Cubert J. Farnsworth
Secondary character | |
Cubert J. Farnsworth | |
---|---|
Age | Chronologically: 35 Biologically: 13 |
Gender | Male |
Species | Human |
Planet of origin | Earth |
Profession | Student |
Relatives | See family section |
First appearance | "A Clone of My Own" (2ACV10) |
Voiced by | Kath Soucie |
Cubert J. Farnsworth is a clone of Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, and is often referred to as his son.
He is heir to Planet Express and the Professor's fortune, being, along with the Professor's parents, one of the Professor's closest living relatives. He spends most of his time with the Planet Express crew criticising everything and routinely pointing out logical fallacies.
Personality
At first Cubert did not want to follow in his father's footsteps and become a scientist, thinking that scientists were useless. However he eventually changed his mind and said he wanted to be just like Hubert. Though he is a clone, Cubert and Hubert act as though they are father and son. Cubert's best friend is Dwight Conrad.
Cubert is regarded as uncool and unpopular among other children and is often picked on by Brett Blob. At one point, he and Dwight attacked Brett with salt which affected the slimy alien in a similar way it affects a slug, though Brett was able to recover from it before long. Cubert is also often nasty and derisive to the other members of Planet Express, frequently pointing out their flaws in a nasty manner or insulting them just for the sake of it.
Cubert often likes to snort like a pig to emphasize when he's being sarcastic or to point out the obvious.
Biography
The Professor began to clone himself in 2989, using cells he scraped from his back. Twelve years later, when the professor realized he was old, he released his clone to follow his scientist works. At first, Cubert rejected that offer but he eventually accepted that idea (2ACV10). He then attended the Wozniak Nerd Academy with Dwight Conrad until they were suspended after being found to have attacked Brett Blob with salt. To prove their parents that they could work, they launched Awesome Express, a newspaper-delivery company which somehow replaced Planet Express. But, instead of delivering newspapers, they were dumping them on the Moon. Their parents stepped in to make things go better (3ACV12). He joined the Planet Express blernsball team against Cygnoids (3ACV16). After seeing Calculon's big birthday party on the TV, Cubert decided to make a birthday party, but he realized that clones don't have birthdays. The Professor suggests that he celebrate the day where he scraped the cells off his back, or the day he extracted Cubert from the clone tank -- of which Cubert chooses the latter -- which happens to fall on the same week as Dwight's birthday. But Cubert and Dwight's party is a fail, only Tinny Tim came. To be cool, he and Dwight decided to imitate Bender. Eventually, the Fathers Against Rude Television make Bender's character to disappear of TV, and Cubert remains as before. (4ACV06) In 3007, he attended the Turanga-Fillmore wedding and took part in the battle for Earth in the children brigade. (BBS) In 3008, he played Dungeons and Dragons with Dwight and two friends and try to make Bender play, which makes him go insane. (BG) In 3010, his school was closed because of anti-evolutionists protestants, and when the crew leaves Earth, he stayed alone with his godfather and they became closer. (6ACV09)
Alternative Future
In the first universe's incarnation and probably the second's, he grew up and married Leela between 3030 and 3050, but later they got divorced and he is paid alimony. He then becomes romantically involved with a robotic Amy. In the third universe, however, Fry, Farnsworth and Bender arrived in their time machine and resumed their normal lives in this universe's third incarnation, greatly reducing the likelihood of this marriage occurring in the current iteration of the universe. (6ACV07)
Character Description
Cubert is an overweight boy with ginger hair in a style similar to Fry's, and can be recognized by his turquoise t-shirt with an atom in the center, gray shorts and red sneakers with no socks.
Family
- Further information: Fry family
- Professor Farnsworth, identical DNA, "father"
- Philip J. Fry, many-times-great uncle, and his extended family
- Igner, genetic son, "half-brother"
- Dr. Zoidberg, godfather
Production
Cubert was originally supposed to appear in "A Big Piece of Garbage", but his appearance in that episode would have made the episode at least an hour long.[1] Cubert's purpose was originally to appear in almost every episode, constantly pointing out flaws in the logic of the Futurama universe (such as odour travelling through space or flying faster than the speed of light),[2] but even the writers got annoyed with this and feared the audience would despise him beyond his intention.[2]
His character developed further in "The Route of All Evil" and "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television", distancing from his original purpose of pointing out flaws to be a real child representation of the Professor.
Additional Info
Trivia
- Cubert may be missing a toe (4ACV07).
- The rest of the characters have progressed in some way, i.e: The Professor saying he is 165 in Bender's Game as opposed to 160, Cubert remains the exact same as in his first appearance, he had only turned 13 in "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television".
- He is one among few Futurama male characters to be voiced by women.
- Despite being a clone, he does not have the Professor's nose. The reason is because the Professor left Cubert in his first tube for too long and got squished against the sides. He also apparently does not have the Professor's eyes, either, as he does not wear coke bottle glasses like the Professor (and the idea of there being contacts with the same prescription as those glasses is just plain preposterous!).
- He is (or at least was) a bed wetter, accidentally stated by Bender.
- He has been non-canonically killed twice - by Leela (2ACV16) and by Dr. Zoidberg (6ACV26).
- In subtitles, his name is spelt Qbert.
- He did not appear once in the first half of Season 7 (7ACV01 to 7ACV13); the canonicity of his only appearance in the second half, 7ACV19, is debatable.
- His voice is very similar to that of Phil Deville from Rugrats, who is also a boy character voiced by Kath Soucie.
Quotes
Cubert: What? You've never seen a genius's wiener before?
Cubert: That's impossible!
Fry: ...All the family the other has. Unless you count Cubert.
Hermes: No one ever has. Why start now?
Professor Farnsworth: Nothing is impossible, not if you can imagine it. That's what being a scientist is all about.
Cubert: No, that's what being a magical ELF is all about.
Fry: We've gotta get him back.
Cubert: Impossible! No one knows where they take those old geezers.
Fry: Nothing is impossible. You'd know that if you really took after the Professor, like I do.
Cubert: You're his uncle, dummy. HE takes after YOU.
Fry: Uh ... what?
Cubert: Wait a second. That means I also take after you! [screams]
Cubert: Hey, Leela, help me apply these flame decals I got in my cereal. They'll make the ship go faster.
Leela: And what's your scientific basis for thinking that?
Cubert: I'm 12.
Appearances
See also
References
- ^ "Interesting thing about this episode, is that it– as originally written, correct me if I am wrong, Lou, it was much much longer, and it originally introduced the character of Cubert, the Professor's clone, and I think, really, one night before we had to record it, it was ten pages too long, and there went Cubert for another season." — Cohen, David (Transcript)
Cohen, David. Commentary for "A Big Piece of Garbage" on Volume One, disc 2. - ^ a b Cohen, David. Commentary for "A Clone of My Own" on Volume Two, disc 3.