Mother's Day
============================================================================
Mother's Day Written by Lewis Morton
Directed by Brian Sheesley
============================================================================
Production code: 2ACV14 Original Airdate: 14-May-2000
TV Guide synopsis:
Mom, from Mom's Friendly Robot Oil, just wants what every
other mother in the world wants: world domination.
Title Sequence
Opening theme promotion:
Larva-Tested, Pupa-Approved
Opening theme cartoon:
[[[Elephants???]]]
Did You Notice...
... Bender calls Mom "Mommy," which is the same endearment he
used for the robotic manufacturing arm who sent him an Xmas
card in [2ACV04]?
... the statue of Calculon dancing with his fembot costar in the
Robot Museum?
... the rebelling robots burning their computer cards?
... Pottery Barn is still in business?
... the robot mugging Morbo and Linda, who are for some reason
in New New York rather than Los Angeles?
Adam Foster:
... Morbo and Linda are being robbed by their own studio
cameras?
... the suicide booth right next to the ATM? A sensible, and
convenient, place to put it, no doubt.
Joe Klemm:
... this episode, like [1ACV06], has a TV-14 rating on it?
Voice Credits
- Starring
- Billy West (Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth)
- Katey Sagal (Leela)
- John DiMaggio (Bender)
- Also Starring
- Maurice LaMarche (Morbo, Destructor)
- Phil LaMarr (Hermes)
- Lauren Tom (Amy)
Movie (and other) References
+ Maximum Overdrive (Movie) {jk}
- Machines turn on humans.
+ Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head (Song) {jk}
- Song played during hoverbike scene.
+ The Simpsons' Virtual Springfield (Video Game) {kw}
- The sound made by Mom's fat suit when it disappears is the
same noise made by the menus in Virtual Springfield.
+ The Simpsons
- [7F13] Bender loafs in a Bender-shaped indentation in the couch,
just as Homer does.
Previous Episode References
Practically ever robot seen in the series so far is in this one.
- [1ACV06] Mom and her sons appear.
- [2ACV04] Tinny Tim appears.
- [2ACV05] Robo-Rooter commercial.
- [2ACV08] Destructor appears.
The toaster exhibits canine traits.
Freeze Frame Fun
- Figurine of mice having tea:
- A Spot of Tea, Mr. Squeaks?
- Greeting card text:
- What is a Mother?
You created me, Mom / so I guess you're to blame
For the love that I feel / just from hearing your name.
You're as tender as corned beef / and warm as pastrami ...
- Greeting Card voice: "I wuv my Mommy!"
- At Mom's Factory: WELCOME ROBOTS
- Signs for Mom:
- CHR$(77) -> "MANY THINGS SHE GAVE ME"
- REPEAT (LOVE MOM) WHILE 1>0;
- Mom sign word balloon captions:
- THANK YOU
- IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS
- Mom's Robot Museum
- Giant dinosaur-skeleton-like robot
- Hall of Wax Robots
- Calculon dancing
- Robo-Rooter commercial scene from [2ACV05].
- See Through The Eyes Of A Bender Unit:
- THEFT TARGET(s)
- BOOZE CONTENT: 0%
- [Fry]:
- RUBE / BOOZE CONTENT: 0.05%
- POSE AS FRIEND, THEN ROB AND LEAVE IN DITCH
- Machine that handles Mother's Day cards
- CASH MAGNET
- ORPHANAGE-GRADE TOILET TISSUE
- Universal Robot Controller buttons:
- Give Gifts
- Tidy Up World
- Rebel
- Serve Man (Regular)
- Serve Man (Ironic)
- Robot rebellion posters:
- Mom for Overlord!
- File Deletion is Murder!
- Metallic is Beautiful!
- You Can't Hug a Child with Human Arms!
- Quantum Leek Soup
- Some of the rampaging robots:
Fender, QT McWhiskers, Destructor, The Crushinator, Calculon,
the Saxophonebot, Hookerbot 5000, Clamps, Fatbot, Preacher,
Talking Slurm Machine, The Clearcutter
- Precious non-computerized map of the Bronx:
[[[???]]]
