Episode Recap: Brannigan, Begin Again

The Professor approaches the crew and announces their latest mission: furthering the cause of intergalactic peace by delivering a package to the Democratic Order of planets, or D.O.O.P. for short, an organization the Professor likens to the former United Nations. D.O.O.P., the Professor explains, Is relocating to new headquarters housed in an enormous space station orbiting a planet in the center of the Neutral Zone. The crew is to deliver an enormous pair of scissors, which is to be used for a ribbon cutting ceremony. 

 

Leela pilots the Planet Express ship to the space station, which is the temporary home to visiting dignitaries from across the galaxy. Amongst the dignitaries is Zap Brannigan and his sidekick, Kif Kroker. Zap notices Leela with the scissors and, suspecting she may be linked to some "neutral" plot to assassinate alien delegates, places her, Bender and Fry under arrest. 

 

But when Zap escorts the group back to his spaceship, the Nimbus, Kif points out that he is still required to cut the ribbon with the scissors. Zap decides it is just as easy to use the space ship’s laser. Unfortunately, the beam slices not only the ribbon, it also burns a hole in the hull of the space station, hurtling delegates into space. 

 

Later, at the old D.O.O.P. headquarters, Zap is placed on trial. Leela appears on the witness stand and testifies to Zap’s incompetence as a captain. Zap is found guilty of blowing up the space station and court-martialed. Zap implicates Kif in his wrongdoing, and he, too, is stripped of rank and dishonorably discharged. Grimy and unshaven, Zap and Kif show up at Planet Express headquarters. Zap offers to perform menial tasks in exchange for food. 

 

After taking Hermes’ Delivery Aptitude Test, Kif qualifies as first mate, while Zap qualifies for Assistant Delivery Boy, Second Class. Shortly thereafter, the Professor assigns the crew a new task: making a delivery to Stumbos 4, a planet with an incredibly strong gravitational pull. As the ship journeys through space, Leela compliments Kif on his work, giving Kif an enormous sense of achievement. When the ship lands, Leela instructs the crew to deliver forty pillows to a nearby hotel. 

 

Fry, Bender and Zap ignore Leela’s warning not to load too many pillows onto a hover-dolly, causing the device to collapse (due to the extraordinary gravity).The threesome then set about delivering all forty pillows by hand, an incredibly difficult process. As they toil, Zap mentions that, when he was captain, he allowed his crew to sit around in their underpants and drink beer. The notion immediately wins over Fry and Bender. 

 

Soon after, the threesome stage a mutiny, handcuffing Leela and taking over the ship. In lieu of a brig, Zap orders that Leela be confined to the ship’s laundry room. Shortly thereafter, Zap shares beers with Fry and Bender (but refuses to extend the same offer to Kif). Zap then sets in motion a plan to destroy his "arch-enemy," the Neutral Planet. He tells Bender and Fry that they will crash the space ship into D.O.O.P.’s headquarters, killing every living thing within. 

 

Zap, however, plans on donning the only space suit on board so he and he alone can eject to safety. Unwilling to die, Fry and Bender race to the laundry room, where they beg Leela to take over command of the ship. When Zap realizes another mutiny is transpiring, this time against him, he shoves Kif into a tiny child’s space suit, forces him into an airlock and drags him into outer space. 

 

Moments later, Leela realizes Zap disabled the steering mechanism. Without it, the ship will crash into the Neutral Planet. Thinking quickly, Leela instructs Bender and Fry to find the remaining hover-dolly and load all the dark matter aboard ship into the left engine. Working quickly, Fry and Bender do as instructed, causing the left engine to emit a sudden burst of flame that causes the ship to swerve away from the planet. 

 

Later, Inside a courtroom, Leela again testifies. Only this time, she claims it is she who is incompetent. The ploy works. Zap’s rank is restored and he leaves Planet Express...much to Leela’s relief.