Difference between revisions of "Transcript:Commentary:The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"

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'''DXC''': And that's a play on?
'''DXC''': And that's a play on?


'''KK''': "Idle hands are the devil's playthings", a phrase that probably hasn't been said in the last fifty or sixty years.
'''KK''': "Idle hands are the Devil's playthings", a phrase that probably hasn't been said in the last fifty or sixty years.


[laughter]
[laughter]


'''BW''': I remember "An idle mind is the devil's workshop".
'''BW''': I remember "An idle mind is the Devil's workshop".


'''ML''': I remember...
'''ML''': I remember...
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[laughter]
[laughter]


'''ML''': ...an idle thing is the devil's playhand".
'''ML''': ...an idle thing is the Devil's playhand".


'''?''': [chuckle]
'''?''': [chuckle]
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'''ML''': No?  It didn't get said a lot.
'''ML''': No?  It didn't get said a lot.


'''BW''': The devil's pajamas.
'''BW''': The Devil's pajamas.


'''ML''': Outside of Timmins, Ontario it never got said a lot.
'''ML''': Outside of Timmins, Ontario it never got said a lot.
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'''DXC''': Ah, by the way this is also Dan Castellaneta as the snail here.
'''DXC''': Ah, by the way this is also Dan Castellaneta as the snail here.


'''Snail''': ...on this two record set...
'''[[Grumpy Snail (character)|Grumpy Snail]]''': ...on this two record set...


'''KK''': And this is based on...
'''KK''': And this is based on...
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'''ML''': That's right.
'''ML''': That's right.


'''BW''': ...you put Burgess Meredith in it [in Professor's voice] "don't forget the ???"
'''BW''': ...you put Burgess Meredith in it [in the {{w|Penguin (comics)|Penguin's}} voice] "don't forget the ???"


'''ML''': Yes, it's like putting, it's like putting them through the, uh, that, that, that episode of, uh, [[Star Trek]] with the transporter that merges, oh no that's ''The Fly'', I'm sorry, that merges two...
'''ML''': Yes, it's like putting, it's like putting them through the, uh, that, that, that episode of, uh, [[Star Trek]] with the transporter that merges, oh no that's ''The Fly'', I'm sorry, that merges two...
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'''Robot Devil''': Ooh! Out of aerosol?
'''Robot Devil''': Ooh! Out of aerosol?


'''KK''': I recall this is the second time in the run of the series where we iris??? out on, or push in on Bender's ass, yes.  [someone chuckles]  We also did it in the Hallowee...the, [[Put Your Head on My Shoulder|Valentine episode in season 2]].
'''KK''': I recall this is the second time in the run of the series where we iris??? out on, or push in on Bender's ass, yes.  [someone chuckles]  We also did it in the Hallowee...the, [[Put Your Head on My Shoulders|Valentine episode in season 2]].


'''DXC''': Well, there it makes sense 'cause it's a romantic sight...
'''DXC''': Well, there it makes sense 'cause it's a romantic sight...
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'''ML''': "MHOp"?
'''ML''': "MHOp"?


'''KK''': MHOp, Metropolitan House of Opera.
'''KK''': MHOp, [[Metropolitan House of Opera]].


'''ML''': Oh, OK, yeah, right.
'''ML''': Oh, OK, yeah, right.
Line 587: Line 587:
:[Tinny Tim walks in with newspapers, passing Leela who stands by the coat room door.]  
:[Tinny Tim walks in with newspapers, passing Leela who stands by the coat room door.]  


[[Tinny Tim]]: Extra! Extra! World's greatest opera only half over.
'''[[Tinny Tim]]''': Extra! Extra! World's greatest opera only half over.


:''[Leela reads the headline.] ''
:''[Leela reads the headline.] ''
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'''KK''': Here's another bombastic robot that I, someone pointed out this, this is an episode full of, uh, three bombastic robots, and here comes the third.  Uh...
'''KK''': Here's another bombastic robot that I, someone pointed out this, this is an episode full of, uh, three bombastic robots, and here comes the third.  Uh...


'''DXC''': Cure Maurice LaMarche!
'''DXC''': Cue Maurice LaMarche!


'''KK''': Exactly.
'''KK''': Exactly.

Latest revision as of 16:12, 12 May 2013

Transcript of commentary for
"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"
Transcribed byDeepSpaceHomer
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.

