A Flight to Remember

"A Flight to Remember" is episode ten in the first season of Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1999. This episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Peter Avanzino. Dawnn Lewis guest stars in this episode as LaBarbara Conrad. The episode is a direct parody of the 1997 film Titanic, while the title is a reference to Walter Lord's non-fiction book about the Titanic disaster A Night to Remember.[1][2]

"A Flight to Remember"
Futurama episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 10
Directed byPeter Avanzino
Written byEric Horsted
Production code1ACV10
Original air dateSeptember 26, 1999
Guest appearance(s)

Dawnn Lewis as LaBarbra Conrad

Episode features
Opening captionFilmed On Location
Opening cartoon"Space Station" from Clutch Cargo (1959)

Plot

Fry, Leela, and Bender hand their resignations to Professor Farnsworth after narrowly escaping another delivery with their lives, but reconsider when he announces that the Planet Express team will take a cruise on the maiden voyage of the largest space cruise ship ever built: the Titanic. As they board they are stopped by Zapp Brannigan, the ship's honorary captain. Attempting to avoid Brannigan's advances, Leela claims she is engaged to Fry. Bender meets the robot Countess de la Roca. Brannigan deviates from the ship's course, opting to fly through a swarm of comets. Amy unexpectedly runs into her parents who attempt to set Amy up with a date. To redirect her parents' attention, Amy claims Fry is her boyfriend, making Leela jealous.

Bender meets the Countess again and pretends to be rich. At first he is only after her money, but he soon realizes he loves her. She learns Bender is a broke felon when he attempts to steal drinks from the bar. She tells him that she is not interested in his wealth; she loves him for his personality. Hermes is urged to participate in a limbo competition, but declines, as he was still recovering from guilt over an incident that occurred at the 2980 Olympics where a child trying to emulate him fatally broke his spine. Brannigan declares Leela the winner of the competition, despite her not being a contestant. She and Fry are invited to dinner at the captain's table. At dinner, both Brannigan and Amy's parents are present; they demand that Fry kiss his date. Before the fake relationships are exposed, Kif calls Brannigan to the bridge; the new course has endangered the ship.

Brannigan attempts to correct the problem by piloting the ship too close to a black hole. Realizing the danger he has put them in, Brannigan promotes Kif to Captain before fleeing the ship. Outside, Fry and Leela nearly kiss before they are interrupted by the ship breaking in half. Bender heads off to save the Countess while the rest of the crew head for the escape pods. An airlock door closes, blocking the crew's escape. Zoidberg holds it open a few inches, but the door release is on the other side. Hermes resurrects his old limbo skills to squeeze under the door. Arriving at the escape pods, they meet Amy's parents, who have found Amy a new boyfriend: "Captain" Kif. After waiting as long as they can for Bender, the crew launches the escape pod. Bender leaps from the Titanic, Countess in tow. He grabs the escape pod, but they are overweight. The Countess sacrifices herself so the others may escape, upsetting Bender. Entering the pod, a heartbroken Bender says he will have her diamond bracelet to remind him of her. Bender then immediately asks Hermes what it's worth, who then examines it and tells Bender that it is not real, causing Bender to break down and cry.

Production

This episodes features the beginning of the relationship between Kif Kroker and Amy Wong. The relationship was originally meant to be a one–off joke; however, the writers found it to be convenient and used it in later episodes.[1] Recurring characters Leo and Inez Wong, and LaBarbara Conrad were first introduced in the episode.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, stating, "...Enough of these jokes land to keep the storyline moving (the Love Boat riff was a nice touch), and the advantage of an episode like this one, which has so much going on at once, is that nothing really overstays its welcome. That also means that there’s no time to dig deep into any single story, but given the general, genial shallowness of all this, that’s probably for the best."[3]

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References
  1. Cohen, David X (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Kif gets Knocked Up a Notch" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  2. Booker, M. Keith. Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from The Flintstones to Family Guy. pp. 115–124.
  3. Handlen, Zack "Futurama: "Hell Is Other Robots"/"A Flight To Remember"". The A.V. Club. December 11, 2014. Retrieved 2019-09-15.
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