Proposition Infinity

"Proposition Infinity" is the ninety-second episode of Futurama, the fourth of the sixth production season and the seventh broadcast season. It aired 8 July 2010 on Comedy Central, and guest stars George Takei as himself. The episode was also nominated for the 2010 Annie Awards. After a break-up with Kif, Amy gets together with Bender in a frowned upon robosexual relationship.

Act I: "I'm not just some piece of tofu, Amy!"
New New York's walls are hit by a mysterious vandal, revealed to be Bender. Bender is caught vandalizing the back of URL, a police officer, and swiftly arrested. Bender calls Amy, who has been fighting with Kif all night, to bail him out of jail. She agrees, then enters the police station with Kif to bail Bender out. While in line to get discharged, Amy is hit on by an inmate and flirts back with him. This shocks Kif, as the man is a criminal, and his reaction irritates Amy. Kif tells her she's attracted to "bad boys", which he is not. Amy disagrees, but then flirts with another inmate who actually threatens her life. Kif, still hurt by Amy's flirtations, tells Amy they're through.

The break up severely upsets Amy and to make her feel better, Leela, Fry, and Bender take her to Forbidden Planet Hollywood. Bender repeatedly tells her to shut up and makes fun of her all night. Amy tells him to back off, saying he should be afraid of what she did to the last person that told her to shut up: sexual intercourse. After this, Amy and Bender discover a mutual attraction for each other. They enter into a taboo robosexual relationship, so they keep quiet about it, even to friends. Their co-workers grow suspicious but think nothing of it.

Act II: "Oh, the humanity! Also Bender!"
On the Planet Tornadus, the crew, collecting tornado wind for the Professor's entry for the County Fair, is shocked to learn that Bender and Amy are missing. They discover their clothes flying around in the tube with the tornado winds, so the Professor shuts off the machine, and when the winds die down, the crew is shocked to see Bender and Amy making love. Professor immediately disapproves, whereas the rest of the crew accepts Bender and Amy's relationship. Amy thanks them, as she knows she can't tell her family. However, this is exactly what Professor does; he calls Leo and Inez, Amy's parents. He also calls the Robot Pastor for Bender. While at her parent's Mars ranch, Amy is saved by Fry, who poses as her new beau. Amy saves Bender from the camp the Robot Pastor sent him to. They go back to the Planet Express building, where Bender proposes to Amy.

Act III: "I'm just glad I didn't live to see this day"
The Professor reminds them that robosexual marriage is illegal in New New York. To fight against this, Bender and Amy launch a campaign, Proposition ∞, for the legalization of robosexual marriage. In days before the election, Prop. ∞ support slumps in the polls. Amy loses hope, but Bender says they'll win following his debate tonight against Professor Farnsworth. Bender gives a heartfelt speech and the audience applauds. The Professor follows with his rebuttal, beginning with a flashback. He was in love with a fellow scientist named Eunice, and, 43 years later, discovered her in bed with First Robot Capable of Qualifying for a Boat Loan (or a similar robot). This doesn't impress the audience, who despise the Professor for hating robosexuals simply because his girlfriend slept with a robot. He then admits that she WAS a robot, named Unit, who slept with another robot. Farnsworth's heart was broken, so he took his anger out on other robosexuals. After admitting the truth, the Professor withdraws his argument and fully backs Prop. ∞. The next day, Prop. ∞ is approved. Amy is ecstatic, saying she and Bender can have a normal, monogamous marriage now. Upon hearing the word monogamous, Bender leaves Amy for two robot hookers, while Amy goes back to Kif, who became a bad boy for her.

Production
David X. Cohen calls the episode one of his favorites from the sixth season.

Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Proposition Infinity" was viewed by an estimated 2.013 million households with a 1.0 rating/3% share in the 18-49 demographic going down one tenth of a point from last weeks, "Attack of the Killer App". The episode has also been nominated for the 2010 Annie Awards.

Trivia

 * This is one among few Futurama media featuring its title.
 * Kif said that he is actually related to the sea cucumber. This makes many fans learn that he is not a toad or a jellyfish even though his species has no spine and is very squishy.
 * The closed captions had lines that were not spoken. Something to the effect of "Where am I? Is this TBS?" suggesting that Conan O'Brien originally had a cameo.

Continuity

 * Will Riker's Island was previously seen in "Three Hundred Big Boys" when Kif was imprisoned. In that episode, it was called Commander Riker's Island.
 * The idea of robosexuality was first mentioned in "Space Pilot 3000". It was later said to be wrong in "I Dated a Robot" and illegal in this episode.
 * No mention is ever made of robosexuality itself being criminal, only that robosexual marriage is not permitted.
 * The interracial couple from "Space Pilot 3000" is seen again.
 * Fatbot is revealed to be robosexual.
 * In the audience for the debate for Proposition ∞ include Fatbot, and a hookerbot first seen in "The Lesser of Two Evils".
 * While at Forbidden Planet Hollywood, Amy says, "technically, we were Fonfon Rus, so we weren't really married." This is referencing the event when Kif and Amy married in The Beast with a Billion Backs.
 * In The Beast with a Billion Backs, Amy refered to herself as Kif's wife, but now distinguishes Fonfon Ru from being a spouse.
 * Michelle and Pauly Shore can be seen at the Proposition ∞ rally. Their marriage was confirmed by the audio commentary.

