Raging Bender

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = Raging Bender


caption = Bender wrestling as "The Gender Bender".
episode_no = 21
prod_code = 2ACV08
airdate = February 27, 2000
country = USA
writer = Lewis Morton
director = Ron Hughart
opening_subtitle = Nominated For Three Glemmys
opening_cartoon = "Hollywood Capers"
guest_star = Rich Little as himself, Russ Leatherman as Moviefone announcer
season = two

"Raging Bender" is the eighth episode in the second production season of "Futurama". It originally aired in North America on February 27, 2000 as the twelfth episode of the second broadcast season. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Ron Hughart. The story focus on Bender becoming a professional wrestler as he is initially successful and then his downfall as his popularity wanes. The title is a reference to the 1980 film "Raging Bull", starring Robert Deniro as Jake LaMotta

Plot

At the morning Planet Express meeting, the crew discovers Hermes has been assimilated by the brain slugs. To avoid Hermes' slack-jawed stare and being assimilated themselves, the rest of the staff takes off for the movies.

While watching "All My Circuits, The Movie", Bender picks a fight with a robot that turns out to be Ultimate Robot Fighting champion The Masked Unit. The Masked Unit trips on Bender's oil-soaked popcorn, and is knocked out by the fall. Coincidentally, the commissioner of Ultimate Robot Fighting is at the movie, and hires Bender on the spot.

After training with Leela, Bender has his first fight against a chainsaw-equipped robot called The Clearcutter. By a stroke of luck, Bender defeats his opponent, causing The Clearcutter to explode into a pile of parts. However, Bender runs into the robot backstage, and the commissioner reveals that Ultimate Robot Fighting is fixed, and that the most popular robot always wins.

Bender spurns further training from Leela, and proceeds to win several fights, but eventually his popularity wanes, and he is told that he can either take a dive in his new role as 'The Gender Bender', or be killed by his giant opponent, Destructor. Bender asks Leela for help, but she initially refuses. When she discovers that Destructor is being trained by Arcturan kung-fu Master Phnog, she changes her mind. The male chauvinist and sexist Master Phnog had ruined Leela's dream of competing in the Arcturan Kung-fu junior championships years ago, and Leela still holds a grudge.

While Bender is being thrashed by Destructor (Bender asks Fry to throw in the towel he finds out that Fry has a Brain Slug on his head -- it is found dead at the end, apparently it starved to death), Leela discovers that Destructor is being controlled remotely (using motion capture and virtual reality) by Phnog. They proceed to fight, but just as Funog is winning, Leela uses Phnog's own fist to force Destructor to punch him, knocking them both out. Destructor, however, fell on and flattened Bender, thus winning the match anyway. After the fight, Fry and Leela roll up the flattened Bender and carry him home.

Production

* According to the DVD commentary, Hermes was supposed to have the brain slug for the rest of the season but they decided to scratch the idea and have the later episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" instead.Fact|date=May 2008
* This is one of the first episodes that references (indirectly) Fry's lack of the Delta-Brain Wave, which is first mentioned in the episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid".
*First mention of smizmar by the ref in Bender's opening match and not said again til "Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch".
* In one scene at the cinema, the film title "It came from Planet Earth" is visible at the front of the cinema. This is a reference back to the season 1 episode "Fear of a Bot Planet", where Fry & Leela go into the cinema and watch the film.

Ultimate robot fighters

* The Masked Unit, a classic Masked Wrestler robot.
* The Clearcutter, a lumberjack based wrestler.
* Gorgeous Gorx
* Billionaire Bot, a stereotypical billionaire based wrestler (like Ted DiBiase)
* The Foreigner, designed to resemble a matador from Spain (like Tito Santana with his "El Matador" gimmick), comes with his own "crazy passaport!" as he describes it.
* The Chain Smoker, designed to look like a cigarette vending machine, he always has a cigarette and several cigars in his mouth.
* Destructor, a giant war robot.
* Sgt. Feces Processor (maybe a parody of Sgt. Slaughter)
* Bender the Offender/Gender Bender, Bender, his first persona has a wrestling suit and his second persona has a tu-tu and a blonde wig.

Cultural References

* While watching the "All My Circuits" movie, two robots appear in silhouette and admonish Bender for talking during the movie. The robots bear the likenesses of Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo from "Mystery Science Theater 3000".

References

[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raging_Bender&oldid=215007787#Cultural_references List of cultural references (from prior revision)]

External links

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