Thoughts on Season 6 - SPOILERS

[#160 :]

Maybe he is just bored?  Or maybe he doesn't like getting his words misconstrued?  Which constitutes as caring in my mind.  Caring about one self, and one's position on the Internet.

SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET.  I must fix this.

TOTPNO EDIT FOR CONTEXT

[#161 :]

Thank you, cyclops duck, for fixing the internet.  It's been needing it for a while.

My thoughts on Season 6 so far are positive.  I enjoyed Rebirth; not so much the 2nd one but it had it's moments.  I still say that even the worst Futurama episode is way better than the rest of the trash on TV nowadays, so we're ahead of the game.

[#162 :]

This season's really going downhill.

Episode 1: Very good, great mindfrack ending, classic Futurama.

Episode 2: Average, and Zapp wears out his welcome very quickly. The ending is really painful and stupid.

Episode 3: Family Guy-grade crap.

I'm really sorry I came back just to complain, but these are my thoughts.

[#163 :]

And the bottom of a hill is just the beginning of another. And explain this "Family Guy-grade crap" and then show there isn't prevalent in the 72 episodes.

[#164 :]

Well, when we got a whale vomiting back in "300 Big Ones", we didn't spend the WHOLE EPISODE coming back to it over and over again.

[#165 :]

But what they did with Mr. Chunks was not Family Guy-esque. If it was, they would've only shown him throwing up and crapping for 2 minutes straight, and then later in the show have him still doing it for another solid minute.

And, with 300 Big Boys, they did the exact same thing as this episode. A whale vomited and the continued to reference it through the duration of the episode. They even had Kif covered in the vomit and then shed his skin! And they had an overt appearance by Rosanne explaining the vomit, an appearance I'm sure you'd be complaining about if it were new today.

If you're going to continue saying this episode was too much like Family Guy, you should've quit Futurama years ago.

[#166 :]

But the whale in 300 Big Boys was far more plot-relevant and their constant going back to it was for plot reasons rather than humour. Ambergris and whatnot. It only threw up because they needed to recover that watch too. The pukemepoopewe could have been replaced with any sort of horrible substance for them to jump in, it existed only as a joke. The whale vomit scene existed for plot purposes and they just tried to make it as funny as possible. Fair enough.

Personally I didn't mind the pukemepoopewe, I thought I wasn't going to like it, but it was less graphic that it could have been, but it's quite different to the whale in 300 Big Boys.

[#167 :]

Kryten, don't you think it's a little early to declare "this season is really going downhill"?  We're 3 episodes into a 12 episode season; give it a little time.

[#168 :]

Kryten, don't you think it's a little early to declare "this season is really going downhill"?  We're 3 episodes into a 12 episode season; give it a little time.

Well, considering the next episode doesn't look all that promising either...  Look, I'm trying to maintain an open mind, but epsiodes like this don't help.

[#169 :]

The strange thing is that I still feel like the writers "have it". Thinking back to last night's episode, there are a ton of funny lines. "What smells like bloody sinuses?" / "Hey, your ethnicity looks like the type that knows about technology..." / etc. The story idea overall is pretty funny.

But they just kill it with stuff like the talking boil and the endless 20th century pop culture references. While it is true that this stuff popped up in the first 72 episodes, I don't feel like it was as frequent or as bad. And frankly I can't forgive bad writing just because the worst FOX episodes also had bad writing.

...like I said, the show is still funny. I am not in panic mode. I just wish the writers would hire one of us fans to as a quality control expert. Just one level-headed person who can say "hey guys--talking boils are stupid. How about some other way of embarassing Leela?"

[#170 :]

...like I said, the show is still funny. I am not in panic mode. I just wish the writers would hire one of us fans to as a quality control expert. Just one level-headed person who can say "hey guys--talking boils are stupid. How about some other way of embarassing Leela?"

Here is my impression of you

*other* FJ: A Mutant with a Mutation! I DON'T BUY IT!!!

[#171 :]

...like I said, the show is still funny. I am not in panic mode. I just wish the writers would hire one of us fans to as a quality control expert. Just one level-headed person who can say "hey guys--talking boils are stupid. How about some other way of embarassing Leela?"

Here is my impression of you

*other* FJ: A Mutant with a Mutation! I DON'T BUY IT!!!

What a terrible impression.  His argument is still solid, the talking boil was a hit-and-miss joke.  I don't think he has against Leela mutating like that, but if you are going to take that step; how about making it funny?

