Futurama Cut A Longer Alternate Ending For The Day The Earth Stood Stupid

In the "Futurama" episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" (February 18, 2001), Earth is invaded by a destructive species of gigantic, disembodied brains. The brains, called the Brainspawn, hate all forms of intelligence, and aim to rid the universe of any brainwaves other than their own. They also emanate an energy field that drastically reduces the intelligence of everyone on Earth; shortly after the invasion, everyone decides to play the lottery, buy internet stock, and join the Reform Party. 

Only Fry (Billy West) is immune to the Brainspawn's energy field, thanks to an old time-travel incident that caused Fry to become his own grandfather (don't ask). Fry confronts the Brain Leader (Maurice LaMarche) in the New York Public Library, the ideal place for a brain to hang out. Initially, the Brain Leader psychically inserts Fry and Leela (Katey Sagal) into books like "Moby-Dick" and "Pride and Prejudice," but Fry eventually outwits the brain, slips back into reality, and traps the monster in a (poorly written and misspelled) story of his own writing. The Brain Leader, by Fry's command, believes it won the day and leaves Earth "for no raisin." The millions of other Brainspawns on Earth are hastily eaten by voracious Nibblonians. 

Nibbler (Frank Welker) and his fellow Nibblonians, you see, have been fighting the Brainspawn for countless centuries, trying to keep their war secret for fear of emanating their own brain-attracting brainwaves. Indeed, no one other than Fry knows that Nibbler can speak, or that Nibblonians are intelligent. They are undercover on Earth. 

In the original draft of "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid," there was also going to be a prolonged epilogue wherein the Nibblonians erase the memories of everyone on Earth. The ending was talked about on the "Stood Stupid" DVD commentary.

"Stupid" writer Jeff Westbrook explained on the commentary that he meandered for too long, saying that "Originally the episode went on for another ten minutes." "Futurama" co-creator David X. Cohen noted that the discarded epilogue had to do with the Nibblonians charging all over Earth, using a flashing device to erase everyone's memories. It was an, uh, homage to Barry Sonnenfeld's 1997 sci-fi hit "Men in Black." It was a cute reference that audiences would recognize. "Like in 'Men in Black,'" he said, "We didn't steal it, though!"

"Not after we cut it, we didn't," Cohen retorted.

Instead of having a memory-erase device, Westbrook simply altered the script so that all the Earthlings affected by the Brainspawn's intelligence-sapping field merely lost their memories on their own. Seeing as the Brainspawn were erasing brain functions anyway, it's perfectly understandable that they would leave people without memories as well. It makes about as much sense as any other sci-fi explanation. Fry remains the only one with memories of the Brainspawn, and because he's kind of a dim bulb given to exaggeration, no one believes him. 

The Brainspawn returned in "The Why of Fry" (April 6, 2003) wherein Fry was enlisted by the Nibblonians to invade the Branspawn's Death-Star-like Infosphere and blow it up. The plot of "Why," conceived of by Cohen, is massively complicated and involves a time travel conspiracy wherein Nibbler traveled to the year 1999 to ensure Fry was cryogenically frozen in the first place. That, Westbrook may be comforted to hear, is a much better epilogue for his episode than a mere "Men in Black" riff.