Futurama Speculations: SpectacleLactation 3

[#600 :]

I know it was a joke, but it hits at a truth about Leela's character. She doesn't have much of an emotional connection to the viewer past Fry, and is thus dispensable.

But can't you make that same argument about a character like Bender? I mean, Fry is supposed to be our lens; we are supposed to relate to him above all other characters because, hey, he's just a loser from our own time. I think it's only natural for our emotional investment in every character to depend, to certain extent, on their relationship to Fry. I mean, you could lose Zapp Brannigan or Leo Wong or the Hyperchicken without feeling too bummed out about it: these are all characters with whom Fry has interacted but for whom he has no particularly warm or fuzzy feelings. Leela and Bender (and any member of the PE crew, really) would come as a bigger blow, both for Fry and for the audience.

[#601 :]

Leela's become extremely annoying since ITWGY

She is in many ways a completely unlikeable character

Well, she doesn't have purple hair and one eye, but she has the attitude.  She's attractive and knows it, won't settle for dating anything less than a man who makes six figures a year, is kind to other, weaker men when it benefits her.

You all forgot one thing Leela is - damaged. Speaking as someone who got mercilessly bullied at school (small, glasses from an early age, asthma so strenuous physical activity was hard, and smart - bad combination), perhaps I identify with her in that regard. That sort of thing stays with you for life, or at least a very long time. Imagine how difficult it was for her, with her differences, making it in the world - even a futuristic one.

Of course, none of that is an excuse for being a bitch - I climbed out of my hole due to a circle of close friends with common interests, and studying martial arts. But Leela's only had one best friend - Fry - and making the leap to something closer with him would be a big leap.

Plus, she also has poor self-esteem, despite having a great figure, she thinks her eye negates all of that. So in her eye, she's not worthy.

Fry may be the Lovable Loser, but Leela is the Ugly Duckling.

Note I haven't seen the 3rd, 4th, & 5th eps yet - c'mon, Mr Postman.

I know DXC has said the series will not focus on the F&L relationship, but they still need a Big Moment - where we see Leela realise Fry is for her, tearfully tell him that, and promise to do better. That will shut the shippers up.

[#602 :]

I know DXC has said the series will not focus on the F&L relationship, but they still need a Big Moment - where we see Leela realise Fry is for her, tearfully tell him that, and promise to do better.

I must not be getting the same thing from Rebirth that everyone else is, because I've read a hundred different versions of that statement since the episode aired, and I thought we pretty much got exactly that scene in the episode.  Leela gets so distraught by Fry's death that she builds a robot copy of him.  Then she tells Fry (granted, its the robot version of Fry, but she doesn't know that at the time) that he was right for thinking that she loved him.  

We also get little bits in the following episodes that hint that there's a real relationship going on between Fry and Leela.  They hold hands several times, Leela kisses him in IAGDL, she tries to defend him when everyone else is sitting around calling him an idiot in TDVC, and she accepts Fry's proposition that they join the "Mile Deep Club".  

So yeah, I think we've already gotten our big scenes where Leela comes to terms with her emotions for Fry: one in ITWGY, and then the other in Rebirth.  We'll probably get more (my money is on The Late Philip J. Fry being the next ep with big, shippy elements).  The shipper in me is content with what we've got already, though.  I don't want the show to occupy itself too much with the Fry / Leela relationship, and I dont want them to hit the reset button yet again.  I feel like the writers have found a decent compromise by keeping the relationship in the background, and only calling attention to it now and then when it adds to the story they're trying to tell.

[#603 :]

Now I respect SO. I think he's a good man but quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said.

[#604 :]

I've always thought Leela's behavior towards Fry is understandable.  I don't think she's so bad because, unlike a lot of characters on TV with similar traits/behavior, they do add a fair amount of dimension to it.  As others have said she's clearly a "damaged" person in a lot of ways, and clearly has some trouble being close to people.  And Fry is genuinely a fairly immature character, though he's matured a bit as the series has gone on (though probably gotten a bit dumber too), so it makes some sense that she would take more of a liking to him after a while.  And, like a lot of women below a certain age (no offense to anyone here), she clearly sort of doesn't know exactly what she wants or sort of gets "fooled" easily by asshole-ish men, like Zapp or the Mayor's aide.  In other words, she's not just using people....they're using her.  Again, like a lot of women (and hey, probably men too) it just takes her a while to realize the good guy(s) standing right in front of her.

I've always thought she was a good character.  At least when they've wanted to, the writers have made her pretty dynamic and done a good job with her feelings of alienation and such.  Hey, I think I shed a tear or two at "Leela's Homeworld."  She's just flawed, just as Fry is.  Or any person is.

