Difference between revisions of "Transcript:Commentary:Fear of a Bot Planet"

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*[[John DiMaggio]] (JD)
*[[John DiMaggio]] (JD)
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*'''''Note:''' One question mark in bold ('''?''') means that the speaker was not identified by the transcriber.''
*'''''Note:''' One question mark in bold ('''?''') means that the speaker was not identified by the transcriber.''
*'''''Note:''' Three question marks (???) means that the word in proximity to the question marks is a suggested word, but not necessarily correctly identified, or if there is no word near the question mark (a space away is not near), then no suggested word was provided.''
*'''''Note:''' Three question marks (???) means that the word in proximity to the question marks is a suggested word, but not necessarily correctly identified, or if there is no word near the question mark (a space away is not near), then no suggested word was provided.''


<!--
:''[Fry and Leela are standing watching the view.]''
RAW FORM:
<poem>'''[[Matt Groening]]''': God I love this cold opening.  This is a good one.  And didn't think it was gonna work.  "Nah, that won't work", but it turned out great.  Hi, this is Matt Groening.</poem>
 
<poem>'''[[Gregg Vanzo]]''': Gregg Vanzo.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''[[John DiMaggio]]''': I'm John DiMaggio, I play Bender and bunch of other voices and stuff.</poem>
God I love this cold opening.  This is a good one.  And didn't think it was gonna work.  "Nah, that won't work", but it turned out great.  Hi, this is Matt Groening.
<poem>'''[[David X. Cohen]]''': David Cohen, executive producer, head writer.</poem>
 
<poem>'''[[Rich Moore]]''': And Rich Moore, supervising director.</poem>
-GV
:''[Opening sequence nears its end.]''
Gregg Vanzo.
<poem>'''DXC''': Who picks these little cartoon clips that go on?</poem>
 
<poem>'''RM''': Actually, you guys send a bunch of them over to us.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''DXC''': We do?</poem>
I'm John DiMaggio, I play Bender and bunch of other voices and stuff.
<poem>'''RM''': Yeah.  Frank Cowon sends a whole bunch of 'em.  And Scott Vanzo, our director of 3D animation, and I go through the clips to pick out what will fit in what's less than two seconds.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': So it takes longer to explain than actual do.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''RM''': I could go on!</poem>
David Cohen, executive producer, head writer.
:''[Blernsball.]''
 
<poem>'''JD''': Glorx, 3:16.</poem>
-RM
<poem>'''DXC''': Blernsball, the name "blernsball" actually came out of a joke the writers had where we were working so hard at this point in this history of the series&ndash; this early on, that we didn't have enough days in the week to write the show &mdash; we were writing seven days a week.  So I putted up a schedule that included "blernsday" as an eight day, so we would have time to get the job done.  That's where this came out.</poem>
And Rich Moore, supervising director.
<poem>'''MG''': The original name for this show was not "Futurama", by the way.  There was a long long list of possible names, the only two I remember which were resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it; "Doomsville" was my number one choice.  And my number two choice &mdash; and I don't even know why I thought this was a good idea for a name &mdash; somehow, "Aloha, Mars" struck me and that was also not particularly...</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': That could be used for an episode, maybe.</poem>
-DXC
:''[Bender squeaks butter on the popcorn.]''
Who picks these little cartoon clips that go on?
<poem>'''DXC''': Oh boy.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': I just got that.</poem>
-RM
:''[Multi-ball is unleashed at the station.]''
Actually, you guys send a bunch of them over to us.
<poem>'''DXC''': Pinball reference there.  We have a couple of pinball machine at the office.  See where our inspiration comes from.</poem>
 
<poem>'''RM''': The Tron light cycle.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''JD''': I have no idea what's going on in this game; it's great.  Are there actually any rules to Blernsball that are definite?</poem>
We do?
<poem>'''DXC''': It's starting to evolve a little now that we've seen it again now that we've seen it in some future episodes, but overall I think the goal is to keep it just out of the realm of understandability.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': Sort of like baseball.</poem>
-RM
<poem>'''DXC''': Exactly.</poem>
Yeah.  Frank Orwen??? sends a whole bunch of 'em.  And Scott Vanzo, our director of 3D animation, and I go through the clips to pick out what will fit in less than two seconds.
<poem>'''MG''': When I was a kid, I was obsessed by robots.  I loved them and I was totally in fear of them, 'cause the thing about a robot&mdash;</poem>
 
