A Big Piece of Garbage

"A Big Piece of Garbage" is the eighth episode of Futurama and of the first season. It aired on 11 May, 1999 on FOX. It guest stars Ron Popeil as himself in a jar. After Farnsworth's development of the Smell-O-Scope, Fry discovers a giant garbage ball heading directly for New New York, and it becomes a race against time to save the city.

Act I: "Tonight is a special night and I want all of you to be alive!"
Prof. Farnsworth tells the crew that they'll be making a delivery to Ebola 9, the Virus planet. He delays the delivery until the next day, so they will still be alive to attend the Academy of Inventors annual symposium and see him unveal his new invention, the Death Clock.

Act II: "The Smell-O-Scope is brilliant, I tell you!"
At the convention, the Farnsworth is confronted by his old nemesis, Dr. Wernstrom. Wernstrom makes fun of Farnsworth's entry the previous year - another Death Clock. Farnsworth quickly designs something else on a cocktail napkin. Wernstrom meanwhile presents the Reverse Scuba Suit, demonstrated by his pet fish Cinnamon. When Farnsworth's turn arrives, he presents his crude sketch of the Smell-O-Scope, a device that would allow you to smell distant objects, but the audience just laughs at him and Wernstrom wins the academy prize. The next day, he remembers that he already built a Smell-O-Scope last year, and with it Fry discovers a giant spaceborne ball of trash among the stars, headed straight for New New York.

Act III: "New New York is going to be destroyed by a giant ball of garbage!"
Farnsworth runs to warn the Mayor of New New York about the ball of garbage. Wernstrom, acting as the Mayor's science advisor, denounces Farnsworth as a crackpot, until a report comes in from Neptune confirming Farnsworth's claims. A plan is prepared to send the Planet Express crew to plant explosives to destroy it. The plan goes awry because Farnsworth installed the bomb's timer upside-down, then set it to to 52 seconds and not 25 minutes, and the crew has to dispose of the bomb so it won't blow them up.

Act IV: "Get that robot some more beer!"
In desperation, they come up with an alternate plan: to deflect the garbage ball by hitting it with another garbage ball. The people of New New York are called into action to start producing garbage. With guidance from Fry, they rise to the occassion and the new garbage ball is launched. The plan comes off without a hitch, and Wernstrum's Academy prize is taken and awarded to Farnsworth instead.

Trivia

 * In this episode, the professor reveals that the planet Uranus has been renamed "Urectum" Which ironically, has a similar joke meaning to Uranus.
 * Bart Simpson dolls can be seen in this episode on the "Giant Piece of Garbage."
 * Leela claims that the cotton gin was invented in the 19th century, but Eli Whitney invented the modern version of the cotton gin in 1793.

Continuity

 * Professor Farnsworth's doodle of himself as a cowboy could possibly be a doodle of his parallel self, seen in "I Dated a Robot".

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Bart Simpson doll
 * Bender
 * Debut: Cinnamon
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Debut: Linda
 * Debut: Mayor C. Randall Poopenmeyer
 * Debut: Mayor's Secretary
 * Debut: Morbo
 * Debut: New New York Defenses General
 * Debut: Dr. Ogden Wernstrom
 * Debut: Ron Popeil's Head

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Lewis Morton
 * Director
 * Susan Dietter
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Dave Herman
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Lauren Tom (Deleted Scenes only)
 * Special Guest
 * Ron Popeil