Episode Capsule: [1ACV05] Fear of a Bot Planet
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============= THE FUTURAMA CHRONICLES ==== EPISODE CAPSULE =============
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Official Title: Fear of a Bot Planet
Episode Number: 1ACV05 (#5)
First Airdate : Tuesday, April 21st, 1999 (8:30 PM)
Written by : Evan Gore & Heather Lombard
Co-directed by: Ashley Lenz & Chris Suave
Directed by : Peter Avanzino & Carlos Baeze
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= Additional tidbits =
Opening theme promotion : featuring
GRATUITOUS ALIEN NUDITY
Opening theme cartoon : "A Corny Concerto" (1943, Warner Bros.) {dga}
Subsequent Fox Airdates : 19-Sep-99
21-Apr-99 Nielsen ranking: 3rd in its timeslot (6.7 million) {dga}
19-Sep-99 Nielsen ranking: 5.2% of audience (#64 for the week)
MPAA rating : TV-PG-V
Length minus commercials : [21:23]
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= Foxworld Synopsis =
While delivering a package to a planet inhabited by robots, where
humans are killed instantly, Bender becomes intoxicated with the
robot lifestyle and must choose between becoming a celebrity of sorts
or saving his friends' lives.
========================================================================
= Minutiae =
- Leela probably didn't notice the impending mini-planet in the ship's
path because of her lack of depth perception. And Fry didn't because
he's just a dim bulb, so it all makes sense. :-)
- Dr. Zoidberg urinates through his chest. {vy}
- Apparently, the entire planet of Mars only has one Blernsball team.
(Well, maybe there's just a small settlement there, just as Moon has
the amusement park and some isolated farms.) {ddg}
- Blernsball has the umpire behind an 'external' chest protector, like
the American league did a while back. (Since then they all use the
National league 'inside' chest protector.) Anyway, it gave them the
opportunity to include some sort of plastic hemisphere to look
through in the game. {mp}
- In the Blernsball game, the batter was out when the fielder touched
second base while holding the ball. {ddg}
- When the New New York Yankee hit the blern, the Mars pitcher hung his
head in an incredibly dejected Charlie Brown-like manner. It was a
great touch. {bw}
- After the multi-ball aspect of Blernsball, it becomes clear that the
stadium has turned into a big pinball machine. {vy}
- Speaking of multiball, none of the "multiball" balls are tethered.
{ddg}
- Only the second blernsman (the equivalent of 2nd base) gets knocked
over by the explosion as the guy on the hoverbike scoots by. {vy}
- Did anyone catch the 'Ralph Wiggum char' seen in "Space Pilot 3000"
in the background of Madison Cube Garden? {pm}
- One blernsball fan holds up a sign that says "GLORX 3:16." (See
Random Comments)
- The planet Chapek 9. Karl Capek (the C should have a little upside-
down caret over it, and is pronounced 'ch') wrote the play "Rossum's
Universal Robots" in which he created the term "robot." {sv} [The
word "robot" is derived from the Czech "robota" meaning "heavy
labor." {dga}]
- Leela [needs] 2 or 3 minutes to figure out a plan ... which happens
to be about the same amount of time taken up by a commercial break.
{vy}
- Woolworths still exists in 3000. {jk}
- They have Woolworths, but they don't have Wal-Marts. {vy}
- The "human" in the robot movie had claws. {ddg}
- Leela would have needed the second eye for depth perception with the
3D glasses. {hl}
- Robots use money. {ah}
- Many robots have record players. Not only did Bender release his
music "Bender lets loose" only on record, but it went "gold" before
the end of the episode! (It's nice to see record players are still
around in 3000!) {ah}
- When the robot blows the horn to signal "Let the Hunt Begin," it
makes the same sound as a Macintosh startup bell (not all Windows
users know that). {vy}
- How about the elder's eyes being the same colors as the iMacs? {amc}
- The robot elder to the far left (opposite "Jimmy") never speaks.
- When they are partying, the metal barrel is carved to look like a
jack-o-lantern. {aa2}
- Did you notice the beer bottles used to make a Robanukah menorah?
