Crimes of the Hot

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Season 4 episode
Broadcast season 5 episode
Crimes of the Hot
Crimes of the Hot.jpg
Bender shows the turtle he rescued to his friends, who can't stand the heat
No.62
Production number4ACV08
Written byAaron Ehasz
Directed byPeter Avanzino
Title captionKnown to cause insanity in laboratory mice
First air date10 November, 2002
Broadcast numberS05E01
Title referenceThe 1986 film Crimes of the Heart
Opening cartoonMuch Ado About Mutton
Special guest(s)Al Gore
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript

Pictures

Season 4
  1. Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch
  2. Leela's Homeworld
  3. Love and Rocket
  4. Less than Hero
  5. A Taste of Freedom
  6. Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television
  7. Jurassic Bark
  8. Crimes of the Hot
  9. Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles
  10. The Why of Fry
  11. Where No Fan Has Gone Before
  12. The Sting
  13. Bend Her
  14. Obsoletely Fabulous
  15. The Farnsworth Parabox
  16. Three Hundred Big Boys
  17. Spanish Fry
  18. The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
← Season 3Season 5 →

"Crimes of the Hot" is the sixty-second episode of Futurama, the eighth of the fourth production season and the first of the fifth broadcast season. It aired on 10 November, 2002, on Fox. It guest-stars Al Gore as himself in a head jar. When the Earth is jeopardized by global warming, the crew attends a conference in Kyoto hosted by Al Gore's head, and when the Earth's increased temperature is linked to emissions from robots, Richard Nixon's head attempts to rid the planet of them - including Bender.

The Story

Act I: "This could mean the end of the Banana Daiquiri as we know it!...Also life."

The city of New New York is haunted by a heat wave, and the Planet Express crew intend to go swimming in an outdoor pool. Unfortunately Nibbler drinks the water all in one go and then burps out a cloud of chlorine, nearly poisoning everyone but Bender, who is merely seriously corroded. The Professor shows them a movie, Global Warming, or: None Like It Hot!, in which the phenomenon of global warming is explained in a strange 1950s style, and the solution to counter it - dropping a giant ice cube into the ocean every now and then. It now seems that the time has come for this measure, as Richard Nixon's head calls for the crew to fly to Halley's Comet to obtain the necessary ice. As they arrive there, however, they learn that the ice resources of the comet are depleted, leaving Earth with a serious problem.

Act II: "WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!"

Earth is now experiencing the effects of intense global warming. The polar icecaps melt, causing floods, and the intense heat is making African turtles migrate to Holland. Bender travels there to help and bring back with him a turtle that has fallen on its back, out of sympathy - because they share the same weakness: Bender cannot get up either when he lies on his back. This fact is immediately tested to the extreme by the crew and proves to be true. Meanwhile, a Civil Defense Van comes and announces a scientific conference called to Kyoto to solve the problem of global warming by the combined brainpower of Earth's scientific community. The Professor seems very reluctant to go, but does so eventually. Al Gore's head calls for the saving of Earth and offers a bag of Moon sapphires as reward. The first contestant is Dr. Ogden Wernstrom who presents his solution for the problem - a giant space-borne parabolic mirror that reflects 40% of all sunlight and thus cools off Earth. However, the mirror is struck by a passing meteorite which causes it to turn and reflect the sun light onto Kyoto, frying part of the conference center away - obviously this is not the optimal solution. The next speaker, though reluctantly, is Professor Farnsworth, who admits that he caused the current global warming problem by creating the alcohol-powered Sport-Utility Robot, the ancestor of all modern robots that cause pollution by burning alcohol and building up greenhouse gases. As a solution, Wernstrom now calls for the destruction of all robots, to the dismay of Bender.

Act III: "Tonight: Great Robot Party, Tomorrow: Great Scrap-Metal Giveaway"

Richard Nixon's head is throwing a party for all robots on Earth on the Galápagos Islands, and Bender is attending to it, although he knows it is a trap. All robots on the planet are congregating on the remote island, to be killed by Wernstrom's giant mirror that has been modified to fire a gigantic electromagnetic pulse on the Galápagos Islands. As Bender is telling his favourite turtle of Nixon's plan, the other robots learn of it and a panic ensues. At this moment, the Planet Express Ship with Leela, Fry and the Professor on board arrives, for the Professor has thought of a solution: all robots must turn their exhaust vents upwards and fire one great blast of exhaust straight up, to move Earth further away from the sun. Every robot must join in, or else it will not work. Every robot obeys, except Bender who has fallen on his back in a scuffle with Preacherbot and can't get up. The huge blast does not have the desired effect at first, and Wernstrom is zeroing his mirror in on Galapágos. Bender then watches his favourite turtle, which lay on its back as well, rock itself upright and copies its maneuver. Then he too joins in in the exhaust blast, and with his help, the blast is strong enough to move the planet. This throws Wernstrom's mirror off target, and the EMP blast misses Earth. For saving Earth and foiling his plan, Richard Nixon's head presents Professor Farnsworth with the Earth's new highest honour - the Polluting Medal of Pollution. Now that the problem is solved, there is only one thing still to think of - how to name the additional week in the now longer Earth year. It is declared "Robot Party Week" by the President.

