Rebirth

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Season 6 episode
Broadcast season 7 episode
Rebirth
Rebirth preview screenshot (skeleton shot).jpg
A preview screen cap of the crew in skeleton state.
No.89
Production number6ACV01
Writers
Teleplay & storyDavid X. Cohen
StoryMatt Groening
Directed byFrank Marino
Title captionRebirth
First air date24 June, 2010[1][2]
Broadcast numberS07E01
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript
AnimaticStoryboard

Pictures

Season 6
  1. Rebirth
  2. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
  3. Attack of the Killer App
  4. Proposition Infinity
  5. The Duh-Vinci Code
  6. Lethal Inspection
  7. The Late Philip J. Fry
  8. That Darn Katz!
  9. A Clockwork Origin
  10. The Prisoner of Benda
  11. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
  12. The Mutants Are Revolting
  13. The Futurama Holiday Spectacular
  14. The Silence of the Clamps
  15. Möbius Dick
  16. Law and Oracle
  17. Benderama
  18. The Tip of the Zoidberg
  19. Ghost in the Machines
  20. Neutopia
  21. Yo Leela Leela
  22. Fry Am the Egg Man
  23. All the Presidents' Heads
  24. Cold Warriors
  25. Overclockwise
  26. Reincarnation
← Season 5Season 7 →

"Rebirth"[3][4] is the eighty-ninth episode of Futurama, the first of the sixth production season, the seventh broadcast season and the second run of Futurama. It aired 24 June, 2010, on Comedy Central.[1][2]

The story

Concept art of the birthing machine used to rebirth the crew members.

The first episode of the sixth season picked up from the events of Into the Wild Green Yonder.[5] It featured a "literal" rebirth of the characters,[5] and focused on the Fry-Leela relationship, rather than more complicated consequences of the "rebirth".[6]

After the first table reading on 7 August, 2009, Maurice LaMarche commented that the script was "hilarious, & strangely touching", and noted that "[y]ou guys are gonna LOVE this episode in nine or ten months! What a fantastic way to get back into Futurama, The Series!"[7]

Plot

The Hypnotoad appears on screen, and Bender's voice announces that people will forget the series was ever cancelled "by idiots" and later revived "by bigger idiots." The scene changes to Fry walking into Professor Farnsworth's laboratory, asking why his hair is frizzy and why he is covered in burns. The Professor explains that when the crew entered a wormhole at the end of Into the Wild Green Yonder, they emerged near Earth through the "Panama Wormhole", Earth's main channel for shipping. Zapp Brannigan, aboard the Nimbus flagship, damages the Planet Express Ship, causing it to crash in a large explosion with the Nimbus outside of the Planet Express headquarters. Professor Farnsworth survives due to his full body "safety sphere device". The Professor manages to successfully revive everyone killed in the crash using Stem Cells and a "birth machine", except Leela, who enters an irreversible coma. Bender also experiences difficulty during the rebirth; the Professor fits one of his doomsday devices to power him. The device generates excess power, and Bender is forced to continue partying endlessly or else he will explode.

Fry, in his despair over Leela, makes a robot version of her. The Professor is able to generate Leela's personality and memories for the robot, however the robot Leela is horrified to learn of the human Leela's predicament. Leela is unable to be woken by the Professor, and as per her final wishes, is taken to a planet to be eaten by a Cyclops-devouring monster known as the "Cyclophage". At the service, Bender's obnoxious partying wakes Leela, who is confused by the robot Leela. The Cyclophage approaches, and the crew escapes in the ship. As the ship takes off, the Cyclophage attaches itself to the underside of the ship.

Back on Earth, the two Leelas both realize they love Fry, and begin to fight over him. Fry is handed a gun and told to shoot one, but accidentally shoots himself, only to expose that he too is a robot. The Professor then proceeds to explain the situation. Fry, in his attempts to shield Leela to protect her, is almost completely obliterated by the explosion. The Professor attempts to revive Fry in the birth machine, but this does not have any discernible effect. Leela, in her despair over Fry's death, makes a robot version of him and generates his personality for the robot. However, a malfunction causes Leela to be fatally electrocuted, and the robot Fry to be severely burned and lose his memory. Human Fry suddenly emerges from the birth machine, having finally absorbed the stem cells. Robot Fry and robot Leela declare their love for each other, and leave together.

