Fear of a Bot Planet story
"Fear of a Bot Planet" is the fifth episode in season one of Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 20, 1999. The episode was written by Heather Lombard and Evan Gore and directed by Peter Avanzino and Carlos Baeza. The episode focuses on a delivery the Planet Express Crew must make to a robot planet named Chapek 9. The robot inhabitants hate all humans and Bender decides to join them because he is tired of robots being treated like second class citizens. The episode is a light-hearted satire on racism, an idea reinforced by the title, a reference to Public Enemy's 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet. Directed by: Peter Avanzino & Carlos Baeza. Story by: Evan Gore & Heather Lombard.
13 total · 6 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| duty vs. friendship | major | Should Bender kill his friends like his robot comrades wanted him to? |
| friendship | major | Bender refused to kill Fry and Leela because they were his friends. |
| humanoid robot | major | The Planet Express crew visited a planet of human hating robots. |
| kill all humans utopia | major | The Planet Express crew made a delivery to a planet inhabited by robots that hate all humans and wished to exterminate mankind. |
| official scapegoating in society | major | The robot elders used humans as a scapegoat to distract the robot public from their real problems, like a crippling lug nut shortage. |
| robotic civilization | major | There was a planet of robots, governed by a robot council of wise-robots. |
| civil rights | minor | Bender was advocating robot rights. |
| crustacean-like being | minor | Dr. Zoidberg went to buy something full of parasites at the concession stand. |
| government secrecy | minor | The robot leaders lied to control their robot peasant mob. |
| legal occupation | minor | A computer judge found Fry and Leela guilty on the charge of being human and sentenced them both to tedious robot-type labor for life. |