Additional Info

Trivia

Tim the Enchanter
Al Gore uses a Futurama clip in his movie.
  • In Professor Farnsworth's flashback, Mom's hair is darker grey than in 2ACV14.
  • Almost every robot on the show has a little cameo appearance on the Galápagos Islands (with the exception of Flexo, the Robot Elders, and Robot Santa Claus).
  • The horned wizard who is interested in the Moon Sapphires (and subsequently, the opening of the Gate of Garash) is based on Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
  • The newsreel in this episode, Global Warming, or: None Like It Hot!, is featured in Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
  • The "Curious Pussycat" sign in Kyoto translates to "I love you more than your mother does".
  • Morbo's quote "Windmills do not work that way!" is referenced by the Neopets virtual item "The Way Windmills Work", with the description: Windmills do, in fact, work that way.
  • The scientist with the degree in homeopathic science has his degree from the Evergreen State College, where creator Matt Groening went to college.
  • Physics-minded fans have calculated that the professor's plan of pushing the Earth further from the sun, making the year one week longer, would reduce the amount of solar radiation striking the Earth by about 2.5%. Some experts have suggested that this would be enough to halt global warming in its present state.
  • Wernstrom's space mirror, by blocking 40% of the sun's rays, would cause a catastrophic ice age.
  • Mom appears without her sons.

Quotes

    Linda: I'm sure those windmills will keep them cool.
    Morbo: [shouting] Windmills do not work that way! [back to normal] Good night!

    Bender: Don't touch my stuff after I'm dead! It's booby-trapped!

    Professor Farnsworth: A billion robots' lives are going to be extinguished! Ooh, the Jedis are going to feel this one...

    Bender: [The chlorine cloud emerges and knocks everyone out.] Hahahaha, lightweights! Oh wait, chlorine... [Corrodes completely and falls over.]

    Bender: Look, I love life and all its pleasures as much as anyone...except perhaps you, Hedonismbot! But we need to be shut off... especially you, Hedonismbot!
    Hedonismbot: I apologise for nothing!

    Zoidberg: I don't hear any gasping...

Allusions

Promotional picture for this episode
  • The episode's title is a reference to the 1986 film Crimes of the Heart.
  • Bender's uncharacteristic empathy to a turtle is an allusion to the Voight-Kampff test in Blade Runner.
  • One of the first robots Farnsworth designed at Mom's Friendly Robot Company was based on C-3PO from Star Wars.
  • Later in the episode, the professor says "Ooh, the Jedis are going to feel this one..."
  • The medal ceremony is very reminiscent of the scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
  • The conference at Kyoto is a spoof of the UN climate conference held there.
  • Fry's mention about spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee on his lap to cool himself off is an allusion to the controversial lawsuit case of an elderly woman who accidentally did just that.
  • Curious Pussycat is a parody of Hello Kitty.

Goofs

  • Seen from space, the exhaust blast from the robots is, in some shots, not coming from Galápagos.
  • Somehow it is odd that around the PE building, which is right in downtown New New York at the waterside and therefore close to the ocean, the water has not risen at all with the severe flooding reported on the news.
  • It was referenced in an earlier episode that global warming was canceled out by nuclear winter.
    • It is possible that global warming was canceled, but then returned with the rise of the modern robots.
  • The Mirror is over America and cools them despite the fact that they are in Japan.
  • The robots would not have pushed Earth into a further circular orbit, they would have pushed Earth into an eliptical orbit, cooling AND heating it, depending on the season.
    • No; the Earth is already in an eliptical orbit. Seasons do not occur because of distance from the sun (the Earth is actually farthest away from the sun in July!). The Earth's axis is tilted in relation to its' orbit around the sun, so that the northern hemisphere is exposed to more intense sunlight in summer; less intense in winter, and vice verse for the southern hemisphere. If the Earth's tilt was to be affected by the robots' exhausts, that would change the seasons.
  • All through the episode they keep saying African Turtle, but Bender actually saves a tortoise. Tortoises are - generally speaking - land creatures, while turtles are sea creatures.
  • When demonstrating that he went to Holland, Bender shows off his wooden foot cups, but when they are seen again in that same scene, they are once again metal.
  • The Professor, despite being a learned man, mispronounces "Halley's Comet". It's supposed to be pronounced "HAL-ee", but like many people, the Professor says "HAY-lee".

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

Robots

Essentially every robot that's been seen before (except Flexo, the Robot Elders, and Robot Santa Claus) is seen in this episode. Besides Bender, among the Robots seen at the Galapagos Island "party" are:

(In alphabetic order)

Episode Credits