|
|
Post by partcynic on Apr 15, 2012 12:11:14 GMT -5
2x12 "The Deep South"
A benchmark adventure episode that does everything this type of offering should do, and does it very well. The jokes are consistently funny and vary nicely in tone and style, and the plot gives us a decent story that moves along at a rapid pace.
Likes:
- Hermes having apparently been focusing on bureaucratic stuff makes sense after the previous episode. I'm sure his bit there was mainly contrived to get the gang out fishing, but it still worked for the character.
- The fishing trip got almost all of act one, and it mined a simple idea for lots of good jokes. Even better, the gags/scenarios were brought forth from the characters (Amy/Leela rivalry; Bender's criminality and competitiveness; Zoidberg eating Hermes' bait) rather than being imposed on them.
- Going underwater was fun, and you've got to love Fry saving the day by going to the bathroom. Umbriel was okay for a one-ep, superficial love interest, and I liked Leela's insistence that it was just him seeing things ("the screaming moist!")
- The third act's Southerner/Atlanta jokes were a bit corny, but they worked reasonably well and were kept fairly brief (I also liked the caffeine explanation for the mermaids).
- The last few minutes are structured well. I really liked that the fishing motif came back into play, and Bender hug-strangling Fry (and Zoidberg having taken up residence in the giant fish) were great closing gags.
Dislikes:
- When the ship gets pulled underwater by the fish, Zoidberg says that he'll at least 'die with friends' (paraphrase). He's an aquatic creature, so why the worry about getting submerged?
- The humour's success rate starts waning as the ep goes on, but that's no big deal.
- Though I didn't mind Umbriel, she was just a bimbo, and we didn't see enough of her with Fry to make his decision to abandon his friends (and the entire land world) for her believable. It helped that they quickly split over the sex issue, but it still felt like the episode wanted Fry's announcement to be more significant/meaningful than it actually was.
***
Overall, a great offering, and quite improved after the last four. I've never thought of "The Deep South" as one of my favourites, but it does its job with style, and is probably one of the better eps of an already excellent season.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Apr 19, 2012 14:46:15 GMT -5
and Bender hug-strangling Fry (and Zoidberg having taken up residence in the giant fish) were great closing gags. Meh, to me the final scene was a bit jarring, suddenly having an above-water scene to end on. - Though I didn't mind Umbriel, she was just a bimbo, and we didn't see enough of her with Fry to make his decision to abandon his friends (and the entire land world) for her believable. They were both idiots! They were made for each other!  Overall, a great offering, and quite improved after the last four. I've never thought of "The Deep South" as one of my favourites, but it does its job with style, and is probably one of the better eps of an already excellent season. I feel the same. It didn't stand out in my memory as being especially great, but after rewatching it, it's a very well done episode. |
|
|
|
Post by partcynic on Apr 25, 2012 11:58:24 GMT -5
I agree almost completely with you here (the only bit that failed for me was the love story). Good point about Leela's scepticism. After all they've seen in their travels (including people made of water and even yarn), you wouldn't have thought that half-human, half-fish would be so hard to believe. What would you have preferred there? That's true. But even with the mutual idiocy, I can't see Fry ditching his friends and dream job for someone he's known for less than a day. Yep - this is one of those 'great surprise' episodes you never really think about, but that really stands out on repeat viewings. |
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on May 4, 2012 16:37:53 GMT -5
What would you have preferred there? Not sure. Maybe more of a set up to bender receiving the cheque from the mayor, given that the previous scene was one of fry in imminent danger. Perhaps the scene we got was the best it could have been, I can't really think of anything better. It still felt jarring though. |
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on May 10, 2012 16:47:07 GMT -5
Did you want to skip ahead to the new episodes? They may be more fun to review.
|
|
|
|
Post by partcynic on May 27, 2012 6:45:49 GMT -5
Ack - I'm so sorry about this. I've been caring for an ill relative lately, and it's sapped my motivation/energy to do anything besides stare at the TV mindlessly. I'd really like to carry on with these S2 reviews - perhaps we could do those newer eps once we finish S2? I now have Rebirth through the Holiday episode recorded and saved, so I'll watch them a few times and get my bearings once the initial impression has worn off.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on May 28, 2012 16:57:17 GMT -5
^
I'm sorry to hear about what you've been going through.
I'm glad you're still posting here though, this site's been very quiet recently.
I'll try to have the next s2 futurama review up soon.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Jun 4, 2012 15:05:36 GMT -5
Bender gets made
Another fairly laidback, watchable season two episode. Nothing spectacular here, nothing really bad either, the only real highlight for me were the robot mafia.
Things I liked-
- Bender's love of cooking has returned, and his fanboy attitude towards elzar was endearing. Elzar himself is fine here, it'll be a few more appearances before he'll become overused.
