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========================================================================
============= THE FUTURAMA CHRONICLES ==== EPISODE CAPSULE =============
========================================================================
Official Title: I, Roommate
Episode Number: 1ACV03 (#3)
First Airdate : Tuesday, April 6th, 1999 (8:30 PM)
Written by : Eric Horsted
Directed by : Bret Haaland
========================================================================
= Additional tidbits =
Opening theme promotion : AS SEEN ON TV
Opening theme cartoon : "Baby Bottleneck" (?)
Subsequent Fox Airdates : 20-Jun-99, 15-Aug-99
06-Apr-99 Nielsen ranking: 4th in its time slot (7.4 million viewers)
20-Jun-99 Nielsen ranking: 4.7% of audience (#61 for the week)
15-Aug-99 Nielsen ranking: 4.6% of audience (#65 for the week)
MPAA rating : TV-PG
Length minus commercials : [21:19]
========================================================================
= Foxworld Synopsis =
Fry is such a slob that he is forced to move out of the Planet
Express offices. But friendship makes for strange bedfellows when he
moves in with Bender and discovers the nuts and bolts of living with
a robot.
========================================================================
= Minutiae =
- Instead of pigeons or rats the city is over-run with owls. {dh}
- Fry snores. {dh}
- Fry wakes up at 9:00. {sh}
- Bender's antenna can retract. {dh}
- People are sitting and eating off of the very same table fry slept
on. {ri}
- Coffee makers still exist in the year 3000. {dh}
- They say water consumption has tripled, but the chart shows it has
only doubled. {sh}
- The chart shown on the viewing screen is not computer generated.
{dh}
- We've seen more nudity so far on Fry that Leela? Boo! {sh}
- Anyone can shutdown the rocket ship's engines from the outside. {dh}
- Fry not wearing Nike shoes this time. {mp}
- Fry has a standard tv remote control. {hl}
- Fry eats his Bachelor Chow cold while the commercial appears to be
showing steam emanating from it. {dh}
- The monster truck wrestling ring has red, white, and blue ropes.
{jk}
- The future of the US still uses inch, yard, and etc. {yd}
- The United States has still not fully implemented the metric system.
{hl}
- The "All My Circuits" robots make clanking noises when they
first
touch heads to kiss.
- Leela speaks for everybody. {dh}
- Did you notice the token human in the Robot soap opera? {dh}
- Bender has a lighter built into his left hand. {dh}
- The apartment numbers in Robot Arms Apartments are written in binary.
- The doors in Bender's apartment have handles instead of knobs. {dh}
- The door to Bender's apartment opens inward. {sh}
- Lightbulb hanging from a string in Bender's apartment. {hl}
- Heptopi inhabit the sea. {mp} [{sh} explains: "The squid has
7
tentacles, being somewhat appropriate in a world where humans have
four fingers.]
- NJ is still a bad place to live in. {yd}
- Rent control still exists. {yd}
- Fry "knew" where the closet is in the new apartment. {dh}
- Calculon's autograph is stolen from 'Mary.' {rdb}
- LoBrau beer is still being made in 3000.
- Bender is sitting on their home-made beanbag chair later in the
episode.
- Bender drinks the entire 6-pack he went to get on the way home.
{rdb}
- Dr. Zoidberg claps by snapping his claws open and closed.
- The landlady appears to be wearing what looks like a nightgown. {dh}
- The landlady's eyes are slightly misaligned, i.e. not looking in
_exactly_ the same direction.
- There is still a choice between cable and satellite tv service. {hl}
- Amy is rooting for Calculon's evil twin. {dh}
- Both times Amy slips, you can see the banana peel fly into the air
briefly. {sh}
- Amy must have crawled out of the apartment after slipping a second
time. {jk}
- The antennae is supposedly a robot's equivelant of his 'manhood.'
Strange how they're openly displayed on the tops of their heads like
that. (Do robots reproduce with their antennae?)
- Leela tells Bender to look her in the _eye_.
- Bender slams his chest plate shut before running out of the room.
{dh}
- Bender's chest cavity hangs open while he goes on his "non-bender,"
which may symbolize his dishevelment.
- Bender sweats oil under his armpits. {dh}
- Did you notice owls in the alley Bender is in? {jk}
- Fry has apparently gotten fatter throughout this episode, as we can
see the bottom of his belly sticking out of his shirt. {ri}
- Bender could not think straight when sober. {dh}
- It took a [robot] soap opera to get Fry and Bender back together.
{dh}
- The cop holds Bender's antenna with pinky extended. {dh}
- Amy has three lines in this episode. {dh}
========================================================================
= Parallels to Science Fiction =
~ Isaac Asimov novels
- Do Robots dream? Yes they do, of killing humans. I have to wonder
if that wasn't a tribute to Asimov where energy of killing a human
is processed through dreams. Very clever. {dt}
+ "Flight of the Phoenix" (movie)
- "As this shocking graph indicates, our water consumption has
tripled in the last month." {mp}
+ "I, Robot" (Isaac Asimov novel)
- Title: "I, Roommate"
+ "Star Trek" (movies/TV series)
- When the lady closed her cell phone, it made the Star Trek
'communicator' sound. {nz}
========================================================================
= Other References =
+ "57 Channels (and Nothin' On)" (Bruce Springsteen song)
{dj2}
- Fry says "40,000 channels and only 150 of them have anything
good
on."
