Get a Life: Neptune 2000 (1991)

Member Rating:

An adventure on the brink of death brings Chris (Chris Elliott) and his dad, Fred (Bob Elliott), closer together in the memorable Get a Life episode, "Neptune 2000." The show begins in 1971, when Young Chris (Brandon Crane) decides to take a newspaper job to pay for the $19.95 two-man submarine he wants to order from the back of a comic book. When the submarine finally arrives 20 years later, Chris complains, "You'd think the postal service would have improved after we sold it to the Japanese," adding for good measure, "Lousy krauts." His mom, Gladys (Elinor Donahue), points out that the ad says delivery will take four to 600 weeks. At first, Chris can't convince Fred to help him assemble the sub. "There's only so many hours in the day," Fred explains, "I can't spend time with you and drink coffee." Chris tries to build it on his own, naming his sub, "Tony," after Tony the Tiger, he explains, "because there's no sub-stitute for breakfast." When Chris' dry run results in dangerous sparks and flame, Fred relents and helps him rebuild "Tony." Chris then convinces his dad to join him, testing the sub in his bathtub, which he has sealed off for the occasion. To Fred's horror, he and Chris end up trapped in the sub, with only 20 minutes worth of air. Even worse, he has to endure Chris' imitations of Jacques Cousteau and Quinn, the Robert Shaw character from Jaws. With their doom all but sealed, Chris asks Fred to finally open up to him. Fred responds, "The only thing I can think about is that this is going to be the most embarrassing obituary ever to hit the papers." ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi