The crew panics, and Bender throws the bomb into space to save them, where it explodes harmlessly. The crew returns to Earth in shame.
The Mayor then sends for Wernstrom for help. Wernstrom demands tenure, a grant, and five research assistants, at least 3 of whom must be Chinese. When the mayor agrees to his conditions, Wernstrom reveals that he has no plan, declares that he's set for life, and leaves. In a last-ditch effort to redeem himself, Farnsworth comes up with a second plan to save the city: launching a second ball of garbage to bounce against the first one and sending it flying into the sun without smashing it to bits. The Mayor exclaims that there hasn't been garbage in New New York for 500 years, so there's no way to make such a ball. Fry seizes the moment and demonstrates how to make garbage. An announcement is made to tell the city to throw away everything. The city quickly generates a second ball of garbage, which is fired at the first garbage ball. The rocket flies into the air and hits the other garbage ball, which first slingshots around planets, then sending it into the sun, while the new ball flies out of the solar system. For saving the city from the garbage ball, Professor Farnsworth is given the inventor's award, which was confiscated from Wernstrom as punishment for him being a jackass. Wernstrom comments "I will get you for this Farnsworth, even if it takes another 100 years!" The others quickly dismiss Leela's concerns that the new garbage ball will return and destroy a future generation. Professor Farnsworth replies that it won't be for hundreds of years, prompting Fry to say "That's the 20th Century spirit!"
Over the closing credits, the song "We'll Meet Again" plays instead of the standard Futurama theme.
[edit] Awards
This episode was nominated for an Emmy award in 1999 for Best Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)".[2][3] However, it lost to a King of the Hill episode.
[edit] References
- ^ Booker, M. Keith. Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy. pp. 115–124.
- ^ Variety Staff (1999-07-22). "Primetime Emmy noms — List 1". http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117744103.html?categoryid=14&cs=1. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
- ^ Azrai, Ahmad (2004-10-31). "Farewell to the funny future". http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14221036_ITM. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: A Big Piece of Garbage |
- "A Big Piece of Garbage" at The New York Times Movies
- "A Big Piece Of Garbage" at TV.com
- "A Big Piece of Garbage" at the Internet Movie Database
- "A Big Piece of Garbage" at Yahoo!TV
