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Post by cyclica on Apr 25, 2011 10:40:57 GMT -5
- The opening five-or-so minutes didn't have much connection to the real plot. While the Bender material that was dealt with needed to be sorted, his position as chef had little influence on the 'Fry becomes emperor' story (sure, the meal he served made Fry thirsty, but wouldn't the long trek under the hot sun have done the same thing?) It was like his segment was artificially tacked onto the start of a completed episode, and it didn't fit. Yep. It's almost a staple for animated sitcoms to have subplots or unrelated segments early on, certainly the simpsons does it all the time. If a couple of stories aren't long enough to last a full episode, why not combine them both into one? - It was good that Leela pointed out the ridiculousness of the Trisolians (or whatever they were called) crowning assassins as new emperors, but that didn't make the story any less silly or unbelievable. What kind of people would unthinkingly hand over their societal/planetary power to a foreigner who'd just appeared and killed their prior ruler? I agree that that was ridiculous, though I didn't find it outside the realm of beleivability, not for an alien race. - I guess you could handwave this with physiological difference, but why did the previous drink-deaths prove fatal, while the emperor Fry consumed remained alive? Are we supposed to believe that Fry's body didn't remotely digest him, and that he didn't need to use the bathroom at all in the 24 hours between 'killing' the emperor and his manifestation at the coronation? I partially agree with you here. When dealing with people who are so alien, and especially in a cartoon, I can forgive a little science-fudging, like fry not digesting the emperor, or for that matter him appearing on fry's belly and still being able to speak. Still, I hadn't noticed that fry hadn't been to the bathroom this whole time, and by the show's own rules the emperor should have left fry by that point. - The opening sequence with Bender could have redefined the term 'generic'. While I liked the visual gag with the 'sub-standard' wash button, everything else was the kind of material you could see on any mediocre comedy, with no unique "Futurama" twists to make it interesting. Agreed. It wasn't annoying, but not enough to make me smile either. - When making the delivery, why did Leela set the ship so far away from the palace? I get there may be issues with landing sites in foreign worlds, but isn't requiring Fry to walk for what felt like hours a bit much? Good point. I was tempted to write that sci fi shows do that sort of thing all the time, and this scene was meant as a parody, but off the top of my head I can't think of any specific movie/tv show episode when that happened. But you're right, leela should have parked closer to the palace. - Fry can instantly understand what spinning things in a centrifuge will entail, but doesn't realise that buying organs on the street is a bad idea? On occasion, his erratic intelligence can be made to work, but a lot of the time it's blatant 'anything for a joke' shlock. It worked for me.  |
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Post by partcynic on Apr 26, 2011 12:12:04 GMT -5
Very true! Given that list, I'd guess that Bender's lack of ability would be the least of their problems.
I agree that they can do this well, though this episode wasn't an example of that for me. The 'wilfully irresponsible character learns an important lesson after making a mess that a responsible character is forced to sort out' plot always annoys me, especially given its predictable gender divisions and the fact that the lesson learned is rarely remembered.
All good points.
Yeah - that bit wasn't justified well at all. I found it vaguely pleasing, though (Fry's stupidity had been bothering me all episode, so the slaps and kicks were gratifying).
But "The Simpsons" has now put out more mediocre/poor seasons than it has good ones. The weakness of plot was second only to the flattening of the characters in killing that show off, so I wouldn't want to see that kind of writing on "Futurama". They could always have had Bender's unique cooking play a role in helping Fry 'excrete' the emperor - it would have 1) justified the early scenes and 2) probably been more believable than the sweating thing.
Do you think Fry wouldn't realise that you need lungs to live? I get them wanting a far-fetched joke, but Fry's naivete can be used for humour without rendering him totally clueless.
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Post by partcynic on Apr 27, 2011 13:39:44 GMT -5
1x08 "A Big Piece of Garbage"
It's funny that I recently mentioned looking forward to the point at which "Futurama" would start displaying its own identity, because that's exactly what happens in this episode. In a welcome break from the previous three shows (all of which had at least one major flaw dragging them down), this episode presents a story only Futurama could air ("Armageddon" spoofage aside), and does so with perfect characterisation, humour and a slither of emotion.
Likes:
- Unlike the last three shows, this one felt like it had an actual narrative that was planned and plotted to run from beginning to end. Everything that happened from the teaser to the final moment was relevant to the story and characters, and that's the kind of writing I like.
