A Clone of My Own
Encyclopedia
"A Clone of My Own" is episode ten in season two of Futurama
. It originally aired in North America
on April 9, 2000. It marks the first appearance of the recurring character Cubert Farnsworth
.
receives word from Mars University that they are revoking his professorship. When he arrives before the university's professors, he reveals all their secrets until he realises it was his 150th birthday party
. After he sees a short film summing up his life, Farnsworth becomes concerned with his own mortality. He decides he needs to name a successor. The Planet Express staff each expects one of them will be named, including Fry
, but Farnsworth reveals that his successor will be a 12-year-old clone
of himself, Cubert Farnsworth
.
Cubert decides that being an inventor is not an appealing career choice. He makes cutting remarks about the Professor and his inventions, which include a time travel machine and a translator which turns words into an incomprehensible, dead language (French
, despite this being used in the show before). A depressed professor makes a recording over Bender's soap operas telling his crew that he has been lying about his age; he is actually 160, the age when robots from the Sunset Squad take people away, never to be seen again. Under cover of a thunderstorm
, a Grim Reaper-like hooded robot arrives, and takes the professor away while he says good-bye to everything in sight.
The crew set off to rescue the professor, and find the Near-Death Star, the Sunset Squad's base of operations. The crew sneak in with Fry dressed up as the professor with Cubert on his back posing as a hump
to make him look "old." They even brought a jar of Cubert's blood just in case. They locate the professor, who is unconscious and hooked to a life-support system
. The robots discover the crew who then race back to the Planet Express Ship
, Professor Farnsworth in tow.
As they reach the landing pad Cubert is knocked unconscious, but they make it onto the ship in one piece. When the ship takes off, the robot
s open fire, damaging the engines. A reawakened Cubert announces that he knows how to fix the engines, and the crew make their escape. It is revealed the dark matter engines do not move the ship, but instead move the universe, allowing the ship to go faster than the speed of light. Safely back on Earth, Cubert tells the professor that he has decided to follow in his footsteps.
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
. It originally aired in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on April 9, 2000. It marks the first appearance of the recurring character Cubert Farnsworth
Cubert Farnsworth
Cubert Farnsworth is a fictional character, Professor Farnsworth's clone from the animated television series Futurama. He was created from a growth on Professor Farnsworth's back in 2989. Cubert differs from the Professor in appearance due to his nose being squashed up against the wall of his...
.
Plot
Professor FarnsworthHubert J. Farnsworth
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, or simply The Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a combination of impressions of Burgess Meredith and Frank Morgan. Farnsworth is the proprietor of the Planet Express delivery...
receives word from Mars University that they are revoking his professorship. When he arrives before the university's professors, he reveals all their secrets until he realises it was his 150th birthday party
Birthday party
A birthday party is a party to celebrate the anniversary of one's birth.Birthday Party may also refer to:- Theatre, film, and television :* The Birthday Party , a 1958 play by Harold Pinter...
. After he sees a short film summing up his life, Farnsworth becomes concerned with his own mortality. He decides he needs to name a successor. The Planet Express staff each expects one of them will be named, including Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...
, but Farnsworth reveals that his successor will be a 12-year-old clone
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
of himself, Cubert Farnsworth
Cubert Farnsworth
Cubert Farnsworth is a fictional character, Professor Farnsworth's clone from the animated television series Futurama. He was created from a growth on Professor Farnsworth's back in 2989. Cubert differs from the Professor in appearance due to his nose being squashed up against the wall of his...
.
Cubert decides that being an inventor is not an appealing career choice. He makes cutting remarks about the Professor and his inventions, which include a time travel machine and a translator which turns words into an incomprehensible, dead language (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, despite this being used in the show before). A depressed professor makes a recording over Bender's soap operas telling his crew that he has been lying about his age; he is actually 160, the age when robots from the Sunset Squad take people away, never to be seen again. Under cover of a thunderstorm
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...
, a Grim Reaper-like hooded robot arrives, and takes the professor away while he says good-bye to everything in sight.
The crew set off to rescue the professor, and find the Near-Death Star, the Sunset Squad's base of operations. The crew sneak in with Fry dressed up as the professor with Cubert on his back posing as a hump
Kyphosis
Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae...
to make him look "old." They even brought a jar of Cubert's blood just in case. They locate the professor, who is unconscious and hooked to a life-support system
Life support system
In human spaceflight, a life support system is a group of devices that allow a human being to survive in space.US government space agency NASA,and private spaceflight companies...
