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.

Reception
This episode was subject to censorship by.

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. But in the mirror we see 1010011010, which, contrary to popular belief, is not 666. In binary, 666 is 001101100011011000110110.  The actual binary displayed, 1010011010, doesn't actually mean anything.
 * 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". He uses it in a pun targeted at Calculon. He calls him Mac-butt (Very likely an allusion to Macbeth).
 * For some reason, the airing of this episode on October 20, 2012 on Sky1 had the subtitles for "Bender's Big Score Part 1". These subtitles disappeared during the first part of the episode, and returned during one of the adverts before Part Two of the episode. Then they disappeared again, returning and disappearing again during Part 2. The audio description was correct though, despite the Sky Guide listing for the episode noting that subtitles and audio description were not available for the showing of this episode. Online listings state that "Bender's Big Score Part 1" should have aired in this slot, Part 2 of the film in the next "Futurama slot", which was filled in with "Attack of the Killer App", and Part 3 and 4 of the film in the 7pm and 7:30pm slots, which were filled in with  episodes "" and "" respectively.

Continuity

 * The concept of robots turning into ghosts are 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 .
 * The " anti-Chrysler" building is a reference to tne biblical antichrist.
 * 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.
 * The Calculon-Duchovny problem is explained on another page, and comics are non-canon.
 * For a few seconds when the Planet Express crew is seen searching Paris for Project Satan, the Eiffel Tower is seen stationary. However, usually, 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 apartment, they leave the building, say goodbye for the 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.
 * The motorized service arm (Calculon) grabs the car window from the in- and outside of the car, this seems imposible because the car has a roof.

Characters

 * Debut: Acting Unit 0.8 (mention)
 * Amy
 * Debut: Abominable Snow Mobile
 * Bender
 * Calculon
 * David Duchovny (mention)
 * Fry
 * Debut: Gypsy
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Robo-Hungarian Robot Farmer
 * Debut: Robo-Hungarian Robots
 * Leela
 * Debut: Mourning Fembot
 * Preacherbot
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Debut: Project Satan (Antagonist)
 * Sal
 * Debut: Street Thugs
 * Debut: Tandy
 * Debut: Thespa-mat (mention)
 * 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