This is just funny. On alt.tv.simpsons, the tide of "worst episode ever" posts has died down, while here at alt.tv.futurama, they've begun with extreme frequency (every week!) despite no evident change in the show. Oh, well, to each his own, I suppose. I'll admit that this episode started off terribly with bad pacing and extreme forced dialogue in the beginning, almost to the point of being the joke. Once the 2nd act started, it really picked up. But, once again, I have to point out the ending. Absolutely amazing. I normally watch Futurama alone, but I watched tonight's episode with my girlfriend, and we were both laughing our heads off throughout the 2nd act, and crying at the end. I could sympathize with Fry and the ending just killed me. In a good way, though. Nice to see that Futurama has risen above the never-ending tide of "feel good" sitcoms and become a conceptual masterpiece of characterization. I can't wait for season 4!
Crying? It was nothing. It didn't happen. It was like far too many Voyager episodes. Fry's attitude towards Leela was forced beyond the boundarys of belevability in the begining. and then all the lost time made it even more absurdly uncomfortable and basicaly just made for cheap Insta-character development. The only thing I felt at the end was bitter dissapointment at what could have been from the early spoilers a really incredable episode. But instead was simply a jumbled plot with no natural drive from anyone except Farnsworth. I have never been more dissapointed in an episode baised on it's plot synopsis then I have with this one. Now "Parasites Lost" and "Luck Of The Fryrish" There were two great episode with truly great endings.
On Mon, 07 May 2001 03:30:18 GMT, Mike Zaite wrote:
They really brought both of those home in the very last seconds. They were going for the same thing in Slippin', but it just didn't work this time. The Fry - Leela subplot would have worked a lot better if they downplayed it.
I don't think the episode was bad, but it was not up to the quality of the rest of them. The nude conga line was hilarious and so was the wedding. If they would have left it a mystery why Leela agree to marry him, and not so over stated the love-disinterest relationship, it would have worked. It seemed a bit like they didn't trust us to remember where their relationship stood.
You know what Larry? After watching this episdoe 2 more times to make copys I realised something. I was letting my one Bad mood that weekend cloud my opinion of the episode. Because in reality there were a lot of jokes that were still funy the 4th time around. And while Fry's motavaiton seemed tacked on at first but it smoothed out by the end of the episode. Over all it wasn't an A level episode but it was a whole lot better then "That's Lobstertainment" in every respect.
If I was writing a show that Fox treated like a red-headed stepchild, pre-empted willy-nilly, I'd sure slip in a few extra continuity references. But it's certainly possible it was just clumsiness that led to the somewhat heavy-handed nature of the ep.
Me, I liked this one a lot. (I obviously wasn't firing on all cylinders while watching though, cause I didn't spot the "Space Jam" reference till I tuned in to this ng after the episode.)
In alt.tv.futurama, on the "Time Keeps On Slippin'" thread, Mike Reed wrote:
New shows, at least those that survive beyond the first few weeks, have a honeymoon period of two seasons or so, where a show can do no wrong. After that, the audience starts to become more critical. I'm not sure why this is. It might be that it takes two seasons for the novelty of simply having a new show wear off. Also, by the start of the third season, the personalities of the characters are set, and the sort of plots they can get into have been more clearly defined. At this pooint, you can more easily say if an episode "works" within the context of the show. With more episodes to look at, you can even start dividing them into sub-genres, such as "wacky" versus "character-oriented," and people start to prefer one over the other. When the producers proffer an episode of the "wrong" type, some people grumble. "The Simpsons" was not immune to this (see the episode capsule for "Lisa's Pony (8F06)," a third-season episode), and it appears "Futurama" isn't either.
As for last Sunday's episode, I say anything that shows Leela and Amy's tushes can't be all bad. The rest of the episode was solid, if not stellar. For me, the first act was the funniest; the Globetrotters' against-persona arrogance was consistently funny, and I liked the Professor's team of atomic supermen. The time-skipping was a mixed bag. Often it was funny, but other times it was annoying, as if I really *was* watching the show from a skipping DVD. The closing shot was done well enough, but Ken Keeler did the "Fry and a celstial object reflected in a window" thing before in "The Series Has Landed (1ACV02)," and it was more effective there. Overall, I'd give it a B.
<"The Simpsons" was not immune to this (see the episode capsule for "Lisa's Pony (8F06)," a third-season episode), and it appears "Futurama" isn't either.>
People are sick of me saying this, but I felt the second season established the show so dang well it's hard to live up to it.