Matt Groening: Hey everybody, this is Matt Groening welcoming you to the final DVD commentary of the final episode of Futurama. We're recording this on February 20th, 2003, and this is an episode that hasn't aired yet, but by the time you're listening to this, you've probably watched it, and now you'll get the bittersweet commentary that is about to happen. Take it away, Billy.

David X. Cohen: [chuckles]

Billy West: Hi, this is Billy West, and I am the voice of Fry, and you are about to hear a grown man weep. [Fake crying noises]

Dan Castellaneta: That grown man weeping is me, Dan Castellaneta, as the Robot Devil.

DXC: Yay!

MG: Dan Castellaneta, everybody! [clapping]

DXC: Special guest commentator.

DC: Yeah, they waited until the LAST one for me to come in.

Maurice LaMarche: And I'm Maurice LaMarche and I play Hedonism Bot and a couple other characters in the show.

Bender: Yeah, well you should try not stinking at it!

DXC: I'm David X. Cohen, executive producer.

Bender: Lessons? That's rich! Isn't it time you gave up all hope of ever improving...

MG: So what's the name of this episode?

Ken Keeler: Uh, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings". That's I-D-L-E, contrary to what I've seen written in various places.

DXC: And that's a play on?

KK: "Idle hands are the Devil's playthings", a phrase that probably hasn't been said in the last fifty or sixty years.

[laughter]

BW: I remember "An idle mind is the Devil's workshop".

ML: I remember...

KK: Nah, that, that, that's not true.

BW: No?

ML: ...I remember "an idle...

[laughter]

ML: ...an idle thing is the Devil's playhand".

?: [chuckle]

ML: No? It didn't get said a lot.

BW: The Devil's pajamas.

ML: Outside of Timmins, Ontario it never got said a lot.

[Scene: Outside Holophonor School. The sign reads "Holophonor Teacher. Taking The Joy Out Of Music For 20 Years". Fry and Bender each ride a Segway on the pavement and Fry crashes his into Bender's.]

KK: Ah, the, what are those things called?

DXC: Those are the Segways.

ML: Segways.

DXC: Now, the...

ML: Nice segue, by the way.

DXC: Oh, thank you.

[laughter]

DXC: They, uh, they haven't caught on yet as of today but again, by the time you're listening to this I'd assume...

DC: In the year 3003.

ML: In the year 3003.

DXC: ...I assume you are standing on one right now while you're watching.

MG: Can you believe the, you hear those jerks in San Francisco tried to outlaw them?

DXC: Why, they pollute too much?

MG: No, because they get in the way of people on sidewalks or, I don't know why.

ML: In the way of people on their scooters.

DXC: You ask me, they are getting in the way of the future.

[laughter]

KK: Take that, San Francisco.

ML: Where we won't need legs. We'll just stand on Segways.

BW: [laughs]

[Everyone sits down and watches the boy with the untidy hair play Beethoven's Für Elise on his holophonor. The holographic smoke whirls around and forms a picture of an elegantly-dressed man and woman. The man plays an open grand piano and the woman sits on it. Some steps fly around the back of the piano and the woman walks up them. The man follows her and they climb into the clouds. A barrel rolls under them and scores 100 points for each like in the Donkey Kong game. The audience applauds. Bender leans over to the boy's mother.]

DXC: Now Ken, you're a musician, does this, does this part refer to any bitter memories of music lessons that you harbor?

KK: Oh, very slightly. But I never, you know, it, the recitals were always tough, and I always felt like they would be something, you, Fry hanging around with little, with a bunch of little children and not be any better at it than they were.

[Fry plays holophonor]

BW: For this role I had to really work hard to play that holophonor.

DXC: [laughs] Of course, you'll remember the holophonor from it's previous appearance in episode 302, if I'm not mistaken.

[Holographic Grumpy Snail growls]

?: Oh, I think...

Boy: It's too grumpy!

DXC: The holophonor, as we've said in that episode is inspired by an instrument in, uh, the, uh, uh, that, uh, BOOK...

[laughter]

DXC: ??? ...In Foundation, one of the Foundation books, Isaac Asimov, the Mule plays an instrument much like that, except that it controls peoples minds, so it...

KK: There's so many Foundation books at this point...

DXC: Yeah.

KK: ...you have to narrow it down a bit more.

Fry: I can hear all this great music in my head, but my stupid hands can't keep up.