+ "All My Children" (TV series)
- "All My Circuits" is obviously a parody on this.
+ "Bigfoot" (monster truck)
- One of the monster truck wrestlers. {jk}
+ "Happy Days" (TV series)
- Fry saying "Aay" like the Fonz. {hl}
- ... and actually fixing the TV with a hit. {rdb}
+ "Lost Weekend" (movie)
- Bender, going through teetotalling withdrawal, is assaulted on all
sides by neon images of "Boring Lecture Tonight" and "Church
Revival." (See Freeze Frame Fanaticism for a complete list.)
This
is a reference to the movie "Lost Weekend" or something
similar.
Of course, Ray Milland was tempted by neon signs of "Beer"
and
"Bar" and "Tavern" while trying to stay sober.
{jf}
+ "The Odd Couple" (TV series)
- Fry and Bender loosely reenact the show's theme with the same music
and add a twist to the 'cigarette-on-the-floor' bit.
+ "The Persistance of Memory" (Salvador Dali painting)
- Bender bends an alarm clock as a nod to the melted clocks of this
painting.
+ "Relativity" (M.C. Escher lithograph)
- The physics-defying room full of staircases that the crew see on
their apartment hunt is similar to this famous picture.
+ "Secret" (antiperspirent)
- Their slogan is "Made by a woman, for a woman." Replace
"woman"
with "robot" and you have the RoboFresh slogan.
+ Andy Warhol pictures
- Someone is copying this artist's style and applying it to cans of
Slurm in the next millenium.
~ "The Wizard of Oz" (movie)
- Remark about Bender's heart. {hl}
- His 'dream', 'and you were there' type statement. {rdb}
~ WWF Wrestling
- Monstertruck wrestling announcer sounded suspiciously like Vince
McMahon. {rdb}
========================================================================
= Freeze Frame Fanaticism =
>> Fry's breakfast
NEW!
BACHELOR
CHOW
NOW WITH FLAVOR!
>> Signs
FOOD-O-MAT
ROBOT
ARMS
APTS.
>> RAA apartment numbers
Bender: 00100100 (36)
Across the hall: 00100001 (33)
To the right: ??100100 (??)
To the left: 00111001 (87)
>> Newspaper ads
Underwater
Living
at its Finest
Unique
Architecture.
Must See
to Believe.
Suspiciously
Fantastic
Apartment.
>> Autographed picture from Calculon
To [Mary] <-- "Mary" is crossed out
Bender
My biggest fan!
Love,
Calculon
>> Sign inside the new apartment
10 HOME
20 SWEET
30 GOTO 10
[This says "Home Sweet Home" in BASIC programming.]
>> Bender's itinerary for the night
NO LIQUOR PUBLIC
LICENSE [book]
LIBRARY
BIBLE
STUDY BORING
2NITE G
E
O
L
WATER O
FOUNTAIN G
: Y
: . LECTURE
:...
========================================================================
= Goofs =
- The front side of Planet Express looks different than from 1ACV02.
{dh}
- The rocket ship change directions during the morning meeting. {dh}
- The table that Fry slept on changes shape and size during the
meeting; it even spouts that "thingy" in the middle. {dh}
- One of those magical vacant chairs materializes next to Prof.
Farmsworth. {dh}
- The emergency shut down button open only appears when Leela pushes
it. {dh}
- Who wants to bet that the couch will be back in Planet Express in the
next episode?
- Bender's cigar doesn't appear in the wide inter. shot of Food-O-Mat.
{dh}
- The jerk sitting behind Bender at the Food-O-Mat did not show up
until Bender's jerk speech. {dh}
- The curtain that hangs over the wall TV in the new apartment vanishes
during the home warming party. {dh}
- In the other rooms on Fry's floor, the TVs go out while Bender is on
that floor, but in Fry's room, the TV only goes out when Bender
enters the room. {sh}
- If Bender's antenna can retract why couldn't he simply retract it
while he's in the apartment? {dh}
- Bender's shadow shouldn't be projected on the inner wall of his
'apartment' if he's standing on the other side of the lightbulb.
- Fry says Bender got carpeting, but there is none at the end of the
ep. {sh}
- How could each robot have its own "closet" if the rooms are
so close
to each other? {jmg}
========================================================================
= Extended Goofs / Technical Nitpicks =
>> Get used to it, 'cause from now on, we'll be starting _every_
>> numerical sequence with 0's and 1's!
Jeremy Michael Gallen: I noticed something wrong in the Robot Arms
Apartments. If each room is labeled with binary codes, how can there
be enough codes for _every_ room in the building, since there aren't
a large number of combinations of one and zero?
Jason Barrera: Actually, with 8-bit binary numbers Robot Arms could
have 255 rooms.
Chris Ebert: And maybe they only numbered the rooms on each apartment,
so maybe they had the 8 bit code for a floor, followed by the 8bit
code for the room number, so they could have 255 floors, each with
255 rooms on it.
John Wasser: By now you know there are inifinitely many combinations
of
1 and 0. My own theory is that the length of the number indicates
which floor you are on:
The penthouse has no number.
