"Bend Her" (episode #69)
summary:
I missed parts of this episode, especially the beginning.
The title is partially a take-off of the Roman-era arena charioteer and(?) gladiator of the movies, Ben Hur, since Bender's feminine alter ego, Coilette, is created to compete in the robot Olympiad. [I missed the very beginning of the show, so I don't know why Bender wants to compete as a "fembot".]
The title also looks like a back-formation from Bender's name, which is homophonous with---"sounds exactly like"---the phrase bend her, where the [h] gets lost in fast speech to give a clitic form of the pronoun, hence "bend 'er" for "bend her!", an interesting linguistic trick.
Tell me now, what's the difference between a male and a female robot, anatomically speaking (except for the cast-iron boobs)? I thought I saw Professor Farnsworth "fiddling" with something down on Bender's lower front parts in the gender-reversal operation, but I don't see what it could've been. (There's usually nothing there.)
I liked the fact that the wedding with Calculon becomes a soap opera where Hermes plays the standard organ music of daytime "soaps".
"African hydraulic fever" as a fatal illness for robots. [Hmmmmm], I find that an interesting choice of labelling, from a Western cultural perspective.
Finally, they could've called this episode "Gender Bender". What a long way we've come since Bender rode the space rails with the hobos in "30% Iron Chef" (episode #55), no?
hobo: "You're a robo."
Bender (curt and fightin' mad): "What did you call me?!?"
hobo: "A robo. You know, a robot-hobo."
Bender: "Oh, I thought you called me a romo."
summary:
Quote:
| Bender faces his greatest challenge when he tricks his way into the 3004 Earth Olympian and wins several events, but he must endure the final and most revealing test to receive his medals. When Bender has a date with a major robot celebrity, Calculon, he sees this as an opportunity to be wined and dined like never before. When Bender realizes there's an inequity of feelings, he enlists Fry's and Leela's help to stage a "soap opera death". |
I missed parts of this episode, especially the beginning.
The title is partially a take-off of the Roman-era arena charioteer and(?) gladiator of the movies, Ben Hur, since Bender's feminine alter ego, Coilette, is created to compete in the robot Olympiad. [I missed the very beginning of the show, so I don't know why Bender wants to compete as a "fembot".]
The title also looks like a back-formation from Bender's name, which is homophonous with---"sounds exactly like"---the phrase bend her, where the [h] gets lost in fast speech to give a clitic form of the pronoun, hence "bend 'er" for "bend her!", an interesting linguistic trick.
Tell me now, what's the difference between a male and a female robot, anatomically speaking (except for the cast-iron boobs)? I thought I saw Professor Farnsworth "fiddling" with something down on Bender's lower front parts in the gender-reversal operation, but I don't see what it could've been. (There's usually nothing there.)
I liked the fact that the wedding with Calculon becomes a soap opera where Hermes plays the standard organ music of daytime "soaps".
"African hydraulic fever" as a fatal illness for robots. [Hmmmmm], I find that an interesting choice of labelling, from a Western cultural perspective.
Finally, they could've called this episode "Gender Bender". What a long way we've come since Bender rode the space rails with the hobos in "30% Iron Chef" (episode #55), no?
hobo: "You're a robo."
Bender (curt and fightin' mad): "What did you call me?!?"
hobo: "A robo. You know, a robot-hobo."
Bender: "Oh, I thought you called me a romo."
