Roswell that Ends Well

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Season 3 episode Broadcast season 4 episode
Roswell that Ends Well
No.	51
Production number	3ACV19
Written by	[[J. Stewart Burns]][[Category:Episodes written by J. Stewart Burns|Roswell that Ends Well]]
Directed by	[[Rich Moore]][[Category:Episodes directed by Rich Moore|Roswell that Ends Well]]
Title caption	Fun for the whole family Except grandma and grandpa
First air date	December 9, 2001
Broadcast number	S04E01
Title reference	Shakespeare's play All's Well That Ends Well
Opening cartoon	Congo Jazz
Nomination(s)	Annie Awards Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production, 2003, Rich Moore (won) Emmy Awards Outstanding Animated Program, 2002 (won)
Additional
Commentary (Transcript) Transcript Pictures
Season 3
Amazon Women in the Mood Parasites Lost A Tale of Two Santas The Luck of the Fryrish The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz Bendless Love The Day the Earth Stood Stupid That's Lobstertainment! The Cyber House Rules Where the Buggalo Roam Insane in the Mainframe The Route of All Evil Bendin' in the Wind Time Keeps on Slippin' I Dated a Robot A Leela of Her Own A Pharaoh to Remember Anthology of Interest II Roswell that Ends Well Godfellas Future Stock The 30% Iron Chef ← Season 2 Season 4 →

The Story

Act I: "Hey, what smells like blue?"

September 21, 3002: The crew of the Planet Express Ship is attending an unique event, accompanied by Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Zoidberg: a supernova right up close. For this momentous occasion, Fry decides to make some popcorn in the ship's microwave oven, but unfortunately, he uses a portion of corn wrapped in metal foil. This causes a microwave malfunction, it generates a field of blue radiation which collides with the red radiation emitted by the exploding star. Both fields react violently with each other and hurl the PE ship through a time tunnel which carries it to Earth. Without the help of GPS and with a failing drive, the PE ship crash-lands in the desert, which results in Bender's body being smashed to pieces all across the desert in the crash, he is temporarily reduced to his head. Zoidberg is left to pick up Bender's body, but just as he is finished, he is abducted with the parts by the soldiers of a nearby air force base. It turns out that the crew has travelled back to July 9, 1947 and has landed near Roswell, New Mexico. Bender's body is mistaken for an UFO, and Zoidberg is mistaken for an evil alien - almost correct.

Act II: "A Buffet! Oh, if only I had my wallet with me."

Return to the future is only possible as long as the hole in the time-space continuum punched by the supernova remains open, which leaves exactly 24 hours. The crew has several tasks to complete: aquire a new microwave, rescue Zoidberg and Bender's body, all without upsetting history. Things become more complicated as Fry mentions that his grandfather Enos Fry is stationed at Roswell, which presents the danger of time paradoxes as he is the only one who can infiltrate the military base without arousing suspicion, as he is the right age to be a soldier, male and two-eyed. Meanwhile, the bases officers are interrogating Zoidberg and making tests with him, to little effect, and they inform the President. Fry, carrying Bender's head, sneaks onto the air base (disguised in an army uniform with the help of All Purpose Spray), and soon runs into his grandfather. Fry is desperate to remove him from any dangers that might threaten his life, but somehow, he manages to move him from one mortal danger to the next. When they enter a local diner, Fry also meets his grandmother, Mildred Fry, his grandfather's fiancé, but it seems that Enos is more interested in young men. Meanwhile, Leela and the Professor, both in heavy disguise, are attempting to buy a microwave, with absolutely no success as microwave ovens weren't introduced then and the sleazy salesman tries to unload a huge gas oven on them, much to the anger of Leela who seems not to apreciate antiquated female role stereotypes. Fry, in his attempt to bring his grandfather to safety, drives him to a remote house and tells him to stay there, then leaves. Shortly afterwards, the house is utterly vaporized by the blast of a nuclear weapon test nearby, as is Enos.

Act III: "Are you coming on to me?"

