Thoughts on 7ACV14 – Forty Percent Leadbelly – SPOILERS

[Reply #40 on:]

It was just plain bad. None of the jokes played, and the plot was dumb.
Not to mention the huge plot holes of a plastic Fry copy walking around (not to mention all the other copies) now left open ended and unresolved.
It was so bad it called itself on being a ripoff of TNG.

The final shot of Bender selling out was really dumb too, and felt like a Family Guy episode.
The show has really gone down in quality very fast.
Suddenly I'm glad it's the final season.

Edit: I've been far too nice with my ratings, so far this (half) season has been the most banal and mediocre season ever.
Which is sad b/c I thought 7A was damn, decent.

[Reply #41 on:]

It was just plain bad. None of the jokes played, and the plot was dumb.
Not to mention the huge plot holes of a plastic Fry copy walking around (not to mention all the other copies) now left open ended and unresolved.
It was so bad it called itself on being a ripoff of TNG.

The final shot of Bender selling out was really dumb too, and felt like a Family Guy episode.
The show has really gone down in quality very fast.
Suddenly I'm glad it's the final season.

Edit: I've been far too nice with my ratings, so far this (half) season has been the most banal and mediocre season ever.
Which is sad b/c I thought 7A was damn, decent.

I agree completely. I actually loved 7A. But this season... so far not good.

And for those saying this plot was like 'Bendin In The Wind' - I guess it was. But BITW is a million times better in every way.

'Leadbelly' is currently the lowest rated episode of all-time on gotfuturama... and I'm glad!

[Reply #42 on:]

Seriously? While it's not the best episode, comparing it to the likes of YLL and TFHS is a complete and utter joke.

I'm guessing the score will settle around 50%.

[Reply #43 on:]

Seriously? While it's not the best episode, comparing it to the likes of YLL and TFHS is a complete and utter joke.

I'm guessing the score will settle around 50%.

IMO it's not as good as YLL.... but quite a bit better than TFHS (Anything is better than that)... Just one man's opinion

[Reply #44 on:]

What a fucking joke. CGEF ratings can fuck right the hell off. I thought it was ridiculous that this episode was rated below Butterjunk Effect, and now it's the worst episode of all time?

[Reply #45 on:]

Seriously? While it's not the best episode, comparing it to the likes of YLL and TFHS is a complete and utter joke.

I'm guessing the score will settle around 50%.

IMO it's not as good as YLL.... but quite a bit better than TFHS (Anything is better than that)... Just one man's opinion

Well, I suppose I'm a little confused because to me, there was nothing blatantly unfunny or even bad in this episode. The plot was a bit dull and the jokes were infrequent, but altogether it was just an episode that you can just kind of shrug off. Episodes like TFHS, YLL and Neutopia have serious problems with the structure and/or premise, and that is a much bigger issue than a light stream of jokes and a weakish plot. Heck, I wouldnt even call this Keeler's worst episode; let alone the worst of all time.

We all know the CGEF reviews are awful, so its not much of a big deal.

[Reply #46 on:]

Seriously? While it's not the best episode, comparing it to the likes of YLL and TFHS is a complete and utter joke.

I'm guessing the score will settle around 50%.

IMO it's not as good as YLL.... but quite a bit better than TFHS (Anything is better than that)... Just one man's opinion

Well, I suppose I'm a little confused because to me, there was nothing blatantly unfunny or even bad in this episode. The plot was a bit dull and the jokes were infrequent, but altogether it was just an episode that you can just kind of shrug off. Episodes like TFHS, YLL and Neutopia have serious problems with the structure and/or premise, and that is a much bigger issue than a light stream of jokes and a weakish plot. Heck, I wouldnt even call this Keeler's worst episode; let alone the worst of all time.

We all know the CGEF reviews are awful, so its not much of a big deal.

