Thoughts on 6ACV19 - Ghost in the Machines - SPOILERS

[Reply #240 on:]

SorynArkayn, your way of speaking seems to indicate that we are either idiots or unhuman or something for being able to enjoy this episode.  So indirectly it seemed like that was what you were saying.

Personally, I laughed in this episode.  For instance, the Fresh Pineapple Vending Machine cracked me up for some reason.  Perhaps it is the concept itself.  I also like the graph of people being asked to kiss shiny metal ass, where it has dropped substantially.

[Reply #241 on:]

Otis, dude, I'd leave it there... there are a million other things you could be doing with your time which are more pleasant and worthwhile than responding to that wall o' text.

I wasn’t going to rush back because as you point out because I do have other things to be doing as well. I felt subsequent matters did need to be addressed though, so on we go again...

Unfortunately, NONE of the things that you mentioned I considered funny -- which I suppose isn't surprising, because we watched the same episode, but had very different impressions of it.

Really, you liked the Bo-o! toast joke?
Bender messing with the automatic door? If Bender had slammed it on Fry, that would've been funny -- and a great callback to Pilot episode.
I didn't even recognize that Zoidberg part as a "joke".
And did you literally laugh out loud at the Robot Devil's quip?

As you requested, I gave you examples of what I found funny...

We're discussing this episode here, so I'm not going to dredge up examples from the terrible holiday episode. As I said, I laughed at maybe six things in this episode. Trust me, I can provide more than six examples for the holiday episode, which is why IMO this episode is worse.

Don't try to backpedal or nitpick. Whenever someone asks "are you high?" it's really an accusation. And what drugs that you can get high off of aren't illegal? Yours was a stupid and juvenile insult that vainly attempted to undermine my arguments.

There are drugs people can get high off which are legal; Nocaine is an example amongst other herbal highs, and then there’s good old fashioned glue sniffing and general solvents. Don’t try to turn this into a discussion about illegal drugs; you’re the one who has interpreted it that way. You still haven’t answered my question by the way, not accusation. An example of an accusation would have been if I’d have said: "You must have been high to have enjoyed that episode"...

I assume from your overly defensive reaction that you weren’t high during the viewing, a simple "No I wasn’t high" would have sufficed. If that is the case then I was looking for some justified examples of why you enjoyed it so much more than this episode. That would be helpful so I can better understand how you justify these claims you’re making. Fair enough this thread isn’t about Holiday Craptacular, but there is another thread on this page dedicated to that episode in which such examples could theoretically be posted ...

You actually consider the Robot Devil blowing an infinity symbol smoke ring qualifies as a "joke"? Nevermind a "great funny joke". Same with Fry's wikipedia page, and all the "jokes" that you mentioned that IMO fell flat.

It seems apparent to me now why you think this episode is funny, because to you virtually everything qualifies as a joke.

We all have different preferences to humour and what we find funny or don’t. The examples I’ve listed are in my mind typical Futurama style jokes which yes, I found funny. I hope you don’t have a problem with that. Again I have to question, if you disliked them enough to sigh at them like Kif would to Zapp, then why are you watching Futurama? Sure you might not have liked every joke, but to have so little redeeming qualities in your opinion as to rate it a 1/10 seems extremely harsh and negative...

Remember this isn’t a drastic departure for a Futurama episode, it’s not hugely different stylistically to every other episode which you find better, and I think you’ll find the general consensus here which heavily outweighs yours helps back this up...

Another point I’d like to raise is that I don’t personally rate every episode on humour only, there are all sorts of other factors. Humour is perhaps the most important factor to me, but that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t many other factors worth considering before rating an episode, especially before rating it so harshly. You’re entitled to your opinions, but I find it hard to understand how there was nothing else in this episode that you found redeeming from another perspective. Nothing else at all?...

