Stench and Stenchibility

← Previous	Navigation in production order	Next →

Season 7 episode Broadcast season 10 episode
Stench and Stenchibility
Dr. Zoidberg giving Marianne a flower.
No.	139
Production number	7ACV25
Written by	Eric Horsted
Directed by	Crystal Chesney-Thompson
Title caption	Not The Episode With The Dead Dog
First air date	28 August 2013
Broadcast number	S10E12
Title reference	The 1811 Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility
Opening cartoon	"Makin' 'Em Move"
Special guest(s)	Emilia Clarke Tara Strong
Additional
Commentary (Transcript) Transcript Pictures
Season 7
The Bots and the Bees A Farewell to Arms Decision 3012 The Thief of Baghead Zapp Dingbat The Butterjunk Effect The Six Million Dollar Mon Fun on a Bun Free Will Hunting Near-Death Wish 31st Century Fox Viva Mars Vegas Naturama Forty Percent Leadbelly 2-D Blacktop T.: The Terrestrial Fry and Leela's Big Fling The Inhuman Torch Saturday Morning Fun Pit Calculon 2.0 Assie Come Home Leela and the Genestalk Game of Tones Murder on the Planet Express Stench and Stenchibility Meanwhile ← Season 6 Season 8 →

"Stench and Stenchibility" is the one hundred and thirty-ninth episode of Futurama, the twenty-fifth of the seventh production season and the twelfth of the tenth broadcast season. It aired on 28 August 2013, on Comedy Central. It guest-stars Emilia Clarke as Marianne and Tara Strong as Tonya. Dr. Zoidberg meets the love of his life while Bender squares off in a deadly tap-dancing competition.

Plot

Act I: "It won't be long, Johnny cakes. My space bus gets in at four thirty."

Zoidberg video-chats a creature named Zindy, who he later reveals is his girlfriend to Fry, Leela and Bender. The three agree to help him clean his dumpster. When they begin, Bender attempts to help by dropping in a bug bomb. All of the bugs escape and attack the crew and Bender. He quickly sheds all of the bugs, but compulsively and meticulously stomps every one of them into mush. Arriving in time to observe this "performance", Randy invites Bender to compete in a local tap-dancing competition. Bender accepts the invitation, suddenly discovering his "brand-new dream of being the greatest tap-dancer in all the world!...Of all time!"

Going to meet Zindy at the bus station, Zoidberg decides to purchase flowers. He finds a flower vendor stall parked outside the Planet Express building. The vendor, a pretty woman named Marianne, offers to sell him some. He asks what the cheapest bouquet is ($6), and asks for half of them. He finally meets Zindy as she gets off the bus, where she complains of a terrible smell. The two then walk to the park, where she realises the smell is emanating from Zoidberg, at which point she vomits and leaves him forever.

Act II: "Can I have a refund now?"

Heartbroken, Zoidberg attempts to return his half-bouquet of now-wilted daisies for a refund. Already devastated over Zindy, he is crushed further when Marianne responds that she can't afford to refund the $3 that was his life savings, as her stall is unpopular due to reasons unknown to her. When Zoidberg breaks down in tears, she is moved, saying, "I can't stand to see a living thing cry." Zoidberg is charmed when she confirms with him, "You are a living thing, right?" Roberto appears and attempts to mug them, but Zoidberg finds that he has reached rock bottom. He carelessly confronts Roberto, even inviting Roberto to kill him. Gesticulating, Zoidberg happens to raise his arms, blasting Roberto with his horrible body odor and driving him away. Marianne is very impressed with Zoidberg having been so "brave and frugal". Zoidberg is confused that she isn't repulsed by his stench; Marianne explains that she was born with no sense of smell. After a montage of enjoyable dates, they find themselves having, as Zoidberg later puts it, "a wonderful night of lovemaking in my dumpster!"

At the tap-dancing competition, Bender meets his opponents, notably six-year-old Tonya, a little girl with a heart condition that requires her to live with a pacemaker. Tonya is over-the-top cute, and everyone is taken with her, except Bender.

