Jurassic Bark

"Jurassic Bark" is the sixty-first episode of Futurama, the seventh of the fourth production season and the second of the fifth broadcast season. It aired 17 November, 2002 on FOX. Fry finds his old dog in fossilised form, and a chance of cloning him becomes an option, but Bender is not pleased with competition.

Act I: "That's like digging up Lassie and putting her on display in the Louvre!"
Bender and Fry are practicing some magic tricks, which involves a newspaper. From this paper Fry learns that an intact 20th century pizzeria has been unearthed under New New York, and the two of them go visit the exhibition in the museum that shows the findings. It sports a complete pizzeria reconstruction, and Fry realizes it is actually Panucci's Pizza, the place he used to work at before he was frozen. He tells the Tour Guide he recognizes all the stuff. Among the exhibits are the fossilized remains of a dog that Fry recognizes to be his own. He first met him in August 1997 when he was making a delivery to a prank address (Seymour Asses), and fed a piece of the surplus pizza to the dog that in turn started to follow him around and recognize him as master. The dog aquired the name of the prank address, Seymour Asses or Seymour for short. Fry tries to take the remains of Seymour with him, but is caught and thrown out of the museum. Fry is organizing some protesters to put up public pressure so he can have his dog back. He keeps dancing in front of the museum for three days in ghastly weather, until the museum asks him some question about the dog and then agrees to return it to him. The Professor finds out that Seymour was fast-fossilized, preserving the cellular structure and making it possible to clone him. Fry can't wait to get his best friend back, which leaves Bender sad and worried.

Act II: "Know ye now what feels like to be Dog God!"
The Professor needs a while to reset the Clone-O-Mat from human mode to dog mode. When the cloning is complete, Seymour will be resurrected with all his memories as he was at the time of his death. In a flashback to 31 December 1999, we see that Seymour did not want to let Fry go on the fateful delivery trip to Applied Cryogenics, but Fry consolated him and told him that he would not be gone for long and that Seymour should await his return in front of Panucci's Pizza. Meanwhile, Fry starts his preparations for the awaited return of his pet - he buys dog toys, a collar and dog food, much to the dismay of Bender who feels he is not getting enough attention from Fry. He is trying to talk Fry out of resurrecting his dog and at the same time seems to pick up some dog characteristics himself. In another flashback, this time to 1 January 2000, we learn that Seymour tried to lead Fry's family to him, but Fry's father would not leave his home because of his fear of Y2K. Meanwhile, Amy and Leela are practicing hand to hand fighting in rather revealing outfits, during which Amy is getting her cute butt kicked bigtime. Bender introduces a kind of dog of his own, Robo-Puppy, which does not have the desired effect of making Fry jealous. Just then, the Professor announces that the Clone-O-Mat is ready. The process takes up a lot of energy which is to be provided by molten lava in the sub-basement of the Planet Express Building, where indeed a lava pit is boiling. Right in the middle of the cloning process, Bender enters and tries to persuade Fry to go to the talent show with him that they have been practicing magic tricks for, but Fry tells him to leave him alone. Bender gets mad at this and hurls Seymour's remains into the lava pit, thinking that Fry will now be his friend again.

Act III: "Professor! Lava! Hot!"
Fry is of course mad at Bender, but the Professor tells him that the dog may survive the lava because the fossil was made of dolomite, an immensely tough and heat-resistant rock. Fry is about to dive into the lava pit, because he figures Seymour would have come after him too - and indeed, in a further flashback to 1 January 2000, we see Seymour looking for Fry everywhere and eventually locating his frozen body at Applied Cryogenics. Back in 3004, Fry is fielded by Amy and Leela before he reaches the pit, and breaks down crying. Bender then realizes that Fry really loved this dog and did not just toy with his emotions. He decides to dive into the lava pit himself, calculating he has a chance of survival because he is 40% dolomite. In yet another flashback to 2000, we see the Fry family enter Applied Cryogenics where the Cryogenicist tells them their dog is there madly scrabbling at Fry's cryogenic tube. They drag Seymour away to find their son without realizing Fry is in that tube. Again in 3004, when Bender takes a long time to reappear, Leela is getting ready to dive after him into the lava, as Bender reappears through the floor of the sub-basement, glowing red-hot and with Seymour's remains in his arms. The cloning process is restarted and Fry learns that Seymour was fifteen years old when he died, meaning that he lived on for twelve years after he was frozen. Fry then refuses to continue the cloning, thinking that Seymour had forgotten him. In the closing shot, we see - in one final flashback - Seymour sitting outside Panucci's Pizza for years and years, always waiting for his master's return as he was told, while around him the world changes and he grows old until he lies down and dies.

