I Dated a Robot

From The Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Season 3 episode
I Dated a Robot
I Dated a Robot.jpg
No.47
Production number3ACV15
Written byEric Kaplan
Directed byJames Purdum
Title captionNo humans were probed in the making of this episode
First air date13 May, 2001
Broadcast numberS03E15
Title referenceThe "I Dated a/an <archetype>" auto-biography title
Opening cartoon"Censored"
Special guest(s)Lucy Liu
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript

Pictures

Season 3
  1. Amazon Women in the Mood
  2. Parasites Lost
  3. A Tale of Two Santas
  4. The Luck of the Fryrish
  5. The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz
  6. Bendless Love
  7. The Day the Earth Stood Stupid
  8. That's Lobstertainment!
  9. The Cyber House Rules
  10. Where the Buggalo Roam
  11. Insane in the Mainframe
  12. The Route of All Evil
  13. Bendin' in the Wind
  14. Time Keeps on Slippin'
  15. I Dated a Robot
  16. A Leela of Her Own
  17. A Pharaoh to Remember
  18. Anthology of Interest II
  19. Roswell that Ends Well
  20. Godfellas
  21. Future Stock
  22. The 30% Iron Chef
← Season 2Season 4 →

"I Dated a Robot", originally titled "J-Lo Dolly", is the forty-seventh episode of Futurama, the fifteenth of the third production season and the fifteenth and last of the third broadcast season. It aired on 13 May, 2001, on Fox. It guest-stars Lucy Liu as herself in a jar as well as robot versions of herself. Fry downloads Liu's personality illegally onto a "blank robot", and they start dating. The discontent of the others leads to an investigation, which reveals the sinister nature of the corporation providing the celebrity personalities.

The Story

Act I: "I want to see the edge of the universe!"

The crew is watching The Scary Door, Fry enters to try to convince them that the future is far better than his time. They decide to do (almost) everything Fry ever dreamed of. After blowing up a planet, travelling to the end of the universe and riding a dinosaur, Fry decides the last thing he wishes to do is to be romantically linked with a celebrity.

Act II: "On to the internet you go!"

Fry and Leela go online and locate nappster.com, where Fry chooses to download Lucy Liu. The download is successful and Fry falls for the Liubot.

Act III: "Humans dating robots is sick!"

The crew considers the relationship sick. They try to make him end the relationship, and show him a propaganda film which shows that humans dating robots will lead to disaster. The film has no effect on Fry, who is busy making out with the Liubot. Leela, Bender and Zoidberg head off to shut down nappster.com, where it is revealed that the company (secretly known as kidnappster.com) is holding various heads in jars hostage in order to scan them to create the robot duplicates, Liu having been there 800 years. The three rescue Lucy Liu's Head and escape. Kidnappster sends Liubots to kill them.

Act IV: "Bender don't bend that way!"

The real Lucy Liu is apparently attracted to Bender. A swarm of Liubots begin attacking. They hide in a movie theatre, where they find Fry and his Liubot on a date. The swarm enters and continues its rampage. Fry leads Bender, Leela, Zoidberg, Lucy and his Liubot to the projection room. The Lius prepare to enter through the window, but are stopped by a huge quantity of popcorn, until the swarm begins shooting the popcorn back.

Act V: "Massive corn clog in port seven!"

Fry's Liubot sacrifices herself to destroy the others and save Fry. Bender and Lucy admit their feelings for one another, much to Fry's disappointment.

Additional Info

Promo pic of this episode

Trivia

Quotes

    Fry: Oh, Lucy! You're just like I always thought you'd be from your movies.
    Liubot: My personality is mathematically derived from my movies, proportionally weighted by box office receipts.
    Fry: Aaawww... you say the CUTEST things!

    Fry: Far out! So there's an infinite number of parallel universes?
    Farnsworth: No, just the two.

    Fry: Oh, well, I don't care if it was some dork in a costume. For one brief moment I felt the heartbeat of creation, and it was one with my own.
    Amy: Big deal!
    Bender: We all feel like that all the time. You don't hear us gassin' on about it.

    Leela: They're forming a human pyramid of robots!

    Fry: She's more than just a piece of software.
    Liubot: Would you like to take a moment to register me?
    Fry: Uh, not right now.
    Liubot: I'll remind you later, you hot stud, you!
    Fry: So, uh, what do you feel like doing?
    Liubot: Would you like to take a moment to register me?
    Fry: I said later!

    Fighting Liubot: I am Lucy Liu give me your spines!
    Zapp Brannigan: Now that's a wave of destruction that's easy on the eyes!
    Liubot: I'll always remember you. [Robotic voice.] MEMORY DELETED!

Continuity

Allusions

  • Lucy Liu parodies her successful Charlie's Angels movies, reprising her role in the 2007 classic Charlie's Angels III: The Legend of Charlie's Gold (which features a vampire and an explosion).
    • The title is based on City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold.
  • A large focus on the copyright infringement issues causing problems for Napster.
  • "We would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling adults!" - similar line (with kids instead of adults) is found in most episodes of Scooby Doo.
  • The Scary Door segment includes several references to The Twilight Zone episodes:
  • Fry and the Liubot visit Dinkin' Donuts, which refers to the doughnut chain Dunkin' Donuts and former New York mayor David Dinkins (whose picture is on the store marquee).
  • At one point, Bender acts in the manner of Archie Bunker from All in the Family and even sits in Archie's trademark living room chair.
  • When Leela, Bender, and Zoidberg prepare to leave Napster with Lucy Liu's head, George Michael's head responds, "Please pick me up before you go-go". A reference to the Wham song "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go".
  • The "3-Eyed Jack's Casino" may be a reference to the One Eyed Jacks casino in Twin Peaks.

Goofs

  • The jar holding Lucy Liu's head seems to change sizes between scenes for the last act. It goes from being roughly the size of Bender's compartment when he tosses Pavarotti to make room for her, to being slightly smaller than the compartment when Lucy gives Fry the speech about illegal downloading, to being larger when Bender's holding her next to him after Fry erases the last Liubot.
  • After the Liubots tear through the cinema screen, the exact same scene that had just happened is shown, albeit blurred onscreen. However, this may just be to make fun of the repetitive nature of the film.

Alien Language Sightings

    Time: 04:56
    Location: Computer screen before entering the Internet
    Language: AL2
    Translation: AOL

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

Episode Credits