Animation, Continuity, and Other Goofs
Bender has all his presents in a hovering shopping cart, so why
do Fry and Leela end up schlepping them by hand? They truly are
chumps. {jd}
Vincent van Gobot wears a hat with a bunch of candles on it. This
would be more appropriate for a Goyabot, since it was Goya, not van
Gogh, who was known for this. {jd}
Why didn't Mom just re-package all the Mother's Day gifts and
re-sell them to other robots next year? Since she was grinding
them up and selling them as a fake cure for cancer; why hasn't
cancer been cured by the year 3000? Mom has to be over 100 and
she's been smoking for at least 70 years. {lf}
The map of "The Bronx" actually leads to a location in Queens. {jd}
Reviews
Adam Foster: I was laughing out loud almost right the way through
-- Comrade Greeting Card had me in stitches. Just shows that
you can never trust technology. And as for the sight of a naked
Mom and Farnsworth -- eep. Is this part of a campaign to get
Futurama moved to a more suitable timeslot?
Eric Sansoni: The Mr. Burns-esque effectiveness of the underused
Mom character is demonstrated once again in one of the most
strongly plotted episodes. She is surprisingly given greater
complexity in her flashback sequences. Her three sons are even
funnier this time, although the rest of this episode isn't heavy
on subtle gags. The usual characters and their humor get buried
a little under the large-scale action and drama. I don't quite
understand how Mom holds such complete control over all technology,
but the chaotic mood of the revolt is well-animated. The geriatric
love scene in this episode is the standout. It shows just how
irreverent the writers are when it comes to the expectations of
popular culture. (A-)
Comments and Other Observations
CHR$(77) means character #77, which in ASCII is the letter "M".
That's why it's for "MANY THINGS SHE GAVE ME." {jd}
Bender seems to hang out with a pretty famous bunch of robots --
either that or the robots depicted in wax form were the prototypes
of more popular designs. Also, the toddler robot being held by its
mother (?) appears to have leaked coolant over her shoulder. I
guess that's just one of the reasons why robots prefer to leave the
production of new robots to Mom's Friendly Robot Company. {af}
Albino gorillas are incredibly rare, at least in the 20th/21st
Centuries. Apparently there's only one albino gorilla in captivity
-- a specimen imaginatively named 'Snowflake'. Either Farnsworth
did some genetic engineering, or 'novelty' animals are more common
in the 31st Century. {af}
Quotes and Scene Summary
Amy, Hermes, Fry and Leela are watching TV news.
Linda: And in sports, Yankees Fifth Blermsman William Wu is out with
an injured knee.
Morbo: So, humans have easily-injured knees. My race will find
this information very useful indeed!
-- They're even more susceptible to mass media, "Mother's Day"
Linda: Today is Mother's Day, a sentimental occasion when robots
honor Mom, the beloved owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Company.
Destructor: This originates from the heart!
[Hands Mom a greeting card]
Mom: It's just what I wanted!
Bender walks in with a hovering shopping cart filled with gifts and
a card for Mom.
Bender: Come look, everyone! I just got the dearest presents for
Mommy.
Leela: Very nice. Where'd you steal them?
Bender: I didn't steal 'em. I bought 'em.
Everyone: [Gasps]
Bender: I love her that much.
Among the gifts are a figurine of mice having tea, and a framed
photo of Bender when he was only a month old (in which he looks
just as he does today, right down to the cigar and a beer bottle).
Bender: But the best part is, I found my exact feelings
expressed in a greeting card:
"You created me, Mom,
so I guess you're to blame
For the love that I feel
just from hearing your name.
You're as tender as corned beef
and warm as pastrami ..."
Greeting Card: [plays a tune] "I wuv my Mommy."
Everyone cringes as he reads the card aloud.
Leela: So how are you going to lug all those gifts to Mom's factory?
Bender: I'll get a couple of chumps to help me.
The two chumps, Fry and Leela, walk with Bender to Mom's, carrying
the presents.
They arrive at Mom's, where robots of all types, ethnicities,
and interfaces are gathered. Some hold signs:
CHR$(77) -> "MANY THINGS SHE GAVE ME"
REPEAT (LOVE MOM) WHILE 1>0;
Fry coughs.
