A Bicyclops Built for Two

"A Bicyclops Built for Two" is the twenty-second episode of Futurama, the ninth of the second production season and the thirteenth of the second broadcast season. It aired 19 March, 2000 on FOX. While searching for her origins, Leela runs into another lost cyclops, Alcazar, but his story may not be what it appears to be.

Act I: "We're online!"
After trying and failing several years ago, the Professor finally connects to the Internet through AOL. Everyone except the Professor logs in to the virtual world. They eventually come together in a "video game", Death Factory III: The Legend of Death Factory II. Inside the game world, Leela meets another cyclops, but Fry kills his character and wins the game, preventing Leela learning about her species. On a delivery, Leela receives an email from Alcazar, the other cyclops, who invites her to their home planet. The crew dumps their cargo, which drifts into the sun of the destination planet.

Act II: "Look at that statue, it's only got one eye."
The crew arive on the planet, where Bender immediately sets about stealing Alcazar's possessions. Meanwhile, Alcazar teaches Leela about her heritige. He tells of their people's demise, and tells her that they are the only survivors. Alcazar, or "Al", soon begins to show his true colours, a lowlife jerk. In spite of this, Leela decides to try and continue the species, and Leela and Al get engaged. Fry is upset, and attempts to search a forbidden valley, but falls into the dungeon in the process.

Act III: "It's time for this bird to walk!"
The rest of the staff arrives for the wedding. Fry escapes from the dungeon, and he and Bender search the forbidden valley. They find that it holds four identical castles, the first they visit has cyclops statues replaced with 5-eyed-aliens. Just as Leela is about to say "I do", Fry and Bender burst in with Alcazar's other fiances. He is revealed to be a shape-shifting grasshopper-type-alien, who is using the same story to wed several lonely aliens. All weddings are called off and Leela continues wondering where she's from.

Trivia

 * The video game played by the crew is "Death Factory III: The Legend of Death Factory II"
 * This episode makes several obvious references to the TV Series "Married with Children", where Katey Sagal played Peg Bundy.
 * To make room for more stolen items Bender dumps his goldfish bowl, toaster and two more goldfish bowls.
 * This episode won an Emmy, outstanding colour direction for Bari Kumar
 * This episode was named #8 on TV.com's list of Top 10 Futurama Episodes.
 * David X. Cohen and three other crew members appear as internet nerds.
 * Cohen wears a Wristlojackimator.

Continuity

 * Alcazar owns Lightspeed Briefs, which Leela is seen hanging to dry.

Allusions

 * The playing of "Also sprach Zarathustra" when the Planet Express crew logs on to the Internet, and Fry's line "My God, it's full of ads!" are references to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * Hermes dodges a pop-up ad the same way Neo dodged bullets in The Matrix, which he is able to do because he is a former limbo champion
 * The appearance of the internet is based heavily on its description in Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash.
 * The scene with Alcazar and Leela at the couch, and Leela's new outfit/hairstyle, is a reference to one of Katey Sagal's older series Married with Children.
 * Donkey Kong makes his second Futurama appearance in Death Factory III, he was previously spotted in the opening of Space Pilot 3000. he his also seen in Anthology of Interest II, and also in The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
 * The Professor's head appearing as a giant blue hologram could be a reference to Palpatine's appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
 * A Macintosh style menu is used by Bender when selecting a disguise.
 * One of the alien beings Alkazar transforms into is a Yithian from H.P. Lovecraft's "The Shadow Out of Time"
 * The music for the video game sequence, when the crew fights each other online, is from the early 1970's video game Space Invaders.

Quotes
Bender: He's a saint!
 * Fry: Is there a place on the web that panders to my lust for violence? Bender: Is the Space Pope reptilian?
 * Alcazar: Well, this is the real me. But I can explain: We all have needs. Mine was to make it with five weirdos and have them scrub my five castles. I gave you all what you wanted and of course I made a few bucks letting Pig watch through the two-way mirror. Can any of you say you wouldn't have done the exact same thing in my position?

Alien Language Sightings
Time:01:38

Location: Sign in the internet

Language: AL1

Translation: plump. juicy. humans. web

Time: 02.39

Location: door of a chatroom

Language: AL2

Translation: codebreakers chat room

Characters

 * Debut: Alcazar
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Five-eyed woman
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Nibbler
 * Debut: Pig
 * Preacherbot
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Ratman and his girlfriend
 * Debut: Sandy
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Director
 * Susan Dietter
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * David Herman
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lauren Tom
 * Frank Welker
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Susan Dietter
 * Billy West
 * John DiMaggio