Futurama episode
"Anthology of Interest I"
Episode no.	29
Prod. code	2ACV16
Airdate	May 21, 2000
Writer(s)	David X. Cohen Ken Keeler
Director	Chris Louden Rich Moore
Opening subtitle	Painstakingly Drawn Before A Live Audience
Opening cartoon	"Bosko Shipwrecked"
Guest star(s)	Al Gore as himself Stephen Hawking as himself Nichelle Nichols as herself Gary Gygax as himself
Season 2 November 1999 – December 2000
I Second That Emotion Brannigan Begin Again A Head in the Polls Xmas Story Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love? The Lesser of Two Evils Put Your Head on My Shoulders Raging Bender A Bicyclops Built for Two A Clone of My Own How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back The Deep South Bender Gets Made Mother's Day The Problem with Popplers Anthology of Interest I War is the H-Word The Honking The Cryonic Woman
List of all Futurama episodes...

"Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three out-of-canon "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of Matt Groening's other animated series The Simpsons. This episode is one of four featured in the Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection. Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated sitcom created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... Image File history File links Futurama_220_-_Anthology_of_Interest_I.jpg‎ Summary Screenshot of episode 220 Anthology of Interest I of Futurama from Volume 2, Disc 4 DVD at 14:38. ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... David Xavier Cohen (born 1966), born David Samuel Cohen, is an American television writer. ... Keeler at the 2003 Writers Guild Awards, after winning in the animation category. ... Chris Louden is an American animator. ... Rich Moore is an animation director whose credits include The Simpsons, Futurama, Baby Blues, and The Critic. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ... Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA, (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist. ... Nichelle Nichols (born Grace Nichols on December 28, 1932) is an American singer, actress, and voice actress. ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published with Don Kaye in 1974 under the company Tactical Studies... The complete Futurama DVD collection The following is an episode list for the FOX animated television series Futurama. ... I Second That Emotion is episode 1 in season 2 of Futurama. ... Brannigan Begin Again is episode 2 in season 2 of Futurama. ... A Head in the Polls is episode 3 in series 2 of Futurama. ... Xmas Story is the 4th episode in season 2 of Futurama. ... Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love is episode 5 in season 2 of Futurama. ... The Lesser of Two Evils is episode 6 in season 2 of Futurama. ... Put Your Head on My Shoulders is episode 7 in season 2 of Futurama. ... Raging Bender is episode 8 in season 2 of Futurama. ... A Bicyclops Built for Two is episode nine in season two of Futurama. ... A Clone of My Own is episode ten in season two of Futurama. ... “How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back” is episode eleven in season two of Futurama. ... The Deep South is episode twelve in season two of Futurama. ... Bender Gets Made is episode 13 in season 2 of Futurama. ... Mothers Day is episode fourteen in season two of Futurama. ... The Problem with Popplers is episode 15 in season 2 of Futurama. ... War is the H-Word is episode seventeen in season two of Futurama. ... The Honking is episode eighteen in season two of Futurama. ... The Cryonic Woman is the nineteenth and final episode in season two of Futurama. ... The complete Futurama DVD collection The following is an episode list for the FOX animated television series Futurama. ... Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning animated sitcom created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen for the Fox network. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anthology of Interest II is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Futurama. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Treehouse of Horror. ... Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced ) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. ... Simpsons redirects here. ...

Plot

Prologue

Professor Farnsworth invites the employees of Planet Express to see his new invention: the Fing-longer, an index-finger-extending glove. As he tries it out, it activates a TV-like device. When Fry questions the Professor regarding what it is, he explains that it is the What-If machine, a device that allows the user to view a simulation of a short hypothetical scenario after the user asks it a 'what-if' question. The Professor then invites the crew to try out the What-If machine. Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (born April 9, 2841) is the extremely elderly proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service in the fictional animated television series Futurama. ... Futurama is an animated United States cartoon series (March 28, 1999-2003) created by Matt Groening (who also created The Simpsons). ... This article or section on a Television-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ...

