TVSquad

(S01E02) Futurama is one of those shows that is perfect for the DVD format; there are so many little hidden jokes and minor character tics that there's plenty for a fan to discover, even after seeing an episode a number of times.

When I talked to Billy West about this episode, where our intrepid trio go to the moon for their first delivery run, the first thing he mentioned was how great the character of Craterface was. "It was played by Tress MacNeille, and I just blew a gut when I heard that. I couldn't believe how funny it was." And I tried to remember Craterface in the episode, which I had just seen the day before the interview, and I couldn't.

But when I saw the episode again with commentary yesterday, I realized what Billy was talking about: In Luna Park, Craterface one of the "characters" walking around resembles the famous moon face from the 1902 movie A Trip to the Moon. He tries to politely confiscate Bender's booze and the robot responds by drinking it and shoving the bottle in his eye, right where the rocket went in the old movie. Craterface goes, "At least I still have my self-respect", then chuckles, then starts to sob. I remembered the scene, but not the character's name. Good thing for DVDs, huh?

Billy went on to completely gush about Tress MacNeille: "She has this a beautiful all-purpose voice. She can do an old hag, she can do little girls, screaming teenage girls, sometimes men-type voices and little boys, and sexy sophisticates. She can do anything. And there was this character named Craterface and it just killed me: (high-pitched nasally voice) "I'm Craaaterfaaace!""

We meet the rest of the Planet Express crew: Hermes Conrad, who runs the place, Amy Wong, the cute intern, and Dr. John Zoidberg, the company physician... who just happens to be an alien that looks like a lobster. Zoidberg is my favortie Futurama charater, by the way, for reasons that you will find out when you read my full interview with Billy West, which will be posted later this week (blatant plug, I know... but it had to be done).

There are so many great moments in this episode, it's hard to list them all. There's the "Whalers on the Moon" ride, which is actually how people in the year 3000 think the moon was discovered. Then we have the sign in the Lunar Module that states it was returned to the moon due to the efforts of the Historical Sticklers Society (a quick fix by the writers and animators after they remembered out late in the process that the LM took off from the moon landing site and returned to Earth). I especially loved the fact that Bender would break into folk songs whenever someone stuck a magnet on him:

Fry: So you flip out and start acting like some crazy folk singer?

Bender: Yes. I guess a robot would have to be crazy to wanna be a folk singer.

And, of course, who doesn't love the Crushinator? As Fry and Leela milk the farmer's huge cow-bugs, Bender's chased into the barn after the farmer sees him with one of his robot daughters, the biggest and most robot-like being the Crushinator:

Fry: Oh, Bender. You didn't touch the Crushinator, did you?

Bender: Of course not. A lady that fine you gotta romance first.

Again, this episode was jam-packed with funny lines and we start finding out about character quirks that will become more pronounced later on. So, I'll leave you with more from Billy West, in a recurring feature called...

Billy West's take: Here they are, they can go anywhere in the universe, and where do they go? The moon. Because in our heart of hearts, deep within our memory banks, the moon was the place to get to. I think I still work off of that, because when they did the first moon landing and walk, I was working at the Boston Naval Shipyard as a carpenter's apprentice, and I used to go down to the docks at lunch time and listen to my transistor radio.This had to be like '68 or '69.And everything was about going to the moon.I mean, I was a big space head when I was a kid.So I liked that kind of stuff.