Futurama: "Parasites Lost"

"Parasites Lost." Futurama. Fox-TV, First aired 21 Jan. 01. Through-number episode 35, or 3.6 (#6 in season 3; source: [www.tvtome.com/Futurama/eplist.html]). Peter Avanzino, dir. Eric Kaplan, script.

A genial parody of the 1966 film FANTASTIC VOYAGE — but correcting the science. The crew are replicated as "micro-droids" (very tiny robots) run by their originals in "net [?] suits": full-body, VR waldo mechanisms. Bender asks the Professor why they can't be just shrunk (as in Fantastic Voyage), and the Professor answers that the process would require "extremely tiny atoms—and have you priced those lately?" The episode may also be of use to students of the Mind/Body problem, and of the body in satires: Fry's brain is cleaned up by the parasites in his body, immediately increasing his intelligence.

(RDE, 18/06/01)