Thoughts on 7ACV24 - Murder on the Planet Express - SPOILERS

[Reply #80 on:]

Also, Professor is senile and McMasters seemed naive.

[Reply #81 on:]

Thinking about it, if the entire thing was a pre-planned team-building exercise, why didn't the Professor or Dan McMasters remove any weapons from the ship beforehand to prevent the crew from actually harming anyone?

Because then it wouldn't have been funny when Friender shot McMasters to nothingness.

[Reply #82 on:]

Does anybody else remember that website that had schematics of the Planet Express layout? It was called "Planet Express Service Station", later merged into "Aint No Such Thing As Too Much Amy Wong". The schematics are archived here:

http://reocities.com/Area51/omega/5795/planetblueprints.html

The website appears to be long abandoned, but the owner would be tearing his hair out over the numerous huge changes to the PE ship seen in this episode.

[Reply #83 on:]

Holy shit, that was a funny episode. It'd been far too long since I'd properly laughed at a Futurama episode, and this had me in tears. Team Hermberg and the fact the creature kept surprsing me was hilarious. I actually really liked the ending, it didn't feel like a cop out or it ended too early. The first act was the weakest, the kidney joke was ehh, but I enjoyed the return of the F-Ray and the continuity that Amy is good at golf. I give it a high 9/10. I'm so glad this season has picked up. I was worried it was sure to be going out on a whimper.

[Reply #84 on:]

They did say this season was going to be good. I loved this episode. Plenty of good jokes, and I really enjoyed all the twists. And like Mr Snrub said I liked the Amy continuity.

Altogether I give it 8/10.

[Reply #85 on:]

First of all, lemme start by saying I love scary/disturbing episodes of relatively bright and happy shows. No, I don't like horror movies, or anything truly terrifying, I just like creepy episodes of cheery shows.

That said, I loved this episode.
Every part of it was awesome. It had every main cast member in it, a very convincing plot, and excellent suspense and mystery. Also, I'd like to add that in a couple of parts, it almost felt like it was some sort of animated Creepypasta, except toned down alot.

I'll start from the beginning of the episode, which was by far the funniest segment. Scruffy's regret of killing the fly was hilarious, and the fact that Bender didn't use Fry's tooth brush, but instead took one of his vital organs, was great. I can see how some may have gotten annoyed by the repetitive nature of the begging, but I think it sets up the main plot very well by showing that the crew haven't and don't and trust each other. That whole idea paid off very well, and upped the tension in the later plot.

As everyone knows, the second part was the best part of the entire episode. Why? Three words; Suspense, Thrills, and Action. I literally jumped every time the monster surprise-attacked as another person.
Initially, I was afraid this part would be the low-point, especially with the annoying cheer-up guy and his exercises. I was just waiting for something to happen to 'em, but I figured, "Whatever, still ten minutes or so of episode left. Hope he dies off." Then came the monster. When they picked up the Hitchhiker and did the catching exercise with him, I was 100% expecting a cheap "Oops, did catch you - on purpose!" joke. Then bang, the music pepped up, the atmosphere changed and the most startling moment of Futurama happened before my eyes. That's when my love for creepy episodes of happy shows perked up and I began watching more intensely. I liked how astounded the crew was about what happened right then and there, as it's basically how I felt when I saw it. When they got to the 'Panic Room', which immediately reminded me of the 'Angry Dome', i enjoyed the CGI model of the ship the Professor was displaying, and the ironic pairings he gave to each team. Scruffy's "The name of the game is Candlyland." line was hilarious, and in retrospect, I believe he was the funniest character in this whole episode. The team's attempts to boot up the ship were very entertaining on their own, especially Zoidberg and Hermes' part. But then, it got a whole lot better when the monster returned. I like how they pulled off his transformation attacks, especially the 'Chinchilla' one. So, blah, blah, blah, they get back to the Panic room, and assume they're safe. This part had some very good writing in it, to say the least. It made me completely forget the monster until it ate a bunch of crew members! Things just got better from, there, to sum it up fast, with lots of more awesome monster scenes that confused me enough to be spectacular.

The end of the episode, much like the end of this review, felt a tad bit rushed at first, but grew on me more and more over time. The quick end of the Happy guy explaining that it was all an exercise seemed very lazy to me, as they already used that excuse in the second part. But, when Fry and Bender trusted their gut and shot the crap outta him, I got more interested. Later on, i realized that there was really no other way to end the episode than with that, so I began liking it overall more.

