Space Pilot 3000

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Season 1 episode
Space Pilot 3000
No.	1
Production number	1ACV01
Written by	[[David X. Cohen Matt Groening]][[Category:Episodes written by David X. Cohen Matt Groening|Space Pilot 3000]]
Directed by	[[Rich Moore Gregg Vanzo]][[Category:Episodes directed by Rich Moore Gregg Vanzo|Space Pilot 3000]]
Title caption	In color
First air date	28 March, 1999
Broadcast number	S01E01
Title reference	The fact that it is a pilot episode and Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Opening cartoon	Little Buck Cheeser by MGM (1937)
Special guest(s)	Dick Clark Leonard Nimoy
Additional
Commentary (Transcript) Transcript Animatic Pictures
Season 1
Space Pilot 3000 The Series Has Landed I, Roommate Love's Labours Lost in Space Fear of a Bot Planet A Fishful of Dollars My Three Suns A Big Piece of Garbage Hell Is Other Robots A Flight to Remember Mars University When Aliens Attack Fry and the Slurm Factory Season 2 →

"Space Pilot 3000" is the first and pilot episode of Futurama and of the first season. It aired 28 March, 1999 on FOX. It guest stars Leonard Nimoy and Dick Clark as themselves in jars. Philip J. Fry, a New York pizza delivery boy wounds up in a cryogenics lab and wakes up a thousand years later, where he meets Turanga Leela and Bender Bending Rodríguez, whom all apply for a job at Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth's Planet Express.

故事梗概

Fry being frozen

第一幕："为又一个讨厌的千禧年干杯！"

比萨送货员Philip J. Fry憎恨自己的生活，送比萨没小费，女朋友his girlfriend把他甩了，自行车被盗，而这一切全都发生在公元两千年的新年之夜2000。一个名为"我看到了小香肠I. C. Wiener"的人订了一份披萨，送货地点是低温贮藏实验室cryogenics lab。到那儿以后，Fry很快就发现，这根本就是一个恶作剧。他坐在椅子上，拿起一罐啤酒，为"又一个讨厌的千禧年"而干杯。午夜的钟声响起，他无精打采地吹响了纸卷小喇叭，喇叭却弹到自己脸上，这让他跌进了低温贮藏仓。舱门关上以后，时间自动设定为一千年，Fry被冷冻了起来。在他沉睡的这一千年里，纽约城New York发生了变化—一组神秘的宇宙飞船mysterious spaceships摧毁destroyed了这座城市。在这片土地上重新建起了一些原始的中世纪城堡，结果接着又被更多的宇宙飞船所摧毁。当Fry醒来时，他看到纽约已经变成了一个极具未来特色的大都市extremely futuristic metropolis，他马上想到，自己到了未来。当意识到自己再也见不到他的朋友、家人和女友...时，他感到无比的高兴。这时响起了片头插曲Opening Sequence。

第二幕："祝你前程似锦！"

受到了两位实验室工作人员—one of them以极其夸张的语调对欢迎Fry表示了欢迎。在他们的陪同下，他来到了命运指派员的办公室，遇见了一位脸正中央长着一只大眼睛的美女，Leela。Leela告诉他，现在是2999年的12月31日。

DNA的扫描结果表明，他唯一的亲戚：他的重重...重孙侄子Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth教授现在还在人世。Fry对未来的生活充满了憧憬，直到得知Leela给他安排的终身职业仍然还是送货员。Fry不想再当送货员了，Leela却说每个人—甚至她自己—都得做一份无论自己喜欢与否的工作，还抛出一句"你得做你应做的工作"。她试图给Fry植入一枚标志着他的终身职业——送货员的芯片chip时，Fry却逃跑了。追赶Fry时，Leela不小心跌进了一个低温贮藏仓，这个与当年冷冻Fry的那个贮藏仓十分类似，也是自动设定为一千年。Fry准备离开那里，但是出于良心发现，他在离开实验室之前重新设置了冷冻时间，把时间设定为五分钟。

见识了纽约城的各种奇观与改变之后，Fry决定去拜访他的远房侄子Farnsworth。他站在一个他以为是电话亭的地方排队，认识了队伍中一个名叫Bender 的机器人。结果他发现，所谓的电话亭其实是个自杀亭Suicide Booth，而这位Bender急着要寻死，不过他们两个都设法躲开了自杀亭的攻击。再次自杀未遂之后，Bender邀请Fry和他一起去酒吧喝上一杯。Fry弄清了Bender想自杀的原因，原来他被设计成压弯用来制造自杀亭用钢梁的机器人。在Fry的劝说下，Bender放弃了想自杀的想法，于是两人成了好朋友，而就在这时Leela发现了他们。