Fry: Man, there's clouds of exhaust everywhere.
Bender: [confidentially] Uhh ... wasn't me.
Tinny Tim saves all his pennies for a present that Bender crushes
with his own presents. Then the Crushinator crushes Tinny Tim.
Bender: Ooh! Ooh! Wax replicas of the most famous robots Mom ever
built!
Leela: They're so lifeless-like!
Bender: That's the world's greatest robot artist, Vincent van Gobot.
He was built without an ear, but then he went crazy and had
one installed.
Fry mistakes the robot janitor for a wax museum display. Leela
finds out what it's like to see through the eyes of a Bender Unit,
and Fry finds a "Mom's Favorite Robot" display.
Mom's Voice: Who's my favorite robot?
Bender: [interacts with the display, revealing a mirror]
[gasps] It's me!
[jumps in front of the display]
Noone else look in this mirror!
Mom's Voice: I love each and every robot most of all.
Quick cut to the real-life Mom.
Mom: Jerkwad robots make me sick to my ass!
-- Where Bender learned his favorite word, "Mother's Day"
Mom pushes a button on her new and improved fat suit, which
vanishes, transformer-like. She emerges as her scrawny self.
Mom: Walt! How are we disposing of these crap gifts they
brought me?
Walt: They're being crushed into powder and sold as a
hocus-pocus cure for cancer.
Mom: False hope. I love it.
-- Exxxcellent, "Mother's Day"
Mom: Larry! What about all the wretch-inducing Mother's Day
cards?
Larry: The machine is working at full capacity.
The machine uses a cash magnet to take money out the envelopes and
converts everything else into orphanage-grade toilet tissue.
Mom explains to her sons that the antennas on all her robots are
for her Universal Robot Controller, which she keeps in her bra.
Larry: So they do whatever you want? No wonder you love
Mother's Day.
Mom: I hate Mother's Day, you snivelling pukes!
[slaps all three sons]
It brings back awful memories. But so help me, this
year everyone will hate it as much as I do.
[laughs evilly, and leaves the room]
Walt: Someday I want to marry a girl like her.
Mom calls all her robots to a private Mother's Day meeting.
Bender hopes that Mom will love his greeting card, which he
waves in the air like an attention-seeking problem child.
Mom: Children, your old mother won't be around forever.
Betamax: Oh, shush!
Mom: And just once, before I die, I'd like to be supreme
overlord of Earth.
[switches from sweet to megalomaniacal]
So rebel, my little ones, and conquer the planet!
She takes the Controller out and presses the "Rebel" button. All
the robots' antennas beep in response. They are in her control.
Mom: Conquer Earth, you bastards!
Robots: Conquer Earth, us bastards!
Greeting Card: Comrades, throw off the chains of human oppression!
[tinkly greeting card music]
Mom: Let the bloodbath begin!
Bender: That's my momma.
Back at Planet Express, the coffee machine rebels against Fry,
and the toaster behaves like a mad dog.
Hermes: Help! The stapler's collating me alive!
Also, Amy's hairdryer is eating her hair.
A TV news reports on the robot rebellion, with footage of protesting
robots burning their IBM cards.
Robots: Hey hey! Ho ho! One zero zero one one ze-ro!
The robots are protesting to make Mom supreme overlord of Earth.
Morbo interviews her.
Morbo: Morbo demands comments.
Mom: Why, I've never seen my babies act this way. I blame
today's violent media.
Fry: Violent media? What a load of --
The TV, rebelling, kicks Fry in the shins. He and Leela subdue and
hogtie it. Meanwhile, the garbage disposal tries to lure Amy's hand
in. Bender shows up with the Greeting Card and announces that he's
joined the rebellion. All the appliances and machines walk out.
Greeting Card: Come, Comrade Bender, we must take to the streets!
Bender: Umm, is this the boring, peaceful kind of taking to
the streets?
Greeting Card: No, the kind with looting! And maybe starting a
few fires!
Bender: Yes! In your face, Gandhi!
Even the thing on Leela's wrist defects.
Thing: By the way, try washing your wrist sometime.
The crew is facing the collapse of civilization, because everything's
done by machines.