- Characterisation is vastly improved. Everybody felt like themselves, and the humour came from their natural personalities/reactions to the garbage situation as opposed to contrivances or random stupidity.
- This was the first time we got to see the Professor in more depth, and I enjoyed being able to do so. Learning about his past was fun, the rivalry with Wernstrom was entertaining, and the emotional bit (of sorts) with his humiliation at the symposium was somewhat affecting.
- The segment with the Smell-o-scope is done well, and the garbage ball discovery was as believable as it could have been (what's also nice is that even if the discovery hadn't happened, the plot would have been much the same, once the transmission from the Neptunians came).
- I like the concept of wasteful lifestyles in the past having major consequences for people of the future - it made a neat environmental point, and the humorous undercutting of the message at the end stopped it from feeling too preachy.
- Unlike "A Fishful of Dollars", I could understand Fry's defensiveness when dealing with the actions of people from the 20th century, and his subsequent admission that they had been selfish and thoughtless was a nice moment. That said, I wouldn't mind if we could cut back on 'Fry learns a lesson from Leela' and have the others perhaps learn something from him, a la "The Series Has Landed".
- I don't know why, but Morbo always cracks me up. It's inspired to have someone like him on one of those insipid 'news' programmes, and his interaction with 'human female' is great.
- The plot is very silly, but works as a spoof/homage to over-the-top disaster films, provides a sense of threat and impending peril, and gets the main characters to work as an effective unit.
- There are lots of entertaining lines. I liked Bender wanting the smelliest thing in the world to be named after him; Wermstrom's devastation at receiving an A-; the Uranus/Urectum gag (horribly predictable, but still funny); and pretty much everything in the second act.
Dislikes:
- Shouldn't the USian government have played more of a role in helping New New York? We saw a general briefly, but would the Powers that Be be content with placing the lives of millions of people in the hands of a delivery crew? And couldn't they have checked (or even provided) the explosive device used against the garbage ball?
- Given that this episode had more of a focus on Planet Express as a unified entity, it might have been nice to have brief moments from Amy and Hermes. If anything, it was odd that the character whose role was the least potentially interesting (Zoidberg) got a tiny bit of airtime, while characters who could have been more severely affected by the imminent danger were absent (Hermes worried for his family; Amy wanting to know that her parents were okay when the garbage ball went past Mars).
***
As evident in the size of my 'likes' and 'dislikes' section, I really enjoyed seeing this episode again, and I think it's one of the better adventure-focused stories of S1. The strong characterisation and humour work well with the silly-but-engaging plot, and the absence of serious negatives make this one of the stronger contenders of the year - and certainly the first one that feels like 100% "Futurama".
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Post by cyclica on Apr 28, 2011 17:57:24 GMT -5
But "The Simpsons" has now put out more mediocre/poor seasons than it has good ones. The weakness of plot was second only to the flattening of the characters in killing that show off, so I wouldn't want to see that kind of writing on "Futurama". They could always have had Bender's unique cooking play a role in helping Fry 'excrete' the emperor - it would have 1) justified the early scenes and 2) probably been more believable than the sweating thing. I would have said the structuring of the stories was the least of the simpsons' troubles, but I see what you mean about futurama, they could have worked bender's cooking in as being more relevant to the story, an unrelated opening wasn't necessary. Do you think Fry wouldn't realise that you need lungs to live? I get them wanting a far-fetched joke, but Fry's naivete can be used for humour without rendering him totally clueless. I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear, what I actually meant was that fry's erratic intelligence worked for me, I liked how he could display normal or even high intelligence at certain moments and then go right back to being dumb. Regarding buying the organs though, I was ok with that too. Like I said before, I liked fry being that stupid. |
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Post by cyclica on May 2, 2011 11:59:57 GMT -5
A big piece of garbage
This is one of those 'meh' episodes for me, and it's hard for me to get enthused about it. I only ever watch it during futurama marathons, not because it's bad, but because it leaves so little impact I keep forgetting it exists, unless I'm watching them in order.
Things I liked-
- The comedy. Little random scenes like the professor doing a doodle of himself as a cowboy, bender throwing the bomb in the air only for it to be bounced right back to him, fry trying to press a button shaped like a target and missing.
- Mmm... shorts! This may have been the first time they pointed out that futurama is in a different 'universe' to the simpsons, beyond fry being pink instead of yellow.
- That upside down clock in the bomb was kinda clever. A little.
