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1. 2/20/12 Planet Express Ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Planet Express Ship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Planet Express Ship is a fictional spaceship in the
U.S.S. Planet Express Ship
animated series Futurama, which bears the official
designation "U.S.S. Planet Express Ship." The ship was
designed and built by Professor Hubert Farnsworth and is
the sole delivery ship of Planet Express, a delivery service
owned by the Professor. The ship is typically treated as an
inanimate object, though Bender refers to the ship's
autopilot as "him" (and laments being defeated in a
martini-drinking contest by same) in "How Hermes
Requisitioned His Groove Back". The later episode
"Love and Rocket" shows the ship to have an artificial
intelligence, voiced originally by Maurice LaMarche and
then (after installation of "new improved ship's personality
The Planet Express Ship
software" including "adjustable voice") by special guest
Sigourney Weaver. First appearance Space Pilot 3000
General characteristics
Armaments Laser cannons
Contents Torpedoes
1 Production Propulsion Dark matter engines
2 Personality Power Dark matter reactor
3 Crew
4 Ship Features
5 Design
6 Modifications
7 Merchandising
8 References
9 External links
Production
The Planet Express Ship is usually rendered in highly stylized 3D along with many of Futurama's other
special effects. This was done to give the ship a "convincing dimensionality" as it moves through space.
Futurama's creator Matt Groening consulted with Syd Mead ("visual futurist" for Blade Runner) when
working on the designs, but like many of Groening's other characters, the ship maintains its pronounced
overbite and is easily identifiable as an element of a Matt Groening comic.[1]
Personality
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In the episode "Love and Rocket" the Planet Express Ship is equipped with a personality unit which allows it
to speak and interact with the crew. The ship is voiced by Sigourney Weaver in what executive producer
David X. Cohen described as "a pretty abstract role."[2] During the episode the Planet Express Ship and
Bender begin dating. This situation presented many challenges for the production staff, particularly a
difficulty in portraying emotions between the two beings because they were so different in size. Even with
this concern, Cohen jokes that Weaver's performance as a spaceship was "moving."[2] Much of the episode,
including the ship's eventual desire to kill the crew, is a spoof of 2001: A Space Odyssey with the Planet
Express Ship taking on the role of HAL 9000.[3]
Crew
Leela is the captain and pilot of the ship. Although Leela has only one eye, and therefore no depth
perception, the sheer distance between objects in space makes human-level depth perception of limited use.
Fry and Bender serve as crewmembers. Fry's official position is delivery boy, and he also operates the ship's
laser cannon in combat.[4] Bender was originally the ship's cook, despite the lethality of his dishes, and is
occasionally seen performing various odd jobs.
Hermes and Amy can both fly the ship,[5][6] though they do not usually accompany the crew on missions.
Although Fry flies the ship with no problems (albeit wildly) in "The Cryonic Woman" episode, he later flies
it with some difficulty in "Amazon Women in the Mood" and "Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" (where Bender
demonstrates his own questionable piloting skills while under the effects of a sobriety binge); by the time of
"Time Keeps On Slippin'", Fry can (once again) fly the ship with a reasonable degree of skill. In the second
episode "The Series Has Landed," Amy Wong flies the ship without problem.
Dr Zoidberg serves as the ship's doctor and, on occasion, the ship steward. He occasionally joins the crew on
missions but not on a regular basis. Professor Farnsworth flies the ship in the episode "Teenage Mutant
Leela's Hurdles" and Into the Wild Green Yonder. In "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles," Farnsworth flies the
ship to find his lost pet gargoyle, Pazuzu. However, in stereotypical senior citizen style, he flies the ship at
only 35 MPH, blocks lanes in space traffic, and turns the ship's high beams on, destroying a navigation sign
and Deep Space Nine.
Ship Features
As the Professor prefers to send the crew on dangerous missions in favor of higher profit margins, the ship is
well armed and quite fast. The ship is capable of travel faster than the current speed of light, after the speed of
light was increased to allow faster travel.[7] The ship can actually travel at 97% of the new light speed.[8] Its
speed also makes it an efficient courier, a round trip to the edge of the universe and many other activities were
accomplished during a "morning off" in "I Dated a Robot". In "The Series Has Landed," a journey from
Earth to the moon takes under two seconds.
In addition to its speed, the Planet Express Ship is very durable. In the episode "The Deep South," the ship is
dragged underwater and survives being subjected to hundreds of atmospheres of water pressure, despite
being rated for "between zero and one" atmosphere, according to the professor. Additionally, the ship has
survived numerous crashes that ostensibly would have destroyed similar aircraft, but the ship usually sustains
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only quickly-repaired dents. It is unclear whether all vehicles in Futurama have this durability or if it is a
special property of that particular ship. It also uses a Dark Matter Engine, which, instead of moving the ship,
just "moves the universe around the ship."[7] Certain episodes indicate that the ship has an automobile-style
manual transmission.
The current ship is not the first Planet Express Ship, as at least one was lost with its crew on a mission to
collect space honey.[9] The current ship is first seen in "Space Pilot 3000," where the current crew signs on. It
is unknown if the ship was previously crewed but it is implied that the professor's previous crew died with the
loss of the previous ship in the space bee hive and no intervening members are ever mentioned. Other
versions of the ship include a miniature one used to travel inside of Fry's body to counter an infection of
worms.[10]
Design
The ship's windshield has no center divider, and is thus cyclopean. It
has tripodal landing gear, the front one doubling as a stair, and the
two rear ones notable for large traction pads, in the style of Leela's
boots. The hull is roughly teardrop-shaped with three fins at the rear.
