| “ | I cannot speak for you, sir, but my ancestors were not monkeys. They were orangutans - hard-working, patriotic orangutans! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Banjo debating Professor Farnsworth |
Dr. Banjo is a supporting antagonist in Futurama, appearing in the episodes "A Clockwork Origin", "Fry and Leela's Big Fling", and "Rage Against the Vaccine". He is an ape professor who opposes vaccines and the theory of evolution.
He was voiced by David Herman, who also portrayed Pickles, Project Satan, Larry, Roberto, Professor Ogden Wernstrom, Robot Mayor, Alcazar, the King of Flatbush, the Robot Elders, and That Guy in the same series, as well as Erol in the Jak and Dexter video game series.
Overview[]
Dr. Banjo is a scientist and one of Professor Hubert Farnsworth's colleagues who does not believe in evolution, insisting instead that all life, including "hard-working, patriotic orangutans" like himself, was created by an all-powerful "Creature in the Sky", a philosophy known as "Creaturism".
Biography[]
"A Clockwork Origin"[]
Banjo is introduced as the leader of a protest movement against the teaching of evolution in public schools, which angers Farnsworth, a staunch believer in evolution. To prove him wrong, Farnsworth and the crew of the Planet Express search for, and eventually find, the missing link between prehistoric apes and humans. He presents "Homo Fansworth", as he calls it, to the Museum of Natural History, only for Banjo to rebut him with a fossil record of Fansworth's discovery riding a dinosaur at the dawn of time, which he claims to be proof of Creaturism.
Fed up with Earth, Farnsworth decides to move to another planet off in deep space. There, he and the rest of Planet Express are attacked by robotic dinosaurs. Farnsworth declares, much to Bender's delight, that robots, not humans, were the first life forms on Earth, and presents proof of this theory to Banjo. In order to reach a compromise, Banjo agrees to acknowledge evolution as long as Farnsworth remains open to the possibility that it was "intelligently designed" by a supreme creature, an idea Farnsworth grudgingly accepts.
"Fry and Leela's Big Fling"[]
Banjo next appears as the director of a zoo in which human couples are put on display in a habitat that they have been led to believe is a romantic getaway. When Philip J. Fry and Turanga Leela book a vacation there, the rest of the crew goes to rescue them, only for Banjo to try to stop them; he insists that it is only fair that he, an ape, should put humans on display after centuries of humans putting apes on display. He then shows the crew clips of Fry and Leela making fun of them behind their backs in an effort to dissuade them from trying to mount a rescue.
When Banjo finds out that Amy Wong, who is disguised as a marmoset, is fact human, he tries to shoot her with a tranquilizer dart, but he misses her and hits Guenter, a hyper-intelligent ape who was once one of Farnsworth's prize students. The Planet Express crew ultimately escapes, however.
"Rage Against the Vaccine"[]
When Farnsworth and his nemesis, Professor Ogden Wernstrom, both develop vaccines for the Explovid 19 Virus, Banjo, now hosting a podcast called "The Dr. Banjo Experience Podcast Experience Hour", shows up at their press conference and accuses them both of implanting microchips their vaccines. He then broadcasts a diatribe on the social media site Facebag about "vaccine fascists taking our freedom", unaware that the misinformation he is spreading comes from Lrrr, who is trying to keep the population of Earth so divided over the virus that he can easily invade and take over the planet.
When Hermes Conrad and his wife LaBarbara use voodoo to create a vaccine, however, Dr. Banjo agrees to take it because it has no basis in science.
External Links[]
- Dr. Banjo on the Futurama Wiki
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 Villains
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Major Villains Earth Government Others Minor Villains Groups & Species Anthologies Video Games Futurama: Worlds of Tomorrow Comics See Also | ||