"Decision 3012" is the third episode of the seventh season of the animated sitcom ''
Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
''. It originally aired on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
on June 27, 2012. The plot is a parody of the
Birther Movement
During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage of Obama's religious preference, birthplace, and of the individuals questioning his religious belief and citi ...
.
Plot
As the episode started with an extended intro, it begins as Bender jumps off the Planet Express Ship after seeing an ad for free beer. As Earth's election time nears, President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's
Head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
builds his reelection campaign platform on the promise to order the construction of a " Dyson fence" around the southern part of the Solar System, which will keep out illegal extraterrestrial aliens. Leela, angered at Nixon's non-existent competition, tries to become involved by attending a debate of the other candidates. Although most of them simply cater to the crowd, she finds one, Senator Chris Travers, who appears honest and with strong ideals counter to Nixon, most of which are ridiculed by the audience. She later finds him alone at his campaign headquarters, attacking his own posters in despair. She attempts to encourage him, and becomes his campaign manager.
Leela's efforts soon put Travers in the spotlight as a front-running candidate, quickly gaining momentum. Nixon discreetly employs Bender to try to find dirt about Travers' background. Bender struggles to find any blemish on Travers' history, eventually coming across that his middle name is "Zaxxar", which Nixon claims is an alien-sounding name, and demands that Travers show his " Earth certificate". Travers states that he is Earth-born, having been born in a hospital in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, but refuses to show the certificate. As the populace swing back in favor of Nixon, Leela takes it upon herself to retrieve the certificate, with Fry and Bender's help.
At the hospital, they are unable to find any record and learn Travers is waiting there for them. He reveals that he has no Earth certificate because he has not been born ''yet'' — he is a time traveler from 3028 who be born in this hospital tomorrow. He explains that in the future, with the fence erected, there are no aliens to do the menial work on Earth, resulting in Earth's economy to collapse, and starvation and civil unrest become common around the globe. Nixon then eliminates the remaining working class by turning them into canned " Soylent
Majority
A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterFuturama: Bender's Big Score'') and spent the last several years becoming the best candidate to run against Nixon to prevent this future from happening. Leela realizes that this is a compelling story and arranges for Travers' birth to be broadcast live to the world to prove definitively that he was born on Earth.
Travers soon handily defeats Nixon at the election. However, while giving his victory speech, he begins to glitch away; Bender points out that because Nixon lost the election, the robot uprising will never happen, thus preventing Travers from being given a reason to be sent back in time in the first place. A temporal paradox occurs, Travers is erased from time and all the events of the episode are undone. Now running unopposed, Nixon proclaims an uncontested victory while Leela and the Planet Express crew forget all about Travers.
Reception
Zack Handlen from ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave the episode a B+, focusing on the episode's social commentary. Handlen remarked, "It seems to be saying something, only it isn’t really, but you still kind of care a little. And also there are robots."