The Time Bender Trilogy: Part 3



US Issue Number: 019

UK Issue Number(s): 028, 029

Title Caption: More fun than a barrel of brain slugs

Published (US): September 29th 2004

Published (UK): 12th January 2006

Trade Paperback: The Time Bender Triology

Act I
In 1917 Fry wins an award for saving the world and tells his story of how he did it: Fry is lost on his way to the Omicronian Empire and asks for directions, but he ends up asking the leader and is sent to P.O.W. camp. He helps with a breakout but accidentally enters the leader’s bedroom and has tests which prove he’s an idiot. So he doesn’t dumb the place down, Fry and the prisoners are released and the war is over. The award ceremony is empty and Fry knocks over an ice statue which happened to have Leela inside who tells her story: Leela doesn’t have any money to pay for her trip to the underworld and kicks the ferryman into the river. The other dead people say that all the gods are robots. Leela discovers that they were never really dead and she escapes. Leela is taken by a god who she beats up and asks Bucky, the person who takes him everywhere, to take her to Mount Olympus where she reprograms the gods to compliment each other. Hermes, the messenger comes to deliver a rocket that will melt the North Pole, but as it heads off Leela grabs on and falls into the water, freezing her.

Act II
At the award ceremony Bender approaches telling his story of what he has done for the past 400 years: When Bender was tied to the stake he didn’t need to escape because robots don’t burn. Then he bummed around Europe, took a pottery class and led all robots in a revolt against the human race, but got bored and sold humanity back the world for $100 and now he’s a shoe shine boy. The time machine pieces attach themselves to each other and lead the crew to a museum where the body of the Professor is with the other time machine piece. The crew are taken to the time of the dinosaurs and Fry is eaten by a t-rex and so is the Professor but the t-rex forgot to chew and the Professor takes the population back to the present. Everything is back to normal except Fry and the Professor are still in the t-rex.

Trivia

 * The Omicronian leader has a strog resemblance to Lrrr so it may actually be Lrrr

Quotes

 * Professor: First order of business, Fry has to stop hogging the lower intestine!
 * Bender: I lead my robot brothers and sisters againts the human race, crushing all that stood in our way, becoming supreme ruler of earth in a reign of terror humanity called "THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION!"

Outside References

 * The POW camp is a reference to Hogan's Heroes, as is Colonel Hoggan.
 * A Captain Kirk-like (Star Trek) character is also in the camp.

Goofs

 * Why is Dawn Wells, known as a sitcom star/dictator in this version of history, present prior to the year 1917?
 * Had the Professor successfully travelled through time to the 3000s to prevent himself from inventing the time machine, Leela would have no memory of it, and there'd be two Professors and Frys. However to actually change time back, all persons from the 31st century would need to travel with him to not disrupt the timeline, otherwise he'd end up in the alternate future, thus leaving the world with two of everyone except Cubert. Technically it would be impossible to match the exact timeline unless they were supposed to be in the past. A frame on the last page of the comic has Cubert holding up a multiple page list of reasons the story made no sense, these are presumably some of the reasons listed.

Characters
(In alphabetical order)


 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Cubert
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Zoidberg

Comic Credits

 * Script
 * Ian Boothby
 * Pencils
 * John Delaney
 * Inks
 * Phyllis Novin
 * Colors
 * Joey Mason
 * Letters
 * Karen Bates
 * Editor
 * Bill Morrison