The next floor down has two apartments: 0 and 1
The next floor down has four apartments: 00, 01, 10 and 11 ...
Bender's floor has 256 apartments.
I assume from the view out his closet's window that he doesn't live
on the ground floor. Given the size of his closet I would guess
there could be 5 or 6 floors below his, each having progressively
smaller closets until the lowest floor doesn't have any. 14 or 15
floors, each with twice the number of apartments as the one above it.
That would be over 32,000 apartments! Imagine the size of the
penthouse closet and how many windows it must have overlooking the
city.
>> Writeln ('>> ', title + humor[topical]);
Adrian Chmielarz says the piece of BASIC programming on Fry and Bender's
wall is actually an error:
10 HOME
20 SWEET
30 GOTO 10
[This says "Home Sweet Home" in BASIC programming.]
Nope, this says: HOME SWEET HOME SWEET HOME SWEET HOME SWEET HOME
SWEET (etc.). GOTO _always_ forces program to jump to line 10.
Well, if one would want to be real pain in the ass, the goof is
actually even bigger. BASIC would try to treat words HOME and SWEET
as commands, and will produce an error when run. The real program
may look like this (it'll work, even though there's a small error too
:-) Anyway, there are more possibilities, depending on BASIC you use
... :
10 GOSUB 30
20 SAY "SWEET"
30 SAY "HOME"
40 RETURN
>> It makes coming out of the closet a baffling ordeal
Justin Thomas Cass: In Bender's closet, you'll notice a half-open door
in the right wall. It seems to be a sliding door (possibly an
automatic one) that looks like the entrance to a small closet. My
question is, "Why is there a closet in the closet?" I mean,
there's
no real reason for this if the room is intended to be a closet. It's
probably just something that was sketched into the picture so it
could be a bathroom or a kitchen or even a closet for Fry in future
seasons.
========================================================================
= Reviews =
Yuri Dieujuste: This episode of Futurama has expanded the series to a
new level. Character development, which is necessary for a new
series, was present tonight. The apartment-searching sketch and Odd
Couple sketch was hilarious. Also the New York only factors such as
rent control and living in New Jersey were nice features. (A+)
Jeremy Michael Gallen: Excellent, as usual! This episode gets a 10/10
rating. (A+)
Steev Hayes: Of the three episode shown so far, this one has been the
best. They have finally gotten out of the introduction rut, and the
characters are getting familiar. It hasn't lost its heart that made
it so good in the first two eps, but its gained a lot more of that
Simpsonesque type humour we've grown to love. I give it an A, hoping
that it gets even better from here. (A)
Ryan Irvine: Just when I thought it couldnt get any better, it did.
This episode was brilliantly written and had some of the funniest
things I've ever seen on Television. When Bender fell down the
stairs in that house with the extra dimension, I was rolling on the
floor laughing. I loved that joke with the huge-assed lady. I
thought it was hysterical how Amy kept slipping on the miniature
bananas. Most importantly, this episode played with the audience's
emotions and had some funny things to cheer everyone back up. I
loved All My Circuits. Also, the part at the end in Bender's
apartment with the "closet" was brilliant. This episode
couldn't
have been better. (A)
Haynes Lee: The series is picking up steam in its new time slot. Great
character development of Bender. (A)
Paul Melnyk: This Episode was so/so. It had many good qualities.
There were some great gags, like the New Jersey gag, All My Circuits,
and other stuff. As someone else said, it's great to get rid off
continuity crud and start real episodes. Not only was the humor
good, I liked the plot. As many know, I found Futurama good for it's
warm-heartedness in the premiere. And that was returning in this
Episode. The one con is that Fry's character is slowly being ruined.
He was much too dumb and "Wacky Homer-esque" in this one.
I hope he
doesn't turn into that. (B+)
Paul Turner: This was BRILLIANT!!!!! I've been reviewing every
Simpsons episode since season 10 and every Futurama episode so far,
and this is the first A+ I've ever given. Brilliant from start to
finish. Maybe Futurama can challenge Simpsons for best animated
series of all time after all. (A+)
Yours Truly: Not as much depth as the ones before it, but good,
lighthearted fun. Parts of it were brilliantly original, and others
were charmingly simplistic. If I give out one more A, I may have to
give up reviews altogether ... (A-)
Average Grade: [16/8=2] (A)
========================================================================
= Final Thoughts / Comments =
>> They laugh, they learn, they love ...
Daniel Tropea: "All My Circuits" ... amazing that All My Children
changed its name like that. Also, soap operas being alive in the
year 3000, I am amazed that through 2 alien attacks and the
destruction of society shows like that could survive. Well, at least
no one was named Erika Kane.
>> Never ask a lady robot for her measurements
Daniel Tropea: Did anyone pick up the line about the female robot being
Metric? Could Robot society have different social/religious branches
being made up of metric and nonmetric? Sort of like today with the
push towards the metric system.
>> The Homebuyer's Guide to the Future
Yuri Dieujuste explains rent control: "Rent control is a system
of
regulating the rent of an apartment. This system was found in New
York from World War II to 1997. It was dropped due to the idea that
it had actually caused a real estate crisis in New York City.
Under the old rent control system, the apartment rent would stay at
the current price for the next owner. Now, when people move out of
an apartment now, prices are regulated by free market guideline.
