Thoughts on Season 6 - SPOILERS

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Please use this thread for comments/remarks/reviews of Season 6 as a whole (or up to the current point in time). Things specific to a single episode should go to the according threads:

• 6ACV01 - Rebirth!
  
• 6ACV02 - In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
  
• 6ACV03 - Attack of the Killer App
• 6ACV04 - Proposition Infinity
• 6ACV05 - The Duh-Vinci Code

]



Just watched the first of the new episodes, "rebirth". It's fantastic. Lots packed into it, and lots resolved - but some things have been left unsaid or unexplained. I'm looking forward to Episode 2 already... which should be ten minutes or so.

Loved the ending. Wheeeeee!

Also, I do believe that the Professor might be even more amoral and callous than he was before.

Futurama has well and truly returned triumphant. I'm happy, and I'm a hard guy to please.

[Reply #1 on:]

I did not see that "Fry is a Robot" twist coming.
Nobody could have predicted it, and I base this on absolutely nothing.

V-Giney, hehehehe.

COMMENCE INTERCOURSE.

COMMENCE SHIPPER ENRAGING FAN ART. <This one may take a while.

[Reply #2 on:]

Hahahaha, the second one wasn't quite as good as the first, but still pretty good. Anything with plenty of Zapp being an idiotic asshole is good. 

[Reply #3 on:]

Zapp: Mr. President. What the hell.

HAHA... I love Zapp even more now

[Reply #4 on:]

In the olden days of PEEL, there used to be a thread for each episode.  Should we reestablish this noble tradition?

[Reply #5 on:]

I think we you should.

[Reply #6 on:]

I vote yes as this way people who fall behind in their viewing can discuss episodes they've seen without worry of spoilers and what have you.

[Reply #7 on:]

In the olden days of PEEL, there used to be a thread for each episode.  Should we reestablish this noble tradition?

Looks like Future Shock went ahead and did it. Although, I would point out that this thread contains a spoiler warning in the title. An alternative would be to have a second S6 discussion thread with no spoilers. The individual threads idea is fine, but I'd feel kinda dirty posting in a Future Shock thread. It would be like admitting that it had some kind of purpose and that maybe he wasn't a complete and total dickbag.

I'm really looking forward to Episode 3 now though. Really, really looking forward to it.

[Reply #8 on:]

These first two episodes seemed not to do anything for me. They went by really quickly and just seemed like fan fiction crap rather than srs welcome back to Futurama episodes. I don't know why. Maybe I should watch them again with my less critical hat on

[Reply #9 on:]

Yes, maybe you should. I found what might be E03 online... going to see if that's true. Fingers (or other miscellaneous appendages) crossed!

Edit: Bah. Part of Bender's Big Score. People suck.

[Reply #10 on:]

Ok so here are my reviews.

Rebirth

I love this episode. It has got a really good twist in the end with through out the episode Fry was a robot. I really do love Fry’s and Leela’s relationship. Some of the scenes made me cry as well. Good to see Bender back with his jokes and stuff. Made me think how I miss him a lot. I hope the robot Leela and Fry come back.

In A Gadda Da Leela

I am very disappointed in this episode. It is good but Leela is well out of character. How could she fall for Zapp’s seducing ways and what even worst she agrees to have sex with him to save the world and it right in front of Fry and everybody else. We all know that she hates Zapp.

[Reply #11 on:]

I'd feel kinda dirty posting in a Future Shock thread. It would be like admitting that it had some kind of purpose and that maybe he wasn't a complete and total dickbag.

Wow, TNUK gets angry over the smallest things. Wait until somebody kills your family, then you can hate them and have a perfect reason for doing so.
GTG and put spoiler warning in thread title.
TNUK can make the second episode thread if it matters so much to him.

[Reply #12 on:]

In A Gadda Da Leela

I am very disappointed in this episode. It is good but Leela is well out of character. How could she fall for Zapp’s seducing ways and what even worst she agrees to have sex with him to save the world and it right in front of Fry and everybody else. We all know that she hates Zapp.

Uhm, well, she does say she is delusional from the dehydration.  But Sagal's voice acting does not emphasise this point, nor does Leela look at distress or anything, it just seems weird.

Zapp's behaviour is pretty odd to begin with, but then the plot is revealed and then it all makes sense.  So I guess we are supposed to feel weird about him acting nice and such, because he for once actually made a plan to get her seduced.  Even by further dehydration through the food (or whatever they were called) and I am willing to accept this.  However, as I've said, Leela's voice or behaviour does not seem to indicate that she is at distress, we have to be told about it.

