Bender's Game

"Well, wells, well, if it ain'ts princess pukerella and her pukey pukemobile."

―Sal

"Oh yeah, well...shut up."

―Leela

"Good comeback Leela hahaha."

―Bender

"You shut up too!"

―Leela

"Ahhh!"

―Bender

Bender's Game is the third of the four Futurama straight-to-DVD films and was relеased on November 3, 2008.

Plot[]

Due to an apparent shortage of Dark Matter, fuel prices have begun to rise, prompting Professor Farnsworth to prohibit flying the Planet Express Ship unless absolutely necessary. However, Leela has begun to develop anger issues, and upset about being insulted by Sal, enters the ship in a Space Demolition Derby, trashing the ship. As punishment, Leela is forced to wear a 50,000-volt shock collar that activates whenever she has a violent thought, uses profanity, has a sexual thought or lies.

Meanwhile, Bender feels left out when he sees Cubert and Dwight playing Dungeons & Dragons: he can't play because robots are not installed with imaginations. Trying as hard as he can, Bender manages to imagine himself as a medieval knight and joins the game, naming himself Titanius Anglesmith. However, since he was never meant to have an imagination, Bender gradually believes himself to be a real knight in the magical world of Cornwood. At first, he seems harmless, until he starts causing chaos everywhere. Eventually, he crashes into Leela's parents' house, where she has brought Dr. Zoidberg over to dinner to prove that she has resolved her anger issues, given that he is the one with the authority to remove the collar. Leela is unable to fight back with the collar on and Zoidberg is too scared to take it off. Fry manages to trick Bender into stopping by using a 'Cone of Coldness" against him, which his character is vulnerable to. Bender is then brought to the Hal Institute for Criminally Insane Robots.

After watching Morbo's interview with Mom on Tea With Titans on the controversy about the fuel shortage and how she's making record profits, the Professor reveals to the Planet Express crew that when he worked for Mom for the third time after realizing she was evil twice before, he tried to make dark matter into a more durable harpsichord wax. Using a particle accelerator, he created a crystal that empowered dark matter, making it a usable fuel. But when he presented this to Mom, she took the crystal for herself. Mom fired Hubert and left him for Ogden Wernstrom, her ex-husband. However, he also created an anti-backwards crystal, that, if brought within a six-inch proximity to its sister crystal, could render dark matter useless again. Hermes points out that they would then have no fuel. Hubert says that once the universe is freed of Mom's dark matter grip, this would then compel scientists to create an alternative fuel. Unfortunately, he has forgotten where he had put it. Unknown to everyone, Dwight and Cubert have found it in the downstairs walrus tank and made it into a twelve-sided die for their game. Luckily, the Professor manages to activate a smell on the crystal that he can detect with his smelling aid, but Mom learns that the crystal still exists and sends her sons, Walt, Larry and Igner to take it back. Walt concocts a plan to enter the Planet Express Building with the three disguised as owl exterminators and Fry lets them in to care of the owls. However, Hubert challenges them to actually exterminate an owl, Igner fouls up and they lose the crystal. Taking back his crystal, Hubert sends them back to Mom.

Meanwhile, Dr. Perceptron at Hal Institute tries to put Bender through all sorts of therapies, but nothing works. Therefore, the doctor decides to give him a robotomy, the Robot equivalent of a lobotomy, to rid his mind of fantasy.

Hubert, Leela and Fry infiltrate Mom's dark matter mine, fooling the Killbots into thinking that they are flying the ship, which is actually on remote control. During their infiltration, it is discovered that Leela actually likes the shock from the collar. But they soon find that the mine is actually a farm, full of Nibblonians and Leela's beloved Nibbler, who was captured by Mom's sons. The Nibblonians are being force fed chickens and prune juice, which they can't resist eating, so that they excrete dark matter. However, Nibbler is surprised that they aren't amazed that he can talk: Fry explains that he didn't erase their memories the last time and they kept him as a pet because he is cuter that way. Nibbler explains that exactly 36 years ago, he was head of a Nibblonian outpost on Vergon 6. However, with all the dark matter they excreted into the planet, DOOP began to mine the planet, with the help of Mom. When the planet was sucked dry, Mom learned that Nibblonians produced dark matter and captured a ship full of them, except Nibbler, who was later kidnapped by Mom's sons when they were disguised as owl exterminators.