Also, I agree with SO also, and not just because I'm under a Truth-o-scope.

[#605 :]

Leela gets so distraught by Fry's death that she builds a robot copy of him.  Then she tells Fry (granted, its the robot version of Fry, but she doesn't know that at the time) that he was right for thinking that she loved him.

I agree with what you said too. But as that was a robot copy of Fry, all she's done is admit it to herself. Unless real Fry was listening as he floated in the tank. He was nearly done at the time... 

[#606 :]

Well, gee...I like Leela. Of all the "tough broads" out there in Cartoonland - or hell, anywhere else - she's tops. I understand her emotional distance from people, even Fry. She was abandoned, remember? She's a mutant, remember? It's easy to infer that she's been hurt all of her life. Getting close to people, and allowing them to get close to her, has to be difficult for her. And Fry, despite all of his good qualities, is no prize, unfortunately. Leela has at least enough self-esteem to know she could do better.

I'm sure there are female viewers who relate to leela's feeling of isolation as the only cyclops, and frustration with the endless unwanted advances of a guy who is, at heart, a bit of a loser. Y'know, the kind of women who've made the guys who relate so much to fry bitter?

Yeah, that's an interesting point. I remember watching "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", and wondering about some of the attitudes in it. Pudgy, pasty, flabby and not exactly well-endowed (hey, he exposed himself, and thus also exposed himself to criticism) Jason Segel is dating this beautiful girl, and he's not only kind of gross physically, he's a loser, a child. She decides to look elsewhere. I really couldn't blame her for that, and I really didn't feel sorry for Segel's character. But the thing is, I was supposed to. Is there something lacking in me that I didn't?

[#607 :]

sorry to post this here, probably doesn't go here, but i have a question. is there nay place on the internet where i can see these new futurama episodes legally? as in, ad supoorted or something where the creators will get a few pennies from me, and it can look like i'm helping out. hulu doesn't have them (unless they were just added) and netflix just has the original 72 episodes and the movies.

[#608 :]

I've read that iTunes is carrying the new eps for the American audience.

[#609 :]

Leela loves Fry and that's really all that matters.  I can't wait till they get married and have mutant babies!

[#610 :]

Should we move any discussion of Comic-Con stuff over to the Speculation thread? It seems to me that that's where we traditionally talked about stuff that others might find spoilery.

You are right, my good man!  The other thread was 'thoughts on Season 6'.  Not really the news or speculation thread, I say.

But am I the only one who's not super-psyched for the 26th episode? It sounds kind of gimmicky.

I would not say I am psyched nor the opposite for that episode.  In fact, I still know too little to get what it is about.  'Futurama being reborn in 3 different animation styles'.  I am having my serious doubts they mean redoing parts of "Rebirth" in different animation styles, and thus I have very little knowledge of what that episode is going to be about.

[#611 :]

I think Fry and the Prof and Bender are going to end up in that sexy-lady time-period and forget their troubles for a while and they might well have some backwards time portal or something but they decide not to use it because they're surrounded by sexy women who want to have sex with them.
Then I think Fry will realise how much Leela means to him and decide to go back, despite it meaning him giving up a sea of sexy ladies and this will somehow bring the Professor and Bender back with him. Of course, I'm probably way off.

[#612 :]

Yeah, if 26 turns out to be the real last episode ever, I would prefer for it to be a real story rather than an anthology thing. Oh well.

I don't see it as much of an issue. We'll all know that 25 is the "real" series finale (if it comes to that (which it probably won't)) so we could always see 26 as an epilogue, not in a sense for the characters, in a sense for the series. One last fun experiment to end on a positive note.

[#613 :]

Not exactly. 25 or Episode 12 of next season or whatever you call it will be a hybrid season/series finale, à la every other "series finale" we've had. If it is the series finale, then 26 will be an epilogue fun show celebration yay. If it turns out to be just a season finale, then in actuality, 25 won't be a season finale and 26 will be.

In any case, I believe that it's been stated that 26 is out of canon like AOI stories are.

[#614 :]

We still don't know much at all about 26, it could either be non-canon experimental, or it could be some strange parallell-universe-y thing where they actually travel through dimensions with other looks on the world. I may just be way off though.

[#615 :]

sorry to post this here, probably doesn't go here, but i have a question. is there nay place on the internet where i can see these new futurama episodes legally? as in, ad supoorted or something where the creators will get a few pennies from me, and it can look like i'm helping out. hulu doesn't have them (unless they were just added) and netflix just has the original 72 episodes and the movies.

Try Comedy Central's website.

[#616 :]

This actually should be in this thread, so I'm going to post it here too.

