Calculon 2.0
| "Calculon 2.0" | |
|---|---|
| Futurama episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 20 |
| Directed by | Stephen Sandoval |
| Written by | Lewis Morton |
| Production code | 7ACV20 |
| Original air date | July 24, 2013 |
| Opening caption | "The Only Show Broadcast At The Speed Of Light" |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Dan Castellaneta as Robot Devil |
|
Dan Castellaneta as Robot Devil
Robert Wagner as himself
"Calculon 2.0" is the twentieth episode of the seventh season of the animated sitcom Futurama. It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 24, 2013. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Stephen Sandoval. Calculon (who died in "The Thief of Baghead") is backed up and put into the body of a new robot so he can return to All My Circuits, only to learn that his over-the-top acting was never appreciated.
It has been a year since Calculon killed himself in a failed attempt to win an acting competition by making a death scene more realistic. Fry and Bender are so dissatisfied with Calculon's replacement Vaxtron on All My Circuits that they resolve to resurrect Calculon. Bender exhumes Calculon's body on live television, and Farnsworth organizes an occult ritual to return Calculon's soul to his body. The Robot Devil practically begs Fry and Bender to reclaim Calculon's soul as Calculon has been driving him crazy with badly performed Shakespeare-style monologues ever since his suicide a year earlier.
Successfully resurrected, Calculon returns to Hollywood to resume his role on All My Circuits, but he is rejected by the network president as "hammy" and "old-fashioned". Calculon receives another blow when he views the televised ceremony in which his star is removed from Hollywood's Walk of Fame and replaced with a second star for Robert Wagner's head. Undaunted, Calculon sees these setbacks as "an opportunity to prove anew" that he "is the greatest actor to ever trod the boards!" Starting at the bottom, he performs "HAL 9000", a one-man play that he had written years earlier; the play is unanimously panned by the critics. Stunned and crushed, he realizes that he is not the great actor he thought himself to be. Fry suggests that Calculon perform his trademark "dramatic pause" to cheer himself up, but Calculon vows never to pause again.
As Calculon prepares to begin his journey through life as a non-actor, he solemnly laments his former delusions, moving Leela to tears. She suddenly realizes that Calculon is being sincere for the first time ever. She explains that if he could channel real emotions into his acting and leave out the hamming, he could be "great". She convinces him to audition for a bit part on All My Circuits. Calculon goes to an audition in disguise and finds that he is to portray "Calculon, back from his kidnapping ordeal." The casting team, noting this auditionee's "old, past-your-prime" air, hires him on the spot.
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