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3ACV11: Insane In The Mainframe
First UK airing: Sky One, 7:30pm, 29-4-01
"Bio-units, terminate noise exchange!
It is time for you to ingest sandwiches from my compartment!"
Dammit! I missed the opening gag about the sponsor
because I only realised two minutes before the show started that
I needed a new tape, so I had to use an old X Files one (thank
god for DVD!) -- and I didn't realise until the VCR ejected the
tape when I tried to start recording that I'd popped out the
write-protect tab! That was one fast dive for the Sellotape,
I can tell you.
'Insane' was an episode that from the capsule summary
didn't seem too promising -- 'Bender and Fry in a robot lunatic
asylum' -- but turned out better than I expected because it didn't
hold back on the cruelty, and really put Fry through the wringer.
You really have to care for the poor dope when he's starving
and gibbering in a corner... Some of the 'mad robots' jokes were
a bit obvious, but at least they didn't have a robot Indian smashing
a window and running off across a field. The gag with the robot
who claimed he was able to pick up CIA transmissions on his teeth
-- and actually could -- was truly inspired, too (in one of my
former incarnations as the editor of a UFO magazine -- don't
laugh, it was a career move -- I had to deal with people like
that on a daily basis...).
Making another appearance in this episode is the chicken
lawyer, who's obviously meant to be Futurama's
equivalent of Lionel Hutz -- but does he even have a name yet?
Just calling him "the chicken lawyer" seems a bit impersonal,
especially when just about every other person, robot or alien
we've seen has got a name.
3ACV11 was, in the end, another middling episode --
funny, but not really engaging. (On a sidenote, the funniest
and most engaging thing I've seen on TV lately was the expression
on Niles' face after he slept with Daphne for the first time.
It's funny because it's poisonous -- er, true!) I think the best
moment had to be when Roberto took Zoidberg hostage -- and the
cop asked if he had any better hostages. Superb. Although
Zoidberg's pension statement came close, if only because it hit
quite close to home.
Oh yeah, and go Amy! Go Amy! Smack your boss when
he's being a jerk! Wish I could do that...
Rating: 
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