Is anyone else just totally depressed now?

Who else just became absolutely depressed after watching? Over here we had teh misfortune of getting most of the episode football preempted so that we missed pretty much any good jokes that must have been earlier in the episode and we got the gist of the plot, were able to understand waht the whole point of the episode was but barely any episode. Just enough to get us watching Fry's dog and then catch the depressing. Hehe, needless to say it was horribly depressing.

YES!

"Dogman" <s> wrote in message news:[email]...

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YES!

"Dogman" <s> wrote in message news:[email]...

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My roommate was out working on a project during fox night tonight...he came home, asked, how was simpsons?

"sucked"

"futurama?"

"the most DEPRESSING ending to a cartoon I've EVER seen"

Yeah, i'm on your side. My girlfriend and I almost cried. Well I mean not al most...but quite close. Strange part was, the whole episode was non-depressing...just the last-minute montage was the most depressing thing I think I've ever seen.

"Dogman" <s> wrote in message news:...

It's the dog's own fault. He *knows* where Fry is; why doesn't he just go back there, hmmm?

"Matthew Miller" wrote in message news:[email]...

Ever owned a dog? Dogs tend to wait for their master to come home. I remember the old commercial about seat belts with the dog waiting for his master to come home from school, and the bus whizzes by - the dog still waiting, expecting the kid (who was killed) to come off the bus...

Jonah Falcon

Yeah, but this dog actually specifically went to where Fry was before; why not do it again?

Not that it wasn't a good episode; I just found that funny. Silly dog.

YES! I'm the family member that spends the most time with our dog (I spend more time playing with him, etc.) We've had him for twelve years now, so this episode was heart-string pulling to say the least.

Jason (although he's never gone swimming in a vat of pizza sauce)

"FilmCritic3000" wrote in message news:[email]...

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And boy, is your dog JEALOUS. :p

It wasn't depressing, just sad.

Jonah Falcon

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one! What the heck was the point of that? Some Zen message about attachment perhaps? I was sorry I'd watched.

anyway, I've given my cat a few extra hugs today, so something good came out of it...

"Dogman" <s> wrote in message news:...

There's your answer

I think the point was to put you in touch with your sadness. Life isn't only about humor and such.

Is sadness something that should be avoided? Maybe it is, if you already have too much of it in your life. Fortunately, I don't. And so I found it to be refreshing to be put in touch with something I haven't felt deeply in over twenty years.

"Lily Fern" wrote in message news:[email]...

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On Sun, 17 Nov 2002, it was written:

I would guess that dog owners (as I was once) would understand the most, and therefore get depressed the most. I know I did.

Dammit, I know they didn't want the dog to become a regular, but they should have wrapped it up better.

Suggestions?

****After Seymore is reanimated, he and Fry have a tearful reunion. Then they discover that a side-effect of the Dolomite is that the clone is unstable, and Seymore dies with his head in Fry's lap.****

-- L.Y.

That would have been a sad ending but not nearly as sad. I would have preferred that more. Maybe they were trying to show how much the show could affect people before FOX cancels it, sort of a "Look how good this is." --- "Luxury Yacht" wrote in message news:3dd96918$0$1408$[email]...

had

Yeah, live with an episode that didn't pander to the happy-happy-joy-joy kind of crap that's usually served up as fodder. Seriously, I'm sick of people moaning about this ending. If the episode touched you, even depressed you, it did its job and made an impact. I have a dog (originally a stray himself), the episode made me sad, it made me turn to my dog and play with him straight afterwards, and for that it proved its worth as a great episode. I think that if they made it have a happy ending, or less "depressing", would have spoilt it. I'm proud that the writers didn't pander to what was expected and went against the grain.

Graham "oh, the humanity!"

Graham wrote:

I thought that's what the genre of the show was...

I don't doubt it had an impact, or set out to do what it intended to do. That doesn't mean I'm obligated to like the statement it made. And no, I'm not against all depressing stories, either.

RD wrote:

That should read "did what it intended to do."

In article , Luxury Yacht wrote:

That might be an appropriate ending. After all ,it is what made A.I.(Supertoys last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss) such a bittersweet story.

