"The Deep South" is the twelfth episode in the second season of the American

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

''. It originally aired on the

Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

in the United States on April 16, 2000.

Plot

A bureaucratic mix-up results in

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

receiving a "mandatory

fishing license A fishing license ( US), fishing licence ( UK), or fishing permit is an administrative or legal mechanism employed by local governments to regulate fishing. Licensing is one mechanism of fisheries management commonly used in Western countries ...

" instead of a pet license for

Nibbler A nibbler, or nibblers,Jeffery Zurschmeide Automotive Welding: A Practical Guide 2009 - Page 26 "Nibblers make a ragged cut and also leave thousands of little sheetmetal nibbles all over your shop. ... Power shears are the best tool going for cut ...

. The crew takes the Planet Express Ship to the center of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, and starts fishing. After failing to catch anything, a bored Bender fashions a large fish hook and attaches it to the ship's unbreakable diamond filament tether. Sunset comes, and the crew is ready to head back to New New York. Bender begins to haul in his line, but he has caught a colossal-mouth bass. The bass dives, dragging the ship to the bottom of the ocean before the hook slips loose. The Planet Express Ship survives its trek to the bottom, but its engines will not work underwater.

Professor Farnsworth Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series '' Futurama''. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Expres ...

conveniently has an anti-pressure

suppository A suppository is a dosage form used to deliver medications by insertion into a body orifice where it dissolves or melts to exert local or systemic effects. There are three types of suppositories, each to insert into a different sections: rectal su ...

which Fry uses to go help forage for food with Bender and

Dr. Zoidberg Dr. John A. Zoidberg, often referred to only by his last name, is a fictional character from the animated series ''Futurama''. He is a Decapodian, a crustacean-like species of alien, who works as the staff doctor for ''Planet Express'', despite hi ...

. Separated from them, Fry sees a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

; but when he returns to the ship, no one believes him. That night, the mermaid, Umbriel, lures Fry out of the ship, and they leave to explore the wonders of the ocean bottom. The next morning, the crew finishes modifying the ship to return to the surface, but finds Fry missing. They set off following Zoidberg's underwater sense of smell to track him, and find the legendary lost city of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. There, they find a civilization of merpeople who speak

Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, though concentrated increasingly in more rural areas, and spoken primarily by Wh ...

. A documentary (narrated by

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

) explains that Atlanta moved offshore in an effort to boost tourism but eventually sank to the bottom of the ocean under the weight of its own overdevelopment, and everyone who chose to stay in the city evolved into merpeople. When Bender points out that it would take millions of years for humans to evolve into merpeople, and questions how the people of Atlanta could've done so in less than a thousand years, Umbriel explains that the evolution process was greatly sped up due to the leaking caffeine from the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

bottling plant. Ready to leave, the crew heads back to the ship. Fry announces he is going to stay in Atlanta to be with Umbriel, shocking the crew. Fry settles in to enjoy his life with Umbriel, but abandons her out of disgust after she explains how

sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (or coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion and thrusting of the penis into the vagina for sexual pleasure or reproduction.Sexual intercourse most commonly means penile–vaginal penetrat ...

between merpeople works. As he runs to try and catch up with his friends, the Planet Express ship leaves without him. Seeing that Bender's hook is still attached to the tether, Fry grabs hold and is dragged behind the ship. The colossal-mouth bass returns, and is hooked when it swallows Fry whole. The bass stays caught, and Fry returns to the surface with the rest of the crew.

Cultural references

*The mermaid, Umbriel, is named after one of

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

s, which the production team chose to do because another of Uranus's

s provided the namesake for Ariel from ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" ( da, Den lille havfrue) is a literary fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea as a mermaid to gain a h ...

''. *

guest stars as the narrator of the documentary describing how Atlanta got to the bottom of the ocean, with said documentary being a parody of the spoken verse in his 1968 song "

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas (mythology), Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works ''Timaeus (dialogue), Timaeus'' and ''Critias (dialogue), Critias'' ...

". The montage of Fry's date with Umbriel is set to the chorus of the same song.

Broadcast and reception

In its initial airing, the episode received a

Nielsen rating Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rati ...

of 3.6/7, placing it 86th among primetime shows for the week of April 10–16, 2000. ''The A.V. Club'' gave the episode a B.

References

External links

The Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...

The Infosphere ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Deep South, The 2000 American television episodes Atlanta in fiction Futurama (season 2) episodes Mermaids in television Southern United States in fiction Underwater civilizations in fiction Television episodes set in Georgia (U.S. state) fr:Le Sud profond