The Planet Express staff meets Flexo, a Bending robot just like Bender. The two robots hit it off, but Fry can't help but be suspicious of the new robot, especially when Planet Express is hired to ship an expensive tiara to the Miss Universe Pageant.
Tropes
- Anachronism Stew: Let's just say that Past-O-Rama is not exactly an accurate representation of the 20th century...Cowboy on a hover-moped: Time for the mammoth hunt, dudes!
- As Himself: Bob Barker provides the voice for his head, and the show even manages to set up a scenario for him to say "you're the closest without going over" when it came to the atom's price.
- Bait-and-Switch: During the episode, the normally naked Bender is seen wearing a turtleneck and a scarf, leading the audience, and Fry, to assume this is actually Flexo trying to cover up his goatee. When Fry later yanks the scarf off, it turns out to be Bender after all; he was just trying to be stylish.
- Beard of Evil: Flexo has a beard, but isn't the evil one. Bender is.
- Beauty Contest: The framing device of the second act. The crew's first mission since welcoming Flexo is to deliver an atom that will be placed atop the Miss Universe Pageant's winner tiara. The winner happens to be Miss Vega Four (although Zapp mistakenly announces Leela's name).
- Blatant Lies: The drunken alien on Cop Department claims that he didn't fire off any lasers, despite the smoking hole in his ceiling. When confronted, he claims it's the "crazy upstairs lady". URL points out that they're on the top floor of the apartment building.
- The Blind Leading the Blind: Past-O-Rama got a lot about the 20th century wrong, but Fry as a tour guide isn't much better.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Professor asks everyone to join him in his bedroom for a "private viewing", and draws the curtains, before telling them to "feast their eyes" on something. It turns out to be an atom of Jumbonium. Lampshaded when Leela gets uncomfortable with the display.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Despite turning out to be the evil one, Bender is offended that Fry thinks Flexo is evil because of the goatee and calls him prejudiced.
- In a case of idiocy and sleaze rather than outright evil, Zapp Brannigan, who would otherwise take any excuse to woo Leela that he could, calls the audience idiots for thinking she won the pageant when he simply said her name in confusion, and quickly clarifies who the real winner is.
- Evil Twin: Fry thinks Flexo is one to Bender, but it turns out that it's the other way around. No real surprise there, of course.
- Future Imperfect: The Past-O-Rama theme park (supposedly based on the year 2000) is probably the best example: in a commercial, cowboys with surfer accents and hover-mopeds hunt mammoths with harpoons, and Albert Einstein and Hammurabi (who ruled Babylonia c. 2000 BCE) are seen disco dancing in a hot air balloon, and Hammurabi uses the catch phrase "Dy-no-mite!" from Good Times. In one exhibit, Gerald Ford is credited with inventing the automocar, which is built by primitive robots (who dress and behave like human cavemen) and runs by burning fossil fuels (as in actual dinosaur bones rather than petroleum byproducts). An ad in the recreated subway seems to assume that "Spanglish" was an actual language.
- Fry, who is actually from the past, is either not believed when he tries to correct the errors, or just makes them worse with his unique perspective (What were those booths on the road used for in your time? Bathrooms). This is despite several living heads of people from the 20th century with their memories living in the time (and even winning elections).
- To put things in perspective, the difference in time between Einstein (who was from the 1900's) and the year 3000 is four times smaller than that between Einstein and King Hammurabi. The people of the year 3000 seem to have a decent grasp of the past millennium or so of their history but collapse any and all human history before that into a single homogeneous garbled mess.
- Future Music: One of the Miss Universe contestants performs a "traditional gangsta rap".
- Godwin's Law: Bender compares Fry to Hitler for not trusting Flexo, assuming Fry's prejudiced over Flexo's goatee.Fry: Look, I know Flexo's your friend, but I don't trust him alone with the atom.
Bender: My God, Fry! Just 'cause the guy's got a beard you label him as evil? Well, I got a label for you, pal: An ugly little word called "prejudice".
