Hey, we're doing Futurama capsules now. Anyway, I have contributed a few times to the Simpsons capsules, and seeing that 1) there were Futurama capsules, and 2) a few friends of mine have contributed to them (hello, Mike and Becky)
This is the second airing, so everything I say will have been said before.
Enjoy, and merry Xmas, where applicable!
--John (scArA) Plasket, Half-Deranged Media
Title of episode: "Xmas Story" Production code: 2ACV04
TITLE SEQUENCE Promotion: Based On a True Story
DID YOU NOTICE... -this episode does not have a cold opening? -When skiing, Bender wears orange goggles? -Professor Farnsworth and Hermes seem to be the only ones who accept the extinction of modesty? -The news reporter seems to have a need to answer rhetorical questions? -Fry does not seem to know left from right as he attempts Zoidberg's apology dance? -The digital clock tower's LCD readout seems to stick out? -While "Santa Claus Is Gunning You Down" is obviously a parody, the melody has been changed?
REFERENCES, MOVIE/OTHER "A Christmas Story" (1983) -the title "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" -Jokes about Max Weinberg dying and getting injured "Cool Runnings" -Jamaican bobsled team's story "Life in Hell" -Bongo-like pet in Joe's Ark "Gift of the Magi," O. Henry -The combs and hair selling
REFERENCES, FUTURAMA [2ACV01] Bender shows emotion -he gets upset when he is berated for having no freckles [2ACV01] The mutants -one of them takes the "slipper on a shoe tree"
GOOFS -Zoidberg has not been completely good, as he pushed Hermes down the bobsled track upside down, and then laughed at him.
REVIEW When a great television program does an Xmas special, I hope and pray that it doesn't suck. Charlie Brown's didn't. The Simpsons have had four, and none of them sucked. The only two that even potentially sucked are the first, for its antiquity, and the last, for its overly silly demeanor. "Xmas Story" joins the list of "non-sucking" Xmas episodes. It has all the makings of a great Xmas special: loneliness, glee, giant robotic Santas... the list just goes on. And as far as Futurama episodes go, it was pretty damn good. (A+)
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