Hubert J. Farnsworth

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Futurama character
Hubert J. Farnsworth
Professor Hubert Farnsworth
Age 159-167
Gender Male
Species Human
Planet of Origin Earth, specifically Hell's Laboratory, Manhattan, New New York City, New New York
Job Mad Scientist and owner of the Planet Express Delivery Company.

Professor at Mars University
Relatives Great Great... Uncle: Philip J. Fry
Son (Clone): Cubert Farnsworth
Great Great... Aunt: Turanga Leela (temporarily by marriage)
Great Great... Grandfather: Philip J. Fry
First Appearance Space Pilot 3000
First Line "Who are you?"
Voiced by Billy West

Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (born A.D. 2841) is a fictional character appearing in the animated television series Futurama, voiced by Billy West.

The proprietor of the Planet Express delivery service for which the main characters work, the extremely elderly Professor Farnsworth, is the great-great-great-etc. nephew and only living relative of Philip J. Fry, the series' protagonist. Though never stated, he is therefore logically the descendant of Fry's only sibling, his brother Yancy. However, since it is revealed that Philip J. Fry is his own grandfather, and therefore Yancy's, due to his time-traveling exploits in the series, Farnsworth is logically in fact Philip Fry's direct descendant via his brother/grandson Yancy.

Contents

[edit] Character history

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Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

The Professor is a mad scientist, which he has admitted to being on several occasions. The creators of the show named him after television inventor Philo Farnsworth, giving him the same first name as Cal Philosophy professor Hubert Dreyfus, of whom early writer and producer Eric Kaplan is a former student. He is a senile, deranged, and unpredictable old man who is both a maniac and a genius. He has a gift and a passion for the creation of doomsday devices and atomic supermen and is a danger to himself, his employees, and the universe in general. He has put at least one parallel universe in peril with his inventions.

The Professor teaches at Mars University and worked for Momcorp, but he currently spends his time inventing ridiculous devices and coming up with equally suicidal missions for his crew. While at Momcorp, he fell in love with the CEO, Mom, only to leave her and Momcorp when she decided to weaponize his "Q.T. McWhiskers" toy, an anthropomorphic cat toy that shot rainbows from its eyes. What he's a professor of goes unexplained as he demonstrates mastery of whatever field of science is plot convenient at the time. This reaches its apex in Bender's Big Score, where he shouts "I can wire anything directly into anything! I'm the Professor!"

The Professor is characterized by his catch-phrase "Good news, everyone!" frequently followed by very bad news: often one of his semi-suicidal missions. Another example would be "Good news, everyone! I'm docking your pay!" On the very few occasions he has good news he opens with "Bad news, everyone!" then before the good news sinks in, he gives a "Good news" comment (although his comment in Bender's Big Score of "Good news everyone! Those asinine morons who canceled us were themselves fired for incompotence!" could be counted as good news). Another is his exclamation of surprise, "Sweet zombie Jesus!" (although this phrase is sometimes censored in syndication, such as during Adult Swim). Also, though not a catchphrase in general, he often says "Wha?" when unaware of the situation, or when someone questions a statement he has just made, showing his senility. He also often completely contradicts himself, as in the time when he told his crew they were to gather "Honey. Ordinary honey." When Leela says that it doesn't sound dangerous, he replies with "This is no ordinary honey!" The Professor also has a tendency to enunciate his /wh/ sounds, and frequently hypercorrects his /w/ sounds to sound like /wh/ as well, e.g. "Whell, let's get started."

One frequent source of humor in the show is the Professor's amazingly advanced age, which manifests itself in senility and general physical decrepitude. While generally friendly, he is sometimes prone to sudden fits of bitter contempt for arbitrary things. The Professor is also known for his inclination toward exhibitionism and does not hesitate to make naked appearances in public, stating that, like pine trees and poodles, the "primitive notions of modesty" of the twentieth century are long gone. Despite this claim, Hermes mentions in the first "Anthology of Interest" episode that he's been cited several times for public nudity. He also mentions that, being 160 years old, he is old enough to rent and purchase "ultra-porn". Beyond that, the Professor's occasional brief verbal digressions about his own life imply a somewhat colorful sexual past, which he often concludes with a nostalgic "Oh, yes...".