Suddenly, Igner spots them, directing them up the "primary chicken valve" to Mom's office, having been compelled by the unexplained secret Mom told his brothers. They attempt to bring the two crystals together, but Mom brings up a gun. Hubert then swallows the anti-backwards crystal so she can't get her hands on it. However, she points out that he's in a harvesting plant and orders her sons to inject prune juice into him. Suddenly, all dark matter begins to resonate, especially the stockpile Bender has in his chest cavity. Suddenly, Bender disappears, just as he was about to undergo a robotomy and everyone at the mine feels the ice floor cave beneath their feet.

Fry and Leela then come out the ground somewhere, finding the anti-backwards crystal and discovering that Leela is now a centaur, Leegola. They meet Titanius Anglesmith and learn that they are in Cornwood. Titanius treats them to roasted munchkin and entertainment by dancing dwarves at his castle until Calculon rides up to warn them of danger. The crew ride out and attack Waltazar, Larius, and Ignus. The brothers are banished when Frydo accidentally rolls the anti-backwards crystal, or the Die of Power as they call it in Cornwood. Frydo and company meet the Great Wizard Greyfarn, who tells them that Momon had created a set of dice from the living plastic in the Geysers of Gygax. Momon put too much of her power into the Die of Power and subsequently lost it. To defeat her, they must journey to her lands to destroy it in the lake of plastic.

As they begin their quest, they come upon a tribe of centaurs, led by the intersexual, pacifist Hermaphrodite. Leegola is excited that her people, as a group of well-trained archers, can defeat Momon's armies. However, the centaurs are opposed to fighting and try to refuse them passage through their territory. Leegola stands up to Hermaphrodite and takes his bow and arrows. The group arrives at the Cave of Hopelessness, guarded by a huge ogre. Gynecaladriel, queen of the water nymphos, joins their quest and seduces the ogre, putting him to sleep. As they enter the cave, they meet a large, centipede-esque creature, Zoidberg, whom they presume to be the Tunneling Horror. Leegola brutally assaults him, eating his two hearts. Unfortunately, they learn that he is not the Tunneling Horror. Horrified that she had tried to kill an innocent creature, Leela runs off and joins the centaurs to learn their peaceful ways. Suddenly, the real Tunneling Horror arrives, but Frydo defeats it after rolling the die, causing him to grow. Greyfarn warns him not to be seduced by the die's power, but Frydo degenerates into a crawling Gollum-like creature, who is obsessed with the die and eventually runs off after a failed attempt to kill his friends. The crew decides to seek help at Wipe Castle in getting past Momon's armies, but the king, Roberto, has sent his men out on a pointless suicide mission, forcing the crew to defend the castle themselves. Also, Momon had overheard them going to Wipe Castle before Frydo left them and sends Waltazar and Larius with all their armies to attack the castle, refusing to leave a small contingent behind.

A declaration of war is announced and Leegola takes control of the centaur herd after beating up Hermaphrodite, refusing to participate in a tedious debate. She leads her armies to Wipe Castle, slaughtering Momon's legions. Gynecaladriel "repays" Leegola by making out with her. Just then, they notice two volcanoes erupting, meaning that Frydo is engaged in battle with Momon. However, Titanius suggests that they wait while watching Gynecaladriel and Leegola make out.

Frydo, accompanied by the still living head of Zoidberg, arrives in Momon's lair. But he is too compelled by the power of the die to destroy it, so Zoidberg bites him. Momon becomes a dragon to get the die, but it grants Frydo "Mirror Mania", allowing him to mimic her dragon form. While they battle, his friends arrive, who are descending along a fragile staircase, which Momon destroys. Ignus, riding a giant spider, which he thinks is a bug, urges them to hop on his mount. Greyfarn yells at him for his incompetence and duels Ignus in a lightstick fight. Ignus breaks it off, revealing that that he is in fact his son, which Greyfarn tries to deny, repeatedly hitting himself with his staff. Meanwhile, Frydo and Momon incapacitate each other when they hit the other's soft underbelly, reverting themselves to human form. Zoidberg then grabs the die. At first, he thinks to destroy it, but becomes corrupted by it. However, Momon seizes the die after Greyfarn squishes Zoidberg and all of Cornwood goes black, with the ground beneath everyone's feet collapsing.