{jk}
========================================================================
= Parallels to Science Fiction =
+ "Battlestar Galactica" (movie)
- Robots alerted to Leela and Fry's position sound the alarm in a
monotone voice similar to that of the Cylons in Battlestar
Galactica (either that, or the robots from Disney's "The Black
Hole"). {vy}
+ "Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (movie)
- I thought the whole elders thing was a pretty direct reference to
Beneath the Planet of the Apes ... am I pointing out the glaringly
obvious? {kh}
+ "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978 movie)
- When the robot pointed and made the high pitched wail after
discovering that Leela was human, er, not a robot. {rs}
+ "Rossum's Universal Robots" (1920 play by Karel Capek)
- Planet Chapek 9 named after this Czech author, who created the word
"robot" for his play. {dga}
~ "The Star Diaries" (novel)
- It's the book released in US by Polish science fiction writer
Stanislaw Lem. One of the short stories is about Ijon Tichy, a
space traveller, who visits a planet of robots -- he has has to use
robot disguise, otherwise he'll be killed (these robots hate
humans). Ring a bell? {ac2}
+ "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977 movie)
- Hermes shows up in the form of a hologram, much like Princess Leia
in SW4. {vy}
+ "War of The Worlds" (movie)
- "In the end, it was this harmless sharp stick that brought this
terror to an end" or something like that, this is from memory ...)
{jb}
========================================================================
= Other References =
+ "Apple Computers" (commercial)
- The scene in which the robots of Chapek 9's "House of Justice" yell
suggestions for unfreezing their judge is similar to an old Apple
commercial. See "Final Thoughts / Comments" for more details.
+ "Berzerk" (video game)
- When Leela and Frye are spotted, the robots say "Intruder Alert"
(and one more phrase, I think) from the classic video game Berzerk.
Which also features robots trying to kill humans. {jr}
- Not only that, but the robots who spoke these lines *look* just
like the robots in Berzerk! Tall blocky bipeds with wide dome
heads and eyes that can rotate 360 degrees around - more than a
coincidence. {sw}
+ "Fear of a Black Planet" (movie)
- Title: "Fear of a Bot Planet"
+ "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (movie)
- There's one other movie playing (it's the first poster), "I Was A
Teenage Human," which is a take off of the old horror film "I Was A
Teenage Werewolf." Compare the poster in the show to the poster
for the original movie. {ds2}
(Found at <http://www.hillcity-comics.com/posters/poster119.htm>)
~ "Life in Hell" (Matt Groening comic strip)
- The rabbit that Bender pulls out of a hat in the picture that Leela
and Fry show to the robot construction looks a lot like the rabbit
in Matt Groening's comic strip, "Life in Hell." {sam}
+ Mark McGwire
- Miller's on a pace to hit 70 blerns, says Leela. Wonder if he's
trying to beat a similar record 1,000 years later.
+ "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (movie)
- The Pointed stick reference also to Monty Python? Combo with War
of the Worlds. {rs}
- The scene with the robot elders combines elements of the Knights
Who Say Ni & the Three-Headed Monster. The one elder at the end
yelling "Silence!" in a high-pitched voice sounds a lot like one of
the Knights who say Ni, and the prisoners being allowed to escape
while their captors bicker pointlessly is just like the Three-
Headed Monster scene. {ms}
+ "Ol' Man River" (song)
- Bender's mocking of Leela copies the line "Tote that barge; lift
that pale" from this song in the play "Showboat." The song is sung
by slaves, so the line implies that Leela is a slave to her 'space-
job.'
~ "Omega Virus" (board game)
- ["Intruder Alert"] plays when you enter the room that contains the
Virus. {tm}
+ "Robotron" (?)
- Same basic premise: you versus a planet o' robots. {jb}
+ "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
- "Wireless" Joe Jackson. {jk}
~ "Sleeper" (Woody Allen movie)
- Mechanical puppy. {hl}
+ "Tetris" (video game)
- The tasks assigned to Chapek 9's "Robots at Work" are quite similar
to the simplistic, yet widely popular and much-imitated video game
"Tetris."