DXC: So Ken, what was the origin of this episode?

Bender: ...laughing at other peoples...

KK: Uh, we thought of it. I mean...

[laughter]

DXC: Come on, make something good up.

BW: Synapse???

KK: I don't remember anything particularly interesting. I mean, we were discussing the, uh, previous episode at, which at one time had a musical plot, and we thought it would be nice to have an episode with a lot of music in it, and that I think led us to the idea of the holophonor and the idea of Fry being, getting better at the holophonor and then the Robot Devil.

DXC: Right, yeah, episode 417 originally, for a while we were trying to do something musical that involved Barbados Slim and we gave up, but I guess the music survived, and gave it to this one.

Leela: ...creative soul...

KK: I think you're confused. Barbados Slim was 413, 417 ended up being the nose...

DXC: No no no, I know that, but we discussed making 417 an episode which, which...

KK: Oh!

DXC: ...of Barbados Slim...

KK: Nobody told me that.

[crosstalk]

DC: [sarcastically] Stop arguing, you two!

MG: Ladies and gentlemen, this is what it's like to be in the writer's room.

DXC: Ha ha.

ML: Or a comic book convention.

DXC: Now by the way a, a question which is on everybody's mind who's watching this, I'm sure you're probably saying it out loud right now is, did we think this might be the last episode of the series when we wrote it, and the answer is, we did yes. We thought, we thought there was a probably a 50-50 chance, so we kinda wanted to hedge our bets and not have everyone literally wave goodbye at the end, but to, to at least go out on a sweet note, that you would, you would feel good about yourself.

Bender: ...religious visit. Fry just wants holophonor lessons.

Fry: Yep. I need to get really good without practicing.

Robot Devil: Ahahahahaha! Hell is full of ten-year-olds who wanted exactly the same thing. Trouble is, you have what my old music teacher...

DXC: Look at that, it's Dan Castellaneta as the Robot Devil.

?: Yeah.

BW: Nice work.

DC: Thank you.

[clapping]

KK: Featuring, I, I hope people noticed that, uh, we brought back the song from the Robot Devil show.

DXC: That's right, episode 109.

BW: But we have him here, and I can ask him a question. What's the origin of that voice?

DC: Well, it's a very bad impression of Hans Conried.

BW: [chuckle]

DC: That's true.

ML: Which becomes a good impression of the Robot Devil.

DC: It becomes, that's the thing, it's like if you can do either impressions or bad, if you do a bad impression you can just say it's an original voice.

?: Right.

BW: A voice no one's ever heard before.

?: That's right.

DC: I, I always loved Hans Conried, of course is a famous character actor and uh, uh, I remember seeing him in, uh, or me seeing his work in Peter Pan, and I thought it was an, a performance worthy of an Oscar as Captain Hook and ???...

MG: And also the dad, at the beginning of the, uh, of Peter Pan.

DC: That's right.

MG: And I thought that was really weird. I was like, oh my god, the dad is Captain Hook.

DC: Yes.

MG: He's gonna murder us!

KK: Sorry, sorry, I just wanted to interject a thing here, in the script we called for this wheel to have millions and millions of Robot Devil, robot names on it, and we left it the animators [sic], and I don't know how much discussion there was about actually implementing it. [chuckles]

[Wheel of Robots spins]

DXC: And by the way, oh, uh, every single, every item is a real name and this shot you can freeze frame and they are all distinct robots that have appeared on the show. And uh, I, I think there are around 60 but I, at this point I forgot the number. Bret, do you remember?

Bret Haaland: 3003.

[laughter]

DXC: No, it was like 60 or 80 and it was surprisingly easy to come up with that many robots who were, who, not only were in the show but we avoided ones who were just like, you know, Cleaning Robot that didn't really figure, they're all robots that actually kinda figured in the series.

Robot Devil: ...as a show of good faith...

MG: Maybe that's why we got canceled.

[laughter]

KK: We, we also rushed by a thing that I've noticed several times watching it since then that, that, I guess Bret put in or came from the storyboards. We're setting up all along that it's going to be Bender's hands and if you watch his hands during the scene leading up to that point, you see them a lot. He wiggles them, he, and he, attention is being called to them very carefully, just for that mislead.

Robot Devil: Oh sorry, that'll wear off in a couple of days. [He looks at his new hands and Fry falls to the floor, choking.]

