The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
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| Futurama episode | |
| "The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings" | |
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| Episode no. | 72 |
| Prod. code | 4ACV18 |
| Airdate | August 10, 2003 |
| Writer(s) | Ken Keeler |
| Director | Bret Haaland |
| Opening subtitle | See you on some other channel |
| Opening cartoon | Futurama’s opening credits (infinite regression) |
| Guest star(s) | Dan Castellaneta as the Robot Devil |
| Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
“The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings” is the 18th and final episode in season four of the TV series Futurama. It was also the series’ final episode before the show began its current five-year hiatus from 2003 to 2008. (It was confirmed on June 22, 2006 the show would be returning for a run of at least 13 episodes on Comedy Central, to air beginning in 2008.) Writer Ken Keeler was nominated for an Emmy in 2004 (for Outstanding Music and Lyrics) for this episode (specifically, for the song “I Want My Hands Back”). It is considered by many fans to be one of the best shows in the series' history. [1]
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[edit] Plot
After a disappointing holophonor recital, Fry enlists the help of the Robot Devil to improve his holophonor skills through hand transplants. After randomly determining the robot “donor,” Fry’s hands are, unexpectedly, switched for those of the Robot Devil himself. Fry then becomes a skilled holophonor player and attempts to win the heart of Leela with an opera commissioned by Hedonismbot.
The Robot Devil, who is unhappy with the trade, decides he has to get his own hands back. He trades Bender a stadium air horn for his "crotch-plate" (ass) so that he can annoy people (which the devil ditches in the trash the second Bender turns his back). When Bender uses the air horn on Leela, she becomes deaf. Leela can’t tell Fry that she is deaf because she is afraid that Fry will be unhappy, so she attends the opera as though she can still hear the performance. During the intermission, the Devil offers Leela robotic ears (which previously belonged to Calculon) in exchange for her hand. Leela, who is thrilled she will hear the end of Fry’s opera, agrees.
The opera is a musical version of Leela's life. The Robot Devil interrupts the opera when Fry’s portrayal of him states that the Robot Devil is stupider than Fry; he demands that Fry give back his hands. When Fry refuses, the devil says that he will take Leela’s hand… in marriage. Fry has no choice but to trade the Robot Devil’s hands back for his own.
With his own hands, Fry can no longer play the holophonor, and the remainder of the opera is terrible. Everyone in the audience leaves, except for Leela who asks that he not stop playing, as she wanted to “hear how it ends.” The finale of Fry’s opera shows a very crudely animated Fry and Leela kissing, then walking into the distance hand-in-hand.
[edit] Cultural references
- In keeping with the episode’s focus on classical music (and particularly, opera), the plot is loosely based on the story of Faust, the story upon which several famous operas are based. Additionally, the episode’s climax mirrors that of the opera Pagliacci, in which the distinction between the actors’ performance and their real lives becomes blurred. Also featured in the episode is the music of Ravel (Boléro) and Beethoven (“Für Elise”). In addition, the Opera scene in which Leela, Fry and Bender fight Godzilla is reminiscent of Siegfried's fight against Fafnir in Siegfried.
- The interior of the holophonor recital building looks exactly like the Simpsons' living room.
- The name of the building where Fry's holophoner recital takes place is called Hovercar-Negie Hall, a play on the name of the concert venue Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.
- At the holophonor recital, when another student is performing, a couple jumps over barrels (with a number 100 appearing above their heads) as they walk up stairs, which is similar to the gameplay in Donkey Kong.
- Both the first episode (“Space Pilot 3000”) and the final episode (The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings) of Futurama contain a Donkey Kong reference.
- The title of this episode is a play on the phrase “Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings.”
- The name of the opera hall where Fry’s opera debuts is MHOp (Metropolitan House of Opera), a reference to both IHOP (International House of Pancakes) restaurants and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City
- During the intermission, Hedonismbot can be heard complaining that he has not finished vomiting. Upper-class Romans, whom the Bot parodies, supposedly vomited up meals in order to give themselves more opportunities to enjoy the pleasure of eating.
- According to the audio commentary the holophonor was inspired by the visi-sonor, an instrument in Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov.
- Bender and Fry are seen riding Segway PTs on their way to Fry's recital, which promptly crash into each other.
- The Robot Devil's leaping out of a Refrigerator to contact Bender is slightly reminiscent of a scene fro Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon's grahic novel Watchmen, in which the same is done by Rorshach to terrify Moloch.
[edit] Production Notes
- This episode’s opening subtitle was “See You On Some Other Channel”, as this was the last episode at the time of production. In 2006 with the announcement that Futurama would be picked up by Comedy Central[1] this tag became true after three years. Depending on how you look at it, it was already true—Futurama's conclusion on Fox was concurrent to its syndicated airings, which continue to this day, on Adult Swim and The Detour (on the Canadian television channel Teletoon).
- The song the smart child plays on the holophonor is the same music Lisa listens to in her in brain in the Simpsons episode "Trash of the Titans". On another note, Lisa's name appered on the wheel of robots.
- When the show went on hiatus in April 2002, the Futurama crew made this episode to work as both a season and a series finale, as there was a 50/50 chance that they would get renewed.
- According to the audio commentary the final line in the episode took nearly six months to record due to Katey Sagal’s involvement with 8 Simple Rules.
[edit] Continuity
- On the spinning wheel that the Robot Devil uses to select what robot hands Fry shall switch his hands for, the names are actual names of robots that have been on previous episodes (and/or this episode). The robots found on the wheel are (in order of appearance) the Robot Devil, Billionairebot, Flexo, Daisy Mae 128k, Crushinator, Roberto, Helper, Kwanzabot, Robot 1-X, Clamps, Hedonismbot, Fatbot, Linctron, Destructor, Santa, Joey Mousepad, Tinny Tim, Spinny Chins, Chain Smoker, Angleyne, Sandra, Execu-Tor, Preacherbot, Washbot, Fembot, Hair Robot, Unit 2013, Donbot, Frankie, Boxy, Lulubelle 7, Humorbot 5.0, Calculon, URL, Foreigner, iZac, Cartridge Unit, Barkerbot, Teenbot, Gearshift, Q.T. McWhiskers, Deep Blue, iHawk, Cylon, Patchcord Adams, Liubot, Stage Mom 7.0, Sinclair 2k, Vending Machine, Oily, Coolometer, Andrew, Monique, Rab-bot, Lisa, Executive Gamma, Keg Robot, Greeting Card, Eurotrash 80, Nannybot 1.0, Emotitron, Jr., Ceiling Fan, Hookerbot, and Bender, whose name shows up several times on the wheel. Interestingly, several of these robots do not have hands.
- The worms that Fry refers to are the ones in "Parasites Lost."
[edit] References