Act 1

Bender jumps at the chance and asks the What-If machine what would happen if he were 500 feet tall. The simulation begins with the giant Bender being built by hundreds of smaller Benders. He takes off from his home planet and flies through space until he reaches Earth and crashes onto Central Park and meets with a recently unfrozen Fry. After some friendly frisbee fun, Giant Bender nearly destroys all of Central Park (and the band Hanson) and the military is sent to deal with him. This article or section on a Television-related subject may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Adjectives: Terrestrial, Terran, Telluric, Tellurian, Earthly Atmosphere Surface pressure: 101. ... Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres or 3. ... Hanson is an American pop rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma by brothers Clarke Isaac Hanson (Isaac Ike) (born November 17, 1980), Jordan Taylor Hanson (Taylor Tay) (born March 14, 1983) and Zachary Walker Hanson (Zachary Zac) (born October 22, 1985). ...

The military's weapons did not hurt Bender at all, but when they shoot Fry, he is electrocuted and collapses. Bender then begins to wreak havoc upon New New York. To combat Bender, the Professor uses his enlarging-ray upon a hapless Dr. Zoidberg, enlarging him, only to see him wreak havoc as well, interrupted only by Bender who isn't pleased with Zoidberg destroying 'his' city. The two then start to fight and Bender finally appears to win by pushing Zoidberg into a stadium of boiling water. Futurama is an animated United States cartoon series (March 28, 1999-2003) created by Matt Groening (who also created The Simpsons). ... Doctor John Zoidberg is a lobster-like alien, Decapodian, in the television series Futurama. ...

While Bender laughs in triumph, he is distracted by Fry. Then an enraged Zoidberg rises out of the water and snaps off Bender's feet. This causes his impalement on a skyscraper. A tearful Fry admonishes the citizens of New New York City about the tragedy of Bender's death, whose final words lament about his inability to fulfill his purpose, which is to kill all humans. The scenario then ends.

Act 2

The Professor asks Leela to try out the What-If machine. Leela initially declines, but at the prompting of Fry, Leela decides to ask what would happen if she were a little more impulsive. Turanga Leela (referred to as simply Leela) is the primary female character in the animated television series Futurama. ...

The scenario starts at Planet Express, where Leela shows off her new boots bought on impulse, the only difference being a green stripe down the side. The Professor summons Leela to tell her that she is to be made his sole heir as she is so unimpulsive -- only to be kicked by Leela into a pit containing his man-eating anteaters, where he is promptly devoured. As Hermes discovers her role in the death in a video will, she is forced to silence him. She impulsively kills Bender,who says there's nothing wrong with murder as long as she'd "let bender wet his beak," with a microwave in order to keep him from blackmailing her about the deaths and then murders Amy when she insults her. For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... Hermes Conrad is a character in the Futurama animated series. ... Amy Wong (born August 4, 2980) is a fictional character, one of the main characters from the FOX television animated series Futurama. ...

Zoidberg then summons the rest of the crew in order to solve the murders. While Zoidberg reveals clues, Cubert, Scruffy and even Nibbler attempt to implicate Leela, only to be slain by her. Zoidberg finds a letter from the deceased Bender but is interrupted by Fry who leaves due to boredom, Leela kills (and eats) Zoidberg. When Fry finally figures out the next day that she was responsible, Leela is forced to do something really impulsive: sleep with him to keep him quiet. After she turns off the lights, we hear Fry scream then say "I really like it". Cubert Farnsworth is Professor Hubert Farnsworths clone from the fictional animated television series Futurama. ... Futuramas recurring human characters: Spoiler warning: // (Voiced by Tom Kenny) - Onetime owner of the Ultimate Robot Fighting league, and later owner of the New New York Mets. ... Nibbler is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. ...

Act 3

After being told that Bender's scenario would not be done again, Fry asks what would happen if he had not been frozen. The scenario starts with Fry narrowly missing falling into the cryogenic tube, and a rift in the space-time continuum appears, which shows the Planet Express crew in the future wondering what is causing the rift, and Fry horrified at seeing monsters. In special relativity and general relativity, time and three-dimensional space are treated together as a single four-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifold called spacetime. ...

