Difference between revisions of "Decision 3012"

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Revision as of 13:18, 28 June 2012

Season 7 episode
Broadcast season 9 episode
Decision 3012
Decision 3012 screenshot.png
The political debate. Senator Chris Travers is in the centre and Morbo is to the right.
No.117
Production number7ACV03
Written byPatric M. Verrone
Directed byDwayne Carey-Hill
Title captionMade from 100% recycled pixels
First air date27 June 2012
Broadcast numberS09E03
Title reference"Decision 2012", a media nickname for the 2012 U.S. presidential election
Additional
Commentary
(Transcript)
Transcript
Storyboard

Pictures

Season 7
  1. The Bots and the Bees
  2. A Farewell to Arms
  3. Decision 3012
  4. The Thief of Baghead
  5. Zapp Dingbat
  6. The Butterjunk Effect
  7. The Six Million Dollar Mon
  8. Fun on a Bun
  9. Free Will Hunting
  10. Near-Death Wish
  11. 31st Century Fox
  12. Viva Mars Vegas
  13. Naturama
  14. Forty Percent Leadbelly
  15. 2-D Blacktop
  16. T.: The Terrestrial
  17. Fry and Leela's Big Fling
  18. The Inhuman Torch
  19. Saturday Morning Fun Pit
  20. Calculon 2.0
  21. Assie Come Home
  22. Leela and the Genestalk
  23. Game of Tones
  24. Murder on the Planet Express
  25. Stench and Stenchibility
  26. Meanwhile
← Season 6Season 8 →

"Decision 3012" is the one hundred and seventeenth episode of Futurama, the third of the seventh production season and the ninth broadcast season. It aired on 27 June 2012 on Comedy Central. Leela becomes a campaign manager for a presidential candidate whose birth certificate is missing.

Plot

Act I: "I'm going to get involved in the political process and make my voice heard!"

Richard Nixon's head runs for a third term as president of Earth. The crew, with the exception of Leela, are set on voting for Nixon, especially Bender, who has been swayed by the free beer given by Nixon to citizens for his campaign. They point out that they would rather stick to a candidate they have already experienced rather than face the possibilities of a new candidate. Leela decides to become a campaign manager for one of Nixon's opponents, Senator Chris Travers, whose good-hearted views are disliked by the general public. She helps him reinvigorate Travers' faltering campaign by making promotional stops to help him socialize with the people. Travers is eventually named a nominee against Nixon. The crew decide to help Leela in Travers' campaign, with the exception of Bender, who collaborates with Nixon in helping sabotage Travers' campaign.

Act II: "We voters demand you release your Earth certificate!"

At Travers' presidential headquarters, Bender attempts to find some incriminating info about Travers, but only succeeds in finding positive information about him. When he reads out Travers' middle name, "Zaxxar", Nixon points out how the name sounds like that of an alien and how voters hate aliens. Despite the fact that Travers is a human, Bender and Nixon decide to spread a rumor that Travers is an alien. At one of Travers' campaign stops, Bender questions whether Travers was actually born on Earth and demands his "Earth certificate". Leela plans to release the certificate to prove he was born on Earth, but Travers dismisses the rumors as distractions from the real issues and tells Leela not to look for the certificate. Nonetheless, Leela, Bender and Fry travel to Our Lady of Patriotism Hospital in Kenya, where Travers claims he was born, to find the certificate. They find a file labelled "Travers", but fails to find an Earth certificate. Travers then arrives at the scene. Leela examines the file more, and finds that Travers' mother was admitted to the hospital that morning. Travers then reveals that while he was in fact born on Earth, he will only be born tomorrow, for he is actually from the future.

Act III: "It really doesn't matter who you vote for!"

