Love's Labours Lost in Space

This episode introduces the recurring character Zapp Brannigan when he attempts to prevent the Planet Express crew from completing their mission.

The next day, Professor Farnsworth sends the crew on a "tax-deductible mission of charity": the uninhabited planet Vergon 6 has been mined hollow for its dark matter, an incredibly dense substance that is valued as starship fuel, and its imminent collapse will render all of the native animal species extinct.

Farnsworth instructs the crew to recover two of each kind of animal native to the planet for breeding purposes à la Noah's Ark.

As the crew arrives in the Vergon system, they find a security cordon put in place around the planet by the starship Nimbus, which Leela recognizes as the flagship of famed space captain Zapp Brannigan.

Upon docking with the ship and coming aboard, the Planet Express crew meet Zapp and his long-suffering executive officer, Lieutenant Kif Kroker.

After admitting what happened the previous night, Leela initially refuses to ask Zapp Brannigan for assistance, but finally relents in order to save her crew.

When the Zapp Brannigan role was originally cast, the creators chose Saturday Night Live alumnus and semi-frequent Simpsons voice actor Phil Hartman.

The montage of the crew trying to capture various bizarre animals is inventive and clever, and the fact that the story has a legitimate genre feel to it is a nice change of pace from the previous two episodes.