+ "TransFormers" (franchise)
- Obviously for the two guards that ask the multiple choice question
to Leela and Fry. {vy}
~ "Tron" (movie)
- Watch the movie, and you'll see those were very similar to the
guardians ... {ms2}
+ Uncle Sam posters
- The "I Want You Out" poster on Chapek 9. {dj}
========================================================================
= Freeze Frame Fanaticism =
>> Madison Cube Garden teams
- NEW NEW YORK YANKEES
- MARS GREENSKINS
>> Leela's program lineup
VISITORS
Karis
Adler
Horsted
Verrone
Keeler
Buras
Cohen
Kaplan
Morton
YANKEES
Costanza
Maris
Zork
Zork Jr.
Qzdjyld {bm3}
Lombard
Gore
Raspberry
Jones With Clemens Arm {bm3}
(See "Final Thoughts / Comments" for explanations of these names.)
>> The slurm sign in the baseball sequence {ah}
It says underneath the main sign thusly - "Unaturally Delicious" (I
have a zero overscan T.V. - you can see it too if you turn the vert
height down.)
>> Some Chapek 9 eye candy
- I WANT YOU
for the
ANTI-HUMAN
PATROL
- GOT MILK?
then you're a human and
must be killed
>> Movie posters outside the theater
- I Was A Teenage Human!
- Yentiltron
- Buff Bot: The Human Slayer
- It Came From Planet Earth
========================================================================
= Goofs =
- The mini-planet would have to have been moving very quickly in the
same direction as the ship, only at a slightly slower pace, because
otherwise their ship would have to be moving through space at about
5mph, and that's just ridiculous.
- Pigeons have supposedly been wiped out by owls in New New York City,
but one appears in plain daylight to attack Hermes' hologram.
- A bird flies in Madison Cube Garden, whilst it's a dome. {bd}
- Why would an all-robot planet order something through the Earth-based
(and human-operated) Planet Express?
- How much more vacuum-defying can we take? What is this? Space
Cases? {pm}
- The metallic tubes Leela wears on her arms change shape a number of
times as she gestures with her hands. (Unless you want to say it's
made of a new "futuristic" metal.)
- It's been mentioned quite a few times that when the robots discovered
Fry and Leela were human, they said "Get the humanoid" in true
"Berzerk" (ah, the days when it only costs one quarter to play a new
video game, and the "ones in the back" gave 2 games for a quarter),
but why wouldn't they say "get the humans" if it's humans they hate?
("Because it's not a joke any more, is it?") {ddg}
- How did Fry and Leela get inside the movie theater without paying?
(Do you think robots use the same currency that we do?)
- In the sequence with the mayor robot (behind the podium) the
microphone is missing! The "goose neck" holder is there, but it just
ends ... (Come to think of it, why would robots need a P.A. system?!)
{ah}
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= Extended Goofs / Technical Nitpicks =
>> What, no metric time?
Don Del Grande: Chapek 9 uses a time system of 60 minutes per hour (or
60 whatever they call the number on the right per whatever they call
the number on the left), just like on Earth. (They also used the
term "five o'clock", so maybe the "founders" used Earth's time
system; it was never specified how many hours were in a day.)
Aaron Howald: Was I the only one to think that the clock in the robot
city should have shown the time in binary code?! One big 32 bit
number representing the time ... 10110110111011011011101100000101!!!!
One day would be all 0's to all 1's.
>> What Would You Like to Plead Today?
Tyler McHenry: Aside from the Mac startup sound made by the trumpet,
the Judge computer was obviously a Mac, thus the goof: CTRL-ALT-DEL
does _not_ work on a Mac, considering that they don't even have ALT
keys!
Ben Collins: The Mac has equivalent key combinations. To "force quit"
a crashed program, hold the Command and Option keys (both unique to
the Mac; the Command key is often inaccurately called the Apple key)
and press the otherwise useless Escape key. To restart the computer
after a system freeze, either press the Restart switch (not on all
models), or hold Command and Control (there is a Control key) and
press the power switch. At least that's how it's done in Mac OS 7;
it may be different for MOS 8.
Daniel Kapusta: The "judging" progress thing was Mac-like, but the
enclosure was a Macintosh Classic case. It's funny that after 1k
years, enclosures haven't made much progress.
Jason Barrera: I still say that the robots were too lazy to upgrade
their computer systems in 1016 years. Those little Mac Classics are
damn durable.
Joshua Moore: Actually, I think it was a 128k or 512k. They were the
only Macintoshes to sport the notched area around the floppy like the
Judge had.
