Planet Express Ship

Planet Express Ship
Futurama character
The Planet Express Ship, flying through New New York.
First appearance	"Space Pilot 3000"
Last appearance	"Simpsorama" (The Simpsons episode)
Voiced by	Maurice LaMarche Sigourney Weaver
Information
Significant other(s)	Bender Bending Rodriguez (ex-boyfriend)
Armaments	Laser cannons Torpedoes
Propulsion	Dark matter engines
Power	Dark matter reactor Whale Oil

The Planet Express Ship is a fictional spaceship in the animated series Futurama, which bears the official designation U.S.S. Planet Express Ship. The ship was designed and built by Professor Hubert Farnsworth and is the sole delivery ship of Planet Express, a delivery service owned by the Professor. The ship is typically treated as an inanimate object, though Bender refers to the ship's autopilot as "him" (and laments being defeated in a martini-drinking contest by same) in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back". The later episode "Love and Rocket" shows the ship to have an artificial intelligence, voiced originally by Maurice LaMarche and then (after installation of "new improved ship's personality software" including "adjustable voice") by special guest Sigourney Weaver.

The Planet Express Ship is usually rendered in highly stylized 3D along with many of Futurama's other special effects. This was done to give the ship a "convincing dimensionality" as it moves through space. Futurama's creator Matt Groening consulted with Syd Mead ("visual futurist" for Blade Runner) when working on the designs, but like many of Groening's other characters, the ship maintains its pronounced overbite and is easily identifiable as an element of a Matt Groening comic.

In the episode "Love and Rocket" the Planet Express Ship is equipped with a personality unit which allows it to speak and interact with the crew. The ship is voiced by Sigourney Weaver in what executive producer David X. Cohen described as "a pretty abstract role." During the episode the Planet Express Ship and Bender begin dating. This situation presented many challenges for the production staff, particularly a difficulty in portraying emotions between the two beings because they were so different in size. Even with this concern, Cohen jokes that Weaver's performance as a spaceship was "moving." Much of the episode, including the ship's eventual desire to kill the crew, is a spoof of 2001: A Space Odyssey with the Planet Express Ship taking on the role of HAL 9000.