God Thought

[Athios]

Well, to be honest I didn't bother reading all that.
On the other hand, I did watch that cool episode.  []

Anyway, I think the biggest thing I got out of it was what the binary computer god said (I even wrote it down in my diary!):


If you do too much, people become dependent.
If you don't do enough, people lose faith.
But if you do just enough, people won't be able to know for sure that you don't exist...

[Terry B]

Yeah, it was a really cool episode.

I did write that down too, in some paper I think. And I also like the part where the galactic computer said "if you do things right, people won't be sure if you've done anything at all".

The part of nuclear war on bender's body is actually quite good.

[beavis]

This is for the religious people:

Fry: "Aww ... do we have to? I mean, they're monks, I'm sure their God will let them out, or at least give them more shoes to eat."
Bender: "FAT CHANCE! You can't count on God for Jack! He pretty much told me so himself!

[MK911]

Terry_B i like that theory []

[Terry B]

People have always wonder about God. Here in Astralpulse we have many thread debating the existance of God, characteristic of God, creation of the universe and whatnot. We can be very sure that after all theory and speculation are debated, we will get back to square one and debate it again. Everything can be rationalized. Even irrational thing. Therefore I bring about the following episode highlight from Futurama:  Godfellas. (Yes, a cartoon episode will make a great debate. Look at all the dbz inspired thread. About time we have Futurama inspired thread.)

Episode summary on http://members.cox.net/futurama/Season04.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------
GODFELLAS

While fighting off space pirates, Bender is accidentally jettisoned from a torpedo bay into the vacuum of space. Considering the Planet Express was doing top speed at the time they have no chance of catching up with and saving him. Drifting off into deep space Bender wonders how he will pass all of eternity when he encounters a meteor storm and is struck by a special meteor inhabited by tiny beings. Seeing Bender they assume he is God and begin worshipping him and praying to him. Bender, however, finds it difficult to be omnipotent and has a hard time adjusting to his new found godhood.

Meanwhile, Fry is determined to find his friend and learns of a secret sect whose sole purpose is to scan the galaxies looking for signs of God's existence. Fry determines to ge to see these monks to use there telescope to scan the heavens for Bender.

Some of the people of Bender are happy and joyfull as Bender has answered their prayers and made life enjoyable for them while others feel neglectd and forgotten by their god Bender. They conspire to start war with the others and a full scale nuclear war breaks out on planet Bender obliterating the entire race. Bender is alone once again drifting alone in space. He does meet up with a being of incredible power who he believes to be the true God of all things. Bender tells the being of his failures as a god of his own and the being is sympathetic. Bender asks to be sent home but the being tells him that he cannot send him home because he is not really God and it is out of his power. Meanwhile Fry and Leela come to the sect and use the telescope to look for Bender. Frustrated disappointed in not finding Bender they give up, but not before a signal can be sent out to Bender and the being. Locking onto the signal the being sends Bender back thru space to his home planet Earth and back to his friends.

An unusual episode here dealing with some weighty topics like God and religion and purposes of life. Bender's lesson as a god of his own only tells that with great power comes great responsibility while his rendesvous with the supreme being is humbling. A visually stunning episode as well as Bender is provided with beautiful backdrops os the cosmos as he floats thru space.

----------------------------------------------------------------------


Yet another episode summary on http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/GuidePageServlet/showid-249/epid-125571/

=====================================================================

When the Planet Express Ship is attacked by space pirates, Bender, sleeping in a torpedo tube, gets launched into space (They can't catch him because they were going at top speed when they launched him, a reference to the physics question of what happens when you throw a ball to the front of a ship going the speed of light). The crew goes home, and search the stars to find Bender to no avail. Fry ultimately turns to a carnival fortune telling machine (first appeared in The Honking) who tells him to search for a monestary in the mountains where a few monks are using the world's most powerful radio telescope to look for God.

Meanwhile, Bender speeds through an asteroid field and accidentally accumulates a microscopic civilization on his stomach, who declare him God, and worship him despite his constant inability to provide for their needs. They eventually declare war on the "Non-Believers" on Bender's butt, and nuke themselves into extinction, after which Bender comes across a sentient nebula which may or may not be God or some variation thereof.

Fry and Leela hijack the telescope from the monks (which can speak to whatever it's looking at, temporal mechanics be damned), and leave just as it scans over the Nebula, which hears Fry's voice, puts two and two together, and throttles Bender back to his home planet.  


Quotes  
 
Bender: "What are you? Some kind of galatic computer?"
God: "Possible. I am user friendly, my good chum."
Bender: "Who built you?"
God: "I have always been."
Bender: "Oh my GOD! Are you ... God?"
God: "Possible. I do feel compassion for all living things, my good chum."
Bender: "But, why would God think in Binary ... unless ... you're NOT God, but the remains of a computerized space probe that collided with God!"
God: "That seems probable."
Bender's One Commandment: God Needs Booze

God: "Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent on you, and if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker, or a pickpocket."
Bender: "Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money!"
God: "Yes, if you make it look like an electrical thing. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

Bender: "So ... do you know what I'm going to do before I do it?"
God: "Yes."
Bender: "What if I do something different?"
God: "Then I don't know that."
Bender: "Cool ... cool. I bet a lot of people pray to you, huh?"
God: "Yes, but there are so many asking so much, after a while, you sort of tune it out."
Bender: "You know, I was god once."
God: "Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everyone died."
Bender: "It was awful. I tried helping them, I tried NOT helping them, but in the end, I couldn't do them any good. Do you think what I did was wrong?"
God: "Right and wrong are just words, what matters is what you do."
Bender: "Yeah, I KNOW! That's why I asked if what I did-oh, forget it!"
God: "Bender, being God isn't easy. If you do too much, people get dependent upon you, and if you do nothing, they lose hope. You have to use a light touch, like a safecracker, or a pickpocket."
Bender: "Or a guy who burns down a bar for the insurance money!"
God: "Yes, if you make it look like an electrical thing. When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
Bender: "Does that mean you wouldn't send me back to Earth, even if I PRAYED to you?"
God: "Earth? Which way is that?"

Bender: "GUYS! You'll never believe what happened! First, I WAS God! Then, I MET God!"
Fry: "We climbed a mountain and locked up some monks!"
Leela: "Oh no, the monks ... we forgot to let them out of the laundry room."
Fry: "Aww ... do we have to? I mean, they're monks, I'm sure their God will let them out, or at least give them more shoes to eat."
Bender: "FAT CHANCE! You can't count on God for Jack! He pretty much told me so himself! Now, come on! If we don't save those monks ... no one will!"
God: "Heh heh heh heh, when you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

Monk 1: "He speaks out of love for his friend, perhaps that love in his heart IS God!"
Head Monk: "Oh, how convenient! A theory about God that doesn't require looking through a telescope. GET BACK TO WORK!"


======================================================================


Disclaimer: I'm in noway affliated with Matt Groening in any way.