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"Godfellas" is the fifty-second episode of Futurama, the twentieth of the third production season and the eighth of the fourth broadcast season. It aired on 17 March, 2002, on Fox. Bender is lost drifting in space after a space battle and Fry is determined to find him. Having played God, Bender runs into a godlike entity.

The Story

Act I: "You know, pirates, but in space!"

Just after the start to a new delivery, Planet Express Ship is attacked by Space Pirates. Bender is trying to get some much-needed sleep and is disturbed by the impacting cannonballs, so he searches some peace and quiet in the #3 torpedo tube. Unfortunately, Leela then orders Fry to fire a torpedo from this tube to deal a fatal blow to the Space Pirates, but instead, Bender, having occupied tube #3 during the attack, is hurled into deep space, carrying a bag of pirate swag he grabbed when he was shot through the pirate ship. Leela attempts to rescue him, but since the ship was traveling at full speed when Bender was launched, they are unable to catch up to him. Meanwhile, Bender tries to find a way to spend all of eternity with 'barely any swag' and drifts through an asteroid field where he is bombarded and finds himself with a little asteroid embedded in his chest. This asteroid is inhabited by the Shrimpkins, a race of tiny humanoids, who, upon emerging from the asteroid onto Bender's chest, recognize him as their god, addressed as "The Great Metal Lord."

Act II: "Those peewees think I'm God, huh? Hard to blame them."

Bender surveys his new worshipers, a race of humble farmers for the most part, and chooses one of the Shrimpkins, Malachi, to be his prophet. He lays down his commandments, or rather his commandment: GOD NEEDS BOOZE. Meanwhile, the Planet Express crew has returned to New New York and begins a search for Bender by means of the Smell-O-Scope. Unfortunately, Bender's odor is not strong enough to be picked up over such a distance, especially since local sources overpower it. In the mean time, the Shrimpkins have constructed a distillery to obey their god's wish. This created several problems: many Shrimpkins were maimed in the building of the brewery, the fumes from the distillery processes has accounted for many deaths, and the liquor industry attracted organized crime. Bender is moved by his worshipers plight and sheds a tear, which causes a giant tidal wave. Malachi Jr. is engulfed in it, and Bender saves him. This causes everyone to pray for their own miracles, and Bender causes more and more problems as he is trying to fulfill their wishes: a village is crushed by a quarter (they wanted riches), a field is burned down by intense sunlight (the farmers prayed for sun), and in an attempt to extinguish the field by blowing on it, many Shrimpkins are swept into space. On Earth, Fry is desperately looking for a way to find Bender in deep space, and he finally manages to find the Monks of Dschubba who search for God in the depths of space by means of a giant radio telescope in the Himalaya. In deep space, the Shrimpkin society is growing, and infidels are rising up because from their position on Bender's back he cannot hear their prayers. Malachi begs Bender to do something about the infidels, as they plan war against the faithful, but Bender refuses because every time he interferes, he only makes things worse. Fry and Leela mount an expedition to the monastery of the monks of Dschubba, while on Bender's body, things seem to go well with him not interfering in the dealings of the Shrimpkins. This ends quickly when the unbelievers and the faithful exterminate each other in a holy nuclear war, powered by Bender's nuclear pile.

Act III: "Who would have known playing God could have such terrible consequences?"

The Shrimpkins and their world are destroyed, and Bender laments their extinction. As he drifts through space weeping, he notices a galaxy signalling in binary code, and he signals back. The Galaxy picks up contact with him, and it turns out that it may possibly be God. Meanwhile, Fry and Leela reach the monastery. They try to persuade the monks to let them use the telescope, which they learn acts as a strong transmitter, to search for Bender. The monks refuse, but as they are at a strict non-violence policy, Leela locks them in the laundry room and they use the telescope anyway. Bender and the God Entity have a deep exchange about being God, and the Entity teaches Bender that being God is not easy at all, as he could plainly see during his time with the Shrimpkins. If you do too much, people depend on you, and if you do nothing, they lose hope explains the Entity. The right approach is a light touch, so that people won't even know you have done anything at all. Bender asks to be sent back to Earth, but the Entity says he does not know where Earth is. Bender is especially helpless in finding Earth, so he settles into the realization that he will be spending eternity with the Entity. After 3 straight days of searching, Fry decides to give up. In his last futile turn of the telescope, it points toward the Galaxy and transmits Fry's last words as he walks away 'I wish I had Bender back'. The Entity receives this transmission, straps a parachute onto Bender's back and flings him in the direction of the message. Bender lands just in front of Fry and Leela, who are leaving the monastery, which Leela says is the "least likely thing that has ever happened". Just then, they realize that they left the monks locked in the laundry room, and Fry wonders if they have to let them out. After all, their God might let them out...or at least give them more shoes to eat. Bender tells them that you can't count on God for anything, and that they will have to do it themselves if they want it done. The God Entity chuckles and says to itself 'When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.'