The Professor is one of the oldest human beings living on earth (excluding those who have been cryogenically frozen or are kept alive as heads in jars), a title he acquired after the events of the episode "A Clone of My Own", in which it was revealed that upon turning 160, all humans are collected by the "Sunset Robot Squad" and sent to live out the rest of their days in isolation aboard the gigantic "Near Death Star" (a pun on the Death Star of the Star Wars universe). After his crew rescues him, Farnsworth returns to Planet Express to resume the life he originally had before being removed by the Sunset Robot Squad. In "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" his age is stated to be 161, and after swimming in the fountain of aging, reports that he is "Even older! Huzzah!". Cubert Farnsworth took control over Planet Express claiming the Professor had himself declared legally dead for tax evasion reasons. The Professor denies this allegation, claiming "you take one nap in a ditch at the park and they start declaring you this and that!"

Although being in his 160s, the Professor became quite shocked in the episode "The Sting", when Fry (who was technically 1025 years old after being frozen for a millennium; thereby 863 years older than the professor) accidentally died, remarking "This makes me the oldest living member of my family!" and burst into tears of this realization. Although this was in Leela's dream; in real life, Fry was seated next to Leela's hospital bed, talking to her for two weeks in an attempt to wake her and keep her mind together.

The Professor rarely worries about the safety of the crew, viewing them as a means to an end, as evidenced in the first episode. After remarking that he was looking for a new crew for his intergalactic space ship, he was asked "What happened to your old crew?" His response was "Oh, those poor sons-of-b-but that's not important! What is important is that I need a new crew!" Farnsworth's last crew died while gathering honey from Space Bees, and that at least one crew before them met a similar grisly end (The Sting) - however, their old chips were found in the stomach of a Space Wasp (see the pilot episode).

He quite frequently sends his crew on dangerous missions even when he has the foreknowledge that they will probably not make it back alive. His missions are typically those other delivery companies won't take, such as delivering subpoenas to mob-controlled worlds or casual deliveries to virus-infested planets. Even the commercial that he had produced for his company makes several remarks to this effect, including "When other companies aren't crazy or foolhardy enough..." and "Our crew is replaceable, your package isn't..." the former showing the crewman running through a minefield and the latter showing him being carried away by a giant bird. During another episode, when the crew and his ship are sent off to war, he immediately tries to hire another crew. When his old crew returns, he is clearly surprised they survived, remarking "Oh God you're alive! I mean, thank God you're alive." then remarks to the applicants "Come back in three days, a week at most." indicating just how low he thinks their chances of survival are. Even his family relationship to Fry doesn't do much (if anything) to reduce his ardor for particularly difficult and deadly delivery missions. The only exception to this seems to be the mission his old crew died on. He warns his crew not to go, and apparently, also warned his old crew not to go. When asked about the nature of his delivery "business," he once clarified that he viewed his company more as "a source of cheap labor, like a family."

The Professor claims to have created Planet Express to fund his experiments, though the company is frequently on the verge of bankruptcy. This is highlighted in "Future Stock", where Hermes shows a pie chart of their income, the larger portion of it (approximately 65%) showing an $8 bank error in their favour. This is mostly due to the incompetence of Fry, Bender, and Leela who have few reservations about abandoning their deliveries if they are distracted by personal problems, endangered by various space hazards, or simply bored. In Futurama: The Game, which may not be considered canon, the Professor laments that the crew never remembers to charge anyone for the deliveries (which would arguably be Hermes' job, not the delivery crew). Despite what would seem to be a setback, the Professor is still very capable of funding his experiments as well as paying for the inevitable repairs after the experiments go awry. The Professor states and/or implies in both "A Clone of My Own" and "Anthology of Interest I" that he has a vast fortune saved up, though his senility and occasional insanity casts some doubt on his actual financial situation. It is reasonable to believe that he is at least wealthy enough to not necessarily need Planet Express, considering his long career working directly under the richest woman on Earth, his vast collection of doomsday devices and deadly pets, and his many scientific achievements, including being essentially the father of all modern robots, an accomplishment that implies extensive and continuous royalties.