[#172 :]

That voice sounds nothing like me!

I "buy" the mutation. We've seen Leela's naked buttocks before, but the writers saved themselves by mentioning that she pops it every once in a while but it grows back. So, continuity-wise, I am fine with Leela having a talking boil. I just didn't think it was very funny and it just seemed out of place to me.

[#173 :]

Okay it wasn't very funny, so maybe they just needed to find something absolutely ridiculous that would embarrass Leela for plot reasons because Leela is such a headstrong and independent woman. I could see them suffering around a table trying to come up with something that would shame such a proud and wonderful character.

[#174 :]

You both make interesting points and I would like to subscribe to your newsletters.

But I'm only paying for one of them.

FIGHT!

[#175 :]

But the whale in 300 Big Boys was far more plot-relevant and their constant going back to it was for plot reasons rather than humour.

And the vomit in Killer App wasn't? If the only reason Fry wanted followers was to win over Bender, he would never have embarassed Leela like that. Now he had a fine reason, and by the end he even used it to show Leela he cared. If he had sold her out for, say, money, he would have been totally out of character.

[#176 :]

Kryten, don't you think it's a little early to declare "this season is really going downhill"?  We're 3 episodes into a 12 episode season; give it a little time.

I think that 3 episodes into a season is sufficient to detect a pattern and comment on it.

I've certainly been disappointed by all three episodes -- although I still hope that the show will get back on track soon.

Unlike most Futurama fans, I wasn't disappointed by the movies. I loved BBS and ITWGY; and liked BWaBB and BG -- although I didn't like that last act of the latter. So it's not that I hate all new Futurama. I want to like new Futurama. I'd be ecstatic if these three new episodes of Futurama were as good as even the average episode from the origin run. But they're not. They're below average IMO.

The common problem with these new episodes is that they're not character-driven; they're plot or circumstance driven episodes.
"Rebirth": Leela's apparently dead, so Fry builds a Leela bot to replace her.
"In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela": Leela and Zapp crash on a Garden of Eden planet.
"Attack of the Killer App": Everyone buys an eyePhone, and Fry and Bender compete to have the most Twit followers.

And don't bother trying to refute my opinion by arguing (in a shrill, whiny voice) "There have been are lots of plot-driven episodes of Futurama before. Blah-blah-blah..." I know there have; but they were written better than these episodes, and most importantly, the were funnier!

The humour should come from the characters, and not from the circumstances and contrivances that the characters are placed in.

@Kryten:
I don't think that it's fair to pre-judge an upcoming episode as bad, even if you don't think the plot sounds promising, because your pre-conceived opinion of it can slant your reception of the episode.

I always try to go into a new episode of Futurama with an open mind, hoping that it will be the best episode ever, and expecting it to be at least average. I've been disappointed by the past three new episodes because IMO they're below average.

[#177 :]

Wow, someone else who didn't hate the movies! I too liked BBS and ItWGY on first view, thought BWaBB was ok and liked BG on second view!

[#178 :]

I think there's your ONE mistake, SorynArkayn, that you were expecting the new episodes to be on par with the old episodes. It's an unrealistic expectation. You should go into these new episodes expecting below-average tripe and then be pleasantly surprised when they don't suck balls. Sure, be disappointed that they'll never be as good as they used to, but don't let that stop you from enjoying them as much as you can.

[#179 :]

I always try to go into a new episode of Futurama with an open mind, hoping that it will be the best episode ever, and expecting it to be at least average.

And this is why you hate them.

[#180 :]

Geez everyone hated the movies? I only hated the second one...
(I've been gone for a while)

[#181 :]

Geez everyone hated the movies? I only hated the second one...
(I've been gone for a while)

Nah, SorynArkayn is just generalising again.

[#182 :]

I didn't hate the movies, but they just lacked energy. I noticed that each one (well, except for Bender's Game, which I never saw) always has a really strong, really funny opening 20 minutes or so--and then the story starts to drag and the jokes get more and more strained.

Bender's Big Score did the best job of keeping up the pace through the entire movie, but still dragged a slight bit.

I think the new half hour episodes have done a great job of being fast-paced and funny...I think they writers just need to settle down a bit.

[#183 :]

I adored BBS and BWABB, ITWGY was meh for me and BG was my least favorite Futurama to date.

[#184 :]

Yay FishyJoe, its good to see that people who like Futurama still post on this board!

[#185 :]

I loved the first 3 films, especially Bender's Big Score. I'm not a huge fan of ITWGY but it's better than some episodes from the original run.

