Fun on a Bun

← Previous	Navigation in production order	Next →

Season 7 episode Broadcast season 9 episode
Fun on a Bun
Bender pulling a woolly mammoth's body out of a hole.
No.	122
Production number	7ACV08
Written by	Dan Vebber
Directed by	Stephen Sandoval
Title caption	50% More Colors Than Bargain-Brand Cartoons
First air date	1 August 2012
Broadcast number	S09E08
Title reference	Bender's catchphrase "fun on the bun"
Additional
Commentary (Transcript) Transcript Animatic Storyboard 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 →

Not to be confused with Fun on the bun.

"Fun on a Bun" is the one hundred and twenty-second episode of Futurama, the eighth of the seventh production season and the ninth broadcast season. Fry is the victim of a horrific sausage-making accident.

Plot

Act I: "I had to have the break-up sex by myself."

The Planet Express crew are lazying around, Fry and Leela are seen sharing a dip. Leela reacts to his actions by calling him disgusting because he double dipped. Meanwhile the Professor states that the team are working to hard, Bender agrees with him. The Professor decides that the team should get to know one another in a social setting, The Professor states that he in fact doesn't know their names. Amy reply's to the professor asking where the team are going to go. The professor reply's by answering "Lets wait three months and go to Oktoberfest". The crew celebrate with a cheer. The Planet Express Crew arrive at Oktoberfest, whilst Fry is unsure what has happened to the original Oktoberfest, Amy explains that Oktoberfest has developed into a sophisticated event over the years, Leela commands Fry to be on his best behaviour. Fry is outraged and wants to party. Meanwhile Bender wants to enter his Food in the Sausage Contest, however Elzar states that he cannot enter just any type of meat and that he needs to be more creative, Bender is upset and promises to kill his craigslist Pig, Grundy another day. The crew however, are seated at a dinner table and Fry wants more beer and it is strictly off limits, however he drinks the alcohol from a spitoon and becomes drunk whilst embarrassing Leela with his chicken hat dance, Leela is so outraged that she breaks up with Fry. Fry is heartbroken, he starts discussing his problem with Bender and states that he had to have the break-up sex by himself.

Production

In 2011, a few revelations concerning the episode were made. On 15 November, Futurama assistant director Aimee Steinberger revealed that "[the production team was] done with [the episode]", calling it "[her] most time intensive grueling ep ever", and that the animatic would be screened "on the FOX lot [on the next day]". On the next day, after leaving the screening, she revealed that "Everyone [had] liked it" and, after watching the animatic, Futurama writer Eric Rogers revealed that it "might be [the best episode of the ninth broadcast season]", calling it "EPIC".

In 2012, more revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Dan Vebber and its director to be Stephen Sandoval. On 20 April, Steinberger revealed that she "[had seen] fully animated color acts 2 and 3 back from Korea on [her 7ACV08 the previous day]" and that she "still [thought it was] a really great show" and Rogers jokingly asked her if "[she had been] expecting it to be worse". On the next day, she, in reply to him, revealed that "[it had been] demanding a lot" and that "[she thought that] when [it was] done [it would] be nice" and he, in reply to her, revealed that "[it was] a monster, for sure, but [that Rough Draft] always [delivered]" and that "[it would] be awesome as always". By 8 June, MSN TV had revealed the episode's plot and air date.

In June, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released seven items: a design of the cover of Unfrozen Dude Magazine on 13 June, a design of a Neanderthal chief on 14 June, part of the storyboard set in a sausage contest showing Bender angry about winning third place and Zapp as a judge on 15 June, a design of a Neanderthal version of Fry on 16 June, a promotional picture showing a drunk Fry on 17 June, a video clip featuring Bender and a drunken Fry, wearing a chicken over his head, searching for woolly mammoth with an elephant detector on 18 June and a promotional picture of a group of Neanderthals charging with woolly mammoth on 19 June. The seventh Countdown to Futurama podcast revealed more information about the episode, including elements of its plot.

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 "Fun on a Bun" were shown during the live stream.

Reception

On 3 May 2012, Aimee Steinberger revealed that she had "watched the finalish color, full animation for [the episode] at the FOX lot [on that day]", that "it really did turn out nice" and that she was "Really proud of [it]" and Eric Rogers called it the "2013 Emmy nominee", "Epic fun" and "awesome".

