A Head in the Polls

"A Head in the Polls"
Futurama episode
File:Futurama 207 - A Head in the Polls.jpg
Episode no.	Season two
Directed by	Bret Haaland
Written by	J. Stewart Burns
Original air dates	December 12, 1999
Episode features
Opening cartoon	"Koko's Earth Control"

"A Head In The Polls" is episode three in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on December 12, 1999.

Plots

The election race for President of Earth is in full swing, with two clones (Jack Johnson, and his "bitter rival" John Jackson) serving as candidates for the dominant Tastycrat and Fingerlican parties. The Planet Express crew goes to sign up for voting. Meanwhile, a mining disaster sends the price of titanium through the roof, and Bender seizes the opportunity to make a quick buck by pawning his body (which is 40% titanium).

Now merely a head with a pile of cash, Bender begins enjoying his new lifestyle. During a trip to the Hall of Presidents in the New New York Head Museum, Richard Nixon's head ruins Bender's illusions about the glamor of a life without a body. The next day Bender heads off to the pawn shop to retrieve his body, but it has been sold. Bender's body is located when Nixon's head announces its candidacy for President of Earth, using Bender's body to escape a Constitutional provision that "nobody can be elected more than twice" (wording that is not in the 22nd Amendment of the US Constitution when the episode was written. In any case, this is an election for Earth President, not American President).

Fry, Leela, and Bender take off to Washington, D.C. to stop Nixon and recover Bender's body. Directly confronting Nixon fails to recover Bender's body, so the crew infiltrates Nixon's room at the Watergate Hotel. Leela successfully separates the sleeping head from the robot body, but Fry accidentally wakes Nixon. Confronting the intruders, Nixon begins ranting about his future plans for Earth. He plans to sell children's organs to zoos for meat and go into people's houses and "wreck up the place." However, Bender has recorded the conversation. Knowing that the tape would ruin his election chances if released, Nixon trades the body for the tape.

On election day, Nixon wins by a single vote. He regained the robot vote by replacing Bender's body with a giant war robot, and Leela and Fry forgot to vote against him (Bender is a nonvoting felon). The episode ends with Nixon on a rampage through Washington D.C., escorted by Secret Service agents into the White House.

Political parties

• Tastycrats
• Fingerlicans
• One Cell, One Vote
• Green Party (composed entirely of green aliens)
• Brain Slug Party
• Dudes for Legalation of of Hemp [sic]
• Bull Space Moose Party
• NRA (National Ray-Gun Association)
• Rainbow Whigs
• Antisocialists
• Voter Apathy Party
• People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans

Production in-jokes

• As the group is walking in the head museum, Leela and Bender's head pass by Katey Sagal's head, who is the voice of Leela.
• In Bender's dream, a two does appear in the lower right part of the screen. The binary code in the final frame before the bigger numbers appear can be translated into the sentence "get a life".
• When the trio goes bowling, the bowling ball Leela gets is white and only one black finger hole is visible, making it look just like her one eyeball.

Cultural references

• At the voter registration convention, the man at the "Dudes for the Legalization of Hemp" says "Dave's not here, man.". This is a reference to the comedy duo Cheech and Chong.
• The television show The Scary Door, a parody of The Twilight Zone, that Fry and Bender watch at the beginning of the episode is a parody of the episode "Time Enough at Last". One of the books seen behind the man in the library is called "2984", a reference to George Orwell's novel 1984. A book called The Newer Testament is also seen.
• In the voter registration convention, the "one cell one vote" booth is a reference to the "one man, one vote" slogan, used to protest against election restrictions. The "Bull Space Moose Party" is a reference to both the bull moose party and the Space Moose comic strip. The "National Ray Gun Association" is a reference to the NRA. The "people for the ethical treatment of humans" is a reference to PETA.
• Bender orders his martini "Shaken, not stirred", a reference to James Bond.
• Nixon sings the end of the song "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane.
• The sign outside of the presidential debate reads: "Tomorrow night: Vice-Presidential "Your mama so fat" Contest," referring to the mud slinging nature of the vice presidential debates.
• The episode contains numerous references to Richard Nixon's political career. In addition to part of it taking place at the Watergate Hotel:
  • During his rampage Nixon shouts "Who's kicking who around now?", a reference to the famous statement he made after he lost the 1962 gubernatorial race in California: "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore. Because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."
  • Nixon makes a reference to his dog Checkers, the subject of a 1952 speech, whose head is seen in another jar.
  • Bender's mention of audio tape references the use of recorded conversations in the Watergate investigation. Nixon's anguished cry of "Expletive deleted!" refers to the editing of transcripts of those tapes, in which Nixon casually and frequently used obscene language.
  • Nixon refers to Gerald Ford (whose head is seen earlier in the episode) as a pardon-granting "sissy", in light of Ford's blanket pardon of Nixon for all Watergate-related charges.
  • During the episode Leela says that they give you a discount room at the Watergate Hotel if you’ve been there before. This is a reference to the infamous Watergate scandal; though strictly speaking Nixon wasn’t physically inside the Watergate Hotel during the incident.
• In the Head Museum's Hall of Presidents, Jesse Ventura's head is displayed. His jar is labeled "Jesse 'The Head' Ventura", a parody of his nickname "The Body".
• John Quincy Adding-Machine, who according to Leela and Bender was the first robot to be elected as the president of Earth, is a reference to the real former President of the United States, John Quincy Adams.
• The head of Gerald Ford says that he "never found voting to be all that essential to the process", and Nixon replies, "No kidding, Ford." This is a reference to the fact that Ford was the only U.S. President (and Vice-President) to not be elected by a national vote.
• The first person view of Bender driving his car is a reference to Bobby's World.