Attack of the Killer App
Encyclopedia
"Attack of the Killer App" is the third episode of the sixth season
of the animated sitcom, Futurama
which first aired July 1, 2010 on Comedy Central
. The episode focuses on the release of the new eyePhone, resulting in Fry
posting a viral video
of Leela on the Internet. Craig Ferguson
, host of The Late, Late Show, guest stars as Leela's boil
, Susan.
announces that they will be delivering all the Earth’s recyclables to the Third World of the Antares
system. After dropping them off, they decide it would be better to keep using their old electronics. This changes when they see a commercial for MomCorp’s new eyePhone. The crew all buy eyePhones, which feature a wide variety of applications, including the Twitcher application. Bender and Fry
get into a competition to get the most followers, wagering a dollar and stating that the loser must jump into a tub of two-headed alien goat vomit and diarrhea.
Meanwhile, Mom
reveals to her sons that the eyePhones allow her to direct market to the users, based on what they post on Twitcher. She also reveals her evil plan wherein the “twit worm” will be transmitted as soon as someone has one million followers. The twit worm will work as a virus infecting the human brain and making people into mindless zombies that follow her every whim.
Fry decides he needs to have more interesting twits in order to beat Bender. He soon discovers that Leela has a boil, named Susan, which sings show tunes. Fry shares video of the boil on his eyePhone, in spite of his promise not to. The video is a hit and Leela is ridiculed wherever she goes. Fry and Bender both reach one million followers simultaneously and Mom transmits the twit worm to all of their followers.
Leela discovers that her humiliation is old news and that a new video has everyone’s attention. She forgives Fry and he reveals to her that he posted a video of himself completing the loser’s side of the bet in order to make up for the humiliation he caused her. Meanwhile, Mom's virus activates turning Fry and Bender's followers to zombies who get in line to buy the eyePhone 2.0 while Mom looks on satisfied.
". The chairs at the pizza restaurant are the same ones the Cygnoids had in "A Leela of Her Own
".
and Twitter
, renamed the eyePhone and Twitcher respectively. The eyePhone is placed directly in the eye, hence the name eyePhone. The numerous faults the characters ascribe to the eyePhone refer to real life technical issues which has beset the iPhone over the years.
Fry asks, "Since when is the internet about robbing people of their privacy?", to which Bender replies, "August 6th, 1991", which is the date that Tim Berners-Lee
announced the World Wide Web
project and software on the newsgroup alt.hypertext. A video clip shot by Fry reveals that Leela has a boil
(voiced by Craig Ferguson
) named Susan on her right buttock that sings show tunes with a Scottish accent, a reference to singer Susan Boyle
. The song that was shown in the episode was "I Dreamed a Dream", the same song which Susan Boyle performed in her first audition of Britain's Got Talent
which later brought her world-wide fame.
and 1.1 rating/4% share in the 18-49 demographic.
Robert Canning of IGN
in his review gave the episode a 8.5 calling it "Great" and also stated in his review ""Attack of the Killer App" had more than enough great laughs to outweigh this weak bit", in reference to the Susan Boyle joke. He also praised the references to iPhone and Twitter jokes. A.V. Club reviewer Zack Helden gave the episode a B saying "This was funny, generally, and I'm glad the series hasn't lost its teeth. It's just, I miss the writers' habit of biting off just a little more than they could chew." He also found the Susan Boyle jokes to be "mean-spirited" but clever and so "bizarre that it worked". Darren Franich of EW
Popwatch said the episode was "as good as anything the show produced in its prime" particularly commenting on the speed of the episode and the precision of its satire. He also noted that the episode benefited from good timing, coming right on the heels of recent iPad and iPhone releases which kept the episode from feeling "outdated". Sean Gandert of Paste
rated the episode a 7.1. While he found the eyePhone jokes to be clever he refers to the Boil plotline as "a horrifically stupid joke that dominates and largely ruins the second part of the episode".
Futurama (season 6)
Futurama sixth production season originally aired on Comedy Central from June 24, 2010 to September 8, 2011 and consisted of 26 episodes. The season marks the change of networks from Fox to Comedy Central.David X...
of the animated sitcom, Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
which first aired July 1, 2010 on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
. The episode focuses on the release of the new eyePhone, resulting in Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...
posting a viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
of Leela on the Internet. Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...
, host of The Late, Late Show, guest stars as Leela's boil
Boil
A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...
, Susan.