[Reply #13 on:]

Yeah, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" was...bizarre. It felt more like an episode from the original run to me than did "Rebirth" (not to say it was any better--though I found it pretty funny), although Leela was horrendously out-of-character. But, y'know, the same could be said for "Rebirth"--I think they have to figure out some middle-ground between this Loving Fry and Hating Fry thing, because at present she seems lacking in personality.

At any rate, I thought that consummating thing was unnecessary--and Leela was a bit too gung-ho about it. I don't know, the whole episode gave me a sense that the writers weren't even trying; the only sense of continuity, characterization-wise, was Zapp's desire to get in Leela's pants. I don't get why Leela was falling so hard for Zapp when they established in "Rebirth", quite overtly, that she loves Fry. I mean, I don't think that ending was meant to destroy the ship in any way, but it didn't serve any purpose and wasn't particularly funny (I did like "Approved for all audiences!" though).

I feel like, for a lot of people, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" will be like the "Beast With a Billion Backs" of the new series. I mean, only time will tell, but I get that vibe from it; I imagine a lot of shippers will be kind of pissed. (For my part, I'm more annoyed with Leela's characterization than with the portrayal of Fry and Leela's relationship generally--and, like I said, I don't think anything malicious was intended by that ending.)

Honestly, I think I'd give the first act and a half of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" a better score than I would all of "Rebirth"--but all that Eden stuff (which I thought I'd really like) brings the episode's overall score waaay down. "Rebirth" at least had more emotional resonance, and it was funny (though not as laugh-out-loud for me as the second episode was).

If I had to grade them? Eh, I'll say "Rebirth" gets a B+, and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" gets a C. But those are fairly arbitrary, and liable to change when I see the episodes again, in all their glory, tomorrow night.

[Reply #14 on:]

I think I'll attribute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" to Carylon Premish.  Never heard of her before, but apparently show wrote that episode together with Matt Groening.  And all respect to Groening, but he is more of an idea man rather than an actual story writer.  So I am looking forward to some episodes with less of his name on it.  No offence, but just sayin'.

[Reply #15 on:]

My Reviews:

Rebirth
Good episode and decent re-introduction to Futurama. The twist at the end was really good (however I carelessly read spoilers about it before seeing it, damn) but yeah, good twist. Many loose ends were tied up which was nice. The Fry/Leela relationship bored me years ago, but I guess it wasn't too overdone here, so I'll give that a pass. Enjoyed the cyclops monster. Overall a very good episode, although the Bender plot was very, very weak. 8/10

In-A-Gagga-Da-Leela
This one was strange alright. I found it far more adult than usual Futurama, which may cause controvesy for some fans. However, for me, I liked that. The Amy orgy bits were hillarious. That's probably the funniest Amy's been in a long time. The story was good but I sometimes drifted off and had to go back to re-follow it. The Bender hamster line was funny. The most controversial thing about the entire episode was that Leela and Zapp finally have sex. Controversial and people may get angry about this. Doesn't bother me however. Good episode. 7/10

PS - I haven't put spoiler tags because it says spoiler in the thread title - hope that's ok. (Plus I don't even know how to make spoiler tags)

[Reply #16 on:]

I think I'll attribute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" to Carylon Premish.  Never heard of her before, but apparently show wrote that episode together with Matt Groening.  And all respect to Groening, but he is more of an idea man rather than an actual story writer.  So I am looking forward to some episodes with less of his name on it.  No offence, but just sayin'.

I think I'll attribute "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" to some kind of dehydration-induced delirium. Keep those fluids up, fellas, because I'd rather not have to endure any more episodes that are so uneven. What has me so conflicted is that the non-Eden half of the episode was pretty damn funny. Why are you only able to craft half of a decent episode, guys?

[Reply #17 on:]

As I wrote in previous thread, I´ve personaly really felt like watching movies again, except with even more rushed plots. These two seeme to be opposites with Rebirth being largely salvaged by it´s ending, while In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela actually being sort of solid (well, for the most part) but with terrible end.

 But I would say even from that I didn´t get  bad impression,  if not for other things then at least for Zapp´s dreams. I just tolarate this for the first two. If it was how the 6ACV line is going to be in general, then God help us.

[Reply #18 on:]

My reviews:

Rebirth
I enjoyed this one slightly more than the other one, good introduction back into the series, even if a little dull at times. Benders dancing was initially funny, got a little annoying though. I liked the continuation with the Fry and Leela thing, and having the robots was a pretty good twist, though at times it did seem a little like "Oh look everything went right and all is hunky dory," - I know it happens in the original series, but it was a little too much I guess. Overall I'm happy as a pig in shit though, it's back, for real like.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
This one was funny. Plenty of Zapp, and I'll admit that although I was really confused at first, to be honest, I had a feeling it was going to be a dream or something, when she mentioned the dehydration I had a feeling she was going to be hallucinating, but Zapps plan to get in her pants was a good twist, and his reactions as he was telling her made me laugh.

