Futurama - New Season Coming in 2010

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Anyone reading/have read the Futurama comics?

KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Exactly. For every "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", there's a "Three Hundred Big Boys".

Well, maybe not for every good one.

buzzvang wrote:
KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Exactly. For every "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", there's a "Three Hundred Big Boys".

Well, maybe not for every good one.

Wait, which one of those is the bad episode?

So apparently Futurama airs at 10 E / 9 C / 11 M / 10 P. Its kind of stupid for the mountain time people, but I guess it just airs twice, which kind of makes sense.

DanyBoy wrote:
buzzvang wrote:
KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Exactly. For every "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", there's a "Three Hundred Big Boys".

Well, maybe not for every good one.

Wait, which one of those is the bad episode?

It can't be 300 Big Boys, because Fry in that one is my role model.

Great News, Everyone! I've seen the new episodes, and they're pretty funny!

[size=1]you know you read that in Professor speak[/size]

KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Anyone reading/have read the Futurama comics?

I liked the second episode much better than the first because Zapp was in it. Haven't read the comics unfortunately. I'll have to keep my eye out for them.

buzzvang wrote:

They can make racier jokes on Comedy Central. Naturally, their first attempts are pretty juvenile.

Yeah, there were a couple crass remarks that had me rolling my eyes, though again none of them were worse than would you'd find on Family Guy.

DanyBoy wrote:
buzzvang wrote:
KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Exactly. For every "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", there's a "Three Hundred Big Boys".

Well, maybe not for every good one.

Wait, which one of those is the bad episode?

I think the bad one was supposed to be "Three Hundred Big Boys"... which -- sacrilege, I know -- I actually like better than "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings". "Devil's Hands" always made me sad, since it was the last episode (although it had such a sweet ending!), but "Three Hundred Big Boys" is one of my all-time favorites. I still use the line "Calls 'em like I sees 'em. Whale biologist." whenever I put my foot in my mouth.

Can we at least agree that "A Leela Of Her Own" was nigh irredeemable? I'm also not a huge fan of "The Cyber House Rules" or "Freedom Day". But hey, three episodes out of 75? Not too shabby.

DanyBoy wrote:
buzzvang wrote:
KaterinLHC wrote:

Strange to see so much ambivalence toward the second episode, since I think liked it even better than the first one. (Zapp's little interstitials and the whole "Poopiter" thing had me rolling.) But then again, I do love me some Zapp, and everyone's tastes are different -- Most of the old episodes weren't exactly universally beloved, either.

Exactly. For every "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", there's a "Three Hundred Big Boys".

Well, maybe not for every good one.

Wait, which one of those is the bad episode?

I was wondering the same thing. Certain odors still trigger the phrase, "What smells like freaking porpoise hork?" in my head.

"GYYYYYYYYYNEAH! ...I'm actually pretty proud of this one." How can you not love a Zapp episode, even if this was the least of those?

I have to admit I've never loved an episode as much as "The Series Has Landed", but for me it's above the level of Favorite Ep or something like that and into the level of Legendary. Whalers on the Moon. Fungineering. With blackjack! And hookers! You didn't touch the Crushinator, did you? The prize claw. Pick a mouth, open it, and say "ZUZZZZUNZUNGHZZZUNGH." The Moon Shall Rise Again. It's just magnificent.

KaterinLHC wrote:

I think the bad one was supposed to be "Three Hundred Big Boys"... which -- sacrilege, I know -- I actually like better than "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings". "Devil's Hands" always made me sad, since it was the last episode (although it had such a sweet ending!), but "Three Hundred Big Boys" is one of my all-time favorites. I still use the line "Calls 'em like I sees 'em. Whale biologist." whenever I put my foot in my mouth.

Can we at least agree that "A Leela Of Her Own" was nigh irredeemable? I'm also not a huge fan of "The Cyber House Rules" or "Freedom Day". But hey, three episodes out of 75? Not too shabby.

"Not precious ambergris?!"

I'm not particularly enamored with "The Bird-Bot of Icecatraz" or "A Leela of Her Own". I do think "Freedom Day" has a lot of funny stuff in it, although the overall arc is kind of meh.