Bender decides he is fed up with constant partying and begins to vibrate with the excess energy. The Cyclophage suddenly emerges, and attempts to eat Leela. Bender's severe vibrations cause one of his eyes to fall out, and the Cyclophage swallows him, believing Bender to be a cyclops. The device explodes, killing the creature. Bender emerges intact and the Professor declares that Bender expended his excess energy. The crew leave in order to celebrate, and Zapp Brannigan emerges from the birth machine.

Animatic

Main article: Animatic:Rebirth

The three-minute animatic showed at Animation SuperCon in Florida on 4 October reveals the opening scene of the episode.[8]

The Professor is shown working on some sort of experiment in the dome of the Planet Express building, when Fry enters. His body is burned, but he does not remember why. The Professor then recalls what happened: Zapp Brannigan chased the Planet Express Crew into a wormhole, and upon appearing on the other side, they found themselves right in front of Earth. Then the Professor realizes it was the "Panama Wormhole," a channel used for shipping. While trying to return to Earth, Zapp's ship also exits the worm hole, and manages to damage the Planet Express Ship's engines. Then it crashes head first into the ground outside of the Planet Express building, and explodes. During the crash, the Professor activates everyone's "safety spheres," which protect a person from any external harm. The Professor has a full body safety sphere, while everyone else's only protect their heads. The Nimbus then crashes into the ground in the exact same spot as the Planet Express ship. This ends the Professor's explanation, and he then shows Fry what remains of the rest of the crew and Zapp. All of their lifeless heads are orderly hung by hangers on a long bar, with their skeletons dangling beneath them (including Bender).

Production

Further information: Season 6#Production

As the first episode of a new run, the production first and foremost focused on continuing from Into the Wild Green Yonder's cliffhanger ending. David X. Cohen explained in an early interview, before the confirmation was even near, that he did consider what to do with the position they ended in, almost daily,[9] which Matt Groening called "painted [themselves] slightly into a corner".[10] While disagreeing on the ease, they were both in agreement that it could and should be resolved in respect with the film.[9][10]

At the San Diego Comic-Con 2009, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen were asked once again about the issue. Matt Groening wanted to ignore it entirely by then, while Cohen stated that they would address it, but only for a single episode.[11]

The first table read for this episode began on 7 August, 2009, according to Maurice LaMarche and Katey Sagal,[12][13] the following week, Maurice LaMarche revealed that the recording session was under way.[14] And as of 20 August, 2009, the recording sessions for this episode have ended, and moved on to the table readings of the next episode.[15]

In a 28 August interview, David X. Cohen revealed that the first episode was tentatively named "Rebirth",[16] and in an October interview, he confirmed it was the title they were using.[3]

On the Animation SuperCon in Florida on 4 October, David X. Cohen along with the male cast, gave a sneak peak of the first three minutes of the first episode's animatic.[8][17] The original concept was for the story to take place in a new universe, but Matt Groening wanted to do the rebirth instead.[5]

A full color trailer of this episode first aired during the premiere of Ugly Americans on Comedy Central on 18 March, 2010.[18]

Beginning on 6 May, 2010, Comedy Central's online newsletter, Comedy Central Insider, began releasing various pictures to tease the premiere every weekday until 24 June, 2010.

Additional Info

Quotes

    [first lines of the episode, Fry comes in with his hair in an afro like in "Hell Is Other Robots"]
    Fry: Professor, my Fry-fro's all frizzy.
    Farnsworth: Okay.
    Fry: That's all.

    Bender: [casually, while filing his "nails"] Yeah, we're back.
    [Everyone else cheers.]

    Bender: [Sounding weak and covered in stem-cells.] Aagh, I'm dying... I need ass-to-mouth resuscitation
    Fry: I'm on it.
    [Fry moves his head to Bender's ass. Blowing sounds are heard.]
    Fry: It's not working.
    Bender: [Laughing.] I die happy knowing you fell for that.