第三幕："欢迎光临人头博物馆。"

Fry和Bender躲进了人头博物馆Head Museum，遇到了Leonard Nimoy's head的头向他们问好。而两位警官Smitty和URLSmittyURL跟着Leela也加入了博物馆，发现了他们俩。Fry无意中撞到了架子上，把Richard Nixon's head的头撞了下来，惹得他咬住Fry不松口。Smitty和URL则对Fry滥用暴力，而Leela却想阻止他们这么做。在遭到两位警官对她的长相的羞辱（实际上他们挖苦的是她的鼻子而不是她的眼睛）之后，Leela把他们打倒在地，而Fry 和Bender趁机逃跑。Leela要求两位警官解释为什么要那样对待Fry—他们说那是他们份内的工作，他们[they]“得做自己[they]应做的工作”。

Fry和Bender把自己反锁在一间屋子里，把Leela挡在外面。Fry看见一扇有栅栏的窗口，只要Bender能把栅栏拧弯他们就可以逃跑，但Bender却无法照办，说他的程序规定他只能压弯建筑材料。不过，Fry劝说他摆脱对程序的依赖。Bender奋力拧弯了栅栏，突然明白自己可以随心所欲随时随地地拧弯任何东西。他们一路逃到地下的旧纽约城的废墟中，这时，Fry意识到他已经失去了曾经拥有的一切东西。Leela再次抓住了他们，但 Fry决定放弃抵抗，接受自己成为送货员的命运。而Leela却并没有为他植入芯片，而是对他的孤独感同身受，说自己还是一个婴儿的时候就被父母抛弃，所以她连自己的父母是谁都不清楚。她取下了自己的芯片，辞去了工作，感谢Fry帮她认识到，“你得做你应做的工作”这种说法是非常荒谬的，正如Fry帮Bender所认识到的一样。

Act IV: "We have you partially surrounded!"

Since all three have quit their jobs, Fry, Bender, and Leela realize that they are now fugitives of the law, so they hide at Planet Express where Fry's nephew Professor Farnsworth lives. After confirming his connection to Fry for himself, the Professor shows them his intergalactic spaceship. The building is then (partially) surrounded by the police, so they use the ship to escape. While they take off, the police open fire—but the bell tolls the year 3000, and the ship cannot be seen through the fireworks. Fry, Bender and Leela begin to ponder their lives as they are now unemployed until the Professor decides to hire them for an interplanetary delivery service he founded to fund his work. He even kept the career chips of his old crew as they had apparently been devoured by a space wasp (in actuality they had been stung to death by space bees). Fry is assigned to be a delivery boy...and he couldn't be happier.

Production

The script for "Space Pilot 3000" change numerous times during writing, and included two hours worth of material, much of which was used in later episodes.

Ideas to get to the future included having Fry being sold to the Professor for spare organs and one with Fry being a watchman at Applied Cryogenics. It was originally considered for Fry to be the captain and he might had been an army man.

There were also ideas for flashbacks to describe Fry's past, such as birth, college, etc., but this was scrapped because the writers felt it was important to have Fry in the future at the end of the cold opening. These ideas, however, later made it into other episodes such as "Mars University" and "The Luck of the Fryrish".

Originally, the man entering the tube system just before Fry was supposed to say "JFK, Jr. Airport", but this was changed, when John F. Kennedy, Jr. died in 1999, to "Radio Station Mutant Hall". In addition, Fry was originally going say "Empire State Building" and actually make his way to it, but this was probably scrapped because they wanted Old New York to remain more decayed.

There were plenty of ideas for the setting of Futurama considered to be established in the pilot episode, such as Statue of Liberty being robotic and the career chips.

The countdown sequence was the original brainchild of David X. Cohen, whom had considered this idea several times. Before putting it on the episode, Cohen as well as the animators were well aware that it would not happen like that due to timezones.

Reception

"Space Pilot 3000" aired on 28 March, 1999, 20:30 between The Simpsons and X-Files. In an review by Patric Lee for Science Fiction Weekly, who had only seen the first episode at the time of publication, described Futurama as a clever upstart, but did not feel it was as funny as its predecessor, though, it was certainly worthy of further viewings. Rob Owen for Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that the episode contained a similar skewed humour as The Simpsons, but felt it was not as funny and smart, however he attributed these issues to the fact that the pilot episode served for a lot of character introduction, and he felt that the show was "off to a good start".

