Brannigan Begin Again

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = Brannigan Begin Again


caption = Brannigan captures the crew.
episode_no = 15
prod_code = 2ACV02
airdate = November 28, 1999
country = USA
writer = Lewis Morton
director = Jeffrey Lynch
opening_subtitle = Not Y3K Compliant
opening_cartoon = "Pigs in a Polka"
season = two

"Brannigan Begin Again" is the second episode in the second production season of "Futurama". It was originally aired in North America on November 28, 1999 as the sixth episode in the second broadcast season. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Jeffrey Lynch.cite web| url=http://www.411mania.com/movies/dvd_reviews/71169| title=Going to the World of Tomorrow 3.18.08: Futurama — Brannigan, Begin Again| author= Cusson, Jerome| publisher= 411mania.com| date= 2008-03-18| accessdate= 2008-03-18]

Plot

The Planet Express crew arrives at the new Democratic Order of Planets (D.O.O.P.) headquarters in orbit around the Neutral Planet, in order to deliver the oversized scissors that will be used for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. After deciding the Neutral Planet is evil and deceptive, Zapp Brannigan captures and interrogates the crew, thinking that they are assassins. Shortly thereafter, he destroys the entire station by attempting to use the "Nimbus"' laser to cut the ribbon from space.

At the former D.O.O.P. headquarters in Weehawken, New Jersey, Brannigan is court-martialed and he and Kif Kroker are stripped of all their titles and dismissed from D.O.O.P. service, the latter being dismissed after Brannigan unjustly declares him the guilty party. Unable to find employment, the pair wander the streets until they finally arrive at the Planet Express building. Leela tries to turn them away, but Professor Farnsworth decides hiring Brannigan would be good for the company's public image.

The augmented crew is sent to deliver pillows to a hotel on Stumbos 4, a high-gravity planet. Despite Leela's order to deliver one at a time, Fry, Bender, and Zapp decide to deliver all the pillows at once, which in the intense gravity causes the hover dolly to collapse. As punishment, Leela orders them to deliver the pillows by hand instead of using the backup dolly, which causes resentment among the crew.

Fry, Bender, and Zapp stage a mutiny against Leela, and lock her in the "laundry brig". Brannigan decides to attack his imagined nemesis, the Neutral Planet, thinking this will make him a hero and get him reinstated as a D.O.O.P. captain. When Fry and Bender discover the plan is a suicide mission, they free Leela and she retakes command. With Fry and Bender's help, they foil Zapp's plan after he jumps ship with Kif.

After returning to Earth, Leela testifies that Brannigan was an amazing hero, and the D.O.O.P. reinstates Zapp and Kif, thus keeping them out of her life for a little while longer, since Kif annoys Leela with his complaints about working under Zapp. Leela also decides to be a bit more lenient with Fry and Bender, but when the Professor overrules this, the three decide to stage a mutiny against him.

Introduced Characters

*Hyperchicken

Continuity

The majority of the jury at Brannigan's trial are characters from previous "Futurama" episodes. Among the familiar ones are Glurmo from "Fry and the Slurm Factory", the fat anglerfish-antennae alien from "Hell is Other Robots", a Neptunian, an Insectoid, a Robot Elder from "Fear of a Bot Planet", and Fry's Trisolian advisor Gorgak from "My Three Suns". Fry is shown while at the DOOP headquarters talking to a woman from the planet "Amazonia", saying "what is it like on the planet Amazonia?", later to come up in the episode Amazon Women in the Mood. Included in the 3-D chess game Bender and Fry play are a Decapodian, a Horrible Gelatinous Blob, Lrrr the ruler of Omicron Persei 8, a Trisolian from "My Three Suns" and an Amphibiosan. Towards the end of the episode, when Leela regains control of the ship as it is about to impact the Neutral Planet, she says "I don't want to die at the age of 25" revealing to us her age.

Reception

In 2006 IGN.com ranked this episode as number five in their list of the "Top 25 "Futurama" episodes". The episode ranked highly in large part due to the character of Zapp Brannigan, particularly the "Midnight Cowboy" parody with Kif and Brannigan as Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.cite web |url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/716/716663p3.html |title="Top 25 Futurama Episodes" |accessdate=2007-06-20 |format= |work= ] A review on 411mania also noted that the return of Brannigan was a highpoint of the episode and gave it an overall rating of 8.0/10 or "very good". In "Doug Pratt's DVD" Pratt noted that the episode combined the series' science fiction setting with good character humor.cite book|last=Pratt| first=Douglas| title=Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!| pages=474]

Cultural references

The title is a play on the Irish folk song "Michael Finnigan", which is also known by its refrain, "Finnigan, begin again." The episode opens with Fry and Bender playing a game of chess similar to that played by Chewbacca and R2-D2 in "". The sequence where Zapp attempts to make a living as a gigolo is taken from "Midnight Cowboy", including the film's theme, "Everybody's Talkin'" by Harry Nilsson.

References

External links

* [http://www.tv.com/futurama/brannigan-begin-again/episode/1548/summary.html Brannigan Begin Again] at TV.com
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0766796/ Brannigan Begin Again] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/287163/Futurama-Brannigan-Begin-Again/overview Brannigan Begin Again] at The New York Times Movies