Futurama/When Aliens Attack

When Aliens Attack
Season 2, Episode 3
Airdate	November 7, 1999
Production Number	1ACV12
Written by	Ken Keeler
Directed by	Brian Sheesley
← 2x02 Mars University	2x04 → Fry and the Slurm Factory
Futurama — Season Two

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When Aliens Attack is the third episode of the second season of Futurama, and the twelfth episode overall.

Plot Overview

Lrrr of Omicron Persei 8 invades Earth when the ending to 'Single Female Lawyer' is cut off by an accidental beer spill.

Notes

Alien Language Sightings

• There are no alien language words in this episode.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Earth Gov: President McNeil is vaporized, paving the way for a new president of Earth to be revealed in a future episode.

Referbacks

• 1x04 - Love's Labors Lost in Space: When Zapp propositions Leela for more sex, he refers to the episode where they slept together while she and the crew were imprisoned on the Nimbus.

Trivia

The Show

• Opening Caption: Proudly Made on Earth
• Real World: The television station that Fry delivers a pizza to in the past's call letters are "WNYW," which is the actual FOX affiliate for the New York area.
• Don't Blink: As the camera pulls from Earth to Omicron Persei 8, a single frame of a viking is shown.
• First Appearance: This episode marks the first appearance of Lrrr and Ndnd, the king and queen of Omicron Persei 8.

Behind the Scenes

• Why Omicron?: The reason why Omicron Persei 8 was chosen as the planet that the episode centered around was because the actual star is about 1000 light-years away.
• Deleted Scene: There was originally a joke where Leela was using tanning butter, Zoidberg used butter and Amy used I Can't Believe It's Not Tanning Butter.
• Script Notes: Instead of mapping out how the space battle should fold out, the script only said something like "a huge space battle ensues."

Allusions and References

• Single Female Lawyer: Single Female Lawyer is an obvious parody of Ally McBeal, a popular FOX sitcom about a firm with young lawyers. It particularly revolved around the title character, played by Callista Flockheart, and her life outside the firm as well as inside. She was most notably portrayed as an independent woman. Of course, this explains the clever parody name "Jenny McNeil."

• Contact: The long shot pulling out from Earth to Omicron Persei 8 is a derect reference to the Jodie Foster movie, Contact, where Foster attempts to travel to somewhere to see aliens in a contraption that they instructed her to build.

• Star Wars: A number of Star Wars references are made in this episode. This includes the rebel briefing scene prior to the space battle, Fry's helmet modelled after the Rebel helmets and the red lasers signifying their opponents' attack.

• Diff'rent Strokes: Bender uses Gary Coleman's famous catchphrase from the 80s sitcom that he co-starred in as Arnold Jackson, "What'chu talkin' bout, Willis?"

Bender: What'chu talkin' bout, Fry?

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