Broke plot down into acts and improved the language and details
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Revision as of 03:28, 13 May 2014
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== Plot ==
== Plot ==
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+
===
Act I: "It's that schwacked-out music from outer space again
.
" ===
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[[Earth]] is slowly approached by [[Digby's new spaceship|a mysterious alien]] {{cat|ship}} that repeatedly broadcasts four loud {{cat|s=no|music}}al tones, which can be heard by everyone on the planet. At first, the music is merely an annoyance, but as the ship draws nearer, the booming tones begin to cause structural damage, and will eventually grow so loud that the vibrations will literally shake the planet apart. No one has any idea what the ship is trying to communicate; only Fry seems to recognize the alien melody, but his memory of hearing it is so vague that he cannot place it.
[[Earth]] is slowly approached by [[Digby's new spaceship|a mysterious alien]] {{cat|ship}} that repeatedly broadcasts four loud {{cat|s=no|music}}al tones, which can be heard by everyone on the planet. At first, the music is merely an annoyance, but as the ship draws nearer, the booming tones begin to cause structural damage, and will eventually grow so loud that the vibrations will literally shake the planet apart. No one has any idea what the ship is trying to communicate; only Fry seems to recognize the alien melody, but his memory of hearing it is so vague that he cannot place it.
−
A scan
of Fry's brain
when he hears the melody reveals
that
it triggers his subconscious memories
of 31 December, [[1999]], the night he was cryogenically frozen.
In order to determine the source of the music and hopefully ward off
the
approaching
alien ship, Fry
is hooked up
to [[radio-cranial dream injector|
a
machine]]
that will allow
him
to explore his memory of that day in detail. He is placed under sedation
,
and finds himself
in a
lucid
dream
, re-living
the
events
of
the
day
in question
.
+
=== Act II: "This was the last time I ever saw my family." ===
−
+
Seeing that it is crucial for Fry to recover his memory
of
the melody, Farnsworth scans
Fry's brain
, finding
that
Fry's memory
of
the music originates from
31 December, [[1999]], the night he was cryogenically frozen.
While
the alien ship
is still two weeks away from Earth
,
Farnsworth connects
Fry to
one of his
[[radio-cranial dream injector|machine]]
s and sedates
him,
transporting Fry
in a
kind of
dream
state to
the
world
of
his memories of that
day.
The crew are able to view
Fry
's experience on a TV monitor
,
and even communicate with Fry with microphones. After exploring
his
neighborhood
and
retracing his steps for
a
very short time
, he
accidentally wakes up, only to find
that he
has been asleep for almost two weeks. The alien ship
is
now so close that major earthquakes occur every time
the
tones are played
.
−
Fry
is nostalgic about seeing his friends in [[20th-century]] [[Old New York|New York]] again
,
but
his
initial investigation proves unproductive; while he hears many sounds
and
noises, none of them is similar to the tones being broadcast by the alien ship. He notices [[Booby Tuesday's|
a
nearby]] {{cat|strip club}}
,
and while
he
observes
that he
never actually visited it, it may nonetheless be worth looking into; however, when he opens the front door, nothing
is
inside except a vast, empty expanse. Because Fry never entered
the
{{cat|building}}, he has no memories of what might be inside
.
+
−
Fry eventually makes his way
to
[[
Fry
's house|his old]] {{cat|house}}
,
which
he
remarks
that
he always hated..
.
until he is warmly greeted by his dog,
[[Seymour]].
He realizes that
he
didn't really hate everything
about his
old life
, and
may have merely convinced himself
that he
did in order to cope with finding himself trapped in the future
. Fry
enters his home and is reunited
with
[[Fry family|
his family
]]
,
and is so happy to see them again
that he
spends most
of the
day reminiscing and helping
them
prepare for the New Year celebration instead
of
searching for the source of the alien music
.
+
After complaining that he doesn't want
to
go back, remembering what a bad day it had been for him, mentioning in particular "hanging out with my crazy family",
Fry
returns to the dream state. As he arrives at the family home
, he
laments, "There's not one thing about this place
that
I missed
.
" Just then
[[Seymour]]
runs up to greet Fry
.
As Fry muses on his feelings for Seymour,
he
thinks
about his
family
, and
realizes
that
perhaps
he
does miss them after all
.
In spite of Farnsworth's protests,
Fry
re-engages
with his family,
savoring the experience. He realizes
that he
needs closure, especially with his mother, but his fellow crewmembers begin to arrive in his dream, interrupting. Eventually they drag him out
of the
house, insisting that he continue his mission. Making a final effort to escape
them
, he runs back inside, but his people are gone; a quirk
of
this dream state has eliminated them
.
−
At dinner that evening, having enjoyed being able to spend one last day with his family
, Fry
realizes that he will never see any
of
them again
,
especially
[[
Mrs. Fry|his mother
]],
toward whom he has many tender sentiments that he never took the time to express
.
Just as he is about to speak with her,
the
doorbell rings, and
[[
Leela
]]
enters
,
having come into Fry's dream to urge him to complete
his
mission; time is running out, and
the
Earth will soon be destroyed if
the
secret of
the
alien melody cannot be found. Fry pleads with Leela for an opportunity to talk to his mother,
as he
will never see his real mother again
,
and speaking
with this
dream representation of her will be his only chance to find emotional closure. Leela relents
,
but every time Fry attempts to talk to his mother, he is interrupted as more members of
the
[[Planet Express]]
crew
(and
[[
Richard Nixon
]]
) enter the dream
to
spur him onward, eventually physically dragging him from
the
house
. Fry
tries
to
force his way back in, only to find that, like
the
strip club
,
the interior of the house has become a blank slate, because Fry never entered
it
again after leaving for work on the night he was frozen
.
