Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences

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Season 6 episode
Broadcast season 7 episode
Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
Leela or Ndnd.jpg
Lrrr and Ndnd go through marriage difficulties.
No.99
Production number6ACV11
Written byPatric M. Verrone
Directed byCrystal Chesney-Thompson
Title captionTwo scoops of pixels in every scene
First air date26 August, 2010
Broadcast numberS07E11
Title referenceThe 1984 film Irreconcilable Differences or the legal term that it is named after
Special guest(s)Matt Groening
David X. Cohen
Katee Sackhoff
Sergio Aragonés
Nomination(s)Emmy Awards
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, Maurice LaMarche as Lrrr and Orson Welles' head, 2011 (won)[1]
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript

Pictures

Season 6
  1. Rebirth
  2. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
  3. Attack of the Killer App
  4. Proposition Infinity
  5. The Duh-Vinci Code
  6. Lethal Inspection
  7. The Late Philip J. Fry
  8. That Darn Katz!
  9. A Clockwork Origin
  10. The Prisoner of Benda
  11. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
  12. The Mutants Are Revolting
  13. The Futurama Holiday Spectacular
  14. The Silence of the Clamps
  15. Möbius Dick
  16. Law and Oracle
  17. Benderama
  18. The Tip of the Zoidberg
  19. Ghost in the Machines
  20. Neutopia
  21. Yo Leela Leela
  22. Fry Am the Egg Man
  23. All the Presidents' Heads
  24. Cold Warriors
  25. Overclockwise
  26. Reincarnation
← Season 5Season 7 →

"Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" is the ninety-ninth episode of Futurama, the eleventh of the sixth production season and the eleventh of the seventh broadcast season. It aired on 26 August, 2010, on Comedy Central. It guest-stars Katee Sackhoff as Grrrl and Sergio Aragonés and Futurama creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen as themselves. After a bungled Earth invasion, Omicronian leader Lrrr faces a mid-life crisis.

In 2011, Maurice LaMarche won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing the roles of Lrrr and Orson Welles' head in this episode.

The Story

Act I: "I am Lrrr, ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8!"

Stopping her husband watching The Scary Door, Ndnd becomes fed up with Lrrr's lack of motivation to conquer other worlds. He reluctantly invades Earth. However, he arrives during Comic-Con 3010 and is mistaken for a costume contest participant and leaves dejected. Concurrently, Fry attempts to author a superhero comic book featuring himself as the superhero saving a captured Leela from a malevolent alien. The crew is unimpressed with the comic, with the exception of the back page of novelty toy ads for X-Ray Specs, vomit, sea monkeys, and the Professor's disintegration guns, which are actually only teleportation guns. Leela also criticizes the comic, leaving Fry to figure out how to make the story more compelling.

Back on Omicron Persei 8, Ndnd learns of Lrrr's failure and kicks him out of their home. Lrrr returns to Earth, seeking shelter at the Planet Express headquarters.

Act II: "I'll do it for free."

The crew diagnoses Lrrr and his marriage problems as symptomatic of a midlife crisis. Leela encourages Lrrr to recommit himself to his marriage with Ndnd, but he listens instead to Bender and gets horn extensions, flashy new clothes, and goes out to The Hip Joint to meet new women. There he meets an attractive female Omicronian named Grrrl. While on a date with her, she reveals that she is actually a human woman from the Comic-Con wearing an Omicronian costume. Though she is very attracted to real Omicronians, Lrrr rejects her and seeks Leela's advice on how to win back Ndnd.

Fry and the crew help Lrrr stage an invasion of Earth using a fake broadcast with the help of Orson Welles' head à la the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast. Ndnd is fooled, but so is Zapp Brannigan and the Earthican army, who immediately surrender Earth to Lrrr.

Act III: "She is not the boss of you. I am the boss of you!"

Leela scolds Lrrr, demanding that he end the charade and tell Ndnd the truth, but he hesitates due to Ndnd's renewed romantic interest and forces the citizens of Earth into slavery. During this time, Leela constantly nags Lrrr about telling Ndnd the truth, which causes Ndnd to become suspicious about their relationship. She confronts Lrrr, demanding to know if he is having an affair. Grrrl reappears, announcing that she loves Lrrr and will fight for him, brandishing a disintegration ray. Ndnd quickly takes the weapon and shoots Grrrl, causing her body to disappear. Ndnd reveals that she is not upset that Lrrr may have been minutely romantically involved with Grrrl, but that Lrrr allowed Leela to nag him, which Ndnd feels is her role and right as his wife. She invokes an Omicronian rite called Rrrmrrrmrrrfrrrmrrr or Consequences where Lrrr is reluctantly forced to prove his love for Ndnd by shooting Leela, whom he values as a friend, with the Farnsworth Novelty Disintegrator Ray.