No need to be confused at one man's opinion. To me, "Leadbelly" not only was unfunny, but I thought it was very flawed too. I agree that the jokes were infrequent, but I also believe that the episode suffered from it's structure and premise too. Bender being a musician has been done before, there was too much singing, fry was consistently whiney/annoying (ok bender abandoned him, but bender has done FAR worse things to fry than that), and the ending was a huge cop-out (which even bender admitted). When the show itself admits to a cop-out, that's when you know you have trouble. I got the impression that the writers thought "if we admit the ending was rushed/a cop-out, then the viewers might forgive us". Well, it didn't work for me. To me, this entire episode just didn't work full-stop. But that's just my opinion.

I did like the octopus though.

[Reply #47 on:]

I honestly didn't really care for the octupus joke in this episode (plus how the hell did Fry, Leela, and Beeler actually escape them. Did Bender save them, or did they just disintigrate into a plot hole?). Also, this episode is not the worst episode in the series. It has alot of really dull moments and story problems, but I've seen Futurama episodes with the exact same problems with alot more cringy jokes to boot (Futurama Holiday Shitinmyfacetacular, Butterjunk Effect, Neutopia). The fact that this episode had a few decent jokes and an okayish plot should've at least beaten the 3 episodes I mentioned above.

Alright, I just checked CGEF and it actually reached 39%. Um...no. 50% at it's lowest, an episode this mediocre doesn't deserve to be 4% lower than Futurama's previous worst episodes ever.

[Reply #48 on:]

Okay, to all of you who disagreed with my "Honking" post, I rewatched it, and now I realize how much better that episode was than this one. Although, this may be Keelers worst, I don't really think it's as bad as every one else claims it to be. It beats the hell out of Neutopia, Naturama, and Yo Leela Leela. It plain out looks like everybody was expecting something magnificent from Keeler. So I mean I guess my score changes to a 7/10-ish. I guess I almost kind of adjusted to the crappy side of Futurama. I need to start watching the classics a little more.

Nevertheless, I will continue to have high hopes for the upcoming episodes, since this episode WAS made right after the horrifying Naturama. And the Production Episode-broadcast order is back on track as well. The episode made before "The Inhuman Torch" was Fry and Leela's Big Fling, and that was pretty good. So, I'm going to continue to keep a high head on these last bunch, at least until Assie Come Home.

[Reply #49 on:]

I was completely underwhelmed by this one. I know my hopes were high since it's a Keeler episode, but in my opinion, this is the worst one of his by quite a wide margin.

The Bender-folk-singing angle just seems very tiresome and overused at this point. I don't think it's interesting enough to successfully fill a whole episode, especially since there wasn't a strong B-plot. The twist was alright, I suppose, but I don't think it was handled very well. I also disliked the ending and thought it was a bit stupid.

I also didn't find much of anything funny in this episode. To me, it was very dull; to be fair, this is probably partially because of my total lack of knowledge about folk-music, so maybe I wasn't able to fully appreciate many of the jokes. I did like all of Zoidberg's lines, though.

Leela's line about being hooted at irritated me and reminded me of the boob job joke in "2-D Blacktop." Both were entirely out of character, unfunny, and unnecessary, in my opinion. I was pretty neutral to the Fry-Bender angle. I didn't find it charming or funny, but it wasn't obnoxious or cringe-y.

This is definitely my least favorite of 7B so far but certainly nowhere near the worst in the whole series. This is a 4/10 for me. Maybe I'm being too harsh and will like it better on repeat viewings, but as of now, I'm very unimpressed.  

[Reply #50 on:]

First off, the beginning, featuring the continuation of old cartoons, is awesome. It leads me to believe that this will be maintained throughout this last run, and that makes me happy.

Figures that one of the best episodes I've ever watched has an extremely low rating. I'm left handed and have blue eyes, so I'm used to having people look down on me, but a folk music episode is something I've been looking forward to since episode 2.

I play guitar, write music for leisure, and listen to what folks would call Folkish rock(Deer Tick being my current favorite band), so my outlook is obviously different than most, but I loved this episode. It was either equal to or better than Bendin' in the Wind, which is another episode that I obviously strongly appreciate.

