A Tale of Two Santas: Difference between revisions

"**A Tale of Two Santas**"
"A Tale of Two Santas"
Futurama episode
	File:Futurama 402 - A Tale of Two Santas.jpg Bender and Robot Santa.
Episode no.	Season three;
Directed by	Ron Hughart
Written by	Bill Odenkirk
Original air dates	December 23, 2001
Episode features
Opening cartoon	Box Car Blues
Episode chronology
	Futurama season three
	List of episodes

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"A Tale of Two Santas" is the third episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on December 23, 2001.

Plot

It is Xmas again and everyone is locking down for the arrival of Robot Santa. The Professor sends the crew to deliver children's letters directly to Santa at his fortress on Neptune. They land at Jolly Junction, Neptune and enlist the aid of a pair of Neptunians in sneaking into the fortress.

The crew confronts Santa, and Leela presents him with a logical paradox intended to destroy him. Unfortunately, Santa proves immune to paradoxes; and he takes off after them with a missile launcher. The crew escapes the fortress, and are about to leave in the ship; but Santa grabs the engine and prevents the ship from taking off. The heat from the engine melts the ice under Santa's feet, and he sinks in; it refreezes around him.

With Santa frozen in ice, Bender takes over and toy-making resumes in Jolly Junction. Bender heads to New New York where he gets a less than welcome reception from citizens expecting a blood-thirsty killer. While taking a beer break, Bender is arrested and put on trial for Santa's crimes. Bender is found guilty and sentenced to execution by magnetic dismemberment.

Fry and Leela rush back to Neptune to bring in the real Santa to prove Bender's innocence. They carve Santa out in a large block of ice; but the ice melts due to pollution from the toy factory, and Santa is freed. Fry and Leela escape in the ship, but Santa has hitched a ride back to Earth. The Planet Express crew tries one last attempt to save Bender, with all of them pretending to be Santa and Zoidberg pretending to be "his good friend, Jesus". Their effort fails, and the execution device is activated.

Moments later, the real Robot Santa bursts through the wall. He rescues Bender and the two go on a proper Xmas rampage. At the end of the spree of destruction, Santa tells Bender that if he tries a stunt like that again, he will kill him, and pushes Bender off the sleigh amid the burning buildings.

Production

John Goodman, who voiced Robot Santa in the previous episode "Xmas Story" was unavailable to reprise his voice role for this episode; the voice was provided by John DiMaggio.^[1] Dan Castellaneta, who voiced the Robot Devil in "Hell is Other Robots" and will voice him again in the series finale, was busy with The Simpsons; his voice was provided by Maurice LaMarche.

Broadcast and reception

Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen referred to this episode as Futurama's lost episode due to the delays in its initial broadcast. Fox Network decided the episode was not appropriate for its 7 p.m. time slot (due to the scenes of violence, though, according to the DVD commentary, the only extreme violence in this episode are the scenes of destruction when Bender and Robot Santa are terrorizing New New York) and the episode was delayed for a year before being scheduled to air in a later time slot on December 23, 2001.^[2]

Cultural references

The title for this episode comes from the book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
This episode references more than a few pieces of Christmas literature and song, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Night Before Christmas.
The dogs guarding Santa's ice fortress bark "Jingle Bells" referencing the parody song attributed to the "Singing Dogs"
Leela's logical paradox echoes the logical paradox that "Captain James T. Kirk" submits to the mirror "Mr. Spock" in "Mirror, Mirror (Star Trek)".
In the factory the speed control has "Lucy" as the fastest speed, a reference to the I Love Lucy episode where Lucy works in the candy factory.
The scene where Bender is taken to his execution is a reference to the Stephen King book The Green Mile as well as the book and film "Dead Man Walking".
Santa's ice fortress and the lightning flashing around it are references to the 1970 children's movie The Phantom Tollbooth.
When the Planet Express crew all declare that they are Santa, it spoofs the famous "I'm Spartacus!" scene from Spartacus.
A box labeled "Toys for Tots" is visible when Bender dumps the toys into the sewer.
During Bender's execution, after the magnets are turned on, Bender sings the first two lines of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".
The ice castle where Santa resides including the interior scene is strikingly similar to Dr. Claw's castle in the Inspector Gadget series.
The Planet Express crew trap Robot Santa by using the exhaust of the Planet Express Ship to melt the planet's ice, then letting it freeze. This is perhaps a reference to the Larry Niven story The Soft Weapon, where the Kzinti use the same technique to catch a runaway captive.

