" Brannigan, Begin Again " is the second episode of the second production season of the American animated television series Futurama . It was originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 28, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Jeffrey Lynch.
Video Brannigan, Begin Again
Plot
The episode opens with Fry and Bender playing a rough and futuristic chess version, where Bishop Bender and Fry battle knights. Fry won, pushing Bender to send all his chess pieces after Fry.
The Planet Express crew arrived at the cutting of the New Order Planet (D.O.O.P.) base tape in orbit around the Neutral Planet, to provide a large pair of scissors to be used for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After deciding that Neutral Planet is evil and deceiving, Zapp Brannigan captures and interrogates the crew, thinking that they are assassins. Shortly thereafter, he destroyed D.O.O.P. headquarters by trying to use Nimbus 'laser to cut the ribbon from outer space.
In the former D.O.O.P. Headquartered in Weehawken, New Jersey, Brannigan is a military tribunal for his actions. Seeing the lack of proper testimony given, Leela took the attitude to expose Brannigan as "the saddest captain I've ever seen", but under cross examination, Brannigan tries to discredit her by making her confess one night they stand up. After a very short consideration, the jury found Brannigan guilty. Brannigan then unfairly claimed that it was largely the brainchild of Kif Kroker. Both were stripped of all their titles and dismissed disrespectfully from D.O.O.P. service. Unable to find work, the couple roam the streets until they arrive at the Planet Express building. Leela tries to reject it, but Professor Farnsworth decides to hire Brannigan to be good for the company's public image.
The added crew were sent to deliver a pillow to the hotel on Stumbos 4, a planet with high gravity. Despite Leela's orders to send one by one, Fry, Bender, and Zapp decided to send all the pillows at once, which, in strong gravity, caused the kite to fall. As a punishment, Leela orders them to hand the pillow instead of using a spare doll, causing hatred amongst the crew.
Fry, Bender, and Zapp rebelled against Leela, and locked him in the laundry room. Brannigan decides to attack his nemesis, Planet Neutral, thinking this will make him a hero and make him return as D.O.O.P. Captain. When Fry and Bender find out his plan is a suicide mission, they free Leela and he retakes command. With the help of Fry and Bender, he foiled Zapp's plan after he jumped ship with Kif.
Upon returning to Earth, Leela testified that Brannigan is an extraordinary hero, and D.O.O.P. returning Zapp and Kif, thus keeping them out of his life for a bit longer, as Kif interferes with Leela with his complaints about working under Zapp. Leela also decided to be a little more lenient with Fry and Bender, but when the Professor overthrew this, the three decided to rebel against her.
Maps Brannigan, Begin Again
Continuity
- The majority of judges in Brannigan's trial are characters from previous episodes of
. Among the familiar are: half Glurmo from "Fry and the Slurm Factory"; an Elder Robot from "Fear of a Bot Planet"; and Trisolian Fry's advisor from Gorgak of "My Three Suns". - While in D.O.O.P. headquarters, Fry is shown talking to a woman from the planet "Amazonia". Fry and other Planet Express crew will end up in Amazonia in "Amazon Women in the Mood".
- In the cold opening, 3-D chess game Bender and Fry play have the following characters as chess pieces: Decapodian; Wretched Gelatin Blobs; Lrrr ruler Omicron Persei 8; a Trisolian of "My Three Suns"; and Amphibious.
- When Leela regains control of the vessel because it will impact the Neutral Planet, she says, "I do not want to die at the age of 25!". Bender questioned this number.
- When trying to explain to Fry what D.O.O.P. is, Hermes compares it to the Federation of Star Trek, though it is later revealed in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" that any oral mention of Star Trek is a retaliable offense.
Cultural reference
The title is a play on Irish folk song "Michael Finnigan", also known as the chorus, "Finnigan, start again." The episode opens with Fry and Bender playing a game of chess similar to that played by Chewbacca and R2-D2 in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope . The order in which Zapp tries to earn a living as a gigolo is taken from Midnight Cowboy , including the movie theme, "Everybody's Talkin '" by Harry Nilsson.
Reception
In 2006, IGN.com placed this episode as number five in the "Top 25 Futurama " episode list. This episode is mostly due to the character of Zapp Brannigan, especially the Midnight Cowboy parody with Kif and Brannigan as Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, respectively. The review on 411mania also notes that Brannigan's comeback is the culmination of the episode and gives it an overall rating of 8.0/10 or "very good". In DVD Doug Pratt Pratt notes that the episode combines science fiction series arrangements with good character humor.
References
External links
- "Brannigan, Start Again" on TV.com
- "Brannigan, Start Again" in IMDb
- Brannigan, Starts Again in The New York Times Movies
- "Brannigan, Start Again" on the Infosphere, Futurama Wiki .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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