Talking Futurama - Hell is Other Robots
Added 2018-05-04 07:00:00 +0000 UTCWhen Bender runs into an old high school buddy at a concert, he quickly becomes an electricity junkie and can't stop jacking on. But Bender soon finds salvation in the Church of Robotology, which offers some harsh punishments for those who don't stick to the straight and narrow. Along the way, we're treated to an appearance of two out of three Beastie Boys, learn that Hell is actually located underneath New Jersey, and hear a rip-roaring song from the Robot Devil himself. Grab your favorite fortified wine and get ready for another great podcast!
Comments
Fantasy math is an under explored domain
Ernst Ruhmer
2025-01-05 02:45:09 +0000 UTCBlame David X. Cohen because he said "transistor" on the commentary (I think).
Bob Mackey
2018-05-09 16:44:26 +0000 UTCGiven the strictures of both federal law and Robotology, I like to think there's a loophole for escaped robots. And the Robot Devil didn't entirely forget about Fry - he gets a more nefarious form of revenge in the season 4 finale.
Alex Bullock
2018-05-08 18:47:19 +0000 UTCGreat episode as usual, guys. A couple points, and I swear I'm not trying to be 'that guy' 1) The Church of Robotology's symbol is a resistor, not transistor. I tried to think if there's a symbolic (heh) reason for it, like the church resisting what humans 'want' robots to do (like drink liquor,) but in the end I think it was just chosen because it's 'science-y'. 2) The Professor didn't invent robots, he just designed them to be more like Bender and less like C3-P0. It's also possible this isn't the first Robot Devil and the original one was also, in The Professor's words, 'slow and a bit on the uptight side.'
Andrew Bouvier
2018-05-08 16:27:33 +0000 UTCDan Castellaneta's awesome and distinctive Robot Devil voice, at least according to the commentary on one of the episodes, is Dan doing an impression of the great Hans Conreid! Conreid, apart from being a crackerjack comedic radio and tv personality in the 40's and 50's, is most noted for his role as Captain Hook/Mr. Darling in Disney's Peter Pan.
Alex Kazanas
2018-05-07 18:18:35 +0000 UTCI thought that the Bender religion act tilted a little more extreme--to like Nation of Islam--than just plain ol' Baptist. I'm glad I'd just watched Matt's Cuphead video a few weeks ago, it gave some good background on the themes and animation that are referenced in the Robot Hell sequence. Also I know I've said this a few times and I hate to be "that guy," but I would LOVE show notes with links to the things y'all reference in the episode. A lot of the times you talk about a video or book or something and at the end of the hour and a half I have a hard time remembering the specifics
Michael Hashizume
2018-05-07 00:10:12 +0000 UTChonestly the robots being programmed to "sound black" only partially bothers me. If i want I can just assume yhe programmer was a black guy who really had a thing for ancient 70s hollywood portrayals or whatever. Like Randy, the words themselves are not funny or sensitive but the reading, the voice they use is what makes it... funny-ish. It bothers me when A LOT of the robots (who are corrupt) sound like several different minority/POC stereotypes. Anyhoo... I guess this means y'all won't get to the Poppler episode? poo. That's my favorite episode.
Solomon Mars
2018-05-06 23:27:28 +0000 UTCConsidering that Jesus returned at some point between 2000-3000, it’s fair to assume that real Hell exists in Futurama as well.
Brian Rude
2018-05-05 15:03:56 +0000 UTCSo you guys were confused about the 2275 Hell Act in relation to the Professor later revealed to building robots. However here's something that could work the two together. It's called the Fairness in Hell Act, NOT the Fairness in Robot Hell Act. So maybe in 2275 the act was created for adding a Fiddle Contest to regular Hell. then centuries later after the professor created robots and they created their own robot Heaven and Hell, they copied over things from regular Hell including the Fairness Act.
ShyRanger
2018-05-04 18:46:06 +0000 UTCNot trying to GOTCHA you or bait Bob into Debating Me, but I do think it's kind of funny how you guys poo-pooed the Darth Maul fight here for being choreographed lightsaber dancing, but praised the crimson guard fight in Last Jedi in a different show for doing the exact same thing. It's more chaotic and hard to make out what's going on, but there are literally instances of red boys twirling across the frame acting like they're fighting invisible adversaries. Anyway, ILU guys and these Futurama episodes have been amazing. I'll be sad when the season's over, but I look forward to what you guys do next (pls do Mission Hill and/or Clone High).
Kayoticks
2018-05-04 17:36:55 +0000 UTCGuys, please PLEASE continue with talking Futurama beyond season 1!!!! Seriously, I'll increase my monthly Patreon donation if you will keep going!!! (I know I am only one person and I only represent a small drop in your financial bucket..) I am not too proud to beg: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!! Keep moving forward!!! I love Futurama so much and you guys are doing a fantastic job! Am I the only person who feels this way? C'mon everyone; let's convince Bob, Henry, and Matt to record more episodes!!!
lessthanbug
2018-05-04 16:38:41 +0000 UTCMan, I hope you decide to do season 2: These are so enjoyable to listen to and have gotten me into Futurama. They had always bored me and now I listen at least twice, have bought the DVDs, and I'm listening to the commentaries.
VanDiagram
2018-05-04 16:35:34 +0000 UTCWhen the Baptist-Bot moves his arm it sort of sounds like a gun, anyone else hear that?
mavrick
2018-05-04 15:23:16 +0000 UTCOn the topic of Dan Castellaneta's various character actor roles, his minor character on Parks & Rec is one of my all-time favorites.
Gretchen
2018-05-04 14:23:01 +0000 UTCBest Beastie album is Paul's Boutique
Frank Grimes
2018-05-04 14:22:24 +0000 UTCCompared to Disney's new trilogy, the prequels (at least story wise, so far) are better...two movies into this new trilogy, we have no real end game or direction. At least the prequels lead to a known end game...and at least the books and etc. during that time helped expand those films...but since now they're non-canon...well..meh.
Frank Grimes
2018-05-04 14:07:59 +0000 UTCOne thing I really like about the world that Futurama creates is that by making Robot Hell & a Robot Devil implicitly real, that necessitates making them tangible and in a physical location. So many shows that deal with afterlife concepts mean that characters in the story exist on some ethereal plane or alternate dimension (looking at you, Dragonball). Meanwhile, because it's full of robots, Robot Hell is a real place our heroes can simply visit, and the Robot Devil can just be a recurring character without the need for any magical gates or seances. Of course, this also makes the end of the episode a lie: if the Robot Devil is real and knows he's been cheated, nothing that happens in this story prevents him from retaking Bender or killing Fry. They "escape" but all they did was successfully flee New Jersey. The Robot Devil is not a State Trooper, he can go where he wants!
Diamond Feit
2018-05-04 09:41:21 +0000 UTC
