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Author Topic: What episode would work the most as a movie?  (Read 2445 times)
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stum

Starship Captain
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« on: 11-16-2013 23:19 »

Self-explanatory. Thoughts?
Mr Snrub

Urban Legend
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« Reply #1 on: 11-16-2013 23:37 »

Thinking about what episodes could have been great if they hadn't been so rushed. Overclockwise immediately springs to mind. Four, count them, plots running around? It would've been best as an hour long special at least.
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #2 on: 11-17-2013 00:06 »
« Last Edit on: 11-17-2013 19:56 by totalnerduk »

Thoughts? How about "why open a thread when you clearly have nothing to say on the topic yourself?" for a start.


All The Presidents' Heads might have been better as an hour-long or feature-length episode. If they changed the method of time travel to something slightly less fucking idiotic than licking heads that have been marinating in a solution of crushed opal*, and showed a little more of history (possibly with more alternate versions of NNY), I think it might have made a wonderfully entertaining story.

It'd have been an opportunity to show Farnsworth getting together some of the great minds in history in order to solve the problem, as well as a way to get the crew dressed up in a few more period costumes.

If that doesn't sound like enough material to fill a feature-length episode, then there's also the option of adding another episode in there. My pick would be Game of Tones. If the Nibblonian ship had been lost on Earth in the past, then historical figures would be needed to reminisce or dream about stuff, in the hope of locating it. Then Fry gets plugged into the machine, and it turns out that the key is right there in his mind all along. :rolleyes:

Add it in as a subplot amongst the actual travelling in time, and get rid of the second Nibblonian character (just have Nibbler's people call him and tell him that the ship's due for a servicing or something), and there's no need to go crazy with the "Fry misses his family!" nonsense in order to fill up space.

Of course, ATPH was a disaster and GoT was pretty good, so I suppose that people wouldn't generally want to see both episodes replaced with a movie (combining a bad one and a good one sounds rather counter-intuitive, after all). But I think it could have been a fast-paced movie that managed to tell both stories, and tell them in such a way as to eliminate the annoyances of both episodes (eg: time travel that verges on the magical, and obvious emotional manipulation exploiting people's sentimentality regarding their maternal figures).

*Seriously, that grated as badly as the "British" accents for some reason.
Chair

Crustacean
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« Reply #3 on: 11-17-2013 03:17 »

Yay! Another stum thread! I'll say The Series Has Landed.
TheBPB11

Starship Captain
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« Reply #4 on: 11-17-2013 03:51 »

How so, Chair?  I think it works best as an episode.

Anthology of Interest could work as a tv- movie if it had much longer segments and more people asking.  I couldn't see it work as a theatrical movie because it's not that big of an idea, but for an hour and 30 minute tv-movie it could work.
cyber_turnip

Urban Legend
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« Reply #5 on: 11-17-2013 11:40 »

The Late Philip J. Fry
Quantum Neutrino Field

Liquid Emperor
**
« Reply #6 on: 11-17-2013 15:04 »

I don't think Anthology of Interest would be good choice. Making long movie for many smaller segments doesn't sound right.

I'd like to see Overclockwise, it'd need it and had potential to be excellent.
cyber_turnip

Urban Legend
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« Reply #7 on: 11-17-2013 16:27 »

I completely agree about "Overclockwise".

If they'd had the chance to expand upon Bender becoming god-like, a bit more, not to mention, expanding on Fry and Leela's relationship so that that didn't play so two-dimensionally, it could have been utterly brilliant.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #8 on: 11-17-2013 16:43 »

Second. That episode's main flaw (apart from the god-awful dialogue during the Fry/Leela scenes) was the fact that it tried to cram far too much story into 20 minutes.
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #9 on: 11-17-2013 20:14 »
« Last Edit on: 11-17-2013 22:14 by totalnerduk »

Personally, I don't see how dragging Overclockwise out would have drastically improved it. You'd still be left with Leela's utterly out-of-the-blue decision to go become an outer-space real-estate agent, Fry's rather uncharacteristic (at that point, anyway) decision to kill himself, and the uncomfortable question as to whether Bender is an owned device or an individual at liberty, to name but three of the problems that owed nothing to the compacted nature of the storytelling.

Sure, a little expansion of Bender becoming all-powerful would have been nice. There would have been some really neat animation involved, I'll bet. More scenes with Mom and her three idiot offspring would have been fun, too. But I think that extending the episode to feature-length would not necessarily have fixed the flaws that were present in the condensed version that we got, and that it could instead have been much more smoothly-executed within that timeframe.