Apparently, New New York has developed a new rent control system."
And, on another topic: "New Jersey must still be unattractive to
most
people. I guess after 1,000 years it is still a pain to get to New
York by mass transit or car from New Jersey."
>> The 110011011 on Bender's apartment
The number on Bender's apartment door is 00100100, which can be
recognized as a number written in binary. Tyler McHenry and John
Lewczyk came ot the conclusion that Bender's room number is 36, as
you can see here:
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
-----------------------------
32 + 4 = 36
>> Married ... with Robots
Daniel Tropea: Leela sounded too much like Peggy Bundy in this episode.
Especially when she was telling Fry what to do. It wasn't just her
voice but how she said it that I kept expecting her to say Al.
Please let them not turn Leela into Peggy Bundy.
>> Bender's bender
Daniel Tropea: The weird psychedlic scene with Bender was cute and rather
reminiscent of those late 50s/early 60s movies featuring drunks
walking through the city in a daze. That was cute.
>> You know what they say about robots with big antennae ...
Mike DeMers: I'm not sure, but I think when the robots are digging in
the field for Bender's antenna is a reference to when the police were
searching for John Wayne Bobbit's 'missing piece.' Any ideas?
Mark Poyser: When the police look for Bender's antenna, and the human
picks it up, the other (robot) policeman says in a bit of a black-guy
kind of voice, "You call that an antenna?" Perhaps making
fun of the
common perception about how endowed various ethnic groups are.
========================================================================
= Fun Stuff =
>> Alien Language #2 sightings
Some have speculated that Emporer Nimbalah's tomb is enscribed with
the second alien language.
>> References to Previous Episodes
- [1ACV01] Fry and Bender meet in a confined space {hl}
- [1ACV01] The mutants underground
- [1ACV01] Bender: "We want some money" {rdb}
- [1ACv01] Old Fortran malt liquor {rdb}
- [1ACV02] Bender's fantasy of killing all humans {rdb}
>> Fan-made Alternate Titles for this Episode
"Roommate Mine" {hl}
"The Bot Couple" {hl}
"Two's Company" {ds}
========================================================================
= Voice Credits =
>> Starring
Billy West ......................... Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Vince
McMahon-ish announcer, underwater
landlord, Dr. Zoidberg, human
PO
Katey Sagal ................................................... Leela
John DiMaggio ......................... Bender, AMC human, Randy, Url
>> Guest Starring
Tress MacNeille ...................... "Bachelor Chow" lady,
Monique,
Hattie, "fatass"
Lauren Tom ...................................................... Amy
Phil LaMarr ............................. Hermes, New Jersey landlord
Maurice LaMarche ................ AMC announcer, Calculon, AMC priest
= Quotes and Scene Summaries =
% Cut straight to the theme song this time. As we join the show, some
% owls are perching themselves outside the Planet Express office in the
% early morning, and Fry is inside snoring. The alarm wakes him up (he
% turns it off with some help from Bender), and an expanded view shows
% that he's sleeping on the crew's breakfast table. As they sit at it!
Hermes: Fry, mon', if you're going to be living in the office, you
could at least be on time for work.
Fry: I'm sorry. I was up really late poking through peoples'
desks.
% As Fry pours himself some bachelor chow (still just wearing the pair
% of briefs he slept in), Hermes updates the crew on various concerns.
% During the lecture, Fry also helps himself to a turn in the
% decontamination shower.
Hermes: A'right, people! I will now outline today's 12-point agenda.
We begin with point one ... [His voice is muffled] ...
concerning our past problem, somebody's been leaving food
around, and it's attracting owls. And I, for one, am getting
tired of cleaning those owl traps!
% As if to prove his point, we hear a trap snap shut in the background,
% and its poor victim lets out a muffled "Hoo!" Hermes projects
a large
% graph onto the video screen.
Hermes: Now, as this shocking graph indicates, our water consumption
has tripled in the last month. I notice Fry has been here
for a month, so I am appointing him head of a committee to
find who's responsible. [looking around] Fry?
% Fry can't respond, because his attention and his hearing are obscured
% by the shower. Hermes is starting to get angry: "Am I cracking
up, or
% is Fry's living here starting to get in the way of business?"
Now,
% Fry is out of the shower, and is drying his hair using the exhaust on
% the back of their ship. Leela rushes to turn it off.
Leela: What the hell are you doing? You're getting a huge dose of
radiation.
Fry: And great lift! [fixes his hair]
Leela: Do you know how long it's going to take me to recalibrate these
engines?
Fry: Hey, when you look this good, you don't have to _know_
anything!
% Leela watches Fry leave, and takes her anger up with Professor
% Farnsworth. She brings the rest of the staff (sans Fry) with her to
% his laboratory.
Leela: Professor, we need to talk to you about Fry.
Bender: That's right, we want some money! Wait ... What's this about
Fry?
Leela: He's a nice guy, but we think it's about time he got his own
place.
Prof.: Oh, fuff. He's not causing any trouble. Now, if you don't
mind, I'm rather busy. I seem to have mislaid my alien mummy.