I've got to find a friend with cable.

"Three Hundred Big Boys" is my favorite episode. It's kind of like Futurama's own "22 Short Films About Springfield".

I think the first episode was funnier, overall, but I loved the interstitial bits in episode two. Maybe because I've always been a fan of serials, but they were exceptionally well done (from the strings on the ships, to the sparkler "rockets," to the corny costumes and dialog).

I'm sort of a semi-professional nit-picker (see sig), but I just unabashedly enjoyed both of these episodes.

Rat Boy wrote:

I have a bad feeling about this, bad as in "Family Guy since it was uncancelled" kind of bad.

So you're saying it's going to get better than it was before? Big words, but it's possible.

Seriously, I'll never get this... Family Guy was never some magical "great show" before it was cancelled (most of the first season was horrible). FG has had a good share of clunkers, but there are dozens of episodes from the "post cancellation" period that are better than most of what came before.

As for the original FUTURAMA run, my #1 most hated episode is THE HONKING, followed by THAT'S LOBSTERTAINMENT. THE HONKING is so ridiculously idiotic that I don't think I've seen it more than once (when it originally aired on Fox).

SommerMatt wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

I have a bad feeling about this, bad as in "Family Guy since it was uncancelled" kind of bad.

So you're saying it's going to get better than it was before? Big words, but it's possible. :)

Only if they do more Star Trek episodes.

No, what I mean is that these two episodes feel like they're rehashes, written more to appeal to new fans (and the usual dregs who watch Comedy Central) than to old fans. The first one was essentially a reboot and the second was trying to redo "Love's Labor Lost In Space" in terms of reintroducing Zapp Brannigan and his relationship with Leela. Speaking of which, what the hell?

Spoiler:

A distraught Leela builds a Frybot and goes into a coma, but in the next episode is so easily tricked into shacking up with Zapp again? And didn't we have enough of the duplicate Fry angle with Bender's Big Score?

Rat Boy wrote:

Speaking of which, what the hell?

Spoiler:

A distraught Leela builds a Frybot and goes into a coma, but in the next episode is so easily tricked into shacking up with Zapp again? And didn't we have enough of the duplicate Fry angle with Bender's Big Score?

Remember, she was dehydrated and couldn't think straight.

Same way I got my last girlfriend

Seriously, I'll never get this... Family Guy was never some magical "great show" before it was cancelled (most of the first season was horrible). FG has had a good share of clunkers, but there are dozens of episodes from the "post cancellation" period that are better than most of what came before.

There is a certain "character joke" based humor that was there pre-cancellation in Family Guy that is just completely missing in the later episodes. If you're a fan of that type of humor, it seems Family Guy went from "funny" to "not funny" pretty quickly. This is pretty much how I feel about FG. I think all the writers I like went to American Dad.

Anyways, can't wait for more episodes!

SommerMatt wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Speaking of which, what the hell?

Spoiler:

A distraught Leela builds a Frybot and goes into a coma, but in the next episode is so easily tricked into shacking up with Zapp again? And didn't we have enough of the duplicate Fry angle with Bender's Big Score?

Remember, she was dehydrated and couldn't think straight.

Same way I got my last girlfriend

Yeah, that was basically my biggest problem with that episode, too.

PyromanFO wrote:
Seriously, I'll never get this... Family Guy was never some magical "great show" before it was cancelled (most of the first season was horrible). FG has had a good share of clunkers, but there are dozens of episodes from the "post cancellation" period that are better than most of what came before.

There is a certain "character joke" based humor that was there pre-cancellation in Family Guy that is just completely missing in the later episodes. If you're a fan of that type of humor, it seems Family Guy went from "funny" to "not funny" pretty quickly. This is pretty much how I feel about FG.

Yeah, I hear people say this. Do you have any specific examples?

PyromanFO wrote:
Seriously, I'll never get this... Family Guy was never some magical "great show" before it was cancelled (most of the first season was horrible). FG has had a good share of clunkers, but there are dozens of episodes from the "post cancellation" period that are better than most of what came before.