- It's nice to see doctor zoidberg actually acting in the capacity of a doctor for once.
-The storyline of leela loosing her eyesight was ok, though there could have been more done with it. We never got a real sense of tragedy since her story was always in the background to benders', but what we got was fine.
- Like I said before, the big reason to watch the episode would be the robot mafia. I was weary first time watching about having another set of mafia characters after those on the simpsons, but the robot maifa worked for me. Clamps was fine, the donbot was actually sort of intimidating, though still likeable, and I loved the strange way in which joey talks ("Hey, boss, this here crew list lists a robot on this crew here").
- It's also a good opportunity to learn about bender. It's fun to watch bender 'roleplay' being in the mafia, and be willing to join the 'villains' and overlook their crimes, but he's not willing to turn on his old friends.
Fav line-
Joey: They're coming straight toward our proximity. Maybe you should give 'em the clamps, Clamps.
Clamps: Gee, you think? You think that maybe I should use these clamps that I use every day at every opportunity? You're a freaking genius, you idiot!
Nitpicking-
- Elzar hires bender to pay off his debt, but seems fine when bender quits. I understand he may not want to insist to a mob boss that bender cannot work for him, but the way it plays out it's like ezlar has forgotten about the debt and doesn't give a crap whether bender works there or not.
- Speaking of elzar, it seems a bit odd to me that bender started out as an elzar fanboy, but once he started working for him bender stopped showing any admiration. They could have done more with this storyline, like have bender realise that his hero isn't all that great after all, but instead bender's job at elzar's serves only to be a transition into bender working for the mafia.
- So bender scams the donbot out of some money... the donbot rewards him with more money... and then offers him a job?
- I realise I'm getting really nitpicky here but... blotto? Writing wise, I like that they had bender get a nickname and fake voice so his friends wouldn't recognise him when the mob attacked the ship... but 'blotto' just sounds off and inappropriate somehow. And that 'king' voice? Fry and leela didn't recognise him?
blotto? king voice
- Leela can fly the ship even after the accident? Hooray for blindy!
|
|
|
|
Post by partcynic on Jun 10, 2012 8:43:34 GMT -5
2x13 "Bender Gets Made"
A good, average-style S2 episode. I wasn't crazy about anything, but I enjoyed it throughout and got some laughs out of it.
Likes:
- I appreciate the continuation of the Bender-worships-Elzar plot thread, and Bender displayed the right amount of over-zealousness at the taping. Leela's being blinded required some contrivances, but it was a fine plot happening that at least had ramifications for the rest of the episode.
- There's a nice reminder that Zoidberg's a doctor, and his material at the hospital is funny ("I've lost more patients than he's seen!")
- All of the jokes at the 'free' dinner were good. I liked the thought that had gone into the meals, and bits like the wooden crown, Leela accidentally eating from the vase and Fry tasting Bender's fiery meal (and liking it once the screaming stopped) were amusing touches.
- The robot mafia is a cool new group with a good mix of personalities. Clamps is an example of a one-note character done well, and I enjoyed the interactions between the three. They also provided plenty of enjoyable humour (the repeated shooting of the indebted robot being merciful; "[You] burn the ship, [you] burn the crew").
- Bender's time with the mafia was decent. The 'training' and visit to little robot Italy were fine, and the heist was entertaining despite 1) the target being Planet Express being an obvious development; and 2) being generally hard to believe.
Dislikes:
- The connection between the intro plot and the main plot was too tenuous. Even if Elzar's a jerk, would he really risk a lawsuit and horribly bad PR by pulling that meal stunt? And after that convolution got Bender working at Elzar's (when he could have encountered the Mafia in any other number of ways), why was Elzar instantly happy to let him go? Sure, Bender seemed overkeen and annoying in his hero-worship, but he seemed to be doing what Elzar wanted competently.
- I could believe that the Donbot might be amused/impressed that someone had the guts to try and pull the wool over his eyes, but not that he'd suddenly invite said person to work for him. Professional criminal groups should be cautious and selective, as opposed to engaging in on-the-spot hiring of people they've just met.
- Why would anyone let Leela fly the Planet Express ship (or anything, for that matter) when she couldn't see? Shouldn't there have been a discussion about how the business would cope without its pilot? Couldn't Amy have stepped in after learning the controls so well when they visited the moon?
- I have a hard time buying that neither Leela nor Fry would fully realise that 'Blotto' was Bender. It's not like his 'King' voice was particularly removed from his regular one.
- There should be consequences to Bender suddenly deciding to leave the mafia. Now he has insider info on them and their operation, I can't see them letting him go just because he wanted out.
