Recap / Futurama S 2 E 15 The Problem With Popplers

The Problem With Popplers.

FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY

The crew discovers an irresistible source of food on a distant planet, and brings it back to Earth to be sold at the Fishy Joe's restaurant chain. The new food becomes a global phenomenon. But when it's discovered that the so-called "Popplers" are actually Omicronian babies, the Omicronians demand recompense — in the form of a live TV special in which Leela is eaten.

Tropes

• Absurd Brand Name: Subverted when Bender wants to name the new foodstuff "tasticles" (because they're tasty) but everyone else vetoes it because it sounds too much like something else... namely a brand of oysters.
• Accidental Truth: Bender attempts to drive a rival hot dog stand out of business by going up to it and asking the vendor "So, where do you want those rat droppings you ordered?" After everyone in line leaves, the vendor says "Wait a minute! You're not the guy who delivers the rat droppings!"
• All for Nothing: Free Waterfall Jr. stops Lrrr from eating the orangutan, only for Ndnd to instead eat it herself to verify that it isn't Leela. And then he manages to get himself eaten for annoying Lrrr one time too many, even after Jrrr had managed to talk Lrrr out of eating anybody else.
• And a Diet Coke: Lrr demands one human for every Poppler eaten, and a small order of fries. Ndnd glowers at him, and he amends his request to a cottage cheese.
• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Free Waterfall Jr. is such an annoying Soapbox Sadie that everyone cheers when Lrrr eats him.
• Animal Wrongs Group: The mob headed by Free Waterfall Jr., called Mankind for Ethical Animal Treatment. They're against any animal eating meat, even carnivores—they taught a lion to eat tofu, and the poor thing is nearly starved to death.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Zapp starts eating Popplers in front of Lrrr at the negotiations and comments that they'd go great with "gwackamol". Lrrr sounds just as upset by the mispronunciation of "guacamole" as he is by the fact that Zapp is eating infant Omicronians in front of him.
  Lrrr: Stop eating our young! And it's pronounced "guacamole"!
• "Ass" in Ambassador: At the negotiations with the Omicronians, Zapp has a box of Popplers with him that he keeps eating. Afterward, he mentions that Lrrr and Ndnd thought he was a "jabbering mental patient".
• Asshole Victim: Free Waterfall Jr. for being an annoying Soapbox Sadie and for disrupting Zapp's plan to trick Lrrr into eating an orangutan instead of Leela. See And There Was Much Rejoicing above when Lrrr eats him.
• Better than Sex: Fry exclaims this upon tasting the Popplers.
  Fry: Oh, they're great! They're like sex, except I'm having them!
• Blind Without 'Em: The Omnicronians are almost fooled when Zapp Brannigan tries to substitute an ape for Leela. Leela at first thinks this is because they have a hard time telling any creatures other than their own species apart, but seeing as Lrrr did indeed only figure it out when he used his glasses to get a better look, it seems bad eyesight may be at least partially to blame.
• Carnivore Confusion: Quite a bit, but at the end, the Planet Express company decides that it's wrong to eat anything intelligent—which means a particularly stupid dolphin is up for grabs. They also consider eating pigs and parrots, despite those being intelligent.
• Contemplating Your Hands: Lrrr after eating Free Waterfall Jr.
  Lrrr: Dude, my hands are huge. They can touch anything but themselves. (puts hands together) Oh, wait.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Free Waterfall Jr. threatens to have MEAT boycott Fishy Joe's if they don't stop selling Popplers. Leela promptly points out that they don't eat there as it is, seeing how they're all vegetarians.
  • Fry tries to stop people from eating at Fishy Joes by handcuffing his hand to the door... only it's a rotating door that leaves him helpless when someone pushes past him.
  Fry: People! I won't let you enter. Popplers are as intelligent as you or me.
  Man: You, maybe. [pushes past Fry, causing him to spin with the door]
  • Negotiating with the Omicronians, Zapp agrees to their initial demand to eat as many humans as the amount of Popplers consumed, which comes to the tune of one hundred and ninety-eight billion. Kif has to point out that there aren't that many humans.