[Scene: Planet Express: Meeting Room. Farnsworth, Hermes, Leela, Amy, Zoidberg and Bender sit around the table. Enter Fry.]

DXC: We also wanted the, uh, final episode to involve all of the characters, all the regulars, so that, you know, everyone has a part in the song. For example we, that was a, kind of another s...uh, constraint put on us by the fact that it might be the last episode.

[Enter Scruffy]

DXC: Got Scruffy in there.

KK: You wanted it to involve ???.

[laughter]

DXC: It made Ken's life a little harder composing the opera, but, what the heck.

Robot Devil: Hello, Fry.

BW: I love Ken's operas, they're...

[laughter]

BW: ...I'm an a, I'm a, I'm, no...

[laughter]

BW: ...no, I'm a musician, too, and I, and I think oh I'll just go in there and knock this off, and he's got the oddest configurations of phrasing, and I don't know where it's going until I hear it finally.

DC: It was about as much rehearsal as for an opera.

[laughter]

KK: This, it was...

DC: Getting these songs.

KK: Yes, they were, I mean these songs I should say were never, they were only intended for timing purposes, and not to be the final melodies, uh, or harmonies for that matter, and uh, [crosstalk with DXC, below] against my will...

DXC: Well, that's what you get for doing too good of a job. Take that!

KK: [chuckles] Against my will, they bear much more of a resemblance to the demos that I did than I'd hoped.

DXC: They're great.

BH: The, the entire animation was inspired, actually, by Ken's voice. ???

[laughter]

BH: Which was wonderful.

KK: That was...

BH: He hit all the high notes and everything.

KK: ...my, my tests were in there all the way through there. When we saw the animatic, I said OK, we hear my voice then the color it was ??? it was a big color screening because it was our last one, and then the worst thing of all was at the very end when they were scoring it, the entire orchestra was still scoring to my voice. And they knew I was there, I was just standing there at, like, you know, like a butterfly pinned on a card.

[Advertisement for "Fry's Greatest Holophonor Hits" onscreen]

DXC: Ah, by the way this is also Dan Castellaneta as the snail here.

Grumpy Snail: ...on this two record set...

KK: And this is based on...

DC: Oh, the uh...

KK: ...who's that guy? It's the actor, John...

DC: ...yeah...

[crosstalk]

BW: Williams.

KK: John Williams, yes.

BW: [in voice of John Williams, the radio personality] "You probably know this as 'Whole Lotta Love'".

[laughter]

DC: John Williams was the other Mr. French.

KK: Yes he was.

ML: Oh yeah.

KK: And he's in, Dial M for Murder?

DC: Dial M for Murder, that's right.

BW: But his face started really changing at that point and he began to look like a Picasso because one side was like falling...

[Enter Hedonism Bot]

BW: ...and the other side was up.

KK: This, when we were pitching out the episode, this was the moment where everybody realized this was gonna be a lotta fun....

DXC: [laughs]

KK: ...the moment Hedonism Bot walked in.

DXC: Maurice LaMarche!

?: Maurice.

DXC: Hedonism Bot.

KK: We still don't know how popular Hedonism Bot will be among the general populace, but the writers loved him.

[chuckling]

DXC: Because finally, our lifestyle is portrayed...

[laughter]

DXC: ...right here.

DC: A true character.

KK: I don't...

ML: [in Hedonism Bot's voice] Huzzah!

KK: ...Eric Kaplan was fond of pointing out that he's not "Hedonist Bot", he's not just a hedonist. He's "Hedonism Bot"...

[crosstalk]

KK: ...he embodies an entire philosophy.

MG: [laughs]

Fry: ...write about. Unless... [He turns and looks at Leela, who sits at the table gorging on a buggalo leg dripping with barbecue sauce. He smiles and turns to Hedonism Bot.]

DXC: Buggalo leg, for anyone who saw the, uh, episode 310 was it?

?: I believe.

KK: Much more eating in this shot than you usually see in a television program.

Hedonism Bot: ...opera about a woman? [He laughs.] Oh, sirrah, how deliciously absurd!

DC: This, this also seems sorta similar to "The Red Shoes".

[chuckles]

[Scene: Planet Express: Hangar. Late at night, Leela hammers something inside the ships port wing. She hears music and looks around.]

DC: Except it's "The Red Hands".

MG: So Ken, are you an opera fan?

KK: No.

