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Author Topic: What is your favorite episode?  (Read 48663 times)
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Lifterbot3000
Poppler
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« Reply #360 on: 09-24-2014 19:09 »

My favorites are:

The Sting
War is the H-Word
Where No Fan Has Gone Before
The Late Philip J. Fry
The Day the Earth Stood Stupid
The Luck of the Fryrish
Insane in the Mainframe
Roswell that Ends Well
2-D Blacktop
Benderama
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #361 on: 09-24-2014 19:31 »

2-D Blacktop

I enjoy this episode, but most people around here don't like it. Mainly because of the "unspoken verbal abuse" gag, I think?
Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #362 on: 09-24-2014 20:13 »

Yeah, that has to be the biggest complaint around here. I like the episode and I agree that the non-verbal verbal abuse gag was overdone and inserted it places where it didn't need to be, but I could also never understand the logic behind a single joke or moment (like the ending of an episode) "ruining" the whole episode. That's another type of complaint I've seen a lot on this forum.

The other common complaint about this episode I wholeheartedly agree with. 2-D Blacktop bears two strong thematic stories, street racing and entering the 2D universe. They focused more on the more common and predictable theme (street racing) and left very little time for the more obscure and interesting theme (the 2nd dimension), when really both themes are unique enough to merit being the A-story in their own separate episodes.
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #363 on: 09-24-2014 20:18 »
« Last Edit on: 09-24-2014 20:20 »

They focused more on the more common and predictable theme (street racing) and left very little time for the more obscure and interesting theme (the 2nd dimension), when really both themes are unique enough to merit being the A-story in their own separate episodes.

I don't think a straight-up street racing episode would have been the best, I can't imagine it receiving a lot of positive reception. The dimensional drift stuff added a nice twist to the street racing aspect in 2-D Blacktop, but like you said, it's a shame they didn't focus more on the 2D universe.

I suppose the fact that they race ships/hovercars is fairly interesting, and they could add more futuristic twists such as the Möbius dragstrip, but I don't see what else they could have done to write enough material for an entire episode just about the racing.
Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #364 on: 09-24-2014 20:36 »
« Last Edit on: 09-24-2014 20:38 »

2-D Blacktop is already two-thirds street racing. I would surmise that they would only need to come up with a good B-plot or another twist in place of the dimensional shift. I concede that a Futurama episode solely about racing probably wouldn't be the best. (As a comparison, The Butterjunk Effect bears strange subject matter for the show and is bad.) Maybe it would have been better to make street racing the B-Story in a separate episode.

I disagree, however, that they could not have written up other plot points to fill out a racing-based episode. Fatal injuries, wormholes, teleportation, a mole on/from the rival street crew, a sentient ship/hovercar... The list goes on. This is a science fiction animated series, after all. :)

As it is, I think the street racing and dimensional shift interconnected and worked well together, I just wish we could have gotten an episode that focused primarily on entering the second dimension. I can see that as having a lot of potential to be a really great episode.
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #365 on: 09-24-2014 20:40 »

Maybe it would have been better to make street racing the B-Story in a separate episode.

That would have been good, I bet they could have found a way to tie it into the A-plot near the end, too.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #366 on: 09-25-2014 02:59 »

I'd have preferred the 2D universe segment have been the main focus of one episode, and the "Professor takes up street racing" plot to be a background runner in a totally different episode.
Monster_Robot_Maniac

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #367 on: 09-25-2014 22:36 »

The racing story would've been fine if it were used as a first act opener, which quickly led to the 2D world.

I think Blacktop had too many blatant missed opportunities; Dimensional Drift was a fun idea, as was the 2D world, but both weren't used to their true full potential. At least the visuals and jokes (except that one :facepalm:) were pretty good, though.
zlawke

Crustacean
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« Reply #368 on: 11-16-2014 00:08 »

Time Keeps on Slippin', Space Pilot 3000, The Mutants Are Revolting, Möbius Dick, A Pharaoh to Remember, Obsoletely Fabulous, I,Roommate, The Series has Landed, My Three Suns, ...Crustacean in Love, Roswell that Ends Well.

