The old "Everything is worse now" discussion - General Futurama Discussion. SPOILER ALERT

[Reply #280 on:]

Could be, but Amy is similar to Fry, in that her voice pitch can get extremely erratic when she's angry or frightened (not as much as Fry, but moreso then say Leela or Hermes).  

Or Lauren Tom just wanted to record her one line and go home.  Like being in the high school play, where you only appear for a few seconds in one scene, but you still have to come to all the rehearsals.

[Reply #281 on:]

well...

[Reply #282 on:]

The new eps aren't worse than the original run in general. Although they have produced the worst episode ever, Yo Leela Leela.

One thing I have noticed is that Fry's acting seems to have gotten much worse. As an example, listen to the line in YLL where Fry says "Yes, it's the only song I know" - he sounds like a schoolboy reading the script of a school play.  This is just one example, I have gotten this feeling quite a few times over the new season. The weird thing is, it's not Billy West, cause the Professor, Zoidberg etc. don't seem to suffer from the same problem.

Anyway, I'm not criticizing the new season... I think it has produced some excellent episodes (including a contender for best ever in TLPJF), but I feel the acting has suffered from their time away from the characters.

[Reply #283 on:]

well...

Well?

[Reply #284 on:]

Season 6 has definitely been the most inconsistent one. Not the worst (after all, they're all good, and even if I was to pick a worst, it would be season 5), because many have had that "classic" feel to them (TLPJF, TPoB, LaO, LI etc). On the other hand, it's also had the most stinkers (Holiday Special, though I didn't think Yo Leela Leela was that bad).

[Reply #285 on:]

The new eps aren't worse than the original run in general. Although they have produced the worst episode ever, Yo Leela Leela.

One thing I have noticed is that Fry's acting seems to have gotten much worse. As an example, listen to the line in YLL where Fry says "Yes, it's the only song I know" - he sounds like a schoolboy reading the script of a school play.  This is just one example, I have gotten this feeling quite a few times over the new season. The weird thing is, it's not Billy West, cause the Professor, Zoidberg etc. don't seem to suffer from the same problem.

Anyway, I'm not criticizing the new season... I think it has produced some excellent episodes (including a contender for best ever in TLPJF), but I feel the acting has suffered from their time away from the characters.

that is one other clear thing i've, and everyone else, has noticed. fry sounds different. sometimes, i cringe at hearing his lines. and yes, it is weird. the prof. and zoidbergo sound perfect, yet fry is completely different. it's like he is a different character.

[Reply #286 on:]

Danny reminded me of something I have felt watching the new run of episodes. Is it just me, or do some of them have a comic-y feel to them? As in: weird plots that have them acting out of character at times, odd endings that are not in canon, lacking specific continuity, etc.

Three episodes right away I can think of are YLL, Holiday Spectacular, and In a Gadda De Leela. Leela stealing her idea from aliens seemed rather out of place, considering she is supposedly the moral "Lisa" of the show, and her remorse did not seem genuine. Everyone died at the end of Holiday Spectacular, if it was an AOI type What If episode it would have fared better. In a Gadda da Leela was DEFINITELY made for the comics. I actually enjoyed it a lot, but not as an episode within the series but more as a standalone DVD extra which is what it should have been to begin with. Its ending too, did not make much sense.

Anyone else know what I am talking about?

[Reply #287 on:]

2 more seasons of Futurama it looks like.

[Reply #288 on:]

Sort of.  In that the comics ideas are interesting, but are too wacky to gel with the normal Futurama canon for the reasons you mentioned?

[Reply #289 on:]

Yes, exactly. You summed it up way better than I could, haha.

[Reply #290 on:]

Yes, exactly. You summed it up way better than I could, haha.

I just summed up what you summed up.  It was a group effort : D

[Reply #291 on:]

agreed. although i liked 'the duh-vinci code', it also has the bongo comics feel to it. the budget cuts really seem to be detrimental to the show.

[Reply #292 on:]

What ever happened to my good friend H.G Blob? I don't think he's been in season 6 yet.
Also, Dr. Wernstrum. I mean... Wernstrum. Other than "That Darn Katz!" I don't think he's been around either...

[Reply #293 on:]

What ever happened to my good friend H.G Blob? I don't think he's been in season 6 yet.
Also, Dr. Wernstrum. I mean... Wernstrum. Other than "That Darn Katz!" I don't think he's been around either...

From memory the H.G Blob was also in That Darn Katz flipping over a human that had passed out on the street due to extreme heat exhaustion. On a side note, the H.G Blob's son was in an ep, can’t remember which one now, possibly A Clockwork Origin? It was when Dr Zoidberg was babysitting Cubert and there came a point in which Dr Zoidberg was in a dumpster and he acted all pathetic as a tactic to prevent the H.G Blob's sons bullying...

