A Fishful of Dollars

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = A Fishful of Dollars


caption = Fry enjoys his new rich lifestyle.
episode_no = 6
prod_code = 1ACV06
airdate = April 27, 1999
country = USA
writer = Patric M. Verrone
director = Ron Hughart
Gregg Vanzo
opening_subtitle = LOADING....
opening_cartoon = 1932's "Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions"
guest_star = Pamela Anderson as herself
season = one"A Fishful of Dollars" is episode six in the first season of "Futurama". It originally aired in North America on April 27, 1999. The episode was written by Patric Verrone and directed by Ron Hughart and Gregg Vanzo. Pamela Anderson guest stars as her own preserved head in a jar. This episode marks the first appearance of the character Mom, the series' recurring antagonist. The title of the episode is a play on name of the film "A Fistful of Dollars".cite book| title=Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary| author= Cook, Vivian| pages=128]

Plot

After having their dreams taken over by an advertisement, the Planet Express crew takes a trip to the local shopping mall. Trying to buy the product in his dreams, Fry realizes he is broke. At the same time, Bender is caught shoplifting and sent to jail. Unable to pay the bail, Fry remembers he had a bank account back in the twentieth century. Surprisingly his old bank account is still active, and has been accruing interest for the past thousand years, bringing the balance from 93 cents to $4.3 billion (Which can be worked out to be 2.25% interest). Fry goes on a massive spending spree, buying numerous 20th century artifacts, such as Ted Danson's skeleton, an antique robot toy, and the last known tin of now-extinct anchovies, which were fished to extinction shortly after the Decapodian people arrived on Earth.

Mom, famous industrialist and owner of Mom's Old-Fashioned Robot Oil, wants to secure the anchovies for her own purposes. Anchovy oil could be used to permanently lubricate robots, and therefore represent an enormous threat to Mom's business interests if the remaining anchovies were cloned.

Mom's sons Walt, Larry, and Ignar conspire with the head of Pamela Anderson to steal Fry's ATM card and PIN, by tranquilizing him and making him wake up in an environment similar to the 20th century. They get Pamela Anderson to order a cheese pizza and a large soda, of which the price ($10.77) is Fry's PIN, which they use to bankrupt Fry. All of Fry's 20th century artifacts are repossessed, except the anchovies, which Fry had hidden in his sock.

After Mom discovers Fry intends to eat the anchovies, she stops interfering. Fry covers a pizza with the anchovies, and shares them with the rest of the Planet Express employees. Everyone except Fry spits their pizza out in disgust. Fry claims that they are an acquired taste. When Dr. Zoidberg enters the room, he smells a 'heavenly stench' and immediately devours all the remaining anchovy-covered pizza, and goes on a rampage screaming "MORE! MORE! MORE!!"

Broadcast and reception

In 2006 this episode was ranked as 25th in IGN.com's list of the Top 25 "Futurama" episodes. The episode was chosen to be included in the list in part due to its many jokes about the '70s and '80s.cite web|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/716/716663p1.html| title=Top 25 Futurama Episodes| author= Dan Iverson| date=2006-07-07| accessdate=2007-09-21]

Continuity

*In this episode, Fry buys back old videotapes of the sitcoms from his time, but later in "When Aliens Attack", Farnsworth says that videotapes were destroyed in the year 2443 during the Second Coming of Jesus.

Introduced Characters

* Mom
* Walt, Larry and Ignar
* Scruffy

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0584425/ A Fishful of Dollars] at the Internet Movie Database
* [http://www.tv.com/futurama/a-fishful-of-dollars/episode/1539/summary.html A Fishful of Dollars] at TV.com