Futurama reviews!

[partcynic]

-For me this is the last of the classic ‘zapp and kif’ episodes, where they could do no wrong. Having zapp boss the trio around is a little reminiscent of ‘when aliens attack’, but it’s different enough, and leads to many great jokes. I especially loved kif bossing fry around (mix those mixed nuts. I see two almonds touching!), and zapp’s interactions with Nixon were interesting. Zapp’s ‘place’ within the show makes a little more sense now we know that he seems to work directly for the (somewhat corrupt/amoral) president.

Yes! Zapp and Kif are superb here. Even if I disliked everything else, their dialogue would be enough to make me praise the episode.

-I loved the mash parody. The interactions between iHawk and zoidberg were very reminiscent of hawkeye and frank burns, so much so that it felt like the scene could have been lifted right out of mash. Well aside from zoidberg trying to kill iHawk anyway. And as a bonus, they had one of the original mash actors, the voice of the announcer, to voice the announcer in this episode.

I liked that too, but found it very inconsistent with the 'loser' portrayal the show pushes so hard with Zoidberg. Watching him here, he felt like a completely different character who just happened to share the same name, vocie and appearance.

-Fry and bender are fired for joining the army... seems a bit harsh, and had no repercussions.

I hadn't noticed that. The same thing happens in "The Cryonic Woman", and it's even worse there.

-I found it odd that tress macneille was asked to voice the clerk in the shop. I understand hiring an adult woman to voice little boys, but why have a woman voice an adult man?

I thought he was meant to be like the squeaky-voiced teen from "The Simpsons" instead of an adult, but I'll admit it's been a while since I last saw the episode.

-A word-activated bomb? Why would zapp give bender a bomb that could go off in zapp’s face, or never go off at all? I guess there’s no point complaining about how the ‘everyone dies’ ending makes no sense, though I do think they should have saved a joke like that for an ‘anthology of interest’ episode.

Yeah - that was the ep's big problem. Even if the incompetent Zapp thought it was a good idea, I can't see Nixon having approved of it, let alone permitting Bender to return to Earth once the war was won.

I found the plot nasty enough already, with humans defeating innocent 'people' and kicking them off their own planet. I'd rather not have the episode be any darker then that.

I think giving the war a purpose would have actually made it less nasty - if the Earth army had invaded for self-protection, the planet's strategic location or for its resources, it would have been less openly vindictive than waging war on the balls for no reason.

[cyclica]

Oct 29, 2012 17:31:18 GMT -5 partcynic said:

I liked that too, but found it very inconsistent with the 'loser' portrayal the show pushes so hard with Zoidberg. Watching him here, he felt like a completely different character who just happened to share the same name, vocie and appearance.

Hmm I guess you're right there. I may have been so caught up in the mash parody that I didn't notice how out of character zoidberg was being.

Oct 29, 2012 17:31:18 GMT -5 partcynic said:

I hadn't noticed that. The same thing happens in "The Cryonic Woman", and it's even worse there.

At least that episode had some kind of closure/reference to fry being fired at the end. We never find out how the crew got their jobs back at the end of 'war is the h word'.

... now that I think about it, why did no one notice leela was gone? If she had told the professor she was going to join the army with fry and bender, would she have been fired too?

[cyclica]

The Honking

Bender becomes a werewolf. The twist is, he's not a wolf, he's a car.

Meh, it was ok. I never found it hilarious, and there were a few duff lines here and there, but it kept me entertained all the way through. Overall it's a fairly weak season 2 ep, but certainly not one of the weakest of the whole show.

Things I liked-

- Bender reading binary in the mirror, which was gibberish until read backwards. That was pretty clever.

- I liked the origin of calculon, and the implication that a robot can live on even though their appearance changes. I found it fascinating that a robot arm from today could become intelligent at some point in the future, and still remember it's 'past life' as a mindless machine.

- I loved the idea that bender (secretly) considers leela to be his best friend instead of fry. I can't help but speculate that bender feels closer to leela because, although he might be reckless at times, he is still intelligent, and recognises leela as his intellectual equal / respects her, in a way that he doesn't with fry (even though he may have more fun with fry and therefore want to spend more time with him). I'm just reading into it though, and I wish this point had been elaborated on in later eps.

Favourite line-

Fry: Knight Rider wasn't evil.
Calculon: His windshield wipers were. It didn't come up much in the show though.

Nitpicking-

- Does bender's body contail all the materials necessary to turn into a car, like tyres, etc?

- I didn't like the two vandals that were-bender chased through the streets. They were never funny, and there was no 'future-spin' on them, making them feel almost 'out of place' in a way.

- When fry and leela welded bender to a wall, why did fry leave? He lives there!

[partcynic]

^ Glad to see you've picked these up again!

***

2x18 "The Honking"

Like "War is the H-Word", "The Honking" is a silly story redeemed by its humour. However, the big difference that this ep doesn't have Zapp and Kif providing high-quality laughs, and the story doesn't work unless you do a lot of fudging.

Likes

- The whole ep is goofy fun, and it's decently paced.

- The story tries something new for "Futurama" (introducing the supernatural). It's doesn't quite work or make sense in the show's universe, but it's still entertaining.

- Bender asking for alcohol after he's run down, and everyone having some on their person. Heh.

- Bender trying to kill Leela instead of Fry, and Fry's response to it (and then his happiness when Bender opts to attack him at the end).

- A few exciting action sequences.

