The Scary Door
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| The Scary Door | |
|---|---|
 Title screen |
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| Genre | Fictional science fiction television program |
| Creator(s) | Futurama |
| Starring | The last man on Earth, Clyde Smith, Man |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 3 known |
| Production | |
| Running time | 15 seconds |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | FOX |
| Original run | 1999 – 2003 |
The Scary Door is a fictional TV show in the Futurama Universe, along with shows such as All My Circuits, Everybody Loves Hypnotoad, Good Morning Earth, and Late Night with Humorbot 5.0. The Scary Door is a spoof of The Twilight Zone.
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[edit] General Overview
The Scary Door's runtime in the series has been shown as less than a minute.[1] It features humorous spoofs of odd or scary tales usually based on original episodes of The Twilight Zone. During the original four season run of the show three episodes were featured.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] The Last Man
This was the first episode of The Scary Door seen. It was shown in the episode "A Head in the Polls"[2] and is a parody of the Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last".
The plot features the last man on earth in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. He enters a library and expresses excitement at finally having time to read. His glasses fall off and break on the floor and he mimicks the original Twilight Zone episode by yelling "It's not fair!" He then realizes that he will still be able to read large print books however his eyes also fall out. He believes then that he will read the braille books until his hands fall off, he screams but then his tongue and then head falls off, after which he says, "Hey, look at that weird mirror." Bender comments, "Cursed by his own hubris."
[edit] The Gambler
This was the second Twilight Zone episode spoof to appear and was featured in the Futurama episode "I Dated a Robot"[3]. Major plot points reference Twilight Zone episodes, "The Fever", "A Nice Place to Visit", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", and "The Man in the Bottle", and the horror film, The Fly.
The plot of the episode features Clyde Smith, a professional gambler. He leaves a casino and is knocked down by a hovercar. He wakes up, again in the casino, pulls the lever on the slot machine, and wins the jackpot. He initially believes he has gone to Heaven however after winning a second time he believes that it is actually Hell because winning every time he gambles is boring. A random pedestrian comes to Clyde and points out a curtain. "No, Mr. Smith," he says, "You're not in heaven or hell. You're on an airplane." The pedestrian pulls down the curtain to reveal an airplane window. Clyde sees a monster on the wing of the plane and attempts to warn the other passengers of the danger however they don't believe him and claim that he is actually Hitler. Clyde is shown a mirror and the reflection shows that Clyde is indeed Hitler. Clyde sees that he's sitting next to Eva Braun and asks her for help however she takes off what appears to be a mask and has the head of a fly. Clyde screams and the episode is over.
Bender remarks that he "saw it coming."
[edit] Ultimate Evil
This is the third episode, shown during the credits of "Spanish Fry"[4]. The episode was originally intended to be shown at the beginning of The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz but was cut out. It takes place in the laboratory of a mad scientist. The mad scientist is holding up a test tube filled with green liquid. "I have combined the DNA of the world's evilest animals to create the most evil creature of them all." He pours the liquid into a strange device. A naked human man emerges from it, and calmly announces "It turns out it's man." The episode is a parody of The Twilight's Zone trademark twist endings which often carry messages about the nature of man.
[edit] In other media
In Futurama Comics #28, the Planet Express crew makes a delivery to the offices of The Scary Door. When they get there, Fry asks the writer how he gets his ideas. He reveals that he uses an interdimensional viewer to view an alternate universe where everything is the same, except for one thing: nearly improbable outcomes to situations are possible. He then reveals that he merely writes down what he sees each week. However, Bender asks the writer if the viewer can spy on any other realities, and he replies, saying that it would take a "great deal of power" to do that, and he adds that he wouldn't want to risk breaking the dimensional barrier, but before he can finish, Bender interrupts, attaching a cold fusion generator that was stolen from the Professor's workbench to the viewer, causing it to overload and teleport them into the universe of The Scary Door. They endure several disturbing events, such as Leela meeting the Grim Reaper, Fry getting hit by a train and landing in what appears to be Heaven but is actually Hell (similar to the events of the Twilight Zone episode "A Nice Place to Visit"), and Bender purchasing a stopwatch that can freeze time.
[edit] References
- ^ In a deleted scene from episode 3ACV05 "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" Fry remarks, "I like these 15-second TV shows. One setup line and then bam: The twist. We've all learned a valuable lesson about messing with nature."
- ^ "A Head in the Polls". Futurama.
- ^ "I Dated a Robot". Futurama.
- ^ "Spanish Fry". Futurama.
| Futurama | |
|---|---|
| Media | |
| Episodes • Comic books • Video game • Bender's Big Score | |
| Characters | |
| Fry • Leela • Bender • Professor Farnsworth • Doctor Zoidberg • Hermes • Amy Zapp Brannigan • Kif Kroker • Nibbler • Cubert • Calculon • Mom Recurring human characters • Recurring robot characters • Recurring alien characters • Secondary characters |
|
| Universe | |
| Planets: Amphibios 9 • Eternium • Omicron Persei VIII Alien races: Cygnoid • Decapodian • Neptunian Politics and religion: Earth Government • Robotology • D.O.O.P. Technology: Gadgets • Suicide booth • Planet Express Ship • Nimbus Other: Timeline • Blernsball • All My Circuits • The Scary Door • Slurm • Products • Locations • Animals |
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