Futurama: The Choosening

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

"Made from 100% Recycled Pixels," you know! I liked this episode because it was some western animation able to do a spoof on some social issues without having to get as raunchy as South Park does. While I'm a bit sick of politics at the moment (yeah, I know, it's not even July yet and it's an election year), I still got a good laugh, especially out of "Earth Certificate" !! I'd say that this season of Futurama is off to a good start, so let's hope that the episodes continue to be this entertaining. If you disagree (and I have a feeling that some of you might), let us know why.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2010 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama "Decision 3012" (S07E03): [first off, Leela and Fry have both arms again, so it's been about a month or longer.] Nixon's head is running for President of Earth again, and he's giving away beer. Between that, taking a shot at illegals taking citizens' jobs, and mentioning treating poor people like gravel, Bender, Fry, Zoidberg, and the bulk of the gang are ready to vote for him. Leela disagrees, and after hearing Senator Travers discuss issues like lowering taxes and the deficit, she decides to volunteer to be his campaign manager. [glad we plugged social media and then nothing happened with it, LoL. nice use of the toad, tho.] Travers wins the nomination (with Greenland in second) and is up against Nixon, who hires Bender to dig up some dirt. Bender has nothing but Travers' full name, so Nixon decides to start a rumor that his middle name sounds "alien," so maybe he wasn't born on Earth. [::eye roll:: at both Bender's antics and Nixon starting the rumor.] Bender publicly demands to see Travers' "Earth Certificate," so after Travers tells Leela that he was born in Kenya, Leela and some of the others head there to break into the hospital. [breaking in by using a giraffe to bust the glass??] Travers shows up as they peruse the files, and they learn that he isn't technically alive yet - he'll be born the following day. [...and now we're getting into the ridiculous phase...] See, he was sent back from 3028, as Nixon's re-election led to mass starvation, desperation, despair, and economic collapse, all because of Nixon's fence to keep out the illegals. Well, with robots having to do the menial labor, they revolted, led by Bender. [haha! "I'm low on bullets, everyone squish together!"] Then, Travers tells of his upbringing - raised by grandparents, went to Harvard Law, etc. Leela decides that broadcasting Travers' birth on live TV will fix things,and his true Earth Certificate even goes ahead and names him "Senator." Well, he wins the election, but because that means the robot revolution doesn't happen, it also means he was never sent back in time, effectively allowing Nixon to run unopposed and win. [but why wouldn't Greenland have been his opponent??]

The bottomline: It really doesn't matter who you vote for. [ha!]