You claimed that the ending of "The Cryonic Woman" was "lazy writing". Then what do you think of the non-existent, painfully un-funny non-joke ending to THIS episode!? It's like the writer just gave up and didn't bother to write a proper button for the ending. You may consider dropping Fry out of the PlanEx ship to be a "cheap laugh" to go out on, but a cheap laugh is infinitely better than NO LAUGH at all, which is unfortunately what happened in this episode.

The ending to Ghost In The Machines wasn’t that bad though. Fry asking Bender if he haunted him as the realisation only just hit him seems like a perfectly plausible and natural way to conclude the episode. It wasn’t perfect in the sense that Bender never replied thus leaving the ending slightly open ended and less satisfying without a punch line, however he does move his eyes from side to side in a suggestive manner showing he’s uncomfortable with Fry’s question. Obviously the writers felt this was enough and that less is more in this case. Either way it’s infinitely better than the cheap co-out ending for The Cryonic Woman...

I didn't mean to call attention to myself with this overly negative review, but in case you've forgotten, the discussion of episode went OFF-TOPIC for nearly two full pages, and devolved into a religion-vs-atheism flame war. I desperately wanted to get this thread back on track and try to understand how and why so many people liked this episode. So what you consider trolling was merely an attempt to understand what people considered funny about this episode. Unfortunately, the answer still escapes me because what you considered "jokes" fell embarassingly flat. They elicited more eye rolls and groans than LoLs or even chuckles. Honestly, I felt like Kiff groaning at all the stupid things that Zapp Brannigan says -- that's the most apt comparison I can make to my impression of this awful, unfunny episode.



And BTW, I feel that the score of 1/10 is justified because I consider this episode to be the worst and least funny episode of Futurama ever. I've given out scores of 2, 3, and 4 to other episodes. This episode was the worst, therefore it only deserves a 1 out of 10.

I have read every post in this thread, and I understand that the subject of the thread did get a bit sidetracked at times, but it’s more the way you handled it more than anything else which seemed trollish. Anyway, if those are your opinions, then nothing I say will change them, it’s clear that they’re firmly set. I on the other hand look forward to the fact I will continue to enjoy this episode in the future...

[Reply #242 on:]

Unfortunately, NONE of the things that you mentioned I considered funny -- which I suppose isn't surprising, because we watched the same episode, but had very different impressions of it.

Really, you liked the Bo-o! toast joke?
Bender messing with the automatic door? If Bender had slammed it on Fry, that would've been funny -- and a great callback to Pilot episode.
I didn't even recognize that Zoidberg part as a "joke".
And did you literally laugh out loud at the Robot Devil's quip?

As you requested, I gave you examples of what I found funny...

Yes, and as I prefaced my reply with, I appreciated you taking the time to provide examples of what you found funny, as I requested.

I simply didn't consider those to be funny -- or at least not LoL funny. (As I explained, IMO chuckles don't count.)

I mean, wouldn't have been funnier if Bender slammed the automatic door on Fry, in a callback to the Pilot?

There are drugs people can get high off which are legal; Nocaine is an example amongst other herbal highs, and then there’s good old fashioned glue sniffing and general solvents.

I concede to your demonstrated expertise on getting high. [Edit: Typo]

Again I have to question, if you disliked them enough to sigh at them like Kif would to Zapp, then why are you watching Futurama?

Because, with the exception of this episode, I consider Futurama to be FUNNY, and I enjoy watching Futurama more than any other show on television. That's why I was so terribly, terribly disappointed by this episode. My involuntary Kiff-groan reactions to virtually ever "joke" in this episode illustrates that point.

Sure you might not have liked every joke, but to have so little redeeming qualities in your opinion as to rate it a 1/10 seems extremely harsh and negative...

Remember this isn’t a drastic departure for a Futurama episode, it’s not hugely different stylistically to every other episode which you find better, and I think you’ll find the general consensus here which heavily outweighs yours helps back this up...

Another point I’d like to raise is that I don’t personally rate every episode on humour only, there are all sorts of other factors. Humour is perhaps the most important factor to me, but that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t many other factors worth considering before rating an episode, especially before rating it so harshly. You’re entitled to your opinions, but I find it hard to understand how there was nothing else in this episode that you found redeeming from another perspective. Nothing else at all?...