But, really, even in real life, when a computer is indisputably
Macintosh, there's always someone in a crowded room who will suggest
"CTRL-ALT-DEL." :-)
>> Slow down, you're rockin' the ship
Don Del Grande: The ship managed to maintain a synchronous orbit (one
where it is over the same spot on the planet the entire time) despite
the fact that there was nobody inside of it to make adjustments.
Steven Aaron Monroe: This isn't impossible at all. Satellites can do
geosynchronous orbits without human intervention, so we can assume
that a spaceship from the year 3000 is able to do the same task, that
is, if Leela or Fry commanded the ship to do it.
========================================================================
= Reviews =
Dale G. Abersold: The show keeps getting better and better. True,
"best episode ever" is a phrase that doesn't carry a lot of weight
when only five episodes have aired, but still ... "Best Episode
Ever." The show is instantly one of the best-written programs on
television, with a wonderful combination of obscure references and
more obvious, even scatological gags. I thought "Fear of a Bot
Planet" was a true classic. (A+)
Jason Barrera: First off, I'd like to say that this was undoubtably the
funniest episode I've seen. Bender wasn't just the uncaring bucket
of bolts, either, and it really developed him past mere comic relief
-- although not enough that he still wasn't Bender. Whoever wrote
this episode had/has to be quite a nerd -- and I welcome this brave
soul into the flock. (A+)
Joe Klemm: If you wonder why Futurama will be back for the 1999-2000
season, this is why. A good storyline mixed with funny jokes and
meta-humor (if they only created a talking Bender doll) is what Matt
needs to make another hit show, and this episode contains the
hilarity of a good story, but it's not as funny as The Series Has
Landed. (A-)
Haynes Lee: Kind of a dissapointment. Bender's comedic hatred of
humans turns too dark. Tonight's episode should have featured more
of the secondary characters. What happened to Nibbler? (B-)
Paul Melnyk: And people were saying "Family Guy" tried too hard. The
"futuristic" adaptations dialouge at the baseball stadium wasn't
really that funny. The hot dog joke had me laughing though. The
second and third act turned out be good ones. Fry was characterized
pretty good, once again, thank god. Bender's anger spree was a bit
tacked on, but other then that, a good episode. Leela in handcuffs
also boosts the grade (don't ask). (A)
Vince Yim: While not as funny as the last, it is still a good effort.
Some of the references seem a bit forced, but the early Star Wars 4:
A New Hope hologram thing really caught me off guard, especially when
they show what really happens to Hermes. (B)
Yours Truly: This episode takes the entire standard for the series up a
notch. With moments of brilliance like the ones seen time after time
here, there may be no stopping this show. (A+)
Average Grade: [14/7=2] (A)
========================================================================
= Final Thoughts / Comments =
>> Pfft. Cartoons.
Joe Klemm: A Corny Concerto is a Warner Bros. short that was made to
spoof the success of Disney's Fantasia. In it, Elmer Fudd introduces
comical bits set to the music of Tales of the Vienna Woods and the
Blue Danube. The clip that appears on the TV screen at the opening
is from the Vienna Woods bit, which features Porky Pig hunting for
Bugs Bunny. As for the clip, it comes when Bugs tricks Porky and his
hunting dog into thinking that a squirrel shot him when in reality he
has just put on a bra.
>> Take me out to the Blernsball game
Dave Antonoff says the man holding the GLORX 3:16 sign was "a nice
reference to "Rock'n" Rollen Stewart, the "rainbow wig guy" seen at
hundreds of sporting events from 1976 to the late 1980's."
He posts the results of a quick search of the web, written by Cecil
Adams:
"In 1976, looking for a way to make his mark, Rollen conceived the
idea of becoming famous by constantly popping up in the background of
televised sporting events. Wearing a multicolored Afro wig (hence
the nickname "Rainbow Man"), he'd carry a battery-powered TV to keep
track of the cameras, wait for his moment, then jump into the frame,
grinning and giving the thumbs-up. Rollen figured he'd be able to
parlay his underground (OK, background) celebrity into a few
lucrative TV gigs and retire rich. But except for one Budweiser
commercial, it didn't happen.