My only gripe I have with this episode is that Dimaggio clearly feels that folk music is a dead art. His singing was embarrasing
when compared with Dawnn Lewis and Mo's work. I'll let that slide, as the alien that was the best folk singer in the universe was awesome.

[Reply #51 on:]

After reading this thread, I would be disgusted if not already used to this forums general negativity.

What kind of arse maggot has a negative opinion on Naturama, a Peeler, that's who!

[Reply #52 on:]

My only gripe I have with this episode is that Dimaggio clearly feels that folk music is a dead art. His singing was embarrasing
when compared with Dawnn Lewis and Mo's work.

I always thought this was intentional. "I'm not allowed to sing. Court order."

And he is a robot after all.

What kind of arse maggot has a negative opinion on Naturama, a Peeler, that's who!

What kind of arse maggot has a negative opinion on someone for merely having a negative opinion of something you like? And if you look in the Naturama review thread, most of the responses were positive.

And another thing:

[Reply #53 on:]

Here's the review thread for Naturama. As I recall, I liked it more than I liked this episode:

4/10. This one was just dumb, most of the way through. There were numerous problems with the plot, there was some incredibly crappy and annoying singing, and there was a crapfest going on from the moment the plot became established. This is a pretty low point for the show, I feel. Ben Beeler and his 3D printer were the best things about this episode, which was a disappointment in most places and downright irritating in a quite a few others (specifically the very end bit, after the funeral. That was just intensively annoying).

There were jokes I liked, and there were a couple of background touches I liked, but most of it was just plain overdone. Did they really have to shoehorn so many previously seen faces into the funeral for the duplicate Bender? Really? It alternates between not really trying, and trying too hard. It gets two of those four out of ten points for having trains in it, and one for having some pretty awesome animation. It picks up the last one for having had a couple of funnies in it, but those really feel like accidents in the context of the episode as a whole.

If the next episode isn't an improvement, I have the feeling I might not bother watching after that. The bar's set pretty low, but the way that Futurama's been going, we've already had the one good episode from 7B, and are now going to be met with episodes that are progressively more mediocre through to downright bad.

[Reply #54 on:]

Booring. I enjoyed a few parts, a couple jokes, but this episode had me bored to tears.

I am starting to think they are saving everything good for Meanwhile. Just crank out some mediocre episodes, but really wow them at the end.

Show spoiler

If this is not the case? Fuck. Just......fuck.

[Reply #55 on:]

Landed a 6/10 for me. I liked the octopus part, but the rest just landed flat for me.

I still think some good episodes are to come.

[Reply #56 on:]

7/10 for me, I liked the overall plot, although the moment he was run over by the train, I knew it wasn't the real Bender. The singing didn't do much for me, I liked the opening scene more than anything, if only because of the big Star Wars reference, I'd have to watch the ep again. It's nice to reference Bender's folk singing again, but it wasn't perhaps as interesting as BITW

[Reply #57 on:]

Seriously? While it's not the best episode, comparing it to the likes of YLL and TFHS is a complete and utter joke.

I'm guessing the score will settle around 50%.

I'm sorry, but it's almost below those episodes to me.
It was truly one of the worst episodes the series has ever done.
Perhaps only "All the Presidents' Heads" is worse than this one was.

Plus on 'CGEF' it's almost the lowest rated episode of all time.

[Reply #58 on:]

Well, it's far from the best, but definitely not the worst, just boring.

5/10

[Reply #59 on:]

I don't rate episodes, but I felt this one felt flat in what it mainly tried to achieve: singing.  The songs weren't interesting nor funny, they were attempting to be parodies of traditional folksongs, but felt flat in that aspect.

It was nice to see the trains again (I like trains).  I thought 'Funeral funded by Apple, Inc.' was amusing (at least far better than the Apple jokes that was "The Killer App", although not as funny as those in "Fear of a Bot Planet"), especially in contrast to Bender's Windows-style file explorer.

