In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
Encyclopedia
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" is the second episode of the sixth season
of the animated sitcom, Futurama
. It originally aired directly after "Rebirth
" on Thursday, June 24, 2010 on Comedy Central
. In the episode, Zapp Brannigan
and Leela end up on a Garden of Eden
-like world after fighting a planet-destroying satellite called V-Giny.
The episode was written by Carolyn Premish, who created the story for the episode with Futurama
creator Matt Groening
. Dwayne Carey-Hill
directed. It features references to Adam and Eve
, and Matt Groening
's other show, The Simpsons
, along with self-parody
. The episode received positive reviews from critics.
Notably, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" is the first of several episodes to use a significantly shortened intro sequence this season, and consequently is the first episode in the series not to show a brief clip of a classic cartoon before the opening credits.
soon discovers that the death sphere is headed for Earth. After running several simulations, he realizes that the death sphere is the result of a collision between two artificial satellites that were launched into Earth's orbit in 1998. One satellite, launched by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), was known as the "V-chip
" which censors inappropriate programs like The Pimpsons and Assarama, and the other satellite was called the "USAF
Flying Destiny." Shortly after launch, the two mysteriously disappeared. The collision effectively created the death sphere and also gave the death sphere the name "V-GINY," a portmanteau of the two former satellites' names. The death sphere's purpose is later revealed as censoring indecent planets, thereby destroying them.
Zapp Brannigan
and Leela are sent to destroy the death sphere in an undetectable one-manned ship built by Farnsworth. Upon confronting the sphere's control center, Leela utters "holy cr—", triggering the censor, which sends a black, crude oil-like substances towards them. Their counterattack weaponry proves to be ineffective against the mysterious substance, forcing the duo to retreat. They end up stranded on a Garden of Eden
-like planet (complete with a talking serpent, though Branningan dismisses this as a hallucination
) where Brannigan tries to woo Leela through deceit and purposely leaving her trapped and mentally addled. However, Brannigan ultimately scams Leela, the two really landing on Earth. In the meantime, the Planet Express crew travels to Lo'ihi Island in Hawaii
, the one spot where humanity has not made its mark. There, they desperately attempt to convince the death sphere that there is still some decency on Earth by performing a purity chant. However, Bender
can not keep to himself and begins fornicating with the satellite encoder. Following the incident, Fry
wanders the island in search of a good spot to "take a dump". As he wanders, he finds the stranded Leela, at which point V-Giny appears on Earth, and in a bargain made between it and the Planet Express crew, agrees to spare the planet if "Adam" (Brannigan) and "Eve" (Leela) consummate their relationship. Brannigan tries to bargain his way out due to the uncomfortable setting but Leela forces him into it, which causes Fry a great deal of grief, and he begs for it to be censored. V-Giny states that it is "approved for all audiences" and leaves Earth.
, Matt Groening
.
's 1968 song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
" (originally titled "In the Garden of Eden"). The episode makes references to the typical 1950s B-Movie serials with Zapp Brannigan's dreams. Zapp and Leela are in an Adam and Eve
type planet and take on the roles while on the planet. The Death Sphere is a reference to "Death Star
" in Star Wars
, its creation and its name are a reference to V′Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
. It is also a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series
episodes "The Changeling" (in reference to the fact that the V-chip and the USAF Flying Destiny colliding like the Nomad probe) and "The Doomsday Machine" (an ancient military starship that has gone rogue and destroyed several planets, before heading toward the Federation). Hermes uses a reference database called Janeway's Guide, a portmanteau of Jane's Fighting Ships
and Kathryn Janeway
.
, Royal Pains
and the previous Futurama
episode, "Rebirth
" according to the Nielsen Media Research
.
The A. V. Club reviewer Zack Helden while reviewing "Rebirth
" gave the episode a B saying "'Gadda' is the weaker of the two premiere episodes. It's still funny (though not quite as funny as 'Rebirth'), but the storyline doesn't build to the sort of wild, resonant pay-off that Futurama does best". Robert Canning of IGN
gave the episode a 8.0/10 calling it "Impressive" and also stated "While 'Rebirth' was forced to reacquaint and catch people up, 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela' was essentially a standalone episode delivering a lot of laughs and a quintessential Futurama story." Danny Gallagher of TV Squad stated in his review "It was nice to see 'Futurama' stick with its satirical roots. The best of the old episodes always had a touch of something that spoke out about something (i.e. global warming in 'Crimes of the Hot
,' environmental awareness in 'A Big Piece of Garbage
'). It really knew how to drive the episode, both on plot and humor, and it works here, for the most part." Although he also stated it lacked "cleverness" and few laughs from Bender.
