Recap / Futurama S 4 E 14 Obsoletely Fabulous

You can't prove it won't happen

When Bender proves to be incompatible with the 1-X Robot Professor Farnsworth bought, he's sent in to be upgraded. But rather than have his mind changed, Bender breaks out and ends up on a deserted island with other obsolete robots.

Tropes

• All Just a Dream: Everything that happened after Bender is put in the upgrade machine is just a dream. Upon learning this, Bender starts to wonder if anything in his life is real.
• Always Someone Better: Bender becomes envious of the new Robot 1-X, as it does all the tasks in the Planet Express swimmingly.
  Bender: I could've done that [cleaned Nibbler's litter box] if you'd asked me!
  Leela: I asked you 5 minutes ago.
• Ass Shove: Bender tries to plug a blender into a pig's nose, only to say "Hey, I should be mad at you! Now turn around!"
• Big "WHAT?!": One of the Cartridge Unit's tapes is just him shouting "WHAT?!". He uses this when Bender reveals his plan to attack the human world.
• Blunt "No": The upgrade operator bluntly shuts down Bender's questioning of reality at the end.
• Cymbal-Banging Monkey: One of the obsolete robots is a cymbal-banging monkey toy.
• Dude, Not Funny!: Leela laughs when Bender tells them he's scared of the new Robot 1-X replacing him. Of course, the rest of the crew is not amused.
• Face of a Thug: Farnsworth and Wernstrom's Killbots.
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: From the outside, the upgrade that makes the older robots like the new 1-X robot looks like this.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Farnsworth and Wernstrom show off their killbots, then get in an old man slap-fight. Their killbots regret their violence and go for a paddle-boat ride.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Bender refuses to use the robot scratching post because he has "some dignity", which he says while he's wearing robot dealie-boppers. Later on, he uses the scratching post anyway.
  • Bender also criticizes the idea of watching a snail crawling around as the dumbest thing he's ever heard. Cut to Bender excitedly doing just that.
  • When Bender rages on how technology has only brought him misery, Cartridge Unit, using a "State the Obvious" cartridge, points out that he is technology, being more advanced than anything else on the island. This is what prompts Bender to downgrade himself.
• Irony: Farnsworth and Wernstrom's killbots are disgusted by their creators' hatred, and leave them to go take a paddleboat ride.
• Island Help Message: Bender makes one with rocks after he gets stranded on the island. He's one rock short of completing the P in "HELP" because he used up all the other rocks to make a much longer message that precedes the "HELP".
  TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I, BENDER, BID YOU HELLO! YOU DON'T KNOW ME, THOUGH YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF ME, BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT. LONG STORY SHORT... I NEED HELF
• Large Ham: Lisa the water-wheel robot panics very loudly whenever she thinks her water wheel has run out.
  I'll never make it this time! This is the end!
  No! I want to live!
• Late to the Punchline:
  Announcer: And now, the woman who "Mom"-opolizes the robot industry...
  Fry: I get it!
  Announcer: Mom!
  Fry: Oh... now I get it!
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The upgrade is actually one of these, meant to show robots who receive it how Robot 1-X can help them.
• Mind Screw: The ending.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: The trope name comes from this episode's dialogue.
  Bender: Save my friends! And Zoidberg!
• No Indoor Voice: The robot nanny, mixed with being deep and evil. Notably, the baby it's taking care of isn't bothered in the least.
  Robot Nanny: SLEEP, LITTLE DUMPLING. I HAVE REPLACED YOUR MOTHER.
• Not the Fall That Kills You…: 1-X catches Bender a few feet away from the sidewalk after he falls.
• Poke the Poodle: Among the acts of rebellion committed by the obsolete robots is smashing the nightlight at the orphanarium.
• Rage Against the Heavens: "CURSE YOU, MERCIFUL POSEIDON!"
• Shout-Out:
  • The waterwheel robot is named LISA. Word of God says that she's not named after that Lisa, but rather the Lisa computer by Apple. The dumb robot is called Sinclair, after the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers, which had incredibly limited memory (especially by modern standards).
  • The Cartridge Unit is inspired by the 2-XL robot toy which used 8-track tapes to "talk" to the user. Later models used cassette tapes.
  • The title is a reference to British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous.
• Skewed Priorities: While he and the rest of the crew are surrounded by flames, Hermes is more concerned about the fuel going to waste.
  Hermes: Bender, hurry! This fuel's expensive! (beat) Also, we're dying!
• Status Quo Is God: 1-X will never appear again.
• Straw Luddite: Parodied in that it's Bender who becomes one of these, as he grows to hate technology over the course of his Lotus-Eater Machine treatment.
• The Soulless: A soul detector at the robot expo doesn't react when Bender, or any other robot, walks through it.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Cartridge Unit has a satchel full of cartridges that he uses to talk, and despite being pre-recordings, they manage to fit every such occasion.
• Tempting Fate: Bender, talking about Robot 1-X, says it made him "look like a pile of crap". The Professor agrees.
  Professor: Indeed, that's why I bought one to help around the office.
  Bender: Eep!
  • Another example while Bender is sailing into the distance:
    Bender: Oh merciful Poseidon, take pity on this mechanical mariner! (storm clouds gather and thunder rumbles) Oh jeez.
• Unnecessarily Creepy Robot: The nanny-bot provides the page image and quote.
• Whole-Plot Reference: From the moment Bender goes in the upgrade machine the episode is Total Recall (1990) in terms of All Just a Dream.
• Your Mother: Cartridge Unit's "snappy response" tape consists entirely of this phrase.