Futurama/Parasites Lost

Parasites Lost
Season 3, Episode 4
Airdate	January 21, 2001
Production Number	3ACV02
Written by	Eric Kaplan
Directed by	Peter Avanzino
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Futurama — Season Three

Parasites Lost is the fourth episode of the third season of Futurama, and the thirty-third episode overall. This is one of many episodes which advance Fry and Leela's relationship. After Fry eats a mysterious truckstop sandwich, he starts to undergo changes which slowly changes him into the optimal person. But when Leela finally falls for his wooing, Fry begins to question, does she love him or does she love what he's become?

Guest Stars: David Herman (Worm Mayor), Phil LaMarr (Worm Guard #1), Lauren Tom

Plot Overview

The episode opens with Leela refueling the Planet Express ship at a truck stop. While she and Bender go through the standard gas station proceedures, Fry buys a "fresh" egg salad sandwich from a machine in the bathroom. Despite warnings from Bender and Leela, Fry eats the sandwich anyway and the crew departs for Earth after being heckled by Sal. Back at Planet Express, Fry laments over his feeling for Leela while Bender fixes the plasma fusion boiler. However, Bender doesn't fix it well enough and the boiler explodes, sending a pipe clear through Fry.

After the wound spontaneously and quite rapidly repairs itself, the Professor and Dr. Zoidberg initiate a series of tests which ultimately reveal a colony of worms living in Fry's colon. The professor comes up with a plan to destroy the worms by using miniature versions of themselves, a miniature space craft and an extensive trek through Fry's organs to cause an intestinal spasm which will clear his colon, worms included. In order to go through with the plan, the crew leaves Leela out of the miniaturized party so she can distract Fry. While the crew ventures into Fry's body, Leela finds herself growing increasingly attracted to Fry as the worms change him more and more. After Fry confesses his love to Leela, she realizes that the worms are making him a better person and shrinks herself down to miniature size in order to stop the crew from expelling the worms. She destroys the miniature robots with an axe, only for Fry to figure out that something is wrong.

After the crew tells Fry about the worms, he explains that he's glad that the worms are there because they're fixing him. He eventually winds up at Leela's apartment, where he serenades her with a song from the holophoner. But after he succeeds in wooing Leela, he realizes that she may not really love him, but actually what he's become. In order to find out once and for all who she loves, he shrinks himself down and confronts the worms in an epic swordfight. They leave after he threatens to cut off the medula obligada, vowing to return again. When Fry returns to Leela, he ruins the moment with his ineptitude and returns to his apartment where the episode ends with him crudely playing the holophoner.

Notes

Alien Language Sightings

• On a truck in the opening convoy: "Human Milk"
• In the truck stop bathroom: "For a moderately good time call 555-1972"
• Outside the construction site: "Watch for falling humans."

Characters

• Fry: Fry's love for Leela is brought up again in this episode. It also leads him to playing the holophoner for her, a thread that will come up again in the series.

Trivia

The Show

• Opening Caption: If not entertaining, write your congressman.
• First Appearance: This show marks Scruffy's first speaking role and his first appearance with his locked down look. He previously appeared in A Fishful of Dollars with a brown moustache.

Behind the Scenes

• Emmy Awards: Rodney Clouden won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his storyboard work on the second act of Parasites Lost.
• Deleted Scene: The colonic city was made of silverware because of a cut piece of script in which Fry is compelled to eat silverware by the worms. This leads to budget cuts and Hermes saying that the crew must now eat with Jai Alai scoops. Hence why, later, Hermes eats popcorn with the Jai Alai scoop.
• Fun With Censorship: The steam covering the "Zero-G Juggs" magazine cover when it was shown the fourth time was added because the censor wouldn't allow a fourth cut to the cover.

Allusions and References

• Paradise Lost: The title "Parasites Lost" is a parody of John Milton's novel "Paradise Lost." The epic poem by Milton is primarily about the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from paradise due to the temptation of eating from the forbidden tree. Some parallels can be drawn here, as Fry was given basically everything he ever wanted but he threw it all away when he confronted the thing that he wanted to know most about. The fact that the worms exist were enough for him to confront them.
• Convoy: The song at the beginning of the show is "Convoy" by C.W. McCall. David X. Cohen recalls the song being much more rocking than it actually is, explaining it's awkward placement in the show. The song was a one hit wonder about truckers defying the police.
• Fantastic Voyage: The concept of shrinking down to explore the human body is taken directly from The Fantastic Voyage, a movie in which a surgical team is miniaturized to save the life of a dying man. Of course, in the movie they were actually shrunk down and in the episode, they used virtual reality and miniatures of themselves.
• Visi-Sonor: The holophoner is inspired by the Visi-Sonor, a device featured in the Foundation books by Isaac Asimov. Each instrument produced both music and images, but the Visi-sonor had the side-effect of also acting as a mind-control device.

Memorable Moments

• Zoidberg comes into the scene riding a gigantic sperm.

Quotes

• Fry: Ugh, it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's throwing up.

• Prof. Farnsworth: In each gastro-survival kit, you'll find a rain slicker, a disposable fun camera, and something to protect you against bacteria... [Amy pulls it out of her bag] a harpoon!

• Bender: Yo, old guy. Why do we have to use those tiny micro-droids? Can't you just shrink us?
  Prof. Farnsworth: Oh my no. That would require extrememly tiny atoms. And have you priced those lately? I'm not made of money--leave me alone!

• Hermes: We gotta get someplace where he won't stick his finger!
  Bender: It's hopeless! Abandon ship!

• Bender: Where are we, the ass?
  Prof. Farnsworth: We're in the heart. Better known as "the love muscle."
  Zoidberg: Where the food is digested.

• Amy: Look! They're jazzercising Fry's muscles!
  Hermes: He'll be as strong and flexible as Gumbo and Hercules combined!
  Zoidberg: Gumbercules? I love that guy!

• [Enter Zoidberg riding one of Fry's sperm.]
  Zoidberg: Yippie-ki-yay! You'll never guess where I've been!

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