A Clockwork Origin

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"A Clockwork Origin"
Futurama episode
A naturally evolved robot chicken amidst mechanical flora.
Episode no.	Season six Episode 97
Directed by	Dwayne Carey-Hill
Written by	Dan Vebber
Production code	6ACV09
Original air date	August 12, 2010
Opening caption	"This time, it's personal"
Season six episodes
June 24, 2010 – September 8, 2011 "Rebirth" "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" "Attack of the Killer App" "Proposition Infinity" "The Duh-Vinci Code" "Lethal Inspection" "The Late Philip J. Fry" "That Darn Katz!" "A Clockwork Origin" "The Prisoner of Benda" "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences" "The Mutants Are Revolting" "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" "The Silence of the Clamps" "Möbius Dick" "Law and Oracle" "Benderama" "The Tip of the Zoidberg" "Ghost in the Machines" "Neutopia" "Yo Leela Leela" "Fry Am the Egg Man" "All the Presidents' Heads" "Cold Warriors" "Overclockwise" "Reincarnation"
List of all Futurama episodes

"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.

The episode was written by Dan Vebber and directed by Dwayne Carey-Hill and received mostly mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Professor Farnsworth finds himself arguing against anti-evolution protesters at Cubert's school. Despite his many scientifically backed arguments, he is forced to argue with Dr. Banjo, a hyper-intelligent orangutan who believes in "Creaturism," a form of creationism that posits that a wise, all-knowing "creature" from outer space created all life on Earth as it exists today only 7,000 years previous. In an attempt to prove evolution did occur, the Professor excavates the lost missing link, which he dubs Homo farnsworth. While they search, Bender asserts that robots are also a product of evolution, which the Professor dismisses. At the Professor's presentation of his findings at the Museum of Natural History, Dr. Banjo depicts Homo farnsworth anachronistically riding a dinosaur in an attempt to support his Creaturist beliefs. Seeing that the crowd support Dr. Banjo's inane ideas, the Professor becomes fed up and resolves to leave Earth. He takes the rest of the crew with him to an abandoned planet to live in solitude, but leaves Cubert in the care of his godfather, Dr. Zoidberg, back on Earth. During this time, Dr. Zoidberg tries unsuccessfully to win Cubert's affection, only for them to eventually bond over Cubert's victimization by bullies and Dr. Zoidberg's ability to elude them. However, by the end, Zoidberg rejects Cubert, finding him to be "a terrible person."

After the crew helps the Professor set up his home on the new planet, he inserts nanobots into the nearby pond to clean the water. However, in rapid time, the nanobots group into larger organisms, forming into trilobots that devour the ship and everything else. The crew is stranded and flee inside a cave, with Bender insisting that this proves the theory of robot evolution. The next day, the crew goes outside and sees a newly grown mechanical forest. The nanobots have continued to rapidly evolve into flora and fauna. Robotic versions of dinosaurs attack the crew, but a solar flare short circuits the dinosaur robots, causing a mass extinction of every robot creature except for "small mammalian robots" that were hiding in caves, including Bender. Within two hours, using the remains of the dinosaurs, the Professor manages to build a solar powered working space ship to help them return to Earth. Since it's already dark, they have to wait until the morning.

The next day, the crew wakes up to find both Leela and Amy kidnapped by caveman-like robots. Bender again points out that this demonstrates evolution via survival of the fittest and the Professor makes a slingshot to fight the robot caveman. It takes him twelve hours to make the slingshot, so everyone agrees to rescue the women the next day. When they wake up, they find that Leela and Amy are free, because the robot cavemen have since evolved into a completely civilized, modern robot society. They encounter a robot naturalist named Dr. Widnar, who is astounded to find her theories on organic creature evolution proven, and presents the crew at the Museum of Natural Robo-History. While giving a speech to the crowd of robots, the Professor states that he is proud of the nanobots' growth after he dumped their ancestors in a pond a few days ago. The robots, who believe unquestioningly in robot evolution, are angered by Farnsworth, and state their Earth took eons, not days, to be created. The Professor explains that relative to them, it was eons, but in reality, only a few days had passed. As proof, he shows a picture of a robot (Bender) riding a robot dinosaur at the start of their creation, which would seemingly contradict their beliefs. The angry robots then arrest Farnsworth and put him on trial for "crimes against science". Bender represents him in court and in his arguments, states that the Professor is not arguing against evolution, but only claims a small role in beginning it by providing the materials necessary (the nanobots). The jurors leave to deliberate overnight.