% Farnsworth draws a tiny, colorful, empty coffin from a drawer. "This
% sarcophagus should contain the remains of Emporer Nimbala, who ruled
% Zuben 5 over 29 million years ago." Fry enters, biting off a big
hunk
% of the alien mummy in his hand, and boasting about the "great jerky."
% He leaves just as hastily.
Prof.: My God, this is an outrage! _I_ was going to eat that mummy!
Fry has got to go.
% Later on, Fry is channel surfing in the office's TV room. He finds
a
% commercial for "Bachelor Chow" ("Now with flavor!")
and a wrestling/
% monster truck hybrid.
Fry: Sheesh. 40,000,000 channels and only 150 of them have anything
good on.
% Fry flips the channel again, and finds an ad for RoboFresh.
Announcer: "All My Circuits" is brought to you by ... RoboFresh.
Designed by a robot, for a robot.
% On TV, a male and female robot are sitting together in a gazebo. The
% man, Calculon, asks his girlfriend, Monique, for her hand in marraige.
% When she accepts, he presents to her a ring that looks like a washer,
% and screws it onto her finger via his mecahnically rotating wrist.
Monique: It fits! Then, you must know that I'm ...
Calculon: Metric? I've always known. But for you, my darling, I'm
willing to convert.
% As they kiss, the camera reveals a box-like robot looming ominiously
% in the bushes, watching them. Fry concludes that it must be a friend
% of theirs, just as Bender and Leela walk in. They want to discuss
% their living arrangements, but Bender is distracted by "All My
% Circuits" and joins Fry on the couch. Leela continues her argument
% nonetheless.
Leela: Fry, sometimes, in close quarters, people do inconsiderate
things without realizing it.
Fry: I know, but I forgive you.
Leela: No, Fry, by close quarters I mean this office.
Fry: Uh-huh.
Leela: And by people, I mean _you_.
Fry: Right ...
Leela: And, by inconsiderate, I mean ...
Fry: Leela, we're trying to watch TV.
Bender: Yeah, would you kindly shut your noise-hole?
% Leela sighs and leaves, but no one notices because they're too
% engrosed in the show. On TV, the robot characters are sitting around
% an office with a token human in the mix. Fry questions Bender about
% the plot.
Fry: So, who's that weird-looking guy?
Bender: That's the human.
Fry: What's he do?
Bender: Ah, usual human stuff. He laughs, he learns, he loves ...
Fry: Boooring.
% On the show, the door opens and Calculon walks in.
Human: Calculon? I thought you were in a coma!
Calculon: That's what I wanted you to think with your soft, human
brain.
% The 'camera' starts to make jerky movements away from the TV set. As
% Fry questions why the TV is getting smaller, we see the rest of the
% crew hauling the couch out of the room with Fry and Bender in it.
% They're pushed all the way out to the sidewalk, still sitting down.
Hermes: We'll bill you for the couch.
% Fry and Bender take their business to the Food-O-Mat, where they eat
% at a booth together. A conveyor belt slides next to them, carrying
% food.
Bender: Cheer up, meatbag. You barely touched your amoeba.
Fry: [with a giant amoeba on his plate] It looked good, but I just
don't feel like eating. You want it?
Bender: Nah, I'm trying to watch my input. I need plenty of
wholesome, nutritious alcohol. [takes a sip, while lighting
a
cigar] The chemical energy keeps my fuel cells charged.
Fry: What are the cigars for?
Bender: [smugly] They make me look cool.
Fry: I can't believe they threw me out like that. I must've been
really been acting like a jerk.
Bender: Yeah, but everybody's a jerk. You, me, this jerk. [points
to
the man behind him] That's my philosophy. So, where are you
gonna stay?
Fry: I dunno. Do refrigerators still come in cardboard boxes?
Bender: Yeah, but the rents are outrageous! Why don't you come move
in with me?
Fry: Really? That'd be great! Y'sure I won't be imposing?
Bender: [cooly] Nah. I've always wanted a pet.
% Bender walks fry into the Robot Arms Apartments building, and shows
% him to their room. As Bender unlocks the door, Fry talks about how
% he's never even seen a robot's apartment before. But the room turns
% out to be nothing but a tiny closet, and Bender offers to give Fry the
% "grand tour." Fry struggles to get in with Bender and get
the door
% shut, and the tour begins.
Bender: Let's see, where to start ... alright, this is the TV area,
that over there is the breakfast nook, and here's where you'll
be living, which is great because until now, it's just been
wasted space.
Fry: It's kinda' cramped in here. I don't even have room to hang
my clothes!
Bender: Look, pal, you've only got one set of clothes, and you're not
taking 'em off while _I'm_ here.
% Bender stretches his arms and decides to go to sleep, and Fry isn't
% quick enough to get his attention before his eyes fold shut. After
a
% pause, Bender starts to whisper "kill all humans" in his sleep,
until
% Fry manages to wake him up again.
Bender: I was having the most wonderful dream. I think you were in
it.
Fry: Uh, listen, Bender, uh ... where's your bathroom?
Bender: Bath-what?
Fry: Bathroom.
Bender: What-room?
Fry: Bathroom!
Bender: What-what?
Fry: Ah, never mind.
% Bender goes back to sleep, and Fry slinks down to the floor miserably.
% To his disgust, Bender begins to speak in his sleep one more time.
Bender: [sleeping] Hey, sexy mama. Wanna kill all humans?