Andrew Billen of New Statesman considered the first episode unoriginal, but praised its humorous background jokes such as during the sequence when Fry is frozen, but also criticised its use of in-jokes, such as Matt Groening's head at the Head Museum. He remained somewhat enthusiastic about the show. Joyce Millman from Salon Entertainment, on the other hand, praised the pilot's perception of American culture and the show's premise.

Despite airing between The Simpsons and X-Files it was Fox's most viewed show that evening, and gained exceptional high numbers according to Nielsen Ratings with 11.2/17 in homes. And was in fact the most viewed pilot episode on Fox when it aired.

In 2006, IGN ranked it as the 14th best episode on its 25 best Futurama episode list.

Additional Info

Trivia

The poster for this episode

• The first shot of New New York was also the first 3D sequence in the show, and an experiment of sorts.
• Leela is officer 1BDI ("one beady eye")
• It took the cartoonists over 2 years to come up with the look of the characters on the show.
• In the intro, the Statue of Liberty holds a gun in her torch hand, but during the episode, in the future, she is holding part of the travel tube
• The Original Alien Language devised by the writers and hidden throughout the episode was solved completely by fans after only the first and one airing. The Second language took several months
• When Fry is delivering the pizza, he passes by a sign written in Chinese. When translated, the characters say "fire" and "women." This probably being loosely translated to mean 'hot women'.
• Even though the show is supposed to begin in our time (1999), it is still in the future. (It premiered in March, showing December in the show.)
• In the rough draft version of the script, Michelle was named Janet, and Fry was actually named Curtis Fry. It was changed to Philip in honour of Phil Hartman, who was set to have a recurring role as Zapp Brannigan on the series until his unfortunate murder.
• John DiMaggio (Bender) had originally auditioned for the voice of the Professor, and co-creator David X. Cohen had actually considered doing the voice of Bender
• This was voted the best episode of Futurama during the Adult Swim marathon.
• The ship of the game Monkey Fracas Jr., at the start of the show, is the Planet Express ship.
• This episode is the highest rated Pilot episode in the history of the Fox Broadcasting Company.
• URL says he going to "get 24th century on his ass"; "get 24th century" has the same meaning as "get medieval." And partway through Fry's suspension, possibly around the 24th century, there was a medieval-type period, with New York rebuilt as castles before being destroyed again and rebuilt as the futuristic city.
• Bender takes Fry to hide inside the Head Museum saying, "It's Free on Tuesdays." 31 December 2999 will, in fact, be a Tuesday.
• Bender excretes a brick, a reference to a common slang phrase. He continually does this throughout the series when scared.
• During the countdown scene at the end of the episode (in the year 2999), France is shown, yet the inhabitants there use the English language instead of French. It is assumed that French in the future is a dead language; this idea is supported in a later episode where Professor Farnsworth invents a universal translator that can only translate into "an incomprehensible dead language".
• The places in the first countdown scene appear in this order:
  • New York; USA
  • Paris, France, Eiffel Tower Backdrop
  • Rome, Italy, Pope on Balcony turning "Calendar" of Roman Numerals
  • Cairo, Egypt, Desert, Sphinx and the other three Pyramids as backdrop
  • Athens, Greece, Acropolis as backdrop, two highlights next on the sides of it
  • China, Great Wall
  • India, Taj Mahal, some people counting down in Water
  • Small tribal village, Africa
  • Tokyo, Japan, very similar to New York shot except for the Japanese handwriting font
  • The entire Earth, shot from space.
• All the people in line before Fry select the "quick and painless" method of killing themselves.
• If one looks closely at Leela's computer screen, it actually reveals that Fry's full name is "Phillip J. Fry", which becomes an established fact in "The Problem with Popplers" (2ACV15)
  
  (however, his name is spelled with two L's instead of one). His blood type is said to be 'B'.
• The tube Fry falls in is number 40.

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.

Bender: Bite my shiny metal ass!
Fry: It doesn't look so shiny to me.
Bender: Shinier than yours, meatbag.

Fry: [Fry has just been unfrozen] My god! It's the future! My parents! My coworkers! My girlfriend... I'll never see any of them again. [pause] YAHOO!

