Review: "The Route of All Evil" (Season 3, Episode 12)

"We're practically old enough to find the FOX Network infantile."- Dwight. That's pretty much his character.

Airdate: December 8th, 2002. (I hate you, Rupert Murdoch.)
Written By: Dan Vebber.
Plot: Cubert and Dwight (Hermes's son) are suspended from school for attacking a bully. Acting like idiots at Planet Express, Farnsworth and Hermes tell the kids to get a job. They start their own paper delivery company, Awesome Express, and quickly manage to get enough cold hard cash to buy out Planet Express.

Meanwhile, Bender, Fry, and Leela decide to make their own drinks. Ergo, Bender becomes pregnant.

Review:

OK, short one - this episode is probably among the most forgotten of Seasons 1-4. It focuses on uninteresting secondary/tertiary characters, features a mundane plot, and an equally weightless B-plot.

Review: "Mothers Day" (Season 2, Episode 14)

Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?

Airdate: May 14th, 2000

Synopsis: It's Mother's Day - a day when all robots pay tribute to Mom, the owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Company. Thing is, she's not a fan of the "jerkwad robots", so to speak. In fact, she's just laundering the money they give her, and turning the lavish gifts into a "hocus-pocus" cure for cancer. This year, she commemorates the 70th anniversary of a tragic event by activating the command antenna on every robot, demanding that they conquer earth for her. They proceed to cause anarchy in New New York City.

However, what happened 70 years ago? Thing is, Mom and Professor Hubert Farnsworth once dated. Professional disagreements, though, caused them to separate. Her sons try and convince Farnsworth to get back together with Mom, or at least get the remote to call off the invasion.

Review: Futurama has largely held to it's dystopic view of the future. The antagonists are ruthless, the protagonists aren't too much better... and, in a way, the world's not too different than our world. I've mentioned it before, but it comes in full force here - this time, Futurama uses science fiction themes to communicate and subvert a love story by showing the insanity of both participants.

Review: "A Clone Of My Own" (Season 2, Episode 10)

Airdate: April 9th, 2000

Congratulations, Wesley Crusher. You are no longer the most hated teen genius in sci-fi history.

Synopsis: Mars University (the college where Fry dropped out of) hosts a surprise 150th Birthday Party for Professor Farnsworth. A recollection of his life makes him realize that he's not long for this world - even if he makes another decade, after that, robots take him away to the Near-Death Star for eternity. Thus, he decides to name a successor - his clone, Cubert Farnsworth, who has been sitting in a tube for a while (thus making him the second of his family to sit in a tube for an extended period of time.) Thing is, Cubert is a bit of a jackass, dismissing every one of the Professor's accomplishments as impossible, and refusing to continue his legacy.

Oh, thing is, the Professor also fibbed a little about his age.

Review: Of al the major Futurama characters, the one I would argue is the most interesting is Professor Hubert Farnsworth. As much of a madman he is, what with his dubious ethics and questionable treatment of his employees (at best), there's also been hints at pathos, that he really has done little with his life. "A Clone of My Own" is the first episode to really dive into Professor Farnswroth's mindset, and the episode reaps the rewards.

Review: "Mars University" (Season 1, Episode 11)

Ah, the old stomping grounds.

Airdate: October 3rd, 1999

Synopsis: While on a delivery to Professor Farnsworth's university, Mars University (located, where else, Mars), Fry learns that his college dropout from the 20th Century was useless. Fry has a new resolve- enroll at Mars U, and drop out. However, he feels a sense of jealousy for Farnsworth's "project", Gunther- a monkey with a hyper-intelligence chip in his brain.

Meanwhile, Bender meets up with a chapter of his old Robot Fraternity. Realizing that they're a bunch of geeks, Bender tries to get them to loosen up by pulling pranks - one that gets them in the crosshairs of the Dean.

Review (SPOILERS): It is statistically proven that college/university rocks. What stat am I citing? My brain and various media... truly accurate sources of information.

So what better way to get into sci-fi hijinks than COLLEGE!!!!

Bizarrely enough, though, the end result is probably one of the weaker episodes so far - not a bad episode, by most means, but one that could've been better.