[Reply #294 on:]

Because I don't recall an episode in "season 6", with the exception of that one, that had the PlanEx crew deliver a package.

So far there have been 4 deliveries in Season 6 which is about the average for the original seasons.

Handy link.

And besides...I would assume drawing and entire new planet with new characters and backgrounds to be very resource intensive.  You cannot do that every episode.

[Reply #295 on:]

What I noticed lately is a major lack of B-plot. I understand not all episodes can balance that but this is where the supporting characters such as Amy, Hermes, and the Professor shine. Usually the plot involves the main three and the B-plot serves as a balance. I just feel like most of the time episodes focus on one or two characters, like Yo Leela Leela for example; focuses mainly on Leela partially Bender for 2 seconds, then characters like Fry get three lines in the entire episode.

[Reply #296 on:]

What I noticed lately is a major lack of B-plot. I understand not all episodes can balance that but this is where the supporting characters such as Amy, Hermes, and the Professor shine. Usually the plot involves the main three and the B-plot serves as a balance. I just feel like most of the time episodes focus on one or two characters, like Yo Leela Leela for example; focuses mainly on Leela partially Bender for 2 seconds, then characters like Fry get three lines in the entire episode.

I think a b plot would have been good, but most of teh episodes we have watched this season are already taking too long to get interesting (plot wise), so we are already suffering from pacing issues so as the episodes stand now, most of them dont have room for a b plot.  I think next season needs to tighten their focus,  stop with the plots that only start to get interesting three minutes before the episode end, and then we can have some b plots to keep them fresh.

[Reply #297 on:]

What I noticed lately is a major lack of B-plot.

Come to think of it you are right...

When an episode ends with a character yelling NOOOOOO....That cannot be correct.

Are the Futurama People still thinking they are writing a movie?

Or are they writing in hopes these mini-movie episodes will eventually evolve into movies.

You cannot blame anyone for the lack of time.  And the continued success of this series is dependent that you make the best of that.

[Reply #298 on:]

Speaking of the above, has anyone heard any more of the big time Futurama moving pitcher so many were talking about a while back.

Hope, if it comes, it's more like the late PJF and less like YOYO Leela.

[Reply #299 on:]

David X. Cohen said he really wants to make a theatrical movie, but only if the series is cancelled again.

[Reply #300 on:]

I do have to wonder though, if it's cancelled again then that would suggest it's not profitable, so where would the money come from to make an expensive theatrical movie?...

[Reply #301 on:]

A Futurama film would be reasonably cheap by studio standards given that it'd no doubt turn in a reasonably healthy profit.

It'd get a boost from the show going, then coming back again like the ratings at the start of season 6.

They wouldn't just waltz into funding for it, but I'm confident that they could find it if they looked hard enough. Countless other, lesser shows have had theatrical films after they got the can.

[Reply #302 on:]

You have a point, they made a Wild Thornberrys Movie after all *shudder*. Naturally my hope is that it shall continue in an episodic format for a considerable duration, but the prospect of a theatrical movie is a nice thought. If only they could guarantee it then they wouldn't have to keep writing open ended finales to each season of the show, instead they could just save it for the movie...

On the subject of "everything is worse now" (which Yo Leela Leela doesn't exactly disprove), I feel that another contributing factor to the new episodes perhaps coming across this way is the constant pop culture references. They’re really starting to annoy me. Ok, I might be exaggerating a little when I say constant, but I think it's fair to say they are quite regular. I'm aware that the original run also had quite a few  of these (the worst offender being the Christina Aguilera joke in Bendin' In The Wind), but these new eps seem to be dropping to all new lows all the more frequently (the latest being the Lady Ga Ga joke in Yo Leela Leela which not only was terrible, but also seemed to echo that awful Christina Aguilera joke that I just mentioned, therefore making it even worse). The Susan Boyle joke is another prime example...

I really wish they would tone them down because the frequency of them now in my mind is creating a difference to the original run in that there seem to be more of them, and it's a difference for the worst because really these are lowest common denominator jokes. Many of them don't even quantify as jokes in my mind, they are just needless references to current pop culture events so that a certain demographic can say "Hey, I know what they're talking about!"...

[Reply #303 on:]

The pop-culture references are jarring because they instantly take the viewer out of the future setting. But to be honest I find the overly-frenetic pacing and the poor character writing to be a much larger problem.

[Reply #304 on:]

The pop-culture references are jarring because they instantly take the viewer out of the future setting.

This is another problem that I have with them. When I watch Futurama, depending on the story of course my headspace is set way in the future, but then a shitty pop culture reference reminds me of shitty reality again...

[Reply #305 on:]

The pop-culture references are jarring because they instantly take the viewer out of the future setting.

