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Space Pilot 3000 was aired on TV the other night, and during the scene where Fry first falls off his chair, you can see Nibbler's shadow on the underside of the desk. This surprised me, as I never remembered seeing it on the original airing. I pulled out my DVD box set and found the scene, and sure enough I can see the shadow there too.

Nibbler's shadow under the desk

Its appearance suggests that the entire Brainspawn / Nibblonian story arc was conceived at the time of writing the pilot episode. However, there is a possibility that the shadow was added in at a later date, and that the broadcaster / DVD distributor is using that newer VT.

So, was that shadow visible in the original airing of the pilot, or was it added in at a later date?

Polynomial
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3 Answers3

23

Various things were laid into the pilot as foreshadowing. This was one of them. Nibbler was introduced early in the series and was already designed at the time that the pilot was created. They didn't yet know how they would use the shadow, but they wanted things they could call back to that fans could spot ahead of time.

They talk about this in the commentary. In fact, they even point the shadow out, or at least say "ding ding ding" when it is on screen.

DampeS8N
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My brother and I taped the whole first season onto VHS as it aired. I just dug up the tapes and checked. Nibbler's shadow was indeed in the original airing of the first episode.

Dude
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The series was written in two segments. The dvd movies were part of the later work. Each segment was fully written before the first episode aired. There is still more episodes in my writing collection, but I think I will keep them for myself. Not that anyone cares... anyways.

Al M.
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