Finally, I have to say that my rating of this episode is 10/10.
Awesome, tricky writing, great visual aspects, and excellent Scruffy-isms.

By the way, I was thinking, this episode could have easily been re-written to be the Final episode of the series, am I right?

[Reply #86 on:]

By the way, I was thinking, this episode could have easily been re-written to be the Final episode of the series, am I right?

No, I don't think so, it doesn't fit to Futurama's finales, which are more serious and revolving around bigger themes. However I think this would have been so great divided in two episodes, it would have provided more time for creature hunt and for building up tension towards the end. That scenery should have had more screen time.

[Reply #87 on:]

By the way, I was thinking, this episode could have easily been re-written to be the Final episode of the series, am I right?

No, I don't think so, it doesn't fit to Futurama's finales, which are more serious and revolving around bigger themes. However I think this would have been so great divided in two episodes, it would have provided more time for creature hunt and for building up tension towards the end. That scenery should have had more screen time.

A two parter of this episode would have worked really well! It would've been cool to have seen them give it a more thorough ending, and the time given to them with a 2 part episode would've helped them do that.
Whatever, it still was awesome. No changes deeply needed from me.

[Reply #88 on:]

This episode was crammed with callbacks and continuity nods. Here are some of the ones I caught :

- Bender brushing his ass with Fry's toothbrush. (The Butterjunk Effect.)

- Zoidberg uses what looks like the F-Ray to view The Professor's kidney.

- The return of Leela's punching bag, last seen (to my memory) in My Three Suns.

- Leela once again is horrified to learn she ate a part of Fry . . . but enjoyed it at the time. (Fun on a Bun.)

- Amy practices miniature golf, a nod to her days as a child champion. (ITWGY.)

- Scruffy eloquently mourns the loss of vermin. (Benderama.)

- Fry rides on Bender's shoulders (as he did in the parade scene in Ghosts in the Machines) while spacewalking.

- The ship's basement (last seen in Proposition Infinity) returns.

- Nine from ITWGY appears again, with emphasis on his amazingly dextrous feet, his paranoia, and his tin foil hat.

- Bender's gyroscope is mentioned again. (He carried the explosive souffle in The Mutants Are Revolting, because he's "gyroscopically stable.)

- Zoidberg's ink defense reappears. (Last seen, I think, in The Cyber House Rules.)

- HAL is mentioned again. (Callback to Calculon's monologue in Calculon 2.0.)

Favorite things :

- "How dare you accuse me! I would never do something like that to a friend, every single night while he's sleeping!"

- 15 inch floppy disk.  

- "Lies! He's just jealous that my ass is shinier than his teeth!"

- Bender stealing Fry's kidney, and Fry twisting about to look at the scar. (For some reason that just amused the heck out of me.)

"Yet still I feel empty inside."

- Jackie Jr's non-introduction to the team.  

- "It's time we solved this problem the old-fashioned way - by shooting it!"

- "Why do I have to team up with him?" "And me with her?" "And I with it?"

- Scruffy was supposed to install "Alien-proof air vents".

- "Lots of people wear a jock-strap thinking it's a thong!"

- "Yay, Lamy!"  

- Bender bouncing down the hallway and coming face-to-face with the creature.

- "Um, Bender? Where did you get those ears?"

- "One of us must be the bad creature!" - "Is it me, maybe?"

- Fry and Leela in the closet. "I'm the creature!"

- Fry and Bender trying to find something only the other would know. And Fry admitting he sometimes unpolishes Bender's ass with sandpaper.  

- "I think it moved!" *blasts the pile of ash into atoms*

[Reply #89 on:]

TSSI! Leela biting Fry's lip was your idea; they stole it!

[Reply #90 on:]

It was? I don't remember that . . . 

Unless it was in one of my fanfics. Those things just keep on growing and growing, like the product of Momcorp genetic engineering. I'm sure I'm gonna run up against some kind of chapter limit soon. But they do contain many varieties of fluff, angst and snu-snu, so it seems likely there was some lip-biting in there. I am partial to it. 

[Reply #91 on:]

Yeah, it was in your fic. A certain angry discussion in a closet at Amy's enagement party... (If you hit a chapter limit, you could just make part two? *slips TSSI a twenty*...right?)

[Reply #92 on:]

Ah-ha . . .  now I remember. 

*pockets twenty*

Oh, there's a whole bunch of chapters still to go, you won't need a part two. Which would be . . . hard to do, anyway. That's all I'm sayin'.

