Bendin' in the Wind

Production number: 3ACV13 Title Caption: FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS CHANGING THE CHANNEL First aired: April 22, 2001 Title Reference: The song "Blowin' in the Wind" by Bob Dylan

Act I: "This thing can't go faster than 80,000 miles per hour?"
While walking, Fry and Bender come across the NNY Hole Project and Fry gets a free Volkswagen Transporter microbus (VW) and pushes it back to the Planet Express. Though gas (petroleum) doesn't exist anymore, a can of whale oil is supplied and Bender starts to open it via the can opener, but he is caught by the magnetic forces and is horribly damaged.

Act II: "We can't just dump him in the gutter like Grandma's ashes!"
Bender is now unable to move and while at the hospital, he notices Beck's Head, his favourite folksinger, and Beck invites Bender to be his new washboard player, and gives him robotic mini-arms, and plays by scraping them across his broken chest.

Act III: "My shell ran."
Bender and Beck go on tour, while Fry, Leela, Amy and Zoidberg cram into the VW and follow them. While at a laundromat, their money is ruined, leaving Fry and the rest without any money, food, or clean clothes. Beck and Bender organise a benefit for broken robots and Bender starts writing his own song. After he finishes writing his song, he is visited by Fry and the rest and they are shocked by the way he is moving again.

Act IV: "I didn't get my beads!"
Bender is wondering how he can play at his upcoming concert, Bend-Aid and thinks of something... by faking it. Bender is now at his concert singing with Beck, and the others make money by selling "love beads", a pearl made by Zoidberg in his throat. Bender then gets a giant check before singing the song he wrote, "My Broken Friend", and right before he finishes his song, his secret is exposed by jumping and moving. He then escapes, lands in the VW, and is off.

Act V: "Put the metal to the pedal to the other metal!"
Bender and the rest start driving through town, trying to outrun Beck and his minions, and the VW falls off the Golden Gate Bridge, because it is a hover bridge. Beck recovers the huge cheque and Bender is off with the crew paddling home with a magnet on his head singing "Bender is Great".

"My Broken Friend" lyrics
Bender: People say my broken friend is useless.

But I say his mind is free.

There's lots of things my mangled robot friend could be.

Beck: Kick it!

Bender: Well he could make a good hat rack,

Beck: He only has to stand there.

Bender: Or a cheap doorstop,

Beck: He doesn't need to move.

Bender: Or a great big giant thermos with a twist off top,

Beck: That would be good for soup.

Bender: He could be a storage closet for outdated pants.

Beck: I like 'em tight.

Bender: My broken friend could do it all,

Beck & Bender: Just give him a chance!

Bender: That robot has a tragic secret

That I'd like to share.

Beck: For real?

Bender: My broken friend is closer to me than an ass to a chair.

Beck: Mmmm.

Bender: That robot's name I never told you...

Beck: What's that?

Bender... you could not foresee.

Beck: C'mon, give it up.

Bender: I say it loud and sing it proud,

Beck & Bender: His name is you and me!

Bender: Don't melt me down into a crowbar,

Beck: It suffers alone,

Bender: Just 'cause I can't move my arms and legs. (He starts moving his arms and legs)

Beck: Hey!

Bender: Or toss me into a trash can,

Beck: Bender, what are you doin'?

Bender: Just 'cause I can't cook you ham and eggs.

Beck: What are you doin'?

Bender Don't crush me into an anchor,

Beck: Yo, what's the dilly-o?

Bender: Just 'cause I can't jump and dance and sing

I'm telling you, my broken friend...

Put your hands in the air like you just don't care!

I'm telling you my broken friend

Can do most anything!

Yeah!

Trivia

 * Cedars-Sinewave Hospital is a play off of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Quotes
Zoidberg: Glad you like them. I've been making fine jewellery for years, apparently. Beck: "Odelay" is a word. Just look it up in the Becktionary.
 * Hippie: Wow, look at the colours. These'll go great with my soul.
 * Bender: Hey, yeah, I could write a song! With real words, not phoney ones like "odelay".
 * Zoidberg: Oh, I don't know, Fry. I think I'm too poor to follow a band around in a van.
 * Beck: (honks horn) Come on. We have to get to the concert in time and make the audience wait for it to start.

Outside References

 * Bender eats some Olestra chips from the 1990's and suffers the usual side effects of the product.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Beck's Head
 * Bender
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Horrible Gelatinous Blob
 * Leela
 * Malfunctioning Eddie
 * Oily
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Unnamed Fat Guy
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Horsted
 * Director
 * Ron Hughart
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * Phil LaMarr
 * David Herman
 * Lauren Tom
 * Special Guest
 * Beck
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Eric Horsted
 * John Dimaggio
 * Billy West