Suddenly, the crew and Mom and her sons end up back at the mine. The Professor explains that the dark matter resonance in Bender's chest, coupled with his imagination, created Cornwood. Unfortunately, Mom isn't interested in his explanations and once again orders Walt and Larry to inject prune juice into Hubert's stomach, where the anti-backwards crystal still is. However, Hubert asks for one last thing: a hug with his son, Igner. Igner has swallowed Mom's crystal and their hug effectively destroys the two crystals, rendering all dark matter useless. Hubert quickly comes up with an alternative fuel, known as "nibbler power". Holding a chicken on a fishing pole just out of the harnessed Nibblonians' reach, Hubert has them drag the Planet Express ship and crew back home.

Cast[]

• Billy West as Philip J. Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Additional Voices
• Katey Sagal as Turanga Leela
• John DiMaggio as Bender, Additional Voices
• Maurice LaMarche as Various Voices
• Tress MacNeille as Various Voices
• Lauren Tom as Amy Wong, Additional Voices
• Phil LaMarr as Hermes Conrad, Additional Voices
• David Herman as Various
• Frank Welker as Nibbler
• Kath Soucie as Cubert
• George Takei as Himself
• Rich Little as Himself

DVD Extras/Special Features[]

The DVD extras contained:

• Commentary by Matt Groening, David X Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz and Dwayne Carey-Hill
• Storyboard Animatic
• Futurama Genetics Lab
• Dungeons and Dragons and Futurama Featurette
• How to Draw Futurama in 83 easy steps
• 3-D models with animator discussion
• Deleted Scene
• Blooperama 2 (Outtakes from Bender's Game)
• Bender's Anti-piracy Warning
• "Into the Wild Green Yonder" Sneak Peek (Trailer)

Continuity[]

• Before Leela, Fry and the Professor enter Mom's dark matter mine, there are fan blades that the team must go through to enter the mine. The unwilling Fry says "ladies first" and Leela pushes Fry in. This same situation happened in "I Second That Emotion" when Fry was unwilling to enter the sewers.

Allusions[]

