Monsters of Television

“Since when is the internet about robbing people of their privacy?”

Twitter. Facebook. iPhones. Technology today is so much about instantly being able to buy something, see something, hear something, tell your friends about it, have companies look at what you’re saying and tailor specific ads relative to your interests. There are those who believe these things are steering us down a doomsday 1984-like path of destruction (myself included). “Attack of the Killer App” gave us a glimpse of what that not too far off time may look like, with a little more humor of course.

The latest Mom product, the eyePhone, has just been released and everyone at Planet Express tosses their old phones away and rushes to the store. This is the beginning of a style of joke the rest of the episode employs that I am dubbing “Apple-knocking”. Apple-knocking is a very common  joke used by many and people (even Apple users themselves, the ones with senses of humor anyway) love it when it’s done well. Futurama did it well.

Silhouetted dancers groove to multi-colored backgrounds on the walls of the store. Amy notices the “obscure underground song that’s playing everywhere”. The Mom “genius” tells Fry that the there’s no choice of carrier, the battery can’t hold a charge and the reception isn’t very–but Fry demands he take his $500 before he can even finish. Sound familiar? This episode was aired in great time what with the latest iPhone just being released.

But it’s not just Apple-knocking that takes place. Twitter is the main target of satirical attack. Twitcher as it is called is an app that allows you to send short messages and videos called twits. The whole episode the gang is uselessly updating what they’re doing (which is nothing most of the time), where they are (god I hate 4 Square) and who they’re with. Looking at it like that, which is pretty spot on truthfully, it’s easy to see why people who don’t get it don’t get it.

Fry and Bender have a competition to see who can get to a million followers first, referencing the famous Ashton Kutcher vs CNN race. Which out of context sounds ridiculous. The winner gets a dollar, the loser has to dive into a pool of alien goat vomit. Seems fair. Little do they know that Twitcher is an elaborate scheme set up by Mom. Once someone reaches one million followers she plans on releasing the Twit Worm, a virus that will spread to all of the followers and turn them into mindless zombies! A little late there, Mom. The internet inherently does that for you.

Bender knows the way to the heart of the internet: people’s pain and hot chicks. He posts videos of Farnsworth on fire and Amy in a bikini and hits 800,000 followers easily. Fry catches Leela in the bathroom. She has a boil on her butt that sings showtunes.  Her boil’s name is Susan. Get it? Yes as obvious as the joke was I found myself dying laughing. She asks Fry not to send the video he recorded of it but he does anyway and lies about it. Leela says he’s a good friend. Weird, it seems they dumped the “Fry and Leela” as a couple thing already. Last week it seemed like it was sticking around.

The video goes viral and Leela becomes an internet sensation. But thanks to the attention span of internet goers it only lasts a day. The next day there’s a brand new sensation for internet geeks to love and everyone have forgotten all about Leela. Bender and Fry end up tying and so the Twit Worm is launched! Leela confronts Fry about his betrayal but since no one cares about her and Susan anymore, she thanks him for helping her lift this weight from her shoulders. As the two reconcile they fail to notice the horde of mindless zombies walking past them to…the Mom store! She’s ordered her zombies to go and buy the latest eyePhone. Once again unnecessary, Mom. Mindless or not, you put out a new iPhone eyePhone and people are gonna buy it anyway.

After breaking even with last week’s mixed dual premiere I would now say that Futurama is in the positive. A great satirical episode with plenty of funny moments made it feel like the good old days. Keep it up.

Final Thoughts:

• They shortened the opening again. Stop it. I want to hear the full Futurama beats.
• Re: the Japanese talking toilet. Will Engrish ever get old? I don’t think so.
• Oh. It’s called an eyePhone cause it is jammed into your eye. It’s not an Apple satire. Silly me.
• The Real Housewives of Sim City. Genius. I would watch that one. They’re computer generated and yet still seem more real than the casts of the other shows.