I'm getting too excited for "The Late Philip J. Fry". I almost think that there's going to be a twist in that episode. The initial impression that I'm getting is that the audience is to believe that Fry, the Professor, and Bender were all "killed" in time when they began to time travel, but the title of the episode just seems to be riveting with shockers. I'm getting the feeling that the future featured in "The Late Philip J. Fry" actually somehow still included Fry, but Fry f*cked up somewhere with his relationship/life, thus when Leela refers to the good old days with Fry, she's referring to Fry before his flub-up.

[#617 :]

Well, regarding the title of the episode...

I read somewhere that part of the plot involves Fry wanting to use the time machine to avoid being late to another date with Leela, but of course ten minutes becomes ten years becomes....etc.  So, presumably the title is partially a pun on the idea of him being literally late to something, as well as a play on the usual phrase that the title suggests.  Plus, presumably Fry (and the others) will be presumed dead even though we (as the audience) know otherwise.

[#618 :]

Well, regarding the title of the episode...

I read somewhere that part of the plot involves Fry wanting to use the time machine to avoid being late to another date with Leela, but of course ten minutes becomes ten years becomes....etc.  So, presumably the title is partially a pun on the idea of him being literally late to something, as well as a play on the usual phrase that the title suggests.  Plus, presumably Fry (and the others) will be presumed dead even though we (as the audience) know otherwise.

THAT WAS

SPECULAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT ION

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU CK

[#619 :]

Even though it started as speculation, I'm pretty sure one of the voice-actors mentioned Fry going on a date with Leela in the episode in an interview since then.

[#620 :]

Prove me wrong.

* [USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

[#621 :]

Okay.

LaMarche, in a separate interview, actually named this particular episode as one of his favorites in the new season. "The Professor invents a time machine that can only go forwards in time," he said. "And Fry, being perpetually late for everything, wants for once to be on time for a date with Leela. So he asks the Professor to jump him 10 minutes into the future so that he can actually get there on time. And, of course, disaster ensues. It's a very, very touching episode and that's all I'll say about it. But it's my personal favorite."

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/06/25/futurama-season-6-preview/

[#622 :]

[citation needed]

[#623 :]

I admire your spirit to fight a losing battle, Freako.  Keep it up!

[#624 :]

Always go down kicking and screaming.

I'M FREAKO DAMMIT

I'M FREAKOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[#625 :]

I knew I'd seen that somewhere!  Thanks, Turnip.

Also, I don't think I ever saw whatever the speculation was prior to that.

[#626 :]

Freako why are you so anti-shipper. Why can't Leela and Fry be a normal monogamous friendly couple... Just leave it at bees or however the saying goes.

[#627 :]

By the way, another preview clip for TLPJF is up on comedycentral.com for all you US residents out there.  Just saw it, and I LOVED it!!!!!!  Can't wait until tomorrow!!! 

[#628 :]

My birthday is tomorrow and I think I'm more excited about watching 'The Late Philip J. Fry' than it being my birthday. Is that wrong? haha

[#629 :]

Speaking of birthdays...

I liked the callback to the 31st century's version of "Happy Birthday" in the preview clip on CC's website. Have I mentioned enough that I really can't wait to see tomorrow's episode?

[#630 :]

The clip looks really promising, and Fry and Leela dating (sort of) is awesome. Perfect pacing for once (although a one minute clip of a first act doesn't say much).

[#631 :]

Fry & Leela make a cute couple.  I love it if they here today.

[#632 :]

What you say?

[#633 :]

I hope they have children.  I'm a hopefully hopeless romantic and I live vicariously through the relationships of cartoon characters.  If they can't be happy, then my whole world-view perspective of a happy ending somewhere down the line of this lonely destinationless journey will shatter completely and I'll roll back into the sewage pond one dark night as the house burns and the children dream of futures that will never come.

[#634 :]

^I have a sudden urge to listen to Tom Waits' Children's Story now...

[#635 :]

I don't see why Comedy Central won't pick up Futurama for another season.  It's the highest rated show on there! 

[#636 :]

They are probably waiting to make that announcement.  It's a new show for them, so they are probably a little hesitant.  But I am sure the announcement will come either in August or September.  It is not unlikely for them to wait till a broadcast season is over before making their decision.  They need enough data to value the show.

[#637 :]

i hope they give an announcement after the ratings come out for these first 12 episodes (so, the next couple of months or so)

[#638 :]

That Darn Katz has mind controlling cats, ay? Perhaps we'll need something with stronger mind control to save the day; Hypnotoad.

[#639 :]

Does anyone think that Zapp is gonna be more of "the idiot" we "love/hate" than ever from what happened at the end of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" with Leela? Or will he be more passive?