*returns to topic before the mods consign me to PEELie hell*

(I don't know what PEELie hell consists of, but in my worst imaginings Unmentionable lives there and it is terrifying.)

[Reply #93 on:]

Peelie Hell is basically 'Hippie Toad's fan arat thread'.

[Reply #94 on:]

I'll be sure to check that out. But nothing could be worse than Unmentionable. The inner circle of Hell is reserved for traitors, mutineers . . . and people who threaten to kill cartoon writers.

[edit] : Oh, god. I now know what "arat" is, and want to scrub it from my eyeballs. I regret that I can never unsee Humungous Melted Bender, or that hideous conglomeration known as The-Shrek-Leela-Marge-Monster-emerging-from-a-McDonalad's-fry-vat.

*sings*

"Here on Level Nine of PEELie Hell!"

*jazz hands*

[Reply #95 on:]

Ok, I'm fairly new & who is unmentionable? I get that he's supposedly "unmentionable", but as Morbo would say: I DEMAND he be mentioned!

Now I'm off to search arat on this forum.

[Reply #96 on:]

Ok, I'm fairly new & who he is unmentionable? I get that he's supposedly "unmentionable", but as Morbo would say: I DEMAND he be mentioned!

Now I'm off to search arat on this forum.

Unmentionable was a PEELer called Onuki, who caused such large amounts of drama that the PEEL admins blocked his name (If you try to type it, it shows up as "Unmentionable").

[Reply #97 on:]

Ok, I'm fairly new & who he is unmentionable? I get that he's supposedly "unmentionable", but as Morbo would say: I DEMAND he be mentioned!

Now I'm off to search arat on this forum.

Unmentionable was a PEELer called Onuki, who caused such large amounts of drama that the PEEL admins blocked his name (If you try to type it, it shows up as "Unmentionable").

I searched him, and his name still is 'Unmentionable'. What the peelie hell does that mean, anyway?
Oh, and for the sake of your own sanity, please don't search for arat. The kinda crap in that thread will turn a Murderous Lumberjack who builds cars just to throw at buildings into a scrawny, introvert, Bruno Mars praising nerdlinger...

Also, I'd like to add that this episode is by far the best 3rd-to-last Futurama episode/movie. Hopefully 'Stench and Stenchibility' is the best 2nd-to-laster.

EDIT oh, I see what you mean now....That's hilarious!

[Reply #98 on:]

Ahh, the Qnuki days......Those are times I shall not be forgetting anytime soon.

[Reply #99 on:]

It's good to know that my posts are read.  

[Reply #100 on:]

[edit] : Oh, god. I now know what "arat" is, and want to scrub it from my eyeballs. I regret that I can never unsee Humungous Melted Bender, or that hideous conglomeration known as The-Shrek-Leela-Marge-Monster-emerging-from-a-McDonalad's-fry-vat.

*sings*

"Here on Level Nine of PEELie Hell!"

*jazz hands*

I had to do this.

Also, it's made really crappily because it was supposed to fit in with Hippie Toad's outstanding art style.

[Reply #101 on:]

That's pretty funny.  The weird thing is I had actually seen that "arat" on another forum.  Futurama Fan Forum, I think.

Also, I bet people are pissed that this stuff is being brought back up.  

[Reply #102 on:]

I say it's best that the annoying tire track upon PEEL's whitey tighties was never mentioned. Ever again.

I really enjoyed this episode. Unlike "T.: The Terrestial," the parody of and homage to The Thing and Aliens was fitting and appropriate, not hamfisted. The theme of paranoia and suspicion fit perfectly with The Thing-like plot. Really, nothing seemed out of place--the twists and turns were very well-done and didn't seem forced at all--e.g. Amy revealing herself to be the alien though a similar ploy had already been done twice before. It was very clever and funny.

The jokes were liberally sprinkled throughout and I laughed constantly. The darkly lit animation and enclosed, tight spaces gave it that perfect feeling of claustrophobia and panic. So even while the horror element of being stalked by the creature was obviously comical and not serious, as others have mentioned here, I couldn't help but feel edgy as to what was to come next.

More thoughts later as I digest and assimilate the cells of this episode, I guess.

[Reply #103 on:]

I didn't hate it, but I'm pretty cemented in my hatred for season 7 now seeing as there's only two episodes left and the last two episodes were meant to be 7B's saviours for me, but still left me fairly underwhelmed.

I think this is my favourite episode of 7B (so far). I certainly liked it more than "Game of Tones", but I feel that I need to rewatch "The Inhuman Torch" before I can be completely sure of anything.