Pretty much everything from the first run (except 'A Taste of Freedom' :) ).
bender bending rodregez
Poppler
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« Reply #369 on: 02-14-2015 19:53 »

I love future stock and attack of the killer app because they just make pop culture and the "wolves" on wall street look sooooooooooo dumb :) :) :)
bender bending rodregez
Poppler
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« Reply #370 on: 02-14-2015 19:54 »

I love future stock and attack of the killer app because they just make pop culture and the "wolves" on wall street look sooooooooooo dumb :) :) :)
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
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« Reply #371 on: 02-15-2015 00:10 »

future stock

Excellent choice. One of my favourites as well.

attack of the killer app

That's a... controversial one. A lot of people dislike it for the really outdated pop-culture references and humour that doesn't line of with Futurama's usual style. But hey, if you enjoyed it, then all the more power to you.
winna

Avatar Czar
DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #372 on: 04-09-2015 04:02 »

Off the top of my head Birdbot of Icecatraz. Late Phillip J Fry pops up too. I haven't watched Futurama in a long time. That's probably good. I can watch it with somebody special and enjoy it again. :)
Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #373 on: 04-10-2015 00:51 »

Without putting too much thought into it...

Season 1: I, Roommate
Season 2: The Honking
Season 3: Roswell that Ends Well
Season 4: The Sting
Season 5: Bender's Game
Season 6A: The Late Philip J. Fry
Season 6B: Ghost in the Machines
Season 7A: 31st Century Fox
Season 7B: Murder on the Planet Express
Monster_Robot_Maniac

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #374 on: 04-13-2015 15:27 »

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who particularly liked Ghost in the Machines from 6B. The ending was a bit rushed, but the rest was good enough to save it.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #375 on: 04-14-2015 03:57 »

I thought the whole "robot ghost" thing was pretty dumb, though I enjoyed how they worked it into the show's mythology later with Calculon 2.0.
winna

Avatar Czar
DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #376 on: 04-14-2015 05:03 »

I am afeared of ghost machines.
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
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« Reply #377 on: 04-14-2015 05:16 »

I thought the whole "robot ghost" thing was pretty dumb, though I enjoyed how they worked it into the show's mythology later with Calculon 2.0.

Eh... I still think the whole thing ended up being pretty sloppy. I know robot ghosts appeared as early as "The Honking" but the entire concept seems like a contradiction of the "robots are immortal with their backups" theme. Maybe it might be easier to just peg "Lethal Inspection" for that problem.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #378 on: 04-14-2015 05:24 »

Lethal Inspection is a much better episode than Ghost in the Machines or The Honking, though.
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
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« Reply #379 on: 04-14-2015 07:07 »

You won't hear me arguing with that. Or see, rather. We don't "talk" on forums.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #380 on: 04-14-2015 07:43 »

Sorry? You'll have to speak up, I'm not wearing my glasses right now.
Scrappylive

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #381 on: 04-14-2015 20:53 »

Lethal Inspection is a much better episode than Ghost in the Machines or The Honking, though.

Reverse that and we've got an agreement!
Tachyon

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #382 on: 10-12-2016 22:05 »


Just watched Lethal Inspection and The Late Philip J Fry last night.  They still work :)

winna

Avatar Czar
DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #383 on: 10-16-2016 04:58 »

The Honking is a great episode.
Tedward

Professor
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« Reply #384 on: 10-18-2016 04:58 »

Indeed it is, winna.
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #385 on: 10-18-2016 20:42 »
« Last Edit on: 10-18-2016 20:49 by totalnerd undercanada »

For general opinions on the best episodes, this thread may be of interest.

And to answer your question, my top 10 are:

10) The Prisoner of Benda
9) The Farnsworth Parabox
8) Love and Rocket
7) Insane in the Mainframe
6) The Luck of the Fryrish
5) The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings
4) Roswell That Ends Well
3) The Late Philip J. Fry
2) Future Stock
1) The Why of Fry

For the record, any episode mentioned that isn't Luck of the Fryrish is wrong.

I think UrL has a decent enough list.

Personally, I would have trouble choosing between my top twenty, let alone choosing a favourite. Althought if I had to, I would be picking between TLPJF, RTEW, MTS, and TLoTF by the end. No. I can't boil it down any further than those four.

Alright, maybe MTS is number four. Maybe. Perhaps TLPJF is three, TLoTF and RTEW are tied for first. But you put me on the spot there, and I reserve the right to change my opinion at a moment's notice and without telling you. It's hard!

I stand by myself from four years ago. I'm also not in tremendous disagreement with the aggregated list of best to worst episodes.

You forgot That's Lobstertainment!

Upon multiple rewatches of this ep, I've come to the conclusion that it isn't that bad.

So you're telling us it's... ...lobstertaining?

