The Route of All Evil

Infobox Futurama episode
episode_name = The Route of All Evil


caption = Dwight and Cubert's lunches are being sucked into a black hole.
episode_no = 44
prod_code = 3ACV12
airdate = December 8, 2002
country = USA
writer = Dan Vebber
director = Brian Sheesley
opening_subtitle = Disclaimer: Any Resemblance To Actual Robots Would Be Really Cool
opening_cartoon = Heep Hep Injuns
season = three

"The Route of All Evil" is episode twelve in season three of the "Futurama" DVDs. This episode was originally made to be aired during Season 3 but was put on the shelf by FOX. It was also going to be the 5th Season Premiere but FOX made a last minute change and aired it on December 8, 2002. Other sources list this episode as season 5, episode 3.

Plot

Having been suspended from school for salting the bully Bret Blob (who appears to have the same weakness as slugs), Dwight and Cubert find themselves stuck with their fathers. After the boys send the Planet Express crew on a fake mission to deliver pizza to a non-existent planet and generally annoy the staff, their fathers order them to get jobs. They decide to start up a company to rival Planet Express: a paper route. They become so successful that they take over Planet Express when it is discovered that the Professor was declared legally dead three years ago (he was really taking a nap in a ditch in the park). The name of the company is then changed to the name of the boys' delivery route, 'Awesome Express'. Humiliated, Hermes and the Professor leave Planet Express. Meanwhile, Fry, Leela and Bender brew beer inside Bender, treating the robot like an expectant mother.

Dwight and Cubert end up taking on too many customers and cannot deliver the papers. In a panic, they run to Hermes and the professor to solve the problem. All the papers are successfully delivered; however, as they pass Bret Blob's house the boys admit that they broke his window last week. Hermes and the Professor take the boys to apologize. When Mr. Blob doesn't accept the apology and insults them, the boys' fathers take offense and start a fight. Blob beats them up, but later apologizes in the hospital. Bender comes in with his beers to enjoy, and everything ends happily except for Cubert and Dwight who are swallowed by Bret Blob.

Cultural references

* The title is taken from the phrase "the love of money is the root of all evil", derived from the Latin "radix malorum est cupiditas", the creed of the Pardoner in his prologue and tale from "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer. This itself is taken from 1 Timothy 6:10 (King James Version): "The love of money is the root of all evil...etc." - and "radix enim omnium malorum est cupiditas" in the Vulgate of Saint Jerome.
* One of the asteroids to which Cubert and Dwight deliver papers seems to be the planet inhabited by the Little Prince. The first time they deliver papers, the Prince catches his with no problem; the time with Hermes shooting them from a gun, however, he gets hit, and flies off into space crying "Au revoir!" (even though it's implied in A Clone of My Own that French is a dead language in the 31st century).
* Cubert is shown playing with a device similar to a Game Boy.
* Bender considers calling his beer "Botweiser", a reference to Budweiser beer.
* While flying through the asteroid belt the dog chasing Dwight and Cubert is eaten by a giant worm in a crater, a parody of a scene in "".
* Professor Farnsworth having himself declared dead as a supposed tax dodge, though he had really only been taking a nap in a ditch in the park, is probably a reference to a similar tax dodge used by the character Hotblack Desiato in "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" book series.
* Several scenes feature references to the video game "Paperboy".
* Bender is shown reading a Victoria's Circuit catalog while he is sitting on the stove in order to brew beer inside of him. Victoria's Circuit is a parody of the clothing maker Victoria's Secret, known for their lingerie catalogs.
* A beer mentioned in the episode is given the name of St. Pauli Exclusion Principle Girl. This combines St. Pauli Girl beer and the Pauli exclusion principle.
* When stamping paperwork in his office Hermes is singing a parody of Get Up Stand Up with the lyrics "Stamp it, file it, Oh yeah, send it overnight".
* Taco Bellevue Hospital is an obvious reference to Taco Bell and Bellevue Hospital (the name is a portmanteau).
* The Conrad household, seen while Hermes, Professor Farnsworth, and LaBarbara are eating dinner, resembles the Huxtable residence from "The Cosby Show."
* Klein bottles of beer can be seen near the start of the episode. This is a visual joke, as Klein bottles are really four-dimensional objects and cannot be properly formed in three dimensions.
* The periodic table on the lunchbox has only 107 elements, actually fewer than the number known to exist when this episode aired, and two less than the number of named elements at that time.

Production notes

* This episode had a delayed release because Bumper Robinson, who played Hermes' son Dwight, moved to China for 10 months mid-production.