The Honking

"The Honking" is the thirty-first episode of Futurama, the eighteenth of the second production season and the first of the third broadcast season. It aired 5 November, 2000 on FOX. Bender becomes cursed and starts haunting his friends during the night, in search for the origin of the were-car, they end up in a final battle against Project Satan.

Act I: "Pardon me, my good simpleton..."
When Bender's Uncle Vladimir dies, the Planet Express crew go to the funeral at his castle in Thermostadt. Vladimir has left Bender the castle in his will, stipulating that he spend the night before receiving the castle. The castle is haunted by robot ghosts. After Bender runs scared from the castle, the Professor finds a logical explanation for the ghosts. Before Bender can be told this, he is run over by a car.

Act II: "You are a were-car!"
Bender has nightmares about the car. A car is seen chasing down some squatters. The next day, Bender awakens in Impound Lot 136 with no memory of the previous night and covered in transmission fluid. Bender seeks advice on the situation from the Gypsy and learns that he is now a were-car, doomed to become a car each night and eventually kill his best friend. He must kill the original were-car to remove the curse. Hoping to confine him, Leela and Fry weld Bender to the wall of his apartment then leave, Bender transforms and chases Leela. This upsets Fry, who takes it as a sign that Bender does not consider him his best friend (as the Gypsy warned them that Bender would ultimately kill his best friend under the curse).

Act III: "Many robots are stupid and violent."
Bender returns to normal and Fry tells him that he hurt his feelings. They attempt to track down the original were-car, with Fry still upset he's not Bender's best friend, and reach Calculon, who reveals his past as a construction robot in 2019 and tells them where to find the car, Project Satan. At the automotive lab, Bender transforms and tries to kill Fry, which cheers Fry up. Project Satan falls into an incinerator and melts to death, curing Bender.

Trivia

 * Headstones in the graveyard read:
 * Blimf Hovermayor of Thermostadt "I Will Rise Again"
 * THE RED LeBARON (a mixture of the WWI german pilot and the Chrysler produced automobile)
 * Vladimir 2790-3001 Efficient Husband and Father.
 * The numbers on the wall, 0101100101, equal the number 357 in binary. But in the mirror we see 1010011010, which is 666, which could mean Bender has, fear of the number 666.
 * Calculon is over a thousand years old. He has been Acting Unit 0.8, Thespa-mat, David Duchovny, Calculon 1.0 (a robot construction arm) and others.
 * This is the first time that Bender says "butt" instead of "ass".

Continuity

 * The concept of robots turning into ghosts will be next seen in "Ghost in the Machines".

Allusions

 * The painting with moving eyes is of Commodore LXIV, a reference to the Commodore 64 computers.
 * Likewise Tandy's shirt "Euro TRaSh-80" is in reference to the TRS-80 known by users as the Trash-80.
 * Ghosts seen in the castle includes the Windows logo and a flying toaster from the  screen savers.
 * The sound heard when laughing starts and when the binary written blood appears is the Windows 98.
 * The idea of a message on a wall that only makes sense when viewed in a mirror is a reference to the novel and movie, .
 * When Bender turns into his were-car form, he resembles The Car from .
 * Trying to entice Project Satan to attack him, Fry refers to himself as a "Blind Pedestrian [worth] 20 points!". This is a reference to .

Goofs

 * Calculon claims to have been David Duchovny, but his head can be seen in a jar in the pilot episode. Additionally, the third comic, which was released after this episode aired, features an advertisement selling heads in jars including that of Duchovny.
 * For a few seconds when the Planet Express crew is seen searching Paris for Project Satan, the Eiffel Tower is seen stationary. However, in a later episode, the tower is seen hovering.
 * When the crew return from Thermostadt to New New York they pass the Statue of Liberty, holding a torch, while in the pilot episode she held a tube for the city transport system.
 * When Fry and Leela take Bender to see the Gypsy, she threatens to kill Bender by pointing a gun at him. The gun passes through the front of the box, but, later, when she points, her finger impacts glass that should've stopped the gun.
 * After Leela and Fry have welded Bender to the wall of his appartment, they leave the building, say goodbye for night and walk away in different directions, apparently to their homes. But Fry would not have to leave, since he and Bender are roommates.
 * In a deleted scene, Fry explains why he's leaving the apartment. For a split second, however, you can see Fry's mouth move before that portion is cut out.
 * Despite running on an electric motor, Project Satan still makes the sound of an internal combustion engine when it drives.
 * Vladimir's birth date is in the 2700's, yet robots were invented by Professor Farnsworth.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Abominable Snow Mobile
 * Bender
 * Calculon
 * Fry
 * Debut: Gypsy
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Robo-Hungarian Robot Farmer
 * Debut: Robo-Hungarian Robots
 * Leela
 * Debut: Mourning Fembot
 * Preacherbot
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Project Satan
 * Sal
 * Debut: Street Thugs
 * Debut: Tandy
 * Debut: Uncle Vladimir
 * Debut: Vladimir's doctor
 * Debut: Execu-Tor
 * Debut: You There
 * Zoidberg

Episode credits

 * Writer
 * Ken Keeler
 * Director
 * Susan Dietter
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * David Herman
 * Lauren Tom
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Frank Welker
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Ken Keeler
 * Susan Dietter
 * John DiMaggio
 * Billy West