Love's Labours Lost in Space

Production Number: 1ACV04 Title Caption: Presented in BC [Brain Control] Where Available First Aired: 4/13/99

Act I: "Most guys are put off by my eye."
Leela is in a restaurant, on a date with a guy named Doug. Things are going well, until she sees his "vile lizard tongue."

Act II: "I need the apartment tonight - go see a saucy puppet show."
Leela tells everyone about the date. Wanting to help, Amy, Fry, Bender, and Zoidberg take Leela to a trendy dance club, The Hip Joint. Fry ends up going home with a girl, but Leela goes home alone. The next day at work, the Professor assigns them a "tax-deductable mission of charity." They are to go and rescue animals from a planet called Vergon 6 which is going to be destroyed.

Act III: "Wow! The Zapp Brannigan!"
The crew takes off on their mission, and upon arriving at Vergon 6 they find the Zapp Brannigan's ship, the Nimbus, already on the scene. Leela decides to go meet Zapp and ask for his help saving the animals. Zapp immediately begins to hit on Leela. When Leela tells him about the mission, he places them under arrest for attempting to break Brannigan's Law. He has Leela brought to his room and manages to seduce her. Leela wakes up in the morning horrified.

Act IV: "I'll call him Nibbler."
Smug with satisfaction over "scoring" with Leela, Zapp releases them all and they resume their mission to save the animals unassisted. They run around collecting animals and loading them onto the ship. Leela comes across a strange creature, who she later names Nibbler. While they are hunting for the last animals, Nibbler eats all the animals they have captured. They try to flee, but the ship is out of gas; Zapp refuses to help unless they abandon Nibbler. Leela refuses, and Nibbler drops a load of Dark Matter in his litter box. Fry and Bender take the fuel to the engines, and they escape before the planet implodes.

Animals from Vergon 6
Note: Several animals appear in the ship's hold that don't seem to correspond to an animal on the list.

Quotes

 * Zapp Brannigan: We both know you won't make it halfway to Vergon 6 before the craving sets in. Then you'll come crawling back for another taste of sweet, sweet candy... bam!
 * Kif: I suppose, Captain. I'm not as big a fan of velour as you are.
 * Kif: "The jackass wants to see you in his quarters."

Characters
(In alphabetical order)
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Dr. Zoidberg
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Kif Kroker
 * Leela
 * Debut: Nibbler
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Zapp Brannigan

Outside References

 * Zapp Brannigan's character was inspired by Captain Kirk from Star Trek. The creators imagined that instead of Captain Kirk, the actual William Shatner would take command of the Enterprise.
 * Kif Kroker is another derivative of Star Trek - based on the idea of Spock hating his captain, yet being dependant on him and doing his every whim.

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Brian Kelley
 * Director
 * Brian Sheesley
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Lauren Tom
 * Maurice LaMarche