<poem>'''?''': ???</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''MG''': Yeah, because you can't reason with a robot.  You know, if they wanna kill you, you cannot talk them out of it.  I learned this from television and the movies.  I had a collection of toy robots.  And I would watch them at night from my bed.</poem>
So it takes longer to explain than actual do.
<poem>'''JD''': Ah, did they scare you?</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': 'cause they moved!  Just a little bit, you know...</poem>
-RM
:''[A cleaning robot is cleaning up the dirt.]''
I could go on!
<poem>'''DXC''': That cleaning robot, that cleaned up the bottle, Bender threw down a minute ago.  Originally, it appeared in the pilot, but was taken out as the show was too long.</poem>
 
<poem>'''Farnsworth''': [episode] You're going to Chapek 9.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''DXC''': Chapek!  Anyone know where that came from?</poem>
Glorx, 3:16.
<poem>'''MG''': Karel Chapek, right?</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': The robot expert is correct.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''MG''': Who coined the term "robot".</poem>
Blernsball, the name "blernsball" actually came out of a joke the writers had-- we were working so hard at this point in this history of the series-- this early on, that we didn't have enough days in the week to write the show - we were writing seven days a week.  So I putted up a schedule that included "blernsday" as an eight day, so we would have time to get the job done.  That's where this came out.
<poem>'''DXC''': I believe that's right.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': In his play "RUR" or R-U-R &mdash; ''Rossum's Universal Robots''He also wrote a really good book called ''War with the Newts''.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': That's another good name for an episode.</poem>
The original name for this show was not "Futurama", by the way.  There was a long long list of possible names, the only two I remember which were resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it; "Doomsville" was my number one choice.  And my number two choice -- and I don't even know why I thought this was a good idea for a name -- somehow, "Aloha, Mars" struck me and that was also not pertucalarly --
<poem>'''DXC''': Part of the inspiration for this episode was a story by one of my favourite authors, Stanislaw Lem, Polish comedy science fiction author, he's had a really funny short story he wrote, which I don't remember the name of, in which some&ndash; a human crashes into a planet inhabited by robots and has to hide in the bushes eating berries at night.  Sounds funny, doesn't it?</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': You know what, actually, it's...
-DXC
<poem>'''RM''': You're scaring Matt.  David, stop!</poem>
That could be used for an episode, maybe.
<poem>'''MR''': The fact is that this show is full of references to literary science-fiction, it's not just&ndash; it's not just rip-offs of ''Star Trek'' and ''Star Wars''.  Like everything else, you know.</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': It's rip-offs of thing you aren't aware of.</poem>
Oh boy.
<poem>'''MG''': Stanislaw Lem... Karel Chapek and&ndash;</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': In the Stanislaw Lem story, it turned out that all of the terrifying robots were other people who had crash landed and had disguised themselves as robots so they wouldn't be target.  It later turned out that there were no robots on the planet.  Oh, I just ruined it for anyone who goes out to read it.</poem>
-RM
:''[Fry and Leela are looking down at Bender being lowered onto the planet.]''
I just got that.
<poem>'''JD''': I like the wind blowing in their hair as they look down on the planet, great.</poem>
 
:''[Fry and Leela dress up as robots.]''
-DXC
<poem>'''RM''': Our stock-static.</poem>
Pinball reference there.  We have a couple of pinball machine at the office.  See where our inspiration comes from.
<poem>'''GV''': Worked hard on that.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': My older brother, Mark, dressed up like that once when I was a kid.</poem>
-?
<poem>'''JD''': He scare the hell out of you?</poem>
The ??? light??? cycle.
<poem>'''MG''': He scared the hell out of me.</poem>
 
:''[Fry and Leela are dancing like robots.]''
-JD
<poem>'''JD''': He's doing the robot. ''[Leela starts dancing.]''  Show him up.</poem>
I have no idea what's going on in this game; it's great.  Are there actually any rules to Blernsball that are definate?
<poem>'''MG''': Hey, that was good animation.  Good acting.</poem>
 
:''[Fry and Leela walk upon Chapek 9.]''
-DXC
<poem>'''DXC''': Really neat planetscape here.</poem>
It started to evolve a little now that we've seen it again now that we've seen it in some future episodes, but overall I think the goal is to keep it just outside of the realm of understandablility.
:''[Fry and Leela are met by the guard bots.]''
 