Nothing about it was completely cringey. I'm always happy when the show manages to go 22 minutes without making me cringe, these days.

That said, the jokes came fairly thin and slowly. A few of them were genuinely quite good, but the humour just felt very lacking for the most part.

On top of that, the plot was incredibly predictable and lazily written. It's one of the best bits of writing for 7B, but it's not on par with what I expect from this show. There were so many flaws with the logic and it was just plain stupid at times - not to mention the crappy ending.

So yeah. Good for 7B and reasonably solid entertainment on the whole, but it left me cold, despite being crammed full of lovely references to Alien and The Thing.

To be honest, the whole thing just felt like a hugely missed opportunity to create a classic.

I'm no longer even remotely sad that Futurama has been cancelled. I loved season 6. I felt that even if 25 of season 6's episodes had sucked, "The Late Philip J. Fry" would have been enough reason to justify it existing. Season 7 hasn't given me a single episode remotely close to that quality and it's just a real shame.

Anyway, 5/10 by Futurama's standards, 8/10 by overall TV standards

[Reply #104 on:]

I think this episode is the least predictable the show's ever been. For a plot that relied on the monster popping up unexpectedly, it sure did a great job of doing exactly that. I was practically watching it with my nose to the screen, looking out for any signs of his appearance. Even then, it managed to make me jump.

The scene with the Professor is a great example of this. Whilst I called the first professor being the alien, everything after that jumped about so much that I just stopped trying to guess what'd happen.

Dan McMasters falling and being eaten by the hitchhicker was obvious; but I feel that's only because I knew the premise of the episode.

Looking back, I feel justified in promoting my score to 9/10. Definitely one of the best since the show's ressurection.

[Reply #105 on:]

Agreed. I don't see how this was in any way "predictable", or "lazily written". That's just so inaccurate to fitting this episode's description. I agree with everything UnrealLegend said "once again! weird...". I didn't see that dark ending coming by a mile away. I was really expecting to see a stupid ending with the whole crew eating pizza and partying together. Also, I like how it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. No cartoon has ever done that to me.

Also, Frender. FRENDER! Who the hell can go wrong with FRENDER!?!?! That was probably the gem of the episode.

[Reply #106 on:]

I really enjoyed this episode. Unlike "T.: The Terrestial," the parody of and homage to The Thing and Aliens was fitting and appropriate, not hamfisted...

[Scruffy] "Second"

[Reply #107 on:]

Also, Frender. FRENDER! Who the hell can go wrong with FRENDER!?!?! That was probably the gem of the episode.

I almost forgot about Frender. That was fucking incredible.

[Reply #108 on:]

By the way, I was thinking, this episode could have easily been re-written to be the Final episode of the series, am I right?

However I think this would have been so great divided in two episodes, it would have provided more time for creature hunt and for building up tension towards the end. That scenery should have had more screen time.

The pacing of this one was extremely well done considering how much they had to fit in, but I really would have enjoyed much longer scenes of the gang deducing who was the alien (not to mention that the longer screen time would have successfully wrapped up the Hermes/Zoidberg and Leela/Amy stories like the Fry and Bender one).

[Reply #109 on:]

The pacing of this one was extremely well done considering how much they had to fit in

Yes, pacing is one thing that hasn't always worked out with season 7, but with this episode it did. Well, I enjoyed this and two episodes for this would have been appropriate with cliffhanger in middle. Too bad Futurama doesn't do (direct) two-parters other than movies.

[Reply #110 on:]

I really like that episode.

- Classic Sci Fi themed. Close to "The Thing", yet the spaceship setting automatically generated some (light) Alien atmosphere.
- The "team building" aspect was imhO a great and also necessary addition. Let's look at LaO for comparison: Cop movie can have a light/funny note, so it was suitable for a 100% spot on parody. While "Thing" is just too dark, some comedy elements were necessary.
I already stated I prefer a "Let's not give EVERYTHING a new twist, but only were such is necessary". MoPE is a good example for such a balance.
- With the theme, I expected some Leela as de facto Ripley vs Creature showdown. Fry and Bender were the least likely survivors, and I like that the writers chose them.
(Ripley was chosen to survive "Alien" because people considered a sole woman the most unlikely survivor by that time. )
- The dumbed down PE crew worked rather well in the episode. It reminded me a bit of "Prisoner of Benda". The pacing was great: The intro showed the Fry and Bender conflict in sufficient length. Yet -when the other PE crewmembers got involved- the whole thing was sped up a bit. Just enough to show them having the same issues as Fry and Bender, yet, without repeating anything we have already seen. I guess that "speeding up" saved the episode from another infamour "rushed" ending.
- The character balance was also a good point. Accasionally, they were a bit Off-character, but only when it served a purpose. (Again: My "Let's only give things a new twist when it serves a purpose" stance). Scruffy was a good example: Despite of hanging around with the crew, he still remained the background guy. Also "Who is she" "Iunno" cracked me up

