Hell Is Other Robots
Encyclopedia
"Hell Is Other Robots" is the ninth episode of Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...

. It originally aired in North America on May 18, 1999, as the season finale of the first season. The episode was written by Eric Kaplan
Eric Kaplan
Eric Kaplan is an American television writer, producer, and story editor. His work has included such shows as The Late Show with David Letterman, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Malcolm in the Middle, and Futurama...

 and directed by Rich Moore
Rich Moore
Rich Moore is an American animation director and a business partner in Rough Draft Studios, Inc., where he serves as Sr. Vice President of creative affairs. He is one of a handful of artists who in the early 90s redefined prime time television animation with his work on The Simpsons...

. Guest stars in this episode include the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

 as themselves and Dan Castellaneta
Dan Castellaneta
Daniel Louis "Dan" Castellaneta is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Noted for his long-running role as Homer Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons, he voices many other characters on The Simpsons, including Abraham "Grampa" Simpson, Barney Gumble,...

 voicing the Robot Devil. The episode is one of the first to focus heavily on Bender. In the episode, he develops an addiction to electricity. When this addiction becomes problematic, Bender joins the Temple of Robotology, but after Fry
Philip J. Fry
Philip J. Fry, known simply as Fry, is a fictional character, the main protagonist of the animated science fiction sitcom Futurama. He is voiced by Billy West using a version of his own voice as he sounded when he was 25.-Character overview:...

 and Leela tempt Bender with alcohol and prostitutes, he quits the Temple of Robotology and is visited by the Robot Devil for sinning. Finally Fry and Leela come to rescue him, and the three escape.

The episode introduces the Robot Devil, Reverend Lionel Preacherbot and the religion of the Temple of Robotology, a "Futurama" spoof on the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

. The episode received positive reviews, and was one of four featured on the DVD boxed set of Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

's favorite episodes: "Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection".

Plot

After a Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

 concert, Bender attends a party with his old friend, Fender. At the party Bender and the other robots abuse electricity by "jacking on," and Bender develops an addiction. After receiving a near-lethal dose from an electrical disturbance, Bender realizes he has a problem and searches for help. He joins the Temple of Robotology, accepting the doctrine of eternal damnation in Robot Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

 should he sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...

. After baptizing
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

 him in oil, the Reverend Lionel Preacherbot welds the symbol of Robotology to Bender's case.

As Bender begins to annoy his co-workers with his new religion, Fry and Leela decide they want the "old Bender" back. They fake a delivery to Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

 and tempt Bender with alcohol, prostitutes and easy targets for theft. He eventually succumbs, rips off the Robotology symbol and throws it away, causing it to beep ominously.

While seducing three female robots, Bender is interrupted by a knock at his hotel room door. He opens the door and is knocked unconscious. He awakens to see the Robot Devil and finds himself in Robot Hell. The Robot Devil reminds Bender he agreed to be punished for sinning when he joined Robotology. After discovering Bender is missing, Fry and Leela track him down using Nibbler's
Nibbler (Futurama)
Lord Nibbler is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by Frank Welker, who provides not only his speaking lines but also the various noises he makes when not speaking English....

 sense of smell. Eventually, they arrive at an abandoned New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

 amusement park where they find the entrance to Robot Hell.

A musical number starts as the Robot Devil begins detailing Bender's punishment. As the song ends, Fry and Leela arrive and try to reason with the Robot Devil on Bender's behalf. The Robot Devil tells them that the only way to win back Bender's soul is to beat him in a musical contest using a solid gold fiddle. He begins the contest by playing a bit of Antonio Bazzini's "La Ronde des Lutins". Leela responds, having experience in playing the drums, but after a few notes it is clear Leela's fiddle playing is pathetic, so she assaults the Robot Devil with the fiddle instead. As Fry, Leela, and Bender flee the Robot Devil's clutches, Bender steals the wings off a flying torture robot, attaches them to his back, and airlifts Fry and Leela to safety. Leela drops the heavy golden fiddle onto the Robot Devil's head, making them light enough to escape. Bender promises to never be too good or too evil but to remain as he was before joining the Temple of Robotology.

