Which character were you most excited to see back upon the miraculous return of Futurama?
A decade’s absence is an incredibly long one, and every year of it has been felt by Futurama fans. However, when it was initially announced that Hulu would be rolling out a revival series, audiences quickly began to contemplate how great it would be to see the Planet Express crew in action once again.
Although many would’ve been most excited to see the likes of Fry, Leela, and Bender back, Matt Groening’s sci-fi has always been one that boasts the very best side characters. Some of them drop in every few episodes, others even less than a season.
So far in season 11, now streaming on Hulu and on Disney+ internationally, we have already fallen head over heels for the return of Zapp Brannigan, Calculon, and others. However, it’s episode 3—How the West Was 1010001—that proves the latest season will leave no iconic characters behind, no matter how infrequently they’ve popped up in the past.
The installment finds the crew venturing out to crypto country to take advantage of the Bitcoin mining rush. There are plenty of Bitcoin-related jokes, but the biggest influence on the episode is clearly the Western genre, which feels reminiscent of a memorable season 3 adventure.
When the gang is in a saloon, who happens to burst open the swinging doors but Roberto. “Who’s that?” Hermes’ son asks him, to which he replies “A psychotic killer that’s who.”
“I thought you were more of a knife guy?” Bender asks the robot bandit, and he explains that out in the Old West, he needed “something shootier, like this gun-knife I invented/stole. Where’s that beer I ordered/didn’t order!?”
Yeah, he’s the same old Roberto. The incredibly unstable robot debuted in the iconic season 3 episode Insane In The Mainframe, and Fry is forced to share a room with him after he’s forced to remain in an insane asylum for robots.
On Fry’s first night, he has no choice but to duck and dodge Roberto’s knife so he can, in his words, “practice my stabbing.” He’s shown to be obsessed with knives, so straight out of the gate season 11 is making great callbacks and references.
He arguably steals the show as soon as he enters, and the writers must’ve known it because they have him recur throughout the episode. And yes, his fixation on knives doesn’t let up. “This gun violence has to end, can’t we all just agree to use knives?” he asks in the middle of a shootout.
Fans have already hopped onto Twitter to call the return “hilarious” and announce that they were very “glad” to finally see him again.
Another fan wrote that “every episode with Roberto is great”, and it’s certainly hard to argue.
We sincerely hope it’s not the last appearance from Roberto, and we want him in full-bandit mode no matter the setting.
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