Just one point:
The first team building mission (three teams, activate life support, light engines, get steering wheel) made sense. I also had no problem with the creature being able to swallow a human to spit him/her out later.
But afterwards:
- The creature took Leela, Amy, Scruffy, etc.. sometimes in a hopeless situation. They were not really presented a task to resolve (as in the mission). They did not really have a chance to learn from it.
- Should the second part have been just for Fry and Bender, there would be no need to act out the other deaths.

Well..but except for that, really great episode

[Reply #111 on:]

Mr. Cyber_Turnip, you know I usually don't mind/am un-phased by your opinion of season 7, but for this episode I have to ask. How is the plot lazily written, and how could it have been improved? As others have said, it would probably have been more of a cop out to have them transported to another dimension when eaten or some other unnecessarily complicated explanation. It just that seems to be a go-to criticism  for you specifically when reviewing these episodes, and it doesn't really hold much weight on its own, not anymore.

[Reply #112 on:]

I had to do this.

Show spoiler

Also, it's made really crappily because it was supposed to fit in with Hippie Toad's outstanding art style.

Only Available in Europe  Seriusly tough, Hell exists. And it is RIGHT THERE

[Reply #113 on:]

The Hippie Toad is an unappreciated genius far too ahead of his time.

[Reply #114 on:]

As others have said, it would probably have been more of a cop out to have them transported to another dimension when eaten or some other unnecessarily complicated explanation.

Speaking of which, what actually happened to the people that were "eaten"?

[Reply #115 on:]

As others have said, it would probably have been more of a cop out to have them transported to another dimension when eaten or some other unnecessarily complicated explanation.

Speaking of which, what actually happened to the people that were "eaten"?

I'm guessing they were spat out in a safe place.

[Reply #116 on:]

Didn't the episode have an explanation to that: there was a worm hole inside the shape shifter so that those who got eaten, got teleported to pizza party.


Well, no, but something like this:

I'm guessing they were spat out in a safe place.

He was a shape shifter, so he could have easily hide them inside him without digesting them.

[Reply #117 on:]

Amy, Bender, and Zoidberg passed through a moon worm miraculously undigested so it follows that the crew could pass through a shape shifting space alien (one way or another) just as easily.

[Reply #118 on:]

I think this episode is the least predictable the show's ever been. For a plot that relied on the monster popping up unexpectedly, it sure did a great job of doing exactly that. I was practically watching it with my nose to the screen, looking out for any signs of his appearance. Even then, it managed to make me jump.

I'm talking about the bigger picture whereas you're talking about the specifics. It was really obviously all just a team-building exercise - BOTH times that they used that plot point.

When I talk about the writing being lazy, I'm talking about the many problems with the script. Just look at all of the questions Danny has been asking.

And personally, I saw each of the parts with the Professor coming, but maybe I'm just awesome.

[Reply #119 on:]

When I talk about the writing being lazy, I'm talking about the many problems with the script. Just look at all of the questions Danny has been asking.

So, stuff like these...?

Thinking about it, if the entire thing was a pre-planned team-building exercise, why didn't the Professor or Dan McMasters remove any weapons from the ship beforehand to prevent the crew from actually harming anyone?

Speaking of which, what actually happened to the people that were "eaten"?

Because I don't think either of these indicate lazy writing. The first one is an interesting observation, but I got the impression that Dan McMasters wasn't particularly bright, and the allowing of weapons is what ultimately led to the dark but hilarious ending.

And the second one is something that is so minor that it's not worth taking time out of the episode to explain. Really, you'll find logical flaws in just about anything if you look hard enough. I'd personally reserve the "lazy writing" card for situations like the Fry plot in "The Bots and the Bees" or the hideously rushed ending of "All the Presidents' Heads".

By the way, this isn't to say I don't like negative reviews. I actually quite enjoy reading opinions contrary to that of my own; particularly yours, turnip. It's one of the reasons I like PEEL; there's a great variety of opinions that offer a lot of room for discussion.