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| "Fear of a Bot Planet" | |
|---|---|
| Futurama episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 5 |
| Directed by |
|
| Written by | Evan Gore Heather Lombard |
| Production code | 1ACV05 |
| Original air date | April 20, 1999 |
| Episode features | |
| Opening caption | Featuring Gratuitous Alien Nudity |
| Opening cartoon | Porky Pig and Bugs Bunny in "A Corny Concerto" (1943) |
"Fear of a Bot Planet" is the fifth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama . It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1999. The episode was written by Heather Lombard and Evan Gore and directed by Peter Avanzino and Carlos Baeza with co-direction by Ashley Lenz and Chris Sauvé. The episode focuses on a delivery the Planet Express Crew must make to a robot planet named Chapek 9. The robot inhabitants hate all humans and Bender decides to join them because he is tired of robots being treated like second class citizens. The episode is a light-hearted satire on racism, an idea reinforced by the title reference. [1]
The Planet Express crew is tasked with a delivery to Chapek 9, a planet inhabited by human-hating robot separatists, so Bender is assigned to deliver the package. Bender claims that it is a robot holiday, Robanukah, and refuses to work. Hermes insists that Bender must go, on the grounds that Bender has used up his time off. After a resentful Bender is lowered to the surface, Fry and Leela decide to throw a Robanukah party for Bender to show their appreciation.
They receive a message from Bender: the robots found out he worked for humans, and he has been captured. To avoid being killed, Fry and Leela disguise themselves as robots and infiltrate the robot society. They discover Bender is playing the robots' prejudice for his own benefit, claiming he has killed billions of humans. Fry and Leela reunite with Bender, but he refuses to be rescued. Before Fry and Leela can leave, the other robots arrive, and the two are placed on trial for being human. They are found guilty of the charge and sentenced to a life of tedious robot-type labor. A trapdoor opens and they fall into a room where they meet the Robot Elders. The Elders reveal that the trial was merely a show trial, and command Bender to kill Fry and Leela, but Bender refuses, stating that the pair are his friends, and that humans pose no threat to robots.
The Robot Elders reveal that despite being aware of this, humans provide them with a scapegoat to distract the population from their problems: lug nut shortages and an incompetent government of corrupt Robot Elders. The Robot Elders decide the three know too much and must be killed. Fry threatens to breathe fire on the Robot Elders, throwing them into a state of confusion. The crew flees, pursued by a horde of robots. As the crew escapes on the winch, the robots stack on top of each other, keeping pace with the winch. Bender remembers that he never delivered the package, and puts it into the hands of the robot on top. The unbalanced tower topples to the ground. The package bursts open, showering the robots in much-needed lug nuts. The robots renounce their human-hating ways. The crew, headed back to Earth, celebrate Robanukah with Bender, who confesses the holiday is fictitious.
The planet Chapek 9 is named after Karel Čapek, the Czech writer who is attributed with coining the term "robot" in his play R.U.R. . [1]
The plot element related to the human-hating robot planet was based on Stanisław Lem's story "The Eleventh Voyage" (of Ijon Tichy) from The Star Diaries . [2]
Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A−, stating, "While the show would go on to create more consistently well-considered worlds, the depth of its cleverness is on fine display. Even better, Fry, Leela, and Bender all behave in consistent, and even somewhat illuminating ways. [...] While Futurama’s storytelling is still in its most rudimentary form, it has its central trio down cold." [3]
"31st Century Fox" is the eleventh episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 125th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 29, 2012. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Edmund Fong.
"I, Roommate" is the third episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 6, 1999. The title of the episode is a reference to collected short stories written between 1940 and 1950 by author Isaac Asimov titled I, Robot. The episode was written by Eric Horsted and directed by Bret Haaland. The plot focuses on Fry and Bender's search for an apartment after deciding to become roommates and the various difficulties they have in finding a place that is acceptable to both of them.
"Mars University" is the eleventh episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1999. This episode was written by J. Stewart Burns and directed by Bret Haaland.
"Brannigan, Begin Again" is the second episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 15th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 28, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Jeffrey Lynch.