I think there's your ONE mistake, SorynArkayn, that you were expecting the new episodes to be on par with the old episodes. It's an unrealistic expectation.

Why is that an unrealistic expectation? To go into new episodes expecting something even better than the show used to be, or expecting non-stop all-time great episodes is unrealistic, but hoping for them to be on par is just reasonable.
I expected these episodes to at least be on par with the movies and so far, they're not even living up to that. Rebirth did -hell it was better than most of the films, but the other two were much, much weaker than any of the films.

[#186 :]

The strange thing is that I still feel like the writers "have it". Thinking back to last night's episode, there are a ton of funny lines. "What smells like bloody sinuses?" / "Hey, your ethnicity looks like the type that knows about technology..." / etc. The story idea overall is pretty funny.

But they just kill it with stuff like the talking boil and the endless 20th century pop culture references. While it is true that this stuff popped up in the first 72 episodes, I don't feel like it was as frequent or as bad. And frankly I can't forgive bad writing just because the worst FOX episodes also had bad writing.

...like I said, the show is still funny. I am not in panic mode. I just wish the writers would hire one of us fans to as a quality control expert. Just one level-headed person who can say "hey guys--talking boils are stupid. How about some other way of embarassing Leela?"

Ah, I was going to say something just like this, but now I can continue to be lazy.

The other thing I've noticed this season is that each episode has had a really strong, hilarious first act, then petered out quite a bit near the end.  C'mon, it's only 19 minutes!

[#187 :]

I always try to go into a new episode of Futurama with an open mind, hoping that it will be the best episode ever, and expecting it to be at least average.

And this is why you hate them.

I've never said that I "hated" any episode, ever. The worst I've ever said was that I "disliked" an episode, or I was "disappointed" by an episode.

Stop trying to distort what I say to suit your bias against me, douche.

And going into every new episode with the expectation that it will be average or better isn't unreasonable. On the contrary, it's about as reasonable as a person can be.

What do you do, Svip? Do you expect every new episode to be the worst episode ever, just so you can say it was better? By that "logic", you'd probably say that the Twilight movies were better than you expected.

[#188 :]

Going into them expecting them to be as good as the old episodes is unreasonable because none of the movies were as good as the old episodes. That's not to say that the movies weren't good, they were excellent. But they weren't as good as the old episodes, and they seemed to get worse as they went along. You shouldn't have been expecting the new episodes to be as good as the old episodes. But hey, that' just my opinion.

[#189 :]

FJ: *high five* Heck yeah!

I don't think it's unrealistic at all to expect the new episodes to be on par with the fox episodes. But I do think people have over-inflated the worth of the older episodes. Not every episode was as emotional as The Sting or as funny as Amazon Women In The Mood. There were some weak episodes here and there, especially if you nitpick them to the degree that we are now nitpicking the Comedy Central episodes.

One thing that I have noticed with Futurama is that it has a habit of initially seeming disappointing, but then gets better on repeated viewings. Production season 4, especially. I remember feeling "meh" with a lot of those episodes...but over time, they won me over. There is something about Futurama's dialogue that doesn't exactly make me laugh out loud the first time I hear it, but somehow the lines stay with me and I end up using them in every-day conversations and then I realize "hey, that episode was actually really awesome".

I can't promise the new episodes will perform in the same way, but as I've mentioned in another post, my second viewing of Rebirth was way better than the first.

[#190 :]

I always try to go into a new episode of Futurama with an open mind, hoping that it will be the best episode ever, and expecting it to be at least average.

And this is why you hate them.

I've never said that I "hated" any episode, ever. The worst I've ever said was that I "disliked" an episode, or I was "disappointed" by an episode.

Stop trying to distort what I say to suit your bias against me, douche.

Nice retort.  Anyway; I was simplifying your sentiment.

And going into every new episode with the expectation that it will be average or better isn't unreasonable. On the contrary, it's about as reasonable as a person can be.

What do you do, Svip? Do you expect every new episode to be the worst episode ever, just so you can say it was better? By that "logic", you'd probably say that the Twilight movies were better than you expected.

No, I do not.  This world is not black and white.  You cannot assume if I do not think it is the best episode, I will think it is the worst episode.  I watch the new episodes with caursies (I cannot spell this word for some reason, stupid dyslexia) optimism and reserved scepticism.

[#191 :]

I *really* liked Rebirth. It made me squee.

[#192 :]

my second viewing of Rebirth was way better than the first.