• Disney Owns This Trope: According to Hermes, the only names that haven't been trademarked are "Popplers" and "Zitzels", which gives Fry the idea to name them "Popplers".
• Disproportionate Retribution: Lrrr kills a waiter for bothering him with incessant details about what kind of salad he'd want with Leela.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In-universe, Bender's attempt to deter customers from eating Popplers comes out as a pretty persuasive pitch for them. Being Bender, it's possible/likely he's doing it on purpose.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Free Waterfall Jr., not realizing the plan to save Leela, blurted out that her disguise was actually an orangutan. Though the audience already knew this, they were purposefully silent to trick the Omicronians.
• Dumbass Has a Point: The Animal Wrongs Group is depicted as stupid and absurd. However, they did end up being right on the point of Popplers being living creatures that everyone is eating.
• Eats Babies: Omicronian babies, to be precise.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Omicronians are generally seen as ruthless and vile alien invaders who enjoy destroying enemy planets and their populace and Lrrr has no qualms with eating humans. However, they're still disgusted at Earth for stealing their young and eating them by the thousands. Ndnd even calls them "monsters".
• Everyone Has Standards: Leela is not against eating meat, but she is against eating an intelligent species. When Bender serves dolphin for dinner, Leela initially protests until Bender says the dolphin in question "blew all his money on instant lottery tickets", which Leela accepts.
• Foreshadowing: Early in the episode, Zoidberg compares the tastiness of Popplers to an unguarded penguin nest. This comparison is far more accurate than anyone realises.
  • Jrrr develops several distinctive Omicronian traits as he matures, including warty skin and the bands on his arms; in the TV interview just before the Omicronian fleet arrives, he very obviously looks like a tiny version of Lrrr.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Everyone immediately stops eating Popplers once Lrrr and Ndnd reveal what they really are.
  Lrrr: Now then, the creatures you refer to as "Popplers" come from a nursery planet in our sector.
  Ndnd: You monsters have been EATING OUR BABIES!!!
• I Taste Delicious: Defied. Fishy Joe states that the only reason we don't eat humans is that we taste lousy.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The Popplers are baby Omicronians. Meanwhile, Fishy Joe's doesn't serve human meat, but only because human tastes awful.
• Impossibly Delicious Food: The Popplers. But... (See above)
• Instant Taste Addiction: Leela discovers the hole full of "Popplers" and takes a taste of one. She goes wide-eyed and starts shoving them into her mouth. The others start eating them and find them so delicious, they take them down to Earth and they become an intergalactic hit. Unfortunately, everyone immediately stops eating Popplers once Lrrr and Ndnd and their army arrive to Earth to reveal the "Popplers" are their babies.
• Intoxication Ensues: Lrrr, after eating Free Waterfall, Jr.
  Lrrr: Urghh, I think there was something funny in that hippie...
• Ironic Name: The Animal Wrongs Group has an acronym similar to PETA called "Mankind for Ethical Animal Treatment" which spells "MEAT".
• Is This Thing Still On?: After making his threat of retribution on Earth for the mass consumption of Popplers, Lrrr, under the impression he's no longer on air, indulges in the need to scratch himself down there. He is not pleased to learn a few seconds later that his every word is still being broadcast.
• Karma Houdini: Fishy Joe never interacts with the adult Omicronians. At the most, he spits out half of a Poppler he was eating when he hears that Popplers are actually Omicronian young. When the Omicronians decide to eat Leela, he's sitting two seats over from her, visibly relieved at his lack of comeuppance.
• Lame Comeback: From Leela.
  Zapp: I realize this may hurt our chances of consummating our relationship.
  Leela: Go consummate yourself.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Free Waterfall Jr.'s demise is an ultimately self inflicted one. Had he not exposed the orangutan posing as Leela (which still got eaten), then go on to lecture everyone after the problem managed to get resolved anyway, he would've survived the episode.