True, but I think some references are better than others. Something like Fry lamenting his status as someone less important than a background character in Mary Worth is funny; even though it's a joke that could be made on any other sitcom, it's organic to Fry's character and thus to the show. But something like the Kardashian reference in "Benderama" is, of course, horrendous. On that note, though, the Spice Girls reference from last night's episode didn't bug me--but maybe that's because the line-reading wasn't stilted. Mostly what's been bugging me about the pop culture references this season are how awkwardly they're delivered; the Lady Gaga one in particular sounded off to me.
 

But to be honest I find the overly-frenetic pacing and the poor character writing to be a much larger problem.

You know, I'm kind of annoyed with the way certain characters are being written, too. While I'm happy to see Hermes getting used more (particularly in "Lethal Inspection," but in other episodes this season he's had a sort of father-like presence that I like), all the pot jokes are getting old. Subtle ones, like the lighting-up gag in "The Sting," work; but once-an-episode references to marijuana probably aren't necessary. Yes, Hermes is Jamaican and he likes to smoke weed, ha-ha that's so funny. Overall, though, I'm pleased with the way the writers have handled the secondary characters. I think Farnsworth in particular has been well-utilized this season.

The only character who's been bugging me is Leela, but she was unevenly-written in the original run, too. I'm not making excuses for how she's being written this season, just saying that it's nothing new.

Here's what I actually came here to complain about: the quality of Fry's voice has really been bothering me, particularly when he's saying childish things (that poopy penny thing from "All the President's Heads" made me cringe so hard). I can't tell if it's Billy West doing a poor job, or if it's just the natural evolution of the character's voice (I mean, Fry's voice changed from season one to season four), but it occasionally sounds waaay off. It's not jarring, exactly, but it's certainly not appreciated.

[Reply #306 on:]

One thing that bugs me is that the new episodes have not made a single reference to one of the most significant events of the movies: Igner being the Professor's son. If they've forgotten about that, then I'll be real pissed 

[Reply #307 on:]

One thing that bugs me is that the new episodes have not made a single reference to one of the most significant events of the movies: Igner being the Professor's son. If they've forgotten about that, then I'll be real pissed 

That's a very good point. I mean, there's no need for it to affect the status quo of the show, but a passing mention the next time Mom and the Professor come into contact with each other would be nice.

[Reply #308 on:]

One thing that bugs me is that the new episodes have not made a single reference to one of the most significant events of the movies: Igner being the Professor's son. If they've forgotten about that, then I'll be real pissed 

I know I mention the comics a lot, but they do acknowledge the fact that they are Father and Son in Issue #59 (Issue #50 in the US).

[Reply #309 on:]

I agree with Gorky on using Hermes solely as a platform for pot jokes. The amount of times they reference "hemp" could be a drinking game in of itself. Did they forget that he is also the accountant...there could be jokes in there. Also where have Cubert and Dwight been? Not that I enjoy C and D heavy episodes in particular, but a pop in here and there would be nice.

It's nice that they've been employing Dr. Cahill into scenes since BBS, I just wish they would incorporate classic characters more fluidly instead of just throwing them in there. Like I love HedonismBot and Scruffy, but it seems as though they took the fans' love for these to the extreme and put them in almost every episode this year somehow (not every, but many). Their ratio per episode is much higher this season than all other seasons combined I would gather. One of the only characters I felt they incorporated without force was Abner Doubledeal; he was perfect in his role having a history of this underhanded scheming, and it worked in YLL because of how he worked with her in A Leela of Her Own. However, that episode still bombed. His character was the only thing I liked about it.

They incorporated the mayor in an episode last year (can't remember which one, I'm sure you all do though) and it involved him giving some big speech, just like how he usually would do. I enjoyed that as well. (Yes I know he was in an episode from this year but that is not the one I am talking about ).

I liked Roberto's cameo in Law and Oracle. That felt pretty genuine too and it was a nice surprise.

[Reply #310 on:]

They incorporated the mayor in an episode last year (can't remember which one, I'm sure you all do though) and it involved him giving some big speech, just like how he usually would do. I enjoyed that as well. (Yes I know he was in an episode from this year but that is not the one I am talking about ).

Off the top of my head: Attack of the Killer App or The Mutants are Revolting.

[Reply #311 on:]

I had the former in my head but I didn't wanna get it wrong. I remember it was an episode that I enjoyed that most others didn't

[Reply #312 on:]

Probably AotKA then.

[Reply #313 on:]

Hey, I liked "Attack of the Killer App," too! You shut up, sir.

Also where have Cubert and Dwight been? Not that I enjoy C and D heavy episodes in particular, but a pop in here and there would be nice.