"Approved for all audiences" made me laugh as well.

-

I'm very, very happy

[Reply #19 on:]

In the olden days of PEEL, there used to be a thread for each episode.  Should we reestablish this noble tradition?

Although, I would point out that this thread contains a spoiler warning in the title. An alternative would be to have a second S6 discussion thread with no spoilers.

Then what was the purpose of posting this thread? Really? The two stickied threads serve the exact same purpose. The only problem was that the Speculation thread didn't have a spoiler tag. If somebody (original poster or mod) had just went in and simply edited the title, there would be no need for this thread. The discussion in both threads had progressed to the point of spoiler and no spoiler discussion of S6 anyway.

[Reply #20 on:]

I really liked both episodes, but especially In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela. Rebirth was good and had a lot of jokes, but like I said in some other thread its just dealing with the aftermath and reintroducing the show, it doesn't have its own plot and thus it's barely even an episode.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela was surprisingly good. It was clever and had a nice plot as well as a lot of good jokes. The Leela-Zapp plot was really disturbing and scary, and I kept trying to figure out how they'd get out of it. I first figured it was another one of Zapp's dreams, and then I figured that the Sphere did something to them, released some gas or something. The twist was very good and suddenly Zapp was all into character again, as was Leela when her behaviour was nicely explained. I also loved the crew-plot, although I felt the actual robewearing in downtown NNY should have had more space, there were a lot of potential jokes in there.

Overall In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela really feels like a top-notch episode that perfectly reintroduces all that I loved about Futurama.

And one last, subtle comment: I really love to see how Fry and Leela continued their relationship as settled in Rebirth. It's not ignored, and it's not overly spoken off, it's just there. A kiss, and a mention that she's actually with Fry now. I hope this is how it will continue, that it will be in the background and come to the surface only in a few episodes; it feels quite natural that there will be some moments when Leela hesitates if Fry really is the one, and if he is smart and romantic enough for her, maybe even moments when she is close to cheat on him being seduced by a smart, hot guy.

Aki out.

[Reply #21 on:]

I'd feel kinda dirty posting in a Future Shock thread. It would be like admitting that it had some kind of purpose and that maybe he wasn't a complete and total dickbag.

Wow, TNUK gets angry over the smallest things. Wait until somebody kills your family, then you can hate them and have a perfect reason for doing so.
GTG and put spoiler warning in thread title.
TNUK can make the second episode thread if it matters so much to him.

Listen, crackbreath, I've not been angry with you yet. Just mildly annoyed. You're a consistent, low-level irritation. Just wait until you've been posting crap all over for a month or two. Then I'll get angry with you.

Of course, since you live on the other side of the world, it would be unfeasible to hunt you down and slaughter you before my anger abates, so you're probably safe. For now. Probably. For now.

Having watched both episodes again, I am picking up on a few things that I think could've been done better. For example, the Bender dancing, Zoidberg cutting off Herme's penis and not eating it... WTF? He should totally have scoffed it. That's the zoidberg we know and love. Looking forward to a jump in quality for Episode 3.

[Reply #22 on:]

Zoidberg cutting off Herme's penis and not eating it... WTF? He should totally have scoffed it. That's the zoidberg we know and love.

So after that whole "Your tail is wagging" thing from BBS, and the castration in "Rebrith", is penis-play a new runner between Hermes and Zoidberg? Because that would be...somethin'.

[Reply #23 on:]

The penis thing was subtle, but a little too subtle. I don't recall a scream, but I'm going to watch it now whilst I scoff indian food, so we'll see.

[Reply #24 on:]

Really don't like these 2 new episodes awful nothing like futurama
and any true fan would realise these are awful go on watch a leela of her own considered as the worst episode than watch in da gada da leela a leela of her own is a million times better and rebirth was all over the place aswell really dissapointed you will see what I mean it's like watching a completely different show

[Reply #25 on:]

The penis thing was subtle, but a little too subtle. I don't recall a scream, but I'm going to watch it now whilst I scoff indian food, so we'll see.

Maybe it was just, y'know, a circumcision.

Another thing of note: Did anyone find it odd that the plot twists in both "Rebirth" and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" revolved around flashbacks (IAGDL more heavily so than "Rebirth")? Structurally, it seems weird to let the audience watch something for twenty minutes, then pull the rug out from beneath them in the final seconds. It doesn't create suspense so much as it does confound (and irritate; all those flashbacks in IAGDL had me rolling my eyes and sighing in exasperation and all that jazz).

