A Taste of Freedom
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| Futurama episode | |
| "A Taste of Freedom" | |
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|---|---|
| Episode no. | 59 |
| Prod. code | 4ACV05 |
| Airdate | December 12, 2002 |
| Where |  United States |
| Writer(s) | Eric Horsted |
| Director | James Purdum |
| Opening subtitle | OR IS IT? |
| Opening cartoon | unknown |
| Guest star(s) | Phil Hendrie |
| Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"A Taste of Freedom" is the fifth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama.
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[edit] Plot summary
The crew celebrates Freedom Day, a day where you can do anything you want, regardless of the consequences. Dr. Zoidberg seems affectionate about the holiday, as he loves the idea of freedom, something he did not have on his home planet Decapod 10. At the big Freedom Day celebration in Washington, D.C., Earth President Richard Nixon's head unveils the Earth flag ("Old Freebie"), which Zoidberg eats to celebrate the spirit of the holiday. The rest of the crowd, however, sees him as a traitor. Zoidberg is chased all the way to Decapod 10's embassy.
Zoidberg is put on trial and the crew hires lawyer Old Man Waterfall (voiced by Phil Hendrie) to represent him. Zoidberg, however, is found guilty and sentenced to death when he refuses to apologize. After Earth's army storms the Decapodian embassy to seize Zoidberg (which constitutes an act of war, since the embassy is technically on Decapodian mud), the Decapodian ambassador to Earth summons the Decapodian military to retaliate. The Decapodian army easily defeats Earth's defense forces (thanks in no small part to Zapp Brannigan's incompetence) and Earth is enslaved by the crustacean extra-terrestrials.
Zoidberg does nothing to help his former coworkers, claiming that Earth didn't deserve its freedom. Later, Fry, Bender, Leela, Zapp, and Kif find a heat-seeking missile and launch it toward the Decopodians' newly-constructed Mobile Oppression Palace. However, the palace is "cold-blooded," like the Decapodians themselves, and the palace continues its destructive rampage. It eventually crushes Old Man Waterfall, whom Zoidberg respected for defending him when no one else would. Zoidberg then lights a flag on fire and throws it toward the Mobile Oppression Palace, attracting the missile and thus destroying the palace. Zoidberg is declared a hero and is honored by Nixon at a ceremony, where he unveils a new Earth flag, out of which he is allowed to take a bite. Zoidberg concludes that Earth, not Decapod 10, is now his true home planet.
[edit] Cultural references
- The episode is based on the famous flag burning controversy.
- The Globetrotter Homeworld's embassy is briefly seen. The guards at the entrance dribble basketballs. The Klingon embassy seen was originally designed to be the embassy of the Barbie planet. The change was made late in the episode's production. As such the embassy building is decorated with pink and purple colors, and in fact the only thing that indicates it should be the Klingon embassy is that it is labeled as such.
- The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Myrtle Fu, while the Associate Justices are Abe Vigoda, Sandra Day O'Connor, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Snoop Dogg. Except for Vigoda and Snoop Dogg, all of the Associate Justices mentioned were actually Associate Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court at the time the episode was made.
- In this episode it is revealed that Washington, D.C was renamed after Washington the Sweathog from Welcome Back, Kotter in 2475.
- The president of the ACLU sings a song parody of the slogan "Don't Mess with Texas", "Don't Mess with Earth".
[edit] Trivia
- This episode features Phil Hendrie playing Old Man Waterfall. He played Free Waterfall Jr. in "The Problem with Popplers" and Free Waterfall Sr. in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz". Old Man Waterfall's great-grandchild (casually referred to as "Frida Waterfall" by the show's producers) appears at the end of the episode. Save the latter, all of these characters die in the episodes in which they appear.
- The episode originally featured the Mobile Oppression Palace destroying buildings. This was changed because of the 9/11 attacks.
- Zoidberg says that two of his three hearts are having attacks while in court. In the earlier episode "Roswell That Ends Well," Zoidberg states that he has four hearts, but the doctors performing his vivisection in that episode took one, leaving him with three.
- The flag on top of the Mobile Oppression Palace has a symbol similar to the Communism symbol. The Communism symbol is a hammer and a sickle. The symbol on the Palace's flag is a claw holding a hammer.
- Earth's "Freedom Day" is very similar to the "Do What You Feel" festival seen on The Simpsons episode "Bart's Inner Child". Both series were created by Matt Groening.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: "Less Than Hero" |
Futurama episodes | Followed by: "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" |