Continuity

• "The Lesser of Two Evils" (2ACV06)
  
  • Bender believes a phone booth is a Suicide Booth, similar to what Fry did.
• "A Clone of My Own" (2ACV10)
  
  • Leela's (lacking) depth perception is mentioned again.
  • French is proved to be a dead language.
• "The Cryonic Woman" (2ACV19)
  
  • A couple passes by Fry, when he is walking, wearing mostly transparent clothing, censored with black bars.
  • These people have moved to Los Angeles by the events of 2ACV19
• "Leela's Homeworld" (4ACV02)
  
  • Leela's single eye is explained.
• "The Why of Fry" (4ACV10)
  
  • The shadow under the desk Fry sits at is explained.
• "The Sting" (4ACV12)
  
  • More information about the Professor's old crew is revealed.
• Bender's Big Score
  
  • It is revealed that Bender is the one who destroyed New York the first time.
• The Beast with a Billion Backs
  
  • Bender visits a suicide booth again and even does the coin-on-a-string trick again.

Allusions

• The space ships destroying the cities were similar to the ones in The War of the Worlds.
• The first scene (Fry teaching a kid how to play a video game) might be a reference to WarGames. In the movie, the first scene with David Lightman has him playing Galaga. He has to go and gives control of the game to a kid.
• One of the billboards in the future shows Angelyne, a real-life busty female entertainer that has billboards hanging around the Los Angeles area. In the cartoon billboard, she's hooked up to some sort of respirator.
• According to Groening, the inspiration for the suicide booth was the 1937 Donald Duck cartoon, "Modern Inventions", in which the Duck is faced with—and nearly killed several times by—various push button gadgets in a Museum of the Future.
• Professor Farnsworth is named after the inventor Philo Farnsworth, a Utah native and television pioneer whose invention was premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair, along with the Futurama exhibit.
• The feeding lady at the head museum is wearing a uniform like that at the corn-dog specific restaurant, Hot Dog on a Stick.
• Fry's outfit is based on James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.
• In addition to the setting, part of the original concept for the show was that there would be a lot of advanced technology similar to that seen in Star Trek, but it would be constantly malfunctioning. The automatic doors at Applied Cryogenics resemble those in Star Trek: The Original Series; however, they malfunction when Fry remarks on this similarity.
• The introduction is reminiscent of Star Trek intros in TOS and TNG ("Space: The Final Frontier..." becomes "Space: It seems to go on and on forever...") and has similar music and voice-over.
• Leonard "Spock" Nimoy says that he no longer does the Vulcan Salute, 'Live Long and Prosper'.
  • It is presumed in this episode it is simply because he has no hands, but the truth behind this statement is seen in the future episode, "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (4ACV11)
    