Plot
The episode opens with the Planet Express crew recycling their old electronics. Hubert J. FarnsworthHubert J. Farnsworth
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, or simply The Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a combination of impressions of Burgess Meredith and Frank Morgan. Farnsworth is the proprietor of the Planet Express delivery...
announces that they will be delivering all the Earth’s recyclables to the Third World of the Antares
Antares
Antares is a red supergiant star in the Milky Way galaxy and the sixteenth brightest star in the nighttime sky . Along with Aldebaran, Spica, and Regulus it is one of the four brightest stars near the ecliptic...
system. After dropping them off, they decide it would be better to keep using their old electronics. This changes when they see a commercial for MomCorp’s new eyePhone. The crew all buy eyePhones, which feature a wide variety of applications, including the Twitcher application. Bender and Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...
get into a competition to get the most followers, wagering a dollar and stating that the loser must jump into a tub of two-headed alien goat vomit and diarrhea.
Meanwhile, Mom
Mom (Futurama)
Mom, real first name Carol, is a character from the animated television series Futurama. Voiced by Tress MacNeille. Mom is one of the show's two main antagonists, the other being Zapp Brannigan...
reveals to her sons that the eyePhones allow her to direct market to the users, based on what they post on Twitcher. She also reveals her evil plan wherein the “twit worm” will be transmitted as soon as someone has one million followers. The twit worm will work as a virus infecting the human brain and making people into mindless zombies that follow her every whim.
Fry decides he needs to have more interesting twits in order to beat Bender. He soon discovers that Leela has a boil, named Susan, which sings show tunes. Fry shares video of the boil on his eyePhone, in spite of his promise not to. The video is a hit and Leela is ridiculed wherever she goes. Fry and Bender both reach one million followers simultaneously and Mom transmits the twit worm to all of their followers.
Leela discovers that her humiliation is old news and that a new video has everyone’s attention. She forgives Fry and he reveals to her that he posted a video of himself completing the loser’s side of the bet in order to make up for the humiliation he caused her. Meanwhile, Mom's virus activates turning Fry and Bender's followers to zombies who get in line to buy the eyePhone 2.0 while Mom looks on satisfied.
Continuity
Bender's good twin Flexo makes a brief cameo in one of the recycling bins. The cell phone Amy throws away before getting an eyePhone is the same as in "Amazon Women in the MoodAmazon Women in the Mood
"Amazon Women in the Mood" is the first episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on February 4, 2001.-Plot:...
". The chairs at the pizza restaurant are the same ones the Cygnoids had in "A Leela of Her Own
A Leela of Her Own
"A Leela of Her Own" is the sixteenth episode in the third season of the animated series Futurama and is a homage to A League of Their Own directed by Penny Marshall. It originally aired in North America on April 7, 2002...
".
Cultural references
Most of the episode focuses on parodies of the iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, renamed the eyePhone and Twitcher respectively. The eyePhone is placed directly in the eye, hence the name eyePhone. The numerous faults the characters ascribe to the eyePhone refer to real life technical issues which has beset the iPhone over the years.
Fry asks, "Since when is the internet about robbing people of their privacy?", to which Bender replies, "August 6th, 1991", which is the date that Tim Berners-Lee
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John "Tim" Berners-Lee, , also known as "TimBL", is a British computer scientist, MIT professor and the inventor of the World Wide Web...
announced the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
project and software on the newsgroup alt.hypertext. A video clip shot by Fry reveals that Leela has a boil
Boil
A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue...
(voiced by Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson is a Scottish American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS...
) named Susan on her right buttock that sings show tunes with a Scottish accent, a reference to singer Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer who came to international public attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV programme Britain's Got Talent on 11 April 2009, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from ...
. The song that was shown in the episode was "I Dreamed a Dream", the same song which Susan Boyle performed in her first audition of Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...
which later brought her world-wide fame.
Broadcast and reception
In the original American broadcast, "Attack of the Killer App" was viewed by an estimated 2.159 million households receiving a 1.3 rating/2% share in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
and 1.1 rating/4% share in the 18-49 demographic.
Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
in his review gave the episode a 8.5 calling it "Great" and also stated in his review ""Attack of the Killer App" had more than enough great laughs to outweigh this weak bit", in reference to the Susan Boyle joke. He also praised the references to iPhone and Twitter jokes. A.V. Club reviewer Zack Helden gave the episode a B saying "This was funny, generally, and I'm glad the series hasn't lost its teeth. It's just, I miss the writers' habit of biting off just a little more than they could chew." He also found the Susan Boyle jokes to be "mean-spirited" but clever and so "bizarre that it worked". Darren Franich of EW
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
Popwatch said the episode was "as good as anything the show produced in its prime" particularly commenting on the speed of the episode and the precision of its satire. He also noted that the episode benefited from good timing, coming right on the heels of recent iPad and iPhone releases which kept the episode from feeling "outdated". Sean Gandert of Paste
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
rated the episode a 7.1. While he found the eyePhone jokes to be clever he refers to the Boil plotline as "a horrifically stupid joke that dominates and largely ruins the second part of the episode".