Things I didn't like-
- The entire episode is one big preachy 'don't leave garbage' episode, even if there was a twist at the end that they were saved by leaving garbage. It's a big enough annoyance that I've had to break out the 'things I don't like' section again, it's too big of an issue to be a mere nitpick.
- The entire storyline about the ball of garbage didn't make much sense. Clearly, the original garbage ball put on a rocket was nowhere near as big as all the rubbish in the city put together would be, especially if 'new jersey was full'. And fry's solution for a second garbage ball was stupid too, because they didn't make a ball of it straight away. No, fry's plan involved littering within your own homes/offices, which just wastes time. And how did they manage to make a second ball of garbage (and have a rocket prepped) so quickly, if the first ball of garbage was so close little bits of it were already falling to earth? And how can the ball of garbage pose a threat anyway, when so many people in town have spaceships and could evacuate? Why not send zapp to destroy the garbage ball? Why is the professor the only one to notice the ball in the first place, and even then only when it's so close to earth? Are there no telescopes in the future?
Favourite line-
Fry- No, Professor, don't give up. There were plenty of times in my century when I was gonna give up but I never did. Never! Hey, are you even listening to me? Oh, I give up!
Nitpicking-
- Wernstrom said he'd get revenge, and gives the professor an A--. It's not much of a revenge, especially if he's been wating a hundred years for it.
- Leela is still a nag.
More random things I noticed-
- First appearance of dr wernstrom morbo, linda, the smelloscope, and the reverse scuba suit for fish (which returns in the episode 'less that hero')
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Post by cyclica on May 8, 2011 13:55:34 GMT -5
- Characterisation is vastly improved. Everybody felt like themselves, and the humour came from their natural personalities/reactions to the garbage situation as opposed to contrivances or random stupidity. Leela could have been improved. - This was the first time we got to see the Professor in more depth, and I enjoyed being able to do so. Learning about his past was fun, the rivalry with Wernstrom was entertaining, and the emotional bit (of sorts) with his humiliation at the symposium was somewhat affecting. Agreed. - I like the concept of wasteful lifestyles in the past having major consequences for people of the future - it made a neat environmental point, and the humorous undercutting of the message at the end stopped it from feeling too preachy. While I found the overall storyline preachier than you did, I did like eps that show that what we do in the past affects the future. - I don't know why, but Morbo always cracks me up. It's inspired to have someone like him on one of those insipid 'news' programmes, and his interaction with 'human female' is great. Agreed. Morbo is always funny. - Shouldn't the USian government have played more of a role in helping New New York? We saw a general briefly, but would the Powers that Be be content with placing the lives of millions of people in the hands of a delivery crew? Agreed, especially when looking back and seeing so many episodes when it's zapp who's the first one sent to sort the problem out. |
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Post by partcynic on May 14, 2011 9:06:38 GMT -5
Sorry for not getting back sooner - I haven't had the time (and still haven't written any more reviews). Anyway, here are my comments/responses.
Interesting how our viewpoints here are so divergent. For me, this is one of the better adventure-based stories from S1. It has many elements in common with other eps from the year, but the stakes are legitimately high this time, and the consequences more severe. Then again, I'd apply your 'only watch it in marathons' to almost all of S1, so it's not as much of an issue for me.
I agree that the plot is silly and hole-filled, though it doesn't bother me here. The majority of the show's stories have those problems, but I felt as though this one had enough stuff happening to make it a lesser concern.
For a guy who was tight-fisted enough to take an A- as a huge personal attack, retorting via giving Farnsworth an A-- seemed appropriate to me. I think it was less about scope and more about publically embarrassing him.
Out of interest, how would you have changed her? I agree that she's a nag, but I found her behaviour to be justified by the plot. I can forgive her being angry/critical when the lives of millions were at stake - far more so than when the issue of the week is simply caused by Fry/Bender being stupid (again).
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Post by cyclica on May 14, 2011 17:54:50 GMT -5
Sorry for not getting back sooner - I haven't had the time (and still haven't written any more reviews). Anyway, here are my comments/responses. I'm sorry you haven't had much time to do the reviews.  Then again, I'd apply your 'only watch it in marathons' to almost all of S1, so it's not as much of an issue for me. Me too, now I think about it. Mostly because I've tired of them, having seen them all so many times. Out of interest, how would you have changed her? I agree that she's a nag, but I found her behaviour to be justified by the plot. I can forgive her being angry/critical when the lives of millions were at stake - far more so than when the issue of the week is simply caused by Fry/Bender being stupid (again). I suppose I'd keep the dialogue she has, and just add a few more scenes that feature her saying something funny, or random, or more character based. I can forgive when she complains about what the male characters are saying/doing, just so long as that's not all she's doing. I'd like to see the 'fun' side to her more often as well. |
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Post by cyclica on May 15, 2011 15:55:24 GMT -5
Hell is other robots
Things I liked
- The whole storyline of bender becoming a drug addict, overcoming his addiction and finding religion was pretty cliche, but still entertaining.
