Thoughts on 7ACV10 - Near-Death Wish - SPOILERS!

[Reply #80 on:]

It's awkward how on CGEF, this episode is rated higher than "Fun on a Bun".  

Well, you'll be happy to hear the rating's plummeted to 77%, but I think there may be a 1 spammer at work...

And that's the biggest flaw with CGEF's reviews. Being able to post more than one review severely weakens their credibility.

I don't know what happened, but I agree with 80% of the season 6 ratings. That isn't something I can say for season 7's.

[Reply #81 on:]

I am wondering if we have seen Floyd before.  Kind of like when Leela's parents made an appearance before they were introduced as Leela's parents.

[Reply #82 on:]

And that's the biggest flaw with CGEF's reviews. Being able to post more than one review severely weakens their credibility.

I don't know what happened, but I agree with 80% of the season 6 ratings. That isn't something I can say for season 7's.

I defended CGEF's review system for a long time, back when no-one else did. But I've had enough at this point. It legitimately makes me angry how broken it is. Like you say, this season especially, the ratings are ridiculous. Only 3 of the 10 ratings I would say are even close to how they should actually be rated.

edit: It's still falling! Now at 75%! someone really has it in for this episode!
edit edit: never mind: Just noticed all percentages are dropping. He's rating pretty much everything this season a 1, except Butterjunk, which he rated a 5. Of course.
*puts gun in mouth*

[Reply #83 on:]

enjoyed this episode, but one thing.  In Space Pilot 3000, Leela told Fry that his DNA matched to only "one living" relative.  Now, the Professor has a brother somewhere out there?  Great throwback to the security at the Near Death Star.

[Reply #84 on:]

I tuned in and caught the last half. I thought it was fine. It didn't irritate me the way some earlier season 7 eps did.

[Reply #85 on:]

edit: It's still falling! Now at 75%! someone really has it in for this episode!
edit edit: never mind: Just noticed all percentages are dropping. He's rating pretty much everything this season a 1, except Butterjunk, which he rated a 5. Of course.
*puts gun in mouth*

There is at least one person here at PEEL who does the same thing.  I keep track of the poll results for a spreadsheet I maintain, and I have occasionally observed an extra "1" appearing on almost all episode polls within a very short period of time -- about enough time for a single person to vote for each episode under a new User ID.

[Reply #86 on:]

Creating a new account requires much more effort though. And it's less likely to happen here because the PEE Polls don't show the average. (This means less "My actual score is 7, but I'm giving it a 1 to balance out all the 10s." )

[Reply #87 on:]

edit: It's still falling! Now at 75%! someone really has it in for this episode!
edit edit: never mind: Just noticed all percentages are dropping. He's rating pretty much everything this season a 1, except Butterjunk, which he rated a 5. Of course.
*puts gun in mouth*

There is at least one person here at PEEL who does the same thing.  I keep track of the poll results for a spreadsheet I maintain, and I have occasionally observed an extra "1" appearing on almost all episode polls within a very short period of time -- about enough time for a single person to vote for each episode under a new User ID.

Of course there's going to be some deviant person who holds an especially stupid opinion. I always ignore that one outstanding extra-low vote and pay attention to where the majority of the votes lie.

The 1-rating doofus's opinions would actually get more attention from me if they selected a 2-3 point lower-than average option rather than the lowest possible option.

[Reply #88 on:]

I really liked this episode. I found the "Clippy Awards" to be suitably amusing and the 'statu's it gave to Fry later in the episode was the biggest laugh I had in the episode. I remember that in the original "Clone of My Own" episode I had wished that we would've seen the virtual environment the people are trapped in, so I really got my wish there. It was also heart-warming to see Fry so happy to be around familly. The ending was really sweet, too.

I also agree that they kind of fumbled the plot twist about Hubert/Floyd being mixed-up; I thought it was kind of obvious. Either that, or there was an even more jacked-up Farnsworth who made Hubert look sane. It was sort of like it was written without being clear to the writer if the plotwist was supposed to come as surprise to the audience, or just the characters -- because it's a fairly easy mistake for the parents to make, considering the ages.