But that's really all there was to it; a series of small parts that were amusing in their own right, but could easily have fitted into any other plot and particularly a better one.

It seems to me the writers feel they can much easier get away with their lampshade hanging, and they are getting worse at it.  Bender's comment that he had forgotten he wanted to be a folksinger but now remembers is a rather un-amusing fourth wall breaking lampshade hanging joke.  Surely that could have been done better.  The only interesting aspect in the plot - as others have mentioned - was the 3D printer putting the songs to life.  But that was extremely underused or at least not used in an interesting enough fashion.

The lampshade hanging in "Godfellas" is one of the best moments of that episode, but here it was just strange and a bit too common in these new episodes (constant references to the show itself).  I like the funeral scenes in "A Pharaoh to Remember" and "The Sting".  But this one felt too rushed and then ended.  I only liked the Apple-joke.

Still, I will give the episode this: It did not have cringe worthy moments, it was not unwatchable and it did not ruin/retcon established canon.  Unfortunately, that's talking about what are the good things in Star Wars Episode III (i.e. the things that don't happen).

[Reply #60 on:]

6/10 for me. I think I preferred it to 2-D Blacktop.

I'll say this, I'm generally "meh" when it comes to Bender episodes. There are of course those that just happen to be among my favourites (Godfellas and Birdbot of Ice-katraz for example) but generally most of them don't appeal to me as much. I'd say this one though sort of fell in the middle on that scale.

It had lots of elements about Bender episodes that I don't particularly like, and it only really got one or two laughs out of me, though on the other hand, I couldn't help but enjoy watching it. It had many faults but it still worked. It didn't rub me the wrong way like other episodes have in the past. The songs weren't that great - the hell if I know whether they work effectively as parody or tributes (probably not) though I just know I like the sound.

The episode also seems to be a real example of Leela's character "developing". It seems like being with Fry has really released several of her inhibitions (as I'm sure has been said by others already). Certainly there's the contrast between not dignifying hooting from truckers with an ass-whooping to actively encouraging it from a group of prisoners. I'm not saying this is "OMG out f carator!" but, well, yes, "development". Label me wrong and hit me, but I could say that out of the main 3, Leela is the only character who has really developed significantly over the last few seasons.

Finally, to be honest I thought the episode could have ended a minute or so earlier, if you know what I mean; though that said, I wouldn't know quite how to finish the episode otherwise, and maybe the writers didn't either

But then Big Caboose appeared with what strongly looked like a Kalashnikov. Huzzah!

So what the hell happened to duplicate Fry, BTW?

[Reply #61 on:]

The episode also seems to be a real example of Leela's character "developing". It seems like being with Fry has really released several of her inhibitions (as I'm sure has been said by others already). Certainly there's the contrast between not dignifying hooting from truckers with an ass-whooping to actively encouraging it from a group of prisoners.

I think the rule of comedy applies here.
The truckers were bystanders, not really involved. When they entered the scene, they were annoying.
The prisoners were folks who haven't seen a woman in years. The scene setup really CRIES for them to make some noise. None of them paying the slightest attention to Leela would de facto be the most unflattering remark about her appearance.

Personally, I like the recall to the old Leela whose cyclopean appearance put people off. We all know from prison sences that the hooting was supposed to start as soon as a female character enters such a setting. Yet, Leela was greeted by complete silence.

And only after her booty shaking (which translates to a rather desperate "Please do pay attention to me. Please tell me I look at least good enough for a whistle from guys who haven't seen a woman in years? PLEASE???") just ONE lonely inmate lowered himself to make the wanted noise.

Which was taken by Leela with imhO really desperate appreciation and gratitude (as if she had just won on Oscar). Yep, that scene was a callback towards the old Leela, who was overly insecure and sensitive about her appearance.

(Or  I am just reading too much into that scene... )

[Reply #62 on:]

I finally got around to watching it today.

I rate it 7/10

Although I didn't find it that funny, I did enjoy the plot, but of course Bender's folk singing dream has been explored already. I didn't mind it being back too much. Other people mentioned the animation, which I enjoyed too. It was entertaining enough, despite a few plot errors and some singing.

