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Futurama

A Clockwork Origin

Season 7, Episode 9, Aired Aug 12, 2010

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When Professor Farnsworth loses faith in humanity as evolution is put in question despite his efforts, he leaves for an uninhabited asteroid. He and the Planet Express crew are stranded when he accidentally populates it with robots.

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Fan Episode Reviews (4)

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Great episode. Something for everyone... science nerds, religious nuts, dinosaur lovers and zoidberg fans.

9.0

"Superb"

By goooofball, Jun 27, 2011

this episode worked great but would have loved to have seen more of the robot world and less of the zoidberg/cubert story which was actually not much to begin with.

The A story was great dealing with evolution. The gag where Farnsworth showed proof to the doubting Dr. Banjo was great. No proof was good enough.

But the show took off when they went to the asteroid and everything evolves uberfast from the professor's goo eating machines to clean the lake. The part that worked least was the B story where zoidberg is taking care of cubert. this was another pairing from the new season that was new but this one didn't work very well. zoidberg is great as usual but the idea of him taking care of cubert in those short few minutes just didn't go anywhere. and there's definitely something missing with that storyline. in one scene they fight and cubert feels bad. then they bond. then next thing you know it's the end and zoidberg is trashing him. seems like some stuff was edited out.

many many great lines... my top 5 (in no particular order)
1) To the science mobile... it's just that you never called it that before but ok 2) Things don't exist simply because you believe in them... this sayeth the almighty creature in the sky 3) What have we got to eat that's not poisoned with pineapple 4) Uh oh... It's another one of fry's dogs 5) The water's as sterile as my milkman trusting fathermoreless
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TO THE SCIENCE MOBILE!!!!!!!!

9.5

"Superb"

By doguineta, Jan 26, 2011

So Cubert can't go to school as there is a discussion between evolutionism and creationism that doesn't let him go so Farnsworth decides to go investigate:

Prof: To the science mobile!
Leela: You mean the ship?
Prof: Yes! The science mobile!
Leela: It's just that you never called it like that before..

There Farnworth tells the creationsim defender that there is a missing link, but an orangutan called Professor Banjo asks how does mokeys connect to that missing link, and Farnworth answers, but he asks for anohter missing link, and they go on for hours until Farnworth can't find a missing link, and he leaves to the desert to find it. At the excavation we got a nice reference to "Jurassic Bark" from Hermes:

Hermes: (after finding a pertified dog) Oh no! Another one of Fry's dogs! (hides it).

Bender is annoyed as the prof says robots don't evolve. So Farnworth finally finds it and shows it to Banjo, who says it proved Farnworth wrong and revelas a painting of the animal Farnsworth found riding a T-Rex. The Professor can't live on EArth anymore and leaves to a planetoid to leave. Fry sais his only water supply looks like diet Dr. Pepper, so the prof leaves some nanobots to clean it, but after some time, the robots evolve into "trylobots" and eat the prof's cabin. Farnworth: I can't believe this1
Bender: I can, robots can do things much faster than humans like evolving and beliving things faster.

So they hide in a cave for the night and the next morning the trylobots are gone, but there is a whole robt jungle. Fry goes to drink water but a Nessie--bot tried to eat him, so they save him and deice to make a ship out of the robodinocarcasses, but as it takes them 12 hours they go to sleep. At night, some robo-cavemen kidnap Leela and Amy and make them their wives. The guys make a slingshot to save them, but they build it in 12 hours so they go to sleep. So the next moring Leela and Amy are back and a robot wildlife resaercher finds them and at a confrence Farnworth says that he created them and they can't belive it, he explains and they go home. Banjo sees the pictures they took and him and Farnworth agree that evolutionism exists, but it was set in motion by an extern being (not an old beardy robot as Bender thought).

And I forgot to mention the subplot between Zoidberg and Cubert, were the prof let Doctor Z to take care of him, but Cubert hates him. Z tries to gain his love painting a giant picture of FatherMan and SonBoy (him and Cubert) but Cubert says it sucks and Z is left depressed. After that Zoidberg teaches Cubert how to escape from bullies by looking very pityful. And in the end of the epiosde Zoidberg says:

I'm glad you're back to care of this kid, he is horrible!

9,5/10, awesome ep.moreless
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A good episode with an interesting futuristic take on evolution/creationism

8.5

"Great"

By AdrenalinDragon, Jan 26, 2011

"A Clockwork Origin"

Grade: B

So here is Futurama's futuristic take on the missing link and the theory of evolution/creationism. Is it any good, yes it is! The episode was entertaining, but a little shaky in parts during the first act. The evolution proving part with the Professor and Dr Banjo was perhaps dragged out a little too long, but other than that, most of the first act was good, and there were some funny jokes and references in there. The episode gets better once they get onto the planet with the robotic dinosaurs, as the jokes pop up and work more often, and its more memorable due to the animation and well placed quotes during the dinosaur/robot encounters.

As for the rest, I thought the subplot with Zoidberg and Cubert was quite good, though it doesn't really have a full conclusion, ending with a quick quote to end the subplot, but both Zoidberg and Cubert come out with some funny moments. Other things I liked were the courtroom scene with Bender in those suspenders, but like I said, most of the jokes were in the 2nd act, but it's still good enough to give the episode an 8.5 out of 10, and I personally thought it was an interesting take on evolution/creationism.moreless
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Great episode. A lot of laugh out loud moments.

10

"Perfect"

By justrezza, Jan 26, 2011

It was also refreshing to see an episode that challenged the rather banal, and close-minded, view of evolution espoused by many people. The show did a nice job of portraying the irrationality of both sides, particularly those intolerant proponents of evolution who believe that their opponents are all gibbering, ignorant red necks. This episode was a real highlight for this season. The story was tight and wasn't as desultory as the other new episodes. I thought it was a return to form, especially the twist at the end. I also thought the subplot about Zoidberg and Cubert was pretty uninspired.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- When Bender is standing in front of the jury and the camera switches to long shot, Bender is twice on screen, sitting between Fry and Leela at the same time.
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QUOTES (0)
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NOTES (1)
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- Original International Air Dates:
  Czech Republic: April 7, 2011 on Prima COOL
  United Kingdom: August 19, 2011 on Sky1/Sky 1 HD
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ALLUSIONS (3)
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- Clockwork Orange The title is a reference to the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.
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- Ty-d-bol When fry floats in the pond on a leaf, he calls himself the Ty-d-bol and says that he owns a yacht and that everybody poops on him. This is a reference to actor Dan Resin who in the 70's played a yachtsman in the Ty-d-bol commercials. Dan Resin died a week and a half before this episode aired.
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- At the protest, one of the creatures which claims to not have evolved is a flying spaghetti monster. This is a creature which has been "praised" by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It refers to their claim that a flying spaghetti monster is as plausible a theory of an omnipotent creator as a Judea Christian God. The spaghetti monster has been referenced by the TV show South Park, and by prominent atheist and evolutionist, Richard Dawkins.
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