% End of Act One (6:43)
% In the Planet Express offices, Leela and Amy are working on the
% outside of the ship when Bender struts by, whistling.
Leela: We sure are cheerful this morning.
Bender: Yeah, this past week with Fry's been a blast. You know,
beneath his warm, sunny exterior beats the cold, mechanical
heart of a robot. [beats on his chest]
% Bender walks away to make room for Fry's entrance. Fry's neck is bent
% awkwardly to the side, and he looks dishevelled.
Leela: What happened to _you_?
Fry: Aw, it's Bender's apartment. He put in carpeting yesterday and
now my head hits the ceiling. Hey, do you realize you're
standing at a weird angle? [Leela cracks his neck back in
place] Now you're okay.
Leela: Look at yourself, you're a wreck! You've got to find a new
place to live.
Fry: [cooly] Is that an ... invitation??
Leela: [sarcastically] Love your optimism, Fry. But, seriously,
you've got to tell Bender you're moving out.
Fry: Yeah, but he might get kind of upset. I don't think I can do
that to him.
% Bender returns, remarking "Hey, there's my little space heater!"
and
% he and Fry exchange hearty laughs until Fry uncerimoniously blurts out
% that he's moving out.
Fry: I'm sorry, Bender, there's just not enough room.
Bender: Not enough room? My place is 2 cubic meters, and we only take
up 1.5 cubic meters. We've got room for a whole other 2/3 of
a person!
% Leela suggests that she helps the two of them find a bigger apartment.
% Bender worries that he has a lot of memories of his old place, but
% answers that by activating a large, red button inside his chest
% cavity. "And now they're gone!"
% Their first stop in the apartment hunt is "Underwater living at
its
% finest." The landlord gripes that it isn't "one of those
la-dee-da
% above-ground places, but if you like dank, hey, forget about it!!"
As
% Leela mentions the great view, an octopus-like creature smacks itself
% onto the window and reaches its tentacles into the room through the
% air ducts and plumbling. The landlord leaves to fix a lightbulb.
% The next apartment has "Unique architecture. Must see to believe."
% It's a physics-defying maze of upside-down and inside-out staircases,
% and as the crew emerges from the center platform, Fry worries: "I'm
% not sure we wanna pay for a dimension we're not gonna use." Bender
% slips and falls down the first staircase, and continues to topple
% through the maze in all different directions.
% On to the "Suspiciously Fantastic Apartment." They look around.
Fry: Well, I give up. What's the catch?
Landlord: Oh, no catch. Although we are technically in New Jersey.
% Back at the Planet Express offices ...
Fry: Not one place even remotely liveable.
Farnsworth: [on the phone] Oh, how awful. Did he at least die
painlessly? [pause] To shreds, you say. Well, how's his
wife holding up? [another pause] To shreds, you say.
Very well, then. [hangs up; turns to the crew] Sad, sad,
terrible, grousome news about my collegue, Dr. Mobutu.
Leela: Was his apartment rent-controlled?
% Apparently so. They're off to investigate the dead doctor's old
% apartment. One wall is lined with huge windows overlooking the city,
% and the other houses a loft halfway to the ceiling. The room
% stretches out about 30-40 feet, and there are lots of shelves
% cluttered with so-called "crap."
Leela: Wow, this is beautiful.
Bender: What's with all the crap?
Leela: It's not crap.
Hattie: Dr. Mobutu collected this crap while he was exploring the
whatchicallit ... universe.
Fry: Well, this place has everything except the only thing I care
about. A TV.
Hattie: It's got a TV, ya young whatchacallit ... idiot.
% She presses a button, and the big afghan rug that was hanging on the
% front wall winds up to reveal a huge screen. Fry is impressed, but
% Bender doesn't think the place is "cozy" enough. Fry finds
the closet
% across the room, and offers for Bender to try it out. Bender walks
in
% and the door closes shut behind him.
Bender: I can barely move. It's perfect!
% Now that the apartment is settled on, we enjoy a montage between the
% two to the tune of "The Odd Couple." They clear out the crap,
hang up
% some posters, create a bean bag out of a chair, and share a cigar.
% Once that's over, they observe their new home.
Fry: Man, it's a total sty. For the first time in a thousand
years, I feel like I'm home.
Bender: Yeah, it's gonna be fun on the bun! You know, Fry, of all the
friends I've had ... you're the first.
% The new roommates welcome their friends in for a housewarming. As
% Hermes and Dr. Zoidberg are invited in, Leela presents Fry a miniature
% fruit salad tree as a housewarming gift. Fry peels off a banana, and
% Amy slips on the peel on her way in. She exchanges greetings from the
% floor, and Professor Farnsworth walks in with another alien mummy
% tomb.
Prof.: This is for you, Fry: Zevulon the Great. He's teriyaki-style!
% Bender has just finished emptying a pile of LoBrau beer by himself.
Bender: Wow, heavy-drinking crowd. [flaming burp] I'd better go out
for more beer.
Fry: H-Hang on, "All My Circuits" is about to start!
Bender: I know, but I need alcohol to power up my batteries. If
Calculon's wedding doesn't go _just right_, I'll be
emotionally and electrically drained.
