Anthology of Interest II

"Anthology of Interest II"
Futurama episode
File:Futurama ep50.jpg
Episode no.	Season three
Directed by	Brett Haaland
Written by	David X. Cohen, Jason Gorbett, Scott Kirby, Lewis Morton
Original air dates	February 6, 2001
Episode features
Opening cartoon	Mickey Mouse knocking over a door.

"Anthology of Interest II" is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on January 6, 2002. This episode, as well as the earlier "Anthology of Interest I", serves to showcase three out-of-canon "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes (broadcast each Halloween) of Matt Groening's other animated series The Simpsons.

Plot

Template:Spoiler Professor Farnsworth hauls out his What-if Machine again, claiming that he's finished "fine-tuning" it, and the crew takes a look at three alternate realities.

I, Meatbag

First up is Bender, who asks what would happen if he were human.

The simulation opens with Professor Farnsworth announcing that he has invented a process of reverse fossilization, which can turn metal robots into organic life-forms. He uses his reverse fossilization machine on Bender, who is successfully transformed into a human.

After a short period of adaptation, Bender's self-control is overwhelmed by his new senses of taste, touch and emotional responses, and goes on a sensory input binge. A week later, at the Nobel Prize judging, the Professor presents Bender who has become a thousand-pound blob.

The committee initially condemns the Professor, but Bender begs them to consider his new lifestyle. The open-minded scientists spend the night in a state of wild hedonism. Just before dawn, the committee awards Bender with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but discover that he died shortly after the party started.

Raiders of the Lost Arcade

Next to ask a question is Fry, who wants to see a world that is more like a video game.

As the simulation starts, President of Earth Richard Nixon is preparing to sign a treaty with Ambassador Kong of planet Nintendu 64. Ambassador Kong attacks Nixon, and a state of war erupts.

Due to his extensive knowledge of video games, Fry is brought to the Milatari headquarters and introduced to General Colin Pac-Man. Before Fry can impart his wisdom to the military, the Nintendians launch an attack on Washington, DC, and they are forced into the escape tunnels that resemble a Pac-Man maze.

They emerge outside the Planet Express building (via a Super Mario Bros.-style Warp pipe), where the Nintendian space invaders, led by Lrrr, are blasting New New York. Fry situates himself at the controls of a rolling AAA platform, and begins destroying the alien ships. During the battle General Pac-man is hit and dies.

Unfortunately for Earth, Fry is unable to destroy the last ship, which lands, conquering Earth. After Fry enters "ASS" as his initials for his high score, the invaders emerge. They demand millions of dollars in quarters, but the Earthicans refuse, as they need the quarters to do their laundry. A compromise is reached, with the Nintendians throwing their laundry in with Earth's.

Wizzin'

The last person to ask a what if question is Leela, who wants to see her true home. When the Professor pulls the lever on the What-if Machine, he whacks her in the head, and she falls to the floor unconscious.

She wakes up at the helm of the Planet Express ship, which is caught in a tornado. It crash-lands in a technicolor wonderland. The Cute Witch of the North (Amy) tells her that she should seek out the Professor, who lives in the Emerald Laboratory down Martin Luther King Boulevard, which is constructed from yellow brick.

While travelling, she meets a scarecrow (Fry), a mechanical man (Bender) and "the other guy" (Zoidberg). The Wicked Witch (Mom) sends her winged monkeys (Walt, Larry, and Ignar) to kidnap Leela and her friends. The Wicked Witch always wanted a daughter, and offers to take Leela in. Leela accepts, and as part of a celebration, Bender uncorks a bottle of champagne. Under tremendous pressure, the champagne shoots out of the bottle and lands on the Wicked Witch, causing her to melt.

Falling back to the original plan, Leela and company make their way to the Emerald Laboratory. There they meet the great and forgetful Professor. The Professor tells Leela that she can go home by clicking her ruby boots together and wishing to go home. She says: "There's no place like... I wanna be a witch!" She then dons witch clothes and turns the Professor, the scarecrow, and the robot into frogs. Her reign of terror is cut short by Zoidberg, who has encountered a problem with the Emerald Laboratory's upstairs toilet, and accidentally splashes water on her.

