The Butterjunk Effect

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Season 7 episode
Broadcast season 9 episode
The Butterjunk Effect
No.120
Production number7ACV06
Written byMichael Rowe
Directed byCrystal Chesney-Thompson
Title captionPurveyors of Entertainment to Her Majesty the Space Queen
First air date18 July, 2012
Broadcast numberS09E06
Title referenceThe "butterfly effect" chaos theory
Special guest(s)Tom Kenny
Dawnn Lewis
Jill Talley
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript
Storyboard

Pictures

Season 7
  1. The Bots and the Bees
  2. A Farewell to Arms
  3. Decision 3012
  4. The Thief of Baghead
  5. Zapp Dingbat
  6. The Butterjunk Effect
  7. The Six Million Dollar Mon
  8. Fun on a Bun
  9. Free Will Hunting
  10. Near-Death Wish
  11. 31st Century Fox
  12. Viva Mars Vegas
  13. Naturama
  14. Forty Percent Leadbelly
  15. 2-D Blacktop
  16. T.: The Terrestrial
  17. Fry and Leela's Big Fling
  18. The Inhuman Torch
  19. Saturday Morning Fun Pit
  20. Calculon 2.0
  21. Assie Come Home
  22. Leela and the Genestalk
  23. Game of Tones
  24. Murder on the Planet Express
  25. Stench and Stenchibility
  26. Meanwhile
← Season 6Season 8 →

"The Butterjunk Effect" is the one hundred and twentieth episode of Futurama, the sixth of the seventh production season and the sixth of the ninth broadcast season. It aired on 18 July, 2012, on Comedy Central. It guest-stars Tom Kenny as Abner Doubledeal, Dawnn Lewis as Tank and Jill Talley as the trainer. Amy and Leela become addicted to "Nectar", a nutritional supplement that boosts their performance in the future sport of Butteryfly Derby.

Plot

Act I: "Wait, the Butterfly Derby is when? And what?"

While on a double date, accompanied by Fry and Kif, Amy and Leela make various catty comments to each other which they insist are a sign of their true friendship. They continue this behaviour during a delivery of moon rocks which are being returned to their place of origin. After the delivery, the Hydroponic Farmer invites the crew to a Butterfly Derby as an example of moon culture. The sport involves pairs of women in skimpy costumes fighting each other while they fly with wings strapped to their arms. Leela and Amy volunteer to fight the reigning champion Murderflies and are badly beaten in that game, but show enough promise that they are offered a position as a regular team.

Naming themselves the Wingnuts, Leela and Amy continue to lose every match, until they learn about a nutritional supplement called Nectar which will help to bulk up their flying muscles.

Act II: "It's not easy being a Derby wife."

Taking Nectar regularly improves their performance drastically, but puts a strain on their relationships as they become abusive and neglectful to Fry and Kif. Leela and Amy run into trouble when they qualify for a championship match against the Murderflies, who have bought up the entire available supply of Nectar, leaving Leela and Amy in desperate straits. The Professor reveals that Nectar comes from a flower native to Kif's planet, Fry suggests that the four of them (with Bender) make a trip there to find it; he hopes that having some time alone will give them an opportunity to rekindle their romances.

At the Butterfly Sanctuary where the Nectar can be found, the Grand Midwife warns them that it is mating season, and that something terrible will happen to them if they provoke the anger of the male butterfly. As the girls are off finding Nectar, the men accidentally find a male butterfly, and it sprays Fry with a horrible smelling liquid. They meet up again to spend the night with Kif's parents, who strictly order them to sleep in different bedrooms. However, Leela and Amy both find Fry's new scent irresistible and both sneak into his bed that night.

Act III: "Let's get this party ended."

The Professor explains that the women's uncontrollable lust is caused by the fact that Fry has been sprayed by male butterfly pheromones, and the Nectar has made Leela and Amy respond to them as female butterflies would, much to Kif's jealousy and anger. They decide that they must quit Nectar completely. Although they find the detox difficult and suffer withdrawal symptoms, Leela and Amy manage to overcome their dependency just in time for their championship match. Meanwhile, the pheromones have made Fry feel sick, and he has built a cocoon for himself on the ship.

At the fight, Leela and Amy are no match for the Murderflies. As they are about to be thrown into a pit of lava, Fry enters the building; he has transformed into a butterfly, and the Murderflies are so attracted to him that they forget the match entirely. Although things do not look good for Fry, he ultimately sheds the butterfly anatomy and returns to his normal self.

Production

On 29 February 2012, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Michael Rowe and its director to be Crystal Chesney-Thompson.[1][2]

In May, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode.

It has so far released eight items: A design of a new character, Tank, which revealed the episode's plot on 30 May,[3] a promotional picture showing Amy and Leela as wingnuts on 31 May,[4] part of the storyboard showing Leela kiss Fry on 1 June,[5] a design of another new character, an old lady, on 2 June,[6] a promotional picture showing Farnsworth watch Leela and Amy kissing Fry on 3 June,[7] a design of a nose-pronged device on 4 June,[8] a video clip featuring Kif, Amy, Leela, Fry and Bender in what resembles the inside of a tree - where Leela and Amy kiss-fight over Fry - on 5 June[9] and the fifth Futurama podcast[10] - which revealed more information about Butterfly Derby, Tank (including the fact that she is actually named "Truck"), Nectar, the old lady, the plot and the nose-pronged device - on 6 June. On 28 June, MSN TV revealed the episode's air date.[11]

