Futurama episode
"Obsoletely Fabulous"
Episode no.	68
Prod. code	4ACV14
Airdate	July 27, 2003
Writer(s)	Dan Vebber
Director	Dwayne Carey-Hill
Opening subtitle	You can't prove it won't happen
Opening cartoon	Unknown
Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003
Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch Leela's Homeworld Love and Rocket Less Than Hero A Taste of Freedom Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV Jurassic Bark Crimes of the Hot Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles The Why of Fry Where No Fan Has Gone Before The Sting Bend Her Obsoletely Fabulous The Farnsworth Parabox Three Hundred Big Boys Spanish Fry The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
List of all Futurama episodes...

"Obsoletely Fabulous" is the fourteenth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. This article is about the television series. ... Image File history File links Futurama_ep68. ... is the 208th day of the year (209th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... American Dad! is a satirical American animated television series produced by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions for 20th Century Fox. ... Dwayne Carey-Hill is an American animation director, currently working on the Comedy Central series Drawn Together. ... The complete Futurama DVD collection The following is an episode list for the FOX animated television series Futurama. ... Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch is the first episode in season four of Futurama. ... Leelas Homeworld is the second episode of Futuramas fourth season. ... ‹ The template below (Unreferenced episode) is being considered for deletion. ... Less Than Hero is the fourth episode in the fourth season of Futurama. ... A Taste of Freedom is the fifth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. ... ‹ The template below (Unreferenced episode) has been proposed for deletion. ... Jurassic Bark is the seventh episode of season four of Futurama, airing November 17, 2002. ... “Crimes of the Hot” is the eighth episode of the fourth production season of the television show Futurama. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline for Television episodes. ... The Why of Fry is the tenth episode in the fourth season of the animated television series Futurama. ... Where No Fan Has Gone Before is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the animated series Futurama. ... The Sting is episode twelve in season four of Futurama. ... Bend Her is the thirteenth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. ... “The Farnsworth Parabox” is the fifteenth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Spanish Fry is the seventeenth episode of Season four of Futurama. ... The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings is the 18th and final episode in season four of the TV series Futurama. ... The complete Futurama DVD collection The following is an episode list for the FOX animated television series Futurama. ... This article is about the television series. ...

Plot summary

At a robot expo, Mom's Friendly robot co. has introduced a new, more advanced robot: Robot 1-X. Feeling unwanted after Professor Farnsworth buys one to help out around the office, Bender decides to get a personality upgrade so he can be compatible with Robot 1-X. During his upgrade, however, Bender changes his mind and leaps out the window. 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. ... Bender Bending Rodríguez or simply Bender and officially designated Bending Unit 22, is a fictional robot character in the animated television series Futurama. ...

Too scared to get the upgrade but can't face the others without it, he bends a 'No boating' sign into a boat and heads out to sea, only to wash up on an uncharted island. At first he is in desperate need of alcohol to recharge, and goes to great lengths to find an energy source for the blender he has brought to make "yam schnopps" to refuel himself.

Bender wakes one morning to find four outdated robots are living on the island and befriends them. After living with the outdated robots, Bender realizes he doesn't need technology anymore. He then orders his companions to "downgrade" his metal robotics with a wooden body. Bender leads his friends to New New York in a wooden submarine, where they wage war on technology. The band of five are surprisingly successful, but Bender reveals there is one more thing they need to destroy: Robot 1-X.

They head to Planet Express, and after destroying the power lines, Bender breaks into the hangar, where he confronts his technologically-stricken former crew. Bender has his robotic friends throw large boulders at Robot 1-X, but they miss and hit the Planet Express ship, which falls and pins the crew down to the floor. A candle falls onto the leaking gas from the ship, causing a ring of fire to form around the crew. Bender tries to reach for the extinguisher, but his wooden body catches on fire. Failing to save his friends himself, Bender orders Robot 1X to save the crew while still seeming like a hero and when it succeeds, he accepts the new robot.

At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Bender's adventure was just a dream he was experiencing during his upgrade. Bender starts to doubt if his life is nothing but a figment of his or someone else's imagination, but finally settles with the idea that "reality is what you make of it", while marching off into a whimsical fantasy land.

Continuity

• Roberto and Fatbot appear amongst the many robots receiving upgrades. iZac from "A Flight to Remember" also appears in the crowd at the Robot 1-X unveiling.

Futuramas recurring robot characters: // Boxy Boxy is a crude, Dalek-like robot similar to the Gonk droid from Star Wars, that is capable of communicating only by beeping. ... Futuramas recurring robot characters: // Boxy Boxy is a crude, Dalek-like robot similar to the Gonk droid from Star Wars, that is capable of communicating only by beeping. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline for Television episodes. ...