Fry: I'm not prejudiced.
Bender: Ah, save it for the cross-burning, Adolf! - Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: Fry and Leela automatically assume Flexo stole a giant atom. The two of them are only convinced of Flexo's innocence once the atom was shown inside Bender's compartment, showing that Bender was the real thief.
- Hold Up Your Score: After one contestant performs, Zapp holds up a scorecard with his room number, jangles his keys, and comically waggles his eyebrows.
- I Resemble That Remark!:TV ad: Is today's hectic lifestyle making you tense and impatient?
Bender: SHUT UP AND GET TO THE POINT! - Mistaken for Servant: At Past-O-Rama, Fry thinks a mugger is a park performer. Later, Fry is mistaken for a park employee because of his 20th Century clothing (by someone wearing 16th Century clothing).
- Morton's Fork: Fry's attempts to watch over the atom before Flexo fail because all three orders they choose (Leela’s random order, alphabetical order and in order of descending rank) all result in Flexo coming before him.Fry: Flexo outranks me?Flexo: That’s "Flexo outranks me SIR".
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Even though he was the one who tried to stop Bender from stealing the atom, Flexo ends up mistaken for Bender and arrested for his crimes.
- Not So Above It All: Leela twice talks down about the women competing in the "Miss Universe Pageant": first to Amy, then towards the actual contestants. But when a misunderstanding briefly leads her and everyone else to think she actually won, despite not even being in the pageant, Leela is clearly excited, then disappointed when the misunderstanding is cleared up and the prize taken from her and handed to the actual winner.
- Opening Shout-Out: The Past-O-Rama logo looks just like the start of the opening theme.
- Pixellation: Parodied when the crew are watching Cop Department, and the suspect's face is blurry (similar to how COPS blurs out suspects' and victims' faces for privacy/legal reasonsnote ). It turns out he's doing it himself, when Smitty orders him to stop it.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The same ending cue from "Brannigan, Begin Again" was used as the ending cue for this episode as well.
- Space Pirates: In a slight variation, Space Banditos. They're easy to distinguish from other kinds of spaceborne brigands: if it's them, you'll hear maracas.
- Spot the Imposter: Leela find herself in this situation, gun included, during Bender and Flexo's fight, not helped by Fry telling her to "shoot Flexo". Ultimately, Leela shoots the planet decorations hanging from the ceiling, knocking them both out... and revealing that Bender stole the Jumbonium atom.
- Subways Suck: One of the more accurate exhibits at Past-O-Rama is an absolutely filthy subway station. Fry shows his friends how to jump the turnstile and then curls up on two seats for a nap.
- Suicide as Comedy: While in Past-O-Rama, Bender mistakes a phone booth for a suicide booth, and is attracted to it for no apparent reason until Fry points out what it actually is.
- Suspicion Aesop: Fry immediately suspects Flexo is up to no good, seemingly just because of his goatee. Those suspicions seem to be confirmed when the Jumbonium atom is stolen and Flexo goes missing. But the confrontation at the end reveals Bender actually stole the atom, and Flexo left to warn Bob Barker about the theft.
- Toilet Humour: Fry tells Leela that phone booths were used as bathrooms in his time; afterwards Leela states that she'll be out in a second, clearly implying that she's going to enter the booth to relieve herself inside it.
- Too Much Information: After Fry mentions how his "girlfriend" was actually just a girl who lived next door and never closed her curtains, Leela reminds him of how she told him he should end his stories a sentence early.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Flexo calls out Fry and Leela for assuming he was the Evil Twin because of his goatee. It's then immediately subverted when Flexo makes it clear he doesn't actually hold a grudge against them.Leela: I'm sorry we suspected you, Flexo. It's just, what with the beard and all-
Flexo: Don't even bother! You people sicken me. I put my life on the line to guard that atom and this is how you repay me? Well, you can go rot for all I care. [laughs] Nah, I'm just kidding, you guys are alright. [laughs again]
