'Futurama' Season 9, Episode 4 Recap - 'The Thief of Baghead'

Opening Credits Gag: "If the show's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin'." I'm curious... which other show is "Futurama" getting freaky with?

The Highlights: A bit of a down week this week, as things got odd pretty quickly. Plus, while Calculon is a pretty hilarious character in concept, he always feels misused somehow.

In any case, things start with Bender messing around with his camera at the aquarium and annoying everybody because he still uses film. Kodak will be glad to hear that one.

Bender's love of photography, mixed with his love of Calculon, gets him snapping photos and leads to a job as a paparazzo. Why hasn't Bender pursued this career before? It seems as though he's sort of made for it.

With that, Bender sets out to do the impossible: get a photo of famous actor Langdon Cobb's face. Why is that so impossible? Simple: he's an alien that feeds on people's attention, so if you look at his face he'll suck out your life force. So he wears a paper bag on his head. Of course.

Things take a turn for the wacky when, in order to save Fry, Amy and Hermes (who have been deflated of their life force), the remaining crew attempts to kill Cobb's ego. Oh, yes, I forgot: he's a lichen being with a physical ego made of fungus. Yeah, it's all a bit weird.

The plan is to go to the World Acting Championship (ha) between Calculon and Cobb, and make sure Calculon wins. If he does, it could shrink Cobb's ego just enough for the Professor to kill it.

That plan fails at first, but Bender gets an idea: show Cobb a picture of his own face, and he'll suck out his own life force. Turns out it doesn't work that way, but Bender's excellently developed (non-digital) photograph inflates Cobb's ego so much that it explodes. Day saved.

The Heartstrings: Again, nothing here this week. However, Calculon does die (seemingly legitimately) by drinking real poison in an attempt to out-act Cobb in the competition. By the end of the episode, Calculon is still dead. Is he gone forever?

So, moral of the story is this, folks: don't feed the actors' egos.

Notes & Quotes:

- "I wouldn't, but I'm smart."

- Ha. Swimming T-Rex.

- "Sir, you just hired yourself a new whatsawhatso"

- "Souls--I mean, life forces"

- "...by Will.i.am Shakespeare"

- "I'm an actor, I can kill anyone I want!