Should Futurama have just stayed cancelled the first time?

[Reply #80 on:]

Just caught Futurama on FTA TV for the first time in an age - I, Roommate has more laughs than the entire season 6

Then do not post bad things about Season 6. Just be quiet and let the people who enjoy it, enjoy it.

It pales in comparison to the mighty season 1, put freeview channel 11 on now and see!

[Reply #81 on:]

I think I can remember Season 1 in my head... Plus, I have it on DVD...

Season 1 is bad compared to Season 6. Season 1 kind of set up the show, even though it did have a lot of great moments.

[Reply #82 on:]

I think I can remember Season 1 in my head... Plus, I have it on DVD...

Ditto

[Reply #83 on:]

I, Roommate really is a cracking ep, extremely funny and just brilliant. It has a different type of humour to Season 6...

True, but you could say that for pretty much any episode from any season. I think "I, Roommate" is brilliant, but it's not the same kind of brilliant that, like, "Bend Her" is. They're both hilarious episodes that make excellent use of Bender's character, but I laugh at one for much different reasons than I laugh at the other. As the show evolves, you sort of expect aspects of its humor to evolve. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing.

I have similar feelings about the novelty of it being the future having worn off. The writers can now go in other directions with stories, instead of being bogged down in This is the Future, and Here's What Happens in the Future plots (which, yes, could be brilliant--but also easy to burn yourself out on).

[Reply #84 on:]

I have similar feelings about the novelty of it being the future having worn off.

e.g.

Fry: That clover helped my ratfink brother steal my dream of going into space. Now I'll never get there.

Leela: You went there this morning for doughnuts.

[Reply #85 on:]

U no, i thought i was the only non hater out there of the new eps. but were out there, these new eps hav seperated real fans from trolls. the new eps r great 4 the most part (except a few eps like yo leela leela) but very strong so far

[Reply #86 on:]

What he said.

[Reply #87 on:]

Danny, Danny, Danny.  You were doing so well.  Tell this noob how to adjust and become respected, like you did.  Please.

[Reply #88 on:]

Yes, link him to this. Over and over again.

[Reply #89 on:]

It was worth being picked up again, because without it, we would never have had great episodes such as The Late Philip J Fry, Cold Warriors, The Prisoner of Benda, Overclockwise, Law and Oracle, Reincarnation, and Lethal Inspection. These great episodes prove that Futurama still has plenty of tricks up its sleeves, and until we get a season with not a single amazing episode, I see no reason to be overly concerned about the quality of future episodes.

[Reply #90 on:]

Danny, Danny, Danny.  You were doing so well.  Tell this noob how to adjust and become respected, like you did.  Please.

No one here's n00b hatin' on you or anything, Solid Gold.  They've just been around for a long time and occasionally get irked when a new PEELer takes a while to settle in.  So relax and settle in.  Relax, read and absorb the character and style of the posts and posters.

So again, welcome.

[Reply #91 on:]

Danny, Danny, Danny.  You were doing so well.  Tell this noob how to adjust and become respected, like you did.  Please.

I'm trying to.

It was worth being picked up again, because without it, we would never have had great episodes such as The Late Philip J Fry, Cold Warriors, The Prisoner of Benda, Overclockwise, Law and Oracle, Reincarnation, and Lethal Inspection. These great episodes prove that Futurama still has plenty of tricks up its sleeves, and until we get a season with not a single amazing episode, I see no reason to be overly concerned about the quality of future episodes.

I think Season 6 had its ups and downs because the show had made a full on return, so they were still getting back into the swing of things. Season 7 should be amazing.

[Reply #92 on:]

Add to that list of great episode Möbius Dick, a severally underrated episode both on Peel and on CGEF, but an extremely good and worthwhile episode which helps cement the point that the show was worth brining back!...

[Reply #93 on:]

Also add Egg Man (which is so underrated) and The Tip of The Zoidberg, which I found to be amazing.

[Reply #94 on:]

Add to that list of great episode Möbius Dick, a severally underrated episode both on Peel and on CGEF, but an extremely good and worthwhile episode which helps cement the point that the show was worth brining back!...

Correct! It also ended up being my favourite episode, which used to be The Why of Fry.

[Reply #95 on:]

Yes, Mobius Dick was a treat. It felt like one of the old episodes. I want to see more of these.

[Reply #96 on:]

Should Futurama have stayed cancelled the first time!?

Blasphemy, I say! 

