Where No Fan Has Gone Before
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| Futurama episode | |
| "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" | |
 The original cast of Star Trek and Melllvar. |
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| Episode no. | 65 |
| Prod. code | 4ACV11 |
| Airdate | April 21, 2002 |
| Writer(s) | David A. Goodman |
| Director | Pat Shinagawa |
| Opening subtitle | WHERE NO FAN HAS GONE BEFORE |
| Opening cartoon | Unknown |
| Guest star(s) | William Shatner Leonard Nimoy Walter Koenig George Takei Nichelle Nichols Jonathan Frakes |
| Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the animated series Futurama. It originally aired in the United States on April 21, 2002.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Bender, Leela and Fry, along with most of the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series, are court-martialed by Zapp Brannigan, who has the group recount the events that led to the court-martial for traveling to the forbidden planet Omega 3.
It is explained to Fry that Star Trek is forbidden in the future, because by the 23rd century, it had become a religion that had too many followers and resulted in changes of country names (such as Germany, which was renamed as Nazi Planet Episode Land). All the episodes of the original series and movies were jettisoned, by a craft bearing a suspicious resemblance to an Eagle from Space: 1999, to a forbidden planet. Fry runs to the Head Museum to talk to Leonard Nimoy’s Head. Nimoy's head tries to deny knowledge of the show, but realizes he can't escape the Star Trek craze and recounts to Fry how the rest of the cast left Earth. He did not go with them as he recently signed a six month lease on his apartment.
Fry, Leela, Bender and Nimoy's head journey to the forbidden planet where they crash and find several original sets from Star Trek as well as the cast, complete with their bodies and eternal youth. A large energy being named Melllvar reveals himself and explains that he became an obsessed Star Trek fan after watching the tapes over and over again. Melllvar gives Nimoy a body, and orders the actors and the Planet Express crew to participate in a Star Trek convention until all time stops. While Melllvar forces the cast to perform his fan script, Bender, Leela and Fry escape in the Planet Express ship. Fry then convinces the crew to go back for the actors, only to have Melllvar destroy the ship's engine as it crashes back on the planet.
After seeing the crew's attempt to escape, Melllvar wonders if the Planet Express crew are more worthy of his adoration; he decides to settle the question with a battle to the death. After fighting for several minutes, Melllvar's mother appears and makes him come home for supper. While he is gone, the two groups combine the engine of the cast's ship with the body of the Planet Express ship. In order to lose enough weight to lift off, the cast jettison their bodies. Melllvar soon follows the crew into space, with his own spaceship (a Klingon Ktinga model). The Planet Express ship is then boarded by Brannigan, who starts the court-martial. At this point, Leela points out that during the course of the court-martial, Melllvar is continuing to chase them.
Everyone hurries back to the control room, where they still try to escape from Melllvar. Fry convinces Melllvar that he can't spend his whole time watching Star Trek, and Melllvar eventually agrees to end the chase and "get a life." The crew returns, with the tapes in hand, to Earth. The cast finally agrees to leave, deciding that living with "one really annoying Star Trek fan" was not worth the great things they received.
[edit] Production
The writer for this episode, David A. Goodman, states in the DVD audio commentary that making this episode was a "dream come true" for many members of the crew including himself.[1] Pat Shinagawa, who directed the episode also states that there was a certain amount of jealousy that she had gotten to do this episode[2] whereas Matt Groening states that while he is a fan of the Star Trek franchise he has never seen an episode of the original series all the way through, but he has seen the first movie.[3]
All of the living members of the original Star Trek cast agreed to appear in the episode with the exception of James Doohan, whose agent replied with "No way." Because of this, the episode's working title was jokingly named "We got everybody but Scotty" and the character Montgomery Scott was replaced with "Welshy".[1] Goodman also notes that this episode may be the reason he later began writing for Star Trek: Enterprise.[1]
Multiple designs for the energy being were considered for this episode; however, the final version was decided upon due to a desire to keep the design simple.[4] Despite this effort, Shinagawa still notes that the final design for Melllvar is more sophisticated than some energy beings featured in the original series.[2]
[edit] Star Trek references
In the DVD audio commentary, the writer for this episode notes his pride in having included a large number of references to the original series, particularly those items which he claims "the people on the internet" had not found on their own. In particular, he noted that in "Shatner's Log", a play on the legendary captain's log, the line "The impossible has happened" is the same line given in the opening log in the episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before."[1]
William Shatner's line at the end "Let's get the hell out of here." is also said in the episode The City on the Edge of Forever.
[edit] Broadcast and reception
Although the episode was not the last episode produced for season four it was used as the season finale for the fourth broadcast season. The episode was then nominated for a Nebula Award in 2004 for best script.[5][6] IGN.com ranked the episode as number ten in their list of the "Top 25 Futurama Episodes" in 2006.[7] The popularity of this episode combined with the large volume of Star Trek references has made this episode a touchstone among Trekkies.[8] This episode, along with "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", has been called one of the great moments of the fourth season.[9]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Goodman, David A.. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b Shinagawa, Pat. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Groening, Matt. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Cohen, David X.. (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ Cook, Lucius (April 26, 2004). Hey Sexy Mama, Wanna Kill All Humans?: Looking Backwards at Futurama, The Greatest SF Show You've Never Seen. Locus Online. Retrieved on July 2, 2007.
- ^ 2004 Nebula Awards (2004-04-17).
- ^ "Top 25 Futurama Episodes". Retrieved on 2006-11-04.
- ^ Baker, Chris (2007-12-17). Videogames & Futurama, Part 1: Raiders of the Lost Arcade.
- ^ Hofstede, David. 5000 Episodes and No Commercials: The Ultimate Guide to TV Shows on DVD. Back Stage Books, 120.
[edit] External links
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