"The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" is the seventh episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 2001. The title of this episode is a play on the title of the 1951 science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Plot Leela is entering Nibbler in a pet show on Earth. After hearing that the top prize is $500 and a year's supply of dog food, Bender and Zoidberg also enter. After a series of tests, the Hypnotoad wins by hypnotizing the judges. Nibbler is crowned the "dumbest pet in show" while Bender and Zoidberg the "whooping terrier" win second prize, much to Bender's disappointment. Later, the Planet Express staff discusses an ominous trail of destroyed planets leading toward Earth. Nibbler begins gibbering worriedly and runs away. Tracking Nibbler to an alley, Leela is inexplicably attacked by giant floating brains and sees Nibbler, who has donned a uniform and is piloting a tiny flying saucer as he regretfully prepares to leave Earth. When the brains continue to attack Leela, Nibbler has a change of heart and rescues Leela, letting her on his ship. As they fly away from Earth, Nibbler explains to Leela telepathically that he is a Nibblonian ambassador sent to observe humans in secret. The next morning, brains start sending blue beams at buildings, and Fry discovers that all the citizens of New New York have been rendered stupid, except himself. Meanwhile, Nibbler and Leela travel to the planet Eternium, at the exact center of the universe. There, in the Hall of Forever, a Nibblonian council tells Leela of the threat of the Brain spawn, the giant brains that have invaded Earth and are attempting to wipe out all thought in the universe. While the Nibblonians have been fighting them since the beginning of the universe, they are powerless against the Brain spawns' powers of stupidity. Fry is the only being in the universe immune to the Brain spawns' mental attack, and is the only one capable of combating them and their leader. They explain to her that once she re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, she will become too dumb to remember, so they write the information on a note and pin it to her clothing. Leela arrives on Earth to tell Fry of his mission, but he takes the note, blows his nose on it,