Planet Express Ship
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| Planet Express Ship | |
|---|---|
 The Planet Express Ship |
|
| 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 Planet Express, a delivery service owned by the Professor. The ship is typically treated as an inanimate object, though Bender refers to the ship's autopilot as "him" (and laments being defeated in a martini-drinking contest) in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back". The later episode "Love and Rocket" shows the ship 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.
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[edit] Production
The Planet Express Ship is usually rendered in 3D along with many of Futurama's other special effects. This was done to give the ship a "convincing dimensionality" as it moves through space. Futurama's creator Matt Groening consulted with Syd Mead when working on the designs; however, like many of Groening's other characters, the ship maintains its pronounced overbite and is easily identifiable as an element of a Matt Groening comic.[1]
[edit] Personality
In the episode "Love and Rocket" the Planet Express Ship is equipped with a personality unit which allows it to speak and interact with the crew. The ship is voiced by Sigourney Weaver in what executive producer David X. Cohen described as "a pretty abstract role".[2] During the episode the Planet Express Ship and Bender begin dating. This situation presented many challenges for the production staff, particularly a difficulty in portraying emotions between the two beings because they were so different in size. Even with this concern Cohen jokes that Weaver's performance as a spaceship was "moving".[2] Much of the episode including the ship's eventual desire to kill the crew is a spoof of 2001: A Space Odyssey with the Planet Express Ship taking on the role of HAL 9000.[3]
[edit] Crew
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.[4] Bender was originally the ship's cook, and is occasionally seen performing various odd jobs.
Hermes and Amy can both fly the ship,[5][6] though they do not usually accompany the crew on missions. Although Fry flies the ship with no problems in "The Cryonic Woman", he later flies it 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); and by the time of "Time Keeps on Slippin'", he can fly the ship with a reasonable degree of skill.
Professor Farnsworth attempted to fly the ship in the episode "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" to find his lost pet gargoyle, Pazuzu. However, in stereotypical senior citizen style, he flies the ship at only 35 MPH, blocks lanes in space traffic, and turns the ship's high beams on, destroying a navigation sign and also Deep Space Nine from Star Trek.
[edit] Ship Features
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.[7] The ship can actually travel at 97% of the new light speed.[8] 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 one week.
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. It also uses a Dark Matter Engine, which, instead of moving the ship, just "Moves the universe around the ship." Made obvious in the episode, "A Clone of My Own" by Cubert Farnsworth. Certain episodes indicate that it has a manual transmission.
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.[9] 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.[10]
[edit] Design
The hull is roughly teardrop-shaped with three fins at the rear. A laser cannon turret is situated on the top side. It has tripodal landing gear, the front one doubling as a stair. Torpedo tubes are located to either side of the forward landing gear. The tubes also house the "primary lasers". 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. 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, a parody/homage to the "warp drive" technology of Star Trek.[7] 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.
The series' writers acknowledge in the Season 1 DVD commentary that the interior design of the Planet Express Ship is not really consistent from episode to episode. They cited a fansite they once found which was devoted to trying to develop a definitive schematic of the ship's interior, an attempt which ended in frustration. While certain rooms such as the cargo bay remain more or less the same, corridors shift position and the location of rooms relative to each other is never truly consistent. However, in the commentary the writers point out that most obviously, the design of the "bridge" of the ship drastically shifts between episodes.
[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 tailfin since the engines would not work underwater. Part of these repairs were made by papier mache.
- 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 Enterprise had functional engine but no life support. The Planet Express Ship was modified using the engines of Enterprise and was able to escape the planet.
- In "Time Keeps on Slippin'", the ship has a "bad-ass" gravity pump installed, that has the capability to move entire stars.
- In "The Route of All Evil", the ship takes on a bright red coloration with flame decals.
[edit] Merchandising
The Planet Express Ship was featured as an action figure in a set by Moore Collectibles along with Fry, Leela and Bender. The set was listed as an "A+ pick" in Sci Fi Weekly and the Planet Express ship was noted as "the finest piece in the set". Features include a folding front landing gear and retractable rear landing struts along with a gun turret. Also included with the ship were two alien creatures and a crate full of tentacled beings.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ Gallery: Behind the Scenes of Futurama (2007-11-27). Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ a b Huddleston, Kathie (2001-12-17). David X. Cohen boards the Planet Express to find meaning in Futurama. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
- ^ Cohen, David X. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Love and Rocket" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "Bender Gets Made". Futurama.
- ^ "The Farnsworth Parabox". Futurama.
- ^ "Episode Two: The Series Has Landed". Futurama.
- ^ a b "A Clone Of My Own". Futurama.
- ^ "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles". Futurama.
- ^ "The Sting". Futurama.
- ^ "Parasites Lost". Futurama.
- ^ Huxter, Sean (2001-06-11). Matt Groening's futuristic follies inspire four of the coolest collectibles of the year 3000. Retrieved on 2007-11-27.
[edit] External links
- Ship's Description
- Futurama encyclopedia entry
- Planet Express action figure from Moore Action Collectibles (archived)
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