+
Bitter and defeated
, Fry
leads the crew through the rest
of
his day
,
even up to his last two minutes at
[[
Applied Cryogenics
]],
still with no satisfaction
.
Fry takes his place in front of
the [[
cryo-tube|cryogenic tube
]],
leaning back in
his
chair as
the
countdown to
the
New Year begins. In
the
final seconds
as he
falls back into the tube
,
he at last hears the four notes, followed by two additional, higher-pitched notes that he had not recalled until now. Armed
with this
new information
,
Nixon leads
the crew
to a landing
[[
Mount Shushmore|facility
]]
built
to
receive
the
alien craft
.
When it arrives and blasts out the four notes,
Fry
uses a keyboard
to
respond with
the
final two. The ship lands
,
and from
it
emerges [[Digby]], Nibbler's personal chauffer
.
−
Bitter and defeated
,
Fry leads the crew
to his
shift at
[[
Panucci's Pizza]], and from there, to
the
delivery at [[Applied Cryogenics
]] that
led to his being frozen
.
Along the way
,
the alien melody is never heard
,
and there are no clues as to its origin. With
the
day nearly over,
Fry
takes his place
in
front of
the [[
cryo-tube
|
cryogenic tube
]]
, leaning back in his chair as the countdown to the New Year begins
.
.. and
,
in
the
final seconds as he falls back into
the
tube
,
he at last hears
the
four notes, followed by
two additional
, higher-pitched
notes.
Armed with this new information
,
Nixon leads the crew to
[[
Mount Shushmore
|
a landing facility
]]
built to receive the alien craft
.
When it arrives and blasts out the four notes
,
Fry uses
a
keyboard to respond with
the
final two. The ship lands
,
and from it emerges..
. a [[
Nibblonian
]],
whom
[[
Nibbler
]]
calls
"
[[Digby]]
".
+
Digby explains that on 31 December
,
1999, he had conducted Nibbler
to
Earth on
his [[
The Day
the
Earth Stood Stupid|mission
]]
to ensure
that
Fry entered the cryo-tube
.
Accompanying Nibbler
,
Digby used a key fob
,
coincidentally at
the
very instant that
Fry
fell
in
, to remotely lock
the [[
Digby's old spaceship
|
spaceship
]].
The fob
,
after all, was
the
source of
the
musical tones
, the two additional notes
being the acknowledgement from the ship
.
Mission accomplished
,
Digby and Nibbler became severely drunk at a local
[[
O'Grady's Pub
|
pub
]].
Heading home, having forgotten where they had parked their ship
, a
drunken Digby dropped
the
fob
,
with keys attached, down a storm drain
.
Forced to take
a
cab back to their base on
[[
Vergon 6
]],
Digby had later retrieved a spare set of keys, and has been traveling from one
[[
list of planets|planet
]]
to another, broadcasting the security signal in an attempt to locate the
"
company car
"
. Fry leads them to the roof of the Applied Cryogenics building, where the Nibblonian ship still rests, ransacked, with a dead battery. With Bender's help, Digby flies away. Nibbler thanks Fry, vowing to somehow repay him. Fry thinks of his mother and laments that they cannot give him what he really wants
.
−
Digby identifies himself as Nibbler's personal chauffeur
,
and explains that on 31 December, 1999, he accompanied Nibbler on his mission to have Fry frozen so that he could later destroy the [[Infosphere]]. While observing Nibbler, Digby realized that he forgot to lock [[Digby
's
old spaceship|their spaceship]], and did
so
remotely with a key fob, producing the four distinctive musical tones that Fry heard as he fell into the cryogenic tube (the two additional notes being caused by the ship's security system acknowledging the signal). Following the successful completion of their mission, Digby and Nibbler visited [[O'Grady's Pub|a local pub]]
to
participate in the New Year's festivities; the two of them became severely drunk, forgot where they parked their ship, and lost the keys down a storm drain, forcing them to take a cab back to their base on [[Vergon 6]]
.
Digby then retrieved a spare set of keys, and has been traveling from [[list of planets|one planet to another]], broadcasting the security signal in an attempt to locate the
"
company car". Fry leads them to the roof of the Applied Cryogenics building, where the Nibblonian ship still rests, ransacked and rusty after a millennium of neglect. It is still space-worthy, however, and after Digby uses it to fly away, Nibbler remarks that Fry has once more done the Nibblonians a great service, and that they owe him a gift. Reflecting upon his mother, Fry laments that they cannot give him the one thing he really wants.
+
=== Act III "Mom
,
there
's so
much I need
to
say
."
===
That night, while asleep, Fry has a dream about his mother, and once more expresses his desire to speak with her. When a [[television]] sportscaster announces the results of the [[2000]] Rose Bowl, Fry is confused; since that game took place after he was frozen, it should be impossible for him to know the results. Nibbler appears, and reveals that this is not actually Fry's dream; it is one of his mother's, and is the gift that Nibbler spoke of. Fry asks if it is really her, and she replies that it is, telling him that she has dreamed of him often since his disappearance. When she asks him what he would like to talk about, he wordlessly embraces her with tears in his eyes. Back in the [[21st century]], Fry's mother dreams of her son with a smile on her face.
That night, while asleep, Fry has a dream about his mother, and once more expresses his desire to speak with her. When a [[television]] sportscaster announces the results of the [[2000]] Rose Bowl, Fry is confused; since that game took place after he was frozen, it should be impossible for him to know the results. Nibbler appears, and reveals that this is not actually Fry's dream; it is one of his mother's, and is the gift that Nibbler spoke of. Fry asks if it is really her, and she replies that it is, telling him that she has dreamed of him often since his disappearance. When she asks him what he would like to talk about, he wordlessly embraces her with tears in his eyes. Back in the [[21st century]], Fry's mother dreams of her son with a smile on her face.