- Some of the ideas raised in the religion half of the show were pretty interesting, like how bender is allowed to swear in hell, and the fact that bender is only being punished because he broke the rules of his religion; if he had never joined this religion he could have sinned all he wanted and not be punished.
- The song was pretty good. I especially liked bender singing 'there must be robots worse than I', followed by 'we checked around, there really aren't'. Though I kinda hoped it would have gone on for longer, and covered all 9 circles/levels instead of just 4.
- Leela has a personallity beyond nagging! Finally! I especially liked her 'drum solo', and her reluctance to part with the solid gold violin.
- Speaking of, I loved the whole fiddle contest sequence. It felt like the kind of thing the devil might really do, and for a while I assumed it had some basis in mythology or in the divine comedy, or something like that.
- For some reason I just love the sound bender makes whenever he hugs someone. It cracks me up every time.
Favourite line
Fry- "...Just like when my friend Richie swore he wasn't taking drugs, and then he sold me my mom's VCR. And then later I found out he was taking drugs!"
Nitpicking
- No opening caption. It just says 'futurama'.
- Sometimes celeb cameos can work, but having the beastie boys appear added nothing, and it makes no sense that in a thousand years they'd be just as popular and making the same kind of music as they did when the ep first aired.
- Bender's line upon drinking mineral oil, 'ah functional', sounded just like a homer simpson joke, with 'ah' in place of 'mm'. And why is alcohol considered sinful anyway, if it fuels robots and doesn't make then uninhibited?
- Leela is into sleeze? Since when? At this point in the show this revelation is a shock, I expected her to be more prudish.
- The 'naked' robots at the strip club are just as 'naked' as bender, and any other robot you'd see on the street. ...Come to think of it, robots do wear clothes sometimes. So is bender just a robot nudist?
- Bender rescuing fry and leela from hell, and gaining wings and a halo, seemed inappropriate given that he was returning to his old self, not becoming a saint.
Mora random things I noticed
- Only 2 of the 3 beastie boys have any lines.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 7, 2011 14:34:22 GMT -5
Hi cyclica,
Sorry for having disappeared from both these reviews (and the forum) recently - so much stuff have come up that I've had no free time. However, that looks to be changing now (it also helps that after having misplaced my S1 DVDs in April, I've finally found them again!) If you're still interested in watching and reviewing Futurama, I'd be more than happy to continue. My posting may be be a bit thin on the general board, but I'll be paying close attention to anything that pops up here or on the remaining Buffy ep review threads.
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Post by cyclica on Sept 8, 2011 18:03:38 GMT -5
^ Woo! Glad to have you back.  I'd be happy to resume the futurama reviews. Btw, the new season of futurama has already aired in the uk, something I didn't discover until flipping through the channels recently, and only a few episodes were left to air. Did you happen to catch any of the new eps? |
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Post by cyclica on Sept 13, 2011 14:41:39 GMT -5
Should I wait for you to review 'hell is other robots' or just carry on?
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Post by partcynic on Sept 13, 2011 16:15:51 GMT -5
^ I'm going to aim to get "Hell is Other Robots" done in the next couple of days. I'll post the review (as well as my response to yours), and then we can go from there. |
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Post by partcynic on Sept 14, 2011 14:05:09 GMT -5
Let's get this train back on the tracks...
1x09 "Hell is Other Robots"
Unrelated point first - it was really annoying to realise that the S1 disc I'd misplaced (thus stopping me from continuing my reviews for almost six months) only had one episode left for me to watch on it. Still, I've finally seen it, and this ep was a fun one to come back to. Unlike many Bender-centric editions, this one does a good job of keeping our sociopathic hero likeable, with lots of entertaining scenes and some pleasant subversion of the typical sitcom addiction story. There's little in the way of truly classic stuff here, but what's present is more than acceptable for S1.
Likes:
- I smiled at the contrast between characters in the moshpit. Fry and Bender getting into it while Leela got disgruntled and kicked everyone's asses was pretty amusing.
