Difference between revisions of "The Lesser of Two Evils"

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Revision as of 22:34, 31 October 2011

Season 2 episode
The Lesser of Two Evils
The Lesser of Two Evils.jpg
No.19
Production number2ACV06
Written byEric Horsted
Directed byChris Sauve
Title captionThe show that watches back
First air date20 February, 2000
Broadcast numberS02E11
Opening cartoonFelix the Cat Trifles with Time (1925)
SponsorArachno Spores
Special guest(s)Bob Barker
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript

Pictures

Season 2
  1. I Second that Emotion
  2. Brannigan, Begin Again
  3. A Head in the Polls
  4. Xmas Story
  5. Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?
  6. The Lesser of Two Evils
  7. Put Your Head on My Shoulders
  8. Raging Bender
  9. A Bicyclops Built for Two
  10. A Clone of My Own
  11. How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back
  12. The Deep South
  13. Bender Gets Made
  14. Mother's Day
  15. The Problem with Popplers
  16. Anthology of Interest I
  17. War Is the H-Word
  18. The Honking
  19. The Cryonic Woman
← Season 1Season 3 →

"The Lesser of Two Evils" is the nineteenth episode of Futurama, the sixth of the second production season and the eleventh of the second broadcast season. It aired 20 February, 2000 on FOX. It is the first episode to be aired out of sync. It guest stars Bob Barker as himself in a jar. After running into Flexo, another Bending Unit, Fry begins suspecting Flexo of being the evil Bender, but at the Miss Universe Pageant, he discovers the opposite.

The Story

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Act I: "Shut up and get to the point!"

Bender, Fry and Leela are watching Cop Department when an advertisement for Past-O-Rama appears on the television, Bender wishes to see a time before life was cheapened by heartless machines. They look around Past-o-rama at various attractions such as a telephone booths and Al Sharpton’s burial chamber, then they come across a ancient car, Fry attempts to drive it but instead takes it through a wall. Unable to stop they hit Flexo, a bending unit with a beard.

Act II: "He's the evil Bender."

The crew are nervously pacing around while Bender is looking at a robot pornography book and Flexo is successfully fixed. Flexo and Bender take Fry to a robot gentlemen's club where they pay a robot to give Fry a lap dance which results in injuires. Fry begins to think Flexo is evil. The crew go into the Professor's bedroom to see what he has to show them. He reveals to them the atom of Jumbonium which is so expensive, that if stolen it will cause Planet Express to go bankrupt, so the Professor hires Flexo to help out.

Act III: "And the winner is..."

Fry falls asleep during his watch because he spent his sleeping time watching Flexo. When the ship lands they discover the atom is gone, and they begin to search for Flexo. Fry knows he stole it and starts watching Bender who is all the time covering his chin with different things, so Fry suspects he could be Flexo covering his beard. Then he learns it was Bender anyway. They can't find find Flexo so they tell Bob Barker's head and he orders them to find the atom. When they finally find Flexo, he and Bender begin to chase each other through the beauty pageant but Leela doesn't know who is Flexo because they're covering their chins and Flexo's beard can't be seen. Later it is revealed that Bender in fact stole the atom, and not Flexo. Flexo saw Bender steal the atom and ran to tell Bob Barker's Head. The atom is returned; however, Barker mistakes Flexo for Bender, and Flexo is locked up in Bender's place.

Additional Info

Promo pic of this episode

Trivia

  • Sponsored by Arachno Spores.
  • Past-o-rama's logo is based on the Futurama logo. Title caption: Located on the former side of Brooklyn.
  • Flexo has a goatee, which is a reference to the goateed Mirror Universe Spock from the Mirror, Mirror episode of the original Star Trek.
  • Electric Ladyland is the name of the third Jimi Hendrix album.
  • From Leela and Bender's guesses on the value of the Atomic Tiara, its value should be exactly $200,000. Based on Professor Farnsworth's earlier descriptions of its value, the nucleus is worth exactly $150,000.
  • Bender states that both his and Flexo's serial numbers are expressible as the sum of two cubes. For Flexo's serial number, 3370318 = 119^3 + 119^3. Bender's serial number 2716057 = 952^3 + (-951)^3.
  • Contestants in the Miss Universe contest include
    • Miss Heaven (who looks like M5438)
    • Miss Arrakis
    • Miss Unnamed Planet
    • Miss Demeanor
    • Miss Perfect Little
    • Miss Amazonia (Not labeled on the sash, but obviously from Amazonia)
    • Miss Methane Planet, Halitina Smogmire
    • Miss Earth's Moon, The Crushinator
    • Miss Pluto
    • Miss Vega 4 (Also known as the Parameciums Homeworld), Gladis Lenux (Info found during "Raging Bender")
    • Jellyfish Nurse
  • The judges in the Miss Universe Contest are:
    • Florp
    • Calculon
    • Zapp Brannigan

Continuity

Censorship

Allusions

  • Past-O-Rama shows that people in the 31st century have little knowledge of the distant past. A few mistakes include:
    • Mammoth hunts in New York.
    • These "mistakes" could also be a satirical jab at the 20th century — i.e. people in the 31st century think of people from the 20th century in the same way people in the 20th century think about earlier/more primitive civilizations (e.g. cavemen).
    • Star Wars 9: Yoda's Bar Mitzvah.
      • This might, at some point in the near future, be an actual movie, thus not qualifying as a mistake. In fact, it is most likely a jab at the Star Wars prequel trilogy of the early 21st century.
        • Except Yoda died in Star Wars VI, so he probably wouldn't have a Bar Mitzvah as a Force ghost.
      • It could also be referencing the rumours about a sequel trilogy to the original trilogy, which would be Star Wars VII - IX. George Lucas has, however, denied that those rumours are true.
    • Appearance of primitive Robots.
    • Albert Einstein and Hammurabi, the ancient King of Babylon, existing at the same time as each other and at the same time as disco.
    • Cars running on tanks of burning fossils.
    • Cars being called Auto-mo-cars.
  • The Miss Arrakis is from Arrakis, the planet of the novel Dune, by Frank Herbert.
  • One of the contestants plays Rossini's William Tell overture on her nose.

Quotes

    Speaker: ...The stately 1992 Latura.
    Fry: Hey, my girlfriend had one of those! Actually, it wasn't hers, it was her dad's. Actually, she wasn't my girlfriend. She just lived next door and never closed her curtains.
    Leela: Fry, remember I when I told you about always ending your stories a sentence earlier?

    Fry: How's that robot I ran over?
    Farnsworth: We did all we could...
    Fry: You mean he's...?
    Farnsworth: Good as new? Yes!

    Bender: I think I got whiplash!
    Leela: You can't have whiplash, you don't even have a neck.
    Bender: I meant ass whiplash!

    Zapp Brannigan: There it is, Miss Universe. There it is, looking weird...

    Fry: He must've used a sleep-ray on me! Sleep-rays exist in the future, right?
    Leela: No.
    Fry: Oh. Then I must've fallen asleep.

Goofs

  • Despite Bender being bad at math and not being a good calculator, he was able to tell that both his and Flexo's serial numbers are expressible as the sum of two cubes.

Alien Language Sightings

Time:03:45
Location: Sign in subway
Language: AL1
Translation: laser tentacle surgery

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

Episode Credits