When Zoidberg introduces Marianne to the Planet Express crew, everyone is amazed at Zoidberg's luck. After Marianne takes her leave, they ask the obvious question. When Zoidberg describes her defect, Hermes laments the lack of a cure. Farnsworth asserts that a skilled surgeon could indeed cure Marianne with a nose transplant. Zoidberg is genuine: he becomes excited while contemplating her happiness without realizing the sad consequence until the others bring it to his attention. With their encouragement but with terrible chagrin, Zoidberg decides he must forever keep the cure secret from Marianne.

As weeks pass, while Zoidberg and Marianne get to know each other, the tap-dance competitors are eliminated one by one until only Bender and Tonya are left. When Randy presents them to the audience, Tonya reminds everyone how over-the-top cute she is, and Bender announces, "I'm gonna kick your ass, little girl!" Later, arguing with Leela, Bender attempts to disabuse her of her notions about Tonya with, "I've looked into her eyes and seen her soul. She's a monster." When Fry and Leela leave, Tonya suddenly appears. She clubs Bender in the left knee with a police baton and runs away. Bender's leg is in need of repair or he won't be able to dance.

While Zoidberg and Marianne have been enjoying each other's company, Zoidberg has often been painfully reminded of his duplicity. After weeks of this, while on a picnic, Zoidberg describes the smell of a flower for Marianne. She responds, "I'd give anything to be able to smell a flower like that." Zoidberg is stricken. He reveals his secret and offers to give her the transplant. She joyfully accepts, as Zoidberg stoically takes on the weight of his new sorrow.

Act III: "Smell you later."

Zoidberg is preparing for Marianne's nose transplant as Bender limps in, asking Zoidberg for help with his badly injured leg. Zoidberg is wrapped up in his own issues and has no time for Bender. As Zoidberg sits at her bedside as Marianne is prepared for the procedure, she is unaware that for him, this is a goodbye. He starts to break down for a moment, but he pulls himself together and proceeds with the operation.

On stage at the tap-dancing competition, Tonya projects her cute image to the audience as she and Bender trade barbs under their breath. Because they have so much in common, Bender mentions that they could have been friends in another universe. She rebuffs him sharply. After their dance, while awaiting the judge's decision, Bender vows to Fry and Leela that he will dance on Tonya's grave. Tonya wins the contest and receives an award, but suffers a fatal "cute little heart attack" in the middle of her acceptance speech.

Marianne wakes from her anesthesia as Zoidberg sits sadly beside her bed. He offers her flowers so she can enjoy the scent for the first time, but she hates the smell. Zoidberg assumes that he is the source of the smell she finds offensive, but she discovers otherwise. She really does hate the smell of flowers, and she really does enjoy Zoidberg's stench.

To the horror of onlookers, Bender decides not to wait for Tanya to be buried, and he dances on top of her dead body, unwittingly dancing on her chest cavity. To Bender's horror, his dance restarts Tonya's heart. She sits back up and seems perfectly fine. To Bender's further horror, the previously horrified onlookers swarm him in order to congratulate and praise him.

Bender and Tonya are found later, having joined forces, tap dancing on the street with a hat on the ground for donations. When Hattie McDoogal arrives and drops money into their hat, they mug her and run away. Back at Zoidberg's dumpster, Marianne drives up in a dumpster truck as Zoidberg has a morning cup of dumpster juice. She explains that she had to get a job, and with Zoidberg's permission, dumps him and his dumpster into her truck. The two are last seen sitting together in the front seat and driving away.

Production

This section is in need of expansion. The reason given is: Countdown to Futurama Please add more content or information.

On 11 April 2012, Futurama writer Eric Rogers revealed that "[this episode and "7ACV26"] now [had] stories".

On 5 February 2013, Vulture.com released a preview clip for the tenth broadcast season, which contained footage from the episode.

On 22 August, MTV Geek released a 50-second preview clip featuring Fry, Leela, and Bender at the NNY Recreation Center.

By 23 August, a one-minute preview clip featuring Zoidberg meeting Marianne had been released.

