# Futurama 8/4/11 "Möbius Dick" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838 "2011-08-07T17:42:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/1 "2011-08-07T17:42:21Z")
I didn’t see a thread on this episode, strange, as I consider this one _classic_ Futurama, so many pop culture references, science/nerd/geek jokes, and most shocking of all… Zoidberg actualy had _FRIENDS_! (oh, and hair too, but the most unbelievable part was him actually having friends, and being popular…) (they also seemed to change some of Zoidberg’s animations in his horror close-ups, it had a softer/squishier/more organic feel to the motion) I loved identifying all the dead ships in the spaceship graveyard in the Bermuda Tetrahedron, and the Space Whale definitely resembled the one from the Matt Smith Doctor Who episode “The Beast Below” a few highlights from Wiki; [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Discovery One from 2001: A Space Odyssey A black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey Oceanic Flight 815 from Lost The spaceship used on album covers for the rock group Electric Light Orchestra An Omicronian mothership as seen in “When Aliens Attack” The Satellite of Love from Mystery Science Theater 3000 The spaceship from Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space The Jupiter 2 from Lost in Space Stereotypical UFO Garmin GPS satellite TomTom GPS satellite First Planet Express ship An Apollo Command/Service Module labelled “Apollo 100” An Apollo Lunar Module The scarab beetle spaceship used on album covers for the band Journey. The Skylab space station The guitar spaceship used on album covers for the band Boston [/quote] I couldn’t tell from the resolution of the picture onscreen, but I’m pretty sure there was also an old Type 40 Galifreyan TARDIS in the shape of a Police box there as well… And I _LOVED_ the short excursion into the Fourth Dimension, classic Futurama… Hermes \ I can see sideways in time - emit ni syawedis ees nac I Amy \ Gee, I see CGI! - !IGC ees I eeG Bender \ Bender bender BENDER!..Bender bender BENDER! And at the end of the episode, Doctor #4 (Tom Baker) appears with the original PlanEx crew, looking somewhat confused On a scale of 1-10, this one’s at least a 12 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/2 "2011-08-07T17:46:53Z")
Poop! ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/3 "2011-08-07T21:11:11Z")
I was hoping someone would post a list of all the ships. I picked out a lot but knew there were more. However, I don’t think they meant to imply that Garmin and Tom Tom Satellites were there. I think the joke was that ships named after GPS devices got lost. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/4 "2011-08-07T21:47:29Z")
That’s also what I figured, that the joke was a ship named after a GPS got lost This has been the second episode where our favorite Time Lord has appeared, hopefully this is a sign of more Whovian jokes and gags I wonder how Bender is going to relate to Lifter, can Bender’s ego handle another robot on the PlanEx staff (assuming Lifter decides to stay…) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/5 "2011-08-08T00:17:21Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > I wonder how Bender is going to relate to Lifter, can Bender’s ego handle another robot on the PlanEx staff (assuming Lifter decides to stay…) He handled the X-1 pretty well, after some minor adjustments. ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/6 "2011-08-08T18:30:42Z")
“Death to the X-1 Robot!” … “I love those wonderful X-1 Robots!” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/7 "2011-08-08T20:59:31Z")
Ha. “Möbius Dick” is a Firesign Theater reference. Chortling… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/8 "2011-08-10T16:21:43Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > He handled the X-1 pretty well, after some minor adjustments. I dunno. It seemed to mysteriously disappear after that episode.And I agree that the episode was awesome. And it’s not just that Zoidberg had friends. The ending seems a little better than that for him. Finally, I’m not sure the others will be joining in. One more thing: the ending doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Everyone the whale captured was obsessed with killing the whale, and yet that didn’t override it and cause it to commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/9 "2011-08-10T16:27:26Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > One more thing: the ending doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Everyone the whale captured was obsessed with killing the whale, and yet that didn’t override it and cause it to commit suicide. Those people weren’t Leela. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/10 "2011-08-10T16:46:42Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I don’t think they meant to imply that Garmin and Tom Tom Satellites were there. I think the joke was that ships named after GPS devices got lost. Right, the joke was that these were famous lost ships, not satellites. My DVR cut off the very end of this one, but I liked it anyway. I loved the 4D animation and the whale’s fractal spouting, and really the whole whale hunt sequence. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/11 "2011-08-11T03:35:29Z")
Okay, is anyone here obsessive-compulsive enough to freeze-frame the “Uncountably Infinite” Conga Tube of Benders and count them all? there appears to be a point that they stop at near the main viewscreen (unless of course that section is filled with, or possibly, _made of_ NanoBenders… 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/12 "2011-08-11T03:41:50Z")
Okay, on a whim, I freeze-framed it, and counted a single “line” of benders into the screen, there seemed to be 10 of them, so I then counted each additional line of Benders in a circle, each Bender representing 10 of them From my quick and dirty (and probably dead wrong) math, it looks like the CongaTube of “Uncountably Infinite” Benders appears to contain 250 Benders… I’m probably dead wrong though ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-8-4-11-mobius-dick/591838/13 "2011-08-11T13:10:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > One more thing: the ending doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Everyone the whale captured was obsessed with killing the whale, and yet that didn’t override it and cause it to commit suicide. Leela wasn’t obsessed with killing the whale: she was obsessed with completing her mission. The whale just got in the way. It’s like the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter - you needed the right type of desire to get the Philosopher’s Stone, not just desire. Leela’s obsession with something other than the whale allowed her to control it. Or die trying. Alternative answer: a space wizard did it.