Thoughts on Season 6 - SPOILERS

[#600 :]

Here's my new, updated list:

1- TLPJF
2- tPoB
3- LI
4- aCO
5- TDVC
6- IAGDL
7- TDK
8- Rebirth
9- PI
10- AoKA

Can't wait for the next two eps, plus the 14 in Broadcast Season 8, and then the millions more ordered by Comedy Central!!!

[#601 :]

Outstanding
The Late Philip J. Fry (I watched this over and over and still am not tired of it.)

Very Good
Lethal Inspection
A Clockwork Origin (More interesting than I thought from the commercial. It seemed to support both sides at once)
The Prisoner of Benda  (I would have liked more of Zoidberg in Frys body but oh well.)

Above Average
Rebirth

Average
That Darn Katz! (Not as funny but true about the real cat threat)

Below Average
Proposition Infinity
The Duh-Vinci Code

Poor
In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Terrible
Attack of the Killer App

[#602 :]

Updated list:

Outstanding
The Late Philip J. Fry
The Prisoner of Benda

Very Good
Lethal Inspection
A Clockwork Origin

Above Average
Rebirth

Average
The Duh-Vinci Code
Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Below Average
Proposition Infinity
That Darn Katz!

Poor
In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Terrible
Attack of the Killer App

[#603 :]

Again, I agree with Mongo's rankings.

This season is like a roller coaster, with the quality of each episode varying wildly -- though the quality of the season as a whole has been upward IMO. Just as I predicted, we haven't had another IAGDL or AOTKA, and even the mediocre episodes haven't caused as much of an uproar as those two.

This season is almost like that nursery rhyme, "when she was good she was very very good, and when she was bad she was horrid." Maybe not horrid, but you get the idea.

[#604 :]

11. Attack of the Killer App
10. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
9. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
8. Proposition Infinity
7. The Duh-Vinci Code
6. That Darn Katz!
5. Lethal Inspection
4. The Prisoner of Benda
3. A Clockwork Origin
2. Rebirth
1. The Late Philip J. Fry

[#605 :]

There has been a lot of variation in quality between episodes, but the overall trend has definitely been upwards.  The writing team did seem to struggle a bit for the first 4 or 5 episodes, but after that they hit their stride and have been producing numerous very good to outstanding episodes, with the occasional average to below average episode.  The next episode, "The Mutants Are Revolting", looks like another very good (at least) episode as well.

Actually, let's check that statement. These are my ratings for the episodes, in production order (other people's ratings are likely to differ, of course):

1. Above Average
2. Poor
3. Terrible
4. Below Average
5. Average

So the first 5 episodes were "Below Average", on the whole.

6. Very Good
7. Outstanding
8. Below Average
9. Very Good
10. Outstanding

The second 5 episodes averaged out as just below "Very Good".

11. Average

With an expected very good or even outstanding for the upcoming "The Mutants Are Revolting", the third set of 5 episodes looks to be quite satisfactory as well.  (I am paying no attention to broadcast season here, since it's production season that counts in terms of the expected episode writing quality.)

So over all, the Futurama writing team stumbled a bit at the beginning of the new run, but have since returned to their old level of quality.

[#606 :]

Outstanding
The Prisoner Of Benda
The Late Philip J Fry
A Clockwork Origin

Very Good
That Darn Katz!
The Duh-Vinci Code

Good
Proposition Infinity
Lethal Inspection

OK
Rebirth

Below Average
In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Poor
Lrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Terrible
Attack Of The Killer App

[#607 :]

My updated Season 6 rankings this week:

1. The Late Philip J. Fry
2. The Prisoner Of Benda
3. Lethal Inspection
4. Rebirth
5. A Clockwork Origin
6. The Duh-Vinci Code
7. Proposition Infinity
8. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
9. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences   
10. That Darn Katz!
11. Attack Of The Killer App

[#608 :]

flesheatingbull's list:

1. The Late Philip J Fry
2. A Clockwork Origin
3. The Prisoner Of Benda
4. Lethal Inspection
5. The Duh-Vinci Code
6. Lrrenconcilable Ndndifferences
7. That Darn Katz!
8. Rebirth
9. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
10. Proposition Infinity
11. Attack Of The Killer App

also, the last two are so horrible that i will never watch them again. i don't count them as being part of futurama canon, much like the comics. they would have been acceptable as comics, but not a legit episode. i reccon that groening began having a little too much influence at the beginning.

[#609 :]

You can't pick and choose what's canon.

Especially when moments from Attack of the Killer App can be seen in The Late Philip J. Fry which you do consider canon.

[#610 :]

You can't pick and choose what's canon.

Indeed. That's just moronic.

[#611 :]

This whole season's been all over the place in terms of keeping with canon so I'm willing to say I dunno if any of it's canon in my view yet - but yeah, if it's what the producers say is canon, we can't argue.

My list would be:

Outstanding
The Late Philip J Fry
Lethal Inspection

Very Good
Rebirth

Good
The Prisoner of Benda
That Darn Katz!
A Clockwork Origin

OK
In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Below Average
Proposition Infinity
The Duh-Vinci Code
Lrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Poor
Attack Of The Killer App

Terrible


They've all had their redeeming moments, but so far it's been about 50/50 for me. Attack of the Killer App isn't terrible because the beginning was actually fairly funny. ("Good news, nobodies!")

[#612 :]

You can't pick and choose what's canon.

Indeed. That's just moronic.

oh, well. it doesn't change what ill do.