Reception

In 2008, Empire placed Futurama 25th on their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and cited this episode as the show's best episode. The episode was also the #1 ranked episode in IGN's list of top 25 Futurama episodes.

Additional Info

Trivia

Quotes

Fry: You mean we can never catch up with him? Not even if we rub the engine with cheetah blood?! Leela: Fry! If I drop dead from exhaustion, make sure my body freezes in a dignified position! None of that "huddled over for warmth" crap. Galactic Entity: You were doing well, until everybody died. Leela: This is by a wide margin the least likely thing that has ever happened! Fry: You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless! You gotta hope even more and cover your ears and go "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!" Bender: Are you kidding? You can't count on God for jack. He practically told me so himself. Bender: If even a pea-sized pebble were to whiz through my skull it could [Rock goes through his head.] Ow! Hurt slightly... Galactic Entity: Possible. I am user-friendly, my good chum. Monk: You see, the telescope is also a powerful transmitter.

Leela: Sort of like a giant karaoke machine?

Monk: Not really. Do you want to see our giant karaoke machine?

Leela: Not really. Bender: You're not gonna believe it. First I was God, then I met God.

Fry: We climbed a mountain and locked up some monks. Leela: Your order may be famous for your martial arts, but I have never met a holy man I couldn't clobber. Malachi: Smite someone who deserves it for once! Bender: Uh, when you're writin' the Bible, you might wanna omit that last miracle. Galactic Entity: When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Continuity

Allusions

Bender's customized Pioneer Plaque

Goofs

The Statue of Liberty keeps changing what it has in the hand. This time it's the torch again (on a photo). Usually it's a transportation tube. Maybe there are multiple Statues of Liberty, which would explain this goof in all of the episodes.

The torpedo Bender removes from the tube has a propeller, which would not accomplish anything in space. Even if it isn't necessary for propulsion, it would be easier to just not build a propeller.

Leela's explanation of why they can never catch up to Bender is flawed. There is no "top speed" for a self-propelled spacecraft; it could keep accelerating forever, and assuming Bender is going at a constant speed, the ship would eventually catch up to him. Even if the ship ran out of fuel, it could make a note of Bender's trajectory and go fuel up and eventually catch up. Plus, Bender should have been significantly slowed by going through both sides of the pirate ship, and from picking up extra mass in the form of swag. By the time Leela was done talking, Bender was out of sight and they had no way of finding him. They could still record his trajectory. He was on a straight path for a fair period of time. Also, he often demonstrates his ability to connect to the Internet, and could email them his coordinates. He didn't even know which way Earth was. How could he possibly know his co-ordinates? It is well-known that the ship can travel far faster than the speed of light when it uses its engines for long-distance travel (similar to an Alcubierre drive, which fits Cubert's description of the ship moving the universe around it). The ship was not doing so while in combat (as the stars were moving very little), and so they could easily have gone ahead of Bender and recovered him. Additionally, if the ship was moving faster than light when Bender was fired he would have decelerated quickly, as his velocity would only come from the force of the torpedo firing device (objects moving through the use of an Alcubierre drive will stop the instant its field stops affecting them).

The dropping bomb sound Bender makes can be heard before he even enters the atmosphere.

Why does the sack of Swag Bender is holding on to wave? Usually there isn't any substance in the universe like air that could make the bag wave.

Why is Malachi hanging "down" when Bender holds him even though there's no gravity? But even if Bender affected him enough, he would have to "hang" in direction to Bender, and not to the bottom of the camera's view angle when Bender turns around.

Bender affected him enough, he would have to "hang" in direction to Bender, and not to the bottom of the camera's view angle when Bender turns around. One of Benders tears produces a river so big that he can put his own hand into it.

The hole in Bender's head disappears later on.

The Rolex Bender was wearing disappears when he puts the swag bag into his chest cavity.

When Fry and Leela reach the monastery, the bridge connecting it is attached to the ice. Later, when it is moving searching for God, it is now attached to the end of the satellite.

Bender says that he only knows enough binary to ask if he can use the bathroom, yet in 2ACV18 he is able to understand the number "666" written in binary. Bender may be able to recognize binary, but not speak it, similar to how a human may understand a word but may have trouble pronouncing it. He may also only know how to translate binary to numbers.

After Bender falls through the atmosphere and back to earth, Bender and his parachute pack (and straps) are red hot, yet the backpack and straps do not catch on fire.

When Bender lands in the snow after falling back to Earth, the strings from his parachute are attached to straps (which are attached to the backpack). The next shot, the strings are attached directly to the backpack. Next shot, and from there on, the strings are attached to the straps again.

Appearances

Characters

Places

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Episode Credits