As he fires, Fry leaps in front of Leela, sacrificing his life. Ndnd is moved by Lrrr's demonstration of love and the two happily depart back to Omicron Persei 8. Leela is devastated by Fry's sacrifice. However, as the Omicronians depart, Grrrl reappears, shocking the crew. She reveals that the disintegration gun is merely one of the Professor's novelty teleportation guns that she purchased from an ad in the back of a comic book. She then begins to hit on Zoidberg who responds by saying of course he'll marry her. Realizing that Fry is alive, the crew find him back at Planet Express, putting the finishing touches on his comic. Inspired by his own heroic actions, his super hero counterpart attempts to rescue Leela from the malevolent alien by leaping in front of its ray gun. Leela is pleased with the new ending and commends the comic book, giving Fry a kiss on the cheek.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" was viewed by an estimated 1.981 million households, a bounce of 200,000 viewers since "The Prisoner of Benda".[2]

The episode was given a rating of 9 out of 10 from IGN - an 'Outstanding'.[3]

On 14 July, 2011, Maurice LaMarche was nominated for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for his performances as Lrrr and Orson Welles' head in this episode at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.[4]

Additional Info

Trivia

Quotes

Allusions

  • The episode's title is a reference to either the 1984 film Irreconcilable Differences or the legal term that the film is named after.
  • 'Peace With Honor' was a phrase Nixon used to explain the US withdrawal from Vietnam near the end of the Vietnam War.
  • Lrrr watches an episode of The Scary Door, which is a reference to The Twilight Zone.
  • Orson Welles recreates his 1938 radio broadcast based on H. G. Wells' book The War of the Worlds.
  • During the fake broadcast of an invasion, Orson Welles says, "We interrupt our program of the Jonas Brothers and their Orchestra...". A reference to the pop band, The Jonas Brothers and to Ramon Raquello and His Orchestra, which was 'interrupted' in the original "War Of The Worlds" radio broadcast.
  • Lrrr brings back the face of J.J. Abrams, a famous movie director as well as the creator of Lost.
  • Bender's phrase "Dork calling Orson" when Fry is calling Orson Wells is a reference to the 1978-1982 Robin Williams sitcom Mork & Mindy.
  • The location of the Omicronian ancient ritual is White Planes, NNY: a reference to the city White Plains, NY.
  • Ndnd's line "She is not the boss of you! I am the boss of you!" is a reference to the video game Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
  • The Farnsworth Novelty Disintegrator Ray that is really a teleporter ray is similar to the transmat, from the science-fiction show Doctor Who.
The Comic-Con sequence, for example this costume contest scene, is filled with references.

Comic Con

The Comic Con section especially is filled with allusions and references:

Continuity

Goofs

  • At The Elegant Elephant, Lrrr shoots the salesman with his lasergun, but in the mirror his arm moves slightly earlier than the actual one.
  • When Lrrr and Bender go to The Hip Joint, Grrrl asks "Hey, cool cape, wheredja get that?" and Lrrr responds "What, this old thing? I murdered my father." However, Lrrr's cape is extremely similar, if not identical, to the one he has worn throughout the series.
    • He may have actually killed his father, who was last seen in Into the Wild Green Yonder, and acquired an identical cape accordingly.
    • His claim might have been an outright lie, as an attempt to impress Grrrl.
  • When they are broadcasting live, they are in the Planet Express building and then suddenly by the White House.
  • No one should be dressed like the Brain Spawn because no one except Fry was able to remember that the brains tried to conquer and destroy Earth and "no one believed him or cared what he had to say".[3ACV07]
    • The fact no one remembers that the Earth was attacked by Brain Spawns doesn't mean that people are completely unaware of their existence.
    • Since some time has passed, their openness regarding the matter may have changed.
  • When Leela tries to persuade Lrrr to avoid another War of the Worlds, just before Fry calls Orson Welles, Lrrr's horns are the same colour as the rest of his skin.
  • When Lrrr shoots the robot in the clothing store, his "LRRR" necklace is legible in the mirror, when it should be reversed, and his reflection puts away its gun before he does.
    • Clothing-store mirrors are shown to have reality-altering effects earlier in the series.[1ACV06]
  • According to the episode "When Aliens Attack", Omicron Persei 8 is 1000 light years away so shows are 1000 years late yet Ndnd sees the broadcast.
    • That only pertains to old 20th-century broadcasts and not something of that time's standards which are specifically being transmitted toward the planet. This corroborates with Professor Farnsworth's claim in "A Clone of My Own" that the speed of light was changed in 2208.

Appearances

(In alphabetic order)

Characters

Places

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Miscellaneous

Notes and references

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Robert Canning (27 August 2010). Futurama: "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" Review. (IGN.) Retrieved on 23 October 2010.
  4. ^ 63rd Primetime Emmy® Awards (PDF). 14 July 2011. Retrieved on 14 July 2011.
  5. ^ See also Star Trek.