The next day, after talking to his boss Mr. Panucci, he came to the attention of Stephen Hawking who arranges for Fry to be abducted. Once abducted, he is introduced to the "Vice Presidential Action Rangers" (led by Al Gore, with Stephen Hawking, Nichelle Nichols, Gary Gygax and IBM Deep Blue), whose task is to protect the space-time continuum, now threatened by the rifts which are caused by "events that are supposed to happen but didn't". Futuramas recurring human characters: Spoiler warning: // (Voiced by Tom Kenny) - Onetime owner of the Ultimate Robot Fighting league, and later owner of the New New York Mets. ... Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA, (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist. ... “Kidnapper” redirects here. ... This is a list of episodes of Futurama episodes in broadcast order, from broadcast season 2. ... Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. ... Nichelle Nichols (born Grace Nichols on December 28, 1932) is an American singer, actress, and voice actress. ... Ernest Gary Gygax, 2004 Ernest Gary Gygax (born July 27, 1938 in Chicago, Illinois) is best known as the author of the well known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), co-created with Dave Arneson and co-published with Don Kaye in 1974 under the company Tactical Studies... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

After Fry explains what happened the previous night at the cryogenic facility, the Vice Presidential Action Rangers determine that Fry was supposed to die and try to kill him, only to be proven wrong when another rift appears during the attempted murder. Nichelle Nichols then suggests that Fry be frozen and Gary Gygax gives Fry his +1 mace for protection against drunken robots in the future. Just before Fry is frozen, he smashes the cryogenic tube, causing the universe to collapse into a space-time rift, a form of a Big Crunch. This results in Fry and the Vice Presidential Action Rangers appearing at some other indeterminate dimension which is not part of the universe, which was entirely destroyed during the Big Crunch. The scenario ends with them playing Dungeons and Dragons for the rest of eternity (Nichelle: "Eternity with nerds. It's Pasadena Star Trek Convention all over again.") An advance on the club, a mace is a strong, heavy wooden, metal-reinforced, or metal shaft, with a head made of stone, copper, bronze, iron or steel. ... The original Dungeons & Dragons set Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) published by Gary Gygax and David Arneson in January 1974. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... Science fiction conventions are gatherings of the community of fans (called science fiction fandom) of various forms of speculative fiction including science fiction and fantasy. ...

Conclusion

After the end of Fry's scenario, the Professor curses the What-If machine for simulating scenarios even he found preposterous and dumps it into the trash can. He then promptly judges the Fing-Longer to be a rousing success and is congratulated by the crew. It is then shown that everything before was just a simulation by the What-If machine when the professor asked what would have happened if he had invented the Fing-Longer, leaving him to lament about the possibilities if he had invented it.

Cultural references

• Giant Bender's fight with the Giant Zoidberg pays homage to various Japanese monster movies such as Godzilla The scene where Zoidberg rises out of boiling water may also be a tribute to the famous King Kong vs. Godzilla scene.
• Upon giant Bender's death, Fry says, "Good night, sweet prince," as Horatio said after the death of Hamlet in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The line is later used upon human Bender's death in "Anthology of Interest II".
• The book shown in the other dimension is the original Monster Manual from Dungeons & Dragons.
• What If...? was the title of several anthology comic book series published by Marvel Comics which featured hypothetical alterations to the established history of the Marvel Universe, based on a specific point of divergence, such as "What if Spider-Man had joined the Fantastic Four?"
• The music played during giant Bender's flight is Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
• The Giant Bender scenario is similar to the plot of the movie The Iron Giant. The creator of the movie, Brad Bird worked with several of the Futurama writers as an executive consultant on The Simpsons.
• This episode's opening line "Painstakingly Drawn Before A Live Audience" is similar to a joke used in The Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", (Homer asks if the show is going out live, and the voice of Itchy & Scratchy says "Very few cartoons are filmed live, it puts a terrible strain on the animator's wrists") which was written by David X. Cohen, a developer for Futurama.
• The line "I'm a big robot, and I need a big cereal" refers to the Honeycomb cereal commercials aired during the eighties (with "robot" replacing "kid" in this version).
• The overall layout (three stories and a wraparound story) and title of this and the second Anthology of Interest resemble the Treehouse of Horror episodes of the Simpsons.

