A huge part of what made HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey so terrifying was his soft, gentle voice. His calm demeanor amplified the cold, calculating nature of his artificial intelligence. He is basically the complete opposite of Futurama‘s loud, belligerent robot Bender. But while having his shiny metal ass take over the job as Discovery One’s power-hungry computer would have made 2001 far less suspenseful, it definitely would have made it way more hilarious.
We know because we had the real Bender do just that.
In this amazing clip from the latest episode of our Alpha series Talkin’ Toons, host Rob Paulsen was joined by fellow voice actor John DiMaggio to recreate the iconic “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that” scene with DiMaggio’s Bender filling in for HAL. This mashup of famous pop culture computers was so perfect Rob played the part of Dr. Dave Bowman as himself, so DiMaggio could do his thing.
And my goodness did he do that. Talkin’ Toons always delivers, but this might be the funniest moment from the show ever. I can’t stop watching it, and I laugh harder each and every time. There’s just something about Futurama characters that makes these mash-ups work so well, like when Billy West played Doc Brown and Marty McFly as Professor Farnsworth and Fry.
But remember, this is just a clip. If you want to check out full episodes you have to join our interactive Alpha community, and the first month is completely free.
What other famous cartoon characters do you want to see on Talkin’ Toons? Give voice to your best ideas in the comments below.
Featured Image: Fox/MGM
Want more Futurama?
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