MG: [laughs]

KK: I know nothing about opera. Honestly, I, I bought like this three disc set of greatest opera hits to listen to while, while I was writing and it did no good. I just, I don't, I've certainly never seen an opera.

BW: You've never heard of La bohème? [pronounces it as "Labomey"]

KK: [laughs]

[Planet Express: Attic Balcony. Leela opens the door and sees Fry sat on the balcony playing the holophonor. In his image, two stick figures dance. He stops playing and writes some notes on a music sheet.]

DXC: Is that 3D, Bret, or is that, did you draw that?

BH: It looks hand-drawn.

DXC: And what about that, is that real music?

KK: I think that's real music. If I remember it correctly, that's uh, a piece of the uh, oh, the, duh, the Pathétique Sonata. The Beethoven Pathétique Sonata.

Fry: This has to be perfect. I want you to hear exactly what I hear when I think about...

DXC: Does it make you feel inferior that Beethoven wrote that crazy thing and he was deaf?

Leela: ...incredible gift...

DXC: And the best you could do is win two Emmys for Original Song?

[laughter]

KK: I covered my ears while I was doing it.

DC: Many other people as well. No, just kidding.

KK: [chuckles]

Robot Devil: [shouting from the street] And yet Hell is so hot! [He laughs briefly.]

KK: I was gonna ask something...

[laughter]

KK: ...I was gonna ask something else about this voice. If I remember from the, from the first Devil, Robot Devil appearance, there was the discussion of making, I remember they were suggesting, or maybe you suggested like, a little more, is it possible, Frank Morgan, in that?

DC: Yeah, a little Frank Morgan.

KK: I recall a process where things were being add in [sic] and taken, taken out, and it was, I think, I think you said it was like operating dials.

DC: It was, it was tuning it up, well, you guys know, it's like make him pitch him higher, you, be it Peter, Peter, you know whoever this is, Peter Lloyd, pitch him higher, now make him lower, now give him a French accent. You know.

BW: Yeah.

KK: But I mean, it was, it was just incredible to watch, because you could hear the tiny little adjustment, you could just, it was...

[crosstalk]

MG: No, you guys, the three of you guys, Maurice and, and Dan and Billy, you are masters, and it is amazing, it's so fun to be able to watch you guys make the minor adjustments in those characters and just, and combine them and, it's baffling and it's magic???

BW: We like fusion. We're very much into fusion.

DC: Yeah, we're in fusion, that's right, voice fusion.

BW: Yeah, you take like, uh, you know talking about, uh, Frank Morgan, that's a little bit of that in the Professor character...

MG: Mm-hmm.

BW: ...because, what else, you know I mean, he's, he's, he's that, that [in voice of the Wizard of Oz] "ooohh yeesss, you know", and then...

ML: That's right.

BW: ...you put Burgess Meredith in it [in the Penguin's voice] "don't forget the ???"

ML: Yes, it's like putting, it's like putting them through the, uh, that, that, that episode of, uh, Star Trek with the transporter that merges, oh no that's The Fly, I'm sorry, that merges two...

[crosstalk]

MG: [laughs]

ML: ...you know, that's what we do with a lot, with a lot of these, uh, voices, just throw two into the mix and have them come into one character.

DXC: Another thing that amazes me is that, what, you guys can sing in these crazy voices, like who would think that Dr. Zoidberg could sing, you know it's, uh, it's unbelievable.

BW: It's, it's easier to sing but the thing that's really really hard is to scream and yell in another character.

DXC: [chuckles]

ML: Because you always go back to your default voice when you're screaming and yelling...

BW: Or I don't want to dive???

ML: ...or at least that's the tendency to.

Leela: What?

ML: Well, so much of it is breathing. You know, different vocal tensions, different v...uh, I mean certain voices get really close in on the mic and you can drop down, but I mean, so when you're just pushing everything up and screaming at the top of your lungs, you're gonna go back to you pretty, pretty easily and it's tough to fight that.

Robot Devil: Ooh! Out of aerosol?

KK: I recall this is the second time in the run of the series where we iris??? out on, or push in on Bender's ass, yes. [someone chuckles] We also did it in the Hallowee...the, Valentine episode in season 2.

DXC: Well, there it makes sense 'cause it's a romantic sight...

KK: [laughs]

DXC: ...but here, I don't know.

ML: "MHOp"?

KK: MHOp, Metropolitan House of Opera.

ML: Oh, OK, yeah, right.

