Bendin' in the Wind

"Bendin' in the Wind" is the forty-fifth episode of Futurama, the thirteenth of the third production season and third broadcast season. It aired 22 April, 2001 on FOX. It guest stars Beck as himself. Bender becomes a folksinger after being broken, and starts touring with Beck.

Act I: "This thing can't go faster than 80,000 miles per hour?"
While walking, Fry and Bender come across the NNY Hole Project and Fry gets a free Volkswagen Transporter microbus (VW) and pushes it back to the Planet Express. Though gas (petroleum) doesn't exist anymore, a can of whale oil is supplied and Bender starts to open it via the can opener, but he is caught by the magnetic forces and is horribly damaged.

Act II: "We can't just dump him in the gutter like Grandma's ashes!"
Bender is now unable to move, and while at the hospital, he notices Beck, his favourite folksinger. Beck invites Bender to be his new washboard player, giving him robotic mini-arms, which allow him to play by scraping them across his broken chest.

Act III: "My shell ran."
Bender and Beck go on tour, while Fry, Leela, Amy and Zoidberg cram into the VW and follow them. While at a laundromat, their money is ruined, leaving Fry and the rest without any money, food, or clean clothes. Beck and Bender organize a benefit for broken robots and Bender starts writing his own song. After he finishes writing his song, he is visited by Fry and the rest; they are shocked to find he is capable of moving again.

Act IV: "I didn't get my beads!"
Bender is wondering how he can play at his upcoming concert, Bend-Aid and thinks of something... by faking still being injured. At his concert, Bender sings with Beck, while the others make money by selling "love beads", a pearl made by Zoidberg in his throat. Bender receives a giant check before singing the song he wrote, "My Broken Friend", and right before he finishes his song, his secret is exposed as he gets too cocky and starts to dance. Bender escapes, lands in the VW, and drives off.

Act V: "Put the metal to the pedal to the other metal!"
Bender and the rest start driving through town, trying to outrun Beck and his minions, and the VW falls off the Golden Gate Bridge, because it is a hover bridge. Bender slingshots off one of the wires of the bridge, and lands near Beck's bus (a woman breaking his fall instead of a fat person like he had hoped). Beck recovers the huge check, but he spares Bender. With a magnet placed on his head, singing "Bender is Great", Bender returns to the crew, paddling home on the bus.

Trivia

 * Cedars-Sinewave Hospital is a play off of.
 * Non-speaking appearances are made by the heads of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, on Beck's tourbus.
 * Bender's music, as shown on the sheet music (approx 11:07), is actually the melody of the first movement of.

Continuity

 * The broken robots shown throughout the episode include:
 * Oily, from "Mars University"
 * A Humorbot, though presumably not Humorbot 5.0, who appears fully functioning in earlier and later episodes
 * Malfunctioning Eddie
 * The headless Robot Chef, who we see explode in.
 * The drummer in Beck's band is a Neptunian.

Allusions

 * Bender eats some Olestra chips from the 1990's and suffers the usual side effects of the product.
 * Patchcord Adams is a spoof of real life medical doctor Patch Adams who was made famous when he was portrayed by Robin Williams in the movie of the same name. His voice is more of a dead-on impression of Williams.
 * Cylon and Garfunkel are the 31st century equivalent of Simon and Garfunkel. They sing the latter's "Scarborough Fair".

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Beck
 * Bender
 * Cylon
 * Fry
 * Debut: : Art Garfunkel's descendant
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Country Blob
 * Leela
 * Malfunctioning Eddie
 * Neil Young's Head
 * Oily
 * Debut: Patchcord Adams
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Robot Chef
 * Sal
 * Unnamed Fat Guy
 * Debut: Wailing Fungus
 * Zoidberg

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Eric Horsted
 * Director
 * Ron Hughart
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * Phil LaMarr
 * David Herman
 * Lauren Tom
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Eric Horsted
 * John DiMaggio
 * Billy West
 * Special Guest
 * Beck