Production notes

• The storyboarding of this episode was done around the time of the September 11, 2001 attacks, making most of the production team feel awkward about doing the sequence where the Planet Express crew is crushed under the Planet Express ship while a fire rages.
• According to DVD commentary, John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender) did Bender's dialogue in the scene where he dances to "I'm Alright" before the crew could pick out a song to match the scene.

A sequential look at United Flight 175 crashing into the south tower of the World Trade Center The September 11, 2001 attacks (often referred to as 9/11—pronounced nine eleven or nine one one) consisted of a series of coordinated terrorist[1] suicide attacks upon the United States, predominantly...

Cultural references

• The title is a reference to the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
• Bender dances to "I'm Alright" by Kenny Loggins, from the movie Caddyshack. Bender mentions that the CD is one of his ten Desert Island Discs.
• At the robot trade show at the beginning of the episode a small R2-D2 style robot can be seen among other items on the shelves.
• One of the obsolete robots is named Sinclair 2K, a reference to the Timex Sinclair 1000 computer (the American version of the UK Sinclair ZX81), which had 2K of memory; the robot is modelled on Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.
• The cartridge unit robot is similar to the 2-XL, a talking robot educational toy made by Mego in the 1970s.
• The waterwheel-powered robot is named Lisa, a reference to the Apple Lisa.
• Cast Away is referenced several times.
• Bender references Canadian progressive rock band Rush, known for their lyrics about futuristic fantasy.
• According to the DVD commentary, Robot 1-X's design was inspired by the iMac.
• A cut scene has a robotic band playing at the convention, where the drummer chokes on his own vomit. Although the drummer is named "Keith Moo" (an obvious reference to The Who's drummer Keith Moon) the reference is actually of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. The animatronic band is a parody of The Rock-afire Explosion.
• The Robot 1-X model seems to follow the Three Laws of Robotics much more closely than previous robots seen in the series.
• The episode's plot echoes those of Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and Robert Sheckley's The Store of the Worlds.
• The baby that Bender pulls out of his compartment bears a resemblence to Tommy Pickles from Rugrats.

Absolutely Fabulous is a British sitcom written by and starring Jennifer Saunders, and co-starring Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha and June Whitfield. ... Kenny Loggins (born Kenneth Clark Loggins on January 7, 1948 in Everett, Washington) is an American singer and songwriter best known for a number of soft rock and adult contemporary hit singles beginning in the 1970s. ... Caddyshack is a 1980 U.S. comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney. ... Desert Island Discs is a long-running BBC Radio 4 programme. ... R2-D2 (called R2, or Artoo for short), is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. ... The Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint-venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. ... ZX81 logo The Sinclair ZX81 home computer, released by Sinclair Research in 1981, was the follow up to the companys ZX80. ... A film poster for Forbidden Planet showing Robby. ... This article is about the 1956 film. ... 2-XL, in its initial release, was an educational 8-Track based toy, in the shape of a robot that was introduced originally in 1978. ... Mego can refer to: Mego Records, an Austrian record label. ... The Apple Lisa was a revolutionary personal computer designed at Apple Computer during the early 1980s. ... For other uses, see Castaway (disambiguation). ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... Rush is a Canadian rock band comprising bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. ... The original Bondi Blue iMac G3 was introduced in 1998. ... The Who are an English rock band that first formed in 1964, and grew to be considered one of the greatest[1] and most influential[2] bands in the world. ... Keith John Moon (August 23, 1946 – September 7, 1978) was the drummer of the rock group The Who. ... For the bands 1969 self-titled debut album, see Led Zeppelin (album). ... John Henry Bonzo Bonham (May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980) was an English drummer and member of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. ... The Rock-afire Explosion was an animatronic robot band that played in ShowBiz Pizza restaurants mostly in the Southern United States from 1982 to 1991. ... This cover of I, Robot illustrates the story Runaround, the first to list all Three Laws of Robotics. ... Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – 1914?) was an American editorialist, journalist, short-story writer and satirist, today best known for his Devils Dictionary. ... For the Nutsack Zone An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (sometimes called An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge) is a famous short story by Ambrose Bierce. ... Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American author. ... Italic text Information Nickname(s) Tommy Species Human Gender Male Age 1 (10 in All Grown Up!) currently 17 Date of birth August 11, 1990 Occupation Film Maker Family Stu Pickles (Father) Didi Pickles (Mother) Dil Pickles (Younger Brother) Relatives Grandpa Lou Pickles (grandfather) Angelica Pickles (cousin) Drew Pickles (uncle... A rugrat may also be a pejorative term for a toddler. ...

Trivia

• The baby cradled by Nannybot 1.0 at the Robot Convention looks like a younger Fry.
• Bender claims to be stuck in the garbage can; presumably this means he is unable to lift even his arm out, yet he does so before pulling it back in.

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