Again, the fact that I consider this episode to be the most unfunny and least enjoyable episode of Futurama merits a 1/10, because it's impossible to give it a whole number less than 1.

Perhaps I should explain that I'm grading on what I call the "Futurama scale", not on the "TV scale", which means that the average episode of Futurama scores a 5. For example, an average Futurama episode, like "A Fishful Of Dollars", I would give a 5/10 on the Futurama scale; whereas it merits a 7/10 on the TV scale.

This episode I gave 1/10 on the Futurama scale, because I consider it the worst. Whereas on the TV scale, it probably deserves a 4/10; meaning that it's not the worst TV show that I've ever seen, but anything below 5/10 is something I don't ever want to see again.

I realize that most people here seem to voting on a TV scale, meaning they compare Futurama to all of the other crap on TV, which I believe is the reason why fans score Futurama episodes 7 or higher. I don't because if the average episode of Futurama is scored 8/10 by everyone else's standards, there's very little contrast between an 8/10 "average" episode, and an 10/10 exceptional episode. I want as many points as possible separating "A Roswell That Ends Well" and "Amazon Women in the Mood", perfect 10s, from abysmal episodes like "That's Lobstertainment", "A Leela of Her Own", "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", "Attack of the Killer App", and this episode. Those episodes deserve 4s and 5s on the TV scale, but that's too close to Futurama's best episodes IMO; that's why I use the Futurama scale instead, so I can score them 1, 2s, and 3s.

The ending to Ghost In The Machines wasn’t that bad though.

I cannot disagree with you more. I consider the ending of "Ghost in the Machines" to be unforgiveably awful. It's an ending without a button. I know that there are several episodes of Futurama with lackluster endings, but this episode's ending was like the rotten, bitter, tooth-chipping pitted cherry on a manure sundae. Ironically, it was the "perfect" ending to what I consider to be the worst episode of Futurama.

[Reply #243 on:]

I conceed to your demonstrated expertise on getting high.

concede*

[Reply #244 on:]

I mean, wouldn't have been funnier if Bender slammed the automatic door on Fry, in a callback to the Pilot?

It's situational irony. It builds off of your expectation of the punchline. I'm really surprised you don't appreciate this joke at all.

[Reply #245 on:]

Ugh, what is it with all these super long posts appearing all of a sudden?!

[Reply #246 on:]

There's nothing wrong with super long posts at all, especially when they're well-writen and substantial and contributing to a (for the most part) intelligent debate. Would you rather everybody to be yelling at each other through the Interwebs with short posts at maximum lengths of one paragraph each? If we did that, surely all discussion would devolve to "No, I'm right, shut up!" and "Second!" That is not quality whatsoever, and, although I disagree with SorynAkayn's assessment of the episode, I respect that he's starchily defending it in a civil and well-written manner.

[Reply #247 on:]

I appreciate PEEL for having such long posts. It's a much nicer read than just people yelling. The longer posts are much more often read through several times before posted.

[Reply #248 on:]

I mean, wouldn't have been funnier if Bender slammed the automatic door on Fry, in a callback to the Pilot?

It's situational irony. It builds off of your expectation of the punchline. I'm really surprised you don't appreciate this joke at all.

It's ironic that you used that particular Simpsons reference, because MacBane made a "joke" that NO ONE laughed at, which was precisely my reaction to the unfunny door gag. But you tried to use it out of context to refute my opinion. Now that I find funny!

Regardless, defying the fans expectations doesn't constitute a "joke" IMO.

Would you consider it funny if a comedian that you were enthused about seeing decided to defy your expectations by performing Macbeth in a comedy club? I seriously doubt that you would appreciate the irony of that situation.

I'm not oblivious to the style of humour in this particular episode -- but as I've stated countless times now, I just didn't consider it funny. I suspect that if this episode had provided more laugh out laugh jokes, I might have appreciated the expectation defying gags more, like the Robot Devil's song-that-wasn't, and the door gag.