Feeling depressed after the 1980 Super Bowl, he began watching a
preacher on the TV in his hotel room and found Jesus. He began
showing up at TV events wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Jesus
Saves"-type slogans and various Bible citations, most frequently John
3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son," etc.). Later accompanied by his wife, a fellow Christian he
married in the mid-80s, he spent all his time traveling to sports
events around the country, lived in his car, and subsisted on savings
and donations. He guesses he was seen at more than a thousand events
all told.
This brings us to the late 80s. By now Rollen had gotten his 15
minutes of fame and was the target of increasing harassment by TV and
stadium officials. His wife left him, saying he had choked her
because she held up a sign in the wrong location. His car was
totaled by a drunk driver, his money ran out, and he wound up
homeless in LA. Increasingly convinced that the end was near, Rollen
decided to create a radically different media character. He set off
a string of bombs in a church, a Christian bookstore, a newspaper
office, and several other locations. Meanwhile he sent out
apocalyptic letters that included a hit list of preachers, signing
the letters "the Antichrist." Rollen says he wanted to call
attention to the Christian message, and while this may seem like a
sick way to go about it, it wasn't much weirder than waving signs in
the end zone at football games. In any case, no one was hurt in the
bombings, which mostly involved stink bombs.
On September 22, 1992, believing the Rapture was only six days away
and having prepared himself by watching TV for 18 hours a day,
Stewart began his last "presentation." Posing as a contractor, he
picked up two day laborers in downtown LA, then drove to an airport
hotel. Taking the men up to a room, he unexpectedly walked in on a
chambermaid. In the confusion that followed he drew a gun, the two
men escaped, and the maid locked herself in the bathroom. The police
surrounded the joint, and Rollen demanded a three-hour press
conference, hoping to make his last national splash. He didn't get
it. After a nine-hour siege the cops threw in a concussion grenade,
kicked down the door, and dragged him away.
About to be given three life sentences for kidnapping, Rollen threw a
tantrum in the courtroom and now blames everything on a society
that's "bigoted toward Jesus Christ." A cop who negotiated with him
by phone during the hotel standoff had a better take on it: "With all
due respect, maybe you look at a little bit too much TV." For info
on the Rainbow Man documentary, write Sam Green, 2437 Peralta St.,
suite C, Oakland, CA 94607."
Don Del Grande: Aluminum bats are "traditional" in baseball; as far as
I know, the only organization that does not allow it is USA's major
leagues (and associated minor league systems). I think USA is also
the only country where professional baseball players don't compete on
the Olympic team - I wonder what would happen if McGwire would show
up in Sydney with a metal bat?
Benjamin Robinson: While I was watching it, I thought about what some
former baseball commissioner called the "Rip Van Winkle" rule. He
(the commish) wanted to keep baseball true to its roots so that
someone who woke up today from a hundred-year sleep could attend a
baseball game today and get the gist of what was going on. Looks
like blernsball flunked the Rip Van Winkle rule big time.
Aaron Howald: During the baseball sequence, the bird in the
communicator sequence should have been an owl!! More owls should
have been seen grubbing around on the field ... one of the two hit
balls should have stuck an owl out of the air as it was flying by ...
after the hit Leela could have marked her score card. The card could
have even had an "owl" symbol on it to keep track of the "hits." :*)
>> Some call it "Antenna Envy"
Vince Yim: Remember ep 3 where Bender can't cut off his antenna because
it's like symbolically castrating himself? This is further enforced
by the fact that Leela can't understand why he can't do so because
"She's not a robot or a man."
After cutting off his antenna, Bender says, "I guess I'll have to
deal with being half a robot." Then, when the robot cop finds the
antenna, he responds with, "You call THIS an antenna?" You don't
have to be Freud to figure out what the antenna symbolizes.
Anywho, in 1ACV05, after Bender produces a cardboard bucket full of
popcorn, he asks "Who wants butter?" And he lowers the bucket of
popcorn to his lower torso area and starts pumping the antenna.
I dunno ... am I really sick for thinking this? Or did anybody else
notice?
>> Leela's scorecard
In the "Freeze Frame Fanaticism" section, you can see a list of the
players on Leela's scorecard during the Blernsball game. Here are
some explanations on the names depicted on the card:
Dan Taylor: Raspberry is, more than likely, a dig at Daryl Strawberry.
Who, when not being arrested for various crimes are battling cancer,
has been know to play baseball with the Yankess, among other teams.