[Reply #63 on:]

The prisoners were folks who haven't seen a woman in years.

I think Leela just mocked those guys... who haven't seen (and touched ) a woman in years .

[Reply #64 on:]

Ahh, folk songs. They did a great job with the animation of the folk songs as well as parodying the folk genre. The Jezebel character wearing a billowing black cloak- I beg you all listen to "Long Black Veil" as done by the Kingston Trio to get in on the joke. Well, really just about any folk song but that's the most obvious reference. I guess the folk theme would be less interesting to those who haven't encountered it much, but for me it was hilarious because I grew up in a household where a revolving cast of mandolin, fiddle, and banjo players dropped in to play "Rock Salt and Nails" and other such tunes while slowly getting drunk on the moonshine my dad usually kept in the shed.

I thought the episode was pretty good and I preferred it to 2D Blacktop. What I did not care for was the essential redux of Free Will Hunting's ending during the final 30 seconds of this episode. Instead of fembots with ass speakers we got humans in booty shorts. Why was this necessary? It seems like the folk singer act should be dropped and just make Bender a rapper if what they really want is to animate butts.

[Reply #65 on:]

"Think about puppies, Bender. Cute, harmless, dead puppies."

I for one thought it was fantastic. I was relieved to see the return of firey, sometimes-insecure Fry. I don't think he was out of character - have a look in 'The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz' for instance: "Fine, I've got a toast. To Captain Bender, he's the best... at being a big jerk who's stupid and his big ugly face is as dumb as a butt!" and also, with 'The Deep South' but with Leela instead of Bender, in which Leela doesn't believe him about meeting the mermaid; 'Ocean madness. Yeah, right. It's always somethin' ain't it?' I've missed him standing up for himself, and think he'd been infantilized too much at some other points in Season 7. He's childlike for sure, but he's also an extremely resourceful, creative and deeply passionate (love for Leela, love for space) person, and that often comes with a firey temper (Think 'Xmas Story' where he tells Leela's orange parrot to 'shut the hell up!').

I don't think Leela wanting to be hooted at was out of character either - I agree with Zed 85 in the sense that it's likely something to do with Fry and Leela's relationship changing to being a romantic one. Before - like with the drinking we haven't really seen before in 'Fry am the Egg Man' - she probably tried to keep up some professional boundaries in past episodes where she was desperately tring to keep Fry at arm's length (despite wanting him badly). You can see this in 'Insane in the Mainframe' - as soon as Fry is pretty much out of his mind, Leela is all over him (which obviously isn't an okay thing to do to him). However, *now* it doesn't matter if she drinks heavily or engages with her sexuality around Fry - if she sleeps with him, and that pulls them deeper into a romantic relationship, the ending of 'Overclockwise' has made that all okay, and they can both relax more, but especially Leela.

I don't believe Fry was being oblivious to Leela's advances in his appartment, either. She's been ignoring his trauma with Bender leaving him to be murdered the whole time. If you notice their body language as they watch 'Everybody Loves Hypnotoad' Leela is leaning towards in slightly, but Fry is just sat casually as if he couldn't care less that she's there. That's pretty unusual, so to me it looks like he knows exactly what she's doing, and isn't having any of it. Fry tends to value sexual consent when it comes to himself very highly ("Leela! No means no!") so if there was any conflict at all in their relationship at the time, it would be a no.

There's my thoughts for now on the background parts - I'll be back.

[Reply #66 on:]

I don't believe Fry was being oblivious to Leela's advances in his appartment, either. She's been ignoring his trauma with Bender leaving him to be murdered the whole time. If you notice their body language as they watch 'Everybody Loves Hypnotoad' Leela is leaning towards in slightly, but Fry is just sat casually as if he couldn't care less that she's there. That's pretty unusual, so to me it looks like he knows exactly what she's doing, and isn't having any of it. Fry tends to value sexual consent when it comes to himself very highly ("Leela! No means no!") so if there was any conflict at all in their relationship at the time, it would be a no.

