Radiorama
Podcast audio episode | |||||
Radiorama | |||||
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Written by | David X. Cohen, Ken Keeler and Patric M. Verrone | ||||
Title caption | The show that never dies, but is so sick, it lost its video | ||||
First air date | 14 September 2017 | ||||
Special guest(s) | Chris Hardwick as Klaxxon and himself | ||||
Sponsors | Klacch the Avenger's Borax Flakes Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow The Robot with No Name | ||||
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During a routine delivery to the deleted file planet, Junkleon 7, the Planet Express crew are confronted by Klaxxon, an evil being made entirely of soundwaves from podcasts from the 21st century.
Plot
Part 1
After a rather lengthy introduction from Nerdist host Chris Hardwick about how this episode came about, the theme song is heard and we are welcomed into this episode by our favorite Transition Announcer, Mr. Don Cunningham.
Professor Farnsworth walks into the Planet Express headquarters meeting room to announce that All My Circuits, which was cancelled some time after Calculon's second death, is being revived as a podcast, since Calculon's voicebox somehow survived. Later, Fry brings Leela into the basement to show her a gift he made her, which is a three-dimensional sculpture of himself. Leela feels insulted by this gift, since she only has one eye, she is only able to see in two dimensions. When she shows it to the crew, they are actually marveled by this nude 3D portrait. Fry attempts to throw it out, but Farnsworth says that since it is digital, they must throw it out on the digital garbage planet, Junkleon 7.
When the crew blasts off to the planet, Bender confesses that he feels sorry that his mother never got to see his brief turn on All My Circuits as Calculon's son, Antonio Calculon, Jr., since she was only a mechanical arm with no eyes. When they reach the planet, Fry throws out his sculpture, while Bender steals what he sees as the most valuable item on the planet, and puts it in his chest cavity.
While the crew randomly beats Zoidberg with a banjo, Bender receives a phone call from none other than Calculon himself. Calculon offers Bender to reprise his role for the All My Circuits podcast, which Bender accepts. Bender then decides to tell his mother the exciting news.
At a robot nursing home, Bender, alongside Fry and Amy, who is there to interpret the sign language that Bender's mother uses. When they see her, Bender tells her the good news, but Mrs. Rodriguez acts nonchalant about it, revealing that she is close to death.
At this point, listeners are treated to a fake ad from the Borax Kid for Klacch the Avenger's Borax Flakes, as well as a real ad for the mobile game Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow from Hermes and Zoidberg.
Part 2
Back at the nursing home, the doctor reveals that Bender's mother is suffering from planned obsolescence, and that she will be dying within a matter of days.
Less than a week later, it is the day of the recording of the podcast. All the cast members, including Calculon, Monique, Boxy Robot, and Human Friend, are at the studio. But Bender arrives late, bringing some friends along, including Fry, Leela, Bubblegum, Hattie, Randy, Roberto and Fatbot. As Bender's guests take their seats, Fry and Leela are still arguing over the sculpture. When the recording session begins, in this episode, Calculon mutilates himself making a birdhouse and is visited on his deathbed by Monique, Boxy and Dr. Human Friend. When Antonio enters, he is about to tell his father something, when the item Bender stole from Junkleon 7 falls out of his chest cavity and will not go back in. The item, resembling a sound wave, begins speaking, calling himself Klaxxon.
At the Professor's laboratory, he takes a look at the item inside Bender's cavity, revealing it to be a Podcast Containment Device, or PCD for short. It was used in the 21st century to contain all the unlistened to podcasts. Klaxxon returns explaining his desire is to be heard by everyone, since no one ever listened to his podcasts. Suddenly, the Earth is completely swarmed with 58 billion podcasts in all directions.
We go into another ad break, in which the Borax Kid reveals that the funds for Klacch the Avenger's Borax Flakes are used to help Klacch break out of jail. This is followed by another ad for Worlds of Tomorrow announced by Terry. Finally, Don Cunningham introduces the newest sponsor for the podcast, the Robot with No Name, who ends up having an existential crisis.
Part 3
Morbo and Linda interrupt the podcast to report on the 58 billion podcasts invading Earth's atmosphere. Linda begins suffering from audio madness and hits Morbo repeatedly on the head with her microphone.
Back at Planet Express, the Professor gives the crew some podcast-cancelling earplugs to block out all the podcasts. After they plug their ears, the crew is back in the presence of Klaxxon, who announces his further intentions to use the Earth itself as a loudspeaker for all his podcasts, thereby leaving the planet in ruins. He departs the building and burrows underground, his destination being the core of the Earth.
In Washington, D.C., Earth President Richard Nixon's head confers with general Zapp Brannigan about the situation. Zapp suggests taking off in an escape pod, which he does, leaving behind Nixon and Kif.