% The TV turns on, but it's nothing but static for a few seconds, then
% Bender leaves and the reception comes back. Fry gives a thumbs-up:
% "Aay...!" The show starts and Dr. Zoidberg begins passing
around food
% until Fry butts in. "Shh! The wedding's about to start."
% Onscreen, Calculon and Monique are standing at the altar. The priest
% urges anyone who objects to this union to speak now, and the box-like
% robot from before appears in the middle aisle, emitting a truck's
% "backing up" beeping noise.
Fry: Is he objecting or backing up?
Amy: Looks like both.
Calculon: I'm afraid my half-brother is correct. You see, I have a
terrible secret, and that secret is ...
% Just then, Bender walks back in, and the screen goes static. People
% start to whine in outrage, and when Fry explains to Bender what
% happened, Bender leaves to yell at the manager. Of course, the screen
% comes back on, and Bender is called back into the room just as
% Calculon is about to reiterate his terricle secret. Bender leaves in
% anger one more time, and returns a second later with the landlady.
Hattie: Pardon me. I don't mean to pry into what you're doing in
here with the crab and the one-eyed lady and the Chinese
girl, but everyone on this floor is having trouble with
their TV reception.
Bender: Yeah, and you better get rid of whatever's causing it or
we're out of this dump!
% She attempts to solve the problem with a device similar to a metal
% detector, which will supposedly find the source of the interference.
% As she searches, a crowd of angry people storm in, and she narrows
% down the source to Bender's antennae.
Hattie: There's your problem.
Amy: Oh my God, Bender ... it's your thingy!
[the people all yell at once]
Bender: You people are nuts! My antennae never interfered with my
old TV.
Leela: You had cable. This is satellite.
Prof.: Obviously, your thoughts are being transmitted on the same
frequency.
Woman: They're on my cellphone to.
Bender: Madam, I believe you're mistaken.
% But she opens up her cellphone and we hear Bender's voice coming from
% its speaker saying "Wow, that lady's got a _huge_ ass."
Bender: Those could be anyone's thoughts, fatass.
Man: The robot has to go!
[more yelling]
Hattie: [ushering Bender out] Well, you heard the mob.
Bender: Fine! C'mon, Fry. Let's move to that apartment that
smelled like a sewer. You liked that one, right?
Fry: Aw, it's tempting, but ... well ... I am already kinda'
settled in here.
Bender: Or, we could live underground with the mutants. A little
fire'll show 'em who's boss. [makes a stabbing motion]
Fry: Uh, listen, is there maybe some way we could do this with
you going and me not going?
Bender: [disappointed] I don't understand.
Fry: Well, you were gonna live in the closet anyway. Won't you
be just as happy back in your old place?
Bender: But ... then we wouldn't be roommates.
Fry: I'll come visit sometime, and you can visit me here.
Hattie: No he can't.
Fry: Anyway, I'm sure it'll work out. This way we'll both be
happy. [playfully punches Bender's shoulder]
Bender: [sadly] Happy. Yeah, that's Bender. Always happy ...
% Bender trudges dejectedly out of the room. As he passes through the
% doorway, the TV comes to life again and all the people rush over to
% the couch. We hear the "All My Circuits" characters holding
a funeral
% as Bender continues to trudge down the hallway.
Speaker: We are gathered to mourn the death of Calculon.
Industrialist, private eye ... friend.
Calculon: Mind if _I_ give the eulogy?
Monique: [gasp] Calculon! You're alive!
[people on the couch cheer]
Man: Yay! Calculon's back!
% End of Act Two (8:39)
% Fry's guests are out the door one by one later that night.
Prof.: Alright, so long.
Zoidberg: Goodbye.
Amy: [to Hermes, wiping her tears] Do you think Calculon's evil
twin will ever walk again?
Hermes: I don't know, Amy. I just don't know.
% Amy slips on the banana peel again, and Fry thanks them all for
% coming. As the door closes, Leela pries her way back inside to
% confront Fry.
Leela: Fry, you're Bender's best friend. How could you let that mob
kick him out?
Fry: Ah, c'mon. Bender loves mobs.
Leela: Only when he's in them, and you know it! You really hurt his
feelings.
Fry: Don't girl me with that girl stuff. Bender and me are guys.
Guys don't have feelings.
Leela: Bender's not a guy, he's a robot.
Fry: [dismissive] Same thing.
% Meanwhile, Bender opens the door to his old apartment. Rather than
% walk in, he just stands outside and stares in, pondering how big and
% empty the room looks. Inside, he pouts some more. "My roommate's
% gone. And all he left behind was an eyelash and three skin flakes."
% Bender's eyes zoom out to examine the specimens on the floor more
% closely. He removes some malt liquor from his chest cavity, but only
% smashes the bottle on the floor. "Oh, what's the point?"
% As Leela spotwelds on the ship at Planet Express HQ, Bender walks in
% the door. He's dishevelled and the area around his mouth is brown and
% rusted. He slips away, but Leela follows him into the TV room where
% he's slumped on the couch.
Leela: Bender? My God, you're a mess!
Bender: [slowly; drunkenly] Leave me alone.
Leela: Look at the 5:00 rust. You've been up all night not drinking,
haven't you?
Bender: Hey ... what I don't do is none of your business.