A laser cannon turret is situated on the top side. Torpedo tubes are
located to either side of the forward landing gear. The tubes also
house the "primary lasers." The cargo bay has a bomb bay-style
loading door on the bottom of the ship. Cargo too large for the cargo
bay is either tethered to the top of the hull, or towed. The dark matter
engines are at the rear on a gymbal, and steering is achieved through
The Planet Express Ship's laser
directional thrust. Supposedly the engines achieve 200% fuel
cannon is a heavy-duty, rapidly firing
efficiency by moving the entire universe around the ship, rather than
weapon, and is the ship's primary
moving the ship itself, a parody/homage to the "warp drive"
method of defense.
technology of Star Trek.[7] The ship is painted a light-green color,
specified as "Electric Mucus" in Bender's Game (the previous ship
was dark gray, as seen trapped in a space bee hive in "The Sting") and has the Planet Express logo painted
on the main fin.
The series's writers acknowledge in the Season 1 DVD commentary that the interior design of the Planet
Express Ship is not really consistent from episode to episode. They cited a fansite they once found which was
devoted to trying to develop a definitive schematic of the ship's interior, an attempt which ended in
frustration. While certain rooms such as the cargo bay remain more or less the same, corridors shift position
and the location of rooms relative to each other is never truly consistent. However, in the commentary the
writers point out that most obviously, the design of the "bridge" of the ship drastically shifts between
episodes.
Modifications
The ship is occasionally modified to fit the purposes of the plot. In all cases the ship is returned to normal
before the next episode.
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In "The Deep South," the crew had to replace the engines with a giant fish tailfin since the engines
would not work underwater. Part of these repairs were made by papier mache.
In "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" both the Planet Express Ship and a ship belonging to the
cast of the original Star Trek series crashed on a forbidden planet. The Planet Express Ship had
non-functioning engines but working life support, while the Trek cast's ship had functional engine
but no life support. The Planet Express Ship was modified using the engines of the Trek cast's ship
and was able to escape the planet. The latter ship's engines, bearing a visual similarity to Star Trek-
style warp nacelles, gave the Planet Express Ship a rear profile similar to that of the original
Starship Enterprise, and several establishing shots in this episode present the Planet Express Ship
in similar fashion to stock footage of the Enterprise from classic Trek episodes.
In "The Route of All Evil," Cubert Farnsworth and Dwight Conrad have the ship repainted bright
red with flame decals when they take over the Planet Express business and make it a newspaper
delivery service. It is also presumably renamed the "Awesome Express Ship" to reflect the
company title change. We also find out that there is a net for catching giraffes, fired from one of the
torpedo tubes.
In "Time Keeps on Slippin'," the ship has a gravity pump installed, giving it the capability to move
entire stars.
After dark matter, and thus dark matter engines, are made useless at the end of the film Bender's
Game, dozens of Nibblonians are harnessed to the front of the ship with a chicken dangling in
front of them, and they drag the ship on the ground as a means of propulsion. During the next
movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, the ship's new fuel is revealed to be whale oil.
In Into the Wild Green Yonder, the ship is painted pink when it is commandeered by the eco-
feminist group, the Feministas.
When the company was going bankrupt, they turned Planet Express into an airline and modified
the ship to look like an airplane in "Neutopia".
In "Möbius Dick", the ship used solar sails after the titular space whale bit off the engine and
devoured the statue (taking a part of the ship with it). Also, the original Planet Express ship is seen.
Merchandising
The Planet Express Ship was featured as an action figure in a set by Moore Collectibles along with Fry, Leela
and Bender. The set was listed as an "A+ pick" in Sci Fi Weekly and the Planet Express ship was noted as
"the finest piece in the set." Features include a folding front landing gear and retractable rear landing struts
along with a gun turret. Also included with the ship were two alien creatures and a crate full of tentacled
beings.[11]
References
1. ^ "Gallery: Behind the Scenes of Futurama"
(http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/multimedia/2007/11/ff_futurama_slideshow?slide=12) . 2007-
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5. 2/20/12 Planet Express Ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
11-27. http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/multimedia/2007/11/ff_futurama_slideshow?slide=12.
Retrieved 2007-11-27.
2. ^ a b Huddleston, Kathie (2001-12-17). "David X. Cohen Boards the Planet Express to Find Meaning in
Futurama" (http://web.archive.org/web/20071011135925/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw7897.html) .
Archived from the original (http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw7897.html) on 2007-10-11.
http://web.archive.org/web/20071011135925/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw7897.html. Retrieved 2007-
11-27.
3. ^ Cohen, David X (2003). Futurama season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "Love and Rocket" (DVD). 20th
Century Fox.
4. ^ "Bender Gets Made". Futurama.
5. ^ "The Farnsworth Parabox". Futurama.
6. ^ "Episode Two: The Series Has Landed". Futurama.
7. ^ a b c "A Clone Of My Own". Futurama.
8. ^ "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles". Futurama.
9. ^ "The Sting". Futurama.
10. ^ "Parasites Lost". Futurama.
11. ^ Huxter, Sean (2001-06-11). "Matt Groening's futuristic follies inspire four of the coolest collectibles of the year
3000" (http://web.archive.org/web/20071115230532/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue216/cool.html) . Archived
from the original (http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue216/cool.html) on 2007-11-15.
http://web.archive.org/web/20071115230532/http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue216/cool.html. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
External links
Ship's Description (http://home.earthlink.net/~mountfuturama/theship.html)
Futurama encyclopedia entry (http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/Encyc-22-
Planet_Express_Ship/)
Planet Express action figure from Moore Action Collectibles (archived)
(http://web.archive.org/web/20011217202620/www.mooreaction.com/Futurama/index.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Planet_Express_Ship&oldid=463916808"
Categories: Futurama Fictional spacecraft
This page was last modified on 4 December 2011 at 00:39.
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