• Last-Name Basis: This episode reminds us that Fry and Leela are actually the characters' last names when Fry expresses surprise at hearing Leela being referred to as "Turanga Leela" during the televised interview. Season four would later confirm that while "Leela" is her literal last name, "Turanga" is her actual given name.
  Fry: Turanga?
  Amy: That's her name, Phillip.
  Bender: Phillip?!
• New-Age Retro Hippie: Free Waterfall, Jr. and his fellow anti-meat advocates.
• Oh, Crap!: Fishy Joe as soon as the Omicronians arrive just as he was Tempting Fate for someone to stop him eating Popplers.
• Opening Shout-Out: At the end of the Popplers jingle, the Planet Express ship crashes into a billboard, just as it does in the opening sequence.
  Fry: Leela! That's the second billboard you've crashed into this week!
• Paper-Thin Disguise: To save Leela, Zapp plans to have her replaced with a dolled-up orangutan. It almost works—mostly because Omnicronians have bad eyesight—but a certain hippie can't keep himself from butting in.
• Pet the Dog: With the addition to his plan to rescue Leela, (see Smart Ball below), Zapp compliments Kif's hairdresser technique.
• Planet of Hats: The episode begins with the crew coming back from a visit to the Planet of the Moochers, who (surprise surprise) mooched off them.
• Product Placement: In-universe, and parodied when Linda the news anchor goes from sombrely reporting on Leela's impending execution to plugging Fishy Joe's new Walrus Juice in her normal chipper tone.
• Punny Name: Bender suggests naming Popplers "Tasteicles" (because they're tasty) but Leela objects because it sounds too similar to a brand of frozen Rocky Mountain Oysters on a stick called "Testsicles". ^note For those who don't know, Rocky Mountain Oysters are a North American delicacy made from bull testicles.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title parodies the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".
  • For an extra blink-and-you'll-miss-it Trek reference, when the trio is searching for food after crash landing, Leela mentions that they're on a "class M planet" so they should at least be able to find some roddenberries to eat.
  • At one point, Bender calls Zoidberg "Sigmund".
• Smart Ball: Zapp, for once in his life, actually comes up with something that can be described as a stroke of competence, if not outright brilliance in this episode, managing to negotiate the Omicronians down from wanting to eat 198 billion humans to just one, and then coming up with a plan to save Leela that even she admitted would have been Crazy Enough to Work had it not been for Free Waterfall Jr.'s interference. Granted, the former may have been Kif's doing.
• Spiked Blood: Lrrr eats Free Waterfall Jr. whole after getting annoyed with him. When he tries to address the crowd Lrrr starts slurring his speech and contemplating his hands due to ingesting whatever substances Waterfall was on at the time.
  Lrrr: I think there was something funny in that hippie.
• Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: Jrrr saves Leela from being eaten by hopping into her mouth while she's in Lrrr's. So if Lrrr swallows her, Jrrr gets eaten by both.
• This Cannot Be!: Free Waterfall Jr.'s reaction to being eaten alive by Lrrr.
  Free Waterfall Jr.: This is not happening! (is promptly swallowed whole)
• Vegetarian Carnivore: Spoofed. The group of animal rights activists are protesting the consumption of animals. Leela accurately points out to them that animals eat other animals. One of the protesters tries to counter that saying they taught a lion to eat tofu. The camera then pans over to reveal an emaciated and sickly looking lion.
• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: "...and crap like I've never seen!"
• "We're Live" Realization: After Lrrr tells Earth what Popplers really are (baby Omicronians) and threatens to eat them in retaliation. He thinks the transmission has been cut off and scratches his backside, telling his wife and subordinates about having to scratch but being unable to during the middle of something... and then realizes the feed is still going which then cuts off.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not knowingly, but a bunch of people eat Popplers, unaware that they’re just babies. Even after, their opinion doesn’t really change.

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