Another running joke throughout the show is that the Professor's eyes are never seen. In some episodes his glasses are removed, but the view is always shown from behind his head. As a result, his eyes cannot be seen. In the episode where he seduces Mom, she removes his glasses and says "Your eyes were always the nicest shade of milky white." However, his eyes were seen in Futurama Comics issue #29.

It is also implied on multiple occasions in the show that the Professor is a cannibal or at least encourages the consumption of intelligent life as seen in "Roswell That Ends Well", where he orders "Soylent Green, with some Soylent Orange and a glass of Soylent Cola" products from a diner. He also told Fry, who was fighting in a war at the time, to eat a slain enemy's heart in order to gain their "rich, tasty courage" before smacking his lips at the prospect. Also, in several instances, the Professor also seems to like harvesting organs from dead employees, presumably so they can be transplanted into his own body, as shown in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" where he encourages Hermes' suicide attempt so he could harvest his liver and is also shown to have a box titled "Leela's Organs" in "Anthology of Interest II".

He also has a genetic disease called "wandering bladder".

[edit] Inventions

Some of Hubert Farnsworth's inventions include the following:

  • Afterburners (for Dark matter engine) – Give 200% fuel efficiency to the dark matter engines of the Planet Express ship.
  • Albino shouting gorillas – To shout out his love for Mom from rooftops.
  • Angry dome – A dome built into the Planet Express building that Farnsworth uses to vent out his anger.
  • Anti-pressure pills – a rectal suppository, roughly the size of an emu egg, which protects people from the heavy pressures of the ocean.
  • Atomic Monsters – In the episode "A Fishful of Dollars" the Professor alludes to his past dream of creating a race of atomic monsters - "Atomic supermen with octagonal-shaped bodies, that suck blood through straws out your..." This ambition is stated as his own reason as to why people say he is mad. This is also an obscure reference from a film called Bride of the Monster, by Ed Wood, who was most notably the director of the infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space
  • Superhuman Atomic Basketball Team – The only atomic superhumans actually seen created by the Professor. Instead of them aging normally or using accelerated growth, the Professor had his crew harvest chronotons and then had the superhumans drink them. The results nearly destroyed the space-time continuum. The superhumans were nearly a success, as they were leading the Harlem Globetrotters; however, Fry replaced one after it was killed, and lost the game. Notably, none of these monsters were octagonal or known to drink blood. The DVD commentary identifies the supermen as Thorias (a mutant with a cannon in his chest), Armo (possessed 5 arms), Arachnion (a spider-like creature), Lazor (fired beams from his eyes) and Growtrian (stretched long distances).
  • Badass Gravity Pump – Affixed to the Planet Express Ship and used to move stars. Co-invention with Ethan "Bubblegum" Tate of Globetrotter University, seems to have disappeared after its application in stopping the time-skips he created. It cost all of Earth's money to build.
  • Beautiful Women, Fast Cars and Trendy night spots – mentioned in "A Clone of My Own" as being the Professors' inventions.
  • C-3PO – seen in "Crimes Of The Hot" the professor makes and destroys a robot that looks just like C-3PO from Star Wars. He immediately crushes the robot because it is too "uptight and slow moving"
  • Clone-O-Mat – Clones organisms. Can, in some cases, also give the clone the memories of the organism from which the DNA originated. It is also used by Leela for pickling in the comic book.
  • Cubert Farnsworth – (Clone of the professor) – Might not be counted as an invention but Cubert exclaims "In your entire life your only half-decent invention was me and I didn't turn out like you wanted either."
  • Dark matter engine – Part of the Planet Express ship. Moves the universe around the ship instead of moving the ship through the universe. He claims the design came to him in a dream, (a spoof of Back to the Future) but later forgot it in another dream. The engine's dark matter is usually supplied by Nibbler.