Dislikes

- I understand what the writers were aiming for, but the first act came very close to sucking. There was no reason for humans to program robots as suspicious villager-types (beyond for theme park attractions), and 90% of the jokes were predictable. I'm sure the were-car story could have been set up with no need for the contrived 'dead Uncle' stuff. Why not just have Bender run over in New New York (by Calculon, if they wanted to keep that plot element)?

- Robots can die (as opposed to being damaged to the point of being unmendable). Bender having known his uncle passed (naturally, it seems) hurts "Lethal Inspection" somewhat.

- If virus-infected robots transform every night, there should be a lot of dead people and/or other infected robots. The writers should have stuck to original werewolf mythology and just had it be one-to-three nights a month (with some random explanation for why - it would give an opportunity to retain the Professor's great "That thing I just said made perfect sense" joke).

- Calculon being a were-car didn't work. I can't buy him concealing his status while being a well-known celebrity, and I didn't like the retcon regarding his past.

- The virus aspect of the plot doesn't make sense. I'm assuming that the makers of Project Satan didn't put that capability there deliberately (the virus spread would be uncontrollable and could endanger them). Was it just unforeseen? Why would the car have that ability? And if it did, why the were-car stuff and not just the corruption of robots, like we saw with Mom's remote in "Mother's Day"?

- Project Satan is hanging out at the Crysler building instead of being off killing? Also, its fate was telegraphed the instant we saw the fire pit.

- I'm not sure about Bender liking killing at the end. I think they were trying to imply that he was being steadily more corrupted by the virus, but it came across like he randomly decided it was fun.

***

A merely okay episode. I didn't hate it, but for S2, it's definitely below average.

[partcynic]

I'm having a productive day! Got my own review of this ep posted, and now my response to yours!

***

Meh, it was ok. I never found it hilarious, and there were a few duff lines here and there, but it kept me entertained all the way through. Overall it's a fairly weak season 2 ep, but certainly not one of the weakest of the whole show.

My thoughts exactly. This isn't a poor episode, but it does pale compared to many from its parent season.

- I loved the idea that bender (secretly) considers leela to be his best friend instead of fry. I can't help but speculate that bender feels closer to leela because, although he might be reckless at times, he is still intelligent, and recognises leela as his intellectual equal / respects her, in a way that he doesn't with fry (even though he may have more fun with fry and therefore want to spend more time with him). I'm just reading into it though, and I wish this point had been elaborated on in later eps.

That's a really good point. You're right - it would have been very interesting if it had been progressed and examined later on, possibly resulting in some character development.

- When fry and leela welded bender to a wall, why did fry leave? He lives there!

I could understand Fry not wanting to stay in the apartment when they had no guarantee that the 'pin Bender to the wall' plan would work. It would have been nice if they'd actually had him mention residing elsewhere while they sorted the were-car out - they could have even gotten an emotional mini-moment between he and Bender there (perhaps tying into the 'who's Bender's real best friend?' question).

[cyclica]

Jan 6, 2013 8:42:06 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Robots can die (as opposed to being damaged to the point of being unmendable). Bender having known his uncle passed (naturally, it seems) hurts "Lethal Inspection" somewhat.

You watched lethal inspection! Yay!

... I'm not sure where I stand on robot im/mortality. It can 'make sense' either way, an artificial intelligence can live on in some form if the body is dead, but is also possible that this ai can be destroyed too (and let's not get into bender's head and body both staying sentient when seperated).

I'd just go along with whatever makes sense in that particular story. I get an interesting take on ai/sentience either way, even if they contradict each other.

Jan 6, 2013 8:42:06 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- If virus-infected robots transform every night, there should be a lot of dead people and/or other infected robots.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Perhaps there are more victims, that we just don't know about?

Jan 6, 2013 8:42:06 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Calculon being a were-car didn't work. I can't buy him concealing his status while being a well-known celebrity, and I didn't like the retcon regarding his past.

I didn't like reveal that calculon was David Duchovny, it made no sense if he was supposed to be a robot arm at the same time.

Although... it is a fun mental image to think of David Duchovny turning into a werecar.

Jan 6, 2013 8:42:06 GMT -5 partcynic said:

- Project Satan is hanging out at the Crysler building instead of being off killing?

I don't get how he can be trapped in there. And if he's not, why doesn't he leave?

[cyclica]

Cancelled again.





And yet seth macfarlane continues to put out 3 entire shows with the same mindless random jokes.

At least they're allowed to keep airing the remaining episodes. And the final episode is a 2-parter that was written with possible cancellation in mind, so we may have a proper end to the show.

[partcynic]

Disappointing, but not surprising. The new eps haven't been void of quality, but they're every bit as stuffed with questionable plotting and agonisingly stretched-out jokes as that MacFarlane garbage. The show was quickly undergoing a Simpsons-style zombification - good job it's been put out of its misery, but also good that the final eps will be able to give a sense of closure.

[cyclica]

Now futurama has been cancelled, there's talk of the characters making an appearance in a one-off simpsons crossover episode.

I can't see how it won't be terrible, or at least too weird to be enjoyable.

... I'll still watch it though. How can I not?

[partcynic]

^ My thoughts will be with you. I thought Scully-era Simpsons was bad, but the neo-Jean stuff gets steadily more excruciating. If that ep does end up surfacing, I wish you good luck!

[cyclica]

Thanks.

I take it you're not going to be watching it?

[partcynic]

Most definitely not - I will save that treat for you! My watching post-S9 "Simpsons" is about as likely as my opting for a "Buffy" night of "Wrecked" and "All the Way".