Talk:When Aliens Attack

Quotes
Would someone please explain to me why some inconsiderate soul felt it necessary to remove all the quotes from this episode? The quotes help casual readers and Futurama fans alike get a sense of the episode's tone. What was the point of removing them? Spite? A desire to have control? --User:Awakeandalive1 May 25, 2006.
 * Er, no. Wikipedia is not a repository of quotations, they belong at sister project Wikiquote.--Sean Black 03:48, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * The bulk of them, yes. But the quotes (especially for episodes of television programs) give a good sense of what the show is like. Besides which, many, many episode guides for series here on Wikipedia include quotes. Is this Wikipedia's hard-and-fast policy or is it just a particular interpretation? I could find nothing there which specifically or even broadly referred to quotes. --Awakeandalive1, May 26, 2006.
 * Not only is Wikipedia not an indiscriminate collection of information, excerpts from a TV program are copyrighted, you know. --Rory096 05:50, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And I still don't see how quotes relevant to an episode constitute a breach of that, especially since trivia and references are collected on the same page, but do as you will. Also a lot of the content and information reproduced here is copyrighted. If that's the motive for removing the quotes, then you lot have a LOT of work ahead of you...especially since the characters, images and likenesses are technically copyrighted and property of their respective corporations. --Awakeandalive1, May 26, 2006.
 * You're confusing yourself here. The things you mention are summaries of the programme. Quotes lifted directly from the program, presented in a list, shouldn't be in Wikipedia articles because it's duplicated with (again) our sister project Wikiquote, and because doing so is quite questionable under the terms of GFDL and the fair use provision of U.S. law, if not in direct violation.--Sean Black 07:47, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And again, I understand how the complete reproduction of *all* the quotes from an episode would constitute duplication, but the inclusion of a few select quotes seems like it makes a lot of sense. Information is often "duplicated" from Wikipedia sister pages (vis. Wikinews, Wikisources, Wiktionary, etc.) because the information is relevant to the subject in the respective Wikipedia entries. The trivia and the references are rarely "summaries." And again, legally, the images, characters and all liknessess are copyrighted. As far as I could tell, it sounds like quotes fall under 'fair use' as well, provided they are used with discrimination and restraint and are relevant to the article. However you interpret it as you will. --Awakeandalive1 May 26, 2006.

Mount Rushmore?
The image of the Super-Villain on Mount Rushmore is almost the identical clone of the villain from the old Fighting Fantasy gamebook Appointment with F.E.A.R., the picture is on the cover and also there are a couple of illustrations of the villain in the book. Could this be a reference? - 14.43 GMT 27 July 2007

References section
Isn't the References section for citing the source of information in the article, not for listing pop culture references? That section should become Trivia if so. Canonymous 23:16, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Not necessarily a goof
One of the "goofs" says that there is a 1001-year difference between the broadcast and the attack, but it should only take 1000 years. That's not necessarily problem; even faster-than-light ships need time to move.--DoctorWorm 02:48, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I was just about to re-add this. Although the broadcast took 1000 years, and was 1000 lightyears away, it took at most a couple years for Lrrr and the others to come to Earth and attack. I realized that there have been other episodes where either Fry's gang or Lrrr and Ndnd leave their home planet and meet, which should take at least a 1000 years each time. One more thing... Farnsworth has said in a different episode that scientists increased the speed of light in the year 2208. So, I'd like to add this, anyone have an idea? (in short - some facts don't agree. you can't go faster than the speed of light, but in Futurama, they seem to break the rule several times, although the speed of light has been increased) --KevinJr42 22:56, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

OK, isn't it a goof that it took a thousand years to get to the aliens? TV stations don't broadcast with light. The waves would've taken longer than a thousand years to get a thousand lightyears.


 * Actually TV stations broadcast electromagnetic radiation which is essentially light (photons) but at a different frequency than visible light. So yes television signals travel at the speed of light (3.0 * 10^8 m/s). At least they do in the real world, who knows for sure about the laws of physics in Futurama! Bemis269 (talk) 23:17, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Coke/Pepsi
An airing on Adult Swim today (April 3, 2007) cut Fry's line about it being Pepsi spilt on the console rather than Coke (immediately going from Amy's line to the end of Fry's line, "I would think."). Any reason why they would do this? Is it notable to put in the article? --DarkfireTaimatsu 06:56, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * A subsequent airing tonight (June 5, 2007) replaces "Pepsi" with "Beer" this time around. --DarkfireTaimatsu 06:55, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Removed cultural references
I deleted two :

213.214.32.52 18:00, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) "At the end where the survivors emerge after the aliens depart, there is a clown that bears a striking resemblance to Krusty The Klown." -> No it doesn't, they're just two clowns drawn by Matt Groening.
 * 2) The Scary Door is a reference to The Twilight Zone. -> Yes, but it doesn't appear in this episode.

