Watch Bender's Surprisingly Touching Origin Story on Futurama

7.05K

Henry Baker

07/22/10 10:05PM

Filed to: Futurama

Everyone who's anyone already knows that Bender Bending Rodriguez the Robot was "Hecho En Mexico". What we didn't know was that the foul-mouthed drunkard-bot can owe his continued livelihood to another member of the cast. Find out who inside.

What other show can change gears like this and be so heart-warming? Getting choked up over here...

[There was a video here]

Sev Henry Baker 07/23/10 03:09PM

I love the heart in some Futrama episodes. Just like in the old episodes of The Simpsons (remember the one where Lisa asks where all the pictures of Maggie are? And at the end it shows Homer at his job with pictures of Maggie covering up the plaque Burns put up and the only words visable are "Do it for her." ?)

Henry Baker Sev 07/25/10 07:12PM

@Sev: one of the best, or when Homer first meets his Mom and sits on his car staring at the stars... beauty.

jackeemarie Henry Baker 07/23/10 01:22AM

Oh man. Two words though: Jurassic Bark.

BucketVisor jackeemarie 07/23/10 10:14AM

@jackeemarie: The golden standard for the power of animation to make you sob like a five-year-old who just dropped her ice cream cone. Every time I even hear mention of That Episode, I feel strongly compelled to hug my dogs and tell them I love them. That Episode is even more brutal than That Sequence from Up - and that's saying something, because damn.

In short, yeah - it's amazing how little drawings can break your heart.

Henry Baker BucketVisor 07/23/10 11:58AM

@PersicaPit: yeah, I think the "Up" moment is more of a beautiful sadness, whereas "Jurassic Bark" makes me want to die. Although i forget which movie but there is a li'l silver lining to the dog story

BucketVisor Henry Baker 07/23/10 01:45PM

@Henry Baker: Definitely - the Up sequence is gut-wrenching and achingly beautiful, but That Episode (seriously, I will not speak its name) just makes me want to vomit out of sorrow and despair. I think it's because Up turns out to be, well, uplifting, while That Episode just ends with ... that scene. Gah.

And as nice as it was of the writers to add that silver lining to the Seymour storyline in the first Futurama movie, I still can't watch That Episode. It's dogs, man. Dogs. Hollywood can kill a million babies on screen and I can handle it, but don't ever make me watch the end of Marley & Me. That book shattered me. SHATTERED.

I really need to hug my dogs now. They're such good babies, and THEY WILL LIVE FOREVER. Don't tell me differently. FOREVER.

GitEmSteveDave.com Henry Baker 07/22/10 10:18PM

Didn't we already see his birth? Including his going to Bending College?

I did like the mustaches on Mom's kids though. Nice touch.

Animan GitEmSteveDave.com 07/22/10 10:43PM

@GitEmSteveDave'sTopHatX: Its like when the Simpsons changes Homer and Marge's backstories to suit the appropriate date/age. Its a sign that they're starting to jump the shark. Its a shame, too.

Henry Baker GitEmSteveDave.com 07/22/10 11:08PM

@GitEmSteveDave'sTopHatX: hey, he's a robot, so like C3PO before him he can be reprogrammed endlessly. This clip, in fact, shows what is most likely his real birth, since he is small (robots grow in the future apparently), his small youthful stature being exemplified earlier in "teenage mutant leela's hurdles" when they all go in the volcano and come out younger.

GitEmSteveDave.com Henry Baker 07/22/10 11:10PM

@Henry Baker: I just seem to remember him suckling on a nippled beer bottle before. But I'm tired and my brain isn't working too well.

Henry Baker GitEmSteveDave.com 07/22/10 11:43PM

@GitEmSteveDave'sTopHatX: totally! i randomly watched it the other day, the one where Bender can't stop sleep-bending

Yahweh Took My Prepuce Animan 07/23/10 10:45AM

@Animan: Probably shouldn't attach too much importance in the chronology of this or any comedic animation.

Henry Baker Yahweh Took My Prepuce 07/23/10 11:59AM

@Yahweh Took My Prepuce: but how else can I justify spending too much of my life watching these things?

Yahweh Took My Prepuce Henry Baker 07/23/10 12:06PM

@Henry Baker: It's a social lubricant. Like how sports lets you talk to a huge swath of strangers, or Kant and Hobbes with urban liberal-arts graduates, Futurama and Simpsons quotations allow you immediately connect and relate to other nerds. It's wonderful.