Is Leela stupider than we think?

[on:]

i.e: The Day the Earth Stood Stupid. I mean she knew that the note the Nibblonians gave her was important, she knew it was for Fry, she knew what the brains were doing, she didn't space out, she knew to block the door at the library, and (well this is for anyone) she knew who was dying and that she didn't know to push the bookshelf back up to save Fry.

Is Leela really stupid or something? Cause everyone else were total spaces. I figuring this has to relate to her being "The Other". Thoughts? 

[Reply #1 on:]

That probably has more to do with the brain power continually making Leela stupid than it does with Leela being stupid in general. They either kept zapping her, or the rays had a leeching effect like cobra venom.

[Reply #2 on:]

Well Leela has been given a few dum jokes(I can't recall any). But pretty much every character has exhibited stupidity before as gag.

[Reply #3 on:]

No, I don't think that Leela is really stupid.  The only reason why she acted like it in TDTESS was because the brains were controling the minds of people who have the "Delta Brainwave".  That brainwave Fry lacked.

And I agree with ShortRoundMcFly that every character had some type of dumb moment.  Plus, Leela is the brains of the show, anyway.  Sure, she's made a couple of dumb mistakes.

[Reply #4 on:]

It probably has more to do with the brains.By the way,Spacedal,your new avy is so cool

[Reply #5 on:]

Leela was only stupid in that EP. beacuse of the flying brains. when she came back to Earth the Brains started to zapp her brain.

[Reply #6 on:]

Yeah, I thought it was pretty straight forward that she became stupid because of the Brain Spawn?

Nibbler even said that as soon as she got to earth, she would turn dum.

[Reply #7 on:]

Thanks Benderfan1230. But I also kinda think that because Leela wasn't there when the brains invaded, it kinda disabled her brain. Making her more amune to the waves than everyone else not including Fry.

[Reply #8 on:]

smitty: keep your big nose out of this eyeball
Leela: no one makes fun of my nose

a stupid leela line 

[Reply #9 on:]

Gee everybody, way to point out the same fucking thing I already said. Five posts in a row of "IT WUZ TEH BRAINZ LOL!!!" failed to amuse me or sound intelligent in the least bit.

 

Originally posted by ShortRoundMcfly:
Nibbler even said that as soon as she got to earth, she would turn dum.

Kind of ironic, don't you think?

[Reply #10 on:]

does the 5 count as me

[Reply #11 on:]

Leela's generally smart, but she does have her dumb moments, like Fry has his smart ones, eg:

 - Thinking that brainwashing could be broken by a kiss (Insane in the Mainframe).

 - The first bit of "The Sting" leading up to her and Fry being stung has more than enough screw ups to go around, but Leela is clearly the queen of stupidity there, ignoring every warning, dismissing every sign of impending disaster, until disaster becomes the only possible outcome.

 - "Oh Fry, I love what you've become"(Parasites Lost).

But overall , I think she's not really dumb, just human, and humans make mistakes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Spacedal:

I think i know what you're saying. Leela doesn't get incapacitated by stupidity the way everybody else is in TDTESS, and you think maybe she has some kind of partial immunity, though not nearly as strongly as Fry (part of what makes her "The Other" ). A clever idea, but i can't think of anything to back it up.

[Reply #12 on:]

that was a waste of space anyway
kissing him: would of made him feel human again by the love of a human err mutant.

[Reply #13 on:]

I don't think Leela's dumb, but she makes dumb decisions.  I could list Zapp, Alcazar, Chaz, Adlai as examples of the dumb things she does in her personal life, and that would be it.  But she's also gotten lazer eye surgery when we knew she shouldn't, ignored/rejected all of Fry's well-meaning advances, etc.

[Reply #14 on:]

 

Originally posted by jerkberg:
that was a waste of space anyway

Life lesson: read, not just skim, all previous posts before answering. The original poster may have already answered their own question. 

 

kissing him: would of made him feel human again by the love of a human err mutant.

Nah, She knows more about violence than anybody else there. She should know that kind of dehumanising can't be broken so easily (see 1984). That only happens in bad movies. Even the way being stabbed cures him at the end is bloody doubtful.

[Reply #15 on:]

Here's my theory:

Maybe the affects of the Brainspawn only work fully if the victim is unaware of them using their powers.  In TDTESS, at the start of the second act the brains just come in and zap every building.  Seemly, nobody realized of their attack.  Leela was the only one who knew about the brainspawn.  So when she reentered Earth, she tried her best to fight the affects, but she was still made stupid.  The Brainspawn are affected by thought, so perhaps Leela was trying to think really hard to block the affects of the brainwaves.

In the Futurama/Simpson crossover comic, Leela and Bender get zapped and become stupid, because brainspawn did a sneak attack.  It just seems the brainspawn have a habit of doing things while nobody realizing it, except for the Nibblonians.  They were able to collect all of the universe's information for a 1000 years and nobody else knew about it.

Of course, I'm in support of "the other" theory.

[Reply #16 on:]

Passerby: That's what I was trying to say. But you're right, there's not much to back that theroy up with. 

[Reply #17 on:]

Another thing I want to mention is how Leela discovers the brainspawn for the first time.  One comes out of a trash can right?  Could it have been hiding waiting for a sneak attack?