In an interview with David X. Cohen on wired.com, it was revealed that the Butterfly Derby sport is played on the low-gravity surface of the Moon, where players can strap on wings and attack their opponents. Cohen added: "It's like a roller derby, with human butterflies."[12]

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 "The Butterjunk Effect" were shown during the live stream.[13]

Additional information

Allusions

Click here to see cultural mentions made in this episode.
  • The episode's title is a reference to the chaos theory the butterfly effect.
    • The episode's title could also be a reference to the film The Butterfly Effect, which is named after the chaos theory.
  • Leela's boots, which Amy correctly identifies as knockoffs, sport bright red soles that are the signature of French footwear designer Christian Louboutin.
  • Low-gravity flying wings on the moon featured in Robert A. Heinlein's The Menace from Earth (1957).
  • While delivering the moonrocks when the gang is playing with them in the moon's reduced gravity, Amy says that they're so light that she doesn't need her "over-the-shoulder boulder holder". This is an older, silly rhyme referring to a bra.

Continuity

Quotes

    [Leela gives Fry a long kiss.]
    Leela: Keep your door unlocked tonight.
    Fry: But McGruff the Crime Dog says... [He realises what she is hinting at.] Oh!

    Leela: There's nothing more to talk about.
    [Leela kisses Fry repeatedly.]
    Fry: No, no! [Amy begins kissing Fry.] Keep talking.

    Leela: Professor, there's nothing wrong with Nectar. It's all natural.
    Farsnworth: So are carrots, but you don't see me injecting them between my toes!
    [He lights up a carrot and smokes it.]

    Fry: Bender, you wanna go out and do something?
    Bender: Oh, so now I'm your last resort booty call, huh? Okay, let's go!

    Amy: Oooh, I love your boots, Leela. Nobody would ever guess they're knock-offs.
    Leela: How can you tell?
    Amy: I guessed.

    Amy: At least the rocks are light here. I don't even need my over-the-shoulder boulder holder.

    Bender: With one sixth gravity, you can work and be lazy at the same time! It's like being a voice actor!

    Fry: Wait, the Butterfly Derby is when? And what?

    [Bender and Fry make cat sounds towards Leela and Amy.]
    Amy: Okay, enough of that already. We're not really fighting.
    Bender: Then prove it! By fighting!

    Leela: Well, we lost to all our opponents. Even that team that turned out to be us in the mirror.

    Morbo: Once again, Eternliax the Immortal, dead, at the age of 26.

Trivia

Goofs

  • In one scene, Bender is seen smoking a carrot, but when the camera changes angles, the carrot is gone.
  • Leela's midriff section of her tank top is miscolored for a few frames around 4:40 as she regains control after the descent.
  • During Leela and Amy's first fight after they hit the zapping lamp, the lower half of Leela's tank top is miscolored for a second, making it look like her skin.
  • The Professor mentions the moon rocks being taken to Earth by the Apollo program, although knowledge about the first moon landing has been lost in the 31st century. Or maybe, after Fry and Leela found the landing site, Apollo became publicly known again, which would also explain why the Moon claimed the rocks then and not earlier.
  • During the final fight, Leela says she once killed a sea turtle with the boots she is wearing, but the boots are not the ones she usually wears. They are the same as Amy's.
    • The fact they are not her normal boots doesn't mean she did not kill a sea turtle in them.
  • After landing on Kif's planet, there is a close-up on Fry with the line "Hey Leela, wanna know what the most beautiful thing is?", with Leela in the foreground of the shot. Here, Leela has her pre-Nectar physique; her shoulders are not as bulky and her clavicle is not defined.

Appearances

(In alphabetic order)

Characters

Miscellaneous

References

  1. ^ Episode Guide: 7 ACV. (CGEF.) 29 February 2012. Retrieved on 29 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Just Fan" (29 February 2012). "Futurama: Futurama News (pre-season 7)". (PEEL.) Retrieved on 29 February 2012.
  3. ^ Matt Tobey (30 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Butterfly Fighter. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 30 May 2012.
  4. ^ Matt Tobey (31 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Wingnuts. (Comedy Centrl].) Retrieved on 31 May 2012.
  5. ^ Matt Tobey (01 June 2012). Countdown to Futurama: McGruff Storyboard. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 01 June 2012.
  6. ^ Matt Tobey (02 June 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Old Lady Butterfly Fighter. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 02 June 2012.
  7. ^ a b Matt Tobey (03 June 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Orgy. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 03 June 2012.
  8. ^ Matt Tobey (04 June 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Nose Pronged Device. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 04 June 2012.
  9. ^ a b Matt Tobey (05 June 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Leela and Amy Kissing Fry Clip. (Comedy Centrl [sic].) Retrieved on 05 June 2012.
  10. ^ Comedy Central (05 June 2012). iTunes - Podcasts - Futurama: Countdown to Futurama by Comedy Central. (iTunes Store.) Retrieved on 06 June 2012.
  11. ^ Futurama - Episode Guide. (MSN TV.) Retrieved on 09 June 2012.
  12. ^ Scott Thill (20 June 2012). Next Up on Futurama: Robot Sex, End Times and Bender’s Brainy Ass. (Wired.) Retrieved on 23 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Tastes Like Fry" (12 July 2012). "Newsarama! (Futurama News Thread)" (page 1). (PEEL.) Retrieved on 13 July 2012.