  The dialogue is often rapid-fire little jokes instead of spaced out big gags.  I think all three episodes did a great job carrying that kind of momentum (at least earlier in the eps as mentioned)  There were several jokes in Rebirth I didn't even notice until the second time, as well as several jokes (such as the Professor's retort about stem cells) that I randomly thought of and laughed at about 4 days later.

[#193 :]

Holy shit, it's JBERGES! And FemJesse! I remember you guys!

That is all.

[#194 :]

No, I do not.  This world is not black and white.  You cannot assume if I do not think it is the best episode, I will think it is the worst episode.  I watch the new episodes with caursies (I cannot spell this word for some reason, stupid dyslexia) optimism and reserved scepticism.

"Cautious optimism and reserved scepticism" doesn't seem altogether different than my reasonable attitude, and yet you criticize me for it.

As I've said many times, I want to love these new episodes. I don't believe that I pre-judge them or am biased against them in any way. But I've been disappointed by them thus far. I don't expect every episode to be as good as "Roswell That Ends Well", as funny as "Amazon Women in the Mood", or touching as "Jurassic Bark"; but I expected that at least one of these three new episodes would be as good as an "average" episode from Futurama's original run. They're not terrible, just below average IMO, which I consider to be disappointing.

[#195 :]

The dialogue is often rapid-fire little jokes instead of spaced out big gags.  

Right--this is what I love about Futurama, but at the same time it's kind of a drawback when you have been waiting years for new material and then you finally get it and you're expecting all of these big laughs right off the bat.

Holy shit, it's JBERGES! And FemJesse! I remember you guys!

That is all.

All of this time, we've been looking for treasure (big-laugh gags in Futurama episodes) but it turns out the real treasure is the friendships that we've formed. I love you JBERGES and everybody else!

[#196 :]

No, I do not.  This world is not black and white.  You cannot assume if I do not think it is the best episode, I will think it is the worst episode.  I watch the new episodes with caursies (I cannot spell this word for some reason, stupid dyslexia) optimism and reserved scepticism.

"Cautious optimism and reserved scepticism" doesn't seem altogether different than my reasonable attitude, and yet you criticize me for it.

I don't think "hoping for the best episode ever" and "expecting it to be an average episode" are the same as "cautious optimism and reserved scepticism".  Here is a funny thing, I didn't like "Roswell That Ends Well" on first viewing.  It seemed ... off to me at that point.  And even today, I think Mildred being old all of the sudden ruins that episode.

Therefore, I never trust my initial reaction, it is most likely inaccurate.

[#197 :]

...like I said, the show is still funny. I am not in panic mode. I just wish the writers would hire one of us fans to as a quality control expert. Just one level-headed person who can say "hey guys--talking boils are stupid. How about some other way of embarassing Leela?"

Here is my impression of you

*other* FJ: A Mutant with a Mutation! I DON'T BUY IT!!!

Meh, I had no problem with elbow spurs, but the talking boil is just stupid.

[#198 :]

@Kryten:
I don't think that it's fair to pre-judge an upcoming episode as bad, even if you don't think the plot sounds promising, because your pre-conceived opinion of it can slant your reception of the episode.

I always try to go into a new episode of Futurama with an open mind, hoping that it will be the best episode ever, and expecting it to be at least average. I've been disappointed by the past three new episodes because IMO they're below average.

You're probably right. I'll try to be open minded.

*sob* I just love Futurama SO MUCH...

[#199 :]

I can't promise the new episodes will perform in the same way, but as I've mentioned in another post, my second viewing of Rebirth was way better than the first.

This is how I feel. On initial viewing, AotKA didn't feel as good as it did on second. First viewing, there were long commercials interrupting the action. I would chuckle here and there but that was it.

On second viewing, I was watching the HD version on my laptop with headphones and nobody around. I was able to pause, rewind, and see background gags. For example, the first time I hadn't noticed as much that it was Dr. Ben Beeler in front of them in line for the eyePhone, or that the pizza place was Cygnoid's from ALoHO. And I laughed out loud more than I had before. A similar situation happened with IAGDL.

I didn't get to watch every single premiere of the original run. I can't remember when I started to seriously watch it, it's a blur, but I distinctly remember watching most broadcast Season 5 when it aired on Fox. But, back then, you didn't have as much of an opportunity as you do now to immediately rewatch the episodes... unless you had a VCR handy. Now, you can DVR, Comedy Central has reruns all the time, and there are streaming and downloading online.