Thursday, June 21, 2012

Futurama - The Bots and the Bees


After an affair with the office's new Slurm-dispensing beverage machine (Wanda Sykes), with whom he has been trading barbs with for days, Bender (John Di Maggio) is shocked to learn he has fathered a son. The gang decides to take the confused robot to the Robie D. and Robbie T. Robot Center to teach him where baby robots come from by sharing with him a special PSA entitled "Robot Sex Ed. Volume One Or Pants Full of Shame." I like the second title better.

Although initially ready to run from his responsibility and accept his role as a deadbeat dad, Bender takes a shine to the young robot especially after Ben shows an appreciating for his father's bending talents (something which the young robot isn't able to do himself). Bender is forced to decide what he's willing to sacrifice to see his son realize his dream of bending things on his own.

There are several fun moments in the Seventh Season premiere including the assembling of the Planet Express crew (complete with Bat-signal), the humorous PSA, the montage of Bender teaching his boy to be a proper criminal, and how the show incorporates the subplot of a glowing Fry (Billy West), who drank far too many Slum Locos, into the final sequence of the main story. Well done, Futurama, and welcome back.

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