    The Professor: ...and destroyed both of their short time memories!
    Robot Fry: So that's why I'm so amazed of these things I already knew!

    Robot Fry: Fry!
    Fry: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize I'm already here. Wait, what's with all the Leelas?
    Robot Fry: Don't ask.
    Fry: Okay, dork.

Allusions

  • The Build-A-Bot Workshop is a reference to the Build-A-Bear Workshop.
  • The Professor says Leela "went all Bladerunner" on them.
  • Studio 1²2¹3³ is an allusion to the infamous Studio 54 of Las Vegas (1²=1, 2¹=2, 3³=27. 1*2*27=54)

Trivia

  • Leela tells Fry that if he had died, she probably would have built a copy of him too; as it turns out in the twist, however, that's exactly what she did.

Goofs

  • When Bender is walking out of the monster, he is drawn with two eyes, despite having one missing in the previous, and he is shown with the one in the next scene.
  • When Robot Lelea says she loves Robot Fry, she is wearing a Wristlojackimator.

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

References

  1. ^ a b Goldman, Eric (04 March 2010). "When is Futurama Returning?". IGN. Retrieved on 04 March 2010.
  2. ^ a b Fienberg, Daniel (04 March 2010). "New 'Futurama' episodes premiere on Comedy Central in June". HitFix. Retrieved on 04 March 2010.
  3. ^ a b Fritz, Steve (15 October 2009). "Back To The FUTURAMA W/ Co-Creator David X. Cohen". Newsarama. Retrieved on 07 November 2009.
  4. ^ Svip (18 March 2010). ""Hot Diggity Daffodil, Futurama's back!" (News thread) (No spoilers)" Page 6. (PEEL.) Retrieved on 18 March 2010.
  5. ^ a b c JavieR (03 October 2009). "New spoilers of the Futurama Season 6 at the Florida Supercon". Slurmed. Retrieved on 04 October 2009.
  6. ^ Cronan, Mark (02 August 2009). "CCI: Futurama". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved on 04 August 2009.
  7. ^ Sánchez, JavieR (08 August 2009). "Fanart and more for the weekend!". The Futurama Point. Retrieved on 08 August 2009.
  8. ^ a b Sneak Preview on YouTube. (YouTube.) 04 October 2009. Retrieved on 04 October 2009.
  9. ^ a b White, James (20 February 2009). "9 Odd Things We Now Know About Futurama". Totalfilm. Retrieved on 11 June 2009.
  10. ^ a b Ryan, Kyle (25 March 2009). "Matt Groening". A.V. Club. Retrieved on 11 June 2009.
  11. ^ Iverson, Dan (25 July 2009). "SDCC 09: The Future of Futurama". IGN TV. Retrieved on 26 July 2009.
  12. ^ "Smarty" (07 August 2009). "By Hawking's chair! Futurama is back! (News thread) (No spoilers)" (Page 15). (PEEL.) Retrieved on 07 August 2009.
  13. ^ Keller, Joel (07 August 2009). "Katey Sagal talks about contentious Futurama negotiations - TCA Report". TV Squad. Retrieved on 07 August 2009.
  14. ^ Sánchez, JavieR (13 August 2009). "Into the Wild Green Yonder premiere at Comedy Central". The Futurama Point. Retrieved on 16 August 2009.
  15. ^ "i_c_weiner" (20 August 2009). "By Hawking's chair! Futurama is back! (News thread) (No spoilers)" Page 17. (PEEL.) Retrieved on 21 August 2009.
  16. ^ Lovece, Frank (28 August 2009). "'Futurama' finds a new future on Comedy Central". Newsday. Retrieved on 28 August 2009.
  17. ^ Piccoli, Sean (01 October 2009). "Animation Supercon to feature Futurama reunion, sneak peak at new episodes". Sun Sentinel. Retrieved on 01 October 2009.
  18. ^ JavieR (18 March 2010). "Futurama new season teaser trailer from Comedy Central". The Futurama Point. Retrieved on 18 March 2010.

External Links