I can't believe that nobody made that joke in ten pages.
Farnsworth38

Professor
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« Reply #386 on: 10-18-2016 23:26 »

I would have to go with The Late Philip J. Fry. In addition to being simply great, it pulls together numerous aspects/themes that run through Futurama: you could almost call it the perfect summary episode.
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
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« Reply #387 on: 10-19-2016 09:00 »

I'm not a dog person by any means

Hahahaha. What an idiot.
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #388 on: 10-19-2016 18:38 »

I can't believe that nobody made that joke in ten pages.

More shockingly, nobody made it in over 4 years.
Chris9000

Delivery Boy
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« Reply #389 on: 11-09-2016 09:47 »

Oh boy here comes a generic list. Not in any particular order, just some episodes I adore. But I actually don't have straight up favorites within any show, since each episode is it's unique thing. There are just some I find better, but I'd rather watch 10 alright episodes than 1 AMAZING. Either way:

Roswell That Ends Well. It's just neat and interesting.

A Taste Of Freedom. Yeah I like it. Usually tend to not be able to describe what I like about episodes, I just enjoy iy.

Insane In The Mainframe. Roberto is hilarious, though I do think the first part of Fry in the insane asylum is more interesting than him thinking he's a robot.

Murder On Planet Express. It's gud.

Chris9000

Delivery Boy
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« Reply #390 on: 12-11-2016 20:23 »

Actually remembered The Mutants Are Revolting. That's a fantastic one.
Gorky

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #391 on: 05-23-2018 02:47 »

So I've been noodling lately on the distinction between my favorite episodes of Futurama, and the greatest episodes of Futurama. Said distinction might be a bit idiosyncratic and pedantic, but hear me out: my favorite episodes are the ones I enjoy the most, the laugh-out-louds and the tearjerkers--the ones I can (and do) rewatch 10, 20, 30 times; the greatest episodes are those that feel genre-bending or rule-breaking--the ones with undeniable and moderately objective artistic merit. My favorite episodes of Futurama are those that I love the most when compared to all other episodes of Futurama; the greatest episodes of Futurama are the ones I admire the most when I consider the whole of TV, past and present, live-action and animated.

To be sure, there's a fair bit of overlap between my favorites and the greatest. But I've been thinking lately about Futurama's legacy, relative to television as a whole and animated series in particular, and at the end of the day I don't know that I could call it the most innovative or creatively-ambitious cartoon of the last 30 or so years when taken in its entirety. Like, the way people talk about a show like BoJack Horeseman (which I've never seen, but it's on my to-watch list) or even Rick and Morty (ditto)--or, hell, even The Simpsons of yesteryear--is not the way people usually talk about Futurama.

And yet a lot of the commendable things I hear people cite about those newer shows are definitely present in Futurama--albeit, in isolation. Basically, I believe there are a handful of episodes of the show that do something important, exciting, and precedent-setting. Here's a brief rundown of said episodes (in my estimation, at least), along with my rationale for each:

1. The Luck of the Fryrish: I'm biased here, because I lost a brother with whom I had an at-times contentious relationship, but this episode does a beautiful job of demonstrating the complexities of sibling dynamcs. And that ending, with Yancy naming his son after "my little brother, who I miss every day" is just...shit, man. It is understated and real and so deftly, succinctly encapsulates how tragic Fry's freezing actually was--in the moment, for his family, and after the fact for him. There are just so many complex emotional through-lines at play here, and the show manages them all brilliantly.

2. Insane in the Mainframe: The set-up itself--that is, the series of contrivances that lead to Fry being committed to a robot insane asylum--is pretty wacky and falls apart under even rudimentary scrutiny; however, once he gets there, this episode's exploration of his nervous breakdown/PTSD is just so, so dark and so, so good. There is genuine pathos here, a sincere effort to understand the trauma our protagonist has undergone, that I think is only matched by (we'll get there) "The Sting."

3. Time Keeps on Slippin': This episode contains what I would argue is the single bleakest ending in the show's history--and it doesn't sugarcoat it in any way. When the show goes dark, it goes dark, and this episode is pitch black.

4. Roswell that Ends Well: On the level of animation (from character acting, to coloring, to CGI and special effects), this is the single most gorgeous episode of the show, period. I've ranted elsewhere on how modern-day animation feels lifeless to me, but that is so thoroughly not the case here. Just in terms of visuals, this episode is something that all other animated entertainments ought to aspire to--it is movie-level perfect.

5. Godfellas: Philosophically, this is probably the deepest (and, sure, most didactic) episode of the series. It also takes some risks by isolating Bender from the rest of the crew, but in this case that sparseness is a virtue. This episode puts its full trust in the strength of the script, and that faith is not misplaced.