The Late Philip J. Fry

Once again, I like the idea of the neat animation we'd see, and the potential for seeing a few extra tidbits (more potential futures, more of Leela's rise - and the eventual fall that we were never treated to - to galactic domination of the shipping industry, more of the universe's death and reformation, more of the march through Earth's history, and maybe a few more sidequests along the lines of killing Adolf Hitler/Eleanor Roosevelt). But ultimately, I think that extending an episode that was largely perfect in execution would feel as though filler had simply been pushed in between scenes that were already working brilliantly.

Episodes like Free Will Hunting and Obsoletely Fabulous, on the other hand, could have been fantastic as extended versions of themselves. The "vision quests" of the character coming to a profound realisation are rarely themes that suffer greatly from a little expansion, and bracketing segments at either end would help round these out into less Bender-centric episodes, with more of an ensemble feel to them.

Of course, I'd prefer a completely new adventure than a rehash or mash-up of previously-explored themes. But I suppose that's not the point of this particular thread.
TheBPB11

Starship Captain
****
« Reply #10 on: 11-17-2013 21:16 »

I don't think Anthology of Interest would be good choice. Making long movie for many smaller segments doesn't sound right.
Yeah, but if I remember correctly in the commentary for either Anthology of Interest II or Roswell That Ends Well they said that each segment could've been doubled so they could've given already existing AoI stories more attention, although they're fine as they are, it would be interesting to see what they meant by that.
AdrenalinDragon

Starship Captain
****
« Reply #11 on: 11-17-2013 21:25 »

Assie Come Home
Monster_Robot_Maniac

Liquid Emperor
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« Reply #12 on: 11-17-2013 21:26 »

I think Overclockwise is the biggest candidate here. With the longer runtime, we could've gotten much better lines from Fry and Leela, seeing as they'd have more time to explain Leela's dilemma, as well as many more scenes involving how Bender was evolving, with more explanation as to how it all worked.
Meanwhile could've also worked, as we could've gotten more time to say goodbye to the Planet Express crew and Bender, as well as more time to fully understand what living in a frozen universe would be like. More time could also be given to explain how the Professor got there, as well as more time to show Fry and Leela deciding whether or not to 'Go back around again'.
My Manwich

Liquid Emperor
**
« Reply #13 on: 11-17-2013 22:09 »

Roswell That Ends Well would make a great movie with the crew finding Bender's head as an after credit scene.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #14 on: 11-18-2013 03:19 »

Personally, I don't see how dragging Overclockwise out would have drastically improved it. You'd still be left with Leela's utterly out-of-the-blue decision to go become an outer-space real-estate agent, Fry's rather uncharacteristic (at that point, anyway) decision to kill himself, and the uncomfortable question as to whether Bender is an owned device or an individual at liberty, to name but three of the problems that owed nothing to the compacted nature of the storytelling.

I strongly believe that the first two points were compromises made in the writing process in order to make this work as a 20 minute episode. Fry's decision to kill himself was only a means for him to meet up with Bender; if there were enough time, this could easily be replaced with something more clever. All of Leela's scenes suffered from nonsensical plotting and horribly unnatural dialogue largely because they were trying to cram too much exposition into too little time, while still trying to give her scenes some semblance of emotional impact, and none of it worked. Again, with an increased runtime, I'm sure Leela's storyline would be tweaked significantly to fit. Or, even if the plots weren't changed in the process, I'm sure devoting more time to them could at least make the motivations for Fry and Leela's actions more believable/understandable.

As for the thing about Bender - I'm positive this has been an issue with other episodes too, unless I'm remembering incorrectly. Either way, it's certainly something that could also be addressed with more runtime to explore the story. Very few scenes in Overclockwise went longer than 30 seconds; not only were there some ridiculous plotpoints to swallow, but they were all skimmed past to the point where we weren't even given any time to TRY and understand the characters' internal logic during them. :hmpf:
My Manwich

Liquid Emperor
**
« Reply #15 on: 11-18-2013 04:25 »

You are wrong Beamer and you should feel dumber for even thinking that.

Shame on you :nono:

 ;)
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
****
« Reply #16 on: 11-18-2013 08:26 »

You are wrong Beamer and you should feel dumber for even thinking that.

Shame on you :nono:

 ;)

Is this meant to be a parody of tnuk? Because if so, it's not working.

 :nono:˙ɥɔıɥʍuɐW 'noʎ uo ǝɯɐɥS

Anyway, I think everyone here really hit the nail on the head with "Overclockwise". It's a shame they didn't scrap "Bender's Game" and use Overclockwise's plot instead.

I'd say "Free Will Hunting" could also work as a movie, provided they improved the terrible ending.
My Manwich

Liquid Emperor
**
« Reply #17 on: 11-18-2013 08:41 »

You are wrong Beamer and you should feel dumber for even thinking that.

Shame on you :nono:

 ;)

Is this meant to be a parody of tnuk? Because if so, it's not working.