I think Fry just doesn't notice Leela's approach since he's thinking something else. Joke seems to be that when concentrating to something, he's not able to notice any innuendo. And Fry is not that smart anyway...

But, yes, maybe Fry is subconsciously blocking Leela away, when he has a personal conflict. Like in "Free Will Hunting" he suddenly gets interested in Leela, when Bender comes back.

[Reply #67 on:]

I enjoyed this episode far more than I was expecting to, and completely disagree with those who say it's Ken Keeler's worst offering. I mean, "The Tip of the Zoidberg" and "The Six Million Dollar Mon" were almost appallingly bad, I thought, what with the myriad dismemberments and nonsensical, overly-cartoon-y endings; this episode, meanwhile, had an in-story explanation for all its craziness, and I appreciated that twist. I also appreciated how the story focused mainly on the trio, and in that way it reminded me a lot of "The Honking" (another underrated Keeler episode that I absolutely love). Think about it: much like in "The Honking," in this episode Bender finds himself in a dangerous, somewhat self-inflicted scenario; much like in "The Honking," an emotionally-wounded Fry and a mostly all-business Leela have to save him.

I say this all without meaning to imply that this episode was particularly derivative of "The Honking." (In fact, I don't even think it was all that derivative of "Bendin' in the Wind"--though, gun-to-my-head, I guess I'd have to pick BitW as a better episode than this one.) Though I agree with DtB, Zed, and others who say this episode follows the typical formula for Bender-centric stories, this fact doesn't bother me because I have always been pretty fond of such episodes ("The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz," "Godfellas," and "Bend Her" are Top 25 episodes for me). I think Solid Snake is right that this episode has much in common with "The Thief of Baghead" (an episode I liked quite a bit), but I don't hold that against it, either; I would go so far as to say that this episode, in addition to Baghead and "Lethal Inspection," is the best Bender-focused one of the new run.

I give "Forty Percent Leadbelly" such high praise despite agreeing with those who believe this episode was low on jokes--which brings me to what's probably an oddball, unpopular opinion: I don't care how laugh-out-loud funny an episode is. Some of my all-time favorite episodes are popularly considered to be kind of meh in the joke department ("Leela's Homeworld" is a pretty good example), and to be honest this has never bothered me. I might laugh a little less at LH than I do at something like "The Problem With Popplers" (another brilliant episode, albeit in an entirely different way), but it still engages me and resonates with me and gives me those feel-good Futurama warm-and-fuzzies I love so well. I watch this show, ultimately, for its characters and the dynamics between them; episodes that well showcase these relationships and their players are inevitably among my favorites of the series. I certainly appreciate episodes that manage to make me sympathize with the characters whilst laughing my ass off at them--but, to me, this combination is not a prerequisite for greatness.

This is not to say that I thought this episode was great, or even far from average (I do think it is the second-best offering thus far this season, behind "Fry and Leela's Big Fling"), but it certainly didn't actively bother and/or disappoint me. I liked how things in act two seemed very much off-kilter (what with life imitating Bender's "art" so closely; I particularly liked his line to Jezebel about not having to change any lyrics because the fictional floozy in his song had the same name), and how this was explained later on. I don't think this was the best plotting ever, mind you, but I was so happy to discover that what seemed like lazy writing in act two (what with Big Caboose just showing up to Bender's apartment without any explanation) paid off in act three with the twist about the 3D printer. I will admit that I am perhaps just so jaded by the unexplained bad writing in other episodes of the new run that I was inordinately grateful to have an in-story reason for all this episode's zaniness--but still, I'd say this one is worthy of a 7.5/10, which I guess I'll round up for the purposes of this poll.

Oh, and I really liked Bender's flannel shirt. That has nothing to do with anything, but I just thought I'd mention it.

[Reply #68 on:]

There was a grammar/linguistics usage subplot hiding in the episode.

