Thoughts on The Bots and The Bees [7ACV01] WARNING-Spoilers

[Reply #200 on:]

Bender was made in an assembly line and was fed alcohol. Why was his kid drinking milk?

If anything, baby robots should be fed a diet of metal, silicon, and plastic. The building blocks of life!

Milk contains a sugar that can be polymerised to form a bioplastic similar to cellulose (which is what sellotape, wood, paper, and some plastic drink bottles are made of), and other chemical units that can be processed and polymerised to form a biodegradable thermoplastic suitable for use as a film or membrane. Both of these would be very useful polymers for a young, growing robot.

Pretty much anything with organic chains in it is a useful feedstock for robots in the Futuramaverse. Alcohol provides energy, but they also ingest oil and other substances. The beer with metal shavings in it from TROAE, for example. The stuff that Bender orders when dining at Elzar's. There's no reason that I can see why a robot wouldn't see milk as a potentially useful dietary intake of raw materials.

Top of the page!

[Reply #201 on:]

I just rewatched this episode for the first time in quite a while - probably over a year and a half.

I had remembered this episode for the lower points of the revived series: strange logic (robots making babies, Leela being unable to pilot through a storm even though she could just fly over it), fast-paced plots, retconning (Bender already had a kid in Beast With A Billion Backs, but now he doesn't even know he could have a kid), and bad puns (the robo-floozies ordering a 'screwdriver' to 'loosen up,' Bev coming to take and leave with Ben after Bender saying he could 'take him or leave him,' 'for a guy who's not too bright, you're too damn bright,' the 'damn' 'dam,' and the 'great' 'grate').

Upon viewing the episode again, I see that my memories were a bit too harsh. I forgot how funny this episode can be when it isn't too busy forcing bad puns. I think my favorite jokes here were actions and visual gags, rather than spoken jokes. Bender sawing the rope holding an anvil above him as soon as he gets to sit down at night while watching Ben and Bev turning off the lights to Ben's room by ramming into the switch (and causing a bit of damage, too) were brilliantly executed and just plain funny.

I also have to commend this episode for its visuals in general. The animation is smooth and their are plenty of little artistic twists. I appreciate that they kept incorporating new designs, such as the brain-like pets a couple was walking in the opening scene. The Batman-style Planet Express logo reflecting in Zoidberg's eyes was genuinely pretty. The 0s and 1s sequence in the video "Sex Ed. Volume 1: Director's Cut, or Pants Full of Shame" was creative. The design of Bender's bloodshoot eyes was a stroke of genius. Bender reaching toward the hovercopter was animated in a very ambitious and inspired way.


I forgot the proper order of Arabic numbers, so I think I'll just arbitrarily assign this episode an 8/10.

Good stuff.

[Reply #202 on:]

Rewatched this episode and while it has grown on me a lot, it still suffered from serious that prevented it from being as good as it could have been. 

My main problem was that Bev really was a waste of Wanda Syke's talents and the character ended up being more unpleasent and grating because of how unrepentently hateful she was to everyone around her but not having particularly funny dialogue to back it up, and made her sound like a bitter mom wannabe.   By far the wittiest insult came from Esther, who was minding her own business until Bev started insulting her, and Bev responded by simply spraying her and Ruth with slurm.   

Ruth and especially Esther stole the show in pretty much every scene they were in, from the screwdriver gag to Esther delivering one of the best burns in the history of the show.   I honestly wonder if the two characters were being set up for something bigger by the writers, as they put a lot more work into these characters then any other of Bender's floozies or side characters in general.   Esther in particular got extremely sensitive closeups and seemed a bit.... shy? Gentle?  Reserved?  When contrasted with Ruth, it's obvious who the leader in the friendship is.    I really found the scenes with Ruth and Esther a lot more interesting then most of the plot, which really felt a bit tolo by the numbers, and hampered by Bev's uncreative character design for a fembot (c',mon the team can do better then putting lipstick and eyelashes on a vending machine) and character that was constantly "sassy" without actually being clever or funny.   Esther's two major lines were far more clever and witty then anythign Bev had to say.   

Sure she and her freind got sprayed with slurm for Esther's burn, but at the end of the day it's obivous Bev was jealous that not only were these young fembots prettier, younger, richer they were also cleverer then her as well.   

I thought the episode started off strong and slowly declined into a fairly cliche'd and uninspired ending that felt like they suddenly remembered the B plot and  crammed in a few old faithfuls for a typical ending and it just.... ended up feeling disappointing at how good this episode was when it was good, and how eh it was when it felt off the momentum.

I also thought the Fry glowing slurm plot didn't really add anything.  I was never a fan of Rudolph, as I always hated the message that if you are outcast for a deformity, you will finally only be loved if you allow your tormenters to find uses for your deformity.

The problem was that the Fry subplot never really went anywhere, and it just became one long mean spirited joke at Fry's expense.  Having the whole PE crew turn on him and tell him to get out, and Fry not saying anything but looking like he was about to cry his eyes out, adn then turning up to be repeatedly electrocuted.... because... Rudolph?    I would have removed that or at least toned it down to a gag, as it wasn't really funny, gave his friends an excuse to be especially cruel even by their standards to him, and just distracted from the A plot which was too rushed and didn't have the room to breathe it needed.

Let's split a blintz indeed. 

[Reply #203 on:]

I’m assuming the bending card that the Professor installs in Ben is a 2-in-1 memory/bending card? Otherwise, how the hell is Ben meant to retain any memories at all?

[Reply #204 on:]

Generally, most computing units have some amount of in-built memory, often limited, whether or not they also accept external cards.

[Reply #205 on:]

It was a cheap attempt at being sentimental.  At no point did anyone ask Ben if he wanted to choose between his memories and being a bender or simply modify him.  If the Prof can make Bender a woman he could have done something to help Ben.  It was maudlin and forced and essentially a retread of something Family Guy did with Quagmire.