Nimbus (Futurama)
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| Nimbus | |
|---|---|
 DOOP starship Nimbus |
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| First appearance | "War is the H-Word" |
| Last appearance | - |
| General Characteristics | |
| Registry | DP-1729 |
| Armaments | Laser cannon |
The Nimbus: DP-1729 is a spaceship in the fictional series Futurama. It is captained by the notoriously incompetent Zapp Brannigan with Kif Kroker as his first mate. It is the flagship of the Democratic Order Of Planets (DOOP) fleet. It was presumably Brannigan's ship for many of his victories, most of which where achieved with the use of overwhelming force against a weaker foe, and often with great loss of life. The Nimbus is an extremely large vessel, capable of blockading or besieging entire planets single-handedly, and of transporting armies large enough for the pacification of the planet, all without the aid of support vessels. In many ways the Nimbus is a metaphor for its Captain, while it is impressively large and presumably very powerful, it is actually quite impotent, as it is never seen to posses more than a single Laser Cannon (which is incompetently used to destroy DOOP headquarters.) It is also a deliberate parody of the original Enterprise of Star Trek fame, as both have a rounded design, are flagships of their respective fleets and have a velour-wearing captain. The name may have been inspired by Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, where the crew travels to the planet Nimbus III. The Nimbus was destroyed by the Decapodians (in "A Taste of Freedom") and was either rapidly rebuilt or replaced by another ship that had been renamed, similar to the destruction and replacement of the Enterprise, NCC-1701, with the NCC-1701-A in the movies.
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[edit] Design
The design of the Nimbus is reminiscent of the hood of the Hudson Hornet. In place of headlights, the name and serial number are painted in large letters at the top corners of the Bow. The serial number is also painted in several other places, including the sides and on the fin. On either side of the "grill" are two large spike shaped protrusions, which are later shown to be docking bays. On the Dorsal side is a very large fin, roughly as tall as the ships main hull. On the Ventral side is a pair of pontoon-like structures. Their exact purpose is unknown, but two of the ships five engines are located at their tails. The other engines are located at the top-rear corners of the ships main hull. The larger main engine is located in the middle. On either side of the main engine are two docking bays, presumably multi-level as they are taller than they are wide. The main hull of the Nimbus contains approximately forty decks (visible when the ship is cut in half by Decapodian forces) not counting the fin or pontoons.
[edit] Shipboard locations
The Bridge From here Zapp Brannigan commands the Nimbus. He usually sits in a large well-appointed chair in the middle of the room. On one wall there is the Star Trek style viewscreen. Located around the edges of the room are various duty-stations for the bridge crew, presumably including the Helm. Somewhere on the front wall is a large window where the controls for the laser cannon are also located. The walls and consoles resemble the 1960s idea of high-tech, rather dated by modern standards, with an abundance of jeweled buttons, flashing lights and cathode ray tube TV monitors. The CD containing the activation codes for the Global Defense Network is kept in a lockbox, with a lip-scanner lock, Reminiscent of the Goose necked "Intercoms" seen on the bridge of the Enterprise on both of the pilots, next to the Captain's chair. The ship can also be piloted from a secondary bridge, located inside a clear dome at the top of the ship, just aft of the bow.
Zapp's Quarters or the "Love-nasium" Garishly decorated with multiple portraits and statues of Brannigan (as well as a heart shaped hover-bed,) and upholstered entirely in velour and shag carpet, Zapp's quarters are a monument to his ego and libido. It is a very large room, entirely given over to seduction. It is here that he seduces Leela upon their first meeting.
Kif's Quarters is a very small room, located directly below Zapp's with barely enough room for a single bunk inside. Kif decorates the sparse walls in later episodes with pictures of Amy. In "Love's Labors Lost in Space" Kif states that he also has a private washroom however the washroom itself is never shown in the episode and he is shown in the communal showers in "War is the H-word"
Galley The galley is a spacious room used for eating. Zapp Brannigan sits with honored guests at the Captain's table, positioned horizontally on a raised platform at the front of the room, with the DOOP logo on the wall behind. The men sit at long vertical tables running the length of the room. Meals are usually eaten in silence due to dejection from their captain.
