A Fishful of Dollars
| "A Fishful of Dollars" | |
|---|---|
| Futurama episode | |
| File:Futurama 106 - A Fishful of Dollars.jpg | |
| Episode no. | Season one |
| Directed by | Ron Hughart Gregg Vanzo |
| Written by | Patric M. Verrone |
| Original air dates | April 27, 1999 |
| Episode features | |
| Opening cartoon | 1932's "Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions" |
"A Fishful of Dollars" is episode six in the first season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 27, 1999. This also marks the first appearance of the antagonist Mom.
Plot
After having their dreams taken over by an advertisement, the Planet Express crew takes a trip to the local shopping mall. Trying to buy the product in his dreams, Fry realises he is broke. At the same time, Bender is caught shoplifting and sent to jail. Unable to pay the bail, Fry remembers he had a bank account back in the twentieth century. Surprisingly his old bank account is still active, and has been accruing interest for the past thousand years, bringing the balance to $4.3 billion from the former amount of $0.93. Fry goes on a massive spending spree, buying numerous 20th century artifacts, including the last known tin of now-extinct anchovies, which were fished to extinction shortly after Dr. Zoidberg's people arrived on Earth.
Mom, famous industrialist and owner of Mom's Old-Fashioned Robot Oil, wants to secure the anchovies for her own purposes. Anchovy oil could be used to permanently lubricate robots, and therefore represent an enormous threat to Mom's business interests.
Mom's sons Walt, Larry, and Ignar conspire with the head of Pamela Anderson to steal Fry's ATM card and PIN, which they use to bankrupt Fry (Fry's PIN is the price of a cheese pizza and a large soda at his old job, $10.77, so they reenacted a scene in the year 2000 to find out the price from Fry). All of Fry's 20th century artifacts are repossessed, except the anchovies, which Fry had hidden in his sock.
After Mom discovers Fry intends to eat the anchovies, she stops interfering. Fry covers a pizza with the anchovies, and shares them with the rest of the Planet Express employees. Everyone except Fry spits their pizza out in disgust. Fry claims that they are an acquired taste. When Dr. Zoidberg enters the room, he smells a 'heavenly stench' and immediately devours all the remaining anchovy-covered pizza, and goes on a rampage screaming "MORE! MORE! MORE!!"
Characters
Characters who make their first appearances in this episode are:
Future products
Future products seen in this episode are:
Cultural references
- The title references the Clint Eastwood/Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western A Fistful of Dollars.
- When Fry purchases his "authentic 20th century apartment", there is an illustrated poster of a woman on the wall. The poster is drawn in a style reminiscent of 1980s pop-artist Patrick Nagel, most renowned for drawing the cover of the Duran Duran album, Rio.
- The song "Baby Got Back" is described as classical music by Leela.
- Fry watches a commercial for Pepperidge Farm.
- Fry is seen watching an episode of Sanford and Son, where Redd Foxx's character, Fred G. Sanford, is heard saying "Esther, you ugly", referring to Sanford's constant humiliation of his sister-in-law's profound ugliness (in his eyes).
- Sometime between Fry's freezing and his waking up, Pamela Anderson apparently won an Academy Award. It was for the fictitious Baywatch: The Movie, which was "the first movie filmed entirely in slow motion".
- The Baywatch movie being filmed entirely in slow motion is parodying the slow motion shots of the cast running up and down the beach in the television series.
- The auction house where Fry buys anchovies is called Staagi & Staagi, a reference to the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi, and its founder, Charles Saatchi's interest in art collection, as well as the term "stodgy," meaning dull and pompous.
Goofs
- In this episode, Amy claims that "you couldn't even make out my obscene tattoo" on an ancient TV. The tattoo, appearing on her shoulder in this episode, is never seen again, even though the shoulder is.
Trivia
- This episode marks the first appearance of Scruffy (Planet Express' janitor), although he is not identified and does not speak. His mustache is also red as opposed to grey, though he has been shown to enjoy dyeing his hair in "Three Hundred Big Boys", in which he sports a pink mohawk.
- The figure of $4.3 billion is in fact accurate, given the one-thousand-year investment period at the stated average of 2.25% interest with a beginning principal of $0.93. This is with annual compounding, as opposed to the more traditional monthly compounding of interest. The actual amount would be $4,283,508,450.
- Near the end of the episode, Amy states that cows are extinct by the year 3000, which explains the buggalo's use for meat.
- In the recreating of a 20th century environment a Richard Nixon for president poster can be seen, although this is inaccurate by approximately 29 years.
Fry's shopping spree
With his fortune, Fry buys many different things:
- Top hats
- Champagne
- Zuban Cigars
- A walking ash tray
- A massage session for him, Leela, and Bender at Le Spa
- A day at the shooting range where priceless paintings (such as the Mona Lisa) are used instead of clay pigeons
- A 20th century apartment block with original asbestos
- Ted Danson's skeleton
- An antique robot toy (Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots)
- An unopened can of Angry Norwegian Anchovies
- Assorted videotapes of 20th Century television shows and commercials
- A bucket of fossilized KFC
- Sir Mixalot Albums
