Which episodes should I watch before the finale?

[on:]

I made this topic before but I since lost it.

I haven't seen a single episode of season 7.
Which episodes should I watch of season 7 to get the most of the whole story arc before watching the final episode?

[Reply #1 on:]

Here is your original thread.

Given that it's Futurama, there is no "story arc" specific to the season, or any episodes that I can think of in season 7 that are necessary viewing in order to understand the finale (it has a few callbacks, though most are to the earlier seasons).

Having said that, these are the episodes that I thought were the best of the season:

A Farewell to Arms *
Decision 3012
The Thief of Baghead (a lot of people didn't like this one but I thought it was hilarious - it IS, however, necessary viewing for an episode further down the list)
Fun on a Bun *
Viva Mars Vegas
Fry and Leela's Big Fling *
The Inhuman Torch
Calculon 2.0 (continuing my comment about The Thief of Baghead -this is the episode I was referring to)
Game of Tones
Murder on the Planet Express

The episodes with asterisks next to them are ones that advance the Fry/Leela relationship further (and, in that sense, arguably give the finale more emotional impact, though again, nothing hugely important plot-wise in the grand scheme of things).

[Reply #2 on:]

To be honest, the episodes of season 7 don't really follow much of an arc; they're mostly self-contained episodes (aside from a few really minor stories here and there).

I'd suggest the following:

-The Bots and the Bees (not a super-amazing episode, but it's the first of season 7 and isn't too bad)
-Fun on a Bun
-Viva Mars Vegas
-31st Century Fox
-Fry and Leela's Big Fling
-The Inhuman Torch
-Game of Tones
-Murder on the Planet Express
And of course, the finale; Meanwhile.

I feel like these are the best episode of season 7, and I'd wager most people would (somewhat) agree with me.

[Reply #3 on:]

I'll add in that I thought Assie Come Home was pretty decent. Stench And Stenchibility also wasn't god-awful.

Avoid The Butterjunk Effect and T.: The Terrestrial at all costs.

[Reply #4 on:]

Also avoid Zapp Dingbat. Free Will Hunting is pretty forgettable, so you can skip that, too.

Naturama and Saturday Morning Fun Pit are the two segmented/non-canon episodes. I like them, though they're not the most popular episodes.

In a second run rarity, the last seven episodes of season seven are of consistent quality and are all well-received.

[Reply #5 on:]

I don't know about that. I think "Calculon 2.0" is one of the show's worst episodes and while I don't remember the general opinion on this forum, I've seen plenty of people agree with me elsewhere on the internet.

I remember a lot of people having problems with "Assie Come Home" and "Leela and the Genestalk", too.

Not to mention that "Game of Tones" seems to divide people who think it's amazing and people who think it's kind of stupid.

Freako, why don't you just watch all of them? I mean, anyone who's got the time to piss about on a Futurama forum clearly has a bit of spare time on their hands and there's only 26 episodes of the show left that you haven't already seen (assuming that you've watched all of the others). Opinions on season 7 vary wildly from person to person. I hated most of it, but I can't really fathom someone not having the desire to see all of the episodes given that the show is finished now.

And assuming that you're going to just ignore what I said and be weird, watch "Fun on a Bun", "Viva Mars Vegas", "The Inhuman Torch", "Stench and Stenchibility" and "Meanwhile" as they're the only season 7 episodes that both me and the general consensus agree on as being "pretty good".

[Reply #6 on:]

Stench and Stenchibility did very little for me. I actually preferred Bender's throwaway B-plot to the main story, which relied too heavily on jokes about Zoibderg's smell - a well so exhausted the show didn't really need to revisit it again, let alone base an entire episode around it.

Calculon 2.0 received quite a few good reviews, though I understand why quite a few people disliked it - it's incredibly goofy and has very little merit beyond its comedic value. It really seems to depend on one's sense of humour - the jokes are flying thick and fast throughout its entire run, and if most of them land for you, you'll love it. If not, I can see how it would be a rather unpleasant 20 minutes to sit through.