Doesn't anyone agree that the song involving the "S.S. Anything Goes" probably would've been 10 times funnier than the "joke" about Bender squashing the Robot Devil's song?

[Reply #249 on:]

I cannot believe that people have difference ideas of what they find funny!  What madness!

[Reply #250 on:]

First, using that Simpsons reference is coincidental, not ironic.

Second, yes it does constitute as a joke, it's just a joke that you don't find funny. There's a difference between something being a joke and something not being funny. I'll admit that things in movies like Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans are jokes, but that doesn't mean I find them funny, witty, or good at all. I think part of why people are getting so worked up with you is because you won't budge on this issue and then just laugh and roll your eyes at us when we disagree.

And I actually would appreciate the irony of the situation there. That would be hilarious to me and I would stay for the entire thing. Seriously, I would.

[Reply #251 on:]

soryn must be the life of the party.

[Reply #252 on:]

By the way, Danny, you claim you have a different definition of 'perfection', but you have yet to actually tell us your definition.  Why are you holding back?

No one has asked/seemed to care.

And it would take me a while. I couldn't just write it all out, I'd need to be asked questions about certain things then reply. And I'd have to give you a basis for those questions.

DEFINITIONS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY.

GOOD NIGHT.

[Reply #253 on:]

For fuck sake guys! I think 2 pages of SorynArkayn ranting how unfunny this episode is speaks for itself. It must be true that this episode is worse than the Holiday Spectacular because all the evidence is there! Oh wait...

[Reply #254 on:]

That is far, very far from what I said. Let's go back and look at my post, shall we?

Second, yes it does constitute as a joke, it's just a joke that you don't find funny. There's a difference between something being a joke and something not being funny. I'll admit that things in movies like Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans are jokes, but that doesn't mean I find them funny, witty, or good at all. I think part of why people are getting so worked up with you is because you won't budge on this issue and then just laugh and roll your eyes at us when we disagree.

Hm, looks like I said that you can say it's not funny but the issue is you saying they're not jokes at all.

Actually, what I said was:

... defying the fans' expectations doesn't constitute a "joke" IMO.

It wasn't about whether or not the door gag was a joke; it was that the convention of defying the audience's expections isn't itself a "joke" or funny.

IMO it's a "screw you" to the fans, which is why I didn't consider it funny.

And I actually would appreciate the irony of the situation there. That would be hilarious to me and I would stay for the entire thing. Seriously, I would.

I'm sure you would.

... Yes, I would. I just said I would. Don't roll your eyes at me, I haven't done that once at you.

Evidently this is just another thing we disagree on. You claim that you would enjoy a comedian reciting Macbeth in a comedy club, in defiance of everyone's expectations for a stand-up comedy routine. Whereas I would be deeply disappointed and understandably angry; I'd walk out and probably never pay to see that comedian ever again.

I seriously doubt your sincerity; or that many people would be on board with your opinion on this issue -- at least for a reason other than to spite me.

I suppose then that you preferred Bender squashing the Robot Devil's song-that-wasn't, instead of this episode treating we fans to the song involving the "S.S. Anything Goes"?

Honestly, I think that was what killed this episode for me. From that point onward, I don't remember laughing at all.

[Reply #255 on:]

[Reply #256 on:]

That doodle would be a lot funnier, Aki, if it weren't 5:30 in the afternoon, on the Sunday of a long weekend. And you, and many other people, weren't actively posting on this thread right now.

[Reply #257 on:]

Yeah, I was somewhat late to the party and spent ten minutes reading through the ranting discussion that had ensued when I left. It's much funnier here considering it's almost midnight, though.

[Reply #258 on:]

That doodle would be a lot funnier, Aki, if it weren't 5:30 in the afternoon, on the Sunday of a long weekend.

But Aki's in Sweden, where it's actually more like 11:45pm on a normal weekend...