Travers explains that he was sent back from the year 3038 to prevent Nixon from getting elected. He goes on to explain the series of events that follows after Nixon's election. Nixon's promise to build an alien-proof fence around the solar system eliminated cheap alien labor from Earth. Without the aliens to perform these jobs, the economy collapsed. Starvation and civil unrest became widespread around Earth. Nixon then eliminated working-class humans, turning them into a food product named Soylent Majority. With the working class gone, robots were forced to do all of Earth's labor, and they eventually rose into revolt, led by Bender. The last remnants of humanity hid underground and sent Travers back in time to oppose Nixon and prevent him from getting elected. As he has not yet been born, he has no certificate. Leela then comes up with the plan of broadcasting his birth on live television. His mother eventually gives birth and his certificate is printed. The election results are announced, and Travers is declared the winner. When Amy asks Bender why he is not upset over Nixon's loss, he replies that he does not really care. Travers starts to fade away as Bender points out that since Nixon never won the election, the robot uprising never occured and Travers was never sent back in time to begin with. All mentions of Travers are erased as he disappears, and Morbo announces that Nixon has won the election. Back at the Planet Express headquarters, the crew realize that it does not really matter who one votes for. Leela points out that they at least tried to make a difference, but forgets Travers' name. Hermes points out that they never even left the building.

Production

In 2012, two revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Patric M. Verrone and its director to be Dwayne Carey-Hill.[1][2] On 25 April, MSN TV revealed the episode's plot and air date.[3]

In May, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released five items: a character design of Bender dressed as Napoleon on 13 May,[4] a character design of Senator Chris Travers on 14 May,[5] a video clip featuring Morbo as the host of a political debate and suggesting that the presidential candidate mentioned in the MSN TV plot was Travers on 15 May,[6] a promotional picture featuring a Robot army consisting of Bender dressed as Napoleon, Destructor, four Killbots and several other machines on 16 May[7] and part of the storyboard showing both Bender break into a cave full of Humans and the portion of the video clip where Morbo addresses Travers for the last time[8] and the announcement of the second Futurama podcast - which confirmed that the presidential candidate mentioned in the MSN TV plot was Travers - on 17 May.[9] A preview of the episode aired on 20 June during the credits of the episode "A Farewell to Arms".

Image gallery

Additional information

Allusions

Continuity

Quotes

    Chris Travers: Look, let's be honest here. No one likes taxes. But they pay for our basic needs. Roads, schools, defence. If we hope to realise our aspirations as a great planet, we must each pay our fair share to achieve those noble goals.
    [Cut to: The audience. They all lean forward and boo, except for Leela, who stands up and claps slowly. They quiet down, leaving Leela left standing and clapping alone. She makes an angry face and sits down, crossing her arms.]
    Morbo: Thank you, Senator. A thoughtful and lucid answer. [angrily] You will be destroyed!

    Bender: All right, I'm low on bullets. Everyone scooch together.

    Richard Nixon's head: I promise to cut taxes for the rich and use the poor as a cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel!
    [The audience applauds.]
    Fry: That'll show those poor!
    Leela: You're not rich.
    Fry: But someday I might be rich, and people like me better watch their step!

Characters

(In alphabetic order)

References

  1. ^ Episode Guide: 7 ACV. (CGEF.) 29 February 2012. Retrieved on 29 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Just Fan" (29 February 2012). "Futurama: Futurama News (pre-season 7)". (PEEL.) Retrieved on 29 February 2012.
  3. ^ Futurama - Episode Guide. (MSN TV.) Retrieved on 26 April 2012.
  4. ^ Matt Tobey (13 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Bender as Napoleon Sketch. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 13 May 2012.
  5. ^ Matt Tobey (14 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Senator Chris Travers. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 14 May 2012.
  6. ^ Matt Tobey (15 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Crowded Field of Candidates Clip. (Comedy Centrl [sic].) Retrieved on 15 May 2012.
  7. ^ Matt Tobey (16 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Robot Army. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 16 May 2012.
  8. ^ Matt Tobey (17 May 2012). Countdown to Futurama: Scooch Together and You Will Be Destroyed Storyboard. (Comedy Centrl.) Retrieved on 17 May 2012.
  9. ^ a b Comedy Central (15 May 2012). iTunes - Podcasts - Futurama: Countdown to Futurama by Comedy Central (Week 2). (iTunes Store.) Retrieved on 22 May 2012.