Futurama (season 6)
Futurama sixth production season originally aired on Comedy Central from June 24, 2010 to September 8, 2011 and consisted of 26 episodes. The season marks the change of networks from Fox to Comedy Central.David X...
of the animated sitcom, Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
. It originally aired directly after "Rebirth
Rebirth (Futurama)
"Rebirth" is the premiere of Futuramas sixth season, and the revival of the series. It originally aired in North America on June 24, 2010, on Comedy Central. The episode was written by David X...
" on Thursday, June 24, 2010 on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. In the episode, Zapp Brannigan
Zapp Brannigan
Captain Zapp Brannigan is a fictional character in the animated sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West, but was originally intended to be voiced by Phil Hartman, with West taking over the role after Hartman's death. Brannigan is a 25-Star General in the Democratic Order of Planets, and captain...
and Leela end up on a Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
-like world after fighting a planet-destroying satellite called V-Giny.
The episode was written by Carolyn Premish, who created the story for the episode with Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
. Dwayne Carey-Hill
Dwayne Carey-Hill
Dwayne Carey-Hill is an American animation director, currently working on the Comedy Central series Drawn Together. Prior to Drawn Together, he worked on Futurama, as Susie Dietter's assistant director and then promoted to a director and directed the episode "Obsoletely Fabulous"...
directed. It features references to Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
, and Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
's other show, The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, along with self-parody
Self-parody
A self-parody is a parody of oneself or one's own work. As an artist accomplishes it by imitating his or her own characteristics, a self-parody is potentially difficult to distinguish from especially characteristic productions .Sometimes critics use the...
. The episode received positive reviews from critics.
Notably, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" is the first of several episodes to use a significantly shortened intro sequence this season, and consequently is the first episode in the series not to show a brief clip of a classic cartoon before the opening credits.
Plot
Sometime in the 31st century, a death sphere appears, destroying planets in its path. Professor FarnsworthHubert J. Farnsworth
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, or simply The Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a combination of impressions of Burgess Meredith and Frank Morgan. Farnsworth is the proprietor of the Planet Express delivery...
soon discovers that the death sphere is headed for Earth. After running several simulations, he realizes that the death sphere is the result of a collision between two artificial satellites that were launched into Earth's orbit in 1998. One satellite, launched by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC), was known as the "V-chip
V-chip
V-chip is a generic term for technology used in television set receivers in the USA, Canada, and Brazil which allows the blocking of programs based on their ratings category. It is intended for use by parents to manage their children's television viewing...
" which censors inappropriate programs like The Pimpsons and Assarama, and the other satellite was called the "USAF
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
Flying Destiny." Shortly after launch, the two mysteriously disappeared. The collision effectively created the death sphere and also gave the death sphere the name "V-GINY," a portmanteau of the two former satellites' names. The death sphere's purpose is later revealed as censoring indecent planets, thereby destroying them.
Zapp Brannigan
Zapp Brannigan
Captain Zapp Brannigan is a fictional character in the animated sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West, but was originally intended to be voiced by Phil Hartman, with West taking over the role after Hartman's death. Brannigan is a 25-Star General in the Democratic Order of Planets, and captain...
and Leela are sent to destroy the death sphere in an undetectable one-manned ship built by Farnsworth. Upon confronting the sphere's control center, Leela utters "holy cr—", triggering the censor, which sends a black, crude oil-like substances towards them. Their counterattack weaponry proves to be ineffective against the mysterious substance, forcing the duo to retreat. They end up stranded on a Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
-like planet (complete with a talking serpent, though Branningan dismisses this as a hallucination
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
) where Brannigan tries to woo Leela through deceit and purposely leaving her trapped and mentally addled. However, Brannigan ultimately scams Leela, the two really landing on Earth. In the meantime, the Planet Express crew travels to Lo'ihi Island in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, the one spot where humanity has not made its mark. There, they desperately attempt to convince the death sphere that there is still some decency on Earth by performing a purity chant. However, Bender
Bender Bending Rodríguez
Bender Bending Rodríguez, designated Bending Unit 22, is a fictional robot character in the animated television series Futurama. He was created by series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen and is voiced by John DiMaggio. In the series, Bender plays the role of a comic anti-hero, and is...
can not keep to himself and begins fornicating with the satellite encoder. Following the incident, Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...
wanders the island in search of a good spot to "take a dump". As he wanders, he finds the stranded Leela, at which point V-Giny appears on Earth, and in a bargain made between it and the Planet Express crew, agrees to spare the planet if "Adam" (Brannigan) and "Eve" (Leela) consummate their relationship. Brannigan tries to bargain his way out due to the uncomfortable setting but Leela forces him into it, which causes Fry a great deal of grief, and he begs for it to be censored. V-Giny states that it is "approved for all audiences" and leaves Earth.
