Jurassic Bark
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| Futurama episode | |
| "Jurassic Bark" | |
 "For a thousand summers, I will wait for you..." |
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| Episode no. | 61 |
| Prod. code | 4ACV07 |
| Airdate | November 17, 2002 |
| Writer(s) | Eric Kaplan |
| Director | Swinton O. Scott III |
| Opening subtitle | NOT AFFILIATED WITH FUTURAMA BRASS KNUCKLE CO. |
| Opening cartoon | Hiss and Make Up Merry Melodies |
| Guest star(s) | Tom Kenny |
| Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"Jurassic Bark" is the seventh episode of season four of Futurama, airing November 17, 2002. It was nominated for an Emmy Award. Possibly one of the most moving episodes in the whole series.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Bender and Fry visit the Natural History Museum exhibit of a 20th century pizza parlor. Fry finds out that it is actually Pannuci's Pizza, the old pizza parlor where Fry used to work. Within the exhibit, Fry finds his old dog, Seymour, fossilized and on display in the exhibit. After a lengthy protest, the museum gives Fry the fossilized dog. Fry starts to treat Seymour like an actual dog, but Bender, however, grows jealous of Fry's nonstop devotion to Seymour. At Planet Express, Farnsworth reveals that he can clone a version of Seymour that Fry knew and loved. In the sub-basement, just before Seymour's cloning process is completed, Bender, in a jealous rage, throws Seymour's fossilized body into the lava pit in the sub-basement. Farnsworth reveals that because Seymour's fossil was enclosed in dolomite, he might survive the hot lava. Bender, feeling remorseful and being 40% dolomite, decides to go after the dolomite dog. After a long while, Bender resurfaces with Seymour intact. While cloning Seymour the second time, Farnsworth reveals that Seymour was 15 years old when he died, leading Fry to think that Seymour must have lived a full life and likely even forgotten about Fry after he was frozen. Fry destroys the machine and leaves Seymour fossilized.
Throughout the show, flashbacks are shown revealing how Fry and Seymour met, how they acted together and how Seymour lived after Fry was frozen. The final scene in the episode shows that Fry had been wrong about Seymour---since Fry's last command to Seymour had been to "wait for Fry" in front of the pizzeria, Seymour had spent the majority of his life there, being cared for by Mr. Panucci, before presumably dying 12 years later.
[edit] Production notes
- The last part of the episode where Seymour is waiting outside on the sidewalk was originally set to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it was exchanged with the song "I Will Wait For You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as sung by Connie Francis, which writer Eric Kaplan's grandparents sang and played on the piano while he was a child.
[edit] Continuity
- When Fry is dancing on the sidewalk, a person in the crowd resembles Fry's girlfriend, Michelle.
- At one point in the episode, we see Fry being frozen again from "Space Pilot 3000". Like in SP3000, we see a shadow under the desk. This time, however, we see two shadows; one looks like Nibbler (as seen in SP3000) and one that looks like Fry. This is later explained in "The Why Of Fry".
- It is also possible to see Nibbler's top eyeball poking out of the trash can for a brief moment as Fry places the pizza box on the desk before he is frozen. Nibbler's shadow is also visible as the chair topples over.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is a reference to the popular book/film series Jurassic Park, as is the idea of cloning a long-dead life form from DNA preserved in a fossil.
- At the history museum, a pimp is seen frozen in amber, another reference to Jurassic Park.
- Seymour is able to bark "I'm Walking on Sunshine." There are recurring references to this song in connection with Fry. He sings it in "I, Roommate", "The 30% Iron Chef" and "War is the H-word", and a bagpipe version of it was played at his funeral in "The Sting".
- Bender refers to a gorilla that loves a kitty. This is a reference to Koko the gorilla.
- The Professor says that only dolomite can withstand the heat of lava. While this is a real mineral, the context ("the tough black mineral that won't cop out when there's heat all about") suggests he is referencing Dolemite. The phrase he uses is a nod to Isaac Hayes' famous theme song from the film Shaft as well as from the 1975 film "Dolemite".
- The story may be based upon:
- Greyfriars Bobby, a famous Edinburgh dog who waited for his lost master until his own death.
- Hachikō, a famous Japanese Akita dog that spent most of its life (from 1925 to 1935) awaiting for the return of its deceased master in front of Shibuya's train station
Picture of Hachikō - Argos, Odysseus's dog, who waits for Odysseus for the twenty years that he is away from Ithaca in Homer's The Odyssey.
- In the scene right before we see the cloning machine, the Professor's head appears as a large hologram, telling everyone that it is ready. The head appears with a loud, majestic trumpeting, referencing the scene in the television series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series)" where a Magrethean official appears in a hologram, with a similar trumpeting, to the characters.
- The hungover cryogenecist seen when Seymour finds Fry looks very similar to the character old Gil, the salesman who has bad luck from the Simpsons.
- The paleontologist who discovers Seymour is named "Dr. Ben Beeler," presumably a reference to producer and prolific writer Ken Keeler.
- Leela is seen giving Amy a Piledriver
[edit] Goofs
- This episode shows Fry working for Panucci's Pizza since August of 1997. However in the episode "A Flight to Remember," Fry said he was unemployed between the ages of 21-24. He was 25 in the episode "My Three Suns," placing his 25th birthday either in 1999 or early 3000. This would make Fry no older than 23 in August of 1997. He should have been living off workers comp and spending all his time watching TV, as shown in the episode "A Fishful of Dollars," so he could later save the world in "When Aliens Attack."
- The tour guide appears to be the same person who was eaten by an elephant in "Less Than Hero".
- Seymour was seen passing away lying down, but the fossil was shown with Seymour standing in an upright position. This could suggest however that the last moments we saw were not Seymour's last moments (it has been confirmed that Seymour will be in upcoming episodes of the new season. However, he could just be appearing in flashbacks of Fry's 20th century life.)[1]
- In the scene where Leela and Amy are wrestling, there is one shot where Amy is missing her sweatpants, while all other shots she has them.
- When Fry is about to clone the dog, Bender comes in wearing a magic suit with no white cuffs, but after the advert, he has them on.
