Law and Oracle

It was inspired by, and makes various cultural references to science fiction media, such as the films Tron (1982), Minority Report (2002) and Avatar (2009).

On May 20 and 21, as part of its "Countdown to Futurama" event, Comedy Central Insider, Comedy Central's news outlet, released various preview materials for the episode, including concept art of the Future Crimes division, a storyboard of Fry making a delivery to a cryogenics laboratory and a 30-second preview clip of the episode.

"Law and Oracle" received generally positive reviews from critics, who enjoyed its humor, cultural references and the character Chief O'Mannahan, who is introduced in the episode.

He and his co-workers are held hostage by criminally insane robot Roberto, who is promptly subdued by Smitty and URL, and Fry decides that joining the police force would be a more fulfilling role.

Professor Farnsworth, Amy, Hermes and Doctor Zoidberg find working at Planet Express to be boring without Fry's antics.

Upon examining the vision in closer detail, Fry sees that he will fatally shoot Bender to prevent him from stealing the bottle.

Pickles states that he wants the liquor to destroy his human brain cells, as he finds his precognition to be an unbearable burden.

Fry attempts to shoot Pickles, but the invisible safe guarding the liquor ricochets the bullet and strikes Bender, knocking him down.

Weinstein and series co-creator David X. Cohen spent time elaborating and working on this concept before the idea was scrapped after the writing staff concluded the plot "wasn't funny enough.

[1] The title of the episode is a parody of the long-running NBC legal drama television franchise Law & Order.

One of the robots in Fry's class, the "Sound Effects 5000", is a direct parody of the Police Academy character Sgt.

He also noted that he felt the episode picked up after Fry's promotion to the Future Crimes division, and also enjoyed the character Chief O'Mannahan.