Additional information

Trivia

• This episode is among the Futurama media featuring its title within the story.
• This episode was first broadcast the same day Futurama Comics issue Lost Our Leela was released, both stories feature Leela loosing memories.
• Polka/rock band Brave Combo recorded two songs to be used in the Oktoberfest scenes during this episode, as well as a cover of the Chicken Dance. The band have also appeared in Matt Groening's other show The Simpsons, in the episode Co-Dependent's Day. Groening is a long-time fan of the band.

Allusions

• The episode's title is a reference to Bender's catchphrase "fun on the bun".
• Bender putting a giant set of ribs in front of Zapp Brannigan is a reference to the closing credits of the The Flintstones.
• Leela's memories of Fry are erased in Annie's Forgettery, this could be an allusion to the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
• The region of Valley corresponds with the modern Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Continuity

• "Love's Labours Lost in Space" (1ACV04)
  
  • Zapp tells Leela that "this time I'm the one criticizing the sausage."
• When Leela regains all her memories of Fry, scenes of them together are shown from "Space Pilot 3000", "The Series Has Landed", "Fear of a Bot Planet", "My Three Suns", "A Flight to Remember", "Leela's Homeworld", "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", "The Sting", "The Farnsworth Parabox", "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Bender's Game", "Into the Wild Green Yonder", "The Late Philip J. Fry", "The Prisoner of Benda", "The Mutants Are Revolting" and "Overclockwise".

Quotes

Professor: Crew, you're working too hard.
[Bender staples another picture of a clown to the wall, which has been poorly coloured in, like a child's drawing.]
Bender: Tell me about it.
Professor: For once, I thought it might be nice to do something in a social setting! Finally get to know each other. Why, I don't even know half your names! [He points to Fry.] You, boy! What do they call you?
Fry: Most folks just call me 'Orange Joe'.

Bender: Hey, Elzar! I've just recently started always having dreamt of being a sausage making champion.

Fry: I hate future Oktoberfest! It's supposed to be beer and bratwurst, not break ups and - [He gestures towards a History Kiosk.] - boring thing!

Bender: It's tragedy on a bun!

Zapp: [He summons a squad of small fighters with a controller.] Behold our latest weapon. A revolutionary fleet of unmanned drones...with men in them.
Leela: Then how are they unmanned?
Zapp: The men are just for ballast. I control all the drones from this single unit. [He holds up controller.] Foolproof and durable; it's designed to withstand the weight of a modern day elephant foot. [A wooly mammoth tramples them, making Zapp drop the controller, which is crushed by the mammoth's foot, causing the drones to crash and explode.]

Goofs

• The Neanderthals already speak English when they find Fry.
• Ground sloths and saber-tooth cats were only found in the Americas, thus Neanderthals would have never interacted with them. Furthermore, the Neanderthals would have froze over before these species went extinct
• During the invasion, the ship is seen firing, but in previous episodes a gunner (Fry) was in place. The gunner position itself is unnecessary if Leela can control the ships guns all from her console.
  • It is most likely that the ship has a targeting system via Leela's console, but a manual gunner position is available to take the strain off of the captain so he/she can concentrate on flying.
• Although the map of Germany and the location of the famous Neanderthal are quite accurate, the Oktoberfest is actually held in Munich, in the southeast. The glaciers of the Alps nearby would have made a good place for finding prehistoric mammoths and people, since for example Ötzi the Iceman was found there.
  • The history booth specifies that Oktoberfest has been held in the Neander Valley for "hundreds of years," implying that it had been held somewhere else earlier.
• Bender says that the mammoth will have been aged for 30,000 years -- but freezing meat does not age it.
• The Neanderthals are shown having a catapult, but the catapult wasn't invented till about three thousand years ago, long after the Neanderthals were trapped.However they may have invented themselves

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

• Amy
• Bender
• Elzar
• Farnsworth
• Fry
• Debut: Grundy
• Hermes
• Kif
• Leela
• Debut: Neanderthal chief
• Ron Whitey
• Zapp
• Zoidberg

References

← Previous	Navigation in production order	Next →