<poem>'''MG''': I like those robots, we should bring those back.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': They transform in a minute, also.</poem>
Sort of like baseball.
<poem>'''JD''': Is that Phil LaMarr's voice pitched down a little bit?</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': You know, it's so electronically processed, that I can't remember who did them.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''MG''': I think that's Phil.</poem>
Exactly.
<poem>'''DXC''': That's Maurice&mdash;</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': That's Maurice, and he doesn't have to pitch it down.  Nice.</poem>
-MG
:''[Fry and Leela walk through the robot city.]''
When I was a kid, I was obsessed by robots.  I-- I loved them and I was totally in fear of them, 'cause the thing about a robot--
<poem>'''RM''': There's that 3D animation.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': Oh yeah!</poem>
-?
<poem>'''DXC''': Here's a classic 3D shot coming up.</poem>
???
:''[Clock turns to 12:00 and tonnes of robots flock the street.]''
 
<poem>'''RM''': There they are.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''JD''': Look at them!  ''[tongue wobble]'' Great, aargh.</poem>
Yeah, because you can't reason with a robot.  You know, if they wanna kill you, you cannot talk them out of it.  I learnt this from television and the movies.  I had a collection of toy robots.  And I would watch them at night from my bed.
<poem>'''DXC''': Tetris, anyone?</poem>
 
:''[Fry is holding up a picture of Bender in a magician outfit.]''
-JD
<poem>'''DXC''': We're going to see Bender's magician's outfitting again 3 years from the point of this episode.  Took a while to come back.</poem>
Ah, did they scare you?
<poem>'''Leela''': [episode] Robots don't have bathrooms.</poem>
 
<poem>'''Fry''': [episode] Oh right, I wonder where they smoke in high school.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''RM''': But they do have garbage cans...</poem>
'cause they moved!  Just a little bit, you know...
<poem>'''JD''': I never smoked in the bathroom at high school.  We had an actual smoking section back when kids could smoke.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': Is that true?</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''JD''': Yeah, we had a section at the north end of my high school where we used to smoke at.</poem>
That cleaning robot, that cleaned up the bottle, Bender threw down a minute ago.  Originally, it appeared in the pilot, but was taken out as the show was too long.
<poem>'''GV''': Yeah, we did that too.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': Between classes.</poem>
Chapek!  Anyone know where that came from?
<poem>'''MG''': That was designated?</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': Designated smoking area, you're caught smoking anywhere else, you would&ndash;</poem>
-?
<poem>'''RM''': Marlboro High</poem>
??? Chapek, right?
<poem>'''JD''': That's right.  God bless the 80s.</poem>
 
:''[A robot is talking to Fry and Leela.]''
-DXC
<poem>'''DXC''': That's Tom Kenny.</poem>
The robot expert is correct.
<poem>'''JD''': Yeah, it is Tom Kenny.</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': He's first appearance in ''Futurama'', I think.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''JD''': A wonderful actor, very funny.  A cast member on Mr Show, if you will.</poem>
Who coined the term "robot".
:''[The robot screams]''
 
<poem>'''RM''': Scared, Matt?</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''DXC''': That's a reference to the second ''Body Snatchers'' movie, the one with Leonord Nimoy.  It's the sound they made.</poem>
I believe that's right.
<poem>'''Anti-Human patrol''': [episode] Intruder alert.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': That's Robotron, right?</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': ''Berzerk''.</poem>
In his play were are you are or usm??? rosam??? universal robotsThat's a really book, called "War with the Nudes".
<poem>'''JD''': ''Berzerk''.</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': Same era.  Great video game from the 80s.</poem>
-DXC
:''[They hide in the cinema.]''
That's another good name for an episode.
<poem>'''MG''': This is a good scene.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': Maurice LaMarche.</poem>
Part of the inspiration for this episode was a story by one of my favourite authors, Standardsaw??? Limlesh???, comedy science fiction author, he's had a really funny short story wrote, which I don't remember the name of, in which some-- a human crashes into a planet habitted by robots and has to hide in the bushes eating berries at night.  Sounds funny, doesn't it?
<poem>'''RM''': I remember this, we used to do the space mutant movies from ''The Simpsons''.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': I think I play the space mutant here.</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': Your best performance, ever.</poem>
You know what, actually, you're a ???.  David, stop.  The fact is that this show is full of references to literarry science-fiction, it's not just-- it's not just rip-offs of Star Trek and Star Wars.  Like everything else, you know.
<poem>'''JD''': I think it is.</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': Here it comes.</poem>
-DXC
:''[The "human" appears behind some bushes and threatens the robots!]''
It's rip-offs of--
<poem>'''JD''': Yeah, that is me.</poem>
 
:''[The "human" eats the robot's head.]''
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': That's really funny animation.</poem>
Standardsaw??? Lim! Carl Chapek and--
<poem>'''RM''': Ah, the classic ???.</poem>
 
:''[The robot general is talking.]''
-DXC
<poem>'''JD''': Dave Herman.</poem>
In the standardssaw lim story, it turned out that all of the terrifying robots were other people who had crash landed and had disguised themselves as robots so they wouldn't be target.  It later turned out that there were no robots on the planet.  Oh, I just ruined it for anyone who goes out to read it.
:''[Fry is talking to some robots after the film.]''
 