The Professor comes up with a plan to install the drill cone onto the ship and intercept Klaxxon. Leela stays behind in a sensory deprivation chamber resembling an electric coffin filled with Vaseline, so she can better sense Klaxxon's location and give the crew his coordinates via a ham radio. As everyone else boards the ship, Bender also takes his dying mother with him.
As they drill to the center of the Earth, they follow Leela's directions for Klaxxon's coordinates. Unfortunately, Leela loses Klaxon's location. Soon, Klaxxon's plan moves forward and the Earth begins to crumble, leaving everyone in a state of panic.
Back at Planet Express, the power goes out, and Leela loses contact with the ship. Fearing she will die, her memories turn back to Fry's 3D sculpture. Through a sudden realisation described by Don Cunningham, she is actually able to picture the sculpture in more than one dimension. Through a further epiphany, she is also able to locate Klaxxon.
Underground, the Planet Express crew is being tortured by millions of tedious podcasts about embroidery, when Fry suddenly hears Leela speak, who is able to yell among multiple three-dimensional paths at once. She gives the coordinates of Klaxxon, but is drowned out by all of the podcasts. Fortunately, Fry was able to catch everything she said. Once they reach the coordinates, they compress Klaxxon into a Diamondium walnut shell. Farnsworth instructs Bender to squeeze the shell, but since Bender is a bending unit, he bends it instead. So he leaves the squeezing to his mother. With every fiber of her being, she squeezes Klaxxon out of existence.
The crew returns to Planet Express to meet an elated Leela. Fry begins to apologise for the sculpture, but instead Leela thanks Fry for it. She attempts to kiss him, but Zoidberg somehow beats her to it. To show her gratefulness, she shows that she recovered the sculpture and put it on display outside the building for all to see. Back inside, Bender and Amy are at Mrs. Rodriguez's side during her final moments. Suddenly, Calculon dramatically bursts in, and Bender and Calculon act out the All My Circuits podcast live for her. Unfortunately, she passes away due to Calculon's dramatic pauses. Bender feels sad that he will never be able to tell his mother how much he loved her, but suddenly, his mother, now voiced, confirms she heard every word. She tells him that when she squeezed Klaxxon, Klaxxon and she somehow became one. Bender declares they party, and so they party into the night, leaving their white uniforms completely stained.
After Don Cunningham reads out the credits, Bender gives one last plug for Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow, with some assistance from the Hypnotoad.
Production
On 8 September 2017, the Worlds of Tomorrow Facebook page was updated with a promotional graphic promoting "Radiorama".[1] Chris Hardwick revealed that he was voicing the villain, Klaxxon. Hardwick revealed that he pitched the idea of doing an audio episode on the Nerdist podcast to Matt Groening and David X. Cohen in 2016. The episode came together due to TinyCo, the company that runs the freemium game based on Futurama, Worlds of Tomorrow. As a tie-in to the episode, Chris Hardwick's head in a jar appears in the Worlds of Tomorrow game.[2] On 9 September 2017, USA Today released a one minute preview of the episode through Soundcloud.[3]
Trivia
- This is the first audio episode of Futurama.
- The Transition Announcer's name is revealed to be Don Cunningham.
- While this episode had two fake sponsors, it was also the first one to have a real sponsor, in the form of the Worlds of Tomorrow app.
- The 3D sculpture of Fry was one of the mystery prizes given away in the Worlds of Tomorrow app.
Allusions
- Bender claiming him being voted as the "Worst Actor of All Time" as "fake news" due to "millions of illegal voters" are the same claims made by Donald Trump.
- Leela says of the sculpture that they should "Drop it like it's hot and let's go", a reference to the Snoop Dogg song of the same name.
- Don Cunningham mentions that Tokyo was accustomed to daily "Godzillings", a reference to the Japanese movie monster Godzilla.
- When Leela has her first epiphany, she shouts, "Jinkies!", which is the catch phrase of Velma Dinkley on Scooby-Doo, and previously spoken by Amy.
Continuity
- Calculon's previous deaths from The Thief of Baghead and Calculon 2.0 are mentioned.
- Amy mentions Bender's previous stint on All My Circuits as shown in Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television.
- Bender's mother being a robotic arm was first revealed in Xmas Story.
- Hermes mentions throwing out Fry's opera, most likely referring to the one seen in The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings.
Quotes
Scruffy: Welcome to the basement.
Fry: Scruffy? What are you doing down here?
Scruffy: Just finished greasin' the sta'rs. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go loosen the chandelier. Mm-hm.
Farnsworth: Oh, you clod-noramus! You can't throw digital garbage in the analog trash! Digital trash needs to be dragged and dropped onto Junkleon 7, the deleted file planet!
Fry: Does there really have to be a whole planet for everything?
Farnsworth: Bon voyage!
Transition Announcer: The whole crew was happily beating Dr. Zoidberg with a banjo, when suddenly, the phone rang.
Zoidberg: Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Hurray! I'm being beaten by friends! Ow!
Calculon: Once you've established a character, the audience won't stand for any recasting. No matter how excruciatingly incompetent the ACTOR!