[Reply #18 on:]

Personally, I think Leela was smarter than everyone else but Fry in TDTESS because she's smarter than everyone else anyway.  Except the Prof, but he's insane.  Leela is intellectually pretty bright: her assigned career just happened to focus more on her empathy and passive/aggresive tendencies, so she never really developed her intellect.  The only thing she's really stupid about is romantic relationships.

[Reply #19 on:]

Not to mention the fact she grew up in an orphanarium with limited schooling funds.

I think if Warden Vogul had of been a better bureaucrat he could have requisitioned better schooling conditions for the kids.  However he was probably just required to be a base level bureaucrat to hold the position of warden.

[Reply #20 on:]

 

Originally posted by knowsfords:
I think if Warden Vogul had of been a better bureaucrat he could have requisitioned better schooling conditions for the kids.  However he was probably just required to be a base level bureaucrat to hold the position of warden.

Possibly.  As I recall, he's in the triple digits...Grade 179 I think.  That's the 179th highest grade there is.

[Reply #21 on:]

my theory is plain and simple that even bender ruls 124 could understand. as soon as leela entered the earth's atmosphere she became dumb
my god when i was searching on the internet for dumb it ordered me a novelty dumb ass and gave me lyrics to a great song by nirvana which me being an outdated hippie would all like to show you.for no reason it sort of reminds me of fry

I’m not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I’m having fun
I think I’m dumb
Or maybe just happy

Think I’m just happy [repeat 3x]

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
Help me inhale
And mend it with you
We’ll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we’ll come down
And I have a hangover

Have a hangover [repeat 3x]

Skin the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
The soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up

[repeat first verse and chorus]

I think I’m dumb [repeat 12x
 

[Reply #22 on:]

I love that song!  Nirvana is my favorite band of all time.  Since I've been into Futurama, that song does kind of remind me of Fry a little bit.

[Reply #23 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:
 Possibly.  As I recall, he's in the triple digits...Grade 179 I think.  That's the 179th highest grade there is.

Vogel's rank is 135, and as seen in flashbacks in Leela's Homeworld, it hasn't changed at all in 25 years.

[Reply #24 on:]

Evan, Chaz is not a dumb decision.  He's a bad date, and she wouldn't have known it any other way.  Besides... he's the MAYORS AIDE!

[Reply #25 on:]

 

Originally posted by jerkberg:
smitty: keep your big nose out of this eyeball
Leela: no one makes fun of my nose

a stupid leela line   

In the commentary doesn't Groening say this is because the animators didn't want to depict Leela with anything other than a cute, tiny cartoon nose? I think this is more of an inside joke than a dumb Leela moment.

[Reply #26 on:]

Im going with Yuki's opinnion with this matter.

[Reply #27 on:]

Not that she hasn't had her moments. Like in Tale of 2 santas where she picked up the warhead.

[Reply #28 on:]

 

Originally posted by Venus:
Not that she hasn't had her moments. Like in Tale of 2 santas where she picked up the warhead.

I always wondered why did she do that?  I would understand if Fry had run out carrying the warhead and Leela telling him that's what they were running from.

[Reply #29 on:]

Mothering instinct?

[Reply #30 on:]

Yeah, that bit in ATOTS was wierd. I would have expected that from Fry, but Leela?!? What was she thinking?

[Reply #31 on:]

i find her lack of stupidity makes her not as interesting as the other characters?..

she's like the mother figure....

[Reply #32 on:]

I think an out of character moment for Leela was in Obsoletly Famous when she laughed at Bender being scared of Robot 1X. But that could have just been revenge.

[Reply #33 on:]

 

Originally posted by airbagfailure:
i find her lack of stupidity makes her not as interesting as the other characters?..
 

I like the boring aspects of Leela's character. Here she is, a space pilot mutant kung-fu sexy chick who shops from "Bulk Underpants Outlet". That's comedy gold.

[Reply #34 on:]

 

Originally posted by jerkberg:
smitty: keep your big nose out of this eyeball
Leela: no one makes fun of my nose

a stupid leela line   

No. I think since that was episode 1, there is an exception. I mean c'mon you can't really be harsh on the writers because that was their first attempt to make Leela not seem so picky with her eye.

[Reply #35 on:]

I just saw TL and Leela's lands the ship in a tar pit, thinking it is parking lot. 

Is that a sign of stupidity or mistaken identity?

[Reply #36 on:]

Where else was she gonna park?  Have you ever been to LA, man?  Besides, a still puddle of tar would look exactly like asphalt in the dark, especially when viewed from above by a one-eyed woman.

[Reply #37 on:]

I don't find Leela dumb at all, she is vulnerable at times but not dumb. 

[Reply #38 on:]

Hasn't Leela always been the only member of the crew to consistently always have the right point of view? I swear the writers said this at some point...

That said, she does have some less than brilliant moments like trusting her parents not to blab about her superpowers (I think it's also the only time she's really screwed up anything particularly badly? Other than Zapp?), the warhead in the X-Mas ep as already pointed out, and particuarly strange since she is even the one to point this out, in TBBoI-C she participates in that peace ring even though she remembers that ships move in three dimensions...

[Reply #39 on:]

She's the "strait man" in certain jokes. That is very important in comedy, as iis the "gay man." That's why there's Randy.