Planet Express Ship

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Planet Express
The Planet Express
First appearance	Space Pilot 3000
General Characteristics
Armaments	Laser cannons Torpedoes
Propulsion	Dark matter engines
Power	Dark matter reactor

The Planet Express Ship is a fictional spaceship in the animated series Futurama. The ship was designed and built by Professor Hubert Farnsworth and is the sole delivery ship of the Planet Express Corporation, a delivery service owned by the Professor. The ship is typically treated as an inanimate object, but in the episode "Love and Rocket", the ship is shown to have an artificial intelligence, voiced originally by Maurice LaMarche and then (after installation of "new improved ship's personality software" including "adjustable voice") by special guest Sigourney Weaver.

Leela is the captain and pilot of the ship, while Fry and Bender are crewmembers. Fry's official position is delivery boy, and he also operates the ship's laser cannon in combat.^[1] Bender was originally the ship's cook, and is occasionally seen performing various odd jobs.

Hermes and Amy can both fly the ship,^[2][3] though they do not usually accompany the crew on missions. Fry also flies the ships with some difficulty in "Amazon Women in the Mood" and "Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" (where Bender demonstrates his own questionable piloting skills while under the effects of a sobriety binge); by the time of "Time Keeps on Slippin'", he can fly the ship with a reasonable degree of skill.

As the professor prefers to send the crew on dangerous missions in favor of higher profit margins, the ship is well armed and quite fast. The ship is capable of travel faster than the current speed of light, after the speed of light was increased to allow faster travel.^[4] Its speed also makes it an efficient courier, as trips to most points in the universe can be done in a single day, and even a round trip to an edge of the universe in "The Route of All Evil" only takes the crew two weeks.

In addition to its speed, the Planet Express Ship is very durable. In the episode "The Deep South", the ship is dragged underwater and survives being subjected to hundreds of atmospheres of water pressure, despite being rated for "between zero and one" atmosphere, according to the professor. Additionally, the ship has survived numerous crashes that ostensibly would have destroyed similar aircraft, but the ship usually sustains only quickly-repaired dents. It is unclear whether all vehicles in Futurama have this durability or if it is a special property of that particular ship.

The current ship is not the first Planet Express Ship, as at least one was lost with its crew on a mission to collect space honey.^[5] The current ship is first seen in "Space Pilot 3000", where the current crew signs on. It is unknown if the ship was previously crewed but it is implied that the professor's previous crew died with the destruction of the previous ship and no intervening members are ever mentioned. Other versions of the ship include a miniature one used to travel inside of Fry's body to counter an infection of worms.^[6]

Contents 1 Missions 2 Design 3 Shipboard Locations 4 Devices 5 Modifications 6 Role in "Love and Rocket" 7 External links 8 References

[edit] Missions

The current version of the ship participated in the defense of Earth from an Omicronian invasion in "When Aliens Attack", Zapp Brannigan's misguided attack on the neutral homeworld in "Brannigan Begin Again", and the recovery from the massive Dark Matter oil spill on Pluto in "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" It has also saved the universe from time slips in "Time Keeps on Slippin'", and rescued the original Star Trek cast in "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". Some of its more notable deliveries include a bomb intended to blow up a massive ball of garbage in "A Big Piece of Garbage", the Miss Universe atomic tiara in "The Lesser of Two Evils", a load of Zuban cigars in "Bender Gets Made", Popplers in "The Problem with Popplers", and candy hearts to Omicron Persei VIII in "Love and Rocket".