6. Leela's Homeworld: I could say the same thing for the next episode on my list, but there is something delightful about the way this show baked some mysteries/myth arcs right into its earliest episodes, then paid them off so handsomely later on. This episode also gives us Leela at her darkest hour--threatening to kill her parents, not realizing they're her parents--and that's some ballsy shit, man. It's also so deeply felt and beautifully humanist; you sympathize so completely with Morris and Munda's dilemma, and that ending montage is a goddamn triumph.

7. The Why of Fry: I don't know why DXC felt compelled to burden us with "Free Will Hunting" a decade later, because this episode is already the perfect treatise on free will. Fry's growth, from disaffected and selfish loser in 1999 to a person who actually has something worth sacrificing his life for in the year 3000, is profound and moving and all-around wonderful. When the show actually devotes itself to exploring the ways in which its characters develop, grow, and change, it knocks it out of the park--even better than a lot of live-action, character-based dramas.

8. The Sting: Everything I have to say about this episode and its greatness, I've already said here. This is the best thing the show ever did, hands down.

9. The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings: This one's a bit of a cheat, because it owes some of its success to the groundwork laid by an earlier episode ("Parasites Lost"), but it is such a lovely version of that Flowers for Algernon plot, where our hero achieves great success through means largely unearned, then has it all taken away and must reckon with the aftermath. Plus, the quality of the music in this episode--and the fact that the third act is, essentially, an opera--is fucking mind-blowing. It is also a master class in how to write a series finale, with that mix of ambiguity and the tying up of loose ends.

10. The Late Philip J. Fry: Another episode that is deeply philosophical, with the added bonus of giving us a really dark portrait of Leela's life without Fry. How People Deal With Loss is a consistent theme throughout the series, as is Reconciling Oneself to Missed Opportunities, but this is the only episode that really explores how that dynamic plays out in (largely unconsummated) romantic relationships, and it does so brilliantly.  

And that's it. As you can see, there's a general theme here: the darker the episode, the greater the episode. But really, "darkness" is code for "emotional complexity," "philosophical profundity," and/or "unexpected realism." It's sort of problematic to conflate "darkness" with "artistic merit," but I do think there's something to be said for episodes that transcend the expectations (or even the established boundaries) of their genre--be it animation, sci fi, or both. And these ten episodes, to my mind, do just that.

Of course , I'm totally willing to concede some of these points and admit I'm full of shit. I'd be curious to know if anyone has any thoughts on the legitimacy (or not) of the favorite-versus-greatest distinction.
DannyJC13

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #392 on: 05-23-2018 19:32 »

Earlier today, in work, I was thinking about how much I love reading Gorky's in-depth posts about the show, and then I come home to this gem! Thanks for sharing, Gorks! It's fascinating to hear you talk about it on so many levels. Really reminds me why I fell in love with it in the first place. :)
Kwanzaaa_bot

Poppler
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« Reply #393 on: 05-16-2020 20:34 »

https://www.redbubble.com/i/mask/Bender-Mask-by-maizeofficial/47843628.9G0D8?ref=explore-for-you-recently-viewed

“The Farnsworth Parabox”
“Where No Fan Has Gone Before”
“The Luck of the Fryrish”
Gorky

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #394 on: 05-17-2020 00:16 »

Alas, new guy, you've outed yourself as a fraud--if the link-dumping weren't a dead giveaway, the fact that a user calling themselves Kwanzaaa_bot has not one Xmas episode on their best-of list would certainly raise suspicions!
williamj01
Poppler
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« Reply #395 on: 07-02-2020 09:43 »

who's watched all episodes of peaky blinder
spacetimebird

Crustacean
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« Reply #396 on: 07-04-2020 05:42 »

I love s2e12 - deep south, it is magical and I want to be at holidays next to the volcano with a reversed mermaid speaking whaleish while I claim to tame land-sealions
I love s7e4 - the thief of baghead due to farnsworth slip of the tongue 'Souls.. - I mean life force!'
And •Fry missing the dinosaurs in the time capsule and •how the brain tells fry that they exterminated the dinosaurs and then try to perceive if he is intelligent life
The most scary and terrifying epsiode is Fountain of aging, why could't she hold his hand goddamnit why?¿ But pazuzu saving the entire world once more, also such valid reason to get in prison if he'll get you out <3
zappdingbat

Starship Captain
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« Reply #397 on: 07-11-2020 02:31 »

The Deep South is one my my favourites, too. It's got a great mix of science and humour and social commentary and inventiveness and exploration... there's a lot to recommend it.
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