- Most of the early drug plot succeeded. It hit most of the typical after-school special buttons, though the humour obviously kept it away from "Wrecked" territory. Bender was consistently funny during the sequence ("if it'll make strangers like me..."; the 'addictive personality' line; the bathroom stuff at Planet Express; getting juiced off the Church's neon sign), and he generally came across far better than in his last spotlight episode ("Fear of a Bot Planet").
- As a whole, Robotology worked. It's basically 'robots as Southern Baptists', but the writing during the preaching scenes captured the spirit of the congregation quite well.
- The entire robot hell segment was fun, with Dan Castellaneta providing an entertaining turn as the Robot Devil. The philosophical idea that Bender only had to go to hell because it was what his faith believed was excellent, and the song was simply a great time. I also enjoyed the fiddle contest, and while that kind of test of showmanship is usually the province of Death, it translated nicely here (and Leela's 'drum solo' was another fun bit of action from her). In terms of character, I also appreciated that Leela pointed out that she and Fry bore the responsibility for helping Bender after leading him off his new path.
- At this juncture, the group's jabs at Zoidberg don't make a huge amount of sense (do they ever?), but I like the continuity, and Zoidberg is a good example of the 'butt monkey' character type.
Mixed bag:
- The Beastie Boys' appearance at the start of the episode smacked of 'unnecessary celebrity cameo', but I liked seeing Fry, Leela, and Bender in a concert setting, and the band's brief reprise during the Robot Devil's song gave the ep a bit of a cyclical feel.
- Electricity worked as the ep's drug, but you'd have to wonder why any corporation dependent on profit would manufacture robots who can become hopelessly addicted to something that's in every home and necessary for a great deal of societal functioning.
- I don't think the effects of Bender's religious conversion were shown as interestingly as they could have been. Although the jokes stemming from his change in persona were funny (and I loved Fry's earlier line about his old friend who sold him his VCR), the 'religious people are bland and creepy' thread was predictable, and the characters' reactions and desperation to have the old Bender back rang hollow. I think it might have worked better to perhaps have a scene showing the group at work, but with religious-Bender doing just as little as ever (such as focusing on trying to convert other robots instead of delivering packages). It would have shown a significant consequence to his personality change; made Fry - and especially Leela's - issues with the new him more believable, and made the line near the end about being both 'less evil and less good' work better.
My Dislikes:
- At the end of the day, this is a typical 'character development that doesn't develop anything' story. Bender gets addicted, converts to a religion and goes to hell, but none of these experiences impact him in any meaningful way, as the reset button gets hit at the end and we're back to more wacky hijinx. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the juicier development eps from later seasons again, and I think it's pretty telling that while Fry and Leela both gained many layers, Bender never really did, ultimately becoming a bit of a millstone around the show's neck.
- The 'expose Bender to sleaze' plot sounded more like a Fry idea than a Leela one. I smiled at the Atlantic City joke, but I actually felt sorry for Bender during most of the 'temptation' sequence, and I'm not sure if that was the scene's intention.
- Why would Robotology prohibit alcohol consumption? We've been shown that alcohol is necessary for basic robot functioning and doesn't cause intoxication (in fact, being sober is what harms them).
- If the Robot Devil and/or his followers/henchmen were able to grab Bender to drag him to hell the first time, why wouldn't they have tried to bring him back on any subsequent occasion? It's not like his being rescued changed his breaking their religious rules. Or did they just not want to have to deal with another potential rescue mission?
***
As for my overall assessment, it's that "Hell is Other Robots" is good clean fun. Although it's more of a marathon-viewings-only edition for me, that doesn't change the fact that it sets a modest goal and fully achieves it, sitting in good company with many of the other S1 eps.
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Post by partcynic on Sept 14, 2011 14:18:23 GMT -5
I agree with all of these points (actually, pretty much everything in your review).
Yes! That latter point was surprisingly smart for this juncture in the series. It was really nice to have a brief flash of extra depth, even if it was handled in a joking manner.
I had the same feeling. I think it would have been cool if they'd tied it to the line in "A Fishful of Dollars" about hip-hop now being considered classical music. Though I did like seeing the main three just hang out, away from work or interpersonal problems.
I hadn't noticed that. Though I guess the Homer link was something they were aiming for, like how they tried to force the 'bite my shiny metal ass' catchphrase during the first couple of eps.
Agreed again. The scheme sounded much more like something Fry would come up with than Leela.
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