KK: It's not really a joke exactly...

ML: Sorry.

[laughter]

KK: ...it's, uh.

Bender: OK, deaf-o!

DXC: Those hovering balconies remind me of Star Wars, is that what it's from? Or is that just what it is?

[laughter]

BH: I think it's just the kind of seat you would love to have for these kinds of show.

Hedonism Bot: [sexfully] You know the ones I mean.

MG and BW: [laughs]

KK: Every appearance of Hedonism Bot raises more questions than answers.

DXC: [chuckles]

BW: He just hasn't found the right girl.

[laughter]

ML: That's right.

Leela: Yay, Fry!

Zoidberg: [Leans forward to some people in front.] I watch TV with that guy!

DXC: Get to see Leela and Amy in their evening gowns.

[Fry bows and sits down. He starts to play. The smoke forms an image of a title card that reads "Scene 1. Wherein Leela Is Found At The Orphanarium". The holo-scene changes to the steps of Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium. The people are real actors with holographic costumes. A group of Holo-orphans watch as a Holo-Vogel steps out of the building and sees Holo-Leela in a basket.]

DXC: This solves a problem that originally, we didn't have that sign and was banking [sic] too much on people remembering Leela's story, then we came up, up with the idea of that silent movie treatment.

KK: These, uh, these are real, professional opera singers in this section. Um, they had a very hard time understanding what it is we were going for when we were doing the recording, I remember. I spent the, the woman who had to do that big swell, she ???, it's a baby so think, just make it way over the top and she did a very good job but it was very hard without, to explain the concept.

Holo-Bender: [singing] Leela! Leela, Leela save him!
Save Fry, save Fry,
Godzilla will devour him,
As for me,
I must be off,
To have my doctor check this cough,

[He coughs.]

Goodbye!

[He turns away but Godzilla slams its foot down and blocks his path. Bender watches.]

Bender: I don't recall ever fighting Godzilla, but that is so what I would have done.

[Scene: Metropolitan House of Opera Lobby. It's the intermission and the audience are gathered outside the auditorium. Calculon and Preacherbot talk while Florp laughs. Amy and Hermes are at the bar.]

Amy: One diet double Martini, please.

Bartender: And for you, sir?

Hermes: I'll just have a Shirley Hemple.

[Tinny Tim walks in with newspapers, passing Leela who stands by the coat room door.]

Tinny Tim: Extra! Extra! World's greatest opera only half over.

[Leela reads the headline.]

Leela: Half over? Oh, I'd give anything to hear the rest.

[The coat door opens, revealing the Robot Devil inside.]

Robot Devil: Anything? [Leela gasps and drops her glass. A man hands the Robot Devil his coat and he hands him a ticket.] Thank you, sir. [The man leaves and the Robot Devil turns to Leela.] Now, as I was saying, anything? Because I can give you new robotic ears!

[He points at his ears.]

Leela: What? You can give me new ears? Wait. What seemingly...

KK: Here's another bombastic robot that I, someone pointed out this, this is an episode full of, uh, three bombastic robots, and here comes the third. Uh...

DXC: Cue Maurice LaMarche!

KK: Exactly.

MG: [laughs]

KK: When you need a bombastic...

Leela: ...Um, uh--

Announcer: Please take your seats for act two.

DXC: Oh, that's not him, that's Dave Herman.

Hedonism Bot: But I'm not done vomiting.

[He laughs. Leela looks at the people behind her.]

?: Uh...

DXC: See...

ML: That was, that was...

[crosstalk]

MG: I believe it's Dave Herman's birthday today, by the way.

DXC: No, Calculon is en route.

KK: Yes, Calculon...

DXC: Oh, happy birthday.

KK: ...it's Calculon of whom I'm speaking???...

DXC: That's who we're talking about.

KK: ...but he's not here yet. I'm sorry, I...

DXC: You may have noticed Judge...

BW: He can't even show up for his own birthday party, so...

DXC: You may have noticed Judge Whitey and many other of your favorite characters in the lobby there just to, again, try to, put everyone in the last show.

KK: In particular, I know we made an effort to have Nixon be the last joke, which I find really amusing. We just wouldn't let him die.

Leela: ...hear like a safe-cracker! Hey, aren't you...

KK: That line I'd, sticks in my mind as having taken hours and hours and hours.