As she melts in the dream world, she wakes up back in the Planet Express building just before the professor dissects her.

Cultural references

I, Meatbag

• The title I, Meatbag is a reference to Isaac Asimov's book I, Robot. 'Meatbag' is an insult sometimes used by Bender to degrade his non-robot companions. This title is similar to the first season episode, "I, Roommate".
• Bender's clothes are a simple white shirt and some loose blue pants, a 31st century interpretation of Homer Simpson's.
• The device Zoidberg uses on Bender after he is presented to the Nobel Prize committee is a medical tricorder from the original Star Trek.
• When Bender wants to wiggle his penis around, which he thinks is an antenna, Fry tells him "Don't! You'll make God cry." This refers to the old dictum "Masturbation makes God cry."
• Miami Sound Machine's 1986 hit "Conga" can be heard three times during the first segment: in the pub, during Bender's night out, and during the party at the Nobel Prize committee meeting.
• Upon human Bender's death, the Professor says, "Good night, sweet prince," as Horatio said after the death of Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The line was earlier used upon giant Bender's death in "Anthology of Interest I".

Raiders of the Lost Arcade

• The title Raiders of the Lost Arcade is a reference to the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark.
• The Pentagon has been renamed Milatari HQ, in reference to Atari.
• What "Ambassador Kong" does when he attacks Nixon is a parody of the beginning sequence of "Donkey Kong". The ambassador to Italy is Mario.
• The game maze the characters run through appears to be an homage to both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. The layout is similar to Pac-Man, but the mobile fruit is exclusive to Ms. Pac-Man. Also, the items Zoidberg coughs up after exiting the pipe are all from Ms. Pac-Man.
• The exit of the escape tunnels is a Mario exit pipe.
• The Nintendians fleet comprises Space Invaders ships.
• When the Nintendians are exiting their ship, one of them says "All your base are belong to us," a reference to the arcade game Zero Wing.
• Some of the Nintendians that come out of the ship include: a robot from the arcade game Berzerk, a fried egg from Burgertime, Q*bert, and a brain-bot from Robotron: 2084 series.
• Despite the invaders all being from a planet parodying the Nintendo series, the only characters in this episode from games actually developed by Nintendo are Mario and Donkey Kong.
• Q*bert speaks a phrase that when played backwards says "Where can a guy get some pants around here?"
• In the animatic to this episode on the Season 3 DVD box set, it is revealed that the planet Nintendu 64 was originally called Atari 2600.
• While Fry is preparing to battle the Nintendians, he says "It's Saturday night; I've got no date, a two liter bottle of Shasta, and my all-Rush mix tape... let's rock." The song played during the actual battle is "Tom Sawyer".
• When the Miliatari HQ is first shown, the green tank from Battlezone is shown driving past.
• General Colin PacMan is a reference to then Secretary of Defense Colin Powell.

Wizzin'

• The title Wizzin' is a parody of the musical The Wiz, which is in turn based on The Wizard of Oz. Also, during the skipping scene, Scarecrow Fry is heard to say that they've been skipping so long that he needs to stop and take "the wiz."
• In "Munchkinland", the first thing Leela sees upon exiting the ship is a peacock, whose tail feathers open to form a parody of the famous NBC peacock logo. This is poking fun at the transition from sepia tone (and for many years on television broadcasts, monochrome) to Technicolor in the original Wizard of Oz.
• The Lollipop Guild parody contains charcaters seen in previous episodes like the neptunian from "A Tale of Two Santas", and the Slurm Slugs from "Fry and the Slurm Factory".
• Scarecrow Fry tries to scare a crow away by reading an excerpt from the novel Christine by Stephen King (with no success).
• Leela agrees to become the Wicked Witch's daughter, but only on the proviso that she gets to hurt people and not just "dance around on the equinox." She is making a snide remark about the difference between an evil witch and a Wiccan.