. The robots discover the crew who then race back to the Planet Express Ship
Planet Express Ship
The Planet Express Ship is a fictional spaceship in the animated series Futurama, which bears the official designation "U.S.S. Planet Express Ship." The ship was designed and built by Professor Hubert Farnsworth and is the sole delivery ship of Planet Express, a delivery service owned by the...
, Professor Farnsworth in tow.
As they reach the landing pad Cubert is knocked unconscious, but they make it onto the ship in one piece. When the ship takes off, the robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
s open fire, damaging the engines. A reawakened Cubert announces that he knows how to fix the engines, and the crew make their escape. It is revealed the dark matter engines do not move the ship, but instead move the universe, allowing the ship to go faster than the speed of light. Safely back on Earth, Cubert tells the professor that he has decided to follow in his footsteps.
Broadcast and reception
In its initial airing, the episode placed 84th in the Nielsen ratings for primetime shows for the week of April 3-9, 2000.Continuity
- In this episode Cubert is named as the professor's heir. However, in "Anthology of Interest IAnthology of Interest I"Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of...
" it is revealed that if Leela were a little more impulsive, she would have been named as his heir for being so unimpulsive. - Professor Farnsworth describes the French language as incomprehensible and dead; however, Bender is later able to speak fluent French in Insane in the MainframeInsane in the Mainframe"Insane in the Mainframe" is the eleventh episode of the third season of the American animated sitcom Futurama, and originally aired in North America on April 8, 2001. The episode was written by Peter Avanzino and directed by Bill Odenkirk. In the episode, Fry and Bender are admitted to an insane...
without confusing anyone, though this could have come from Bender pretending to be insane in order to stay at the robot asylum. French is also spoken by the Professor's gargoyle, PazuzuPazuzuIn Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought.- Iconography :...
in Teenage Mutant Leela's HurdlesTeenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" is the ninth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. It first aired on March 30, 2003 as the seventh episode of the fifth broadcast season. The episode was directed by Bret Haaland and written by Jeff Westbrook.-Plot:Professor Farnsworth is chasing...
. - When showing Cubert his smelloscope Professor Farnsworth calls it "my award-winning smelloscope." He wins the award in the end of A Big Piece of GarbageA Big Piece of Garbage"A Big Piece of Garbage" is episode eight in season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 11, 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Susie Dietter. Ron Popeil guest stars in this episode as himself. Nancy Cartwright also has a brief cameo as a Bart...
. - In this episode, Leela is shown as lacking depth perception. However, in most other episodes, she always seems to have it, despite being a cyclops. A notable exception to this is in "Space Pilot 3000Space Pilot 3000"Space Pilot 3000" is the pilot episode of Futurama, which originally aired in North America on March 28, 1999 on Fox. The episode focuses on the cryogenic freezing of the series protagonist, Philip J. Fry, and the events when he awakens 1,000 years in the future...
" where she states she does not have good depth perception. In the following episode, "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove BackHow Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back"How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" is episode eleven in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 2, 2000...
", she sings "They said I probably shouldn't fly with just one eye", before being hit by a pneumatic tube capsule. - Farnsworth reveals that he lied about his age, even though in "Teenage Mutant Leela's HurdlesTeenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" is the ninth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. It first aired on March 30, 2003 as the seventh episode of the fifth broadcast season. The episode was directed by Bret Haaland and written by Jeff Westbrook.-Plot:Professor Farnsworth is chasing...
", there is a machine used by the spa coordinator and Farnsworth that can exactly calculate anyone's age.
Censorship
- In New ZealandNew ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
airings, the following edits were made :- The scene of Farnsworth confessing on the video that he taped over Bender's soap operas to record the goodbye message, followed by Bender yelling, "You bastard!" was cut.
- The scene of Bender calling Cubert a "bed-wetter" after Cubert says that robots cannot keep secrets was cut.
- Leela's line, "We can't, you bastard! No one knows how it works!" is missing the "You bastard!" part.
External links
- "A Clone of My Own" at The Infosphere.