Children of a Lesser Bog

This episode is a follow-up to "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch", and features the finished births of Kif's offspring.

Act I: Opening
The show opens with Fry sucking on a stain on his jacket that has somehow remained on his jacket through the entire time he has been in the future.

Bender helps him out by making a replacement honey candy, with honey, sugar, and.

Amy loses some teeth due to the sticky candy, which prompts her to open her calendar to check for an opening for an appointment with Dr. Zoidberg, at which point she discovers she has an old calendar event saved from 20 years ago - the due date for her and Kif's children. A moment later, Kif walks into the room and says "it's time".

They watch a video of the birth, which closes with Kif saying "in 20 years time, they'll crawl back on land".

Amy says that being a mother is all she wants.

They all travel in the Planet Express Ship to Amphibios 9, Kif's homeworld.

Act II: Amphibios 9
On the planet, the Planet Express crew is joined by Kif, Zapp Brannigan, and Amy's parents.

The Grand Midwife emerges from a puddle and, after hinting that donations would be accepted, announces that the emergence of the offspring will commence.

The offspring emerge, with The Grand Midwife instructing them not to interfere and to allow the sacred process known as 'The Winnowing' to occur. The emerging children are attacked by many predators (including Dr. Zoidberg), with only three surviving.

The kids first go to Leela, thinking she's their mother, but they're redirected to Amy.

Amy's parents aren't impressed by the kids; Amy's mother changes her bumper sticker from "ASK ME ABOUT MY LACK OF A GRANDBABY" TO "DON'T ASK ME ABOUT MY GRANDKIDS".

Act III: Earth
Hermes points out that the three surviving children appear to be different ages: Newt, a baby; Mandy, a young child; and Axel, a teenager. Kif explains that the children are different sizes because they grew at different rates, depending on the temperature of the water they were in.

Leela notices that Newt is a cyclops, like her. Kif explains that that's because the children are the product of his and Leela's DNA (as explained in the previous episode). This is surprising to Leela, who has completely forgotten; she presumes this is because she was drunk.

Meanwhile, the kids continue to treat Leela as their mother.

Amy and Kif start to raise their children, becoming exhausted, dutiful parents. In the background, The Grand Midwife is seen, taking notes for some mysterious purpose.

Kif is ordered to report for duty by Zapp Brannigan, because contact has been lost with a remote outpost in the constellation.

Act IV: Outpost of Ursidae
With Kif away, Amy asks Leela to help watch the kids. Things go too well, though, as they refer to Leela as their mother, and seem very happy to be with her. The Grand Midwife continues to watch from the shadows.

Amy becomes jealous, and thinks that Leela is trying to take her kids from her.

Kif and Zapp Brannigan travel to the outpost, Exobiology Station 38, in the Nimbus. Eventually, the Nimbus arrives at the outpost, where the Whale Biologist is studying a species of very large. The reason contact was lost is discovered to be a simple broken transmitter, which Kif fixes.

They are ready to leave, but Zapp Brannigan decides to eat some more honey candy; this proves disastrous, as the smell of the food causes the tardigrades to enter a frenzy; before long, they drag Zapp Brannigan into a cave, while Kif and the Whale Biologist look on.

Amy calls Kif, asking him to come home, and fearful that her kids love Leela more than her. Kif tries to reassure her, but at that point The Grand Midwife enters, and announces that a challenge has been filed for the motherhood of the children. It's soon revealed that the challenge is automatic, whenever the smizmar did not contribute to the DNA of the offspring.

Kif, wanting to get home quickly, enters the cave where Zapp Brannigan is being held, and beings attacking the tardigrades, action-movie style. Zapp Brannigan escapes. In the final battle, Kif chooses not to attack a pair of tardigrade parents, opting instead to shoot at a platform the Whale Biologist is standing on, distracting the tardigrades long enough for Kif to escape.

Act V: Back to Amphibios
They all return to Amphibios 9, and the challenge begins. Although The Grand Midwife lays out a long and complicated process, in the end it is simply Amy's love for the children that matters, and she passes the test.

Production
The overseas production for this episode was handled by Digital eMation, rather than Rough Draft, Korea. However, Rough Draft Studios is still credited with animation production.

The writer of record for this episode is Eric Horsted.

Trivia

 * This is the first episode to feature Feodor Chin as Leo Wong, succeeding the role from Billy West.


 * Several characters are seen using eyePhones.
 * A photo of Betsy can be seen hanging in Amy's living room.

Items on Amy's Calendar
This episode, like the one its story follows, has a freeze-frame joke where Amy's calendar shows many humourous events.

In this episode, the events are:

Note: January 12th, 3003 was on a Wednesday

Note: On the initial reverse shot of Amy's calendar, the third item on the bottom row is 'Speling Team'; on the zoom-in, the same spot in the calendar says 'Ball Game'.

Note: On the wide-angle front view of Amy's calendar, there is no item next to the "Event Reminder!" item; on the zoom-in shot, there is an item next to the 'Event Reminder!' item.

Phonebooth Graffiti
The phonebooth that Petunia is in, on, has the following graffiti:
 * ET&T (in AL1)
 * Flexo Was Here!
 * ACV-802

Also, there are some Slurm stickers, and a sticker of Dr. Zoidberg in a pose.

Allusions
Scruffy's magazine is "XXX "

Continuity

 * Amy's daughter Mandy is often seen reading a book titled Go, Ladybuggle. Go!, potentially written by Leela. She is also wearing a headband decorated with a ladybug.

Alien Language Sightings
The phone booth on that Petunia calls from has the following:

Goofs
There are two inconsistencies in the events on Amy's calendar (see the calendar section for details).

Constellations aren't volumes or regions of space, they're patterns that stars appear to make on the as visible from Earth.

Characters

 * Bender
 * Zapp Brannigan
 * Fry
 * The Grand Midwife
 * Hermes
 * Kif
 * Kif's offspring
 * Leela
 * Petunia
 * Whale Biologist
 * Amy Wong
 * Inez Wong
 * Leo Wong