"Xmas Story" is the fourth episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 17th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 19, 1999. The episode was written by David X. Cohen and directed by Peter Avanzino. John Goodman guest stars in this episode as Robot Santa. The plot of the episode focuses on the first Xmas that Fry spends in the future.
"Anthology of Interest I" is the sixteenth episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 29th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of Matt Groening's other animated series The Simpsons.
"The Honking" is the eighteenth episode in the second season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 31st episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 5, 2000. The title references the 1981 film The Howling. The episode is also a reference to the 1977 film The Car.
"Insane in the Mainframe" is the eleventh episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 43rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 8, 2001. The episode was written by Bill Odenkirk and directed by Peter Avanzino. In the episode, Fry and Bender are admitted to an insane asylum for robots after being charged for their roles in holding up a bank. Fry's attempts to convince the asylum's staff that he is a human fail; he is eventually made to believe that he is a robot, and is deemed "cured" and released from the asylum. After being released, the Planet Express crew try to make him rediscover his humanity; these attempts fail, until Fry bleeds and realizes he is in fact, human.
"Bendin' in the Wind" is the thirteenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 45th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 22, 2001. It guest-stars Beck as himself. Bender becomes a folksinger after being broken, and starts touring with Beck. The title comes from the Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind".
"I Dated a Robot" is the fifteenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 47th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 13, 2001.
"A Pharaoh to Remember" is the seventeenth episode in the third season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 49th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 10, 2002. The episode's title references the title of the 1957 film An Affair to Remember.
"Love and Rocket" is the third episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 57th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 10, 2002. The episode is a Valentine's Day-themed episode that centers on Bender's relationship with the artificial intelligence of the Planet Express Ship. The subplot involves Fry trying to express his feelings for Leela through the use of Valentine's Day candy. The episode parodies 2001: A Space Odyssey.
"Rebirth" is the premiere and first episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, the 89th episode of the series overall, and the revival of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on June 24, 2010. The episode was written by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening, and directed by Frank Marino.
"Ghost in the Machines" is the nineteenth episode in the sixth season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 107th episode of the series overall. It originally aired June 30, 2011, on Comedy Central. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Ray Claffey. American actor Dan Castellaneta guest stars in the episode, voicing the Robot Devil. In the episode Bender, angry at Fry for valuing human life over robot life, kills himself in a suicide booth. Afterwards, he becomes a ghost, and learns from the Robot Devil that he is in limbo, and he cannot leave. Sharing a mutual dislike towards Fry, the Robot Devil offers to return Bender to his old body in exchange for using his new ghostly powers to scare Fry to death.
"Decision 3012" is the third episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 117th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 27, 2012. The episode was written by Patric M. Verrone and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill. The plot is a parody of the Birther Movement.
"Free Will Hunting" is the ninth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 123rd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 8, 2012. The episode was written by David X. Cohen and directed by Raymie Muzquiz.
"T.: The Terrestrial" is the sixteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 130th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on June 26, 2013. The episode was written by Josh Weinstein and directed by Lance Kramer. In the episode, Fry becomes marooned on a distant planet, where he befriends an inhabitant who helps protect him and find his way home.
"Forty Percent Leadbelly" is the fourteenth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 128th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 3, 2013. The episode was written by Ken Keeler and directed by Stephen Sandoval. In this episode, Bender meets his hero, Silicon Red, a folk singer who has been in jail 30 times, during a convict transport, and uses a wireless 3D printer to duplicate his guitar, but the wireless connection between Bender's brain and the 3D printer turns his folk song about an angry space railbot hunting down Bender into reality.
"Assie Come Home" is the twenty-first episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 135th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 31, 2013. The episode was written by Maiya Williams and directed by Raymie Muzquiz. Bender searches the universe for his missing body parts after an alien street gang has him stripped down to his bulb eyes and mouth grille.
"Murder on the Planet Express" is the twenty-fourth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Futurama, and the 138th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central on August 21, 2013. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Frank Marino. In this episode, the crew get trapped aboard the Planet Express ship with a horrific alien creature. The episode's title derives from Murder on the Orient Express and parodies Alien and The Thing.