DXC: This was a hard area, but prior to that s...line was even harder because Leela had to have that conversation but we kinda had to play it she couldn't quite hear what he was saying.

Holo-Fry: I need hands of transcendental quickness.

KK: The opera singer, when I was trying to teach him that melody, just looked at me like I was insane. No way, he said, that that could be sung, so we changed it.

BW: Really? He just resisted?

KK: Well, he...yeah, I mean, I was about to say, I sung it on the demo and then I realized that was not an argument for anything because...

DC: You know, you guys should consider what Disney does and, and actually mount this on stage and Broadway.

[chuckles]

Robot Devil: Bah! This opera's as lousy as it is...

BW: "The Robot King."

[chuckles]

?: Yes. The Robot...

[The Robot Devil kicks the Holo-Robot Devil actor off the stage. The audience gasps. Fry stops playing and the holo-scene fades, leaving the Holo-Fry actor standing on the stage in his underpants.]

Robot Devil: Your lyrics lack subtlety. You can't just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!

Fry: Look, what do you want?

Robot Devil: [singing] I want my hands back.

[He laughs and columns of flame explode behind him. Fry stands up.]

KK: Ah, it's so nice to hear someone other than me singing those words.

DXC: [chuckles]

BW: Look at that beautiful fire. That's great stuff.

Fry: [singing] ...with a dirty dealer.

Robot Devil: [singing] Very well...

DXC: One other interesting thing about this opera, in addition to the content, which is fascinating ???, uh, Katey Sagal had a sore throat when we recorded a lot of the other parts and then, uh, she then got busy with her new show with John Ritter, her new live action TV show, uh, 8 Rules for Dating My Daughter and, uh, we, we, it took about six months for us to record the very last line of this show and the last line of the series, so literally for months and months there was one line of the series that needed to be recorded but, uh, due to FOX's tremendous delays [chuckles] in airing the show, it proved to not be any sort of a problem at all.

Leela: [singing] ...shedding a tear, I agreed...

KK: And in the end, her performance was well worth it.

DC: Did, did, eh, is it, uh, I've heard this that, that, uh, Katey was one of uh, the Harlets that backed up, um, Bette, Bette Midler?

BW: Yeah.

DXC: Yeah, Katey can sing and she's...

DC: Yeah, she's a great singer.

DXC: ...she, she, she still performs...

MG: You know what, she never sang on Married With Children. I asked her.

DXC: Oh really?

MG: Yeah, and so we got her. That's great.

Robot Devil: [singing] You should have checked the wording in the fine... [He makes the contract larger.] Print.

[laughter]

DXC: Is it a general rule that, that all, uh, voice talent can sing? Because is seems like you guys can all...

ML: Nooo.

DXC: ...sing.

ML: Except me.

DXC: Well, you don't have a singing part actually in this, do you Maurice?

KK: I believe...

ML: No, but I, I, I, I literally cannot sing.

DXC: You got off the hook.

KK: Did we ever give you a song?

DXC: Yeah, we did, yes, Kif sang in the, on the, uh, he sang karaoke.

ML: Remember the trouble I had hitting that note? I, I, I, I have...

DXC: It was, it was charming.

ML: ...I have an aluminum ear.

[laughter]

DXC: But, but Billy and Dan can sing up a storm.

Robot Devil: [singing]...our reception if all goes as planned...

BW: You sing in different voices a lot of the time.

ML: I have, I have a three note range actually, so...

Robot Devil: [singing]...my hands!

MG: You know, I always thought Leela was gorgeous, but she's really hot in this final episode.

[crosstalk]

BW: I was just gonna say I'm looking for more of Amy and her décolletage going on there.

Fry: [singing] ...by forcing me to decide upon...

MG: Fry's looking good, too.

[laughter]

DC: First time in a tuxedo.

DXC: He's well lit.

BW: And he had to have robot hands that night.

Fry: [singing] ...the opera that was captivating her...

KK: Well, they match his hair.

BW: Yeah, they [laughs] do.

Fry: [singing] ...and she marries him, then he probably won't want me...

DXC: I like this episode because it gives Fry some dignity, is that, he, he...

Nixon: Arooo!

ML: [laughs] Oh, there's a Mrs. Morbo.

DXC: ...he has, he has things to say and he doesn't have the, you know, the hands to, to, to uh, play them, but...oh, wait I have to hear this.

Zoidberg: [singing] ...just ad-libbing!