[Reply #26 on:]

I agree, by the last flashback in IDGDL I was a little exasperated, and wondering just how much he would have done. However, it was pretty funny, and completely in character for Zapp. I think the most surprising thing was that Zapp had a plan that actually worked. A stroke of genius or is he just a lot more cunning than we had previously realised.

[Reply #27 on:]

I think the flashbacks are a new thing that animators really love doing. Earlier Family Guy, newer Southpark, all of the Simpsons... there are lots of very flashback heavy animated shows around. I think it sort of seeps into the collective unconcious, and suddenly people are all like, "hey, let's do flashbacks".

[Reply #28 on:]

I guess I should post this here as my comment is about both of the episodes:

I really liked Rebirth. It had some good jokes in it and I thought it dealt well with the loose ends from ITWGY and I didn't see the twist coming at all.

As for In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela, I didn't hate it, it had its moments (joke-wise and plot-wise) but I thought the fact that it was slightly shorter made it rush along more quickly so all the scenes seemed like they were jumping back and forth pretty quickly. I'm guessing the reason that In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela was shorter was because of them showing the two episodes at once or something?

Either way, I'll have to disagree with were back baby on the whole "it doesn't feel like the same show anymore, oh god Futurama's been ruined!" thing. I thought that (in Rebirth and parts of In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela) it really felt like we were finally starting to get back to regular Futurama. Or something.

I'm so very tired now.

[Reply #29 on:]

I'm so very glad that I'm not the only one who feels like Futurama has properly returned.

Jezzem, I feel like I could stand to hug you!

[Reply #30 on:]

Of course it's properly returned. Just some people are picky and can't be happy with what they're given. It's still good, the originals will always be better though, as that's what we knew and loved.

Deal with it!

[Reply #31 on:]

Found this picture on the web:



*sniff* Awwwww....

[Reply #32 on:]

And on the subject of some of the voices seeming a bit off:

Sagal and Lauren Tom both say they had to listen to recordings of Leela and Amy Wong to get the right pitch again. But it seems the characters haven't missed a step. Fry and Leela are still "knocking about," says Sagal, while West notes that Fry and Bender continue to be a solid comedy team.

I bet the voices will sound more "on" as the season progresses.

Here's the link to the rest of the article. It's a good read:

http://www.seattlepi.com/tvguide/422282_tvgif23.html

[Reply #33 on:]

Really don't like these 2 new episodes awful nothing like futurama
and any true fan would realise these are awful go on watch a leela of her own considered as the worst episode than watch in da gada da leela a leela of her own is a million times better and rebirth was all over the place aswell really dissapointed you will see what I mean it's like watching a completely different show

That statement was so awful, I think it gave me cancer!
Also learn to use punctuation marks, for heaven's gate.

[Reply #34 on:]

'm so very glad that I'm not the only one who feels like Futurama has properly returned. big grin cool

ditto.

[Reply #35 on:]

but I thought the fact that it was slightly shorter made it rush along more quickly so all the scenes seemed like they were jumping back and forth pretty quickly.

Was it really shorter? I thought it was longer, because they even shortened the intro. It was definitely disjointed though.

[Reply #36 on:]

It was shorter. Look at the run time. I believe it was less than 22 minutes, which is shorter than any episode I can remember.

[Reply #37 on:]

I'm sure networks have started squeezing in at least another minute of commercial air time per half-hour time slot since Futurama went off the air.

[Reply #38 on:]

Well I had a look. It's 21:40 for both episodes, which is about the same as Devil's Hands and about six or seven seconds longer than older episodes. I'm actually surprised, as I also thought the show averaged 22 minutes.
 
So I guess IADGDL was slightly longer than Rebirth, seeing as they managed to shave a few seconds off the intro. It sure felt long to me with all of the dull Eden stuff...

[Reply #39 on:]

but I thought the fact that it was slightly shorter made it rush along more quickly so all the scenes seemed like they were jumping back and forth pretty quickly.

Was it really shorter? I thought it was longer, because they even shortened the intro. It was definitely disjointed though.

I think IAGDL was far less disjoint than Rebirth.  In that aspect, it felt like a regular Futurama episode.  Its pacing was decent and so forth.  It unfortunately just approached a scenario of pointlessness by the end.  And while the whole Zapp revealing his plan thing was fun, I felt the joke didn't escalate enough.  It was just him revealing more parts of his plan, he should have done more and more crazy or ridiculous or horrendous things.

I fail to see how their length had anything to do with the episode being a bit disjoint or oddly paced.  After you are 12 minutes in, there aren't really much meat on that story.