I really disagree with that statement.  There were, without question, bad episodes made in season six.  But sometimes you can't realize the good episodes without experiencing the bad ones.  The Late Philip J. Fry was just excellent - Rebirth was great - Overclockwise was fantastic, The Duh Vinci Code, the Prisoner of Benda, All the Presidents' Heads, etc... the list just goes on.  I'd gladly accept a few stinkers to experience those episodes... and that list is by all means not exhaustive of the comedy genius behind the show's writers.

So much as long as the show remains on television with new episodes, I truly do not feel we'll see the ratio of good-to-bad episodes decrease.  I like to think that everything in life is based on a normal distribution:

Remember the 80/20 rule?  26 episodes: 20.8 of them fall within 80%, that is, they're just right (not great, but not poor).  5.2 episodes represent the other 20% and fall into the opposite ends of the distribution - 2.6 (10%) really suck, and 2.6 (10%) are pure genius.

Of course, this is all in the eye of the beholder.  If someone feels ALL of the episodes were gold, then by all means, they're entitled to their opinion.  But by-the-by, I feel Futurama does a great job, and over time, I believe Futurama's episodes hold true to 80/20 reasoning I provided above.

[Reply #97 on:]

Should Futurama have stayed cancelled the first time!?

I really disagree with that statement.

It's a question. Not a statement.
You can't disagree with a question.

[Reply #98 on:]

Does FuturamIMAfan want to see the show die?

[Reply #99 on:]

Should Futurama have stayed cancelled the first time!?

I really disagree with that statement.

It's a question. Not a statement.
You can't disagree with a question.

I guess I meant it more as an exclamatory remark rather than a question.  Nonetheless you're right.

[Reply #100 on:]

Does FuturamIMAfan want to see the show die?

No.

[Reply #101 on:]

Hi futurIMAfan, welcome to our board! It's nice to see new faces, especially in between Futurama seasons!

I noticed that above you made two posts in a row, one minute apart. When yours is the newest comment in a thread the custom here is to use the Edit button to alter that comment if you have something more to say, rather than making a whole new post. We're picky like that.

edit - and obviously I voted "no". Futurama has high entertainment value.

sometimes you can't realize the good episodes without experiencing the bad ones.  The Late Philip J. Fry was just excellent - Rebirth was great - Overclockwise was fantastic, The Duh Vinci Code, the Prisoner of Benda, All the Presidents' Heads, etc... the list just goes on.  I'd gladly accept a few stinkers to experience those episodes.

This is a big part of how I feel. Some episodes are disappointments, but most aren't and many are really good.

[Reply #102 on:]

Wait a minute..I don't remember making this thread O.o

[Reply #103 on:]

Hi futurIMAfan, welcome to our board! It's nice to see new faces, especially in between Futurama seasons!

I noticed that above you made two posts in a row, one minute apart. When yours is the newest comment in a thread the custom here is to use the Edit button to alter that comment if you have something more to say, rather than making a whole new post. We're picky like that.

edit - and obviously I voted "no". Futurama has high entertainment value.

sometimes you can't realize the good episodes without experiencing the bad ones.  The Late Philip J. Fry was just excellent - Rebirth was great - Overclockwise was fantastic, The Duh Vinci Code, the Prisoner of Benda, All the Presidents' Heads, etc... the list just goes on.  I'd gladly accept a few stinkers to experience those episodes.

This is a big part of how I feel. Some episodes are disappointments, but most aren't and many are really good.

My sincere apologies, The Mad Capper.  It will not happen again.

[Reply #104 on:]

For me, the new episodes are largely like the old episodes in terms of quality, but then you throw in the occasional stinker and add a character acting out-of-character here and there. There are new things in the new episodes that annoy me, but that isn't enough to make the whole series bad.

[Reply #105 on:]

So far, most of the new episodes have been fairly decent and occasionally amazing. Characters getting out of role can sometimes be good, however (i.e Mobius Dick).

[Reply #106 on:]

Even if Futurama started doing Peter cutaway gags I wouldn't wish cancellation upon them, no one's forcing us to watch.

[Reply #107 on:]

So far, most of the new episodes have been fairly decent and occasionally amazing. Characters getting out of role can sometimes be good, however (i.e Mobius Dick).

I can rationalize how that can be a good thing, but for some reason while watching it, it just doesn't work for me. It was particularly true when watching that episode, especially when Leela did that weird move at the end of the episode where the diamond of light protruded from her forehead. I don't know, maybe I'm just a stickler.

[Reply #108 on:]

I can't think of any examples besides Leela in IaGDL.