The crew wakes up to find that the robots have now evolved into a state of incorporeal transcendent higher consciousness. They are no longer concerned with the Professor any more, finding corporeal beings altogether irrelevant. The crew then takes their makeshift spaceship home. There, the Professor explains his findings to Dr. Banjo, who accepts that what happened was some form of evolution, but also points out that it was set in motion by a wise and all-knowing creator (Farnsworth), just as Creaturism posits. The Professor and Dr. Banjo reconcile their differences, acknowledging that both theories have some plausibility and even some correlation. However, they quickly prove to have not learned the lesson of tolerating others' views and beliefs, laughing off Bender's theory that this entity may be a robot, despite having already proved his point in the episode (and this last is supported by the fact that Bender met God in person).

Cultural references

The title is a reference to the book A Clockwork Orange and to 'The Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin. It could also be considered a reference to William Paley's Watchmaker analogy, a teleological argument found in his work Natural Theology. The episode includes several cultural references related to depictions of evolutionary history and the debate between evolution and creationism. The crew's encounters with the robotic dinosaurs and Amy's two-piece cavewoman outfit are parodies of the 1940 fantasy film, One Million B.C.^[1] The trial held in the episode also parodies the Scopes Monkey Trial.^[1] During the anti-evolution rally, a Flying Spaghetti Monster—a satirical symbol used by people who accept evolution to argue against teaching creationism in public schools^[2][3][4]—appears, arguing against evolution.^[5]

Broadcast and reception

"A Clockwork Origin" originally aired August 12, 2010 on Comedy Central.^[6] In its original American broadcast, "A Clockwork Origin" was viewed by an estimated 1.926 million viewers with a 1.3 rating/2% share in the Nielsen ratings and a 1.0 rating/3% share in the 18-49 demographic, nearly identical to the previous week's episode, "The Late Philip J. Fry".^[6]

The episode received mixed to positive reviews from critics.^[1][5][7] Merrill Barr of Film School Rejects gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "[a] 50/50 episode of Futurama."^[7] He stated, "There were parts I loved, and parts I hated. That is all."^[7] He also criticized the Zoidberg and Cubert subplot saying, "while on his own Cubert is a funny character, paring [sic] him with a character like Zoidberg is a bad idea."^[7] Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+, saying, "It mostly worked, but I was mildly disappointed by the end, because I keep waiting for the episode to move from good to great."^[5] Sean Gandert of Paste gave the episode a score of 7.9/10, writing "'A Clockwork Origin' was still a good, fun episode, but was a more disposable piece of entertainment than the show can be at its absolute best."^[8]

Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode a strong, positive review, rating it a 9.0/10.^[9] Canning praised the episode's pacing as the season's best describing "A Clockwork Origin" as "a very funny, very solid episode."^[9] Danny Gallagher of TV Squad gave the episode a positive review as well, saying "It's far from the best episode of the season, but that's still saying a lot for a show that has managed to find new ways to stay fresh while it's been in the can for so long."^[1] He also called the robot dinosaur world a perfect parody of "One Million B.C.".^[1]

The screenshot where Professor Farnsworth proclaims "I don't want to live on this planet anymore" has become an internet meme.

References

External links

• "A Clockwork Origin" at the Infosphere, the Futurama Wiki.
• "A Clockwork Origin" at MSN

See also

• Ascension
• Grey goo
• Technological singularity