Image Gallery

• 

  Concept art of Zoidberg's internet girlfriend Zindy.

• 

  Concept art of Amy in a nurse uniform.

• 

  Concept art of Marianne.

• 

  Promotional picture of Zoidberg and Marianne getting robbed by Roberto.

Additional Information

Trivia

• The episode premiered on the day that "Futuramarutuf" was released.
• Both this episode, which is the second-to-last episode of the tenth broadcast season, and "Viva Mars Vegas", which was originally planned to be the second-to-last episode of the ninth broadcast season, have Zoidberg as the main character.
• The title caption for the episode — "Not The Episode With The Dead Dog" — is presumably a reference to Seymour — Fry's dog. The episode referred to is most likely "Jurassic Bark", in which Seymour famously debuted.
• Zoidberg says that Zindy will arrive just in time for the "all you can stand" buffet at Chizzler. A restaurant called Chizzler was previously mentioned in "The Problem with Popplers".
• Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys Targaryen in the T.V. series Game of Thrones. She and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, who guest-stars in "Game of Tones", another episode of the season, used to date.
• Emilia Clarke is a huge fan of the show. The crew learned about it and immediately offered her a role, and she said "yes". The character Marianne is named after the writer Patric Verrone's daughter.
• The blonde woman in the pink dress, seen at the NNY Recreation Center, resembles Stephanie.
• Marianne mentions a "falafel guy". This may be the falafel cart man.
• In a deleted scene, Tinny Tim is selling newspapers announcing the end of World War VIII.
• This episode is very similar to the Simpsons episode "Dumbbell Indemnity" (1998), in which Moe starts dating Renee, a florist whose stall was across the road from Moe's Tavern. Moe also tries to stop a robber from stealing money from her, very similar to the way Zoidberg stops Roberto from stealing from Marianne. Both Moe and Zoidberg mention how they don't mind being killed as they have nothing to live for.
• The song that Bender and Tonya dance to is Yes Sir! That's My Baby by Coon-Sanders

Allusions

Click here to see cultural mentions made in this episode.

• The episode's title is a reference to the 1811 Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility.
• Bender's bug bombs are named "Hal's Roach Bombs", a homage to American film and television producer, director, and actor Hal Roach.
  The front part of Bender's box reads "KILLS THE LITTLE RASCALS!", a reference to the series of short films The Little Rascals, created by Roach.
• Marianne's flower stand is named "The Flowering Inferno", a reference to the 1974 film The Towering Inferno.
• The episode's plot loosely follows the storyline of the 1931 film City Lights, in which The Tramp (played by Charlie Chaplin) falls in love with a poor blind flower street-vendor and convinces her that he is rich and handsome. Upon hearing of a doctor that can cure her blindness, he is initially unwilling to tell her of this discovery as he doesn't believe she will love him if she could see what he really looked like.
• Marianne's character may be a reference to the character Eliza Doolittle, from the 1912 play Pygmalion and the 1964 film My Fair Lady, who had a Cockney accent and sold flowers, though the plots of the episode and the play/film differ greatly.
• Petunia's tap-dancing outfit may be a reference to the jogging ensemble of Marsha from the British sitcom Spaced, complete with lit cigarette.
• The name "Fleur de Liz" is a play on the names "fleur-de-lis" and "Liz". The use of "Liz" is a reference to actress Liz Taylor, whose preserved head is seen in the bottle.
• Bender's knee injury is a reference to the 1994 assault case where professional figure skater Nancy Kerrigan sustained a knee injury in an brutal attack by the ex-husband of fellow skater Tonya Harding. His cries of "Why? Why? Why?" match Kerrigan's reaction to the attack.
• Band-Ape is a reference to the line of adhesive bandages Band-Aid. "Bend-Aid", a concert at which Bender performs in "Bendin' in the Wind", is unrelated, being a reference to a series of charity efforts, known as "Band Aid", performed by numerous popular musicians during the 1980's.
• After Bender dances on his hands, Randy says "Ew, look at him dance; he don't care!". This is likely a reference to the honey-badger YouTube video. It may also be a reference to the Athenian nobleman Hippocleides.
• Bender's line "Together, we shall rule the galaxy!" is likely a reference to Star Wars' Darth Vader's line "Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son", from the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
• Bender's line, "In another life, we could have been friends" is likely a reference to the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror, in which a Romulan states "In a different reality, I could have called you friend." This same line is also referenced by Melllvar in "Where No Fan has Gone Before".
• An image of a pony can be seen inside Tonya's locker. This is most likely a reference to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, in which Tonya's voice actor, Tara Strong, voices the pony Twilight Sparkle.

