Brannigan, Begin Again

"Brannigan, Begin Again" is the fifteenth episode of Futurama, the second of the second production season and the sixth of the second broadcast season. It aired 28 November, 1999 on FOX.

After destroying the DOOP headquarters, Zapp Brannigan is forced to resign his duties from the DOOP Army. In dismay, he joins Planet Express and instigates a mutiny to take over the ship in order to destroy his arch enemies, the neutral people.

Act I: "DOOP? What's that?"
The Planet Express crew are sent to deliver the ceremonial oversized scissors to the grand opening of the new DOOP Headquarters, in orbit around the Neutral Planet. Zapp Brannigan, there to perform the ribbon cutting, falsly arrests Leela for being involved in a neutral plot to kill the yarn people of Nylar 4 with the scissors designated to cut the ribbon. From the ship he uses the Nimbus' laser to cut the ribbon but accidentally destroys the headquarters instead. During a court hearing, before all charges against Zapp are dismissed, Leela decides to testify against Zapp. Despite Zapp's attempts to discredit her as a witness by referencing their past sexual affair, the jury finds Zapp guilty. As a result, he is discharged from DOOP, and when he unjustly places the blame on his assistant, Kif Kroker, it results in Kif being discharged from the DOOP as well. The two wander around the city looking for a way to survive as poor civilians. He visits Leela as she is the only woman who ever physically loved him and along with Kif is hired by Professor Farnsworth to work at Planet Express.

Act II: "Some breaking occurred, the dolly was involved, that's about all we know."
The crew is sent off to Stumbos 4, a planet with extremely high gravity. Fry, Bender, and Zapp ignore Leela's directions and break the Hover Dolly. As punishment she makes them hand-deliver the pillows which, under Stumbos 4's gravity, weigh 150lbs (70kg) each. Kif is happy to be appreciated by Leela and tells her horrible stories about his old job serving under Zapp. Unfortunately Zapp convinces Bender and Fry that he would be a better captain and leads a mutiny to overthrow Leela and make himself captain, which makes Kif unhappy again.

Act III: "So he's about to kill us?"
Now in command of the Planet Express Ship, Zapp Brannigan goes to his sworn enemy's planet the Neutral Planet and plans to send them a message of peace then to crash the Ship into the capital city. He escapes to safety with Kif, leaving the crew on-board while the ship crashes into Neutral HQ. Fry and Bender free Leela who manages to save them by making them put dark matter into the left engine thus steering the ship off course. Ultimately Leela lies to the judge, convincing DOOP to reinstate Zapp and Kif to avoid having them stay on as co-workers. Back at Planet Express, Leela decides to be a bit more lenient with regulations for Fry and Bender, but when the Professor overrules this, the three decide to mutiny.

Trivia

 * Although its has been mentioned before this is DOOP's first appearance.
 * At the start of the episode, Fry and Bender can be seen playing Dejarik, a game played by C-3PO and Chewbacca in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
 * This episode is named #5 on IGN's list of Top 25 Futurama Episodes.

Allusions

 * The sequence between Zapp's and Kif's court martial and subsequent hiring by Planet Express is a parody of the movie Midnight Cowboy.

Quotes

 * The Professor: Why you're that disgraced starship captain Having him on staff will distract people from our horrendous safety record.
 * Zapp Brannigan: Let me ask you a serious question, Leela does the company that made your bra make a girdle as well? I ask because a friend of mine-- Leela: Just get to work!
 * Fry: Leela you've go to help us. Leela: Let me guess. He cancelled naptime? [They shake their heads.] He ran out of beer? [They shake their heads again.] So he's about to kill us?
 * Bender: Leela, save me. [Pauses] And yourself I guess. [Pauses, picks up banjo] And my banjo. [Pauses, looks behind him] And Fry.

Alien Language Sightings
Time:00:56

Location: Outside Planet Express on the Slurm poster

Language: AL1

Translation: Drink

Goofs

 * Hermes says "Or like the Federation from your Star Trek program" however Star Trek has been banned so he couldn't say this, but this continuity error appears in many other episodes.
 * The Robot Elder in the jury talks with humanoid lip sync instead of a flashing mouth.
 * The hovering platform that Fry and Bender use to clean the ship gets cut off at the bottom when it reaches the highest point of its oscillating animation. This happens in two different angles.

Characters

 * Bender
 * Fry
 * Debut: Glab
 * Hattie
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Hyper-Chicken
 * Kif
 * Leela
 * Debut: Neutral President
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Small Glurmo #1
 * Debut: Thog
 * Zapp Brannigan

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Lewis Morton
 * Director
 * Jeffery Lynch
 * Voices
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * Phil LaMarr