***
An even mix of likes and dislikes here - as far as one-off adventures go, it's no "The Deep South", but "Bender Gets Made" proves a stronger showcase for the robot than either of his two previous spotlights.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Jun 13, 2012 12:53:44 GMT -5
I like all your likes. - The connection between the intro plot and the main plot was too tenuous. Even if Elzar's a jerk, would he really risk a lawsuit and horribly bad PR by pulling that meal stunt? Elzar has his own tv cooking show, I'm guessing he is so rich and famous (and full of himself), he doesn't think one lawsuit or a minor PR incident will make a difference to him. - Why would anyone let Leela fly the Planet Express ship (or anything, for that matter) when she couldn't see? Shouldn't there have been a discussion about how the business would cope without its pilot? Couldn't Amy have stepped in after learning the controls so well when they visited the moon? Agreed, it's hard to imagine how that situation even came about. Even with leela blind, you'd think they'd have a third person on the ship anyway, especially since fry doesn't know how to fly the ship at this point. - There should be consequences to Bender suddenly deciding to leave the mafia. Now he has insider info on them and their operation, I can't see them letting him go just because he wanted out. I'm guessing the robot mafia aren't afraid of getting caught, because they are filling their 'role' as the robot mafia, doing what they were built for. If they were caught, someone would have to build a new robot mafia to replace them. Not that a society can really work like that, but I find that plausable in this wacky futurama universe. |
|
|
|
Post by partcynic on Jun 14, 2012 15:13:19 GMT -5
Agreed to all - especially the part about Leela's blindness being underexplored. The writers could have probably gotten some decent, more serious stuff from that scenario, though I understand why they chose to sideline it.
Yep. It could have worked if Elzar had refused, come out into the the main room to lecture him and then changed his mind upon realising the Mafia was there, but as is, it renders the preceding ten minutes rather pointless.
Great point!
Yeah - that's the single stupidest thing in this episode. Even with my 'it's just a cartoon' and 'it's comedy, so realism isn't always prioritised' goggles on, that part of the story still makes zero sense.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Jun 14, 2012 17:02:30 GMT -5
^ I can see someone like fry or zoidberg being blinded and *trying* to pilot the ship anyway, and immediately crashing. But I can't see (no pun intended ) leela doing the same thing, she's usually the sensible one. And I don't know how she managed to pilot the ship so successfully, unless maybe the mission had just begun, and she simply flew straight up. |
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Jul 7, 2012 11:18:49 GMT -5
Mother's DayAn enjoyable episode, even if it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Things I liked-- This episode deals with a fine science fiction concept- what would we do without our technology? What if we lived in a society that was completely dependant on technology, what would we do if it was taken away? ...Well, try despereately to bring technology back, of course! - I also kinda liked the idea that everything in the future is a robot, it's especially relevent since we are sort of heading in that direction already. Though they could have done more with the idea of humans vs robots. - I loved the robot greeting card, and I'm glad it's little song got to play over the end credits. - It's kinda cool just to have an episode about a holiday that you don't see much of on tv. - It's good to see mom and her sons again. At this point futurama needed more recurring characters. I didn't mind her relationship backstory with the professor at first, though like so many things it will be overused later on. Fav line-Fan- "fan beats man" I know that shouldn't be a funny line, but everytime I hear it I laugh like an idiot. I can't help it.  Nitpicking-- The main story is full of holes. --Why did mom want the robots to rebel, even to the point of disobeying her own orders? It's not like the plan was for her to take over the world, they just caused chaos. --Did she really have all robots on earth fitted with antennas just for this one purpose - a spur-of-the-moment descision to make the robots rebel? --What about the robots in space? There's an entire robot planet, what happened to them? --If she build the robots years before, why wait until now to activate them? --Does she pull a crazy stunt like this every mothers day? --What was her long-term plan for after the chaos started - she can't go back to selling robots and making money anymore if they're all out rebelling. And when things are back to normal, why do things reset, shouldn't the robots be unhappy with her about being controlled, or at least remove their antenna so it can't happen again? Shouldn't she be arrested, or at very least people shouldn't people stop buying her products? She's just lost her perfect sweet old lady image forever, yet later episodes treat this one like it never happened. -- Why did mom go to the cabin, surely she's in no real danger where she is, since she has the remote control to turn them all off at any time. -- Why build a toy cat thing into a weapon? It has no advantage over existing weapons / controlled robots. ^ ... I guess a lot of those issues can be answered by saying 'mom is crazy'. - I wonder why bender needed extra persuasion from the card to 'take to the streets' after being controlled by mom. Shouldn't he have been mindlessly causing destruction right from the moment she pushed the button? And why was his personallity unaffected? It's almost as though he wasn't controlled at all, and joined in with the other robots just because he had an opportunity to have fun. - I have a hard time buying that everyone in the future had forgotten what the wheel was, yet they are so knowledgeable about other things from the past. ...It worked for the joke though. - This is my own personal preference, but I have never liked when tv shows feature two people arguing more and more heatedly until they become aroused and kiss. The exchange between the professor and mom in her cabin wasn't even funny to begin with, and the outcome was too predictable.
|
|
|
|
Post by partcynic on Jul 22, 2012 6:51:42 GMT -5
2x14 Mother's Day
I'm sure I've said this before, but S2 always impresses with its incredible consistency. Even when the plots aren't especially good, the writing is strong enough to make them enjoyable, and when the stories are up to par, they're great. I hadn't thought much about "Mother's Day" in the past, but I really enjoyed watching it again, and have come to realise that I'd actually underrated it.
