I don’t watch television for many reasons: I hate commercial media, watching television is a passive act, and because most programming is crap. In the debate whether television has any redeeming value, I side more with Jerry Mander (author of Four Arguments For The Elimination of Television) than I do with Steven Johnson (author of Everything Bad is Good For You) who, on a National Public Radio interview, claimed that some television genres (such as reality TV) actually make people smarter. I don’t buy it: television rots your brain. Period.
That said, there are a couple of comedy shows that I just love: The Simpsons, Kids in the Hall, Absolutely Fabulous, and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Recently, on DVD, I’ve been watching Futurama produced by Matt Groening (the creator of The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen.
Futurama is brilliant. It is essentially The Simpsons In Space—with the exception that the family in Futurama is not a dysfunctional small town family; instead, the family in Futurama is a group who all work together at the same space delivery company, Planet Express.
As you’d expect from the creator of The Simpsons, Futurama is a social commentary brimming with pop cultural cross references. Groening also tried religious commentary: The third season had one episode that examined the notion of God while the fourth (and last) season had an episode that preached the gospel.
In the episode “Godfellas”—my favorite—Bender is accidentally torpedoed into deep space where he becomes a god to a race of idyllic Lilliputians who crash onto him and worship him. His only commandment to them: God needs beer. By interfering in their lives, he eventually causes their nuclear annihilation. Later, Bender discovers God himself who turns out to be a cosmic supercomputer. The two gods then commiserate about the problems inherent in omnipotence.
Searching desperately for a way to find their friend, both Fry and Leela hike to a remote monastery where some monks are using a radio telescope to search for God. Fry pleads with them to allow him to use the telescope to look for his friend. Hearing this loving devotion, one of the monks turns to the head monk:
Monk: Perhaps that feeling of love and devotion for his friend is God.
Head Monk: (Mockingly) Ooooh, a theory about God that doesn’t require looking into a telescope. Get back to work!
When God (the supercomputer) hears Fry’s plea broadcast through the telescope, he flings Bender (the machine) back to earth. Astronomical!
In the episode “The Farnsworth Parabox,” the Professor accidentally creates a box that contains an “evil” parallel universe that everyone accidentally falls into. While the two sets of parallel twins are sorting the mess out, the twin professors preach the Gospel:
Farnsworth From Universe B: Good news everyones!
Farnsworth From Universe A: After carefully reading the scriptures, we’ve concluded that none of us are evil.
Farnsworth From Universe B: Yes. The Bible is the real good news.
Things then get really crazy; the twin professors fall into a box containing a hippie peace and love parallel universe where a Hippie Professor Freaksworth professes the central teaching of Jesus:
Freaksworth From Hippie Universe: Dig it! All of you fitting in this box is like seriously freaked up!
Farnsworth From Universe B: Nonsense! There’s a whole universe in there!
Freaksworth From Hippie Universe: Dude! There’s a universe in all of us! (He offers Farnsworth A a dandelion)
Farnsworth From Universe A: Get a job!
The crisis is resolved as the boxes are exchanged with each other. Paraboxically, the box that contained the parallel universe ends up containing the Universe itself. Musing on the box’s safekeeping, Professor Farnsworth sums up the core of all spiritual teachings:
Professor Farnsworth: All that is and ever shall be is in that box. And the box itself is probably worth something, too. We must cherish it, as we cherish every moment of our lives!
Foolishly, Fox television cancelled Futurama after five seasons. Perhaps Matt Groening and David Cohen thought that an injection of religious commentary into the last two seasons might galvanize some Christians into petitioning Fox for the show’s return. Sadly, that has not happened. It would appear that Christians only mobilize for wicked despots who mask themselves as pious leaders.
Alas.