Production
By 20 August 2009, the writing of this episode was ready for its table reading. This episode and the fourth episode of the sixth season feature some coarser language that would previously not have been possible on FOX. The episode's screenplay was written by Carolyn Premish, with the story written by her and creator of FuturamaFuturama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
.
Cultural references
The episode title itself is a spoof of Iron ButterflyIron Butterfly
Iron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
's 1968 song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is a song by Iron Butterfly, released on their 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.At a little over seventeen minutes, it occupies the entire second side of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album. The lyrics are simple, and heard only at the beginning and the end...
" (originally titled "In the Garden of Eden"). The episode makes references to the typical 1950s B-Movie serials with Zapp Brannigan's dreams. Zapp and Leela are in an Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
type planet and take on the roles while on the planet. The Death Sphere is a reference to "Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
" in Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
, its creation and its name are a reference to V′Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the first film based on the Star Trek television series. The film is set in the twenty-third century, when a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud called V'Ger approaches the Earth,...
. It is also a reference to the Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episodes "The Changeling" (in reference to the fact that the V-chip and the USAF Flying Destiny colliding like the Nomad probe) and "The Doomsday Machine" (an ancient military starship that has gone rogue and destroyed several planets, before heading toward the Federation). Hermes uses a reference database called Janeway's Guide, a portmanteau of Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships
Jane's Fighting Ships is an annual reference book of information on all the world's warships arranged by nation, including information on ship's names, dimensions, armaments, silhouettes and photographs, etc...
and Kathryn Janeway
Kathryn Janeway
Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. As the captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, she was the lead character on the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and later, a Starfleet admiral, as seen in the 2002 feature film Star Trek...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" was viewed by an estimated 2.78 million households with a 1.5 rating/5% share in the 18-49 demographic becoming the second highest rated episode of the night after Burn NoticeBurn notice
A burn notice is an official statement issued by one intelligence agency to other agencies. It states that an individual or a group is unreliable for one or more reasons...
, Royal Pains
Royal Pains
Royal Pains is a USA Network television series that premiered on June 4, 2009, starring Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint and Reshma Shetty. The series is based in part on actual concierge medicine practices of independent doctors and companies...
and the previous Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
episode, "Rebirth
Rebirth (Futurama)
"Rebirth" is the premiere of Futuramas sixth season, and the revival of the series. It originally aired in North America on June 24, 2010, on Comedy Central. The episode was written by David X...
" according to the Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
.
The A. V. Club reviewer Zack Helden while reviewing "Rebirth
Rebirth (Futurama)
"Rebirth" is the premiere of Futuramas sixth season, and the revival of the series. It originally aired in North America on June 24, 2010, on Comedy Central. The episode was written by David X...
" gave the episode a B saying "'Gadda' is the weaker of the two premiere episodes. It's still funny (though not quite as funny as 'Rebirth'), but the storyline doesn't build to the sort of wild, resonant pay-off that Futurama does best". Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode a 8.0/10 calling it "Impressive" and also stated "While 'Rebirth' was forced to reacquaint and catch people up, 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela' was essentially a standalone episode delivering a lot of laughs and a quintessential Futurama story." Danny Gallagher of TV Squad stated in his review "It was nice to see 'Futurama' stick with its satirical roots. The best of the old episodes always had a touch of something that spoke out about something (i.e. global warming in 'Crimes of the Hot
Crimes of the Hot
"Crimes of the Hot" is the eighth episode of the fourth production season of the television show Futurama. It originally aired in North America on November 10, 2002 as the season premiere of Futuramas fifth broadcast season. The episode was written by Aaron Ehasz and directed by Peter Avanzino...
,' environmental awareness in 'A Big Piece of Garbage
A Big Piece of Garbage
"A Big Piece of Garbage" is episode eight in season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 11, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Susie Dietter. Ron Popeil guest stars in this episode as himself. Nancy Cartwright also has a brief cameo as a Bart...
'). It really knew how to drive the episode, both on plot and humor, and it works here, for the most part." Although he also stated it lacked "cleverness" and few laughs from Bender.