Commentary:Hell Is Other Robots

Topics of Discussion

 * Only two of the Beastie Boys (Ad-Rock and Mike D.) could record their voices (MCA had schedule conflicts)
 * Who came up with the idea for jacking on
 * The superb animation when Bender is on drugs
 * They knew they couldn't get away with a character taking drugs unless it was a robot
 * That Hermes is so mean to Dr. Zoidberg
 * The Coalsack nebula that's mentioned is a real nebula; it was originally going to be the Van Allen Belt (which is also real) but they didn't know how to animate it
 * The scene when Bender is electrocuted was originally meant to be on the Empire State
 * How cool Fry's afro is
 * There were complaints about the Church of Robotology
 * Bender's pupils were meant to be larger when he found religion
 * They mention Lucy Liu appearing in a future episode
 * A religious person on the crew refused to work on this episode
 * Also they discuss why Bender wears a towel when he is always naked anyway
 * The first musical number appears in this episode
 * John DiMaggio found it difficult to sing the lower harmony of the song in Bender's voice
 * There was another verse to the Robot Hell song
 * It was hard to animate the robot devil's face
 * The Devil has very girly falsetto screams for such an evil robot

Highlights / Quotes

 * Rich Moore: I'd love to direct anything with 'hell' in the title
 * David X. Cohen: I'm a huge Beastie Boys fan so this was exciting for me
 * John DiMaggio: Bender talking to Fender, me talking to me
 * John DiMaggio: No throat rubbing there
 * David X. Cohen: John DiMaggio and I both from New Jersey
 * David X. Cohen: There was another verse to this, Eric do you know what was cut Eric Kaplan: Seduction by a Nun Machine I think

Commentators

 * Matt Groening
 * Creator
 * David X. Cohen
 * Executive Producer
 * Rich Moore
 * Supervising Director
 * Eric Kaplan
 * Writer
 * Gregg Vanzo
 * Supervising Director
 * John DiMaggio
 * Actor (Bender, miscellaneous)

Second Commentary

 * A second commentary is available with the animatic on the Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection.

Topics of Discussion

 * They are in the 'Marge Simpson' ADR Recording Stage, 20th Century Lot.
 * John DiMaggio introduced the Beastie Boys.
 * There was a cut scene where Fender used to be Bender’s girlfriend.
 * Reused joke of female voice to male voice in.
 * There is debate over whether this episode is 403 or 404. They settle on 403.
 * In the animatic David X. Cohen does the voice of the Beastie Boy who falls into the crowd. At this stage they haven’t had a chance to record all the characters (especially guest stars) so someone will do a temp. voice so the animators can get to work.
 * David is usually the most likely person to do this
 * In this animatic there is a cut scene where Bender does a stage dive.
 * Claudia Katz thinks that this animatic goes for 26 min. when really it is 25 min.
 * The animators get really annoyed when they have to cut out 4 min of stuff that they have drawn for the episode.
 * David is singing with Editor Paul Calder when filling in for the Beastie Boys.
 * All of the commentators think that they did a better job then the actual Beastie Boys.
 * Ken Keeler might be the third Beastie Boy.
 * The drawing for this animatic is very good for a season 1 animatic.
 * David watched this episode last night and thinks that the animation for this animatic is as good as the animation in the episode.
 * Though the voices sound completely different, especially Bender and the Professor. This is explained that the characters ‘evolve’.
 * Phil LaMarr based Preacherbot’s voice off his uncle, who was an actual preacher.
 * David thinks he said this the last time they did this commentary.
 * The voice that Billy West does for the Professor is based off announcer's in the 40's.
 * Bender getting electrocuted is one of David's all time favourite animation sequences.
 * They talk a while about 2D and 3D drawing.
 * The Van Allen Belt is real.
 * One of the main reasons they did this episode is to establish the personality of Bender.
 * David brought along some of the earliest notes on Bender
 * April 7, 1997: A robot of some kind. This character has to be really good. Could be very popular. A fraternity-guy type robot? Bear in mind super-nerd ‘Star Trek’ characters Spock and Data. Could be; rude, greedy, possibly the ships accountant, gambling problem (often tries to make a bet whenever odds of some event past 50%), curses a lot, a fan of robot pornography (which consists of circuit diagrams, binary codes etc), or maybe smoke cigars or pipes.
 * Joked as a John DiMaggio type.
 * They had many tryouts for Bender’s voice. David was one of them.
 * They talked about this in the other commentary, according to David.
 * The food looks really good.
 * There are 3 - 6,000 drawings in an average animatic. There are 20 – 50,000 in an actual episode.
 * Rich Moore does all the drawings for the animatic.
 * They talk about the text and directions on the animatic drawings.
 * Another Bender note.
 * August – September, 1997: Called ‘Robo’. Male robot aged 40. Robo is the ship’s cook as well as an expert on alien cultures. Although not programmed to cook, he does this job because he enjoys it blah, blah, blah. He has a minimal sense to taste but is able to stick his arms in boiling water or fire which is useful in the kitchen. He is an expert on the rituals, cultures and languages of many aliens and robots, but some of his information is out-dated and mistakes occur. Drinks rocket-fuel and inhales cigar-smoke for fuel. He has many vices. Compulsive gambler (unable to resist a bet). Enjoys drinking, smoking, cursing, robot pornography. Robo is classified by the designation Mega-Brain, meaning he theoretically has the mental power of one-million human brains. However, most of the brains are pretty stupid. Basically, he can calculate a tremendous feedback but has no better insight to human nature then anyone else.
 * They love how Bender wears a towel.
 * The Trump Trapezoid didn’t look like a trapezoid in this so they changed it.
 * Jägermeister and pens oil is John’s favourite drink as well as Bender’s.
 * John only just had one.
 * Another cut scene has Fry showing Leela the Tunnel of Love.
 * They talk about Fry and Leela relationship.
 * Ken Keeler played the keyboard on the song.
 * John was a Beastie Boy the next time.
 * They are disappointed that the song didn’t get nominated for an Emmy.
 * There were a couple or more verses to the song before this animatic.
 * Matt Groening is still hearing new voices from Dan Castellaneta, voice of Robot Devil.

Highlights / Quotes

 * Rich Moore: Hey guys! I'm Rich Moore and I directed this mess.
 * David X. Cohen: 10,000 years had past since the last DVD recording.
 * Billy West: (At the end of the commentary)  Kissy, kissy.

Commentators

 * Matt Groening
 * Creator
 * David X. Cohen
 * Executive Producer
 * Rich Moore
 * Supervising Director
 * Claudia Katz
 * Producer
 * John DiMaggio
 * Actor (Bender, Fender, miscellaneous)
 * Billy West
 * Actor (Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zoidberg, miscellaneous)