The Butterjunk Effect

Last updated

"The Butterjunk Effect"
Futurama episode
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 6
Directed byCrystal Chesney-Thompson
Written by Michael Rowe
Production code7ACV06
Original air dateJuly 18, 2012 (2012-07-18)
Guest appearances
Episode features
Opening caption Purveyors of Entertainment to Her Majesty the Space Queen
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Zapp Dingbat"		Next →
"The Six Million Dollar Mon"
Futurama (season 7)
List of episodes

"The Butterjunk Effect" is the sixth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama , and the 120th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 18, 2012. [1] The episode was written by Michael Rowe and directed by Crystal Chesney-Thompson.

Contents

Plot

The Planet Express crew are assigned to return the "stolen" Moon rocks from the Apollo missions to the Moon. There, they attend a "Butterfly Derby" where women in butterfly wingsuits battle and wrestle each other in midair; competitors are eliminated upon touching the arena floor. When the announcer Abner Doubledeal asks for amateur challengers to the current reigning champions, Leela and Amy step forward. They are severely trounced by their opponents on their first attempt, but Doubledeal nonetheless adds them to the Butterfly Derby Roster as a new team, the Wingnuts. The pair are unable to improve on their first performance and lose all of their matches until they see the champions buying and using Nectar, a substance that helps them build body strength. Leela and Amy quickly jump at the opportunity and buy Nectar themselves, soon becoming as strong as the champions and developing a long winning streak in further matches. Meanwhile, Fry and Kif have found their respective girlfriends, Leela and Amy, to be brutish, unromantic and abusive while on the influence of Nectar.

Soon, their Nectar supplier runs out when the reigning champions buy out the remaining supply. The Professor realizes that Nectar is a substance created by a flower on Kif's home planet, Amphibios 9, and Kif, Fry, Bender, Leela, and Amy set off to collect more. At a butterfly preserve on Kif's home planet, they are told to beware of the male butterflies by the Grand Butterfly Curator. Fry discovers the insect first, which sprays Fry with copious amounts of liquid in self-defense. Having collected enough of the nectar, they spend the night at Kif's parents' home, each sleeping in separate bedrooms. Leela becomes uncharacteristically enamored with Fry, but both are shocked when Amy becomes just as aroused by him. On return to Earth, they realize that the liquid contains the male butterfly's mating pheromones. Amy and Leela's abuse of Nectar has made them susceptible to the butterflies' pheromones and they are forced to quit Nectar cold turkey in order to break its hold on them. During this time, Fry begins to feel weird, and at one point, creates and envelops himself in a cocoon aboard the Planet Express ship.

After overcoming their addiction, Leela and Amy have one more match in the Butterfly Derby against the reigning champs. To add to the excitement, the match is held over a pit of lava. Without the Nectar, Leela and Amy are quickly outmatched, the champions tearing their wings and forcing them to fly together to avoid falling into the lava. As the champions attempt to tear off the last of their wings, Fry awakens from the cocoon as a large butterfly and enters the arena. The champions are drawn to his pheromones, allowing Leela and Amy to leave the arena safely. The Planet Express crew fears that Fry has fully transformed into a butterfly, but his insect body falls away to leave him still human.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B−", describing it as, "passable, but not particularly inspiring." [2]

Related Research Articles

"31st Century Fox" is the eleventh episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 125th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 29, 2012. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Edmund Fong.

"Fear of a Bot Planet" is the fifth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1999. The episode was written by Heather Lombard and Evan Gore and directed by Peter Avanzino and Carlos Baeza with co-direction by Ashley Lenz and Chris Sauvé. The episode focuses on a delivery the Planet Express Crew must make to a robot planet named Chapek 9. The robot inhabitants hate all humans and Bender decides to join them because he is tired of robots being treated like second class citizens. The episode is a light-hearted satire on racism, an idea reinforced by the title reference.

"A Flight to Remember" is the tenth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 26, 1999. The title is a reference to Walter Lord's non-fiction book about the Titanic disaster A Night to Remember. This episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Peter Avanzino. Dawnn Lewis guest-stars in this episode as LaBarbara Conrad. The episode is a direct parody of the 1997 film Titanic.

"Brannigan, Begin Again" is the second episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 15th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 28, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Jeffrey Lynch.

"Amazon Women in the Mood" is the first episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 33rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 4, 2001.

"A Pharaoh to Remember" is the seventeenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 49th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 10, 2002. The episode's title references the title of the 1957 film An Affair to Remember.