• The opening in the middle of the intro is a reference to the Beatles' 1968 animated music fantasy film Yellow Submarine, which is based on the Beatles' music and is named after their album and 1966 single.
• The title is a reference to the 1985 book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
• A LEGO space ship appears in the demolition derby.
• An erector set or meccano version of the Eagle Spacecraft from Space:1999 is also in the demolition derby. It crashes into the LEGO spaceship, another reference to a popular building toy.
• During the Demolition Derby, George Takei attacks Scott Bakula. George Takei is flying a version of the NX-01 Enterprise from the series "Star Trek: Enterprise", while Scott Bakula is flying a version of the original NCC-1701 Enterprise from "Star Trek: The Original Series."
• The boys play the famous game Dungeons & Dragons.
• When Mom and Professor Farnsworth model  the molecule diagram. It is a reference to a scene in the 1990 film, Ghost, where the characters Molly and Sam are forming clay and the 1955 song Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers plays in the background of the romantic scene.
• One of the robots in Bender's group therapy is a reference to the Hatter from the 1865 story Alice in Wonderland as well what he always does in the story: changing places. One of the other characters is a teapot - from which the Hatter drinks.*Dr. Perceptron says, "Stop! Hammer time!" This is a lyric from rapper, MC Hammer, and his own reality show called Hammerman.
• When Professor Farnsworth removes Igner, Walt and Larry's masks, it is reminiscent of the end of each Scooby-Doo episode, where the gang take the masks off the criminal who is behind the mask.
• When the Professor, Fry and Leela are on the way toward the mine, the camera angles, sound and visual effects of the elevator descending scene is reminiscent of the moving rooms in the 1997 film 'CUBE.
• Nibbler explains the occurrence of robot slavery in the old days by saying:  "Remember this was before Robot Lincoln". Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States of America's and the one to end the slavery. Robot Lincoln was then the robot who gave the freedom back to the robots.
• There are many references to Lord of the Rings:
  • The crystal that empowered dark matter is on the top of a pointy tower, which is a reference to the Eye of Sauron.
  • Fry and Leela are now Frydo and Leegola, a reference to the characters in the Lord of the Rings, Frodo and Legolas. And as the story progresses, Frydo begins to take more and more interest in the crystal, as Frodo did with the ring. Frydo begins to look like Sméagol and begins to get two personalities. This includes a parody of a scene from The Two Towers, where Sméagol converses with a reflection of himself in the water. Leegola is as skilled with a bow and an arrow as Legolas. 
  • Leela asks "Is that a hobbit?".
  • Momon's Sons Three look like three Nazgûls.
  • The map of the realm looks like the map of Middle Earth from The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
  • Bender tries to destroy the crystal with force, just as Gimli tried to destroy the ring with force.
  • The crystal is made in Geysers of Gygax and can only be destroyed there: the One Ring from the Lord of the Rings was made in Mount Doom and can also only be destroyed there.
  • The Geysers of Gygax are also a reference to Gary Gygax, one of the co-creators of Dungeons & Dragons.
  • Professor Farnsworth is now Grayfarn, a reference to Gandalf the Grey.
  • The scene where Greyfarn is studying the anti-backwards crystal by the fireside is a reference to Gandalf studying the One Ring by the fireside in The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • Hermaphrodite says "...you may pass." This is likely a reference to when Gandalf the Grey says: "You cannot pass! You shall not pass!" in Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring when he tried to stop the Balrog.
  • The movie features an ice mountain, just as in The Fellowship of the Ring. The episode also features a walking, talking tree, a reference to Treebeard and the Ents in The Two Towers. The episode's tree character is named Treedledum, referencing a children's rhyme.
  • The Cave of Hopelessness is a reference to the Mines of Moria.
  • Amy Wong appears as Gynecaladriel, a reference to Galadriel.
  • The Morcs are a reference to Orcs, as well as to the television series, Mork and Mindy.
  • Zoidberg offers to carry Frydo, as Sam did with Frodo but Frydo says no.
  • A big spider is featured, which is reminiscent of Shelob.
  • Wipe Castle is a reference to the White City, Minas Tirith, as well as to the fast-food eatery, White Castle. The construction of the city shows many toilet-related features.
  • King Roberto, the insane ruler of Wipe Castle, is a reference to Denethor, the Steward of Gondor.
  • The battle of Wipe Castle is reminiscent of the battle of Minas Tirith.
  • The centaurs' arrow relay resembles the beacons of Minas Tirith.
  • Momon's destruction of the staircase is reminiscent of the stairs collapsing in Moria in The Fellowship of the Ring.
• Grayfarn makes mention of the "Super-bombastic Bubbling Plastic" of the Geysers of Gygax; it references a product called "Super Elastic Bubble Plastic" marketed by Wham-O in the 1970s.
• The fight between The Great Wizard Greyfarn and Ignus is a reversed parody of the fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back.
• Fry states that "It's all come down to this: a dungeon and dragons." This is a clear reference to the game, Dungeons & Dragons.
• The Game ends by Momon saying: "GAME OVER"
• Item # 1101-1816 Knife Show is a parody of a katana accident on the Home Shopping Network

Goofs[]

In "Mother's Day" it is revealed that it was the professor who dumped Mom because she turned evil, but in this episode it is Mom who dumps the professor because she is getting back with her ex-husband Professor Wermstrom. This might have been the last dump, Because Hubert says he broke up with her 3 times.

Alienese[]

• "OBEY MOM" is written in Alienese.

Debut Appearances[]

• Gynecaladriel
• Titanius Anglesmith
• The Dixie Chicks
• Scott Bakula's head
• The Great Wizard Greyfarn
• Jeremy
• Peaches
• Swamp Hag
• Treedledum
• Tunneling Horror
• King Roberto

Ongoing Themes[]

Character Arcs[]

• Sal's speech impediment seems practically to be in remission. His pluralizing is much subdued from previous episodes. Unfortunately, his disorder seems to rub off on Leela occasionally, as it does in their conversation at the Mombil gas station. During the demolition derby, Hoschel shows that he too is affected by Sal's disease.
• Hubert pronounces the words "warning", "wave", "Walt", "we're", "waistband" with a "wh".