Trivia

 * As Fry is doing his people's native dance (The Hustle), Leela is watching his display critically, armed with a book called "Dances of the Ancient Bronx".
 * When Fry points out that Seymour could fetch, Bender fetches as well - an Easter Island stone figure (moai). When Fry points out Seymour could dig up bones, Bender presents the remains of Charlemagne in his chest cabinet.
 * The paleontologist who discovers Seymour is named "Dr. Ben Beeler," presumably a reference to producer and prolific writer Ken Keeler.
 * The last part of the episode where Seymour is waiting outside on the sidewalk was originally set to the theme of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but it was exchanged with the song "I Will Wait For You" from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as sung by Connie Francis, which writer Eric Kaplan's parents played and sang on the piano while he was a child.
 * In an original version of the script, it was Fry's mother that was found fossilized. The staff, however, found this upsetting.
 * It is possible to see Nibbler's eyestalk poking out of the trash can for a brief moment before Fry is frozen. This was never explained before the end of the original run of the show.
 * This episode was nominated in 2003 for an Emmy in Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour).
 * The episode's emotionally powerful ending recalls two real life dogs who became famous for their enduring faithfulness after their masters' death: Scotland's Greyfriars Bobby and Japan's Hachiko. The ending is one of the more emotional and poignant scenes in the Futurama series, which differs from its usual comedic style.
 * We see Scruffy lowering the Clone-O-Mat to the basement by means of a simple rope.
 * The lava pit bears a warning sign: WARNING Contents of Earth May be hot
 * Right under Applied Cryogenics motto (You can solve all your problems by freezing them!) is a frozen woman, bearing an angry expression and a rolling pin, presumably the manager's wife or mother-in-law.
 * Fry finds out that Seymour lived twelve more years after he disappeared. If you count the seasonal cuts in the final montage, there are exactly twelve segments before Seymour dies.
 * This episode is named #8 on IGN's list of the Top 25 Futurama Episodes.
 * This episode was named #2 on TV.com's list of Top 10 Futurama Episodes.
 * In an ironic twist, in "Bender's Big Score" it is shown that when Fry becomes depressed and is going to be assasinated by Bender, he goes back to the day he was frozen and stays in the past for 12 more years with Seymour.
 * Seymour's eventual fate at the end of the episode appears to have been retconned in "Bender's Big Score". Since the time duplicate Fry stays in the 21st Century and lives at least the first 10 years of the 2000s with Seymour and the rest of his family before going on the boat to look for Leelu, it would appear as though Seymour was simply waiting for Fry to get back from the voyage, rather than waiting all 12 years for him to return from the Cryogenics lab. This then raises the question of whether or not the ending of "Jurassic Bark" can still be seen as part of the show's continuity.
 * The halftime score of the game Fry's mother is watching is shown to be Wisconsin 9, Stanford 3 in the 2nd quarter. In actuality the score was reversed but Wisconsin went on to win 17-9, which in itself was referenced by Fry's mother in the episode "Luck of the Fryrish".

Continuity

 * There are several clips from this episode. And few sections including Seymour between scenes we saw previously.
 * The title of the exhibition at the museum is "Treasures of the Stupid Ages - Loot from the recent Pizzeria excavation". In this episode, Fry's time is referred to as "the Stupid Ages" by Leela.
 * The tour guide appears to be the same person who was eaten by an elephant.
 * A second shadow appears when Fry's falls into the tube in the flashback, compared to only one in 1ACV01 and none in 2ACV16. The reason for the addition is explained in this episode.
 * Seymour's fossilised remains appear again at Fry's funeral.
 * Seymour's fossilised remains appear once again in the Planet Express lounge.
 * How Seymour got fossilised is explained.
 * We see the hungover cryogenisist the night before when he is drunk
 * Seymour's fossilised remains appear again at Fry's funeral.
 * Seymour's fossilised remains appear once again in the Planet Express lounge.
 * How Seymour got fossilised is explained.
 * We see the hungover cryogenisist the night before when he is drunk
 * We see the hungover cryogenisist the night before when he is drunk

Allusions

 * Star Trek
 * Fry makes the Vulcan signal and says live long and prosper to Seymour when they first meet.

Goofs

 * The shorts on Amy's tights disappear in some shots.
 * The rope on the handle of the Clone-O-Mat changes to a chain the second time Farnsworth pulls it.
 * The characters stand right next to the magma without getting hurt; in reality, even approaching within a few yards would burn them severely.
 * During the final cloning scene prior to the last flashback of Seymour waiting for Fry, both Amy and Leela revert to their usual clothing instead of the wrestling outfits they were wearing earlier.
 * The score of the Rose Bowl was reversed in the game, Stanford was leading 9-3 at halftime in the actual game.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Dr. Ben Beeler
 * Debut: Cryogenist from Applied Cryogenics in the year 2000
 * Cubert Farnsworth
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Fry
 * Leela
 * Nibbler
 * Debut: Robo-Puppy
 * Scruffy
 * Debut: Seymour Asses
 * Tour Guide
 * 'tude Guard
 * Yancy Fry, Sr.
 * Yancy Fry, Jr.
 * Mrs. Fry
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Director
 * Swinton O. Scott III
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Lauren Tom
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * David Herman
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Swinton O. Scott III
 * Billy West
 * Bonus Writers Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Ken Keeler
 * Bill Odenkirk
 * Patric M. Verrone
 * Ron Weiner
 * Jeff Westbrook
 * Special Guest
 * Tom Kenny
 * Frank Welker
 * Kath Soucie