Insane in the Mainframe
From Futurama Wiki
- "Don't kill me yet! I'm starting to come down with Stockholm Syndrome... handsome."
- ―Bender
| Insane in the Mainframe | |
|---|---|
| |
| Episode | 11 |
| Production Code | 3ACV11 |
| Season | 3 |
| Air date | April 8, 2001 |
| Directed By | Peter Avanzino |
| Written By | Bill Odenkirk |
| Opening subtitle | Bender's Humor by Microsoft Joke |
| Preceded by | Where the Buggalo Roam |
| Followed by | The Route of All Evil |
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The episode opens with a celebration for Dr. Zoidberg's tenth anniversary at Planet Express. After finding out that Zoidberg's pension fund was empty because he never paid into it, Fry realizes his retirement is also in question. After blowing most of his savings, $100, on lottery tickets, Fry opens an account at the Big Apple Bank. While at the bank, Bender meets an old acquaintance Roberto, who then robs the bank.
Unfortunately Fry and Bender are arrested for the robbery, and, due to the aloof attitude of Judge Ron Whitey both are sentenced to stints in the Asylum for Criminally Insane Robots. Fry is sent there because the Home for Criminally Insane Humans was full after Judge Whitey had declared poverty a mental illness.
Once there, they both take a body test to Bender's enjoyment, but to Fry's own torture (Being stripped, prodded, drilled, X-ray, and being violently dropped into the evaluation room). The doctors refuse to acknowledge that Fry is human, due to their use of the logic that, if Fry is a patient in a robot asylum, he must be a robot. Fry is roomed with car-dealer Malfunctioning Eddie, who is undergoing treatment for his exploding problem when surprised or shocked. Fry perseveres, surviving on food coughed up by a sick 7¹¹ Robot.
But just when Fry thinks he is going to be released, Eddie gets released instead, and Fry gets a new roommate: the insane bank robber Roberto, who was captured after robbing the same bank again. The day after suffering a complete mental breakdown, Fry is released, having been "cured" of his delusion of humanity, causing him to think he's a robot. Roberto, fed up with life in the Hal Institute for Criminally Insane Robots, breaks out and takes Bender with him.
Roberto then robs the same bank for a third time to thank Bender for his help in escaping, but it's a sting and the pair flee to Planet Express to escape the police. When the Police surround the building, Roberto takes the crew hostage. Then Fry concludes that he must be a Battle Droid and attacks Roberto to save his friends. In the scuffle, Fry is cut and realizes he is not a robot but human after all.
[edit] Memorable Quotes
Hermes: Poor Fry, he's got the munchies for freedom.
Amy [referring to Fry]: Awww! He looks like a little insane drunken angel.
Smitty: Fire lasers! [Lasers rebound on laser-proof glass] Duck, lasers!
Roberto: Back off! I've got hostages!
Zoidberg: Hooray! I'm helping!
Smitty: Do you have any better hostages?
Hermes: Fry! Don't be a hero! It's not covered by the health plan!
[edit] Trivia
- The title is a reference to one of the refrains in the song "Insane in the Brain" by Cypress Hill: "Insane in the membrane".
- The robot Norm, who hears transmissions from the CIA lunchroom, is a reference to Lucille Ball, who said that in 1942 she heard Morse code signals in lead fillings in her teeth that she reported to the FBI and led to the arrest of a Japanese spy.[1]
- The character Nurse Ratchet, who runs the ward, is based on Nurse Ratched from the book and film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- The robot in the cafeteria that constantly tells everyone to "change places" is a reference to the Mad Hatter[2] from the story Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; his hat displaying the fraction "5/3" is a parody of the tag reading "In This Style 10/6" attached to the Mad Hatter's hat. 10/6 is equivalent to 5/3 in fractions, although the original tag referred to the hat's price of ten shillings and sixpence in pre-decimalized British coinage.
- The Hal Institute for Criminally Insane Robots is a reference to HAL 9000, the murderous artificial intelligence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. [3]
- Bender claims to have Stockholm Syndrome [4] while being held hostage by Roberto.
- Dr. Perceptron’s head resembles a plasma lamp, a device commonly found in novelty shops, originally invented by Nikola Tesla. [5]
- The robotic Abraham Lincoln is partly a homage to the animatronic Lincoln in Disneyland's Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction, especially in how Lincoln rises from his chair very slowly.
- Bender has a human heart in his chest compartment. This is a reference to Anthology of Interest II, when Bender tells the crew that he needs a human heart to pump blood out of his basement.
[edit] Goofs
French, which Bender speaks when he pretends to believe himself to be Napoleon, was referenced as an "incomprehensible dead language" in an earlier episode.[6]
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Lucille Ball and her fillings on Snopes
- ↑ Mad Hatter
- ↑ 2001: A Space Odyssey
- ↑ Stockhom syndrome
- ↑ Nikola Tesla
- ↑ A Clone of My Own
