Space Pilot 3000

Production Number: 1ACV01

Title Caption: IN COLOR

AL1 Sightings: 2 First Aired: 3/28/99

Act I: "Here's to another lousy millenium!"
Pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry delivers a pizza to a non-existant I. C. Wiener in a cryogenics lab (located on floor 64), where he soon realises that it was a prank, so he sits down and drinks one of the beers, only to fall into a cryogenics tube (number 40) and get frozen for a thousand years. The Opening Sequence rolls.

Act II: "Strip naked and get on the probulator!"
Fry meets Leela and discovers that he has woken up on December 31, 2999 ("a million years!") Leela assigns him the permanent career of delivery boy, which he refuses. While running away, he meets Bender waiting in line for what he believes is a phone booth (in reality, a Suicide Booth).

Act III: "Welcome to the head museum."
Fry and Bender duck into the head museum to hide. Leonard Nimoy's head is apparently the greeter. Fry bumps into the shelves, knocking Richard Nixon's head down and provoking him to attack. The police officers Smitty and URL do police brutality on Fry, and Leela knocks them out, allowing Fry and Bender to run for it. Fry and Bender keep running from Leela, during which Bender discovers his independency from his programming: "From now on I'm going to bend what I want and who I want! I'm unstoppable!" Their way leads them deep underground to the ruins of Old New York, where Leela once again catches up with them. Fry realizes that he has lost everything he left behind and gives in, but instead of implanting the carreer chip, Leela removes her own and decides to quit her job.

Act IV: "We have you partially surrounded!"
Fry, Bender, and Leela hide at Planet Express, then escape into space using the Professor's intergalactic spaceship. The Professor then engages them to be his new spaceship crew, with Fry acting as Delivery Boy.

Trivia

 * This episode is the highest rated Pilot episode in the history of Fox.
 * When Fry is going through the transport tubes, he passes by a three-eyed fish, which is Blinky, from the Simpsons.
 * The person who uses the tube system before fry says "Radio City Mutant Hall" - but his original line was "JFK Junior Airport". The line was changed after the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (though it can still be heard in the animatic)

Quotes

 * Fry: Space, it seems to go on forever. But then you get to the end and the gorilla starts throwin' barrels at you.
 * Leela:I'm sure this must be very upsetting for you. Fry: Y'know, I guess it should be but, actually, I'm glad. I had nothing to live for in my old life. I was broke, I had a humiliating job and I was beginning to suspect my girlfriend might be cheating on me. Leela: Well, at least here you'll be treated with dignity. Now strip naked and get on the probulator.

Questions

 * What was the shadow under the desk just before Fry fell in the tube?
 * It was Nibbler, whose presence is explained in the Why of Fry in season 4.

Fast Forward

 * Fry's girlfriend, Michelle, appears again in the episode "The Cryonic Woman" and then later at Fry's funeral in "The Sting".
 * A brief shot shows a shadow under the desk just before Fry falls into the freezer-tube. This shadow is explained in "The Why of Fry".
 * The ruins of Old New York are visited again in "The Luck of the Fryrish".

Mistakes

 * When Leela calls for backup, her wristlojackimator is on the wrong wrist.

Real-World References

 * The introduction is reminiscent of Star Trek intros (with similar music and voiceover).
 * The barrel-throwin' gorilla is a reference to Donkey Kong.
 * The police use sticks that resemble the light sabres from Star Wars. Unlike their Star Wars counterparts, they are blunt weapons, rather than superheated blades.

Characters
As this is the first episode, every appearance is a debut appeearance. (in alphabetical order)
 * Bender
 * Dick Clark's head
 * Fry
 * Ipgee
 * Leonard Nimoy
 * Lou
 * Michelle
 * Mr. Panucci
 * Poster Guy
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Richard Nixon's head
 * Terry
 * Leela
 * Smitty and Url

Episode Credits

 * Writers
 * David X. Cohen
 * Matt Groening
 * Voices
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Dave Herman
 * Kath Soucie
 * Special Guests
 * Dick Clark
 * Leonard Nemoy
 * DVD Commentary
 * David X. Cohen
 * Gregg Vanzo
 * John DiMaggio
 * Matt Groening
 * Rich Moore