REVIEW: FUTURAMA “ZAPP DINGBAT”

Leela’s mom begins dating Zapp Brannigan, much to her daughter’s dismay.

 

Spoilers Below

 

What a better way to ring in a 40th Anniversary party than with a good ol’ fashioned divorce?? Welp, that’s exactly what happens when Leela’s parents Morris and Munda have at it at their celebration in front of everyone at the party! Most divorces come with some sort of depression afterwards but not with these two, no. Munda ends up having a girl’s night out with Leela at a restaurant and as such runs into her daughter’s old flame, Mr. Zapp Branagan who is there negotiating a peace treaty with an alien race that is surely ready to blow us all up. Unfortunately, due to Zapp’s lack of knowledge for intergalactic dialects he nearly screws up the deal until Munda comes to save the day and consequently, his heart.

Soon, Munda and Zapp strike up a relationship and before you know it Zapp proposes marriage. Obviously, Leela is completely against it and as a result tries everything in her power to split it up but to no avail. She even decides to try and talk her dad in helping out with the cause but he’s too busy living the chill life with Bender and Fry surfing the sludge filled waves of New New York’s tunnels. Alas, Leela is up shit creek without a paddle and decides to support her mother on the day of the wedding. That is until Munda realizes that Leela was right all along about Zapp’s bullshit and as such calls off the wedding and pretty much sicks the aliens after Zapp’s ship. The power goes out but as luck would have it Morris shows up out of nowhere and ‘surfs’ the Nimbus ship to safety long enough for not only a  peace treaty to be signed, but a re-marriage certificate for Morris and Munda.

Nice episode, as it was good to see Leela’s parents again. but one of the real shiners on this episode were the outstanding space scenes. The computer animation mixed with the old-school hand-drawn really is a sight to be seen and these guys do it really, really well. The chase scene in the end of this episode was maybe as good as the Archer –Burt Reynolds car-chase scene from last season! George Takei is a bad-ass, but my gripe with Futurama is simply that I haven’t seen an episode so far this season that has really stood out for me in the funny department which is weird because  this show has some of the funniest writers in the biz. Here’s hoping the laughs department starts to kick into high gear pretty soon, but a good plot with a decent guest star gives this week a decent score.

(8.0 out of 10)