Trivia

When Fry tells Bender not to listen to Robot Santa because he's evil, Robot Santa replies " I know he is, but I have no choice." , possibly thinking Bender is more evil than he is.

Characters

Characters appearing for the first time in this episode:

Kwanzaabot—voiced by guest star Coolio.

References

^ ""Meet the X-man who keeps Futurama's future secure"". Sci Fi Weekly. October 30 2000. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ ""David X. Cohen boards the Planet Express to find meaning in Futurama"". Sci Fi Weekly. December 17 2001. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[SciFiWeekly1-1] ""Meet the X-man who keeps Futurama's future secure"". Sci Fi Weekly. October 30 2000. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[SciFiWeekly2-2] ""David X. Cohen boards the Planet Express to find meaning in Futurama"". Sci Fi Weekly. December 17 2001. Retrieved 2007-06-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 * A box labeled "[[Toys for Tots]]" is visible when Bender dumps the toys into the sewer.
 * During Bender's execution, after the magnets are turned on, Bender sings the first two lines of "[[Swing Low, Sweet Chariot]]".
+* The ice castle where Santa resides including the interior scene is strikingly similar to [[Dr. Claw]]'s castle in the [[Inspector Gadget]] series.
 * The Planet Express crew trap Robot Santa by using the exhaust of the [[Planet Express Ship]] to melt the planet's ice, then letting it freeze.  This is perhaps a reference to the [[Larry Niven]] story ''[[The Soft Weapon]]'', where the [[Kzinti]] use the same technique to catch a runaway captive.

v t e Futurama episodes
Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Season 1	"Space Pilot 3000" "The Series Has Landed" "I, Roommate" "Love's Labours Lost in Space" "Fear of a Bot Planet" "A Fishful of Dollars" "My Three Suns" "A Big Piece of Garbage" "Hell Is Other Robots" "A Flight to Remember" "Mars University" "When Aliens Attack" "Fry and the Slurm Factory"
Season 2	"I Second That Emotion" "Brannigan, Begin Again" "A Head in the Polls" "Xmas Story" "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" "The Lesser of Two Evils" "Raging Bender" "A Bicyclops Built for Two" "A Clone of My Own" "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" "The Deep South" "Bender Gets Made" "Mother's Day" "The Problem with Popplers" "Anthology of Interest I" "War Is the H-Word" "The Honking" "The Cryonic Woman"
Season 3	"Amazon Women in the Mood" "Parasites Lost" "A Tale of Two Santas" "The Luck of the Fryrish" "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" "Bendless Love" "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" "That's Lobstertainment!" "The Cyber House Rules" "Where the Buggalo Roam" "Insane in the Mainframe" "The Route of All Evil" "Bendin' in the Wind" "Time Keeps On Slippin'" "I Dated a Robot" "A Leela of Her Own" "A Pharaoh to Remember" "Anthology of Interest II" "Roswell That Ends Well" "Godfellas" "Future Stock" "The 30% Iron Chef"
Season 4	"Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" "Leela's Homeworld" "Love and Rocket" "Less Than Hero" "A Taste of Freedom" "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" "Jurassic Bark" "Crimes of the Hot" "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" "The Why of Fry" "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" "The Sting" "Bend Her" "Obsoletely Fabulous" "The Farnsworth Parabox" "Three Hundred Big Boys" "Spanish Fry" "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"
Season 5	"Bender's Big Score" (Part 1–4) "The Beast with a Billion Backs" (Part 1–4) "Bender's Game" (Part 1–4) "Into the Wild Green Yonder" (Part 1–4)
Season 6	"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"
Season 7	"The Bots and the Bees" "A Farewell to Arms" "Decision 3012" "The Thief of Baghead" "Zapp Dingbat" "The Butterjunk Effect" "The Six Million Dollar Mon" "Fun on a Bun" "Free Will Hunting" "Near-Death Wish" "31st Century Fox" "Viva Mars Vegas" "Naturama" "Forty Percent Leadbelly" "2-D Blacktop" "T.: The Terrestrial" "Fry and Leela's Big Fling" "The Inhuman Torch" "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" "Calculon 2.0" "Assie Come Home" "Leela and the Genestalk" "Game of Tones" "Murder on the Planet Express" "Stench and Stenchibility" "Meanwhile"