Identity[]

• Leela's Wrist LoJack-a-mater serves as a speed-pass (which electronically pays for her dark matter purchase) and later as a two-way radio.
• The head of Rich Little, as usual, impersonates Howard Cosell.
• The Dixie Chicks appear as a single, hideous organism that resulted from an earlier matter-transport accident. Later, Rich Little is absorbed into the Chicks' "hideous conglomeration".
• Bender becomes Titanius Anglesmith and of course there are alter-egos for many of the other characters in the "real" universe.
• Hubert temporarily transfers his mind into a monkey.

The Scary Door[]

Leela and Hermes watch the Scary Door episode in which the narrator speaks with food in his mouth. Aliens invade Earth but are eradicated by dinosaurs.

Fry and Leela[]

• Turanga Munda encourages Leela to consider Zoidberg as a dating candidate.
• Fry, as Frydo, greatly enjoys riding Leela as the centaur Leegola. Given the motion of the riding, and Fry's long standing attraction to Leela, it is likely that there is a sexual element to this enjoyment.
• When Leela is fitted with the torture collar, it is mentioned that one of the collar's triggers is thoughts of sexual perversion. In the next frame, Leela seems to be making eye-contact with Fry. It is possible that he stimulated those thoughts of sexual perversion.

Hubert and Mom[]

In Hubert's tale recounting his accidental invention of dark matter, we learn of Mom "getting back together with my ex-husband", Wernstrom. It is also revealed that Igner is the love child of Hubert and Mom.

Nibbler[]

Nibbler's "secret" identity was revealed in Bender's Big Score, but no one talked about it. It was never mentioned in The Beast with a Billion Backs. It finally comes up here, when Hubert, Fry and Leela discover Mom's "crap farm". Strangely, Nibbler has forgotten that he hadn't wiped out everyone's memory at the end of Bender's Big Score. He expresses surprise at their lack of surprise and they have to remind him that he had forgotten to erase their memory. He is very embarrassed on hearing this news: he had been living with them all this time, not only behaving as a house pet, but also being treated as a house pet rather than an equal.

Nibbler explains that he had been stationed at a scientific outpost on Vergon 6 and that he had only by chance escaped capture when Mom kidnapped his colleagues for her crap farm.

Injury, Death[]

• Morbo is devoured by Lrrr, who is devoured by H. G. Blob, who is devoured by the Slurm Queen, who is devoured by Nibbler.
• Bender, Fry and Leela are thrown across the bridge of the Planet Express ship when it runs out of fuel.
• The dark matter purchase at the Mombil gas station involves a painful shock to Leela's right forearm.
• Leela and some of the Planet Express crew participate in a demolition derby, with a predictable complement of related injuries and deaths.
• Zoidberg surgically opens Hubert's abdominal cavity and removes several organs in order to return the ship keys to Hubert's stomach.
• Hubert fits Leela with a 50,000-volt shock collar, which shocks her whenever her thoughts "turn to violence, profanity, or perversions of a sexual nature" and also when she lies. The collar shocks her quite often throughout much of the episode.
• Leela uses her shock collar to administer a lengthy shock to Bender and Zoidberg.
• A Tyrannosaurus rex devours a conquering alien.
• Nibbler eats several chickens.
• Bender leaps out the window of a multi-story building and falls to the ground. He is then run over by a hover-bus.
• Bender beats Zoidberg with a trash-can lid and shoots him in the head with a metal spoon from a makeshift bow-and-arrow.
• Bender spends some time in the robot mental hospital, in which countless robot injuries and robot deaths occur.
• A random rabbit is devoured by a random polar bear.
• The usual slapping and stooge-style battery take place among Mom and her sons throughout.
• Hubert, Mom and her two eldest infant sons are hurled across the room by an explosion of dark matter.
• Hubert is fired from his job at MomCorp in the normal fashion, involving a giant hydraulic piston knocking him bodily through a wall and out of the multi-story building.
• The appearance of killbots throughout results in the usual deaths of killbots.
• Leela destroys a robot elevator operator with a karate kick.
• Hubert, Fry and Leela are thrown to the floor of a falling elevator.
• The combat-heavy D&D theme of the episode makes for countless injuries and deaths throughout. Leela even discovers a temporary love of causing injury and death.