Meanwhile, Leela and the Professor have ended up at the diner and are ordering lunch. Leela spots a radar dish in the air force base, which would suffice as a substitute for a microwave as it emits the same radiation, but the Professor vetoes her plan of stealing it. Fry arrives with the grim news that he has killed his grandfather, and everyone is puzzled why he (or, given their relationship, the Professor as well) do not vanish. Mildred receives the news of Enos' death and is down in the dumps, and Fry accompagnies her to her home where they end up sleeping wih each other, as Fry believes she can't really be his grandmother as he still exists. Later, he finds out that he was mistaken and that, by sleeping with his grandmother, he is his own grandfather. While this is happening, President Truman himself arrives at Roswell to handle the UFO case and the interrogation of Zoidberg. The scientists have arranged Bender's parts in the shape of an UFO, and the President orders a vivisection of Zoidberg, which costs him a number of his internal organs, including one of his four hearts which seems to be a permanent loss. The crew now has no other choice than to drop all secrecy and pursue their goals by means of force, as time is running out, and they decide that history must take care of itself as Fry seemingly already messed it up bigtime. The PE ship attacks Roswell Air Base, the crew liberate Zoidberg and Bender's body and steal the radar dish. While leaving the atmosphere, Bender's head falls out of the cargo hatch, and there is no time to retrieve it as the supernova hole is almost closed, the PE ship returns to the future. Fry, Leela and the Professor again travel to the remains of Roswell Air Base and search for Bender's head, eventually locating it and reuniting it with his still UFO-shaped body.

Additional Info

Trivia

• In a previous episode we discover that Bender is only 4 years old. Due to his head (but not his body) spending over 1,000 years buried underground, following this episode his head's age is 1,055 years older then his body (at least up until the events of Bender's Big Score
  
  ).
• This is the first episode of Futurama to feature Time Travel, a subject the show's creators did not want to broach too early/often due to the confusing direction that such stories can lead in.
• This episode won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) in 2002.
• This episode is one of four featured in the Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection, reflecting its popularity with both fans and the creators of Futurama.
• It says in the episode that if Fry's grandfather dies, he no longer exists. The same goes for Professor Farnsworth, though no one mentions it.
• This is the second time that Bender was separated from his body for almost the whole episode, the first one being "A Head in the Polls" (2ACV03)
  
  .
• The episode was supposed to be named "All's Well in Roswell" but got scrapped.
• Sci Fi Weekly gave the episode an "A" grade and noted that it was "a half hour of pure entertainment".
• Although the episode was well received by critics, it continued to do poorly in its time slot. The original airing was in 83rd place for the week with a 3.1 rating/5 share.
• During their rescue of Bender and Zoidberg from the military base, the Planet Express ship fires a missile which clearly has the episode title painted on the side. This is one of the few episodes to do so, one being "Hell Is Other Robots" (1ACV09)
  
  .
• This episode is named #6 on IGN's list of the Top 25 Futurama Episodes.

Quotes

• Fry: I've never seen a supernova blow up, but if it's anything like my old Chevy Nova, it'll light up the night sky.
• Leela: OK, here's the plan. Zoidberg - pick up the pieces. Everyone else - take five.
• Professor Farnsworth: Your grandfather?! Stay away from him, you dimwitted monkey! You mustn't interfere with the past! Don't do anything that affects anything, unless it turns out you were supposed to do it, in which case for the love of God, don't not do it!
  Fry: Got it.
  Professor Farnsworth: If, for example, you were to kill your grandfather, you would cease to exist.
  Fry: But existing is basically all I do!
• President Truman: Whistlin' dixie! I want this sent to Area 51 for study!
  General: But Sir, that's where we are building the fake moon landing site!
  President Truman: Then we'll have to really land on the moon! Invent NASA and tell them to get off their fannies!
• President Truman: If you come in peace, surrender or be destroyed. If you're here to make war, we surrender.
• Professor Farnsworth: Start the ship, Leela! Let's just steal the dish and get back to our own time.
  Fry: But won't that change history?
  Professor Farnsworth: Oooh, a lesson in not changing history from "Mr. I'm-my-own-grandpa". Let's get the hell out of here already! Screw history!
• Mildred: In times like these I just need someone to hold me![grabs Fry's arm] Mmmm you like holding me don't you?
  [Fry starts shaking violently.]
  Fry: Hey, you know what always cheers you up, baking me a nice tray of sugar cookies!
  Mildred: How about these cookies sugar? [She rips her shirt off revealing her bra].

Continuity

• "Anthology of Interest I" (2ACV16)
  
  • This episode explains why the universe was destroyed. Had Fry not been frozen, it would create a paradox and destroy the timeline.
• "Parasites Lost" (3ACV02)
  
  • Fry's sperm production problem was healed. He was made sterile in "Fry and the Slurm Factory" (1ACV13)
    
    .
• "A Taste of Freedom" (4ACV05)
  
  • He states that two of his three hearts (one having been removed) are having attacks.
• "The Why of Fry" (4ACV10)
  
  • By becoming his own grandfather, Fry received a unique genetic abnormality which causes him to lack the Delta Brainwave.
• Bender's Big Score
  
  • Fry says "What about the time we went back to Roswell?" The Professor does not remember this.