This is probably the single greatest episode of Futurama; easily the best to introduce new fans to the series.

[Reply #69 on:]

Definitely a move down from the last three episodes. Fry's anger at Bender felt incredibly forced, especially since Bender has treated him like crap in countless previous episodes without a second thought. The plot was okay, but as was said before, the "Bender wants to be a folk singer" part felt forced and out of place since it hadn't been visited for a long time. It still had some good jokes but it lacked that extra depth that the better episodes have had. I'd say 6/10.

[Reply #70 on:]

I will say that at this point, there are way too many episodes that use the death of a character as a cop out. It has lost any punch it may have had. It definitely deflates the emotion of the episode where you find out that Bender has faulty programing (which is kind of why I don't like that episode, because in this second run of the series that kind of revelation meant a pile of beans to me).

Also what happens to the creations once they're in existence? There's a new Fry running around, what became of him?

That being said I actually liked this episode. I liked the 'science' of the printer and the idea that whatever Bender thought up it became real. I can see how it's meh but I liked it more than Six Million Dollar Mon.

[Reply #71 on:]

I liked it and gave it a 9 but then I'm a railroad buff and like vaguely folkish music. Also like Big Caboose's Johnny Cash-ish voicing , the railroad tank town, Jezabele, etc. The octopus plural arguement reminded me of the debate whether the plural of caboose is cabooses or cabeese. 

[Reply #72 on:]

It just occurred to me that the concept of Bender's imagination turning into reality was also explored in Bender's Game. The main difference is that it was handled much, MUCH better here, and it actually made a decent amount of sense unlike that terrible movie.

[Reply #73 on:]

My favorite of the latest run.  I enjoyed the 3-D printing jokes, the folk songs were pretty good, and I liked flat, dead Bender.  Fry's 1-D whining about Bender abandoning him was the only thing that annoyed me. 7.5/10

[Reply #74 on:]

In response to what Spacedal11 said about death being Futurama's frequent "cop-out" resulting in it being less effective: how is Meanwhile going to be received then? I do agree with your point - the main trio have all had at least two "deaths" which become less impacting each time. So with the final episode revolving around the characters dying yet again, is it really going to move us in the way the writers believe it will? I suppose the answer to that will be the sheer finality of wrapping up the series, which in itself is bound to make us tear up.

Anyway, what y'all thunk?

[Reply #75 on:]

While caharcters dying/"dying" and bringing them back may have lessen the emotions related to death, we always know they're coming back eventually. Maybe it has become a recurring theme in Futurama and as with other recurring elements, the result is not as important as the process of how we get to it.

However, it may have become less surprising along the way and more irritating with several repeats. It may also bother if it's not done cleverly enough.

In "Forty Percent Leadbelly" emotions related to Bender's "death" were basically skipped and explanation became almost immediately after incident. This may seem rushed, but I think all the effects to other characters would have seemed irrelevant with fake death. And because explanation of Bender coming back was part of the twist of whole episode, resolving it quickly didn't bother me, it was still somewhat surprising.

So, Bender's "death" was done fairly well in FPL without making too big deal about it.

[Reply #76 on:]

There was a grammar/linguistics usage subplot hiding in the episode.

This is probably the single greatest episode of Futurama; easily the best to introduce new fans to the series.

So basically, I was thinking about your post all day. Will you please explain the grammar/lingistics thing? I'm fascinated.

[Reply #77 on:]

Gotta say I think everyone is overreacting about the quality of this episode.

I agree it was bad, but worst episode ever? Come on. I'd say this episode is on par with stuff like "That's Lobstertainment!" and "The Cryonic Woman," but "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" and "Yo Leela Leela"? No way.

[Reply #78 on:]

This episode was just very forgettable. There was nothing horribly offensive about it, certainly not the worst episode ever made as some seem to suggest, but I doubt I'll be watching it again any time soon.

[Reply #79 on:]

Woohoo!  My ratings of the new episodes have ruined my average graph.  Suck on that, mathematics.