Fun on a Bun

"Fun on a Bun" is the one hundred and twenty-second episode of Futurama, the eighth of the seventh production season and the ninth broadcast season. Fry is the victim of a horrific sausage-making accident.

Plot
The Planet Express crew visits Oktoberfest, which has now turned into a classy affair, much to Fry's dismay. Bender enters a sausage-making contest where Fry becomes the victim of a horrific sausage-making accident. He joins a group of neanderthals and leads a battle against an army of modern spaceships led by Zapp Brannigan. He and Leela lose their memories of each other.

Production
In 2011, a few revelations concerning the episode were made. On 15 November, Futurama assistant director Aimee Steinberger revealed that "[the production team was] done with [the episode]", calling it "[her] most time intensive grueling ep ever", and that the animatic would be screened "on the FOX lot [on the next day]". On the next day, after leaving the screening, she revealed that "Everyone [had] liked it" and, after watching the animatic, Futurama writer Eric Rogers revealed that it "might be [the best episode of the ninth broadcast season]", calling it "EPIC".

In 2012, more revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Dan Vebber and its director to be Stephen Sandoval. On 20 April, Steinberger revealed that she "[had seen] fully animated color acts 2 and 3 back from Korea on [her 7ACV08 the previous day]" and that she "still [thought it was] a really great show" and Rogers jokingly asked her if "[she had been] expecting it to be worse". On the next day, she, in reply to him, revealed that "[it had been] demanding a lot" and that "[she thought that] when [it was] done [it would] be nice" and he, in reply to her, revealed that "[it was] a monster, for sure, but [that Rough Draft] always [delivered]" and that "[it would] be awesome as always". By 8 June, had revealed the episode's plot and air date.

In June, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released seven items: a design of the cover of Unfrozen Dude Magazine on 13 June, a design of a Neanderthal chief on 14 June, part of the storyboard set in a sausage contest showing Bender angry about winning third place and Zapp as a judge on 15 June, a design of a Neanderthal version of Fry on 16 June, a promotional picture showing a drunk Fry on 17 June, a video clip featuring Bender and a drunken Fry, wearing a chicken over his head, searching for woolly mammoth with an elephant detector on 18 June and a promotional picture of a group of Neanderthals charging with woolly mammoth on 19 June. The seventh Countdown to Futurama podcast revealed more information about the episode, including elements of its plot.

On 12 July, following the broadcast of the episode "Zapp Dingbat", the public were given the opportunity to participate in a live chat with the Futurama cast and crew. Several clips of "Fun on a Bun" were shown during the live stream.

Reception
On 3 May 2012, Aimee Steinberger revealed that she had "watched the finalish color, full animation for [the episode] at the FOX lot [on that day]", that "it really did turn out nice" and that she was "Really proud of [it]" and Eric Rogers called it the "2013 Emmy nominee", "Epic fun" and "awesome".

Trivia

 * This episode is among the Futurama media featuring its title within the story.
 * This episode was first broadcast the same day Futurama Comics issue Lost Our Leela was released, both stories feature Leela loosing memories.
 * Polka/rock band recorded two songs to be used in the Oktoberfest scenes during this episode, as well as a cover of the . The band have also appeared in Matt Groening's other show The Simpsons, in the episode . Groening is a long-time fan of the band.

Allusions

 * The episode's title is a reference to Bender's catchphrase "fun on the bun".
 * Bender putting a giant set of ribs in front of Zapp Brannigan is a reference to the closing credits of the.

Continuity

 * Zapp tells Leela that "this time I'm the one criticizing the sausage."
 * Zapp tells Leela that "this time I'm the one criticizing the sausage."


 * When Leela regains all her memories of Fry, scenes of them together are shown from "Space Pilot 3000", "The Series Has Landed", "Fear of a Bot Planet", "My Three Suns", "A Flight to Remember", "Leela's Homeworld", "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", "The Sting", "The Farnsworth Parabox", "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Bender's Game", "Into the Wild Green Yonder", "The Late Philip J. Fry", "The Prisoner of Benda", "The Mutants Are Revolting" and "Overclockwise".

Goofs

 * The Neanderthals already speak English when they find Fry.
 * Ground sloths were only found in the Americas, thus Neanderthals would have never interacted with them.
 * The 11 thousand years since then could change that.
 * At the beginning of and during Oktoberfest, Fry is unhappily sober because all beer is dispensed in tiny steins, but during the invasion, much larger mugs are shown.
 * During the invasion, the ship is seen firing, but in previous episodes a gunner (Fry) was in place. The gunner position itself is unnecessary if Leela can control the ships guns all from her console.
 * It is most likely that the ship has a targeting system via Leela's console, but a manual gunner position is available to take the strain off of the captain so he/she can concentrate on flying.
 * Although the map of Germany and the location of the famous Neanderthal are quite accurate, the Oktoberfest is actually held in Munich in the southeast (although in the 1000 years between our day and theirs it could have changed location). The glaciers of the Alps nearby would have made a good place for finding prehistoric mammoths and people, since for example Ötzi the Iceman was found there.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Elzar
 * Fry
 * Debut: Grundy
 * Hermes
 * Kif
 * Leela
 * Debut: Neanderthal chief
 * Ron Whitey
 * Zapp
 * Zoidberg