The Silence of the Clamps

"The Silence of the Clamps" is the one-hundred-and-second episode of Futurama, the fourteenth of the sixth production season and the fifth of the eighth broadcast season. It aired 14 July, 2011 on Comedy Central. After testifying against the Robot Mafia, Bender goes into hiding in the witness relocation program.

Plot
While making a delivery to the Donbot's mansion during a wedding, Bender sneaks onto the mansion grounds to take part in the festivities. He secretly makes out with the Donbot's daughter Bella when he witnesses the Robot Mafia viciously beating Calculon. Being the only witness of the attack, but fearing repercussions from the Robot Mafia, Bender tries to disguise himself while testifying against the Donbot in open court. However, he is recognized by Bella, while Calculon is threatened by the Robot Mafia into testifying in favor of the Donbot's innocence. Now targeted by the Robot Mafia for ratting out the Donbot and his affair with Bella, Bender is forced to go into witness relocation, leaving Planet Express to begin hiring for his replacement. Determined to hunt down Bender, the Donbot sends Robot Mafia member Clamps to apply for Planet Express under his real name, Francis, in order to befriend Fry and make him reveal Bender's location. However, he is unsuccessful and earns the resentment of Zoidberg, who fears that Clamps's masterful use of his clamp-like hands will overshadow the use of his own pincers, the only part of Zoidberg's job that makes him feel appreciated. The Planet Express crew makes a delivery to the moon where they find a robot they believe to be Bender, who claims his name is Billy West and does not seem to remember any of them, his memory seemingly erased as part of the witness relocation program. This does not stop Clamps from attempting to kill "Billy," but he is stopped by Zoidberg, who uses his pincers to cut off his clamps. However, Bella arrives and shoots "Billy" to death, accusing him of cheating on her since he is married to the Crushinator. The crew returns to Earth to mourn Bender's apparent death at a pizzeria near the Planet Express building. There they find Bender working as a waiter, revealing himself to still be under witness protection there, and realize that Billy was a different, innocent robot. With the Robot Mafia believing Bender to be dead, Bender is freed from witness protection.

Production
"The Silence of the Clamps" was originally titled "Bend on a Wire". Maurice LaMarche revealed in an update online that the episode would have a large focus on Clamps, indeed his great breakthrough episode. Eric Rogers said on his Twitter page that the episode would be directed by Frank Marino, not Ray Claffey. A video clip from the episode featuring Bender meeting Bella and witnessing the crime was hidden on Volume 5 as an Easter egg. "Neutopia" replaced the episode as the eighth broadcast season's first.

During May and June 2011, Countdown to Futurama released three items of promotional material for the episode: reused concept art of the Crushinator from "The Series Has Landed" (accompanied by two classic Crushinator clips) on 22 May, part of the storyboard showing the Donbot's trial on 23 May, and a video clip featuring Clamps arguing with Zoidberg on 17 June.

Reception
In its original U.S. broadcast on 14 July, 2011, "The Silence of the Clamps" scored a 0.7 share among adults 18-49 and 1.406 million viewers, down about 150,000 viewers since Law and Oracle, making it the second lowest rated episode of season 6 after "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular".

Trivia

 * This is first time that Space Pope has a larger role and talks in the series.

Allusions

 * The title is a reference to (and ) The Silence of the Lambs.
 * The episode features censored but uncommon use of cursing. Given the subject matter, this could be a reference to gangster films such as ' and ', which became famous for their frequent use of "blue" language.  It is unknown whether this will be uncensored on the DVD.


 * The barn where Bender and Bella make out has the word "STABLES" on it, in the same font as the logo for office supply chain store.


 * The song which plays over the montage of Fry and Clamps' friendship is 's 1979 hit "."
 * The first mission that Clamps goes on is the same one that Bender went on in the episode "The Series Has Landed"
 * When ordered to take care of Bender (who is actually Billy West) Clamps says that they're in space where no one can hear you clamp. The tagline of is "In space no one can hear you scream."


 * The robot mistaken to be Bender was named Billy West, and Fry scoffs at that name.

Continuity

 * The Masked Unit appeared in this episode even though Bender killed him in "Raging Bender".


 * When Bender sees Fanny, she jogs his memory by mentioning they had an affair. They did indeed in Into the Wild Green Yonder.

Characters

 * Debut: Bella
 * Bender
 * Billionaire Bot
 * Debut: Billy West
 * Calculon
 * The Chain Smoker
 * Clamps
 * The Crushinator
 * The Donbot
 * Fanny
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Fat-bot
 * Fry
 * The hair Robot
 * Hedonism Bot
 * Hermaphrobot
 * Hermes
 * The Hydroponic Farmer
 * The Hyper-Chicken
 * Joey Mousepad
 * Debut: Judge 723
 * Debut: Judge 724
 * Debut: Judge 802
 * Leela
 * The Masked Unit
 * Monique
 * Morbo
 * Mayor Poopenmeyer
 * The Queen of Yonkers
 * Robot Devil
 * Debut: Sheriff Earley
 * The Space Pope
 * Debut: Witness Relocation Robot
 * Zoidberg