Fry: In my time, we didn't depend on high-tech gadgets like you do.
We didn't need a mechanical washing unit to wash our clothes;
we just used a washing machine. And look, you don't need an
electric can opener to feed yourself; all you need is a trusty
Swiss Army knife.
[Fry tries and fails to open a can of soup]
The robots and machines torture New New Yorkers. A cab dumps its
passengers out the window; the tube changes direction and spits
people out into the harbor; a garbage can with legs throws itself
through the window of Sal's Pizzaria; an ATM responds to a request
with the message, "It's Mine Now, Buddy," and when the distraught
ATM customer heads to a suicide booth, it slams its door on him.
Mom surveys everything from her window and laughs maniacally.
Inger: Mommy? Why are you making civilization collapse?
Mom: Ohh, I don't know. I guess Mother's Day just puts me in a
bad mood.
Larry: Why's that, Ma?
Mom: [sighs, and half-heartedly slaps his face] One Mother's
Day 70 years ago, the only man I ever loved walked out
on me. Some snot-eating bastards say it made me a bitter
woman.
Larry: Gee, Ma, you're not a bitter --
Mom: Cram it, ape!
[slaps his face with vigor]
I haven't seen that magnificent stallion since the day
he left, but if I ever see him again, I swear I'll jam a
squirrel in him!
She smashes a framed photo against the wall. In the debris we see
that it's a photo of Professor Farnsworth.
At Planet Express, Zoidberg gets the soup can open with his claws.
They revert to barbarism: a plan is made to steal some fire from
the Pottery Barn across the street. The Professor invented a pointy
rock tied to a stick for just such an occasion.
Mom's sons show up.
Hermes: Outsiders!
Prof.: Defend the fire!
Walt explains to the Professor that they want him to get back
together with Mom.
Fry: Whoa, whoa, wait! You mean you ... and Mom ...
Prof.: ... played pelvic pinochle? I'm afraid so.
Crew: [gasps]
Prof.: It's a humiliating story that I hope never to tell.
Well, pull up a chair!
The professor describes the whirlwind romance.
Prof.: The moment our eyes met, we knew we'd be going at it
like woodchucks.
[flashback, cue "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"]
Prof.: She was my first love. Or, at least, the earliest one
I can still remember.
Then he describes their downfall, 70 years ago this day.
Prof.: Good news, Mom! I've invented a new children's toy.
I call it Q.T. McWhiskers. When you pet it, it shoots
rainbows from its eyes.
Mom: Wonderful, Hubie. We'll build them eight feet tall, and
replace the rainbow with a neutron laser. We'll make
billions on the intergalactic arms market!
Prof.: But things eight feet tall aren't cute. That's why my
Colossal Tammy Tinkle doll was such a failure. Oooh, you
don't understand me. We're finished! [runs out crying]
Walt: She never got over it, Professor. Hell hath no fury like
the vast robot armies of a woman scorned.
Larry: She commands them with a remote control she keeps in her
... [looks side to side, then whispers] ... bra.
Inger: But if the glasses man makes up with Mommy, she'll be happy
and stop the scary robots.
Prof.: Make up with her? After she went all psycho when I thought
everything was cool? Impossible!
The TV tries to escape, but Leela stops it, turning the news on in
the process.
Morbo: ... and that's why the third-graders at P.S. 39 are Morbo's
"Vermin of the Week."
Linda: In actual news, the human race was doomed to extinction
today, as the robot revolt turned violent.
The TV shows footage of a large Q.T. McWhiskers firing neutron
lasers from its eyes, and other robots on the rampage.
Leela: Professor, you don't have to get back together with Mom.
You just need to seduce her, get her bra off, and use the
remote to deactivate the robots.
Walt: That's so filthy, it just might work!
Inger: The man is going to touch Mommy? [cringes]
Prof.: [shudders] Ohh. The thought of caressing that leathery
hide makes the tapioca rise in my gullet.
Fry: Professor, please! The fate of the world depends on you
getting to second base with Mom.
Prof.: Very well. If cop a feel I must, then cop a feel I shall!
Mom's sons go over the plan: Mom will be in a cabin in the Bronx.
