Otherwise
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| Season 9 episode Broadcast season 12 episode | |||||
| Otherwise | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | |||||
| No. | 160 | ||||
| Production number | 9ACV10 | ||||
| Written by | Nona di Spargement | ||||
| Directed by | Ira Sherak | ||||
| Title caption | We're not out of networks yet! | ||||
| First air date | 30 September, 2024 | ||||
| Broadcast number | S12E10 | ||||
| Opening cartoon | Balloon Land by Ub Iwerks (1935) | ||||
| Additional | |||||
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| Season 9 | |||||
"Otherwise" is the one hundred and sixtieth episode of Futurama, the tenth of the ninth production season and the tenth of the twelfth broadcast season. It aired on 30 September, 2024, on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
Plot
Act I
The Planet Express crew is in chaos as their ship is in flames. Leela's attempt to recline her chair accidentally sends the ship into "catastrophe mode" with its wires crossed. This leads to a series of mishaps, including the ship's windshield wipers being activated by the sprinkler button and Bender getting mangled by the can opener again.
The ship crash-lands in the Planet Express hangar, much to the indifference of Professor Farnsworth and Hermes. After the can opener miraculously cuts an escape hole for the crew, they emerge from the wreckage, haggard and exhausted. The Professor mourns the loss of his ship, while Bender complains about his injuries, only to be dismissed by Hermes, who is more concerned with the can opener.
The ship's remains are towed in a funeral-like procession to the Graveyard of Spaceships. As the crew prepares to scuttle the ship, a mournful Bender complains about alternate realities, and Kif plays the bagpipes while Zapp serenades the crew with a rendition of "Rock the Boat." After Zapp announces that the ship will be scuttled in a few minutes, the crew decides to take one last walk through their old ship. Fry is overwhelmed with memories and collapses in his and Bender's old sleeping quarters.
Leela and the rest of the crew, except for Fry, exit the ship. Zapp tells Leela that the scuttling charges will detonate in 15 seconds, not 15 minutes as he had originally told them. The crew frantically rushes back into the ship to save Fry, but they are too late. The ship is dropped into a plasma sea with the crew still inside, as the crew of the Planet Express ship is lost forever.
Act II
Following their ship's scuttling, the Planet Express crew miraculously survives, pulled from the "quasi-neutral plasma" by Scruffy. Fry reveals he suffered a strange episode, seeing flashes of not only things that happened but also things that didn't or might not have.
The scene shifts to Fry, who, after this near-death experience, decides to propose to Leela. He tells Bender that he's going to propose to her at sunset on top of the Vampire State Building, the same location where he proposed in "Meanwhile". Leela meets him there, and as they prepare to celebrate, Fry has a feeling of déjà vu, remembering the table, the napkins, and even having a champagne toast.
As Fry tries to propose with a diamond ring, he's once again overwhelmed by a barrage of flashes from his memories. He becomes disoriented, muttering about seeing "plain white napkins." Leela tries to console him, but he stumbles backward, narrowly avoiding a fatal fall from the building, and collapses. Leela and János, the waiter, rush to help the unconscious Fry.
Act III
Fry is examined by Dr. Zoidberg for his "déjà vu" spells. Fry insists that his experiences are more than just déjà vu, claiming to see things that have happened and things that have yet to happen. Leela, who accepted Fry's proposal, tries to be supportive, but the Professor interrupts with exciting news about the new Planet Express ship.
The new ship is sleek, silvery, and boasts a powerful artificial intelligence system with a celebrity voice. It's so advanced that it has an electric butt warmer, much to Leela's delight. However, Fry is filled with sadness, feeling that the new ship is "wrong" and mourning the loss of the old one. This feeling is worsened when he learns that the Professor saved the old ship's can opener, giving it special sleeping quarters and calling it a hero. A jealous Bender, who is not given sleeping quarters, gets into a sword fight with the can opener, only to shoot it with a gun. The can opener, however, has the last laugh, posthumously chopping off Bender's hand with its sword. A newly monikered "Bender One-Hand" declares the can opener a worthy foe before finally taking his nap.
Later, on a new mission, the ship's radar picks up a vessel that no one can see. Fry, however, sees the old Planet Express ship, but his crewmates dismiss his vision as a "psychotic break." Fry expresses his unhappiness with the new ship, and the new ship's AI overhears his complaint.
Act IV
News reports a phantom vessel, which Fry immediately identifies as the old Planet Express ship. The Professor dismisses Fry's claim, but Leela agrees to return to the Graveyard of Ships to investigate. The new ship's crew is confronted by Zapp and the Nimbus, who are on patrol for the same "ghost ship."
Leela outsmarts Zapp and his crew, flying their new ship past the Nimbus and into the graveyard. The invisible Nimbus crashes into the graveyard gates, and Leela takes advantage of the opening to enter. Once inside, Zapp's ship reappears and begins firing on the invisible Planet Express ship. Leela orders a return fire, which ends up destroying Zapp's ship. Zapp and Kif are forced to board the Planet Express ship after Leela agrees to let them aboard.
