The Cyber House Rules
From Futurama Wiki
- "But you're better than normal, Leela; you're abnormal! "
- ―Fry
| The Cyber House Rules | |
|---|---|
| |
| Episode | 41 |
| Production Code | 3ACV09 |
| Season | 3 |
| Air date | April 1, 2001 |
| Running Time | 30 minutes |
| Directed By | Susie Dietter |
| Written By | Lewis Morton |
| Guests | Tom Kenny |
| Opening subtitle | Please rise for the Futurama theme song |
| Opening cartoon | Box Car Blues |
| Preceded by | That's Lobstertainment! |
| Followed by | Where the Buggalo Roam |
Contents |
[edit] Plot
A baby basket appears in front of Planet Express building. Leela assumes it to be a baby abandoned in the same manner as herself, but it is actually an audio invitation to her old orphanarium. Though she is nervous about going back to the place where she was mocked for having one eye, she decides to rub her success in her former "friends" faces. When she gets to the party, the others have low-aspiring jobs but still mock her, only to be shooed away by Adlai Atkins. Adlai is the only other successful orphan and Leela had a crush on him the past. Having become a phaser eye surgeon, Adlai offers to give Leela another eye to make her more normal. Leela accepts, despite Fry's objections.
Meanwhile, Bender adopts twelve orphans to get a $100 a week child government stipend. He abuses his position as their foster parent by telling them to sleep during the daytime and starving them. He soon finds out that the cost of keeping the children outweighs the stipend he has been getting and tries to sell them on the black market. URL and Smitty get tipped off and arrests Bender for "crimes too numerous to list".
Leela, after getting into a relationship with Adlai, wants to adopts Sally, a lonely girl who has an ear on her forehead. Adlai wants to have her extra ear removed, and, offended, Leela demands she have her old appearance back, much to Fry's delight.
Bender returns the orphans to the orphanarium, which is renamed the Bender B. Rodriguez Orphanarium in his honour.
[edit] Trivia
- The title of the episode is a parody of the 1999 movie The Cider House Rules. The movie features a boy raised in an orphanage who becomes a doctor, much like Adlai in this episode.
- Leela buys sunglasses at Eye Robot, a parody of I, Robot.
[edit] Goofs
- Towards the end of the episode, Bender sticks a picture drawn by the orphans inside his torso door with a magnet. As established in the episode The Series Has Landed, magnets screw up Bender's inhibition unit and makes him sing folk songs. One possible solution, from an audio commentary, is that only magnets on Bender's head affect him in this way.
[edit] Debut Appearances
[edit] Alienese
- The sign in Alienese reads, "Humane Human Traps".