Production

David X. Cohen
David X. Cohen
David Samuel Cohen , primarily known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He has written for The Simpsons and he is the head writer and executive producer of Futurama.-Early life:...

 and Ken Keeler traveled to New York to work with the Beastie Boys for their role. They waited three days for the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....

 to call and say they were willing to record but eventually gave up and returned to the studios in Los Angeles. The audio tracks were recorded later. Adam "MCA" Yauch
Adam Yauch
Adam Nathaniel Yauch , , is a founding member of hip hop trio the Beastie Boys. He is frequently known by his stage name, MCA, and other pseudonyms such as Nathanial Hörnblowér.-Early life:...

 was unavailable at the time of the recording so only Adam "King Adrock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond voice themselves in the episode, with Horovitz also voicing Yauch. The Beastie Boys perform their 1998 hit single "Intergalactic
Intergalactic (song)
"Intergalactic" is a Grammy-winning song by American hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, released as the first single from their fifth studio album Hello Nasty on May 12, 1998....

" and "Super Disco Breakin," the first track from their album, Hello Nasty
Hello Nasty
Hello Nasty is the fifth studio album by the Beastie Boys. It was released on July 14, 1998 via Capitol Records and sold 681,000 copies in its first week, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart...

. It was initially requested that they perform "Fight for Your Right
Fight for Your Right
" Fight for Your Right " is a song by American rap group the Beastie Boys, released as the fourth single released from their debut album Licensed to Ill...

" but they declined. The episode also contains Futurama's first original musical number. The lyrics to "Robot Hell" were written by Eric Kaplan and Ken Keeler and the music was written by Keeler and Christopher Tyng
Christopher Tyng
Christopher Tyng is an American composer. He composed the music for several television series including Futurama, The O.C., The Job, The Baby-Sitters Club, Knight Rider, High Incident, and Rescue Me....

. When praised for his performance in the audio commentary, John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...

, the voice of Bender, noted that the most difficult part of the performance was singing in a lower octave rather than keeping up with the song's fast pace.

The episode lampoons drug addiction and religious conversion
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...

. In the DVD commentary for the episode, David X. Cohen, Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....

 and Eric Kaplan all agreed that they felt comfortable enough with each of the Futurama characters to begin to take them in new and strange directions. Cohen noted that Bender's addiction is a perfect example of something they could do with a robot character which they could not get away with had it been a human character. One person at the studio refused to work on this episode because they did not agree with the portrayal of some of the religious content. Cohen also noted that the writing team had begun to loosen up during this episode, which gave it a feel similar to the series' later episodes. Kaplan claimed that before editing, there was enough material to make a three-part episode.

Themes

This episode is one of very few that focuses on the religious aspects of the Futurama universe. In most episodes, it is indicated that the Planet Express crew, along with most beings in the year 3000, are "remarkably unreligious". It introduces two of the religious figures of Futurama, The Robot Devil and Reverend Lionel Preacherbot, both of whom make appearances in later episodes. Preacherbot, who speaks in a manner typical of inner-city African-American pastor stereotypes, converts Bender to the religion Robotology. This leads to a series of events that are similar in many ways to the experiences of real world religious converts. Mark Pinsky states that the episode has a "double-edged portrayal of religion" as it portrays both an improvement in Bender's character but also some of the "less pleasant characteristics of the newly pious". The Robot Devil is introduced after Bender's fall back into sin. Pinsky writes in The Gospel According to The Simpsons, that while explaining to Bender his claim on his soul, the Robot Devil uses logic similar to that used by many Southern Baptists
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

: "Bender tried to plead his case, without success. 'You agreed to this when you joined our religion,' the devil replies, in logic any Southern Baptist would recognize. 'You sin, you go to robot hell - for all eternity." By the end of the episode, Bender has returned to his old ways and states that he will no longer try to be either too good or too bad, a parody and contradiction of the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

 statement that one should not be lukewarm in his faith.

Cultural references

This episode contains a large amount of religious parody, with references to many religiously themed works of fiction. The episode's title is itself a parody of the famous line "Hell is other people" from Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...

's one act play No Exit
No Exit
No Exit is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The original French title is Huis Clos, the French equivalent of the legal term in camera, referring to a private discussion behind closed doors; English translations have also been performed under the titles In Camera, No Way Out...

, though the episode has no other resemblance to the play. The punishments in Robot Hell are similar to the levels and rationale which are portrayed in Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...