Though yeah, Freako, I really don't get why you wouldn't just watch all of them. I wouldn't have thought there would be very many members at a Futurama forum who wouldn't just jump at the chance to watch 26 episodes of the show they hadn't seen.

[Reply #7 on:]

Freako, why don't you just watch all of them? I mean, anyone who's got the time to piss about on a Futurama forum clearly has a bit of spare time on their hands and there's only 26 episodes of the show left that you haven't already seen

^This
Besides, there is still the little "X" to close the player
Also, I'd add "Murder on Planet Express" as recommendation, which is one of the last big Sci Fi classics Futurama picked on (basically "The Thing", though any story with a hostile creature on board of an isolated spaceship automatically seems to get a strong "Alien" vibe, too).

[Reply #8 on:]

Honestly I can see where Freako is coming from. I wish somebody had just told me to skip season 7A entirely (not that I probably would have listened). People keep mentioning Fun On A Bun and Viva Mars Vegas here, but they really didn't do much for me it all, though I guess I can agree they were stronger than any other episodes in that run. Anyway, just because we chose to suffer through it all doesn't mean he has to.

Fry And Leela's Big Fling, The Inhuman Torch, Assie Come Home, Game Of Tones, Murder On The Planet Express, Stench And Stenchibility, and Meanwhile were all worth watching, in my opinion, even if some of them had their flaws or cringeworthy moments. Stench And Stenchibility in particular wasn't amazingly funny and perhaps a bit sappy, but I liked it as a sort of happy ending for Zoidberg.

Not to mention that "Game of Tones" seems to divide people who think it's amazing and people who think it's kind of stupid.

Honestly, I was one of the biggest people to rail against the episode originally in the face of all the praise it was getting (and I still stand by my opinions), but most of that criticism was aimed at specific aspects of the episode, mainly the exploitative emotional ending and the half-baked resolution to the mystery. Otherwise however, I thought the episode packed enough decent gags and callbacks to be mostly enjoyable for Futurama fans.

I really disliked Calculon 2.0, but I'd have to watch it again to give an informed opinion. Definitely avoid Naturama though. Not at all sure how that one got so many good reviews from people.

[Reply #9 on:]

I don't know about that. I think "Calculon 2.0" is one of the show's worst episodes and while I don't remember the general opinion on this forum, I've seen plenty of people agree with me elsewhere on the internet.

I remember a lot of people having problems with "Assie Come Home" and "Leela and the Genestalk", too.

Not to mention that "Game of Tones" seems to divide people who think it's amazing and people who think it's kind of stupid.

Those are all fair points. I suppose I was weighing my statement more based upon my personal opinions of those episodes mixed with the fact that none of them are widely disliked (like Neutopia, for example).

Definitely avoid Naturama though. Not at all sure how that one got so many good reviews from people.

I thought you were going to say you weren't sure how that one got past the writers' room. I liked Naturama, but I think it is a story of missed potential and I wouldn't place it in an abbreviated list of Season 7 episodes, either.

[Reply #10 on:]

The bare minimum, I'd say, would be The Late Philip J. Fry* and Fry and Leela's Big Fling. Between them, they cover most of the state of the Fry/Leela "ship" as it stands when "Meanwhile" opens.

Rebirth and Fun on a Bun could be seen as useful context, but they're hardly essential (although I think that both are worth watching in their own right).

Paring it down to four (or even two) episodes does remove a lot of good Futurama moments though, such as those found in Murder on the Planet Express, Mobius Dick, and A Clockwork Origin. Each of those episodes has at least one thing somewhere in it that makes it worth watching as a whole.

Of course, Meanwhile does pretty much stand tall on its own. No prior information is really required before watching it.

It all really depends on what your reasons are for watching, really. If you just want to see how it ends, there's no need to watch anything other than the finale.

I stand by my original thoughts, and I agree with much of what Josh has said. I also have new thoughts:

Two episodes that I'd suggest avoiding are A Farewell to Arms, which is one of those that's funny up until the dumb ending that defies even cartoon logic and is a continuity-raper, and Game of Tones, which is cheap and blatant emotional manipulation that I can only assume people fell for en masse because people really are genuinely fucking stupid and deserve to be blatantly manipulated like that.

