Bendin' in the Wind (22 Apr. 2001)

After being crippled, Bender gets a new career as a folk rock singer. Fry, Leela, Amy and Dr. Zoidberg follow him around the country.

Directors:

Ron Hughart, Rich Moore

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator), Matt Groening (developer),

Stars:

Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Billy West	...	Philip J. Fry / Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth / Dr. Zoidberg / Hick (voice)
Katey Sagal	...	Turanga Leela (voice)
John DiMaggio	...	Bender / Sal / Bend-Aid Announcer / Hippie #2 / Broken Robot #4 (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Broken Bot #2 / Hippie #1 (voice)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Doctor / Horrible Gelatinous Blob / Commercial Announcer / Cylon (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Hermes Conrad / Broken Bot #1 (voice)
David Herman	...	Patchcord Adams / Broken Bot #3 / Art Garfunkel's Descendant / Broken Robot #5 / Chinese Caterpillar Alien (voice)
Lauren Tom	...	Amy Wong / Hippie #3 (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Beck	...	Himself (voice)

Storyline

After being crippled, Bender gets a new career as a folk rock singer. Fry, Leela, Amy and Dr. Zoidberg follow him around the country.

---

Plot Keywords:

actor playing himself

---

Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Release Date:

22 April 2001 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

For his guest appearance in this episode, Beck actually requested the writers add more jokes poking fun at him.

---

Quotes

Fry: Wow, I forgot about TV. Living free on the road, you realize how much better life is without it. Well, let's see what's on.

---

Connections

References Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)

---

Soundtracks

"The Blue Tailed Fly"
Traditional
Performed by John DiMaggio

User Reviews

Bender's dreams come true

While walking past a building site Fry is excited to find an old VW camper; he doesn't realise that there is no petroleum left to fuel it... he'll just have to make do with whale oil! While opening the oil can Bender gets caught in the giant can opener and as a result finds his body badly shredded and his hydraulics broken... he will never move again. While taking in the news he learns that the person in the next hospital bed is folk singer Beck. He has an idea... Bender can become his new washboard player by using small attachable arms to strum his broken chest. As Bender goes on the road with Beck; Fry, Leela, Amy and Zoidberg follow the tour in the van... an accident at the laundry leaves them penniless hippies until they learn of Zoidberg's ability to make unusual pearls! As the tour progresses Bender becomes popular with other broken robots; this leads to a benefit concert in San Francisco... the only problem is that by then he has regained his movement... surely Bender wouldn't pretend to be broken just so he can achieve fame as a folk singer... would he?!

This was a great episode with a fun story and lots of great gags; I liked how Zoidberg was accidentally useful twice and Hermes' reaction to finding drug paraphernalia in the van; for me though the biggest laugh came from 'Cylon and Garfunkle's' rendition of 'Scarborough Fair'. While one doesn't really watch Futurama for the music there were quite a few good tunes; I particularly liked Bender's song "My Broken Friend"; it was both catchy and hilarious given what he was doing while singing it! While I don't think this is the best episode in the series it is certainly one of the better ones.