Allusions

 * Bender's vandalism spree is a reference to the that were placed all over the world, though mostly in the north-eastern United States, by an unknown vandal over the course of several years. It may also be a allusion to the French street artist.
 * The house in the tornado is a reference to a scene from .
 * The interracial couple shown in the protest scene is taken from the Star Trek episode "".
 * Bender is in jail on Will Riker's Island, a reference to Commander ', the first officer of Picard's Enterprise in '.
 * The entire plot of Bender and Amy trying to love each other but being pulled apart is a parody of the William Shakespeare play .
 * The characters mention that robosexual marriage is legal in Space.
 * The Wong ranch has a sign with the text "No Brokebacking" in reference to the homosexual cowboys in the 2005 film .
 * The concept of moving tattoos is a reference to "" by.
 * URL says, "Mama said, 'Spock you out.'" This is a reference to the LL Cool J song "Mama Said Knock You Out" as well as the character of Spock from Star Trek.
 * The President Nixon "Despair" poster is a parody of Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama.
 * Linda describes Channel √2's coverage as "Fair and Balanced", the same slogan of conservative news channel,.
 * The advertisement against robosexual marriage is a parody of the infamous "storm is gathering" ad for the.
 * The logo used by Camp Rectifier is a, which converts an AC (alternating current) signal to a DC (direct current) one.
 * At Forbidden Planet Hollywood, we see 's feet (from Star Wars), Iron Man's underpants, Elvis' pelvis, and the Head of Lassie. We also get to see Calculon's agent.
 * The story and the title of the episode are inspired by California's that illegalized same-sex marriage in the state. Also, the symbol for infinity looks like an eight turned on its side.
 * George Takei (and his husband) actively campaigned against California's Proposition Eight.
 * The from ' and ' appears at the parade and in the debate scene.
 * Randy's line 'Our poodle has two daddies!,' is an allusion to the children's book "Heather has Two Mommies", a book about a child whose parents are a lesbian couple which has provoked controversy in some school districts.

Goofs

 * Bender apparently stole Lassie's head in the Forbidden Planet Hollywood. However it was already said in "Jurassic Bark" that Lassie was in the Louvre.
 * Several dogs have played Lassie over the years, though.
 * And she could have been moved from the Louvre since.
 * Or if Bender took it in the Louvre instead.
 * Most of the crew's opinions on robosexuality are different from previous episodes, such as "I Dated a Robot".
 * As the story takes place several years after "I Dated a Robot", the crew may have simply changed their minds on the subject.
 * Also it could be related to the fact that the robots shown to be robosexual, are all actual robots, not built for the purpose of dating a particular human nor are their personalities and looks based off of a human.
 * A general aversion to humans developing emotional attachments to robots was shown in "I Dated a Robot", but in neither episode does anyone say robosexuality itself is illegal, only robosexual marriage (much as homosexuality is legal today, while homosexual marriage is not).
 * In "Slaves of New New York!", the Hydroponic Farmer forced Gil to marry the Crushinator. However, the Crossover Crisis is non-canon.
 * Why did Bender try to carve a wooden stick with a knife to protect himself from Roberto? He could have just used the metal knife!!!
 * This is obviously a joke, smilar to the cookie-assembling machine fry uses and then only eat the center part anyway.
 * Bender doesn't launch into folk singing when Reverend Lionel Preacherbot drags him out of the Planet Express HQ with a magnet.
 * The magnet wasn't near his inhibition unit. If the magnet isn't near the head, it doesn't cause him to sing.
 * In "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", the Robot Devil wanted Leela to marry him, even though robosexual marriage is revealed to be illegal in this episode.
 * He's the Robot Devil, so he can do what he wants.
 * Also, Robot Hell is in New Jersey, where robosexual marriage may be legal.
 * Neither point explains why the Preacherbot, using the power granted by the state, was going to perform a robosexual marriage in New New York.
 * Robosexual marriage was illegal throughout all of Earth, so the point about New Jersey does not apply.
 * When Morbo talks about Bender's tile graffiti, he says it is happening in "our city" but it has been established in "A Big Piece of Garbage" that √2 News is based in Los Angeles.
 * Considering the large amount of time that has passed, it is possible that √2 News has moved. More news seems to develop in New New York, so it would be advantageous for the news station to be based there.
 * In this episode, a criminal stole a police lightsaber and held it up to Amy's neck as if it was a knife (or a Star Wars lightsaber). However, in Futurama, police lightsabers are used as batons, so there was no point in holding up a baton to someone's neck.
 * The criminal may not of known how the lightsabers worked.
 * Amy states that since she and Kif were Fonfon Rus, they weren't actually married. However, in The Beast with a Billion Backs, she refers to Kif as her husband, and Zapp later refers to her as Kif's wife.
 * When the crew discovers Amy and Bender together, the mini-tornado has vanished from the jar.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Donbot
 * Fanny
 * Farnsworth's grandmother (mentioned only)
 * Fatbot
 * First Robot capable of qualifying for a boat loan
 * Fry
 * George Takei's head
 * Hattie McDoogal
 * Hedonismbot
 * Hermaphrobot
 * Hermes
 * Horrible Gelatinous Blob
 * Humorbot 5.0
 * Hyper-Chicken
 * Inez Wong
 * Debut: Jim
 * Joey Mousepad
 * Kif
 * Debut: Larry the Murder Burglar
 * Leela
 * Leo Wong
 * Linda
 * Michelle
 * Morbo
 * Pauly Shore
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Randy Munchnik
 * Reverend Lionel Preacherbot
 * Roberto
 * Smitty
 * Soupy
 * Debut: Todd
 * Debut: Unit 47
 * URL
 * Wailing Fungus (voice)
 * Debut: Wine Bucket
 * Zoidberg