    .
• The rows of jars containing heads, with the one jar containing Nimoy's head in front to greet people, is reminiscent of the original series Star Trek episode "Return To Tomorrow", where the alien minds were preserved in glowing spheres, with Sargon in the one sphere in front.
• The relationship formed between Fry and Bender in this episode has been compared to the relationship between Will Robinson and the robot in Lost in Space.
• When Fry walks out of the lab, an ad on a taxi behind him reads "Got Protoplasm?", a reference to the series of "Got Milk?" advertising slogans.
• Another running gag of the series is Bender's fondness for Olde Fortran malt liquor, named after Olde English 800 malt liquor and the programming language Fortran. The drink was first introduced in this episode and became so closely associated with the character that he was featured with a bottle in both the Rocket USA wind-up toy and the action figure released by Moore Action Collectibles.
• In the earliest glimpse of the future while Fry is frozen in the cryonic chamber, time is seen passing outside the window until reaching the year 3000. This scene was inspired by a similar scene in the film The Time Machine based on H.G. Wells' novel.
• When Fry awakens in the year 2999, he is greeted with Terry's catchphrase "Welcome to the world of tomorrow." The scene is a joke at the expense of Futurama's namesake, the Futurama ride at the 1939 World's Fair whose tag line was "The World of Tomorrow".
• The heads in jars in order shown: Johnny Carson, Lucille Ball, Ed Begley, Jr., David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Elizabeth Taylor, Dennis Rodman, Billy Corgan, Matt Groening, Barbra Streisand, Rodney Dangerfield, a Hindu person (possibly Gandhi) and Dick Clark.
  • In the Hall of Presidents: Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Warren G. Harding, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison.
• There are numerous Simpsons refernences:
  • Rodney Dangerfield is drawn similar to his appearance in the Simpsons episode Burns, Baby Burns as Larry Burns.
  • There's a Ralph Wiggum-like character when Fry rides the tube.
  • When Fry is going through the transport tubes, he passes by a three-eyed fish - which is Blinky, from the Simpsons.
  • Fry's middle initial is J. This seems to be a popular choice for Matt Groening characters, having used it for Homer, Bart and Grampa on The Simpsons. Matt uses the "J." middle name, referring to one of his favourite shows, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
  • The chef on the Panucci's Pizza box is very similar to the chef Luigi in the Simpsons.
  • In the Simpsons two part episode Who Shot Mr. Burns?, Smithers dreamt that Mr. Burns was in a race on the TV. The intro to the race was an information text saying "In Color". The same font and color like in Space Pilot 3000. It is also interesting to note that Who Shot Mr. Burns? aired four years before Space Pilot 3000 did.
  • Fry has 9 spikes in his hair just like Bart Simpson from Groening's hit show The Simpsons.
• The film Sleeper has much the same premise as this episode. Also, the suicide booths are similar to Sleeper's Orgasmatron.
• The cryogenic chamber may be a reference to Red Dwarf. The main character Lister is punished by being put in a cryogenic chamber for 15 years, except something goes wrong and everyone dies on the ship due to a fatal radiation leak. Lister is left for 3 million years until the ships computer decides that the radiation level is safe enough for him to be released.
• When the head of Richard Nixon says "You just made my list!", this is a reference to the Watergate scandal. Nixon kept an "enemies list" of over 200 people whom he believed were part of a conspiracy against him.
• The person who uses the tube system before Fry says "Radio City Mutant Hall", a reference to Radio City Music Hall - but his original line was "JFK Junior Airport", a reference to the John F. Kennedy International Airport. The line was changed after the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (though it can still be heard in the animatic).
  • Although the JFK Jr. reference has been dubbed out (even on the DVD) in the Spanish dubbed version of this episode the man can still be heard asking to be taken to JFK Jr. Airport.
• Mystery Science Theater 3000 is referenced as the number "3000" is written on the moon. It looks like the MST3K logo, a planet with the name on it. It's even in the same font.
• Fry is playing a video game called Monkey Fracas Jr. at the pizza place, narrating it as he plays. The game starts out as a space shooter similar to Asteroids, Gradius and/or Defender, then approaches a Saturn-like planet at the end of the level. At that point, the planet breaks in half, and an ape resembling Donkey Kong emerges. The ape throws barrels at the spaceship and destroys it. The game's name itself is a parody of Donkey Kong, Jr.
• The gag of Fry & Bender hiding with their heads looking through shelves and being disguised by lots of other heads is from Young Frankenstein.'
• Star Wars:
  • The police use sticks that resemble the Lightsaber from Star Wars. Unlike their Star Wars counterparts, they are blunt weapons (like nightsticks/batons), rather than superheated blades.
  • When the policemen are beating Fry with their lightsaber clubs Leela says: "There is no need to use force" as a reference to The Force in Star Wars.
  • New New York is set out like Coruscant (mostly in the Opening sequence). The Planet Express Ship's entry, in the opening sequence, seems to be a parody of the Millennium Falcon's entrance into Cloud City in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
  • A guy on a jet bike is wearing a helmet like Leia wore in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi on the Speeder bike.
  • The part where Fry gets hit in the head by the remote door is a possible reference to the scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, where one of the Stormtroopers accidentally bumps his head into a similar gadget.
  • A sign on the street says "AKBAR." Admiral Ackbar is a character in Star Wars. Though, it is more likely to be a reference to Akbar, a character in Matt Groening's "Life in Hell" comic strip.
• People have chips implanted in their hands like in Babylon 5.
• Back to the Future references: Fry's character is based on Marty McFly, Fry shows a little kid how to play a video game, like Marty (in Back to the Future Part II), and when Fry runs out of the building to begin with, and looks around at New New York, like in Part II.
• When they go underground to the old New York is like Beneath the Planet of the Apes.
• The countdown to the millennium occurred at the same time all over the world is like Doctor Who (1996 film).
• The underground old New York City is similar to the slums underneath the city plates in Midgar in Final Fantasy VII.
• The pneumatic tubes that transport people all over New New York are an allusion to Beach Pneumatic Transit, which was a failed attempt in 1870 by Alfred Ely Beach to move people around New York by air power.
• The Robot Policeman, URL, says he would go "24th century on their ass." This being a reference to the 1994 film Pulp Fiction where the character Marsellus Wallace says to Zed and the Gimp "I'm a get medieval on yo' ass."
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a similar premise as this episode, the cynical Bender is much like Marvin the Paranoid Android and the coffee machine in Professor Farnsworth's ship may be a reference to The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in which a spaceship's specialty was producing hot drinks.
• The way Bender swallows his empty liquor bottle is reminiscent of a robot in the Isaac Azimov novel, The Caves of Steel
• Implanting a 'fate chip' in the palm of your right hand is from Logan's Run.