 :nono:˙ɥɔıɥʍuɐW 'noʎ uo ǝɯɐɥS

Anyway, I think everyone here really hit the nail on the head with "Overclockwise". It's a shame they didn't scrap "Bender's Game" and use Overclockwise's plot instead.

I'd say "Free Will Hunting" could also work as a movie, provided they improved the terrible ending.

Nope.

Shame on you  :nono:
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #18 on: 11-18-2013 16:35 »

Fry's decision to kill himself was only a means for him to meet up with Bender; if there were enough time, this could easily be replaced with something more clever. All of Leela's scenes suffered... ...because they were trying to cram too much exposition into too little time, while still trying to give her scenes some semblance of emotional impact, and none of it worked. Again, with an increased runtime, I'm sure Leela's storyline would be tweaked significantly to fit.

So, you're saying that Overclockwise would have worked fine as an extended episode if significant changes were made to the plot, as a counter-argument to the point that even if it were extended the poor plotting decisions would still contribute to it feeling a little off-key?

My point was that the expansion of the episode alone wouldn't have necessarily helped the episode achieve its potential: significant changes to the execution would be needed, which nobody up until that point had suggested.

Overclockwise's core story (Bender becomes a godlike entity, saves Fry and Leela's disintegrating relationship, and then loses his powers) would have been better served by more time, yes. But the execution within the time that it had could also have been improved.

If the execution were improved, there would be no need to extend a story that can be nicely encapsulated and played through in 20-or-so minutes up to feature-length (which is the way I feel about TLPJF. It's wonderful just as it is, and trying to extend it would likely ruin the delicate balance/harmony it exists in).

As for the thing about Bender - I'm positive this has been an issue with other episodes too, unless I'm remembering incorrectly.

This, I can agree with. There were a few lines in other episodes where Professor Farnsworth/Planet Express is implied to be the "owner" of Bender (eg: Bendin' in the Wind), and there are the issues brought up in Free Will Hunting to consider too. If Futurama had continued, I think that sooner or later they'd have actually had to tackle the issue head-on of whether robots are owned property or "people", and I think they'd have done a pretty ham-fisted job of it based on how they've "tackled" other real-world issues (eg: Proposition Infinity).
Beamer

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« Reply #19 on: 11-18-2013 17:16 »

So, you're saying that Overclockwise would have worked fine as an extended episode if significant changes were made to the plot, as a counter-argument to the point that even if it were extended the poor plotting decisions would still contribute to it feeling a little off-key?

"Significant changes" referring to the natural way ANY storyline would inevitably differ when being written to fit a length 4 times greater than the usual allotted episode time. We don't know how these episodes looked on paper before they were edited down to the 20 minute mark, and I'm sure that each plot would've been fleshed out to a greater extent, and structured far differently (especially given that they'd be working with a structure of "4 acts over 80 minutes" as opposed to "3 acts over 20"). It's inevitable that the finished product would have significant differences, even if they followed the same basic story template.

The question posed was simply "What episode would work most as a movie?" I answered on the assumption that it was referring to the episode's core idea, without a clause setting it in absolute stone that the individual beats play out exactly the same, only more drawn out in length. If we're reducing each and every episode to a brief synopsis, factoring in which ones have an "epic" enough storyline and enough potential material to mine for 80 minutes, the obvious ones that spring to mind (apart from Overclockwise) would be The Late Philip J Fry, Meanwhile, etc. and I feel, due to the disappointing execution of Overclockwise in a 20 minute medium, it was the one that could most benefit from an extended runtime. The other obvious choices all made pretty great episodes and I wouldn't want to change them. Overclockwise had some excellent potential on paper which it never quite lived up to. :hmpf:
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #20 on: 11-18-2013 17:30 »

I just feel like too much of the general failure to live up to expectations was due to the points on which the plot turned, and that if it were extended the writers wouldn't have done much besides draw it out. I mean, I'm just guessing here, but I don't think they'd change much about the way characters arrive at point A from point B, or the (somewhat OOC in the case of Leela) internal motivations of various characters for their actions.

Perhaps I'm just a cynical old monster, but I'm not even sure that the writers would make a good job of a full-length, two-hour spectaculaganza, total re-write of the episode to avoid all the pitfalls within the version that aired. The movies suffered from pacing problems, and so many of the new-run episodes (along with some of the original run) have rushed endings that I think the best way to tackle larger stories and plots wouldn't necessarily be to expand a particular episode so much as to have had multiple-part episodes. One episode ends on a cliffhanger, the next resolves it (and maybe ends on a new one).

Allowing some bleed-through would also have encouraged better continuity.

