The 30% Iron Chef story
"The 30% Iron Chef" is the 22nd episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 14, 2002. Bender aspires to be a cook for the Planet Express crew, but the meals he produces are awful. One day, Bender overhears the crew complaining about one of his meals and is overcome by feelings of worthlessness and self-pity. Directed by: Ron Hughart. Story by: Jeff Westbrook.
10 total · 4 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with bad cooking | major | Plants mysteriously died whenever Bender cooked. |
| coping with personal failure | major | Bender was crushed to discover the Planet Express team hated his cooking. Helmut Spargle failed as a TV chef and faded into obscurity. |
| humanoid robot | major | The story centered around Bender's inability to understand human taste because he was a robot. |
| the desire to pursue one's dream | major | Bender wanted to be a good cook in spite of lacking certain fundamental requirements such as a sense of taste. |
| disembodied head | minor | Martha Stewart's head judged a cooking contest between Bender and Elzar. |
| mentor and protégé | minor | Washed up TV cook Helmut Spargle mentored Bender in the ways of cooking. |
| remorse | minor | Zoidberg was racked with unbearable guilt over having framed Fry. |
| the desire for vengeance | minor | Bender sought to get vengeance on Elzar for having ruined the career of his cooking mentor Helmut Spargle. |
| traversable wormhole | minor | Professor Farnsworth dumped his Bender cooked brunch into a wormhole. |
| what if I were being framed for a crime | minor | Fry was framed by Zoidberg and accused of breaking the Professor's bottle with a spaceship in it. |