A Flight to Remember

"A Flight to Remember" is episode ten in the first production season of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on September 26, 1999 as the first episode in the second season. This episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Peter Avanzino. Dawnn Lewis guest stars in this episode as LaBarbara Conrad. The episode is a direct parody of the 1997 film Titanic, while the title is a reference to Walter Lord's non-fiction book about the Titanic disaster A Night to Remember.^[1][2]

Plot

Fry, Leela, and Bender hand their resignations to Professor Farnsworth after narrowly escaping another delivery with their lives, but reconsider when he announces that the Planet Express team will take a cruise on the maiden voyage of the largest space cruise ship ever built: the Titanic. As they board they are stopped by Zapp Brannigan, the ship's honorary captain. Attempting to avoid Brannigan's advances, Leela claims she is engaged to Fry. Bender meets the robot Countess de la Roca. Brannigan deviates from the ship's course, opting to fly through a swarm of comets. Amy unexpectedly runs into her parents who attempt to set Amy up with a date. To redirect her parents' attention, Amy claims Fry is her boyfriend, making Leela jealous.

Bender meets the Countess again and pretends to be rich. At first he is only after her money, but he soon realizes he loves her. She learns Bender is a broke felon when he attempts to steal drinks from the bar. She tells him that she is not interested in his wealth; she loves him for his personality. Hermes is urged to participate in a limbo competition, but declines, as he was still recovering from guilt over an incident that occurred at the 2980 Olympics where a child trying to emulate him fatally broke his spine. Brannigan declares Leela the winner of the competition, despite her not being a contestant. She and Fry are invited to dinner at the captain's table. At dinner, both Brannigan and Amy's parents are present; they demand that Fry kiss his date. Before the fake relationships are exposed, Kif calls Brannigan to the bridge; the new course has endangered the ship.

Brannigan attempts to correct the problem by piloting the ship too close to a black hole. Realizing the danger he has put them in, Brannigan promotes Kif to Captain before fleeing the ship. Bender heads off to save the Countess while the rest of the crew head for the escape pods. An airlock door closes, blocking the crew's escape. Zoidberg holds it open a few inches, but the door release is on the other side. Hermes resurrects his old limbo skills to squeeze under the door. Arriving at the escape pods, they meet Amy's parents, who have found Amy a new boyfriend: "Captain" Kif. After waiting as long as they can for Bender, the crew launches the escape pod. Bender leaps from the Titanic, Countess in tow. He grabs the escape pod, but they are overweight. The Countess sacrifices herself so the others may escape. Bender is now heartbroken and says he has her diamond bracelet to remind him of her. However, Hermes examines it and tells Bender that it is fake, causing him to cry.

Production

This episodes features the beginning of the relationship between Kif Kroker and Amy Wong. The relationship was originally meant to be a one–off joke; however, the writers found it to be convenient and used it in later episodes.^[1] Recurring characters Leo and Inez Wong, and LaBarbara Conrad were first introduced in the episode.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: A Flight to Remember

• "A Flight to Remember" at the Internet Movie Database
• "A Flight to Remember" at TV.com
• A Flight to Remember at About.com
• A Flight to Remember at The Infosphere.