Episode Recap: Roswell That Ends Well

Bender, Fry,Leela, the Professor and Dr. Zoidberg settle in on the Planet Express ship to watch a supernova explode. As its red aura expands, Fry puts an aluminum pan of Iffypop into the microwave which begins to emit a blue aura. When the red and blue auras collide, the ship travels through time from September 21, 3002 to July 8, 1947 and crashes in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico. Bender flies through the window and smashes to pieces. Later, at the military base, pieces of Bender’s body are examined and identified as debris from an alien space ship. Dr. Zoidberg has also been captured and deemed to be captain of the space aliens. Back in the desert the Planet Express ship is hidden beneath rocks and shrubs. The Professor discovers that they have traveled through time and torn the universe a new space hole that is rapidly closing. The ship has only twenty-four hours to get back through the hole to the future and they need an operating microwave oven to do so. The crew also sees that the Roswell Daily Record is reporting that an alien space ship has crashed—Bender's head recognizes his rear end in the photo—and they realize they are the infamous Roswell alien space ship. An escape plan is hatched. The Professor and Leela will buy a microwave oven while Fry and Bender’s head go to the army base to rescue the rest of Bender’s body and Zoidberg. Fry is excited because he will be able to visit his grandfather, Enos, who was stationed at the Roswell army base. The Professor warns against this pointing out the danger of fiddling with the past. Later on the army base, Fry and Bender see Enos and Fry pushes Enos out of the way of an oncoming jeep. Fry, Enos and Bender’s head go to a diner where they meet Mildred, a beautiful waitress who is also Enos’ fiancee and Fry’s grandmother. Fry encourages Enos to marry Mildred and have children, realizes the world is full of dangers that might interfere with Enos reproducing, whisks Enos away to a shack in the middle of nowhere and padlocks him in. Unfortunately, the shack is a prop for a nuclear test and is blasted into a mushroom cloud as Fry drives away. The Professor and Leela can’t buy a microwave oven in 1947 and, dejected at the prospect of being stuck in the past, go to the diner. Leela points out that they could steal a radar dish from the army base but the Professor says no, such a theft would alter the future. Fry and Bender’s head arrive and Fry tells Leela and the Professor he has killed his grandfather. Mildred learns Enos has gone up in the atomic explosion and Fry comforts her—Fry reminds Mildred of Enos and she asks Fry to walk her home. Meanwhile, President Truman has arrived at the army base and after they talk the President orders an alien autopsy of Zoidberg. At Mildred’s apartment, Midred comes on to Fry. Fry reasons Mildred can’t be his grandmother since he still exists and they go for it. The next morning Leela wakes up Fry at Mildred’s and assures Fry that Mildred, who has morphed into her older self, is indeed his grandmother thus making Fry his own grandfather. Fry,Leela, the Professor and Bender’s head decide to take the radar dish and blast off, touching down on the army base in jetpacks to take back Zoidberg and Bender’s body. As they continue up into the sky, Bender’s head falls through an open hatch…it’s too late to retrieve it and the ship gets through the time hole just as it closes. Back in 3002, the crew goes to Roswell and digs up Bender’s head from the desert, which then tells them a very old joke.