Not that this would work for a season finale, since by its nature it is there to wrap up the threads of the episodes before it. I suppose that what I'm saying is that certain episodes are quite badly broken and that if they were to work as movies they might have to be re-written to the point where they're barely recognisable. Like Overclockwise.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #21 on: 11-19-2013 01:45 »

I just envisioned such changes as being incidental and inevitable. I mean, can you imagine the entirety of Bender's Big Score (or any of the dvd movies, for that matter) being condensed into 20 minutes? In order for it to work, the plot would have to be simplified drastically, I'm sure large portions of the narrative would be altered or possibly scrapped completely and you could probably kiss some of the sub-plots goodbye, too. Seems only natural that similar logic would apply vice-versa.

I agree on the multi-part episodes, though. I would've really enjoyed that, personally.
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #22 on: 11-19-2013 21:53 »

I just envisioned such changes as being incidental and inevitable.

Perhaps. I suppose the only way to know for sure would be to visit an alternate timeline where Overclockwise was produced as a movie.

Still, I really don't want to see more Futurama movies come out, and have them all be recycled plots from episodes that didn't quite match the expectations of the audience or the vision of the writers. So hopefully they're not reading this thread.
Beamer

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« Reply #23 on: 11-20-2013 01:42 »

The writers are all still busy crying themselves to sleep after reading the PEEL reviews for In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela. They haven't visited here since. :p
transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
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« Reply #24 on: 11-20-2013 20:17 »
« Last Edit on: 11-21-2013 17:40 by totalnerduk »

The writers are all still busy crying themselves to sleep after reading the PEEL reviews for In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela. They haven't visited here since. :p

Funny story: they actually did visit after that. Or at least, Eric Rogers did. Several members began openly flaming him in the "Walking Dead" thread after some of his comments on twitter. Then he tweeted about what a bunch of bullies we were, and how he was through with Futurama fan boards.

Three pages of various members (no, I wasn't one of them) mocking, flaming, and antagonising Eric were deleted, and for at least a few minutes there was shocked silence. Then somebody posted to observe that a whole lot of posts had gone missing, and by the time the dust settled there was no evidence whatsoever left of the whole affair.

Note: whilst the above story is true, there really isn't any evidence left that we ever had a Futurama writer visit PEEL, unless the tweets I referred to still exist. It was back when Season Six was airing, IIRC (I might be wrong though). If you want to try looking into it, Eric's twitter account is probably the best place to look.

Edit: Some of the original conversation is still there. It looks like just the more extreme flaming was deleted. Check the "The Walking Dead" thread, from DannyJC13's post on page 3. It took a few pages to die down, and there's still two or three pages of it left. So the pieces are still relatively easy to put together.
cartoonlover27

Professor
*
« Reply #25 on: 11-21-2013 02:21 »

I think that "The Farnsworth Parabox" would've been interesting as a movie or one-hour special. They definently could've worked off of character interactions, such as AU Fry giving regular Fry advice about Leela, and the two Zoidberg's having more time to really do something with the box. I think any really, really good episode would serve well as a movie, because I love seeing Futurama extended in any way possible.
UnrealLegend

Space Pope
****
« Reply #26 on: 11-21-2013 09:00 »

The writers are all still busy crying themselves to sleep after reading the PEEL reviews for In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela. They haven't visited here since. :p

Funny story: they actually did visit after that. Or at least, Eric Rogers did. Several members began openly flaming him in the "Walking Dead" thread after some of his comments on twitter. Then he tweeted about what a bunch of bullies we were, and how he was through with Futurama fan boards.

Three pages of various members (no, I wasn't one of them) mocking, flaming, and antagonising Eric were deleted, and for at least a few minutes there was shocked silence. Then somebody posted to observe that a whole lot of posts had gone missing, and by the time the dust settled there was no evidence whatsoever left of the whole affair.

Note: whilst the above story is true, there really isn't any evidence left that we ever had a Futurama writer visit PEEL, unless the tweets I referred to still exist. It was back when Season Six was airing, IIRC (I might be wrong though). If you want to try looking into it, Eric's twitter account is probably the best place to look.

Wait, seriously?  :confused: That's really screwed up if true.  :hmpf:

But why Eric Rogers of all people? I always thought he was one of the most respected Futurama writers (and I happen to think all the episode's he's written are great).

I hope Mike Rowe never went on PEEL.  :nono:
Beamer

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« Reply #27 on: 11-21-2013 09:11 »

Everyone thought he was Eric Roberts. Happens all the time.
Mr Snrub

Urban Legend
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« Reply #28 on: 11-21-2013 13:37 »

From what I remember, Eric was shit-talking The Walking Dead on Twitter, leading to the more extreme fans on the TWD thread to fire back at him.
Beamer

DOOP Secretary
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« Reply #29 on: 11-21-2013 15:51 »

There are people who think The Walking Dead is genuinely good? :eek:
Mr Snrub

Urban Legend
***
« Reply #30 on: 11-21-2013 23:53 »

...yeah, fuck those guys.  :shifty:
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