's The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...

, specifically the Inferno. The "Fairness in Hell Act," where the damned may engage in a fiddle battle to save his soul and win a solid gold fiddle, is taken directly from The Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia
The Devil Went Down to Georgia
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections....

." Jokes poking fun at New Jersey are included because writer David X. Cohen and actor John DiMaggio both grew up there.

The Temple of Robotology is a spoof of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...

, and according to series creator Matt Groening he received a call from the Church of Scientology concerned about the use of a similar name. Groening's The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

had previously parodied elements of Scientology
Scientology
Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by science fiction and fantasy author L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics...

 in the Season 9
The Simpsons (season 9)
The Simpsons ninth season originally aired between September 1997 and May 1998, beginning on Sunday, September 21, 1997 with "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". The show runner for the ninth production season was Mike Scully...

 episode "The Joy of Sect
The Joy of Sect
"The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons ninth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult called the "Movementarians" takes over Springfield, and Homer and the rest of the Simpson family become members...

." In a review of the episode, TV Squad later posed the question: "Is the Temple of Robotology a poke at the Church of Scientology?" When TV Squad asked actor Billy West
Billy West
William Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...

 about this, he jokingly sidestepped the issue.

Reception

"Hell Is Other Robots" is one of four episodes featured in the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 boxed set Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection, Matt Groening's favorite picks from the series. The DVD includes audio commentary from Groening and John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, as well as a full-length animatic of the episode. In an article on the DVD release, Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem Journal
The Winston-Salem Journal is a daily newspaper primarily serving the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and its county, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also features coverage of Northwestern North Carolina and circulates as far west as Tennessee and north to Virginia.The paper is owned by...

described "Hell Is Other Robots" as one of Futurama's best episodes. Dan Castellaneta's performance as the Robot Devil in this episode and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" is the eighteenth episode in the fourth production season of the animated television series Futurama, and was aired for the first time in the United States on August 10, 2003 as the sixteenth episode of the fifth broadcast season...

" was described as a "bravura appearance." In a review of Futurama's first-season DVD release, the South Wales Echo
South Wales Echo
The South Wales Echo is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area.The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, Cardiff city centre. It is published by Media Wales Ltd , part of the Trinity Mirror group...

highlighted the episode along with "Fear of a Bot Planet
Fear of a Bot Planet
"Fear of a Bot Planet" is the fifth episode in season one of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on April 20, 1999. The episode was written by Heather Lombard and Evan Gore and directed by Peter Avanzino and Carlos Baeza....

" as "crazy episodes" of the series. Brian Cortis of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...

gave the episode a rating of three stars out of four.

Writing in The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

after Futurama's debut in the United States but before it aired in the United Kingdom, Andrew Collins wrote favorably of the series and highlighted "Hell Is Other Robots" and "Love's Labors Lost in Space." He noted that the jokes "come thick and fast." John G. Nettles of PopMatters wrote: "'Hell is Other Robots' is a terrific introduction to Bender and Futurama's irreverent humor, sly social satire, and damn catchy musical numbers." TV Squad wrote that the series' funnier material appears in "Robot Hell — after Bender is 'born again' in the Temple of Robotology." David Johnson of DVD Verdict described "Hell Is Other Robots" as "Not one of my favorites", criticizing the episode for focusing a large amount on the character of Bender. Johnson concluded his review by rating the episode a "B". The episode led to a Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

book, Futurama Pop-Out People: Hell Is Other Robots.

See also

  • List of fictional religions
  • Parody religion
    Parody religion
    A parody religion or mock religion is a parody of a religion, sect or cult. A parody religion can be a parody of several religions, sects, gurus and cults at the same time. Or, it can be a parody of no particular religion, instead parodying the concept of religious belief...

  • Religion in Futurama
  • Religious satire
    Religious satire
    Religious satire is a form of satire targeted at religion and religious practices. Religious satire can be the result of agnosticism or atheism, but it can also have its roots in belief itself...

  • The Devil Went Down to Georgia
    The Devil Went Down to Georgia
    "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections....


External links

  • "Hell Is Other Robots" at Yahoo TV
  • "Hell Is Other Robots" at About.com
    About.com
    About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....

  • Hell Is Other Robots at The Infosphere.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK