Space Pilot 3000

Act I: "Here's to another lousy millenium!"
Pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry has to deliver a pizza on New Year's Eve, his girlfriend dumps him, and his bike is stolen. The pizza goes to a non-existant I. C. Wiener in a cryogenics lab (located on floor 64), where he soon realises that it was a prank, so he sits down and drinks one of the beers, only to fall into a cryogenics tube (number 40) and get frozen for a thousand years. The Opening Sequence rolls.

Act II: "Strip naked and get on the probulator!"
Fry meets Leela and discovers that he has woken up on December 31, 2999 ("a million years!") Leela gives him a piece of paper with the details of his only living relative, his many times great nephew Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. She assigns him the permanent career of delivery boy, which he refuses. Leela falls into one of the cryogenic tubes, which is originally set for 1000 years but Fry changes it to 5 minutes and runs away. Once outside, he finds what he thinks is a phone booth and meets Bender waiting in line. The phone booth is actually a Suicide Booth and Fry and Bender manage to avoid death so Bender takes Fry to get drunk at a bar. Fry convinces Bender not to kill himself, because he is the only friend Fry has. However, Leela finds them.

Act III: "Welcome to the head museum."
Fry and Bender duck into the head museum to hide. Leonard Nimoy's head is apparently the greeter. Fry bumps into the shelves, knocking Richard Nixon's head down and provoking him to attack. The police officers, Smitty and URL, do police brutality on Fry - and Leela knocks them out, allowing Fry and Bender to run for it. Fry and Bender lock themselves in a room from Leela, during which Bender discovers his independency from his programming by bending the bars from a window: "From now on, I'm going to bend what I want and who I want! I'm unstoppable!" They go deep underground to the ruins of Old New York, where Leela once again catches up with them. Fry realizes that he has lost everything he left behind and gives in - but instead of implanting the carreer chip, Leela removes her own and decides to quit her job.

Act IV: "We have you partially surrounded!"
Fry, Bender, and Leela hide at Planet Express where Fry's nephew Professor Farnsworth lives. They escape into space using the Professor's intergalactic spaceship. While they take off, the police open fire - but it becomes the new year, and the ship cannot be seen through the fireworks. The Professor then engages them to be his new spaceship crew, with Fry acting as Delivery Boy.

Trivia

 * This episode is the highest rated Pilot episode in the history of Fox.
 * When Fry is going through the transport tubes, he passes by a three-eyed fish - which is Blinky, from the Simpsons.
 * The person who uses the tube system before Fry says "Radio City Mutant Hall" - but his original line was "JFK Junior Airport". The line was changed after the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (though it can still be heard in the animatic).
 * When Fry and Bender hide in the Head Museum, Matt Groening's head can be seen next to Barbra Streisand's.
 * This episode was named #14 on IGN's list of Top 25 Futurama Episodes.

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.

Questions

 * What was the shadow under the desk just before Fry fell in the tube?
 * It was Nibbler, whose presence is explained in the Why of Fry in season 4.

Fast Forward

 * Fry's girlfriend, Michelle, appears again in the episode "The Cryonic Woman" and then later at Fry's funeral in "The Sting".
 * A brief shot shows a shadow under the desk just before Fry falls into the freezer-tube. This shadow is explained in "The Why of Fry".
 * The ruins of Old New York are visited again in "The Luck of the Fryrish".
 * In Bender's Big Score it is revealed that Bender is the one who destroyed New York the first time, and that it happened in 2308.

Mistakes

 * 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 re-appeared back in the window

Real-World References

 * The introduction is reminiscent of Star Trek intros (with similar music and voiceover).
 * The barrel-throwin' gorilla is a reference to Donkey Kong.
 * The police use sticks that resemble the light sabres from Star Wars. Unlike their Star Wars counterparts, they are blunt weapons, rather than superheated blades.

Characters
As this is the first episode, every appearance is a debut appearance. (in alphabetical order)
 * 20th Century kid
 * Bender
 * Bike thief
 * 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