Allusions

• This episode spoofs Independence Day when Zoidberg throws himself against the glass of the containment room, to the horror of the onlookers.
• The Professor's eyes reflecting the passing colours in the vortex is a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
• The drawing on the bomb is a reference to Dr. Strangelove.
• When Zoidberg is being interrogated, President Truman asks if he is here to create an alien-human hybrid. This is possibly a reference to the The X-Files, although it was the humans trying to create an alien-human hybrid.
• In the final scene, Bender, having been left behind in the Roswell desert, is recovered by the crew over a thousand years later, unchanged and in the same place. When Fry and Leela appear, he tells them "I was enjoying it until you guys showed up". This might be inspired by a similar scene in Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, in which Marvin the Paranoid Android is stranded in the restaurant's parking lot for millions of years. Like Bender, he shows neither surprise nor enthusiasm at finally being rescused by his former crew-mates.
• Much of the plot of this episode references the Roswell UFO Incident with the Planet Express crew as the alien invaders, particularly Dr. Zoidberg, and Bender being mistaken for the alien spacecraft.
• Much of Enos' character is taken from The Andy Griffith Show’s (and later Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.) Gomer Pyle, such as his accent and use of Pyle’s trademark “Gol-ly!”.
• The episode bears many obvious similarities to the Back to the Future movies. It also strikingly resembles an early draft of the script to the first film, in which Marty McFly uses the blast of an atomic bomb to reactivate the time machine, and eventually reappears in the present in a refrigerator left out in the desert, similar to how Bender's head was left in the desert for over a thousand years.
• This episode makes strong use of the Grandfather Paradox which is often present when dealing with time travel to the past.
• The Soylent Products that the Professor asks for come from the movie Soylent Green.
• The episode also shares much in common with the episode Little Green Men of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
• The fate of Bender's head is a parody of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Time's Arrow in which Data's head is detached in the 19th century and found in an archaeological dig in 2368.
• This episode also references Star Trek in general as Leela claims she will have the last of the ship fixed in ten hours Farnsworth in the classic fashion of Star Trek reduces that time by a couple of hours. In this case however the part of the ship that is broken is the cup holder.
• There are some similarities to the movie No Time for Sergeants in the character of Enos and his fate.
• A short story by Robert A. Heinlein, All you Zombies, deals with a character who by the means of time travel and sex change ends up becoming his own mother and father. Maybe Fry's zombie reference in connection with Enos' death is a spoof of this.
• The missile has a drawing of Dr. Zoidberg done in the fashion of Kilroy.

Goofs

• Whichever interpretation of the 'changing the past' time travel paradox we use, it is genetically impossible for Fry to be his own grandfather (Fry contributes 50% of his father's genetic material, 50% of which then becomes Fry's own genetic code. This would lead to feedback loop in which, over 'repetitions' of the timeline, Fry and his father become very close to 100% related, instead of 50%). However, it is technically possible that Enos was actually the one to impregnate Fry's grandmother (before his death), thus making Fry not in fact his own grandfather.
• Fry says that if watching a supernova explode is anything like driving his old Chevy Nova, then it would light up the night sky, even though it was established in "Space Pilot 3000" (1ACV01)
  
  and "Jurassic Bark" (4ACV07)
  
  that Fry had a bicycle and doesn't know how to drive.
• Bender's head was buried in the desert for 1000 years, but when Fry digs him up, Bender shows no ill effects from going without alcohol for that time, like he did in "I, Roommate" (1ACV03)
  
  and "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" (3ACV05)
  
  .
• Fry refers to Enos as his fathers father, not his mothers father. However, it had been earlier established that the first born male in the Fry family was always called Yancy. It could be reasoned that this mistake is due to Fry's limited intelligence rather than a continuity error.

Characters

• Bender
• Debut: Conspiracy Nutter
• Debut: Enos Fry
• Fry
• Debut: Harry S. Truman
• Leela
• Debut: Mildred Fry
• Professor Farnsworth
• Zoidberg

Episode Credits

• Writer
  • J. Stewart Burns
• Director
  • Rich Moore
• Voice Actors
  • Billy West
  • Katey Sagal
  • John DiMaggio
  • Tress MacNeille
  • Maurice LaMarche
  • David Herman
• DVD Commentary
  • Matt Groening
  • David X. Cohen
  • Rich Moore
  • J. Stewart Burns
  • Susan Dietter
  • John DiMaggio
  • Billy West
• Bonus Animators Commentary
  • Matt Groening
  • David X. Cohen
  • Rich Moore
  • Claudia Katz
  • Scott Vanzo

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