Chris Tasler: "Maris" is obviously a nod of the hat to Yankees great
Roger Maris, who was the single season homer king with 62 in a year,
until Mark McGwire topped it last year with 70. Apparently one of
the writers is a Yankees fan ... Just thought I'd throw in my two
cents.
According to James Brown, the names Verrone and Morton come from
producers Patrick Verrone and Lewis Morton, Horsted and Keeler are
co-executive producers Eric Horsted and Ken Keeler, and Lombard and
Gore are writers Heather Lombard and Evan Gore (who wrote this
episode). "Jones with Clemens Arm" is an obvious reference to Roger
Clemens (who's Jones?), Cohen is executive producer David Cohen, and
a contributor named Broke Man tells us that there is a famous player
named Costanza. "Zork" is a reference to a videogame franchise of
the same name, and pairing him with "Zork Jr." is a reference to Ken
Griffey Jr.
That leaves five names unexplained ... Karis, Adler, Buras, Kaplan
and Qzdjyld. Here are some theories, as well as some alternatives to
the ones above ...
= Kaplan =
Brad Koski: I was thinking -- could this possibly be a reference to Ira
Kaplan, guitar player and singer from yo la tengo? YLT did do the
Simpsons theme recently, and they are self-professed *HUGE* fans of
the show. Just something to think about ...
= Costanza =
David Antonoff: A reference to "Seinfeld"'s George Costanza, who once
worked for the old New York Yankees.
= Maris =
Daniel Janes: The name of Niles' never-seen wife on the TV show
"Frasier."
If you have any other explanations, feel free to submit them!
>> 'Rama's Universal References
Javier Redal expands on a hidden reference: "Chapek 9" would be named
after Karel Capek (sometimes I saw writen as "Chapek", these Slavic
consonants):
"Karel Capek, (1890-1938), Czech novelist, playwright, and theatrical
producer, born in Malé Svatonovice, and educated at the University of
Prague. Capek was a close friend of the first Czech president, Tomas
Masaryk, with whom he worked to preserve the Czech nation after World
War I. Simultaneously Capek was an editor for a Prague newspaper,
founder and director of the Vinohradsky Art Theater in Prague, and
political essayist, playwright, and novelist.
Capek is best known for his plays, the most famous of which is R.U.R.
(1921; trans. 1923), a dramatic fantasy in which people are
dehumanized by the machine age. R.U.R. stands for "Rossum's
Universal Robots" and is the source of the English word robot. Capek
is also well known for two other dramas: The Insect Play (1921;
trans. 1923), known in the U.S. as The World We Live In, a satire
that foretells the evils of totalitarianism; and Power and Glory
(1937; trans. 1938), an attack on dictatorship. His novels include
fanciful romances, science fiction, and a philosophical trilogy.
Capek also wrote travel sketches and impassioned political essays."
"Capek, Karel," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1998 Microsoft
Corporation. Copyright (c) 1998 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.
>> Robots: The Quintessential Culture Clash
Jason Barrera: Speaking of depth, "Fear of A Robot Planet" worked on a
slightly higher level in that it parodied the entire Cold War in 22
minutes or so. The paranioa, the "elders" working behind the scenes,
the blind hatred of the opposition, the insanely campy propoganda
films, and we can't forget the Show Trails ...
The robot movies reminded me of the Soviet propoganda films during
the height of the Cold War, when Russian people almost believed that
all Americans wanted to kill them and rape their dead daughters.
Bender as Hitler/Stalin was a nice touch.
Jeff Foster: The episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" has many references,
not to specific films or songs, but to general aspects of African
American culture. The title is from an album by rap group "Public
Enemy." Bender's complaints at the blernsball game, about there
being no robot managers and about how only robots ever have to do
janitorial work, are references to long-standing similar complaints
in the black community. The radical robot separatists echo the
radical black separatists in the Nation of Islam, who were active
from the time of the NOI's founding to the time a group of orthodox
Muslims split off from it in the 1970s. It would have been more
funny if the robots had said "Kill humey!" instead of "Kill the
humanoids!"; since "Kill whitey!" is an acceptable phrase but "Kill
the Caucasians!" is not.
>> Post it to <alt.tv.futurama>! Put it in the capsule! Hurry!