Continuity

Zoidberg with white eyes.

• The professor uses the F-ray, previously seen in "Fry and the Slurm Factory" and "Murder on the Planet Express".
• In "The Six Million Dollar Mon", his previous appearance, Roberto was executed. No explanation is given for his return, although it is likely that it is due to him having a back-up unit.
• New Jersey's stench was previously referred to in "Attack of the Killer App".
• The professor calls Fry Orange Joe. In "Fun on a Bun", the professor asked Fry his name, and Fry told him that it was Orange Joe.
• Randy's line "The robot has to go!" was previously spoken in "I, Roommate". Both episodes are also written by the same person.

Goofs

• When Zoidberg says "Nope", his eyes are white.
• Roberto runs away from Zoidberg's smell, but it was previously stated that robots don't have a sense of smell. ^{[citation needed]}
  • In "The 30% Iron Chef", Bender claims to have the sense of smision. Roberto might have used smision to "smell-see" Zoidberg.
• Previous episodes have shown that Zoidberg can't tell the difference between male and female humans, yet in this episode he clearly can tell that Marianne is female.
  • He may have finally learned to tell the difference.
  • It may have been a good guess.
• After the camera zooms out to reveal that Zoidberg and Marianne are not at Burger King but at Limburger King, there is less space to the left of the "B".
• Zoidberg mentions "lovemaking" to Marianne in his dumpster, yet it was established in "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" that Decapodians die when they mate.
  • Actually what is said is that they die when they pass on their genes, it's possible that since he was mating outside of his species, he didn't die because he didn't pass on his genes.

Quotes

[Zoidberg and Marianne lean in to kiss each other for the first time, but Zoidberg pulls away.]
Zoidberg: First, let me pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming! [He pinches his arm with his claw and cuts it open.] [screaming] Owch! I forgot I was a giant crab!

Bender: The rest of you might as well give up now, 'cuz I'm gonna take home da— Hey. What's my grand prize gonna be?
Randy: Oh. There is no prize, Dorothy. Unless you count the satisfaction of winning.
Bender: It... will... be... mine!

Fry: Dude! You made the finals! Congrats!
[Fry smiles.]

Randy: Okay, dance maniacs. Let's have a big hand for our finalists — cute, little Tonya... and mean, old what's-his-name!

Appearances

(In alphabetic order)

Characters

• Amy
• Mrs. Astor
• Bender
• Dr. Cahill
• Professor Farnsworth
• Fry
• Debut: Greg
• H.G. Blob
• Hattie
• Hermes
• Leela
• Debut: Marianne
• Petunia
• Randy Munchnik
• Roberto
• Tinny Tim (deleted scene)
• Debut: Tonya
• Wash bucket
• Debut: Zindy
• Dr. Zoidberg

Places

• Central Park
• Chizzler (mentioned in speech only)
• Debut: Discount petting zoo
• Debut: The Flowering Inferno
• Debut: Limburger King
• New Jersey
• Debut: NNY Bus Terminal
• Debut: NNY Recreation Center
• Planet Express conference room
• Planet Express employee lounge
• Planet Express headquarters
• Zoidberg's dumpster
• Zoidberg's office

Miscellaneous

• Debut: Band-Ape
• F-ray
• Debut: Fleur de Liz Parfum
• French language
• Debut: Hal's Roach Bombs
• Lightspeed Briefs (cameo, 3:20)
• "Me, Bender"
• Debut: Parolee's Choice Bus Lines

References

← Previous	Navigation in production order	Next →