A Clockwork Origin story
"A Clockwork Origin" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the animated sitcom Futurama. It aired on Comedy Central on August 12, 2010. In the episode, Professor Farnsworth leaves Earth after being frustrated by anti- evolutionists' belief in "Creaturism", a form of Creationism. He and the Planet Express crew arrive at a lifeless planet and the Professor introduces nanobots into the environment. The nanobots rapidly begin evolving into mechanical organisms, allowing the crew to witness a whole new evolutionary history that unfolds before their eyes. Directed by: Dwayne Carey-Hill. Story by: Dan Vebber.
11 total · 2 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| creationism | major | The story was a commentary on a controversy that arose in the United States about teaching the theory of evolution in the schools. |
| super accelerated Darwinian evolution | major | The Professor created nanomachines that evolved from amoeba like life into transcendental beings in a matter of days. |
| blobform | minor | A blob classmate of Cubert was bullying him. |
| childish bullying | minor | Zoidberg mentored Cubert in how to handle a blobform classmate that was bullying him. |
| emergently intelligent being | minor | The Professors self-replicating nanobots evolved into sentient mechanical men. |
| father and son | minor | The Professor left his son Cubert under the custody of Zoidberg. |
| hominid evolution | minor | The evolution from ape to human was discussed. |
| humanoid robot | minor | A race of mechanical men evolved from Professor Farnsworth's self-replicating nanobots. |
| misanthropy | minor | The Professor got thoroughly fed up with the stupidity of people on Earth and went into exile. |
| self-replicating nanomachines | minor | The Professor invented nanomachines to purify his water but they evolved into more complex organisms at at accelerated rate. |