There is a certain "character joke" based humor that was there pre-cancellation in Family Guy that is just completely missing in the later episodes. If you're a fan of that type of humor, it seems Family Guy went from "funny" to "not funny" pretty quickly. This is pretty much how I feel about FG. I think all the writers I like went to American Dad.

Anyways, can't wait for more episodes!

Speaking of Family Guy, I did see the 1st episode after cancellation the other night on reruns, where they list the 50 or so shows that FOX canceled between canceling and renewing FG. Still probably my favorite opening of the show.

But yeah somewhere a couple seasons back... maybe around that Tom Brady Patriots musical goes to England football episode... I just said f*ck it, I can't watch this show anymore. And I don't miss it one bit.

KaterinLHC wrote:

Anyone reading/have read the Futurama comics?

Yep. I've found them to be a pretty good stand in while the show was off the air. Just like any episode, some are better than others but overall I enjoy the comic quite a bit. Half of me wishes it was more frequent, but that's a double edged sword.

I also hate The Honking, it's really unfunny and unoriginal. Surely we can all agree on the best episode?

IMAGE(http://theinfosphere.org/images/thumb/1/1d/Seymour.jpg/180px-Seymour.jpg)IMAGE(http://www.live-evil.com/dog_scan.gif)

But anyways, I felt this episodes were a bit meh, but I know that it's mostly because I had a huge amount of expectations for the new series. I reckon they'll get into their stride pretty quickly. I did laugh quite a lot during the first episode, so it can't have been all so bad

Nice going, VDO. Now you've gone and made me sad.

Rat Boy wrote:
Spoiler:

A distraught Leela builds a Frybot and goes into a coma, but in the next episode is so easily tricked into shacking up with Zapp again?

Spoiler:

Well, in her defense, these episodes ARE only 22 minutes long. Naturally it would take a lot longer in another medium, but hey, they have to cram a whole lotta grief into 30 seconds of dialogue. As far as half-hour TV shows go, I think it worked. Also, I'll never get tired of Zapp's "seducing" Leela.

Spoiler:

And didn't we have enough of the duplicate Fry angle with Bender's Big Score?

Spoiler:

No, no we didn't. The more Frys, the better!

Rat Boy, your objections may have been controversial in your time, but in our time, SHUT UP.

Besides, these are adult stem cells, taken from perfectly healthy adults, which I killed to harvest their stem cells.

In your time, perhaps they were controversial, but today Shut up!

I am in the camp of the first episode was ok and the second was better. But I do agree the ending of episode 2 was a bit odd and

Spoiler:

The needed to stop the Zap getting caught in a lie sound 2 or 3 times earlier than they did. It lost some of the humor after the 6th or so (I think it ended up near 10)

Also, "300 Big Boys" is one of my favorite as well. "Guppie, Trout, Mermaid..." "Whale, Please"

I went looking for this quote:

Wait, why is my coffee shaking? I DON'T WANT MY COFFEE SHAKING! TAKE IT BACK!

and I found this while I was out there:

"It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion."

I thought both were solid. I actually thought Zap's plan was pretty funny. Looking forward to the rest.

SommerMatt wrote:
PyromanFO wrote:
Seriously, I'll never get this... Family Guy was never some magical "great show" before it was cancelled (most of the first season was horrible). FG has had a good share of clunkers, but there are dozens of episodes from the "post cancellation" period that are better than most of what came before.

There is a certain "character joke" based humor that was there pre-cancellation in Family Guy that is just completely missing in the later episodes. If you're a fan of that type of humor, it seems Family Guy went from "funny" to "not funny" pretty quickly. This is pretty much how I feel about FG.

Yeah, I hear people say this. Do you have any specific examples?

Stewie is a perfect example. They used to write him as this meglomaniac who was a control freak who wanted to murder his mother and hinted at him probably growing up to be gay. That's a coherent, weird character. Now he's basically a walking excuse for gay jokes.
This image pretty much sums it up
IMAGE(http://i48.tinypic.com/of9cmg.gif)

Okay, let's get back to the Futurama discussion!