Cultural references
As I recently brought up at the wikiproject (here) it is time we did something about the cultural references sections. I am moving all unsourced references to the talk pages for the time being in hopes of creating a better, more thoroughly sourced article. Please discuss this action at the wikiproject link above so as not to split it over 72 different talk pages. The information removed from the article follows. Stardust8212 01:05, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Cultural references

 * The title is a reference to the Fox series When Animals Attack!.
 * The show "Single Female Lawyer", as well as the main character's name "Jenny McNeal", are parodies of Ally McBeal.
 * When the technician at the control booth of WNYW offers to let Fry watch the show, he replies "ah, I don't know, that's a chick show. I prefer programs of the genre World's Blankiest Blank". This is a reference to such reality shows as World's Wildest Police Videos.
 * The big pullback from Earth, through space to Omicron Persei VIII is a parody of a similar scene in Contact.
 * The big pullback also briefly shows the Voyager spacecraft
 * When Leela parks the hovercar, a vehicle similar to that of the 60's Batmobile from Batman can be seen.
 * The scene with the monuments being destroyed is a parody of the film Independence Day, especially the destruction of the White House.
 * Zapp's speech about practicing bed making is a parody of the film Full Metal Jacket.
 * The Earth forces accidentally destroy the Hubble Telescope instead of the alien mothership, though the telescope looks nothing like the real Hubble Telescope.
 * The scene where Zapp Brannigan is briefing his pilots before attacking the Omicronians is a parody of the scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope where Jan Dodonna briefs the Rebel pilots before attacking the Death Star. In addition, the scene where the Planet Express ship flies on screen with other star fighters mimics the opening of the Battle of Yavin. Also some of the battle resembles the Battle of Naboo from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, especially when the Hubble Telescope explodes in resemblance to the explosion of the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship. If one is to go frame by frame as the camera zooms from earth to Omicron Persei 8, he can see the death star.
 * The notion that the battle with the Omicronians is a parody of The Phantom Menace has some support:  Cy3 (talk) 00:37, 8 March 2009 (UTC)


 * When Fry is sitting in the turret he says he feels like a space hero, "like Uhura, Captain Janeway or Xena!"
 * During the shooting of the mock episode of "Single Female Lawyer", Fry explains that "TV audiences don't want anything original; they wanna see the same thing they've seen a thousand times before..." to which Bender replies "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Fry?" This is a reference to Gary Coleman's famous catch phrase, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" from the television program Diff'rent Strokes.
 * Ndnd states that "Women are from Omicron Persei VII, men are from Omicron Persei IX" a spoof of the book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.


 * Also, Fry's helmet resembles that of a rebel soldier from Star Wars. 90.231.197.44 (talk) 20:26, 16 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I would like to add that the planet name Omicron Persei 8 may have been derived from the planet visited in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1 Episode 24. The planet visited in the Star Trek episode is named Omicron Ceti III.  It would be logical to add this to this episode's description because it is the first mention of Omicron Persei 8.
 * If you can find a cite saying the planet name was inspired by the Star Trek episode, sure, add it in. Lots42 (talk) 23:25, 20 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I'll put that under unlikely and coincidental. Omicron Persei 8 is named after the star Omicron Persei, which is about a 1000 light years away, so the writers searched for a star with that distance rather than a reference to Star Trek.  In addition, there is no mention of it in the commentary. --Svippong 00:15, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Episode review
This episode, along with all other episodes from season one, is being reviewed to determine whether it currently satisfies Wikipedia's various policies in guidelines. All editors are welcome and encouraged to contribute to the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Futurama/Season 1 review. Stardust8212 18:47, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd just like to add, that as someone who has been thru Basic Military Training and dealt with the "military mindset", that exchange between Zap and Fry regarding making the bed in one's sleep could not have been closer to the truth. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.17.109.52 (talk) 18:08, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Episode based on Classic Sci Fi story?
This episode of Futurama bears a striking similarity to the plot of a highly regarded short story written in 1984 by Andrew Weiner called "Distant Signals". In his story, an ET comes to Earth to have a cancelled show continued, however an attack is not threatened by the aliens. "Distant Signals" is included in a book called "The Norton Book of Science Fiction", compiled and edited in part by the very well known Ursula K. Leguin in 1993, well prior to the creation of the Futurama episode. This book served as the main text for a college class I took on Sci Fi literature, and is critically acclaimed, and reasonably popular. I think it's likely that this story served as inspiration for the creation of the episode. Without any proof however, does the existence of this story become trivia and thereby not includable? I don't own the DVD's and don't know if there's a commentary track that might mention this. If true it would be helpful in showing how Futurama is an amalgam of popular Sci Fi culture.

What do you all think? Bemis269 (talk) 23:37, 28 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Yep. It's a strikingly similar to the 1985 "Distant Signals" episode (#30) of Tales from the Darkside, which was based on the sci-fi story you mention. This story had a human-looking visitor from a planet 20 light-years distant from Earth paying to have a final episode written for a canceled detective TV show. It's possible that this Darkside episode was the inspiration for the Futurama episode. — Loadmaster (talk) 03:30, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

There is another Title of the same name
Can we add an article When Aliens Attack (National Geographic Channel) I think that that article needs to be created to avoid confusion between the two. Thanks! DatNuttyWikipedian (talk) 06:15, 18 April 2016 (UTC)