I second whoever mentioned they got weird Simpsons flashbacks about the family farm. I definetly got that too.

I think the point of the Matrix joke was supposed to be that the people in the future were aware that the Matrix science seemed like junk, but it turned out to be true anyway. If you wanted, you could probably take this as an extended view of Futurama as a whole -- I'm looking at you, Hover cars. I didn't find the overall Matrix joke that funny, but it didn't bother me enough to loathe the episode -- one flat joke won't kill me.

[Reply #89 on:]

I rather liked that joke about the Matrix thermodynamics being crazy.  This actually was a big complaint at the time the movies came out, that the concept of humans being used as batteries was impossible due to more energy being needed to keep them alive than could possibly be extracted from them.  The idea that this bit of insignificant trivia was still well-known and surprisingly important in 3012 was quite amusing to me.

[Reply #90 on:]

I rather liked that joke about the Matrix thermodynamics being crazy. 

So did I. In a way I guess "you had to be there", to pick up on the joke.

When the Matrix came out, SF in general was in a bit of a rut. And now suddenly, out of nowhere, there was this big budget movie that crafted intricate worlds, had for the time, awesome cinematography and CGI, and an intelligent intriguing plot that was actual science fiction and not just X, but in *Space*
As far as I could see everybody in the theater was blown away by it. except, what the HELL was the deal with those stupid batteries ?! It just didn't make sense. The perfect movie, and they botched on one of the most important plot points.

So the Matrix joke in the episode is funny enough, they just used way too long to set it up. If a viewer would pick it up, he would pick it up immediately, and if he didn't, all the explanation around it isn't going to make it funny and it's better to just let it fall flat as quickly as possible and move on. So, good joke, but sub-par execution.

[Reply #91 on:]

After watching this episode numerous times, it might actually be my favourite episode ever. I'm not joking. I like it that much. It's between this and The Late Philip J Fry, with The Prisoner Of Benda in third place (yes, top 3 all from the CC run).

[Reply #92 on:]

I am also curious as to whether we have actually seen Floyd in an episode before (perhaps as a homeless vagrant on the streets of NNY).

I am also wondering when someone in the cast will realize that  Fry is not just Hubert's (great, great, etc.) uncle but that he is his (great, great, great, etc.) grandfather? (or is Farnsworth just in denial over this?)

And frankly Fry already had a couple of other relatives wandering around outside the Near Death Star.. Cubert and Igner.

(also possibly Mom's other two kids but that hasn't been explored yet..)

[Reply #93 on:]

I wish I could love this episode as much as you guys do It just seems hollow and insincere to me still.

[Reply #94 on:]

I am also wondering when someone in the cast will realize that  Fry is not just Hubert's (great, great, etc.) uncle but that he is his (great, great, great, etc.) grandfather? (or is Farnsworth just in denial over this?)

But he is his (great, great, etc.) uncle rather than his (great, great, etc.) grandfather.

Fry has never had children unless you count himself, therefore he can't be a grandparent. It's possible that in some future episode, he'll have a child that will go back in time and wind up proving to be the father of Farnsworth, or the father to his father or so forth, but it's hugely unlikely - especially given their different surnames.

Or am I missing something?

[Reply #95 on:]

He's his own grandfather, and thus the distant grandfather of Hubert as well as distant uncle.

It would help if his family tree wasn't so damn complicated.

[Reply #96 on:]

I am also wondering when someone in the cast will realize that  Fry is not just Hubert's (great, great, etc.) uncle but that he is his (great, great, great, etc.) grandfather? (or is Farnsworth just in denial over this?)

But he is his (great, great, etc.) uncle rather than his (great, great, etc.) grandfather.

Fry has never had children unless you count himself, therefore he can't be a grandparent. It's possible that in some future episode, he'll have a child that will go back in time and wind up proving to be the father of Farnsworth, or the father to his father or so forth, but it's hugely unlikely - especially given their different surnames.

Or am I missing something?

Yeah, surnames cannot change over a thousand years!

[Reply #97 on:]

I never said they couldn't.