This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... King Kong vs. ... Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... Anthology of Interest II is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Futurama. ... Current Monster Manual (v3. ... Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) currently published by Wizards of the Coast. ... What If Vol. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Marvel Comics is an American comic book line published by Marvel Publishing, Inc. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... In discussion of counterfactual history, a point of divergence (POD) is a historical event, with two possible postulated outcomes. ... Spider-Man swinging around his hometown, New York City. ... The Fantastic Four is a fictional American team of comic-book superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. ... Iron Man is a signature song of Birmingham heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath. ... For other uses, see Black Sabbath (disambiguation). ... The Iron Giant is a 1999 animated science fiction film, directed by Brad Bird, produced by Warner Bros. ... Brad Bird Phillip Bradley Bird (born on September 11, 1957 in Kalispell, Montana) is an American Academy Award-winning animator who is known for directing Disney/Pixars film The Incredibles (2004) and Warner Bros. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of The Simpsons, which originally aired February 9, 1997. ... David Xavier Cohen (born 1966), born David Samuel Cohen, is an American television writer. ... Honeycomb is a breakfast cereal made by Post Cereals. ...

Goofs

• When shown from the back Scruffy's beard is the original brown color from his previous appearance, but when the camera switches to the front his beard is the white as it remains for the rest of his appearances.
• When Fry climbs up giant Bender who has been impaled on a building, if compared to the windows of the building, Fry appears to be about one story tall.

Continuity

• When Fry falls back in the chair, narrowly missing the freezing chamber, Nibbler's shadow is notably missing (see "The Why of Fry"). The implication of this may be that, in this scenario, Nibbler was not there at all, this being the reason why Fry did not fall into the freezer. It also implies that Fry did not really have a choice in "The Why of Fry," as he was essentially destined to go to the future, which ties in with the prophecy that caused the Nibblonians to freeze him in the first place.
• This is the first time that Scruffy is stated to be the Planet Express janitor.
• In "A Clone of My Own" Cubert is born for the sole purpose of becoming the professor's heir; however, he still exists in the what-if scenario where Leela is named as the professor's heir.
• Leela, Bender, Zoidberg and Farnsworth all appear in the temporal rift that opens when Fry doesn't fall into the Cryogenic Freezer, implying that even if Fry hadn't been frozen, Leela and Bender would still somehow have ended up working for Planet Express; similarly, in Bender's scenario, Leela is seen working at Planet Express. Considering Leela and Bender met each other, as well as the Professor and the others, through Fry, this is unexplained.
• In the Futurama Comics, The Professor eventually would invent the Fing-Longer; it appears in the second issue of the Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Chaos! comic mini-series. An alternative explanation would be that the fing-longer already existed and he was wondering what would happen if he had invented it himself.
• A sign outside Shea Stadium says Home of the 1969 and 1986 World Champion New York Mets, implying that they never won the title again in the next 1000+ years.
• Bender's speech before asking his "What If?" question in Act I, is an obvious introduction to his "What If?" question in Anthology of Interest II

The Why of Fry is the tenth episode in the fourth season of Futurama. ... A Clone of My Own is episode ten in season two of Futurama. ... Futurama Comics is a comic book series published by Bongo Comics and based on the television series Futurama. ... William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium, is an American baseball stadium in Flushing, New York. ... Anthology of Interest II is the eighteenth episode of the third season of Futurama. ...

Production jokes

• Gary Gygax's appearance alongside Al Gore is something of an inside joke since Gore's wife, Tipper Gore, hates Dungeons & Dragons and has been publicly critical of it. Kristin Gore, daughter of the former Vice president, wrote for Futurama.
• When rebroadcast during the 2000 Presidential Election fiasco, the tagline at the start of the episode said, "Starring a guy who is kind-of, sort-of our next president, maybe!"

Mary Elizabeth Aitcheson Gore (born August 19, 1948), known as Tipper Gore, is the wife of former Vice President Al Gore and was Second Lady of the United States from 1993 until 2001. ... Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy role-playing game (RPG) currently published by Wizards of the Coast. ... Al Gore with wife, Tipper, along with their children and son-in-law, Dr. Andrew Schiff (sitting next to his wife, Karenna). ... (Redirected from 2000 Presidential Election) Map The U.S. presidential election of 2000 took place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7. ...

See also

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Anthology of Interest I

• "Anthology of Interest II"