REVIEW: FUTURAMA “THE BUTTERJUNK EFFECT”

Amy and Leela take part in the future sport of Butterfly Derby. They soon become addicted to Nectar, a nutritional supplement that boosts their performance.

Spoilers Below

Leela and Amy try out for a new sport called Butterfly Derby which from first glance sounds like a safe game, but really it involves two people dressing up as butterflies as they fly into the air and attack an opposing team doing the very same thing. Even though they lose, the commissioner of the deal likes their potential so much he offers them a spot. At first, the girls lose just about every matchup, whether it’d be a team of frogs, old people, or even their own reflection. Time to call in the cavalry!! Or in this case, performance enhancing drugs!

You see, while Amy and Leela are in the locker room, they catch one of the team’s managers distributing a concoction known as ‘nectar’. Even though Leela is reluctant at first, both team mates down it and almost immediately feel stronger. Soon enough the girls start in on a winning streak but you can definitely notice the side effects of the ‘all natural supplement. For one, the girls look gross, almost like a couple of Nicole Bass’. Second, the girls are a bit meaner to their friends. Lastly, due to the fact that they are always training, Leela and Amy never have time for their boyfriends Fry and Kif respectively.

Eventually, the dealer runs out of nectar right before Leela and Amy are set to face off against the last team in the finals. As a result, Leela, Bender, Fry, Amy, and Kif head off to Kif’s planet to find the source of the nectar so they can make more and win the damn competition. Once there, they are warned by an old lady not to fuck around with the orange male butterflies during mating season. The team splits up and Leela and Amy get the nectar, while Bender, Kif, and Fry find and get hosed by the male butterfly that apparently stinks of nothing good. Once they fish up, the crew crashes at Kif’s parents but everyone has to sleep in separate bedrooms.

Eventually, Amy sneaks into Fry’s room to try and get a little action and Leela catches her in the act. Turns out, the shit Fry got sprayed with is a pheromone that attracts anyone that drinks the nectar and as such Leela and Amy start to argue over who gets the stinky fellow. In order to counteract Leela and Amy’s obsession they have to quit the nectar cold turkey. Eventually they do, but the girls still have to fight in the butterfly derby against the ‘Murder Flies” while flying over a pool of lava. Of course, now that they are off the nectar the battle becomes awfully one-sided as the ‘Murder Flies” are just tearing their opponents to shreds… that is until some outside interference comes in the way of a “ButterFry”, that’s right, due to the pheromone, Fry has actually turned into a butterfly and distracts the nectar addicted “Flies” long enough for it to get gross and for the commissioner to call off the match.

By a mile, the best episode of Futurama so far this season. I mean there was just SO much good shit going on. The “Murder Flies” were hysterical in their dialogue and their obsessions with the nectar, I kept laughing every time they came on camera. Leela and Amy were funny throughout the episode too, starting with their incessant name calling, leading to their own nectar obsession, then they both start pretty much raping Fry, much to his delight. And to top it all the friggin’ off Fry becomes a butterfly!! Really, an awesome and hysterical episode that should not be missed, catch the repeat if you did as you won’t regret it.

(9.0 out of 10)