[Reply #109 on:]

• Lrrr crashing at Planet Express even though he's tried to kill some of them before (LN)
• Hermes suddenly caring about Bender (LI)
• The Professor and Zoidberg suddenly being so close (TTotZ)

There have also been a few examples of weird pairings of characters. I understand this is a way to get more unique storylines, but sometimes it feels contrived. Not always, but sometimes.

I'm not really complaining about any of this, but just saying that sometimes the characters just feel odd/different to me.

[Reply #110 on:]

The Professor and Zoidberg were always somewhat close, but I somewhat agree with you, sometimes they seemed as if they hate each other...

[Reply #111 on:]

Those aren't out of character moments. These are:

-Leela being a LadyGaga-esque fame hag in YLL
-Zoidberg's "You stink loser!" in LAO
-Leela's over-the-top obsession in MD
-Everything in Neutopia.

[Reply #112 on:]

• Lrrr crashing at Planet Express even though he's tried to kill some of them before (LN)
• Hermes suddenly caring about Bender (LI)
• The Professor and Zoidberg suddenly being so close (TTotZ)

These aren't out of character at all.

Lrrr has always flip-flopped between being a supreme overlord and behaving like a regular guy. The episode's suggestion that he's largely driven by his nagging wife also explained why he was slightly less hostile than usual.

Hermes has never been shown to explicitly not care about Bender.

The Professor and Zoidberg have clearly always gone way back given that, you know, he keeps him around at Planet Express despite him being awful at his job.

Some of this stuff hadn't been expanded on before, but it wasn't out of character. There's a difference between developing a character or two characters' relationships and making them do an outright U-turn in their behaviour such as Leela in 'Mobius Dick'.

[Reply #113 on:]

Blah. UnrealLegend had better examples than me. I didn't put in enough of an effort to come up with good examples of out-of-character moments.

[Reply #114 on:]

Futurama message board is srs bizness, we don't mess around.

And welcome to PEEL Scrappylive!

[Reply #115 on:]

And welcome to PEEL Scrappylive!

Thanks! I feel almost silly for not joining before. I've read the posts on here many times before and I've been watching the show since its premiere in 1999 (in other words, a little over half my life). It's good to be here now, though.

[Reply #116 on:]

I really have no problem with the new episodes anymore, the pop culture references are a little annoying yeah, but overall it's just good ol' Futurama to me.

[Reply #117 on:]

Show spoiler

Should Futurama have stayed cancelled the first time!?

Blasphemy, I say!  

I really disagree with that statement.  There were, without question, bad episodes made in season six.  But sometimes you can't realize the good episodes without experiencing the bad ones.  The Late Philip J. Fry was just excellent - Rebirth was great - Overclockwise was fantastic, The Duh Vinci Code, the Prisoner of Benda, All the Presidents' Heads, etc... the list just goes on.  I'd gladly accept a few stinkers to experience those episodes... and that list is by all means not exhaustive of the comedy genius behind the show's writers.

So much as long as the show remains on television with new episodes, I truly do not feel we'll see the ratio of good-to-bad episodes decrease.  I like to think that everything in life is based on a normal distribution.

Alright, first of all this is a brilliant post! Your quality is incredible, FuturIMAfan, and I value your opinions deeply.

I'm going to have to back you up on this post. I'm sure the ratio will be going down and up, but it'll never get to low. (And if it does, may God have mercy on us all.)

The excellent episodes from 6A and 6B have outstanding quality and great humor. As for the bad episodes, they stink out loud. I hope that the writers plus Groening and DXC will realize when a plotline goes rotten very early so they can shut it down. The best episodes of the best episodes from Season 6 (TLPJF, CW) give me hope that there will be more of these to come. Season 7 is already looking really good, and some episodes are extremely promising.

Maybe the quality will even go up! The plotlines look freakin' awesome, so I'm sure Season 7 will be incredible!

[Reply #118 on:]

No. In my opinion, 6 of the best 15 episodes are from season 6. I think it is definitely the worst season so far, containing 9 of the worst 15, but it is still the best cartoon (or animation or whatever it's called) on TV. I would like to see a drop in the really awful episodes in season 7, but even if there were as many stinkers (AotKA, TFHS, YLL, Neutopia) in season 7, I would still like to see it as long as there were some more brilliant episodes (TLPJF, PoB, CW etc.)

[Reply #119 on:]

That's sort of how I feel as well, Cinimod.

I would certainly like to less crappy episodes, but I'd rather a combination of bad ones and amazing ones to a season of only good ones.

Still, the good outweighs the bad in Season 6, and I'm sure that Season 7 will be better.