*Yes, yes, TLPJF is from S6. Bite me. It's never going to be not worth watching. Besides which, the original thread specified "the last two seasons", not just S7. Hence the inclusion of various S6 episodes here.

[Reply #11 on:]

and Game of Tones, which is cheap and blatant emotional manipulation that I can only assume people fell for en masse because people really are genuinely fucking stupid and deserve to be blatantly manipulated like that.

Well... I'm not sure that's true. I'm one of those people who didn't think much of the ending but I found the rest of the episode really damn solid. Pretty much everything in Fry's dream just feels perfect to me.

[Reply #12 on:]

Freako, why don't you just watch all of them? I mean, anyone who's got the time to piss about on a Futurama forum clearly has a bit of spare time on their hands and there's only 26 episodes of the show left that you haven't already seen (assuming that you've watched all of the others). Opinions on season 7 vary wildly from person to person. I hated most of it, but I can't really fathom someone not having the desire to see all of the episodes given that the show is finished now.

This.

Can't see how it's a hassle to watch 26 episodes. After that you're done, unless you intend on watching the Simpsons/Futurama crossover.

[Reply #13 on:]

Can't see how it's a hassle to watch 26 episodes.

Are you serious? That's almost 10 whole hours of sitting in front of a screen. If you don't have all that much free time and you end up not enjoying what you spent most of those 10 hours watching...I'd call that a hassle. There are plenty of times I've finished a full season of mediocre (not even particularly terrible) television and wished I could get those hours back (for example, season 3 of American Horror Story or series 7 of Doctor Who). But of course, those were the choices I made so I can't blame anyone but myself. If I'd waited like Freako has with Futurama, I could have had somebody warn me to avoid them. Maybe you enjoyed all of it enough to consider none of it wasted time, but clearly Freako doesn't feel that way about new Futurama or he wouldn't have asked in the first place.

[Reply #14 on:]

Freako obviously has a lot of free time on his hands, and he has been a fan of this show for God-knows how long. Why would it be such a hassle for him to finish one more season? Unless it's physically painful for him to sit in front of the screen, I don't see the issue.

Maybe he'll like some of the episodes everyone hated? Maybe he'll hate the episodes everyone loved? He should form his own opinion and at least finish something he's been so dedicated to for so many years, something that has clearly inspired him in his talent, too.

[Reply #15 on:]

Exactly. We're talking about someone who frequently draws pictures to serve as responses to specific posts on an online Futurama forum that he's a part of. I don't believe, for a second, that he can't find the time to watch 10 hours of television in 23 minute chunks at his own pace and with the option of doing something else whilst he watches them if they bore him. He obviously has an interest in the show given that he wants to see the finale so, like, why not just watch them? And when it comes to the average person's television consumption, 10 hours is not really very much.

Especially given that, as I've said, opinions are all over the board with season 7. The only truly consistent opinion about the season seems to be that "Meanwhile" is great. Every other episode seems to have countless fans and countless people who dislike it.

I feel that season 7 is the worst season by a mile, but I'm glad that I watched it. If I just listened to the majority opinion regarding what to watch, I probably wouldn't have seen most of the few episodes from the season that I actually liked. I really liked "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" but everyone else seems to hate it. I really liked "Good Will Hunting" and "The Inhuman Torch" and I thought "Naturama" was one of the season's stronger episodes but nobody would have suggested I watch those. On the flip side, I don't think particularly highly of "Game of Tones" or "Fry and Leela's Big Fling".

There's pretty much no episode from season 7 that is "required viewing" of the show for the finale to make sense other than the finale itself. No episodes have any real affect on the status quo except for...

Show spoiler

"Stench and Stenchability" leaving Zoidberg in a happy relationship - but it's the 2nd to last episode so we never see any fallout from that.

Freako, if you're that concerned about maximising your time, then just skip straight to "Meanwhile" and be done with it.

[Reply #16 on:]

Answer to all your questions: I stopped watching because I don't enjoy the show anymore. It had become painful to sit through.