[Reply #98 on:]

Didn't he father his father? Wasn't that the whole point?

[Reply #99 on:]

Fry has never had children unless you count himself,

Fry is his own grandfather. His child grew up to be his father. He is not his own father.

[Reply #100 on:]

Oh butter my arse, you're right. It's too hot today.

[Reply #101 on:]

All I can say is... WORST EPISODE EVER!

Kidding! Second best of this season so far. The Matrix reference was the biggest problem for me, as the joke would have made more sense had Fry been the one mentioning it. Other than that, this episode was pretty good. It had a decent ending and was really enjoyable, so I'll give it a 9/10 on first viewing.

[Reply #102 on:]

He's his own grandfather, and thus the distant grandfather of Hubert as well as distant uncle.

It would help if his family tree wasn't so damn complicated.

It's not that difficult. If you look at Hubert as being the greatⁿ grandson of Yancy Fry, Jr. (Phil's brother), then Hubert is Yancy Fry, Sr.'s greatⁿ⁺¹ grandson, and since Philip J Fry is Yancy Fry's father, Hubert is Philip J Fry's greatⁿ⁺² grandson. He's also Philip J Fry's greatⁿ grand-nephew. (Here, I'm using greatⁿ as an abbreviation for great-great-great-...-great, n times.)

Of course, time travel can make things even more complicated. (Read All You Zombies by Heinlein for an example.)

Show spoiler

In All You Zombies, all the characters are actually the same person.

[Reply #103 on:]

Talking about surnames changing? Did you forget that Hubert is descended from Philo?

[Reply #104 on:]

Couple of nitpicks with continuity issues - as has been already pointed out in detail. Other than that, really enjoyable. Probably one of the most manly-tear-inducing endings in a while.

8.9/10

(So in other words, a 9...)

[Reply #105 on:]

Since Fry is his own grandpa and therefore the Professor's great whatever grandpa/uncle wouldn't that mean that the Professor doesn't have the delta brainwave too???

[Reply #106 on:]

Fry is the primary paradox, thus the screwy brainwaves.

Note that his grandson/brother Yancy seemed reasonably normal from what we have seen.

[Reply #107 on:]

"Near-Death Wish"


Fry with "Shabado" and "Gram-Gram" in the virtual nursing home on the Near-Death Star


Now this was a fantastic episode. It was hilarious, had a great story and had a nice amount of heart to it. Not to mention that the characters were used perfectly and the story was so well paced. I'd say that behind my favorite episode of the season ("Decision 3012") this is the funniest episode. It basically did and had everything the previous episode didn't...

Everything just worked. The relationship between characters and the dialogue was great and the animation - just amazing It was just a really good episode of the show altogether. Here are a few things I'd like to comment on...


* The Clippie Awards were a little stupid but provided some good gags

Bender: "Ooh hefty, you could really bash in a scull with this thing"
Scruffy: "I know, right?"

* "You see, I came down with a searing case of who gives a crap!"
* The Matrix reference was handled poorly
* The designs of Farnsworth's parents were nice
* "What? Oh God I'm still here?!"
* The references to the previous appearance of the Near-Death Star were perfectly placed (again, unlike the last episode)

Zoidberg: "I'm Doctor Zoidberg, I'm very important..."
Leela: "Hey Zoidberg! You forgot to empty this trash can"
Zoidberg: "Don't hit me!"

* Hermes and Bender joking about how old Ned and Velma were

Professor: "My parents moved me to a peaceful farm!"
Leela: "Aww, I think that's sweet..."
Professor: "Oh shut up!"

* The ending was cute without being too much
 

A definite contender for the best of the season (if not, definite top three) it was really well thought out and extremely well put together. Its ending ranks up with the ending of "Leela's Homeworld" in my opinion - It's just a really enjoyable episode.


17/20 (A-)    

[Reply #108 on:]

I really liked the joke about naked professor, it was like classic futurama joke.
And now it's confirmed that professor is insane.
Very good episode altogether.

Whenever Leela says to Fry that he turns her on, it feels it doesn't fit in.
Joke isn't necessary reference to their relationship.