Love's Labours Lost in Space

"Love's Labours Lost in Space" is the fourth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 1999. The episode was written by Brian Kelley and directed by Brian Sheesley. This episode introduces the recurring character Zapp Brannigan when he attempts to prevent the Planet Express crew from completing their mission. It also introduces the characters of Kif Kroker, Brannigan's aide, and Nibbler, whom Leela adopts as a pet. Plot Leela has had a series of unsuccessful dates (her latest being the one from the cold opening where the date is initially going well until she discovers her date's "vile lizard tongue"), so Amy and the others take her to The Hip Joint to meet eligible bachelors. While everyone else leaves with a date, Leela rejects several prospective companions and leaves alone. 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. Though Leela is initially flattered to meet Zapp, relations later turn sour when Zapp rejects Leela's request for help in saving the animals of Vergon 6; the Democratic Order of Planets (D.O.O.P.) has declared Vergon 6 restricted, as interfering with undeveloped worlds is forbidden (even though it was a D.O.O.P. mining crew that mined it hollow in the first place). When Leela defies Zapp's orders to stay away from Vergon 6, Zapp throws the Planet Express crew in prison.