• jh

Dogman <s> wrote:

I don't understand why they decided to end it off like that. The dog died alone in the cold after waiting 12 years for Fry to return? And they tell us this after Fry decided not to clone him, which would have relieved the dog of his suffering? I thought it was horrible and cruel. Even though it's just a cartoon I cried my eyes out. What was the point of that?

In article ,

Uh, the dog was 15 years old. He'd already lived out his natural life. All his suffering was behind him. Such is the great sadness of life, that all living things must die. By the way, we don't know that the dog died alone in the cold; he was ulimately "flash fossilized", whatever that means.

Leon Kowalski wrote:

Uh...

Don't know how much time I want to spend speculating over this, but I thought cloning creates a new organism, one that would be like a newborn. And they said they could put the memories of the old dog into the new clone. The reason it was so sad is that the dog's suffering could have been redeemed if Fry had gone through with cloning him. I didn't see the first part of the show, though, so may be I missed something.

I thought we were left with the distinct impression that the dog spent the rest of his life on the street in front of the pizza shop...

It may be that the dog waited its entire life for Fry to come back, but Fry didn't summise it that way, thinking, mistakenly, that the dog had led a life beyond his old "master", hence he felt he was doing the right thing by respecting that. It may be seen as brutal and cruel, but life can be just that, and the show did a wonderful job in reflecting that sad aspect of existence. If you can't take such variety, may I suggest watching Teletubbies instead.

Graham

Graham wrote:

I knew someone would chime in with a comment like this.

Tell me, do you automatically think a story is good if it's depressing?

Let me give you a counter example: Death of a Salesman. It's one of the most terrible depressing things ever written, but it makes a point, that building your life around a bogus set of principles and self deception will lead to your emotional, spiritual and physical downfall.

The Futurama episode showed an innocent and good character suffereing a horrible fate due to random circumstances for no reason. Certainly this happens in life, but as it was depicted here it seemed nihilistic and only done for shock value.

Just as I find comedy that makes insightful social comedy funnier than that which doesn't, I appreciate tragedies that make a point more than those that don't. This doesn't mean that I can't handle anything more challenging tan the Teletubies.

Oooh... touchy!

Certainly not, but I don't start blubbing and whingeing because a show doesn't fit my emotional well-being.

Sure, a good film with a good point made by it.

This episode certainly did show a side of life that happens. Mistakes exist, some tragic, like in the episode; a point was made, just you choose to not see it... or don't want to.

Ce la vie.

Dunno... La-la does a good Kafka. :P

Graham

Graham wrote:

Not really...

You don't critisize things you don't like?

It was originally a play.

It doesn't look to me like you understand the point I made...

I'll take your word for it.

Sure, but I do recognise that some of the best programmes don't always go the way I'd emotionally want them to. There is a wider world out there than just my feelings. The show certainly made me sad at the end, but I feel that it did so justifiably, making the point that life can be cruel.

Thanks for the correction. Bet that made you feel mighty tall.

What, that you can't appreciate experiences beyond your feelings, that you want to see fairy tales that don't challenge you? *shrugs*

Graham

Graham wrote:

I thought it was just done for shock value.

It would have been funnier if it was originally a novel.

Twice you've said that my dislike of the ending was based on emotionalism, after I've given rational reasons for not seeing the value of it. Why is that?

Shock value would be if he'd been run over by a bus.

Seriously, I think looking at it this way is a bit simplistic. I doubt they wrote the ending that way just to say "Hah, up yours all you pathetic bastards, weren't you surprised?"

It was meant to be bittersweet, touching, sentimental, etc. It's about missed connections and unfortunate circumstances brought about by reasons that aren't really your fault. Life's like that. Not every story can be distilled down to a one-phrase fairy tale sort or moral or message.

It's not like they introduced a cutsey character and then 5 seconds later had him crushed in a garbage compactor for no apparent reason. That would be for shock value, slapstick, random, etc. What they did was introduce a new character and get us to care about him (otherwise why are so many people feeling his sadness so powerfully?). That's not nihilistic, that's good writing.

 -- Z.
                                                                           ____
  Laws... so widely disobeyed and which cannot be enforced only promote    \  /
  disrespect for the law in general.  [New Jersey Assemblyman Stephen       \/
  Mikulak, in reference to 55 MPH speed limits]

RD wrote:

I knew you wouldn't understand a comment like that.

