Fry and Bender take the Planet Express crew on a free trip they won to the Slurm Factory on the planet Wormulon, but things quickly turn south after Fry, Leela, and Bender are separated from the rest and discover the horrible secret about Slurm.
Tropes present:
- An Arm and a Leg: Fry tries to bite his arms off at one point in order to fit through a grate.
- Artistic License – Biology: To justify selling her excrement as Slurm, the Slurm Queen claims that honey comes from a bee's behind* and milk comes from a cow's behind* . Of course, she also claims toothpaste comes out of an animal's behind...
- Bad Boss:
- Glurmo treats his employees like slaves, gives them one bathroom break a day, and will rescind that if they do something he doesn't like.
- After consulting with Glurmo, Hermes contemplates firing the crew and replacing them with Grunka-Lunkas at half the cost.
- Big "NO!": Fry after Leela dumps his trough of Super Slurm down a drain.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Bender tells the Grunka-Lunkas to "Shut the Hell up!" when they start singing the third time.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: The episode plays around with the idea and produces a little twist for the plot. Possibly the Trope Codifier for long-form parodies.Professor: Who are those horrible orange creatures over there?
Glermo: Why those are the Grunka-Lunkas. They work here in the Slurm factory.
Professor: Tell them I hate them. - Comically Missing the Point: Fry laments that he wishes there were some way for him to see inside Slurm cans without opening them, to find the winning bottle cap. Then Bender announces how much he's enjoying using the Professor's F-Ray to look inside things without opening them. It takes Fry a ridiculously long time to realize the F-Ray is the solution to his problem.
- Conveyor Belt o' Doom: Bender is put on one by the Slurm Queen which lead to a machine that turns metal into Slurm cans. Leela saves him in time before any real damage was done but he did get a hole punched through his body.
- Crazy Memory: Invoked. After finding out the truth about Slurm, the professor tries to get the company shut down. However, Fry can't bear the fact that Slurm will be discontinued, so he claims, "gramps is telling crazy stories again". The professor retaliates by saying that Fry is actually his uncle from the year 2000, making him sound even crazier.
- Cuckoo Finger Twirl: Professor Farnsworth reports the truth of Slurm's origins to the police, but when the hopelessly addicted Fry figures out that will get Slurm outlawed he tries to make the Professor look like a senile old man, making the "crazy" gesture when the 160-year-old refers to him as his uncle.
- Expy: Slurms MacKenzie is a parody of Spuds MacKenzie
- Foreshadowing: Seeing Slurms MacKenzie on TV at the start of the episode Bender says, "and they say there are no heroes left", he didn't know how accurate that statement would be.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- When Bender is using the F-Ray on the hot dogs at the convenience store, you can very briefly see that there's debris inside them.
- Later, when they encounter Leela and the Professor playing Scrabble, the Professor's letters are an anagram of Futurama but with one A missing.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Fry is stuck between saving Leela and Bender or getting to drink a large trough of concentrated Super Slurm. He takes a third option by dragging the trough with him while he pulls Leela out of the royal Slurm who then saves Bender from his Conveyor Belt of Doom.
- Funny X-Ray: While the F-Ray is showing the inside of Bender's head, a computer chip with the number 6502 on it can be seen briefly. note
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Her own subjects are loyal to her, but the Slurm Queen is clearly ill-disposed to anyone else.
- Groin Attack: Bender renders Fry sterile with the F-Ray. Fry doesn't feel anything the second time he's zapped, though.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Slurms MacKenzie sacrifices his life by partying hard for the last time to buy the others some time to escape from the Slurm Queen.
- Heroic Willpower: Double Subverted. Fry's unable to overcome his addiction to the Super Slurm to save his friends, but instead summons the strength to drag the heavy metal trough it's contained in over to the lever.
- Homage: The episode is a spoof of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
- I Ate WHAT?!: It turns out the secret of Slurm is that it's secreted from the anus of a giant worm. That doesn't stop Fry from drinking it and makes sure no one finds out about it by discrediting the Professor.Fry: That's the secret ingredient of Slurm?Leela: That's the only ingredient of Slurm!Fry: Eeewww! (keeps drinking his Slurm which Leela knocks out of his hand)
- I'm a Humanitarian: Apparently there's a soda called Soylent Cola that's made from people. The taste varies from person to person.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: After spending the whole day looking for the golden bottle cap, Fry decides he never wants to see another Slurm can again... and immediately gets one from the fridge.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: Fry was free to escape the Slurm Queen so long as he could resist a trough of highly concentrated "Super Slurm". He manages to free Bender and Leela by dragging the trough with him.
- Irrational Hatred: The Professor expresses hatred for the Grunka-Lunkas for no apparent reason.
- "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: Invoked by Bender when, after Fry and Leela both jump into the factory's Slurm river (Fry because he wants a drink, Leela to rescue him), he surfaces with them:Leela: Bender, why did you jump in?