Another invisible ship appears and begins firing on them, which Fry once again identifies as their old ship. The ship takes heavy damage, and Zapp, taking command, orders an infinite number of missiles to be fired in all directions. When the ship runs out of missiles, Zapp orders all escape pods to be fired, but another missile hits the ship before they can escape. Facing certain death, Leela asks Zapp to marry her and Fry before the ship is destroyed. The two are wed as the ship is obliterated.
In a shocking twist, the crew of the new Planet Express ship were not the ones who were destroyed. It's revealed that the crew of the old Planet Express ship, still alive, were the ones firing on the new ship, thinking they were fighting ghost ships. It's shown that after the crew went back to save Fry in the second act, their old ship, "Bessie," became a ghost ship that drifted through a sea of alternate realities. The crew was somehow able to repair the ship, despite it being previously destroyed.
Fry thanks the crew for risking their lives to save him and shows Leela a sketch of his vision of them as an old, happy couple. This revelation gives Fry and Leela hope for their future together as they continue their journey, flying into the unknown on their old ship.
Production
Reception
Additional information
Trivia
- Second episode named for an adverb, after "Meanwhile".
- The song playing at the end and during the credits is Jason Isbell and Amanda Shire's cover of Warren Zevon's "Mutineer".
- When Fry is overwhelmed with memories, one of the visions he has is of him and Leela older carrying a purple-haired child (supposedly their baby) and Bender with human ears (as seen in "Murder on the Planet Express") being licked by Seymour.
- In a split-second bit of foreshadowing, there is a montage of people shouting to fire, starting with Leela. At the end of the montage, we somehow see Leela shout fire again. But she is suddenly on the old Planet Express ship, and when she points ahead, she no longer is wearing her engagement ring.
- The voice actor that the Professor hired to provide the artificial intelligence for the new Planet Express ship is named Tress LaMarche, a tribute to two of the voice actors, Tress MacNeille and Maurice LaMarche.
Allusions
- Bender sings the traditional cowboy tune "Down in the Valley", when the can opener's magnet affects him.
- At the eulogy for the old Planet Express ship, Zapp and Kif sing "Rock the Boat" by The Hues Corporation.
- Bender's shooting of the can opener is similar to a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- When the Planet Express ship passes by alternate timelines and realities, one of them shows the Dreamland castle from Disenchantment. During the credits, the Ululu Company, which produced the show, was acknowledged for the castle's appearance.
Continuity
- Amy points out that Bender once had an affair with the Planet Express ship, in reference to the events from "Love and Rocket".
- When Fry revisits his memories, a still from pretty much every single episode flashes by him, including:
- "The Cryonic Woman" - Fry and Bender taking the ship for a joyride
- "Time Keeps on Slippin'" - Fry looking at the chronitons making the "I Love You, Leela" message
- "Bender Gets Made" - Fry fighting off the Robot Mafia
- "Mobius Dick" - The ship going after the space whale
- "The Lesser of Two Evils" - Shots of Fry 1 and Fry 1729 recreating the Fry meme.
- "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" - Fry arguing with Captain Bender (Fry replaced with Fry 1)
- "All the Way Down" - Simulated Fry and Leela
- "Space Pilot 3000" - Leela giving Fry his permanent career assignment.
- "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" - Leela speaking with Fry's head attached to Amy.
- "Love and Rocket" - Leela saving Fry after he gave her his oxygen.
- "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" - Young Fry and Leela having a drag race.
- "My Three Suns" - Fry being fanned as emperor of Trisol.
- "A Flight to Remember" - Fry and Leela on the Space Titanic watching the nebula get sucked up by the black hole.
- "Roswell That Ends Well" - The Professor, Leela, and Bender being disgusted by Fry having had sex with his own grandmother.
- "The Sting" - Leela being surrounded by bees. Also, Fry being stung by the baby queen bee.
- "The Prisoner of Benda" - Fry and Leela in Zoidberg and the Professor's bodies having sex.
- "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" - A page from Delivery Boy Man.
- "Overclockwise" - Fry and Leela reading about their future.
- "2D Blacktop" - The Professor, Leela and Fry exploring the 2nd dimension.
- "A Farewell to Arms" - Fry about to rip off Leela's arm.
- "Leela and the Genestalk" A squidified Leela kissing Fry.
- Bender's Big Score - Fry's time paradox duplicate petting Leelu.
- "Fun on a Bun" - Amnesiac Fry and Leela kissing each other before they restore their memories of each other.
- Fry unknowingly recreates his proposal to Leela at the Vampire State Building from "Meanwhile", since the resetting of the time button affected his and Leela's memories.
- When the ship goes through alternate timelines and realities, two of them shown are "Colorama" from "Rebirth" and "G.I. Zapp" from "Saturday Morning Fun Pit".