I don't remember seeing Dwight at all this season (except the Holiday Spectacular, I guess), but I thought Cubert was well-utilized in "The Late Philip J. Fry" and "A Clockwork Origin" (though I appreciated his appearance in the former episode more so than the latter). It's funny, because Hermes has played a much more prominent role in a few season six episodes ("Lethal Inspection" and "Neutopia," mainly), but his son hasn't. I much prefer seeing Dwight and Cubert as a duo anyway (they don't bother me too badly in "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV" or "Bender's Game"), so the lack of individual appearances of the characters doesn't exactly bother me. (Though, yes, I agree that the sons of two major characters should probably appear more often than they do. Do they go to boarding school or something?)

Like I love HedonismBot and Scruffy, but it seems as though they took the fans' love for these to the extreme and put them in almost every episode this year somehow (not every, but many). Their ratio per episode is much higher this season than all other seasons combined I would gather.

They got a bit of mileage out of Barbados Slim, too (in BBS and the Holiday Spectacular), though that's not on the same level as the use of Hedonism Bot and Scruffy (and besides, Barbados's reappearances make more sense because he has a lurid and complicated history with both Hermes and LaBarbara). I'm actually getting kind of tired of seeing both Hedonism Bot and Scruffy, because they are two characters who probably work best in small doses. I thought Hedonism Bot, at least, was used much more effectively in BBS and "The Beast With a Billion Backs"; his cameos in season six all seem unnecessary and derivative to me, with the possible exceptions of "The Late Philip J. Fry" and "Law and Oracle." And Scruffy's whole angle is that no one ever remembers him, so seeing him so often is kind of weird, too (though I do think his subplot in "The Prisoner of Benda" was hysterical).

[Reply #314 on:]

Hedonismbot?  I love that guy!  As much as I love dipping my bottom into a bath of the finest perfumes and creams!  

I am also pleased Hermaphrobot is making the rounds, after being neglected for several years.  She isn't in it much, but all of her few scenes are some of my favorites in the series.
"Can I get an Amen?"
"I'll take a 3 men.  Holla."

I also like that Amy is getting more storylines.  That Darn Katz is good because it's the only Amy episode that doesn't revolve around her hooking up with a guy, or breaking up with him ect. I would say her invention dooming the Earth and then saving it certainly counts as her Crowning Moment of Awesome.   I also like fact the episode showed she's a pretty good protaganist, when she's put in the driving seat, she's a very plucky young woman.  I would like to see more episodes with Amy as the focus (like her utilizing her combat or mechanical prowess rather then just being "Oh Amy has trouble with a boyfriend")

Still one thing I am quite pleased with is that they seem to be using more of the classic secondary characters, as well as the new ones like Fanny and Dr Calill.  Neutopia is an example of them being called back for no use at all (like the Professor's girlfriend and that car salesmen not speaking at all) and them being used extremely well (Petunia was fantastic in this episode) 

[Reply #315 on:]

I also like that Amy is getting more storylines.  That Darn Katz is good because it's the only Amy episode that doesn't revolve around her hooking up with a guy, or breaking up with him ect. I would say her invention dooming the Earth and then saving it certainly counts as her Crowning Moment of Awesome.   I also like fact the episode showed she's a pretty good protaganist, when she's put in the driving seat, she's a very plucky young woman.  I would like to see more episodes with Amy as the focus (like her utilizing her combat or mechanical prowess rather then just being "Oh Amy has trouble with a boyfriend")

Absolutely! That Darn Katz wasn't exactly a classic, but it made me feel so happy to see Amy actually get her doctorate.
That episode showed some of the highest-class Amy bad-assery since Amazon Women in the Mood and The Series Has Landed. Easily.

[Reply #316 on:]

That Darn Katz instantly became a classic for me the moment Wernstrom protested about the Earth spinning in the opposite direction. That very instant, I knew that this being Futurama, that small detail wasn't going to matter one bit. And it didn't.

"So?"

* Wernstrom blinks.

[Reply #317 on:]

The singing cats made me think that my subconscious thoughts were being transmitted to the writers over a great period of time I found myself wondering if I had actually written the episode and not been aware of. It was so weird only a crazy cat person like myself would flip out over it, while it probably annoyed everyone else.

[Reply #318 on:]

Im not sure, a lot of people who hate cats probably sympathised with Amy.  Plus I'm guessing someone on the show really hates cats and enjoyed villainizing them, as well as the new promo art of Nibbler shows him swallowing a cat (or a Thuban) whole.

[Reply #319 on:]

Im not sure, a lot of people who hate cats probably sympathised with Amy.

*raises hand*

I kind of despise cats, so I was totally on-board with Amy and Nibbler's mission to take them down. I mean, "That Darn Katz!" isn't a favorite episode of mine, but in terms of its cat-related observations, and its utilization of two secondary characters in the roles of Kick Ass Heroes, it's pretty good.