<poem>'''JD''': Billy West talking to himself.  Yeah, all three of those robots.  Actually, Fry's not a robot.  I'm sorry.  But he still scared the hell out of me, Matt!</poem>
-RM
:''[The robot mayor appears.]''
I like the wind blowing in the hair as the look down on the planet, great.
<poem>'''DXC''': That's Maurice.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': That is Maurice LaMarche.
Our stock-static.
<poem>'''MG''': This show would have frighten me, as kid.  Robby the Robot scared the hell out of me, you know.  As I recall, for the crew, we made t-shirts with Bender's saying, "death to humans" and didn't you get taken to task for that?</poem>
 
<poem>'''DXC''': I think it was one of the other writers, Lou Martin, was in the supermarket wearing his "death to humans"-shirt and another customer came up to him and said "how can you wear that horrible shirt?"</poem>
-GV
<poem>'''JD''': Well, they're not watching the show, are they?</poem>
Looks??? ??? than that.
:''[Bender is holding up the cover of his new album, ''Bender Lets Loose''.]''
 
<poem>'''DXC''': That crazy position his arm is in.</poem>
-MG
:''[A robot toots a horn for the daily human hunt.]''
My older brother, Mark, dressed up like that once when I was a kid.
<poem>'''DXC''': Macintosh startup sound.</poem>
 
:''[The free butter trap.]''
-?
<poem>'''DXC''': We went through a huge list of possible baits that humans would like, most of them had whipped cream and sprinkles and stuff.  We decided that the combination of butter and free was the ultimate bait for a human.</poem>
He scared the hell--
:''[Fry and Leela have found Bender, but he ain't coming.]''
 
<poem>'''JD''': Aww...</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''RM''': I don't know what to say.</poem>
He scared the hell out of me.
<poem>'''JD''': Yeah.</poem>
 
<poem>'''GV''': Getting caught up in this.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''JD''': I cried a tear.</poem>
He's doing the robot.
<poem>'''Robot mayor''': [episode] Congratulations, Bender, your album just went gold.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': "... went gold".</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''DXC''': One thing all planets have in common is their tracking of record sales.</poem>
???, that was good animation.  Good acting.
:''[Hall of Justice.]''
 
<poem>'''GV''': Hall of Justice.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''DXC''': We ought to get some sort of payment from Apple Computer company, that's another Macintosh there.  Giving him a lot of free screen time.</poem>
Really neat planetscape here.
:''[The Macintosh freezes up.]''
 
<poem>'''DXC''': I've seen that one too many times, while working on a script or a term paper.  Not that there's anything wrong with the Apple computer corporation.</poem>
-MG
:''[Fry and Leela falls through a trap door.]''
I like those robots, we should bring those back.
<poem>'''DXC''': Matt Groening has always been a big fan of trap doors in my experience.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': I am also frightened of them. In fact, all this stuff is just cathartic for me and you know, I'm just working out my own fears.</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''RM''': Trap doors with robots at the bottom.</poem>
They transform in a minute, also.
<poem>'''JD''': I will say this, my friends still say to me, "''[Robot Elder voice]'' Silence! Silence! Silence!"  Yeah, just having a sip of beer at the bar and they're talking, "[robot elder voice] Silence!"</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': A lot hooded cloaks in science-fiction.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''RM''': Robots in hooded cloaks...</poem>
Is that Phil LaMarr's voice picthed down a little bit?
:''[Bender is handed his weapon to kill the prisoners.]''
 
<poem>'''JD''': I see a Morning Star, is there a Glaive Guease Arm on that as well?</poem>
-DXC
<poem>'''GV''': A plus 2.</poem>
You know, it's so electronical processed, that I can't remember who did them.  
<poem>'''JD''': Oh a +2 Glaive Guease Arm.</poem>
 
<poem>'''MG''': What the hell are you talking about?</poem>
-MG
<poem>'''JD''': ''Dungeons and Dragons''.</poem>
I think that's Phil.
<poem>'''MG''': Oh.</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': It's okay, shake it off.</poem>
-DXC
:''[The weapon smashes as Bender throws it off screen.]''
That's Maurice--
<poem>'''JD''': It just smashes!</poem>
 
<poem>'''Jimmy''': [episode] Duh, that's for sure.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''JD''': My best attempt to&ndash; at a famous fictional boxer.</poem>
That's Maurice, and he doesn't have to pitch it then.  Nice.
:''[Fry, Leela and Bender are fleeing.]''
 