[edit] Design

The overall design is similar to an early fictional spaceship stereotype, or a German V-2 rocket. The hull is roughly teardrop shaped, though it appears to have a slight overbite (reminiscent of Matt Groening's character designs), and it has three fins at the rear, the top fin being larger than the other two. A laser cannon turret is situated on the top side. It has tricycle landing gear, the front one doubling as a stair. Torpedo tubes are located to either side of the forward landing gear. The cargo bay has a bomb-bay style loading door on the bottom of the ship. Cargo too large for the cargo bay is either tethered to the top of the hull, or towed, implying the ship has a very high tonnage capacity for its size. The Dark Matter engines are at the rear on a gymbal, and steering is achieved through directional-thrust. Supposedly the engines achieve 200% fuel efficiency by moving the entire universe around the ship, rather than moving the ship itself, an homage to the "warp drive" technology of Star Trek.^[4] The ship is painted a light-green color (the previous ship was dark gray, as seen trapped in a Space Bee hive in "The Sting") and has the Planet Express logo painted on the main fin.

[edit] Shipboard Locations

Cockpit - The ship is piloted from this location. The captain sits towards the rear while crewmembers sit at duty stations forward. Passenger couches are located at the very front of the cockpit.

Cabins - While Leela has a more spacious cabin to herself, complete with chest of drawers and bed, Fry and Bender share a small cabin with twin hammocks. Fry has a Mars U (Mars University) banner on the wall above his hammock.

Laundry room - Though once used as a brig, the laundry room usually fulfills its expected purpose.

Galley - Bender serves meals here; it is also sometimes used as a recreational room.

Computer core - The location of the ship's main computer with its carbonized memory modules and, for a while, its artificial intelligence. The room's design and shutdown procedure are similar to that of HAL 9000's from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Cargo Bays - Located at the bottom of the ship, cargo is transported here. Also present is a magnetic winch, an unbreakable diamond tether and storage for two hover-dollies.

Reactor room - Initially only one Dark Matter reactor was used to power the engines. Later the professor re-worked it to have two reactors, allowing for the ship to be steered by differential thrust.

Den - A room used only in the episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?", where Fry 'educates' Dr. Zoidberg on the aspects of love. It has a whiteboard and a small Slurm vending machine.

[edit] Devices

• Gravity pump - Activated at all times in space unless broken (or in the case of "Love and Rocket", the ship has artificial intelligence and is unwilling to co-operate).
• Anti-smell - Used in "A Big Piece of Garbage" when they approached the garbage ball. This device blocks off all outside smell and freshens the ship.
• Coffee maker - Used in "Space Pilot 3000" when Fry pushes the wrong buttons.
• Microwave - When used improperly (as in "Roswell That Ends Well") in the vicinity of a supernova it causes the ship to travel through time.
• Antenna (Presumed)- Used in "Mother's Day" by Mom so that all robots will rebel against Earth. The ship is seen flying away.
• Diamond Filament Tether - Used in "The Deep South" by Bender as a fishing line. It is fastened to the outside of the ship on a hand-cranked winch. The tether is unbreakable, and once belonged to Professor Farnsworth's grandmother which causes him to urge caution in its use, despite its indestructibility. It is also is used to dock the ship in its bay.

[edit] Modifications

The ship is occasionally modified to fit the purposes of the plot. In all cases the ship is returned to normal before the next episode.

• In "The Deep South" the crew had to replace the engines with a giant fish fin since the engines would not work underwater.

• In "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" both the Planet Express Ship and a ship belonging to the cast of the original Star Trek crashed on a forbidden planet. The Planet Express Ship had non-functioning engines but working life support, while the other ship had functional engine but no life support. The Planet Express Ship was modified using the engines of the other ship and was able to safely leave the planet.

• In "The Problem with Popplers", Planet Express is replaced by Poppler Express.

• In "The Route of All Evil", the ship is painted red and renamed "Awesome Express".

• In "The Time Keeps on Slipping", the ship has a "bad ass" gravity pump installed.

[edit] Role in "Love and Rocket"

The Planet Express Ship (voiced by Sigourney Weaver) is treated as a major character in "Love and Rocket". The ship was fitted with artificial intelligence which could only be shut down by a logic matrix. Bender instantly fell in love with the Ship when Professor Farnsworth changed the voice of the Ship from male to female, causing a relationship between them.

[edit] External links

• Original blueprints of the ships and inconsistencies
• Ship's Description
• Futurama encyclopedia entry

[edit] References

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