Fry and the Slurm Factory

"Fry and the Slurm Factory" is the thirteenth episode of Futurama and the last episode of the first production season, and the fourth episode of the second broadcast season. It aired 14 November, 1999 on FOX. It guest stars Pamela Anderson as Dixie. Fry is obsessed with Slurm, and when a competition comes out for him to see the Slurm Factory, he cannot resist. However, at the Slurm Factory, the Planet Express crew discovers the horrible truth about Slurm.

Act I: "Whimmy wham wham wozzle... let's party!"
Fry and Bender are watching All My Circuits, when a commercial for Slurm comes on. The commercial advertises a new contest; the grand prize is a chance to party with Slurms MacKenzie at the Slurm Factory on Wormulon.

Act II: "I've never seen anyone so addicted to Slurm."
Fry starts guzzling Slurm like crazy, hoping to win the contest, but to no avail. Bender doesn't feel so well and so the Professor takes the opportunity to test his new invention, the F-Ray, to see inside him and find the problem. After finding Amy's missing watch inside, he leaves the F-Ray with Fry and Bender "to be kept out of the wrong hands." They immediately start using it to see inside of things. At the 711 Fry gets an idea and they start to use it to search for the Slurm can with the winning bottle cap. Back at Planet Express, where Leela and Farnsworth are playing 3-D Scrabble, Fry and Bender decide to give up, but then Fry almost chokes on the cap, found in a can of Slurm in the fridge and wins the contest.

Act III: "Something's rotten on planet Wormulon!"
Fry and all of his friends arrive on Wormulon, and are greeted by Glurmo and Slurms MacKenzie. Glurmo leads them on a tour, where they encounter the Grunka Lunkas. While Glermo narrates the tour, they begin asking questions about the Secret Ingredient of Slurm. After Fry falls into the river of Slurm, Leela jumps in to save him; Bender jumps as well, just to fit in. Sucked down the drain, they wind up lost in an underground part of the factory. Fry tastes Slurm from the river, only to discover it's not slurm at all, and they begin nosing around, and discover the disgusting secret - Slurm is a fluid squirted out by a giant worm! Meanwhile, Zoidberg, Amy, and The Professor finish the tour, and Glurmo notices that the others are missing.

Act IV: "That's the secret ingredient of Slurm? Ewwwwww!"
Fry, Leela, and Bender try to escape, only to run in a circle and wind up back in the room with the Slurm Queen, where Glurmo captures them. The Slurm Queen wants them destroyed so they can't tell anybody about the secret ingredient. Bender is to be made into Slurm cans, Leela is to be dipped into a vat of Royal Slurm, transforming her into a new Slurm Queen. Fry is allowed to go free after being force-fed a taste of concentrated Super-Slurm, which is so addictive he can't stop eating, even to save his friends. Still eating, Fry drags the vat over until he can release Leela. She saves Bender, and then dumps the Super-Slurm down a sewer grate, to Fry's horror. They make their escape, and run into Slurms MacKenzie, who wants to escape with them. When the Slurm Queen finds them, Slurms MacKenzie sacrifices himself to allow the crew to escape.

Trivia

 * According to audio commentary, Glurmo's name was originally to have been "Slurmy Slonka" - furthering the references to Willy Wonka.
 * This episode is named #3 on IGN's list of Top 25 Futurama Episodes.
 * Mixing Hydrogen molecules, with Oxygen atoms to create water as the Grunka Lunkas supposedly do would cause a massive fire and blow up the tanks. Whether this was a hint to observant viewers of the upcoming plot twist, or a goof is unknown.
 * During the scene where Leela and the Professor, are playing 3D Scrabble (a reference to Star Trek's 3D Chess), the Professor's current letters are F, U, U, T, A, M, and R in that order; an obvious reference to the show's name.
 * Also during the Scrabble scene, the words on the board are One, Eye, Matt, Area, Prop, Only, Donut, One, and Emu.

Continuity

 * Fry's sperm production is healed.
 * Fry's sperm production is healed.

Allusions

 * The Factory, Grunka Lunkas, and Glurmo are references to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
 * The Slurm Queen's plan to use Leela to market "New Slurm" is a reference to "New Coke."
 * Slurms MacKenzie's name is a reference to "Spuds McKenzie", a former Budweiser advertising mascot.
 * The Soylent Cola is the first of many references to the film "Soylent Green" in the show.
 * 3D Scrabble, the game played by Leela and the Professor, is a reference to Star Trek's 3D Chess.
 * The translation says "...and the elusive yak-face.". Yak face is a rare Star Wars figure of Saelt-Marae not released in the USA. Mint figures have sold for thousands of dollars. It was added because David X. Cohen owns one.
 * When the Professor uses the F-Ray on Bender, his brain is shown to be powered by a 6502 CPU (a common CPU from the 1980's used in the Apple II, Nintendo Famicom/NES, and Commodore 64 computers).

Quotes
for the lyrics of the Grunka Lunka songs.

Goofs

 * Fry says he can't swim, but he is treading water, once Leela jumps in to save him. Additionally, in Bender's Big Score, he is seen swimming with Leelu.
 * Fry, Leela and Bender went down the drain in the Slurm river, yet when they open the door to the fake factory, it is revealed they are level with the river.

Alien Language Sightings
Time:01:19

Location: Rules of the contest

Language: AL1

Translation: The following species are ineligible: space wasps, space beavers, any other animal with the word 'space' in front of it, space chickens, and the elusive yak-face.

Time:03:25

Location: Eye Chart

Language: AL1

Translation: n o s q u i n t i n g f o u r e y e s

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Trixie
 * Bender
 * Boxy Robot
 * Calculon
 * Debut: Dixie
 * Monique
 * Fry
 * Debut: Glurmo
 * Debut: Grunka Lunkas
 * Debut: Hermaphrobot
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Slurms MacKenzie
 * Debut: Slurm Queen
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Lewis Morton
 * Director
 * Ron Hughart
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Dave Herman
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lauren Tom
 * Special Guest
 * Pamela Anderson
 * DVD Commentatary
 * David X. Cohen
 * John DiMaggio
 * Lewis Morton
 * Matt Groening
 * Rich Moore
 * Ron Hughart