<poem>'''RM?''': So this would be one of the running away endings.</poem>
-RM
<poem>'''GV''': Yes.</poem>
There's that 3D animation.
:''[Fry and Leela shows Bender what they did for him.]''
 
<poem>'''DXC''': That menorah there, made of beer bottles.  Or was it a robo-norah?</poem>
-JD
:''[Music's on.]''
Oh yeah!
<poem>'''JD''': Popping and locking to Klezmer music.  I love it</poem>
 
:''[The picture montage; last picture.]''
-DXC
<poem>'''JD''': I love this one.</poem>
Here's a classic 3D shot coming up.
<poem>'''DXC''': The last one is the best&mdash;</poem>
 
<poem>'''JD''': The last one is the best.</poem>
-RM
<poem>'''DXC''': Bender can cut another character's throat and still be likable somehow.  That's how you know you have a good character when they can get away with that.</poem>
There they are.
<poem>'''JD''': Unbelievable.  Yes, that's the first appearance of Tom Kenny, yes it is.  Oh boy.  Any theme song with chimes, I'm all about.</poem>
 
<poem>'''RM''': Sad to think that most of these people are dead now.  They were great.</poem>
-JD
<poem>'''JD''': [Randy] Hey, it's 30th Century Fox again!</poem>
Look at them!  [tongue wrobble]  Great, aargh.
 
-DXC
Tetris, anyone?
 
We're going to see Bender's magician outfitting again 3 years from the point of this episode.  Took a while to come back.
 
-MG
But they do have garbage cans...
 
-JD
I never smoked in the bathroom at highschool.
 
-RM
We had an actual smoking section back when kids could smoke.
 
-MG
Is that true?
 
-RM
Yeah, we had a section at the north end of my high school where we used to smoke at.
 
-GV
Yeah, we did that too.
 
-RM
Between classes.
 
-MG
That was designated?
 
-JD
Designated smoking area, you're caught smoking anywhere else, you would--
 
-RM
Horrible ???
 
-JD
That's right.  God bless the 80s.
 
-DXC
That's Tom Kenny.
 
-JD
Yeah, it is Tom Kenny.
 
-DXC
He's first appearance in Futurama, I think.
 
-JD
A wonderful actor, very funny.  A cast member on Mr Show, if you will.
 
Scared, Matt?
 
-DXC
That's a reference to the second body snatchers movie, the one with Leonord Nimoy.  It's the sound they made.
 
-JD
That's robotone, right?
 
-DXC
Beserk.
 
-JD
Beserk.
 
-DXC
Same era.  Great video game from the 80s.
 
-MG
This is a good scene.
 
-JD
Maurice LaMarche.
 
-RM
I remember this, we used to do the space mutant from The Simpsons.
 
-JD
I think I play the space mutant here.
 
-DXC
Your best performance, ever.
 
-JD
I think it is.
 
-DXC
Here it comes.
 
-JD
Yeah, that is me.
 
-DXC
That's really funny animation.
 
-?
Ah, the classic 3D ???.
 
-JD
Dave Herman.
 
-MG
Billy West talking to himself.
 
-JD
Yeah, all three of those robots. Actually, Fry's not a robot.  I'm sorry.  But he still scared the hell out of me, Matt!
 
-DXC
That's Maurice.
 
-MG
That's Maurice LaMarche. This show would have frigthen me, as kid.  Robby the Robot scared the hell out of me, you know.  As I recall, for the crew, we made t-shirts with Bender's saying, "death to humans" and didn't you get to task for that?
 
-DXC
I think it was one of the other writers, Lou ??? was in the supermarket wearing his "death to humans"-shirt and another customer came up to him and said "how can you wear that horrible shirt?"
 
-JD
Well, they're not watching the show, aren't they?
 
-DXC
That crazy position his arm is in.
 
Macintosh startup sound.
 
We went through a huge list of possible baits that humans would like, most of them had wipe cream and sprinkles and stuff.  We decided that the combination of butter and free was the ultimate bait for a human.
 
-MG
Aw.  I don't know what to say.
 
-RM
Yeah.
 
-GV
Getting caught up in this.
 
-JD
I cried a tear. "... went gold".
 