I just want to get the whole story in the quickest way possible for the sake of finally finishing it.

[Reply #17 on:]

He should form his own opinion and at least finish something he's been so dedicated to for so many years

When you start talking about what you think people should do, you enter dangerous territory. What Freako should do is what he wants to do. At the end of the day it's not a matter of whether he has the time to commit to it or not...the question is does he actually want to use his time that way. And clearly he doesn't, or like I said, he wouldn't have asked in the first place. I think it's pretty ignorant for any of us to project our own completionist attitudes onto somebody who might not share the same tendencies when it comes to shows they care about. He asked a question, so let's just answer it honestly. It's not a difficult issue.

There's pretty much no episode from season 7 that is "required viewing" of the show for the finale to make sense other than the finale itself.

This is technically correct...the best kind of correct. The real answer to your question Freako is that there was nothing in particular that led up to the finale in any overtly meaningful way in season 7, so you can really just watch it and not be at a loss of information about Fry and Leela's relationship or any story arc stuff. Most of us just kind of interpreted your question as being "What episodes do you personally think were good enough to be worth watching in season 7?" instead.

[Reply #18 on:]

If you want to get the story without watching it, you could just read the episode synopses on The Infosphere.

But, as mentioned before, there's really nothing new you need to know prior to viewing Meanwhile. Just know that Fry and Leela are in an actual relationship now rather than the on again-off again nonsense from season 6.

[Reply #19 on:]

Answer to all your questions: I stopped watching because I don't enjoy the show anymore. It had become painful to sit through.

I just want to get the whole story in the quickest way possible for the sake of finally finishing it.

You're not finishing it unless you've seen all the episodes.

Fair enough if you don't enjoy the show any more, but why even bother with the finale if that's the case?

What you're doing is the equivalent of reading all but the last couple of chapters of a book, then skipping to the last page to see how it ends. That doesn't count as finishing the book; it counts as giving up on the book because you don't like it any more.

[Reply #20 on:]

Boo hoo, I can do what I like.

[Reply #21 on:]

I'm sorry, Freako, that is not one of the prescribed choices we allow.

[Reply #22 on:]

You're not finishing it unless you've seen all the episodes.

Fair enough if you don't enjoy the show any more, but why even bother with the finale if that's the case?

What you're doing is the equivalent of reading all but the last couple of chapters of a book, then skipping to the last page to see how it ends. That doesn't count as finishing the book; it counts as giving up on the book because you don't like it any more.

You might as well watch Space Pilot 3000 and then Meanwhile and say you've finished the series.

[Reply #23 on:]

You're not finishing it unless you've seen all the episodes.

Fair enough if you don't enjoy the show any more, but why even bother with the finale if that's the case?

What you're doing is the equivalent of reading all but the last couple of chapters of a book, then skipping to the last page to see how it ends. That doesn't count as finishing the book; it counts as giving up on the book because you don't like it any more.

You might as well watch Space Pilot 3000 and then Meanwhile and say you've finished the series.

That's how I watched the series. Are you trying to tell me that there is also another way ???

[Reply #24 on:]

Boo hoo, I can do what I like.

Of course you can do what you like. I didn't say that you couldn't. I just said that if you decide to skip to the end, then you haven't "finished" the show.

You can still say you've finished it, but that won't make it so.

[Reply #25 on:]

I don't think anyone is going to put me on trial for not watching every single episode.

[Reply #26 on:]

No one expects the PEELquisition.

[Reply #27 on:]

I don't think anyone is going to put me on trial for not watching every single episode.

Did you hear what happend to the last guy not watching every single episode ?
No ?
That's because no one ever heard of him again.

Think about it....

[Reply #28 on:]

Freako, just go ahead and watch only the finale episode.

It's up to you in the end, and it's a waste of time trying to convince you otherwise.

[Reply #29 on:]

No one expects the PEELquisition.

Winna and I won't stand for any participants in the RePEELformation

[Reply #30 on:]

I don't think anyone is going to put me on trial for not watching every single episode.

That could be fun. I say we do it.