I, Roommate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Futurama episode | |
| "I, Roommate" | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Episode no. | 3 |
| Prod. code | 1ACV03 |
| Airdate | April 6, 1999 |
| Writer(s) | Eric Horsted |
| Director | Bret Haaland |
| Opening subtitle | As Seen On TV |
| Opening cartoon | Baby Bottleneck |
| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"I, Roommate" is the third episode of season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 6, 1999.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Since his arrival in the future Fry has been living in the Planet Express offices. However, Fry's presence is disrupting business and when Fry eats the Professor's alien mummy it is decided that Fry has to go. After being physically removed from the office Fry moves in with Bender.
Several days later, Fry discovers that he can't take living in Bender's two cubic meter apartment, and the two begin a search for living space that will satisfy them both. They visit several possible apartments, starting with a very dank and damp underwater residence. The second apartment is reminiscent of the M. C. Escher painting Relativity, and Fry expresses concern about paying for "a dimension we're not going to use". The final apartment they visit appears perfect, but they reject it when the agent admits that it is "technically in New Jersey".
With fortuitous timing, one of Professor Farnsworth's colleagues dies violently, and Fry and Bender are able to lease his enormous apartment. During the housewarming party, where they intend to watch the wedding in robot soap opera All My Circuits on the apartment's gigantic television, they discover that Bender's antenna interferes with the building's televisions, and the landlady (Hattie McDoogal) insists that Bender leave. Fry wishes to stay, so Bender returns to his old apartment, but becomes upset by Fry's abandonment of him and embarks on a self-destructive sobriety binge and eventually cuts off his own antenna so that he can move back in with Fry.
When Fry realises that a robot's antenna is an extremely important part of his self-esteem, he helps Bender locate and reattach it, then moves back into Bender's old apartment with him. Fry is concerned that the miniature fruit salad tree which Leela bought them as a housewarming present won't get enough light in Bender's windowless apartment, but Bender assures him that there is a window in the closet, and opens a hitherto-concealed door which reveals a room more than large enough for a human to live comfortably.
[edit] Characters
Characters which make their first appearances in this episode are:
[edit] Future products
Future products in this episode are:
[edit] Future planets
Future planets in this episode are:
[edit] Foreshadowing
- While sleeping, Bender repeatedly says, "Kill all humans." The desire for robots to kill all humans is evident in the robot citizens of Chapek 9 in "Fear of a Bot Planet".
- The tune Bender whistles at one point in this episode is the same one he whistles in his fantasy at the end of "Obsoletely Fabulous".
- In Mother's Day, Mom reveals the true purpose of robots having antenna is so she could control them and make them revolt, instead of the commonly-held belief they are there to make the robots look "science fictiony". This being true, it would have been even more advantagous for Bender to cut off his anetenna.
[edit] Cultural references
- The title is a reference to Isaac Asimov's short story collection, I, Robot.
- Bender's bending of Fry's alarm clock and placing it at the edge of the table is a reference to Salvador Dalí's famous painting, The Persistence of Memory.
- The owls which are infesting the entrance to Planet Express - and which seem to be everywhere in New New York - are North American Spotted Owls. In the late 1980's/early 1990's, the Spotted Owl was added to the Endangered Species List and became the touchstone for the demand to end the logging industry in the Northwest woods. Ironically, it seems that by the year 3000, the Spotted Owl has not only become far from endangered, they have eliminated the presence of rats in New New York and have become the new pest. One billboard featured in the show's opening sequence is for Def-Con Owl Traps - a pun on such devices as the Roach Motel.
- The popular TV show All My Circuits is a parody of the soap opera All My Children.
- When Fry and Bender move into their new apartment, the music playing is the theme from the TV series "The Odd Couple". The bit where Fry jabs the cigar Bender throws away with the tip of an umbrella is from that show's opening title sequence.
- A Slurm painting in Fry's and Bender's new apartment is a reference to an Andy Warhol painting.
- A lady from the apartment next to Fry and Bender claims that Bender's thoughts are being transmitted to her cellphone. When she closes the phone, it beeps like the communicator from Star Trek.
- After Fry fixes the TV, his "'Ey" is similar to that of Happy Days character, Fonzie (who would often repair things with a simple tap).
- The montage during which Bender wanders the streets of New New York stinking sober is a reference to the film "The Lost Weekend", starring Ray Milland, a story about an alcoholic desperate for a drink.
- When Bender states the possibility of reattaching Little Bender "...if we get it on ice right away", he is referring to the practice of placing severed digits or limbs on ice to preserve the extremity until microsurgeons have an opportunity to reimplant the appendage.
- There is a distinct similarity in this episode between robots' antennaes, and male genitalia. These references are implied when Leela suggests to Bender to cut his antennae off so he and Fry can live together again, and Bender retaliates with "Are you crazy? That's Little Bender you'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 out of here." Another reference was when URL and Smitty are assisting in helping find Bender's antennae. When Smitty finds it, URL says "You call that an antenna?" URL, who is also a robot, seems to be mocking the size of Bender's antennae, which is quite a common trait among men in Western Societies, who often mock the size of other men's genitalia.
- The finding of Bender's severed antenna in a field by Officers Smitty and URL may be a reference to the discover of John Wayne Bobbitt's penis in a similar fashion. Lorena Bobbitt, after cutting off her husband's penis, tossed it out of the window of her moving car. Like Bender, Bobbitt's missing "Little Bender" was found and reattached.
- "Fruit Salad" trees, also called "Fruit Cocktail" trees, actually do exist. They are produced by grafting multiple (related) species onto a single tree.
[edit] Goofs
- When Hermes says, "We'll bill ya for the couch" in the beginning of the episode, his mouth does not move.
- Although Bender's antenna is knocking out the reception on the whole floor, the TV would turn off and on when Bender walked through the door, not when he got on the floor.
- Leela suggests that Bender remove his antenna and bender says "That's little Bender you're talking about." Two minutes later, Bender, Fry, and Leela are in Fry's apartment and Bender threatens to cut off his antenna. Leela tells Fry not to encourage him to mutilate himself. Leela has no reason to say this when mutilation was her idea in the first place.
- In later episodes, it is shown that Bender can simply remove his antenna, rather than cutting it off. This may however, simply mean in the future he has it modified to allow him to remove it. Also, when Bender "removes" his antenna in future episodes, it is tucked into his head. It is probable this would not have solved the problem of the television interference.
[edit] Continuity
- The beer Bender is drinking is LöBrau, which has apparently survived intact over the last 1,000 years as it is the same brand of beer Fry is drinking when he is frozen on New Year's Eve, 1999.
[edit] Production Notes
- According to Futurama Executive Producer David X. Cohen, Farnsworth's mention of the mummified remains of "Zevulon the Great," is a reference to his college roommate, Zev.
- Bender's room number is 00100100 which is the binary equivalent of either 36 or the $ symbol.