Bender: Everybody was doin' it. I just wanted to be popular. - Karma Houdini: The Slurm corporation faces no consequences for using the Slurm Queen's excrement to flavor their drinks, as Fry discredits the professor when the latter tries to report it to the beverage bureau.
- Life of the Party: Slurms McKenzie is the most absolutely pathetic deconstruction of this trope possible. He is contractually obligated to be an icon of partying long past being sick of it personally, and his only escape from partying is death.
- May Contain Evil: Slurm is advertised as highly addictive.
- Older Than They Look: Slurms Mackenzie's party babes have been working with him for at least forty years. They sure don't look like it.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Fry says "OW! My sperm!" when he's hit with the F-Ray the first time.
- Painful Rhyme: Played for laughs with the Grunka-Lunkas and their songs.Leela: Hey, what's behind that door?
Glurmo: Nothing!
Leela: Is it the secret ingredient?
Grunka-Lunkas: Grunka-Lunka dunkity-dingredient, you should not ask about the secret ingredient!
Bender: OK, OK, we get the point!
Leela: I was just curious because of the armed guards.
Grunka-Lunkas: Grunka-Lunka dunkity-darmedguards...
Bender: Shut the hell up! - Rattling Off Legal: The Slurm advert has a massive amount of legalese run by in Alien Language 1, stating that the competition isn't open to various animals with the word "space" in front of their name, including the "elusive space-yak."
- Riddle for the Ages: Which animal's butt does toothpaste come from? All we know is that the answer is so disgusting that even a giant slug queen who makes a drink from the slime that comes out of her ass doesn't want to talk about it.
- Rule of Three: Fry does three spit takes after discovering the secret source of Slurm.
- Science-Fiction Writers Have No Sense of Scale: The rate at which the Slurm Queen fills cans would work out to just under 30,000 cans per day, assuming she did so 24/7 with no breaks. Certainly not a number to sneeze at, but when you consider that on modern-day Earth an estimated 1.9 billion cans of Coca-Cola are consumed per day, you can see that the numbers would fall far short to supply a product supposedly popular throughout the galaxy. However, since there is the possibility of multiple Slurm Queens (since they almost made Leela into one), then it's possible that there are other Slurm factories with other Slurm Queens, with the one we saw as the High Queen.
- Sleep Deprivation: Slurms MacKenzie, the original party worm working in advertising for Slurm, is partied out.
- Shame If Something Happened: The basis of the Grunka-Lunka's first song.
- Special Guest: Pamela Anderson as one of the party girls.
- Spit Take: When Fry, Leela and Bender find out that Slurm's only ingredient is a semi-liquid discharge from the tail of a giant slug queen, there are several exchanges of Fry drinking from a can of Slurm, Leela reminding him what it is, Fry spit-taking, and going right back to drinking (it is highly addictive, after all.)
- Take That!: Against New Coke, with Slurm Queen's plan to bring out a New Slurm that won't taste as good as the original, and then bring back Slurm Classic.
- This Is Gonna Suck:Bender: I can't see what's happening, are we boned?
Leela: Yeah, we're boned. - To the Pain: The Slurm Queen gives one of these to Bender, Leela, and Fry.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: While messing with the Professor's F-Ray, Bender sees a smoking hot fembot whom he promptly scans to see her internal anatomy. When she turns out to be transgender (with only one more upgrade to go before completing transition), he reacts in disgust.Bender: Whoa, mama. Hold still, sexy lady. (uses F-Ray on her, then gasps)Fry: What is it?Bender: That's no lady!Fembot: Damn, chico! One more upgrade and I'll be more lady than you can handle. Why you so stupid, stupid?Bender: Hey, bite my shiny, metal ass!Fembot: You couldn't afford it, honey! (snaps fingers and walks off)
- Warning Song: The Grunka Lunkas warn Fry and his tour group about inquiring too closely into the inner workings of Slurm production:Grunka-Lunkas: Grunka-Lunka dunkity-doo.
We've got a friendly warning for you.
Grunka-Lunka dunkity-dasis.
The secret of Slurm's on a need-to-know basis.
Grunka-Lunka 1: Asking questions in school is a great way to learn.
Grunka-Lunka 2: If you try that stuff here, you might get your legs broke.
Grunka-Lunka 1: We once found a dead guy face down in the Slurm.
Grunka-Lunka 1: It could easily happen again to you folk.
Grunka-Lunkas: So keep your head down, and keep your mouth shut.
Grunka-Lunka-Lunka dunkity-dut!
Glurmo: Hey, I don't pay you to sing! You just used up today's bathroom break!
Grunka-Lunka: Hardass.
Glurmo: I heard that. - Whole-Plot Reference: To Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
- You Don't Want to Know: When the Slurm Queen brings up the origins of toothpaste, she claims that "you don't wanna know" what animal behind it comes from.
- You Were Trying Too Hard: Fry tries to find the can of Slurm with the winning gold bottle cap inside, first by drinking can after can, then by using the professor's F-ray. After his search yields nothing, he gives up and has a can of Slurm... and starts choking on the winning cap.
Grunka lunka dunkety dage! You have now reached the end of the page!