Goofs

• David Duchovny is seen in the Head Museum, but Calculon claims to be him in "The Honking" (2ACV18)
  
  .
• Before Fry enters the travel tube it went up and sideways not straight up as we see later in the next scene.
• At the Cryogenic facility, right where Fry shouts "Pizza delivery for..." the desk is positioned almost parallel to the window, but when Fry sits down at the desk, its positioned perpendicular to the window.
• In the 2999 countdown, Bender pulls the arms off the chair he was sitting on. A moment later, an armchair is missing.
• Leela wasn't wearing a ring prior to the handholding scene with Fry.
• After Bender gives Leela her ring back she puts it on, but then a second later it's gone.
• They misspelled "Barbara" Streisand. It's actually Barbra.
• When Leela calls for backup, her wristlojackimator is on the wrong wrist.
• Bender breaks two bars from the window when they are trapped in the cellar. In the next shot, he holds the bars, but they have re-appeared back in the window.
• The crowds in Paris at the New Year's countdowns for 1999/2000 and 2999/3000 are identical.
• It's dark outside in New York at midnight when Fry is frozen, but a long shot of the planet actually shows the eastern half of the United States as being in sunlight.
• Fry wasn't frozen for exactly 1000 years, as he was frozen at mid-night in 1999 but was un-frozen during the day in 2999. This may be explained by the leap days/seconds/weeks/years (more on Wikipedia).
• When Fry and Bender are at the bar, the barman hands Bender a bottle of liquor. He takes a big swig of it, but the level in the bottle remains the same.
• The year 2000 or 3000 are not the start of the new century or millennium contrary to what "Space Pilot 3000" says. In the Gregorian Calendar, this distinction falls to the year 2001/3001, because the first century began with year AD 1 (there was no year zero), and the thousand years spanned to years 1-1001.
  • Though, it is only Fry that specifically mentions it is a new millennium, which was commonly accepted among people that 1999/2000 was a change to a new millennium. One can suggest that the first millennium only contained 999 years and be done with it.
• When Fry is queueing for the booth, he opens the piece of paper, showing the picture and writing. Just before he steps in to the booth, it's changed colour and gone blank, then in the next shot it's back as before.
• When Fry falls into the cryogenic chamber his whistle drops right next to the chair. When it cuts, the whistle is gone.
• The career chips system introduced here contradicts several times throughout the series through job changes, incompetents, examples of a free market economy and references to the Earthican dream. Supposedly, you are required to work the job you have the chip for and the assignment is permanent.
• There is a bad framing error when Bender was carrying Farnsworth onto the ship.
• During the Countdown at '9' when they showed Egypt, the people didn't seem to resemble Egyptians.
• Since New New York was built on top of Old New York, the building the cryogenic lab was in should have been underground as well.
• Prof. Farnsworth's slippers change color and shape from one scene to the next.
• The last set of buildings built before Fry wakes up look different than it does when Fry wakes up and looks out the window.

Alien Language Sightings

Time:10:27
Location: Slurm advertisement in O'Zorgnax's Pub
Language: AL1
Translation: DRINK

Time:19:11
Location: Aliens counting down to 3000
Language: AL1
Translation: "6" and "7"

Time:15:26
Location: Graffiti in alleyway
Language: AL1
Translation: VENUSIANS GO HOME (Image)

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

As this is the first episode, every appearance is a debut appearance.

• 20th Century kid
• Bender
• Bike thief
• Dave Borden (in script)
• Dick Clark's head
• Fry
• Ipgee
• Leonard Nimoy
• Lou
• Michelle
• Mr. Panucci
• Nibbler (unofficial)
• Number 9 Man
• 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 Nimoy
• DVD Commentary
  • David X. Cohen
  • Gregg Vanzo
  • John DiMaggio
  • Matt Groening
  • Rich Moore

References

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