The Thief of Baghead

"The Thief of Baghead" is the one hundred and eighteenth episode of Futurama, the fourth of the seventh production season and the ninth broadcast season. It aired on 4 July 2012 on Comedy Central. Bender wants to take a photo of an actor whose face has never been seen so he joins the paparazzi.

Plot
After watching an episode of "All My Circuits", Amy suggests that the crew take a trip to the Monsterey Bay Aquarium, due to it having a new non-biting. Whilst there, Bender shows his liking for photography, and reveals that he is the last photographer on Earth to use. After discovering Calculon is at the aquarium, Bender begins to follow him around and take many photos of him, to the point where Calculon leaves out of frustration. Back at Planet Express, Bender shows off his photos to Leela and Zoidberg, but is disappointed with the images of Calculon. However, Zoidberg is impressed with the photos and suggests that Bender goes to Hollywood and take them to the offices of Us People Magazine. Bender does so, and the managing editor of the magazine, Larvae Levin, is pleased enough with the photos that he offers Bender a job as a paparazzo, to which Bender accepts.

Bender is successful at getting many front page images for the magazine. Later, back at Planet Express, Zoidberg shows Bender a TV documentary about the greatest actor in the universe, Langdon Cobb, a man who believes he should be admired for his acting and not for his looks, so he wears a brown paper bag on his head. The documentary states that no one has ever taken a photo of Langdon's true appearance, which inspires Bender to attempt to take one. Back in Hollywood, Larvae Levin explains that it's impossible to get a photo of Langdon without his bag because his house is surrounded by a 50 foot high force field. Bender obtains a 60 foot high ladder and jumps over the force field, where he is chased by a mushroom dog, but manages to escape onto the house's. He enters home with ease, and manages to snap a picture of Langdon without his bag. Langdon begs Bender to never show the image to anyone, which Bender promises not to do. However, Bender takes the picture straight to Fry, where upon making him look at it, his eyes and mouth emit a green light and his body gets reduced to a husk. Curious, Bender shows the image to Amy and Hermes too, where it has the same effect. He realises that the image of Langdon only had an effect on living creatures, and calls Zoidberg into the room in an attempt to make him look at the image, but he is stopped by the Professor before it is too late.

Production
In 2012, two revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Dan Vebber and its director to be Edmund Fong. On 2 May, revealed the episode's plot and air date.

In May, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released eleven items: A design of a new character, the Mushroom Ego, and part of the storyboard showing the Mushroom Ego chase Bender on 18 May, a promotional picture showing Fry, Hermes and Amy husks and a character design of Fry and Amy zombies on 19 May, a design of another new character, Langdon Cobb, and part of the storyboard showing an excerpt of an All My Circuits episode on 21 May, a video clip featuring Bender making Zoidberg, Hermes, Amy, Fry, Leela and Farnsworth angry as he attempts to take a photograph of them and the third Futurama podcast - which confirmed that a storyline involving Calculon competing in the World Acting Championship that was revealed at the 2011  was from the episode - on 22 May, a character design of Zoidberg and Farnsworth dressed as burglars on 23 May, a promotional picture showing Bender dressed as a tourist on 24 May and the fourth Futurama podcast - which revealed that the reason why Zoidberg and Farnsworth get dressed as burglars is that they break into Langdon Cobb's estate to find some dirt on him - on 29 May.

Allusions

 * The episode's title is a reference to the film .
 * The Monsterey Bay Aquarium is a reference to the.
 * Fry and Amy's zombie appearances are a reference to the aliens in the 1988 science fiction-horror film .
 * Larvae Levin is a parody of, the founder of.
 * Selena Go-Bot is a parody of tween celebrity.
 * Parts Hilton is a parody of celebutante.
 * Us People magazine is an amalgamation of ' and '.
 * Leela mispronounces William Shakespeare's first name as.
 * The "Id" and "ego" are two parts of the psyche.
 * After Langdon Cobb tells his butler, LeRoy, that he wants to relax with his bag off and that LeRoy should leave, LeRoy responds by saying "By Your Command." This is a reference to the catchphrase from the television series.
 * Zoidberg says to Farnsworth "Faster, Professor! Kill! Kill!", this is a reference to the 1965 movie

Continuity

 * Bender's camera makes its first appearance since "The Mutants Are Revolting".
 * Bender's sunglasses were last seen in "Decision 3012".
 * The Tea with Titans segment of Channel √2 News was last seen in Bender's Game.
 * The referee uses the phrase "Ladies and gentlemen and smizmars", previously used by another referee in "Raging Bender".
 * The Professor's device used to scan for life in the year 1000000000 in "The Late Philip J. Fry" is used to scan Fry, Amy and Hermes' husks when their life forces are removed.
 * Fry uses his supposed catchphrase, "Help! Police!" in this episode.

Trivia

 * The topics on the blackboard of the office of Us People include:
 * Hypnotoad paternity suit
 * Morbo's backside blow
 * Harold Zoid's shocking revelation
 * H.G. Blob's botox disaster
 * Langdon Cobb bags Oscar
 * (In Alien Language 1) Earth invasions gone wild

Goofs

 * The Professor repeatedly is annoyed when the crew says "soul" instead of life force, however in "Obsoletely Fabulous" it was shown that they have soul detectors in the future, suggesting the soul have been scientifically proven to exist.


 * Langdon Cobb's house had a fifty foot force field around it, so ego shouldn't have been able to get out and to the concert hall.
 * If Bender's camera is simply a none futuristic film camera, then the heat of the fire he hid in to take Langdon Cobb's photo should have caused the camera to melt or the film to burn.
 * The Professor explains that looking upon a Quantum Litchen drains any living things life force. This souldn't mean that their bodies are reduced to skin.  It would instead mean that there bones, fat blood, and organs remain.
 * If a robot drunk battery acid, it would corrode their insides.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Antonio Calculon, Jr.
 * Bender
 * Boxy Robot
 * Zapp Brannigan
 * Calculon
 * Scoop Chang
 * Farnsworth
 * Fly Mutant
 * Fry
 * Debut: Selena Go-Bot
 * Hermes
 * Debut: Parts Hilton
 * Debut: Langdon Cobb
 * Leela
 * Debut: Larvae Levin
 * Debut: LeRoy
 * Monique
 * Morbo
 * Debut: Pookie
 * Richard Nixon's head
 * Debut: The Robot boy
 * Debut: Starlet
 * Zoidberg