A Farewell to Arms

"A Farewell to Arms" is the second episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 116th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 20, 2012 directly after "The Bots and the Bees". The episode was written by Josh Weinstein and directed by Raymie Muzquiz. The episode received a WGA Award nomination. In the episode, an ancient Martian prophecy predicts the end of civilization in the year 3012. Plot Professor Farnsworth launches a weather balloon to gather data on a series of recent, bizarre weather patterns on Earth. Fry ties his "lucky pants" to the balloon by mistake, so he shoots the balloon down and sends his pants down to Central Park on Earth, whereupon they are stolen by a Central Park Badger and dragged down a burrow. As the Planet Express crew go down the burrow to get them (with Leela breaking her leg when Fry tries to save her from falling), they stumble upon an ancient Martian pyramid and a large stone calendar. Amy translates the ideograms on the calendar, as she is somewhat familiar with the Martian language, and concludes that the world will end in 3012, the current year. Farnsworth reviews the data from the weather balloon and finds that the Sun is about to release a giant solar flare that will destroy the planet. An electromagnetic storm causes all electronic devices on Earth to stop working, including spaceships, preventing evacuation from the planet. However, Amy learns through the calendar that the pyramid is actually a giant stone spacecraft able to hold 30,000 people. As they try to use the spacecraft for themselves, the Planet Express crew are caught by Zapp Brannigan and brought before President Richard Nixon's Head. President Nixon's Head insists that a decision-making machine called the Choose-Matron be used to select the most optimal cross-section of humanity to take to Mars, where they will restart human civilization. Fry is chosen because of his "lucky pants", while Leela is rejected since Zapp has been chosen to pilot the craft. Before boarding can begin, Fry disguises his boarding ticket as one for Leela and gives it to her while he remains behind on Earth with Bender (who purposefully remains behind to take part in the looting). After reaching Mars, the evacuated humans are greeted by Leo and Inez Wong. Back on Earth, the remaining humans begin looting, as does Bender (going so far as to even steal from his own apartment).