Likes:
- Every one of Morbo's lines is funny (as always). I especially liked the schoolchildren being his 'vermin of the week' (and of course, the comment about human kneecaps).
- There's great comedy throughout. The only time I felt things dip a little was with some of the repetitive 'old people having sex is gross' stuff, but it was only a minor issue.
- Mom works incredibly well in small doses, and this ep was a great outing for her. Her spite, cruelty (the treatment of the mother's day gifts) and knack for creative insults were all present and correct, and the contrast between her public and private personas continues to be effective.
- This started off looking like it would be a(nother) Bender-centric offering, so I was pleased when it shifted to dealing with Mom and the Professor. The news of their past relationship was excellent in adding colour to both characters, humanising Mom somewhat (as she's now moved beyond having just one, villainous dimension) and creating a good tie between the main cast and one of the 'baddies'.
- I could envisage Mom using her robots to try and take over the world, so the main plot worked fine (inconsistencies aside). Things did fall apart a little too fast (in the space of a day, everyone's reverting to caveman status), but it was still funny, and not too hard to buy when you consider how dependent "Futurama"'s society is on technology.
Dislikes:
- I know it's part of the joke, but unlike every other robot, Bender never really felt like he was being controlled. As a result, his (admittedly brief) parts weren't that compelling.
- The rebellion should have been more focused. While the robots were causing chaos and saying they'd only stop if Mom was appointed president of Earth, it would have been better if their actions were more directly goal-oriented.
- Mom has a freakout in public view and loudly orders her robots to rebel, yet it causes no PR problems for her? In the later news report, she does her 'sweet and kindly' act and the newscasters believe it. And even if no-one saw, wouldn't the sudden, unexplained rebellion cause a lot of future problems for MomCorp? I'm guessing they must have an absolute monopoly on robot manufacture, as I can't see people continually purchasing their products after what happened here.
- The non-Fry characters have no familarity with the wheel? Come on.
- Mom goes to hide out from the robots she can deactivate at any time? And does so in a rickety wooden 'holiday hut' rather than her fortified mansion?
- Amy letting slip about the Professor's plan wasn't exactly out of character, but it was also a blatant contrivance to force Mom and the Professor back to mutual antagonism, essentially hitting the reset button and undoing the interesting development.
- Why would the robot greeting card be anti-alcohol? We've been told in the past that robots don't consume it as an intoxicant, but because it's necessary to power (some of) them.
***
A good episode I like more after rewatching. Maybe not a classic, but definitely one of those that pleasantly surprises you every time you see it.
|
|
|
|
Post by cyclica on Jul 23, 2012 14:11:15 GMT -5
- Mom works incredibly well in small doses, and this ep was a great outing for her. Her spite, cruelty (the treatment of the mother's day gifts) and knack for creative insults were all present and correct, and the contrast between her public and private personas continues to be effective. I like mom too, though I never really liked her creative insults. They might have worked for me if they were spoken, but they just sound out-of-place when yelled. - I could envisage Mom using her robots to try and take over the world, so the main plot worked fine (inconsistencies aside). - The rebellion should have been more focused. While the robots were causing chaos and saying they'd only stop if Mom was appointed president of Earth, it would have been better if their actions were more directly goal-oriented. Huh, mom wanted to take over the world? I guess I missed that bit, I was going on memory and skimming through a transcript. I thought the only goal was to 'rebel'. ...and not too hard to buy when you consider how dependent "Futurama"'s society is on technology. Humour aside, that was probably my favourite part of the episode, seeing how people dependant on technology would live if it were taken away. - I know it's part of the joke, but unlike every other robot, Bender never really felt like he was being controlled. As a result, his (admittedly brief) parts weren't that compelling. If you were just tuning in halfway through, you'd never even know he was being controlled. - The non-Fry characters have no familarity with the wheel? Come on. I guess it was set-up with having hovercars... but no, if in a thousand years they can remember celebrities from the nineties that are already forgotten today, they should know what the wheel was. Besides, hovecars still have steering wheels. - Why would the robot greeting card be anti-alcohol? We've been told in the past that robots don't consume it as an intoxicant, but because it's necessary to power (some of) them. That confused me too. I'd buy that there's a better fuel source than beer, but I don't see why it would be part of their 'rebellion' to start becoming the robot version of vegetarian. |
|