-DXC
One thing all planets have in common is their tracking of record sets.
 
-GV
Hall of Justice.
 
-DXC
We ought to get some sort of payment from Apple Computer company, there's another Macintosh there.  Giving him a lot of free screen time.
 
I've seen that one too many times, while working on a script to a term paper. Not that there's anything wrong with the Apple computer corporation
 
Matt Greoning has always been a big fan of trap doors in my experience.
 
-MG
I am also frighten of them. We're taking all this stuff that's ???nite for me and you know, working on my own fears.
 
-?
Trap doors with robots at the bottom.
 
-JD
I will say this, my friends still say to me, "[robot elder voice] Silence! Silence! Silence!"
 
Yeah, just having a sip of beer at the bar and they're talking, "[robot elder voice] Silence!"
 
-MG
A lot hooded cloaks in science-fiction.
 
-RM
Robots in hooded cloaks...
 
-JD
I see a morning star, is it like a glaceglean??? arm on that as well?
 
-?
A plus 2.
 
-JD
Oh a +2 glaceslesharm??? ???.
 
-MG
What the hell are you talking about?
 
-JD
Doungouns and Dragons.
 
-MG
Oh.
 
-JD
It's okay, shake it off.
 
It just smashes!
 
My best attempt to-- at a famous fictional boxer.
 
-GV/RM?
So this would be one of the running away endings?
 
-MG
Yeah.
 
-DXC
That manourvre??? there, made it very hard.  Or was it a real banora????
 
-?
Hopping and logging to kleshmar music.
 
-JD
I love this one.
 
-DXC
The last one is the best--
 
-JD
The last one is the best.
 
-DXC
Bender can cut another character's throat and still be likeable somehow.  You know you have a good character when they can get away with that.
 
-JD
Unbelievable.
 
-RM
Yes, that's the first appearance of Tom Kenny, yes it is.
 
-MG
Oh boy.
 
-RM
Any theme song with chimes, sad to think that most of these people are dead now.  They were great.
 
-JD
[Randy] Hey, it's 30th Century Fox again!
-->


{{navigation bottom/transcript
{{navigation bottom/transcript

Latest revision as of 04:23, 10 September 2009

Transcript of commentary for
"Fear of a Bot Planet"
Transcribed bySvip
Commentary participants
  • Note: One question mark in bold (?) means that the speaker was not identified by the transcriber.
  • Note: Three question marks (???) means that the word in proximity to the question marks is a suggested word, but not necessarily correctly identified, or if there is no word near the question mark (a space away is not near), then no suggested word was provided.
[Fry and Leela are standing watching the view.]

Matt Groening: God I love this cold opening. This is a good one. And didn't think it was gonna work. "Nah, that won't work", but it turned out great. Hi, this is Matt Groening.

Gregg Vanzo: Gregg Vanzo.

John DiMaggio: I'm John DiMaggio, I play Bender and bunch of other voices and stuff.

David X. Cohen: David Cohen, executive producer, head writer.

Rich Moore: And Rich Moore, supervising director.

[Opening sequence nears its end.]

DXC: Who picks these little cartoon clips that go on?

RM: Actually, you guys send a bunch of them over to us.

DXC: We do?

RM: Yeah. Frank Cowon sends a whole bunch of 'em. And Scott Vanzo, our director of 3D animation, and I go through the clips to pick out what will fit in what's less than two seconds.

JD: So it takes longer to explain than actual do.

RM: I could go on!

[Blernsball.]

JD: Glorx, 3:16.

DXC: Blernsball, the name "blernsball" actually came out of a joke the writers had where we were working so hard at this point in this history of the series– this early on, that we didn't have enough days in the week to write the show — we were writing seven days a week. So I putted up a schedule that included "blernsday" as an eight day, so we would have time to get the job done. That's where this came out.

MG: The original name for this show was not "Futurama", by the way. There was a long long list of possible names, the only two I remember which were resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it; "Doomsville" was my number one choice. And my number two choice — and I don't even know why I thought this was a good idea for a name — somehow, "Aloha, Mars" struck me and that was also not particularly...

DXC: That could be used for an episode, maybe.

[Bender squeaks butter on the popcorn.]

DXC: Oh boy.

JD: I just got that.

[Multi-ball is unleashed at the station.]

DXC: Pinball reference there. We have a couple of pinball machine at the office. See where our inspiration comes from.

RM: The Tron light cycle.

JD: I have no idea what's going on in this game; it's great. Are there actually any rules to Blernsball that are definite?