MG: [laughs]

KK: That performance, he's so intense.

Preacherbot: [singing] By the power vested in me...

DXC: Phil LaMarr.

Preacherbot: ...by the state of New New York--

Fry: No! [He pushes the Robot Devil away from Leela.] Stop! Take my hands! (singing) You evil, metal dork!

KK: I think it was Billy's idea...

ML: Nice note, Billy.

KK: ...to go for the high, the high note, yeah, every time I had it...

BW: Was it?

KK: Yeah, it was gonna be the low note, and...

Hedonism Bot: Surgery in an opera? How wonderfully...

DXC: That grand singing of the word "dork" makes me burst out laughing every time. [chuckles]

Hedonism Bot: Djambi! The chocolate icing!

DXC: Probably...

[Djambi spreads chocolate icing over Hedonism Bot's stomach. He giggles.]

BW: [laughs] I just love that.

[laughter]

Hedonism Bot: Ooh!

Fry: My hands. My horrible...

KK: And that I think is the last little scene of Hedonism Bot.

Fry: [gasps] And what did you do to my nails?

KK: I, no wait, I think, I, maybe I'm...

DXC: Oh, you think there might be a spin-off?

[laughter]

Robot Devil: ...I feel lucky. [He giggles.] So it's back to Hell for me!

KK: And this joke coming up was entirely Bret's, I believe.

[The Robot Devil and Nixon vanish in a flash of smoke. The audience murmurs in confusion and don't notice the Robot Devil running out of the auditorium behind them.]

[laughter]

KK: 'Cause it was, it was written...

MG: That is a great joke.

KK: ...it was written that he should just disappear in a puff of flame and the first objection was, well, isn't that just magic, and then, uh, we...

Zoidberg: ...your heart, not your hands.

[Fry picks the holophonor up and plays a bad tune. A crude holo-scene forms.]

DXC: We rarely have a moment of silence in this show, what with all the lasers and stuff, but I like it here at the end when its, g-gets kinda lonely up there for Fry.

[Audience boos]

Zoidberg: Your music's bad and you should feel bad!

[The audience gets up and walks out, throwing paper at Fry along the way. He yells.]

Fry: Whoa! Hey! Whoa-oa!

[Scene: Outside Metropolitan House of Opera. The audience flock out of the opera house. Tinny Tim has a new newspaper.]

Tinny Tim: [shouting] Extra! Extra! Greatest opera of all time sucks!

Zoidberg: I'll take eight!

BW: That's a first. [chuckle]

[Scene: Metropolitan House of Opera. Fry sits alone on the stage in the empty auditorium.]

ML: Zoidberg with money.

BW: Yeah.

KK: That's a good point.

BW: He's poor!

KK: Normally he is...

BW: And he wanted eight papers?

KK: He bought the eight albums, too.

Leela: Please don't stop playing, Fry.

DXC: Maybe he had a credit card, or something.

BW: [in Zoidberg's voice] I thought I'd go out in style, it being the last.

[Fry smiles then sits down, picks up the holophonor and plays. The smoke whirls around above him and forms a crude image of him and Leela who turn to each other and hold hands.]

DXC: A little credit to Christopher Tyng here. He was charged with writing bad music that was very touching for the end.

[Cartoon Fry and Leela kiss, turn around and walk away towards the horizon.]

KK: The thing that I love about this shot is that the series began...

[Roll credits]

KK: ...the first shot of the, of the first episode was kind of bad, purposely crappy animation, crappy's not the right word but, and that's the way it went out.

BW: Wow.

DXC: Similar with the writing.

[laughter]

DXC: Well, it's been a pleasure everybody. I am honored and I truly mean that...

DC: Open the champagne now, would you David?

DXC: ...to work with all of you.

ML: Likewise.

BW: I'll see you guys around right, uh, right?

ML: Oh yeah.

?: Oh sure.

BW: I mean, I'm around...

DXC: Suuure.

BW: ...I'm available, I'm around, but...

[laughter]

ML: Thanks for the work.

MG: This can't be the end, can it? [fake woe] Oh my gosh...

ML: Come on Matt, reveal. Come on, you got a plan to save the show, come on...

DC: Come on, Matt. Tell everybody, tell every DVD buyer...

ML: He's about to tell us! It's the time, let's do it.

MG: [laughs] See ya on the next DVD set.

ML: Yeah, that's right.

[chuckles]

[End]