[Reply #259 on:]

That doodle would be a lot funnier, Aki, if it weren't 5:30 in the afternoon, on the Sunday of a long weekend.

But Aki's in Sweden, where it's actually more like 11:45pm on a normal weekend...

I suppose that I should return in six hours and then laugh my ass off.

[Reply #260 on:]

I'm not oblivious to the style of humour in this particular episode -- but as I've stated countless times now, I just didn't consider it funny.

Then why ask others to explain what they found funny about the episode? If you aren't oblivious to the style--which I am interpreting as you being able to identify that something is a joke but just a bad one/one you personally don't find funny--then there's little we can do for you (unless, I suppose, through asking you're gaining insight about other viewers and you can then be intrigued or disgusted by their reactions to so-called "comedy").

Granted, explaining a joke you didn't get isn't too likely to make it funny to you now (be it through explaining an obscure reference or, as seems to be the case in defending something like the door gag, just explaining why something was found to be funny) but there is at least the possibility; however, if you can see the jokes (whether or not you still acknowledge them as jokes if they don't actually make you laugh) and are not amused, then that's that. As you said yourself, you just didn't consider it funny. I'm sorry that that is the case.

[Reply #261 on:]

I felt really bad for Fry in this episode.

I almost cried. I was definitely frowning.

On the plus side, half-naked Fry makes me a happy Unmentionable...

6/10

[Reply #262 on:]

But In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela and Attack of the Killer App were considered to be two of the worst episodes of all time from their initial airing... a few people stood up for them and liked them, but that doesn't mean that they went down very well as a whole. Ghost in the Machines' reception is pretty much the opposite so far.

I'm still a fan of those two "worst episodes" of last year. Both were very funny to me, aside from butt boil and vomiting diarrhea animal. In a Gadda would have made a better DVD extra imo, instead of putting it in canon with the rest of the series.

[Reply #263 on:]

I'm with futurefreak. I think both episodes are among the strongest of season 6A; "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela," in particular, has a very old-school vibe to me. I think there are some legitimate complaints that have been made about both episodes, but I just find the stories really entertaining, plain and simple. And I promise it's not just residual OMG Futurama is Back!!!!1!!!11! giddiness; I've rewatched both episodes recently, and I think they hold up really well.

Topic: I watched "Ghost in the Machines" a third time...and it's still just average. It's almost above average, but I guess I think the Fry/Bender friendship has been explored just as effectively and amusingly in episodes like "I, Roommate," "Jurassic Bark," and even "The Beast With a Billion Backs." It's a good episode, but I still don't adore it or anything. I do have high hopes for the rest of the season, though; the past two weeks have been consistently non-sucky, which is always a good thing.

[Reply #264 on:]

I finally got to watch all three of the new episodes today--been out of town a lot. I definitely thought this episode was the best of the bunch so far. I especially liked the joke about this Saturday being "Fry-Day," but the thing that made me laugh out loud the most was the gag with the toast. It just hit me in the right way and I couldn't stop chuckling!

[Reply #265 on:]

it's good to see that i wasn't the only one that liked 'iagdl'. ye olde zapper made that episode.

[Reply #266 on:]

I definitely thought this was a solid episode, and I liked it more than Neutopia and Benderama. A number of people have said that it just wasn't funny, but I disagree. The "Fry-day" joke had me literally laughing out loud, which is pretty rare for me, as did "I only meant to slap you twice!" and the Robot Devil's "aww, you're no fun". I thought the pacing was a little odd, as it has been throughout the season - I feel like, after making the movies, the writers are trying to fit more and more into 22 minutes. But it was a clever episode and had all of the heart of old Futurama.

[Reply #267 on:]

it's good to see that i wasn't the only one that liked 'iagdl'. ye olde zapper made that episode.

Mr. President, what the hell?

[Reply #268 on:]

I thought that episode feels more futurama(ery) than most of it's come back. It had Humour, heart warming moments and best of all... Billy West, John DiMaggio AND Dan Castellaneta were the main characters of the story!! 