  • Death Clock – A clock that tells the user how long they have to live when a finger is inserted. It's "occasionally off by a few seconds, what with free will and all". It seems to be less reliable than the Professor thinks. The death clock is a parody of the many "death clock" websites that populate the Internet.
  • Doomsday devices – Featured in the episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and the movie Bender's Big Score, the professor owns at least nine doomsday devices (eight after the episode). The one that is used to destroy the source of the time slippage creates an implosion on detonation. Professor Farnsworth, when trying to decide which weapon to use, says "I suppose I could part with one and still be feared." Several of the doomsday devices are taken from other cartoon series. A second, similar looking doomsday device is used in Bender's Big Score, and is referred to as his favorite.
  • Electric frankfurter – Briefly mentioned during a musical number in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" ("They poo-pooed my electric frankfurter," he sings).
  • F-ray – Similar to an X-ray, except it can look through anything, even metal. Uses a controlled neutrino beam in some way. It can pop balloons and blimps when pointed at them, and produces harmful radiation that is known to kill sperm; hence Fry's exclamation, "Ow! My sperm!" when Bender points the F-ray at his crotch. Bender then promptly does it again, with Fry stating it didn't hurt that time.
  • Fing-longer – A glove with an extended index finger, allowing the wearer to operate machinery from "great" distances. In "Anthology of Interest I", he didn't invent this, but he wishes he had after seeing it on the What-If Machine (see below). The exact line being "So that's what things would be like if I had invented the Fing-longer" suggesting that it exists, otherwise how would he know?, but that somebody else had invented it before him. This explains how he has acquired one in"The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz". Conversely, this could suggest that he had designed the Fing-longer but did not build it until after seeing the events depicted in "Anthology of Interest I".
  • Farnsworth's Killbots – A range of at least one model of combat robot, which he apparently manufactures himself. His Roboticon 3003 stall claims: "Housewives prefer Farnsworth's Killbots". The neighboring stall is "Wernstrom's Killbots", sparking an argument between the owners. The two killbots show disdain for violence and go for a paddleboat ride.
  • A machine that can make anyone sound exactly like the Professor – Originally designed to allow people to hand down edicts to their minions in the Professor's "glorious, booming voice", it was also used by Cubert and Dwight Conrad to prank call members of the Planet Express crew in "The Route of All Evil". The Professor also claimed that his invention did not have any target consumer, only "targets".
  • Intergalactic Starship – Mentioned in "Space Pilot 3000", the professor has invented a type of Supership that is "capable of crossing galaxies in mere hours." This ship, as well as its predecessor(s) have been outfitted with an extremely powerful Darkmatter Engine. This ship carries the homicidal mindset of its creator, being heavily armed for a delivery ship (2 torpedo mounts, roof mounted laser cannon, 2 "phaser ports" or "high beams" an unseen gun with an arcade style targeting system, and a "Paper gun."
  • Maternifuge – An alien cross species genetic analyzer that spins at 10,000 RPM to determine a subject's parent, provided at least one parent is present. Doctor Zoidberg lives in it. When introducing it, the Professor says, "Even I laughed at me when I built this alien cross-species analyser." In order to determine the parent of a child, all potential parents must climb inside the centrifuge-like chamber. As it spins, the people inside are ejected one by one into a mercifully padded wall until only the true parent remains.
  • Memoray – A pistol-shaped device that the Professor uses to draw forgotten memories from the collective unconscious of his mind.
  • Parallel Universe – from the episode "The Farnsworth Parabox" The Professor (A) creates a box containing a parallel Universe (1) and in a simultaneous blunder Professor (1) creates a box containing a parallel Universe (A). They later cooperate to create a large number of additional parallel universes. In the End, Professor (A) has the box containing his own universe.