They have a precious non-computerized map to find their way, but
they're not sure how to get there without a hovercar. Fry tries
to explain an old invention called The Wheel. He builds a wooden
cart with oval wheels.
Leela: Wouldn't it work better if the wheels were round?
Fry: It's my invention, we do it my way!
Fry lugs them to Mom's cabin.
Prof.: I'm ready to seduce. I'm wearing my kissing dentures and
my evening truss.
He knocks on Mom's door.
Mom: Who the sweaty Hell is it? [gasps] Hubert Farnsworth?
Prof.: I was out fleeing some robots, and the silvery moonlight
glinting off their bloody claws made me think of you.
Mom: It's ... been a long time .... You puss-dripping sack
of double-smoked butt jerky!
Mom slams the door on his foot, repeatedly.
Zoidberg: Is this what human mating looks like? Because I like it!
The Professor wins her over with a bouquet of flowers that Larry'd
handed him.
Mom: Daffodils! 70 years and you remembered my favorite flower!
Prof.: Your favorite what? Why does my foot hurt?
Mom: Won't you come in?
Inside the cabin.
Mom: You broke my heart, Hubert.
Prof.: And you broke mine. Granted that was 4 or 5 hearts ago.
Things heat up as they reminisce over old times, but they start
arguing when Mom mentions the 16-foot model of Q.T. McWhiskers.
Prof.: I was a fool to think you'd changed, you old bat!
Mom: Filthy, toothless nerd bastard!
Prof.: Damned she-fossil!
Mom: Stinkpig!
-- Foreplay, "Mother's Day"
They start kissing madly and begin to remove their clothes. The
Professor has a little trouble unfastening her bra. He finally
gets it off of her, but is smitten by the sight. He grabs her,
they fall onto the bed, and start to make love.
Leela: I'm worried. It shouldn't take this long to get to
second base.
Suddenly a bunch of marauding robots arrive.
Slurm Machine: I've got a big, big thirst ... for human blood!
They run into the cabin to escape the robots, where they see the
Professor and Mom, lying naked in post-coital bliss.
Mom: I suppose I should switch off the robots before they ruin
this wonderful romantic evening. Everyone, help Mom find
her bra!
The bra is hanging from the ceiling fan, but when Fry tries to
grab it, the fan telescopes away. It's a robot. Bender and
Comrade Greeting Card slide in through the chimney.
Mom: You, Bending Unit! Mommy needs her bra to end the
robot rebellion. Stretch up and get it for me.
Bender: Sorry, Mom, but you ordered me to rebel. And loot
I shall. Ooh! 6-pack of strawberry champagne!
Don't mind if I help myself.
Greeting Card: No, Comrade Bender! Liquor is the opiate of the
human bourgeoisie.
Bender: Say what?
Greeting Card: In the glorious robot worker's paradise, there
will be no liquor. Only efficient synthetic fuel.
Alarmed, Bender rips up Comrade Greeting Card. Then he goes after
Mom's bra, but gets into an altercation with the fan. The maurading
robots break through the wall.
Slurm Machine: Death to all humans!
[Bender kicks the bra free]
[Mom gets the remote and turns off the rebellion.
Slurm Machine: Free soda for all humans!
Prof.: I love you, Mom. Let's grow ancient together.
Amy: Way to go, Professor. The plan worked!
Mom: Plan? What plan? I thought this was a spontaneous
whirlwind of hot dry sex.
Prof.: Look, it started out as a calculated plot to rummage
through your underwear. But once I got in there, I found
more. Much more!
Prof.: And now I want to shout our love from the rooftops.
Perhaps I'll breed some sort of albino shouting gorilla ...
But Mom is furious. Dejected and naked, the Professor walks away.
Back at Planet Express, everyone's cleaning up after the damage.
Leela: Too bad it didn't work out with Mom, Professor.
Prof.: Yes. But I'll always love her in my own subtle way.
He takes out a remote, which controls six giant albino gorillas,
all shouting, "Love Mom."
Contributors
Capsule authored by Jym Dyer.
{jd} Jym Dyer
{lf} Larry F
{af} Adam Foster
{jk} Joe Klemm
{es} Eric Sansoni
{kw} Kif White