A Pharaoh to Remember

One of the more underrated episodes of Futurama in my opinion. A Pharaoh To Remember doesn't have the greatest plot, and some say Bender's a little out of character for being so annoyed that people won't remember him, but in my opinion, the episode was quite funny and well written. Fry, Bender, and Leela go to an Egyptian like planet and become slaves. Bender becomes the new Pharaoh, things go wrong and they all escape.

The first act is full of obvious but funny humour, such as Bender's large graffiti on the wall, and the Funeral scene, made extremely funny with Bender and Zoidberg. Once they get onto the planet, the humour is lessened, but still has some memorable moments, such as the High Priest saying "The Pharaoh just suddenly died!" and an Elton John lookalike singing. Bender being revealled as the Pharoah and performing his Egyptian dance was funny, and when Fry and Leela try to tease him into thinking he doesn't exist. Overall, a misunderstood episode with obvious humour and a fairly good plot. A solid 8/10. Oh, and how could I forget? REMEMBER ME!!!

This episode gets a bad rap. It's a solid piece of work. The plot is fairly interesting and the jokes are all to a good standard. It has very little to make it stand out which is probably why it's so often disregarded.

One thing is does very nicely is to explore the idea of desire to be remembered. This is something television and film rarely touches on and is a brilliant bit of character development for Bender. Another is that it serves as a subtle homage to Star Trek (another planet that just so happens to be exactly like a period in history on Earth).

The episode also features surprisingly nice visuals. It has a very bland setting (it's basically ancient Egypt which basically means lots and lots of sand) but somehow it keeps it looking quite consistently interesting unlike other episodes with similar tasks (My Three Suns). The music isn't half-bad either.