Leela: Please, Bender, have some malt liquor. If not for yourself,
then for the people who love you.
Bender: I hate the people who love me and they hate _me_.
Leela: Oh, now, look. It's obvious you miss being Fry's roommate,
but there's got to be a better way to deal with this.
Bender: [sarcastically] Like how? Having my antennae removed?
Leela: Well, if that would work ...
Bender: [yelling] Are you crazy? That's Little Bender we're talking
about. I can't cut it off. You're not a robot _or_ a man,
so
you wouldn't understand. I gotta get outta here ...
[Bender gets up to leave, but Leela stops him]
Leela: Wait! I want you to look me in the eye and promise you won't
get behind the wheel without some kind of alcoholic beverage
in your hand.
Bender: [angrily] I promise _nothing_!
% Bender storms out of the room, and we see him outside walking
% rejectedly towards a receding camera. Behind him, some neon signs
% pass overhead to symbolize what Bender's up to. Such signs are "No
% Liquor License," "Public Library," "Bible Study
2 Nite," "Boring
% Geology Lecture" and "Water Fountain." The scene fades
and Bender
% wakes up in an alleyway near a puddle of his own transmission fluid,
% which he splashes disgustedly.
% Fry is in his apartment watching TV when the door buzzes. It's Leela.
Fry: Whatup?
Leela: I can't just stand by and be silent about Bender anymore.
Fry: Silent? You've been meddling for two solid weeks.
Leela: [sitting down] Well, I can't just do _that_ anymore. Your
best friend is out there somewhere destroying himself.
Fry: Really? I didn't think he'd miss this apartment that much.
Leela: He doesn't care about the apartment. He cares about _you_, and
you turned your back on him.
Fry: Oh man, I had no idea. If only I knew where he was I'd go talk
to him.
% They look up as the TV suddenly goes static. Fry curses the "stupid
% TV," and the door opens up with Bender leaning inside.
Fry: Bender! You're blind-stinking-sober!
Bender: That's right! I'm sober and crazy and I don't know _what_ I
might do.
Fry: Don't do it!
Bender: I don't know what "it" is yet! [remembers] Oh, yeah,
now I
remember. I thought I could live alone, but I can't, so I'm
gonna do what it takes to be your roommate.
% Bender removes a pair of huge wire cutters from his chest cavity, and
% holds them high.
Leela: Bender, stop!
Fry: Cutting Leela's head off won't solve anything.
Bender: Naw, I'm gonna chop off my antennae.
Fry: Hey ... yeah! That sound good. Can I give you a hand?
Leela: Fry, don't help him mutilate himself!
Fry: But it's a useless antennae. It's not like he's a ham radio
or something.
% Bender holds the wire cutters up over his head and warns repeatedly
% that he's going to do it. Since Fry shows no objection at all, Bender
% hesitantly snips them shut, and his antennae falls to the floor. He
% slowly picks it up and tosses it out the window, at which point to TV
% flickers back on. On screen, the human is sitting up in a hospital
% bed talking to Calculon.
Human: I hate that this came between us, Calculon.
Calculon: Me too. I'm filled with a large number of powerful
emotions.
Human: You're my best friend. I'm sorry I treated you so badly.
Calculon: Apology accepted. After all, you're only human.
% They hug, and Leela tells Fry and Bender that they could learn a lot
% from the show. The two of them try their best.
Bender: [to Fry] You're my best friend. I'm sorry I treated you so
badly.
Fry: Apology accepted. After all, you're only human.
[they hug]
% Leela tries to tell them that they did it all backwards, but decides
% not to push her luck. Bender then sees his mutilated forehead in the
% mirror. Fry doesn't want Bender to live as half a robot, so he
% decides that things aren't right at all.
Fry: Listen, Bender, if we found your antennae, could they still
reattach it?
Bender: Maybe. If we get it on ice right away!
% So the two peace officers assist Bender in the grass field behind the
% apartment building, and they find Little Bender (the robot officer
% makes a small wisecrack about its size). Bender has it reattached,
% and he opens the door for Fry back in their old apartment. Fry is
% holding the fruit salad tree Leela gave him.
Bender: This time, you'll have all the human comforts. We'll get a
couple of toilets, some food cookers ... maybe a puppy ...
% When they go inside and put their stuff down, Fry says "it's good
to
% be home." Bender says he saved Fry's stuff for him, and takes
a small
% box out of his chest cavity to show to Fry.
Fry: So that's where those skin flakes went! [looking down] Hmm,
you think this fruit tree's gonna get enough light?
Bender: There's a window in the closet.
% And to show he's serious, Bender slides open one wall of the
% apartment, which leads into a huge empty room with a grand view of the
% NNYC sunset. Fry is fascinated as he looks around.
Fry: This is huge! Bender, why don't I just live in here?
Bender: [condescendingly] In a _closet_? Oh, humans ...
% End of Act Three (5:57)
========================================================================
= Contributers =
{dh} Dave Hall {jk} Joe Klemm
{dj2} Darrel Jones {jmg} Jeremy Michael Gallen
{ds} Dave Sweatt {mp} Mark Poyser
{dt} Daniel Tropea {nz} Nick Zielinski
{hl} Haynes Lee {rdb} Reznic de Bergerac
{jf} Jeff Foster
|