The Problem with Popplers (7 May 2000)

The Planet Express crew discovers a delicious snack food on a remote planet, but Leela has a change of heart when she discovers a disturbing fact about the snack food that endangers Earth.

Directors:

Chris Sauve, Gregg Vanzo,

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator), Matt Groening (developer),

Stars:

Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Billy West	...	Philip J. Fry / Professor Hubert Farnsworth / Dr. Zoidberg / Zapp Brannigan (voice)
Katey Sagal	...	Turanga Leela (voice)
John DiMaggio	...	Bender / Announcer / Audience Member (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Molton Boron Singer / Linda / Nd-nd (voice)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Hot Dog Vendor / Fishy Joseph Gillman / Horrible Gelatinous Blob / Lrrr / Lt. Kif Kroker / Waiter (voice)
Phil Hendrie	...	Free Waterfall Junior (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Hermes Conrad / Molton Boron Announcer / Poppler Salesman (voice)
Lauren Tom	...	Amy Wong / Jrrr (voice)

Storyline

The Planet Express crew discovers a delicious snack food on a remote planet, but Leela has a change of heart when she discovers a disturbing fact about the snack food that endangers Earth.

---

Plot Keywords:

cetacean meat | hippie | nanny cam | peta

---

Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Release Date:

7 May 2000 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

If Fishy Joe paid Fry and Bender based on the original deal ($1/dozen), they would have made $16.5 billion. Kif states that 198 billion Poplers were eaten.

---

Goofs

When the Omicronians are seated at the table near the end of the episode, NdNd appears and vanishes from her chair between shots.

---

Quotes

Bender: I found rocks. You guys eat rocks, right?
Leela: No.
Bender: Not even sauteed in a little mud?

---

Connections

Spoofs Dateline NBC (1992)

---

Soundtracks

"Molten Boron Jingle"
Music and Lyrics by David X. Cohen
Performed by Tress MacNeille

User Reviews

Classic Futurama- like sex, except I'm having it

There's few problems with The Problem with Popplers, making it a highlight of volume 2 of Futurama. In it, Fry, Leela and Bender are out of food while in space and go looking for something to eat on a strange planet. They find tasty meat they call popplers, which Fry describes as being "like sex," except he's having it. They bring a ship load of popplers back to Earth and begin selling them, but Leela turns against the consumption of popplers when she finds out they're not only alive, they're intelligent. Indeed, popplers are the young of Omicron Persei 8, which had previously invaded Earth in When Aliens Attack. The aliens return to Earth looking for revenge.

This is a funny episode for a few reasons- we can laugh at Fry and Bender's dubious business skills and the even more dubious claim that no one can own property. The episode makes fun of hippies, who are apparently still around in the year 3000, and the jokes about Lrrr being fascinated by his hands, and Bender's remarks about titanium and aluminum, are priceless. Mainly though, this episode stands out for its dark humour, as popplers, a monkey, a hippie, and even a dolphin are eaten. This raises the question as to what animals are okay to eat- the popplers aren't human, so it's not cannibalism for people to eat them, but if intelligence is taken into consideration, the popplers are an alien equivalent of humans. The same paradox exists regarding Leela, an alien woman who sleeps with the human Zapp, and who's loved by the human Fry- given they're different species, this is potentially bestiality, but no one seems to think of it that way (probably, rightfully so) since Leela is like a human. At any rate, this is a good episode.