Daniel L. Dreibelbis: In the scene where Leela and Fry were being tried
by the Mac Plus judge, and he froze in the middle of judgement, the
robots and Fry started yelling out ways to unfreeze him. ("Yank the
cord! Type alt-control-delete!")
Well, as it so happens, I recently bought myself a Mac, and was
finally looking at this CD-ROM called the "1997 Mac Advocacy CD-ROM."
On it was a series of commercials Apple had done over the years for
the Macintosh. One of the commercials featured a man at some
convention making a presentation using a PC laptop when -- sure
enough -- it suddenly freezes. And then everyone in the audience
starts yelling out different ways to unfreeze it!
I found this to be too much of a coincidence to let this pass by.
What do you all think?
David Antonoff: I wouldn't say it was a coincidence. I think it would
be the natural tendency for a group of computer savvy people (or
robots) to offer up whatever options they could think of in a time of
computer crisis. If anything, the scene from the episode mimicked
real life. No great coincidence, but a good read on the
technologically advanced segment of society.
>> Last, and probably least ...
Tukeli Baykent: When Leela and Fry first set foot on Chapek 9, Fry
looks into Leela's helmet and mentions how stupid they look. This is
probably stretching things too far, but the reflection in Leela's
helmet sort of looks like those characters in many Canadian animated
shorts ... again, I'm probably digging too deep. =)
John McDaid: My theory is that the writers created the term
"killamajig" by extension from the name of a fish sandwich in
Friendly's (a restaurant chain in the Massachusetts area) called a
"Fishamajig."
========================================================================
= Fun Stuff =
>> Alien Language #1 sightings
TV Guide ad (not in actual episode): "ROBOTS RULE"
>> References to Previous Episodes
- [1ACV01] Fry's line "My God, it's the future!" cf. "My God, he's
become evil!"
- [1ACV01] Bender doll says Bender's first words {pm}
- [1ACV02] Leela has to convince Fry that something he likes is
actually boring (the moon cf. baseball)
- [1ACV03] Kill All Humans {hl}
>> Fan-made Alternate Titles for this Episode
"Bite My Shiny Metal Planet" {ds}
"Get Bender"
"Night of Bender" {jk}
"Planet of the Bots" {hl}
========================================================================
= Voice Credits =
>> Starring
Billy West ..................... Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zoidberg,
food stand man, Guard 2, "unscrew
our lugnuts," bailif, Elders 1 & 4,
"precious lugnuts!"
Katey Sagal ................................................... Leela
John DiMaggio ........................ Bender, "human," Tetris worker
>> Guest Starring
Tress MacNeille .................................. Wendy, woman robot
Phil LaMarr .................................................. Hermes
Maurice LaMarche ................... Guard 1, Robot DJ, "even in your
movie theaters!", Judge, Elder 2
Dave Herman ..................... Rusty, crummy-looking robot, Mayor,
Elder 3
Tom Kenny ...................... Nosy Robot, "Hooray for the humans!"
Unknown ......................................... 2 moviegoing robots
========================================================================
= Contributers =
{aa2} Andy Andy {jk} Joe Klemm
{ac2} Adrian Chmielarz {jr} Jeremy Reaban
{ah} Aaron Howald {kh} Kevin Hayes
{amc} Andrew McEwan Carty {mp} Mark Poyser
{bd} Brad Dugan {ms} Max Silvestri
{bm} Broke Man {ms2} Mark Spaeth
{bw} Bob Wells {pm} Paul Melnyk
{ddg} Don Del Grande {rs} Reagen Sulewski
{dga} Dale G. Abersold {sam} Steven Aaron Monroe
{dj} Daniel Janes {sv} Steve VanDevender
{ds} Dave Sweatt {sw} Sam Worf
{ds2} Dave Sarley {tm} Tyler McHenry
{hl} Haynes Lee {vy} Vince Yim
{jb} Jason Barrera
========================================================================
Futurama and its characters belong to ===== First uploaded: 23-May-1999
FOX. Please do not confuse them with ===== Revision E : 13-Mar-2000
fans of the show, such as the people ===== E-mail me: <jedraw@aol.com>
who contributed to this capsule. :-) =================================
Compiled by Robo Jordan Eisenberg. =================================
