Futurama/Anthology of Interest II

Anthology of Interest II
Season 4, Episode 3
Airdate	January 6, 2002
Production Number	3ACV18
Written by	Lewis Morton, David X. Cohen, Jason Gorbett, Scott Kirby
Directed by	Bret Haaland
← 4x02 A Tale of Two Santas	4x04 → Love and Rocket
Futurama — Season Four

Anthology of Interest II is the third episode of the fourth season of Futurama, and the forty-sixth episode overall. This is the second of the Anthology episodes. In this episode we see three different "What If" stories, one being if Bender were human, another if the world was more like a video game and the last turning into a Wizard of Oz parody.

Guest Stars: Phil LaMarr (Hermes), David Herman (Ogden Wernstrom, General Pacman), Lauren Tom (Amy), Frank Welker (Raccoon, Nibbler), Kath Soucie ()

Plot Overview

In the first story Bender asks the what if machine what it would be like if he were to become human. In the story, the professor uses reverse fossilization to turn Bender into a human. Using his technology, he plans to present his findings to the Nobel Prize committee. However, Bender spends his time as human doing all the things that are bad for him because he lacks discretion and moderation. At the Nobel Prize presentation, he turns up and when revealed turned out to be the fattest man alive. Upon the committee berating the professor, Bender tells them not to judge him until they've tried his way of life, resulting in a crazy party. At the end Wernstrom gives Bender the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, only to find out that he died when the party started.

In the second story, Fry asks the machine what if life were more like a video game. The story opens with Nixon signing a peace accord with the people of Nintendu 64. But, before Ambassador Kong signs the agreement, he hits Nixon with a barrel and begins the invasion of Earth. Fry is recruited by the military because of his experience with dealing with the Nintendians. After being forced to escape through a Pac-Man maze, he is given a tank to deal with the space invaders, who he destroys except the last one. The final ship lands and demands quarters. They compromise by letting them put their laundry in with the Planet Express crew's.

In the final story, Leela asks the machine what if she found her true home. In the episode, Leela wakes up in a tornado. She crash lands in a brightly colored world on top of the Man Witch of the West. The Cute Witch of the North appears in a bubble to tell Leela that the only way that she'll be able to get home is by going to see the Professor. Along the way, Leela meets up with Fry the Scarecrow, Bender the Tin Man and Zoidberg the other guy. She's kidnapped by the Wicked Witch of the West who offers to adopt her, but she's melted by champagne. At the Professor's, he gives Zoidberg a gun, Bender some worthless money and Leela turns into a witch. She's quickly melted by the Professor's faulty pumbing.

Notes

Alien Language Sightings

• End of Act 2: Tales of Interest
• On ProfessorLand Fun Bucks: Toxic Ink

Referbacks

• 2x04: Glurmo is a call back to the second half of the Slurm Factory guide who is split in two. Also making an appearance from the episode is a Grunkalunka.
• 2x20: Bender dies in the first segment of both episodes. Also, the "Goodnight, sweet prince" line is used in both in regards to Bender.

Trivia

The Show

• Opening Caption: Hey, TiVo! Suggest this!
• What If Machine Operation: Every time that the professor uses the What If Machine, he activates it in a different way. The first by pulling a string, the second by lighting incense and the third by pulling a level like a slot machine which knocks Leela out.
• Segment Titles: The segments all have unique titles. They are respectively: I, Robot, Raiders of the Lost Arcade, and Wizzin'.
• Q-Bert Talking: The orange thing with no arms from Qbert says something like "Do you know where a guy can get a pair of pants around here?"

Behind the Scenes

• Fun With Censorship: The censor originally didn't want them to let Human Bender vomit, but they managed to keep it in by turning the vomit from brown to green.
• Cut Scenes: Several scenes were cut from the first segment including more searching for Bender, Human Bender learning how to masturbate and another vomit joke at the party.

Allusions and References

• Van de Graaff Generator: At the party, there are three scientists passed out under a generator that has electricity sparking off of it. This is a Van de Graaff generator.
• Tom Sawyer: The song that plays while Fry is destroying the space invaders is "Tom Sawyer" by the progressive rock band Rush.
• Berserk!: The green video game character who says "Fork 'em over, fork 'em over" is from Berserk.
• Peacock: The peacock that is seen shortly after Leela gets out of the Planet Express ship is an homage to the NBC logo which resembles the peacock.

Memorable Moments

• Bender doing every gross, unhealthy thing to his body possible when human.
• Donkey Kong throwing a barrel at Richard Nixon's head.
• Fry and the other escaping through the Pac-Man maze.
• The Professor in the emerald Planet Express giving Zoidberg a gun.

Quotes

• Narrator: You watched it, you can't unwatch it! Stay tuned for more Tales Of Interest!

• Fry: I'm good at video games and bad at everything else. That's why I wish life were more like a video game.
  Prof. Farnsworth: Can you put that in the form of a question?
  Fry: Uh, What if that thing I said?

• Fry: Wait a second, I know that monkey. His name is Donkey.
  Prof. Farnsworth: Monkeys aren't donkeys! Quit messing with my head!

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