I was actually heart broken when bender was tryiing to hug Fry. What the hell was up with the ending though?

9.5/10

[Reply #269 on:]

Hey, how come SorynArkayn didn't give this episode a 1/10 after all? I just noticed there are none.

[Reply #270 on:]

Hey, how come SorynArkayn didn't give this episode a 1/10 after all? I just noticed there are none.

My initial impression of this episode was far too generous; I voted 5/10. This is the LEAST FUNNY and most boring episode of Futurama I've ever seen. Therefore, it could only be scored 1/10.

...

[Reply #271 on:]

Oh, I misinterpreted it as he changed it to 1/10 afterwards. My mistake.

[Reply #272 on:]

He made the mistake; I mean it's quite a significant change isn't it? Perhaps he doesn’t understand his own rating system ...

The 5/10 was my initial impression of the episode after only seeing it once.

Any Futurama fan understands that Futurama episodes need to be watched multiple times to truly appreciate them -- for better or worse.

After a good night's rest and seeing this episode again in the light of day, I recognized how unfunny it was, and realized that I disliked this episode more than any other Futurama episode -- even "That's Lobstertainment". That's why I revised my score to 1/10, to rate it as the worst Futurama episode ever, IMO.

BTW This isn't the first time that I've revised my score on an episode. So what?

I don't begrudge anyone the freedom to change their mind. Why do you, Otis P Jivefunk?

[Reply #273 on:]

... maybe I wouldn't have thought that the Robot Devil was utterly wasted in this episode.

This is valid, for sure. The Robot Devil is a great character (at least partly because his appearances are infrequent) and I didn't think they got as much use out of him as they could have. Pretty much all they did with him was lampshade previous episodes. Which had some funny moments, but there could have been a lot of new material generated that just wasn't.

I also thought the ending was weak and remember it being a minute until the ending and thinking "um, there's no way they'll wrap this up well". And they didn't. So that was disappointing.

I stand by my rating of 8/10. Okay, not great. Funny, but the pacing was weird. That seems to be my complaint for most of Season 6. Perhaps we will not provide it with our recipe for immortality.

[Reply #274 on:]

Another week, another disappointment. That Obamacare joke was so lazy, id made we want to vomit with rage.

So far, this season's been a HUGE letdown, and coming off the worst episode ever made, they couldn't afford to have this many bad episodes in a row.

[Reply #275 on:]

I don't mind people comparing the episodes (or even blatantly complaining severely about them, for example with 6ACV02 and 6ACV13), but sometimes the episode is perfectly fine (or even extremely good), and some people still seem to think it is pure shit. This is one of those occasions. In such cases, I think it's perfectly legitimate to start question the critics.

[Reply #276 on:]

"Fine" and "extremely good" are still judgment calls; they're highly subjective. I do think that, story- and humor-wise, "Ghost in the Machines" is a good episode (the more objective phrasing would be "accomplished," I suppose). It just didn't click with me in any meaningful way, but this has more to do with my own tastes than it does with anything the writers necessarily did wrong.

[Reply #277 on:]

Now that someone(s) mentioned it, Bender's curly tail really started to bother me. Like in a cheezy sort of way...I dunno. All my ghosts are fully corporeal.

[Reply #278 on:]

Now that someone(s) mentioned it, Bender's curly tail really started to bother me. Like in a cheezy sort of way...I dunno. All my ghosts are fully corporeal.

I had this problem... I think I would have liked the episode a lot more if Bender's ghost was just like those other robot ghosts in The Honking... I know that they were projections rather than software running on a wireless network, but all the same, I would have much preferred the aesthetics of it all.

[Reply #279 on:]

I had this problem... I think I would have liked the episode a lot more if Bender's ghost was just like those other robot ghosts in The Honking... I know that they were projections rather than software running on a wireless network, but all the same, I would have much preferred the aesthetics of it all.

I agree. I didn't like Bender's curly Casper tail.