DXC: It's starting to evolve a little now that we've seen it again now that we've seen it in some future episodes, but overall I think the goal is to keep it just out of the realm of understandability.

MG: Sort of like baseball.

DXC: Exactly.

MG: When I was a kid, I was obsessed by robots. I loved them and I was totally in fear of them, 'cause the thing about a robot—

?: ???

MG: Yeah, because you can't reason with a robot. You know, if they wanna kill you, you cannot talk them out of it. I learned this from television and the movies. I had a collection of toy robots. And I would watch them at night from my bed.

JD: Ah, did they scare you?

MG: 'cause they moved! Just a little bit, you know...

[A cleaning robot is cleaning up the dirt.]

DXC: That cleaning robot, that cleaned up the bottle, Bender threw down a minute ago. Originally, it appeared in the pilot, but was taken out as the show was too long.

Farnsworth: [episode] You're going to Chapek 9.

DXC: Chapek! Anyone know where that came from?

MG: Karel Chapek, right?

DXC: The robot expert is correct.

MG: Who coined the term "robot".

DXC: I believe that's right.

MG: In his play "RUR" or R-U-R — Rossum's Universal Robots. He also wrote a really good book called War with the Newts.

DXC: That's another good name for an episode.

DXC: Part of the inspiration for this episode was a story by one of my favourite authors, Stanislaw Lem, Polish comedy science fiction author, he's had a really funny short story he wrote, which I don't remember the name of, in which some– a human crashes into a planet inhabited by robots and has to hide in the bushes eating berries at night. Sounds funny, doesn't it?

MG: You know what, actually, it's...
<poem>RM: You're scaring Matt. David, stop!

MR: The fact is that this show is full of references to literary science-fiction, it's not just– it's not just rip-offs of Star Trek and Star Wars. Like everything else, you know.

DXC: It's rip-offs of thing you aren't aware of.

MG: Stanislaw Lem... Karel Chapek and–

DXC: In the Stanislaw Lem story, it turned out that all of the terrifying robots were other people who had crash landed and had disguised themselves as robots so they wouldn't be target. It later turned out that there were no robots on the planet. Oh, I just ruined it for anyone who goes out to read it.

[Fry and Leela are looking down at Bender being lowered onto the planet.]

JD: I like the wind blowing in their hair as they look down on the planet, great.

[Fry and Leela dress up as robots.]

RM: Our stock-static.

GV: Worked hard on that.

MG: My older brother, Mark, dressed up like that once when I was a kid.

JD: He scare the hell out of you?

MG: He scared the hell out of me.

[Fry and Leela are dancing like robots.]

JD: He's doing the robot. [Leela starts dancing.] Show him up.

MG: Hey, that was good animation. Good acting.

[Fry and Leela walk upon Chapek 9.]

DXC: Really neat planetscape here.

[Fry and Leela are met by the guard bots.]

MG: I like those robots, we should bring those back.

DXC: They transform in a minute, also.

JD: Is that Phil LaMarr's voice pitched down a little bit?

DXC: You know, it's so electronically processed, that I can't remember who did them.

MG: I think that's Phil.

DXC: That's Maurice—

JD: That's Maurice, and he doesn't have to pitch it down. Nice.

[Fry and Leela walk through the robot city.]

RM: There's that 3D animation.

JD: Oh yeah!

DXC: Here's a classic 3D shot coming up.

[Clock turns to 12:00 and tonnes of robots flock the street.]

RM: There they are.

JD: Look at them! [tongue wobble] Great, aargh.

DXC: Tetris, anyone?

[Fry is holding up a picture of Bender in a magician outfit.]

DXC: We're going to see Bender's magician's outfitting again 3 years from the point of this episode. Took a while to come back.

Leela: [episode] Robots don't have bathrooms.

Fry: [episode] Oh right, I wonder where they smoke in high school.

RM: But they do have garbage cans...

JD: I never smoked in the bathroom at high school. We had an actual smoking section back when kids could smoke.

MG: Is that true?

JD: Yeah, we had a section at the north end of my high school where we used to smoke at.

GV: Yeah, we did that too.

JD: Between classes.

MG: That was designated?

JD: Designated smoking area, you're caught smoking anywhere else, you would–

RM: Marlboro High

JD: That's right. God bless the 80s.

[A robot is talking to Fry and Leela.]

DXC: That's Tom Kenny.

JD: Yeah, it is Tom Kenny.

DXC: He's first appearance in Futurama, I think.

JD: A wonderful actor, very funny. A cast member on Mr Show, if you will.

[The robot screams]

RM: Scared, Matt?