Troop Staging Area Possibly the same as the galley, this is the largest room on the ship. It is used as a training area and barracks for soldiers, as well as for speeches and as a staging area for invasions. It is located at the very bottom of the main hull and has bomb-bay style doors for dropping soldiers into battle.
Barracks A large area full of bunks for the onboard troop contingent with plenty of extra bunks for an invasion force.
Docking Bays The Nimbus has two sets of docking bays, two are located on the bow and take the form of large spikes, while two larger, and more conventional looking, bays are located at the stern. It remains to be seen if both bays are capable of launching and receiving ships as the bow pair have only been seen in the docking function, while the ones on the stern are only seen launching ships. It is possible that they function similar to an aircraft carrier, though in reverse, with ships entering at the bow and exiting the stern.
Observation Deck Presumably located at the top of the fin, this is a well furnished room with windows all around and a single telescope. It is accessible only by a long ladder from one of the corridors.
Corridors The corridors on the Nimbus are spartan and gunmetal-gray in color. They have a vaguely hexagonal shape, as the walls bulge outward slightly.
Brig The ships brig is a single cell inside an indistinct room. The single door is sealed by a force-field and often guarded by a single soldier. Inside there is a single bench for prisoners to sit-sleep. The room is poorly designed as one of the ships large steam-pipes runs floor to ceiling in one corner with an access hatch inside the cell. This is not a viable means of escape though, as the pipe is full of hot steam under pressure.
Holoshed An obvious parody of the Holodecks from later Star Trek series, they demonstrate similar capabilities in creating artificial, fully-interactive environments. Kif uses several simulations of his own creation when trying to romance Amy Wong. During his attempts, the holoshed simulations become real, an oft-used Star Trek plot device, but unlike the simulations in Star Trek, these simulations seem to be able to exit the holoshed. When Captain Brannigan is informed of the mishap, he states that "the last time that happened, I got slapped with five paternity suits," indicating that this is a frequent malfunction on the Nimbus as well.
[edit] Capabilities
The Nimbus is primarily used by Brannigan as a Command ship and presumably has excellent communications equipment and sensors. It is only seen to brandish one weapon, a laser cannon with the highest setting being "Hyperdeath," though others may also be carried. This is a very powerful laser as it destroys DOOP headquarters with a single burst of a few seconds. The Nimbus is also capable of entering a planet's atmosphere and hovering within a few meters of the surface. It can even land on the surface, but may require a specially equipped dock for this.
[edit] Name secrets
The word "nimbus" can be defined either as a shining cloud, aura, atmosphere, etc., surrounding a person or deity (it is a synonym for halo); or as a type of dense clouds that yields rain or snow; a rain cloud. Both of these names are appropriate for the ship as it being in command of it raises Brannigan's ego to godlike levels, and it is typically used to rain death on harmless civilizations.
The starship Nimbus displays the hull registry number BP-1729. 1729 is a Hardy-Ramanujan number and the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways.
[edit] External links
- Nimbus entry on the Futurama Encyclopedia - contains a large amount of speculation and spurious information- ex. number of engines, docking bays etc.
| Futurama | |
|---|---|
| Media | |
| Episodes • Comic books • Video game • Bender's Big Score | |
| Characters | |
| Fry • Leela • Bender • Professor Farnsworth • Doctor Zoidberg • Hermes • Amy Zapp Brannigan • Kif Kroker • Nibbler • Cubert • Calculon • Mom Recurring human characters • Recurring robot characters • Recurring alien characters • Secondary characters |
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| Universe | |
| Planets: Amphibios 9 • Eternium • Omicron Persei VIII Alien races: Cygnoid • Decapodian • Neptunian Politics and religion: Earth Government • Robotology • D.O.O.P. Technology: Gadgets • Suicide booth • Planet Express Ship • Nimbus Other: Timeline • Blernsball • All My Circuits • The Scary Door • Slurm • Products • Locations • Animals |
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