Now you're just putting words in people's mouths.

And "Jurassic Bark" had a point. Sometimes it's best to just accept that you lost something.

No, "Jurassic Bark" did not show an innocent and good character suffering for no reason. When Fry found out that his dog lived for twelve years after he was froze he assumed that the dog found a new owner and forgot about him. He stopped the cloning because he thought the dog died happy and didn't want to change that. Fry had no way of knowing that the dog waited for him for the rest of his life and made the correct decision based on the information he had.

No, but your inability to understand that the characters in the story aren't necessarily aware of everything that happens in every episode does mean that you can't handle anything more complex than Teletubies..

Also, as I said earlier, the dog could have rescued Fry any time it wanted. But instead, it just tried once and gave up. Oh well.

Exatron wrote:

What, precisely, do you feel I don't understand?

No, I'm not.

That would be a point. Of course, dogs lack the cognative ability to rationally cope with loss, so I don't think this point was conveyed well. If it was a person waiting around for 12 years you could say "OK, you need to get over this" but Seymore was only a dog who obviously didn't know any better.

Like I said, a random set of circumstances that lead to needless suffering.

Do you by any chance weigh 400 pounds and work in a comic book store?

No, RD, it's called the flipside of life, an experience that you seem to not want to touch on. It seems that you can't cope with the fact that the show showed that in life, despite Fry doing what appeared to be the right thing, lead to actually doing the wrong thing due to not being able to experience the situation fully. Sad, but something that happens in life.

Graham

Graham wrote:

Ad hominem is the crudest logical fallacy there is. The least you could do is take the time to set up a straw man or something.

My comparison to Death of a Salesman gave a reasoned explanation of why I didn't like the show. I'm curious if you'd be willing or able to address any of the points I made.

I'm disturbed by the fact that you're comparing a cartoon -- any cartoon, even one as good as Futurama -- to Death of a Salesman.

Bah, quit your sophistry. If you can't see the point of that ending, then you're just being either stupid, obstinant or an emotional cripple, and as such you wouldn't appreciate any argument that showed how the ending of "Jurassic Bark" was valid. In fact, I gave you an answer, that sometimes doing what appears to be the right thing can lead to to tragic results. Ce la vie. Just because you're too dense, difficult or emotionally frail to comprehend that doesn't make it the show's fault. Nuff said. *rolls eyes*

Graham

RD wrote:

You fail to understand that the episode doesn't have to keep you in a mindlessly happy state. By showing the dog waiting for Fry for the rest of its life after having Fry choosing not to clone it, the episod jarred the viewer into genuinely caring about Fry and the dog.

You most definitely are. Why else would you claim that someone thinks a story is good because it's depressing? They certainly never claimed such a thing.

The episode isn't good because it's sad. It's good because it makes the viewer care and think, two things which most people today don't do often enough.

They dhowed the dog's loyalty to Fry. In that sense it was being the best dog it could be.

Life is suffering. Any other ending would have been yet another boring, emotionless ending that many books, TV shows, and movies have done before.

No, but I suspect you just described yourself.

On Tue, 19 Nov 2002 18:32:34 GMT, RD wrote:

Well, he did swim (and something else) in the pizza sauce.

In Greek tragedy, the hero's downfall is fate and an otherwise positive personality trait. Oedipus left his home and family because an oracle told him he would kill his father and marry his mother. His love for his family (a good trait) drove to leave. It also caused him to meet up with his real father and kill him etc.

So too, it was Seymour's loyalty that led to his downfall. If he had given up on Fry he could have lived a happier life. Fry's genuine affection for Seymour led him to his downfall, not getting his dog back.

There was a good message there about friendship and loyalty. You know, I've learned something to day . . .

--Larry

This episode was one of the most beautiful tv episodes I've ever seen. The last scene broke my heart. I can't watch it again. If I do, I'm gonna run out the room before the end.

I got a hold of the music at the end. Now I can't listen to it without getting all emotional.

Well done to the creators of the show. I love futurama for so many reasons, one of which is the diversity of the episodes and the complexity of the plots they strive for.

I HOPE ITS NEVER CANCELLED! Long live the show!