DXC: That's a reference to the second Body Snatchers movie, the one with Leonord Nimoy. It's the sound they made.

Anti-Human patrol: [episode] Intruder alert.

JD: That's Robotron, right?

DXC: Berzerk.

JD: Berzerk.

DXC: Same era. Great video game from the 80s.

[They hide in the cinema.]

MG: This is a good scene.

JD: Maurice LaMarche.

RM: I remember this, we used to do the space mutant movies from The Simpsons.

JD: I think I play the space mutant here.

DXC: Your best performance, ever.

JD: I think it is.

DXC: Here it comes.

[The "human" appears behind some bushes and threatens the robots!]

JD: Yeah, that is me.

[The "human" eats the robot's head.]

DXC: That's really funny animation.

RM: Ah, the classic ???.

[The robot general is talking.]

JD: Dave Herman.

[Fry is talking to some robots after the film.]

JD: Billy West talking to himself. Yeah, all three of those robots. Actually, Fry's not a robot. I'm sorry. But he still scared the hell out of me, Matt!

[The robot mayor appears.]

DXC: That's Maurice.

JD: That is Maurice LaMarche.
<poem>MG: This show would have frighten me, as kid. Robby the Robot scared the hell out of me, you know. As I recall, for the crew, we made t-shirts with Bender's saying, "death to humans" and didn't you get taken to task for that?

DXC: I think it was one of the other writers, Lou Martin, was in the supermarket wearing his "death to humans"-shirt and another customer came up to him and said "how can you wear that horrible shirt?"

JD: Well, they're not watching the show, are they?

[Bender is holding up the cover of his new album, Bender Lets Loose.]

DXC: That crazy position his arm is in.

[A robot toots a horn for the daily human hunt.]

DXC: Macintosh startup sound.

[The free butter trap.]

DXC: We went through a huge list of possible baits that humans would like, most of them had whipped cream and sprinkles and stuff. We decided that the combination of butter and free was the ultimate bait for a human.

[Fry and Leela have found Bender, but he ain't coming.]

JD: Aww...

RM: I don't know what to say.

JD: Yeah.

GV: Getting caught up in this.

JD: I cried a tear.

Robot mayor: [episode] Congratulations, Bender, your album just went gold.

JD: "... went gold".

DXC: One thing all planets have in common is their tracking of record sales.

[Hall of Justice.]

GV: Hall of Justice.

DXC: We ought to get some sort of payment from Apple Computer company, that's another Macintosh there. Giving him a lot of free screen time.

[The Macintosh freezes up.]

DXC: I've seen that one too many times, while working on a script or a term paper. Not that there's anything wrong with the Apple computer corporation.

[Fry and Leela falls through a trap door.]

DXC: Matt Groening has always been a big fan of trap doors in my experience.

MG: I am also frightened of them. In fact, all this stuff is just cathartic for me and you know, I'm just working out my own fears.

RM: Trap doors with robots at the bottom.

JD: I will say this, my friends still say to me, "[Robot Elder voice] Silence! Silence! Silence!" Yeah, just having a sip of beer at the bar and they're talking, "[robot elder voice] Silence!"

MG: A lot hooded cloaks in science-fiction.

RM: Robots in hooded cloaks...

[Bender is handed his weapon to kill the prisoners.]

JD: I see a Morning Star, is there a Glaive Guease Arm on that as well?

GV: A plus 2.

JD: Oh a +2 Glaive Guease Arm.

MG: What the hell are you talking about?

JD: Dungeons and Dragons.

MG: Oh.

JD: It's okay, shake it off.

[The weapon smashes as Bender throws it off screen.]

JD: It just smashes!

Jimmy: [episode] Duh, that's for sure.

JD: My best attempt to– at a famous fictional boxer.

[Fry, Leela and Bender are fleeing.]

RM?: So this would be one of the running away endings.

GV: Yes.

[Fry and Leela shows Bender what they did for him.]

DXC: That menorah there, made of beer bottles. Or was it a robo-norah?

[Music's on.]

JD: Popping and locking to Klezmer music. I love it

[The picture montage; last picture.]

JD: I love this one.

DXC: The last one is the best—

JD: The last one is the best.

DXC: Bender can cut another character's throat and still be likable somehow. That's how you know you have a good character when they can get away with that.

JD: Unbelievable. Yes, that's the first appearance of Tom Kenny, yes it is. Oh boy. Any theme song with chimes, I'm all about.

RM: Sad to think that most of these people are dead now. They were great.

JD: [Randy] Hey, it's 30th Century Fox again!