Zoidberg: Ah, so you're getting the original writers back too?
Calculon: No, we fire them all the time. It saves money, and it's fun!
Bender: Man, I can't wait to go tell my mother!
Fry: Aw, Bender, that's sweet. I'm sure she'll have a lot to say.
Bender: Fry, you idiot! Leela, gimme that banjo.
Fry: Ow! Oof! Ooh! What'd I do?
Bender: My mother can't talk, okay? She has no mouth! She uses sign language, which is a form of talking!
Fry: Eh, but—
Bender: Ah-ah-ah, don't make me get the bagpipes!
Fry: D'ouch!
Bender: Mom? It's me, Bender, your middle son! Can I come in? Are you decent?
Fry: How she gonna hear you knocking? I thought she was a robot arm.
Bender: She's not deaf, you idiot! Amy, hand me that piano!
[Smash!]
Fry: Sorry. I deserve that.
Bender: [quietly] Oh, God, she looks horrible. [out loud] Hi, Mom, you look great!
Fry: [quietly] Can ya see the actors, Leela?
Leela: Yeah, just not in three dimensions, in case you forgot again.
Fry: Okay, jeez! I apologise, Leela! I threw out the sculpture. Anyway, it's an audio podcast, so just use however many ears you have.
Leela: [getting more angry] You honestly don't know how many ears I have, do you?
Fry: I don't even know how many ears I have.
Leela: My ears!
Fry: Aha! So you do have ears!
Zoidberg: Oy, what a hullabaloo! I'm just glad I don't have ears.
Fry: Aha! I knew somebody didn't have ears!
Klaxxon: Kudos, Professor Farnsworth! You have explained my existence in a way that gets the big picture right, while still mangling all the details!
Klaxxon: I told you what I want!
Fry: Well, we weren't listening!
Klaxxon: What I want... is to be heard.
Fry: Ih, sorry, what?
Hermes: And that's that. Back to work, people.
Leela: I thought it was bedtime.
Transition Announcer: Futurama is also brought to you by Futurama!
Farnsworth: Dear God! That's an infinite loop! The universe will be destroyed!
Zoidberg: No! It's a mobile game now! I heard about it because I'm important.
Transition Announcer: We now return to our podcast, where newscasters Morbo and Linda were about to report on Klaxxon, the podcast alien blasting billions of podcasts at—
Morbo: We interrupt this podcast with an important podcast!
Linda: Which podcast are we interrupting?
Morbo: ALL OF THEM!
Farnsworth: Good news, everyone!
Fry: Again?
Farnsworth: I've invented a way to block out the sound with podcast-canceling earplugs! Here, shove these in.
Fry: [grunts]
Farnsworth: Not there! In your ears!
Fry: Oh, okay. I need another pair.
Amy: Ah! That's better. But wait, how can we hear each other?
Farnsworth: We can't!
Amy: Got it.
Appearances
Characters
- Amy
- Bender
- Bender's mother
- Borax Kid
- Boxy Robot
- Bubblegum
- Calculon
- Don Cunningham
- Fatbot
- Fry
- Hattie
- Hedonismbot
- Hermes
- Human Friend
- Hyperchicken
- Hypnotoad
- Kif
- Debut: Klaxxon
- Leela
- Linda
- Monique
- Morbo
- Debut: Operator
- Preacherbot
- Professor Farnsworth
- Randy
- Richard Nixon's Head
- Roberto
- Debut: The Robot with No Name
- Scruffy
- Terry
- Zapp
- Zoidberg
Places
- Amarillo
- Debut: Assisted Computing Facility
- Caracas
- Debut: Junkleon 7
- Nairobi
- Planet Express headquarters
- Tokyo
Miscellaneous
Cast
- Billy West: Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, Richard Nixon's Head
- Katey Sagal: Leela
- John DiMaggio: Bender, Randy, Human Friend
- Maurice LaMarche: Don Cunningham, Calculon, Morbo, Kif, Hedonismbot, the Hyper-chicken, the Borax Kid
- Tress MacNeille: Hattie, Monique, Linda, Operator, Bender's mother, jingle singer
- Phil LaMarr: Hermes, Bubblegum, Preacherbot, Doctor
- Lauren Tom: Amy
- David Herman: Scruffy, Roberto, Fatbot, Terry, The Robot with No Name, Engineer
- Chris Hardwick: Klaxxon, Himself
Notes and references
- ^ Worlds of Tomorrow Radiorama Facebook cover photo. (Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow Facebook page.) 09 August 2017. Retrieved on 10 September 2017.
- ^ ‘Futurama’ returns for a one-off, 42-minute podcast episode. (Engadget.) 08 September 2017. Retrieved on 10 September 2017.
- ^ Exclusive preview: 'Futurama' cast reunites for original podcast. (USA Today.) 09 September 2017. Retrieved on 10 September 2017.