  • Q.T. McWhiskers – Originally envisioned by Farnsworth as an anthropomorphic, cat-like, children's plush toy which meowed and shot rainbows out of its eyes when petted on the head. This robot was changed by his ex-lover Mom into an eight-foot tall war robot with neutron lasers in its eyes, causing Hubert to leave Momcorp and Mom. Farnsworth argued that things that were 8 feet tall were not cute, thus the failure of his colossal Tammy Tinkle doll. Mom's weaponized version of the toy is seen later in the episode, meowing as it fires its neutron lasers at everything in sight. New models are sixteen feet.
  • Re-animator – Appearing in the Futurama video game, this is able to create an exact duplicate of a person quickly upon (premature) death, requiring only the person's X-rays, a DNA sample and some scrapings from the inside of the deceased's tennis shoes. Resembles and functions like a giant toaster. As this information is from the game, it is not necessarily considered canon.
  • Relative Box – It appears in the episode "Space Pilot 3000". Fry and Professor Farnsworth use it to prove that they are related. To use the device, two people insert one of their fingers into a hole located on either side of the box. The box makes a ding! sound to indicate that those two people are in fact related.
  • Empathy Chip – A device made to force Bender into feeling Leela's emotions after Bender apparently kills Nibbler by flushing him down the toilet. It uses frequencies of a person's brain to force a robot to feel human emotions.
  • Two-dings Machine – A machine which creates glow-in-the-dark noses. It also "does other things! Why shouldn't it?" The only other thing mentioned is its capacity as a translator, though it just translates what it's given into "Betacrypt 3, a language so complex there's even less chance of understanding it." The machine signifies that the translation is complete with two dings of a precise timing, though it periodically dings once or twice in a larger or smaller interval for no apparent reason. The Two-dings machine creates multiple barrels of toxic waste for each glow-in-the-dark nose it creates and is later used to create boxes which contain alternate universes.
  • Smell-o-scope – Allows the users to smell odors from astronomically long distances ("If a dog craps anywhere in the universe, you can bet I won't be out of the loop.")
  • Sport Utility Robot – Seen in flashback in "Crimes of the Hot", this pollution-spewing machine became the prototype for all modern robots, leading to increased global warming. The Professor invented it while working for MomCorp. Physically resembles Bender.
  • What-If Machine – A machine which depicts events following the posing of a hypothetical question/situation. It plays the "logical outcome" as a video scenario on a screen included in the machine. The What-If Machine is featured in the "Anthology of Interest" episodes, in which the questions posed result in humorous scenarios on the screen. The Professor once commented that it wasn't "worth the gold it's made of". After fine-tuning it (with a hammer), he says that it can predict any scenario within one-tenth of a plausibility unit. It can be activated in a multitude of ways, including buttons, levers, and by voice activation.
  • The Who-ask Machine – A machine briefly used in "Anthology of Interest II" to select the next person to pose a question for the What-If Machine. When used by the professor, it responds with "Amy", but quickly follows with "I mean Leela" when Amy gets excited.

-[citation needed]

[edit] Achievements

Professor Farnsworth, while sometimes seen as a laughingstock in the scientific community, has also been highly honored. For stopping global warming and Richard Nixon ("Crimes of the Hot"), Nixon awards him with the Polluting Medal of Pollution (which spews smog). He also received the Academy of Inventors award for stopping the giant trash meteor from destroying New New York City ("A Big Piece of Garbage").

[edit] Production

Professor Farnsworth is voiced by Billy West, who also voices Fry, Dr. Zoidberg, and Captain Zapp Brannigan. The character was named after Philo Farnsworth, one of the inventors of television.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ M. Keith Booker. Drawn to Television: Prime-Time Animation from the Flintstones to Family Guy, 115-124. 
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