"Anthology of Interest II" is the eighteenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 50th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 6, 2002. This episode, as well as the earlier "Anthology of Interest I", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories.

"Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" is the first episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 55th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Fox in the United States on January 12, 2003. The episode was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by Wes Archer. The plot centers on Kif and Amy's relationship; Kif is suddenly impregnated so he returns to his homeworld to give birth. The episode was generally well received by critics.

"Leela's Homeworld" is the second episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 56th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 2002. "Leela's Homeworld" was written by Kristin Gore and directed by Mark Ervin. The episode reveals Leela's true origin as a mutant who was abandoned by her parents so she could have a better life. Her parents fabricated her prior background as an alien, as it is illegal for mutants to live on the surface.

"Love and Rocket" is the third episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 57th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 10, 2002. The episode is a Valentine's Day-themed episode that centers on Bender's relationship with the artificial intelligence of the Planet Express Ship. The subplot involves Fry trying to express his feelings for Leela through the use of Valentine's Day candy. The episode parodies 2001: A Space Odyssey.

"Less Than Hero" is the fourth episode episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 58th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 2, 2003. The episode was directed by Susie Dietter and written by Ron Weiner. The plot centers on Fry, Leela, and Bender as they masquerade as superheroes after being granted superpowers through the use of 'miracle cream'. The subplot focuses on the relationship between Leela and her parents. The episode's title itself is a play on the Brett Easton Ellis novel Less than Zero, as well as the 1987 film of the same name.

"Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" is the ninth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 63rd episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 30, 2003. The episode was directed by Bret Haaland and written by Jeff Westbrook. In the episode, the Planet Express crew take Professor Farnsworth to a clinic to make him younger though the use of tar. A freak accident occurs and the entire crew are covered in the tar, thus reverting them to their younger selves. They seek to reverse the effect and return to their proper ages.

"Three Hundred Big Boys" is the sixteenth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 70th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on June 15, 2003. Set in a retro-futuristic 31st century, the series follows the adventures of the employees of Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company.

<i>Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs</i> 2008 American film

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs is a 2008 American direct-to-video adult animated science-fiction comedy-adventure film based on the animated series Futurama, and the second of four straight-to-DVD films that make up the show's fifth season. The film was released in the United States and Canada on June 24, 2008, followed by a UK release on June 30, 2008 and an Australian release on August 6, 2008. The title refers to a euphemism for sexual intercourse—"the beast with two backs". Comedy Central aired the film as a "four-part epic" on October 19, 2008. The movie won an Annie Award for "Best Animated Home Entertainment Production".

"That Darn Katz!" is the eighth episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 96th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central on August 5, 2010. In the episode, Amy's rejected doctoral dissertation—a device to harness the Earth's rotational energy—is used by evil invading space cats to fix their own slowing planet. Since the invention will cause the Earth to stop turning, Amy and Nibbler must team up to stop them while their co-workers have fallen under the thrall of the cats' cuteness.

"Yo Leela Leela" is the twenty-first episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 109th episode of the series overall. It aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 21, 2011. The title is a reference to the Nick Jr. Channel series Yo Gabba Gabba!. The show is also parodied within the episode: Leela’s show is similar, featuring people dressed up in fanciful costumes as its main characters.

"Naturama" is the thirteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 127th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 29, 2012. The episode was written by Eric Rogers, Michael Saikin and Neil Mukhopadhyay, and directed by Crystal Chesney-Thompson.

"Love's Labours Lost in Space" is the fourth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 1999. The episode was written by Brian Kelley and directed by Brian Sheesley. This episode introduces the recurring character Zapp Brannigan when he attempts to prevent the Planet Express crew from completing their mission. It also introduces the characters of Kif Kroker, Brannigan's aide, and Nibbler, whom Leela adopts as a pet.

"Murder on the Planet Express" is the twenty-fourth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 138th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 21, 2013. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Frank Marino. In this episode, the crew get trapped aboard the Planet Express ship with a horrific alien creature. The episode's title derives from Murder on the Orient Express and parodies Alien and The Thing.

References

  1. ↑ "www.cc.com/feeds/episode_showcase/results/27c26a3e-ecfd-11e0-aca6-0026b9414f30/35a97a18-8c58-492d-ad0f-7d21bb938133/7b12943e-ecfd-11e0-aca6-0026b9414f30?currentPage=5". Cpmedy Central. The Butterjunk Effect Season 7 - Episode 706 Aired: 07/18/2012
  2. ↑ Handlen, Zack (July 19, 2012). "The Butterfly Effect". The A.V. Club . Retrieved February 16, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.