[#613 :]

You're living in denial.

[#614 :]

You're living in denial.

Well, obviously.  I think even he would agree on that.

[#615 :]

Outstanding
1) The Late Philip J Fry
2) The Prisoner of Benda

Great
4) A Clockwork Origin
5) Lethal Inspection
6) Rebirth

Good
...

Average
8) Attack of the Killer App
9) Proposition Infinity
10) That Darn Katz!
11) Lrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Meh
13) The Duh-Vinci Code

Spleh
20) In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Reasons to Cancel the Show
...

[#616 :]

My new list:

1. The Late Philip J Fry
2. Attack of the Killer App
3. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
4. Lrrrconceilable Ndndifferences
5. The Prisoner of Benda
6. Lethal Inspection
7. Rebirth
8. That Darn Katz!
9. A Clockwork Origin
10. Proposition Infinity
11. The Duh Vinci Code

[#617 :]

You're living in denial.

Well, obviously.  I think even he would agree on that.

No I'm aren't.

Honestly, I'd be less happy if this season completely sucked and was renewed anyway - that'd just be a mockery. Fortunately I don't have to worry about that.

[#618 :]

As far as determining what is and what is not canon goes: If you genuinely hated season six and chose never to watch it again, then it would not exist in your personal canon. You can pretend that nothing happened after they flew through that wormhole at the end of "Into the Wild Green Yonder." I mean, isn't that what fan fiction is all about, anyway--crafting your own canon around preexisting canonical details? Isn't that why we have an abundance of "Fry/Leela/Bender dies" or "Leela has a baby" or post-Devil's Hands fics? When people are dissatisfied with what is being done by the producers--or if the show, and thus its canon, ends--they construct their own canon. If it makes you happy to imagine the series ends past a certain point, there's nothing wrong with that; I mean, denying those episodes that don't sit well with you is a bit foolish in that it won't make those episodes actually disappear from what is the accepted canon, but who cares? TV is in itself escapism, so denying certain aspects of that fictional world is fully within your rights as a viewer; if some episodes don't allow you to escape, then by all means pretend they don't exist.

Okay, that was more rambly than I intended. But whatever. Let's make this a bit more on-topic with my updated rankings:

11. That Darn Katz!
10. Attack of the Killer App
9. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
8. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
7. A Clockwork Origin
6. Proposition Infinity
5. Rebirth
4. The Duh-Vinci Code
3. Lethal Inspection
2. The Late Philip J. Fry
1. The Prisoner of Benda

[#619 :]

I disagree. What is canon _is_ canon, and you can change nothing. You can pretend it never happened, but deep within you'll know you're wrong.

[#620 :]

I disagree with you as well, Gorky.  This is why I am not a fan of Star Wars, because I cannot be.  I do not accept the prequels as legitimate Star Wars films because they are that terrible, and ruins the myths of the original trilogy for me.  If I want to be a fan, it's all or nothing.  No cherry picking.  As such, I decided to declare myself not a fan of the Star Wars franchise, even if I enjoy A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back very much.

[#621 :]

I disagree with Svip, though, since I really like Revenge of the Sith and consider The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones okay films. :P

[#622 :]

I disagree. What is canon _is_ canon, and you can change nothing. You can pretend it never happened, but deep within you'll know you're wrong.

I'm just arguing for the concept of a personal canon and a more general, accepted canon. I mean, after Thursday, 100 episodes of Futurama will exist, and they all contribute to the general canon. However, say I so vehemently despise "The Mutants Are Revolting" that I choose to pretend it never happened; in my personal canon, there will be only 99 episodes. I get that it's all about living in a world of denial--I'm just saying that it's your prerogative as a viewer to pick and choose, even if it seems to others that you're shortchanging yourself.

For the record, I don't pick and choose my canon. I'm simply arguing for every fan's right to do so.

[#623 :]

Ofcourse one has a right too. I have a right to think that TVs give you cancer. Doesn't make it right.

[#624 :]

You can't pick and choose what's canon.

Indeed. That's just moronic.

Couldn't agree more.

11. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela
10. Attack of the Killer App
9. Proposition Infinity
8. That Darn Katz!
7. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
6. Rebirth
5. The Duh-Vinci Code
4. A Clockwork Origin
3. Lethal Inspection
2. The Late Philip J. Fry
1. The Prisoner of Benda

I'm kinda surprised how my ratings have changed but re-watching certain episodes made me like them less and less and vice versa. (Of course, the majority of these are still not set in stone)

Here's hoping The Mutants Are Revolting is a classic!

[#625 :]

I think it's fine to ignore stuff that happens later on.

For example, I think it would be fine to be a fan of The Simpsons up until season 9 and to believe that Principal Skinner really is who he says he is. But then along came The Principal and the Pauper which changed all of that. If you consider any episodes that came after that to be canon, then you have to consider The Principal and the Pauper to be canon too... if you get me.
As far as what's canon for seasons 1-8, Skinner is who he says he is. If they'd set up the imposter thing from the start (in a similar fashion to Nibbler's shadow being in Space Pilot 3000), it'd be a different story... but they clearly just wrote the episode because they had the idea then and there.

So again, you could ignore the Star Wars prequels and not take them into account when looking at the original films, although they technically ARE canon. But you can't ignore episodes I and II and still take episode III into account.

So, you could enjoy Futurama's original run and just imagine that the movies and season 6 never happened quite happily because nothing that happens after that impacts those episodes. What you can't do is say "I don't like this season 6 episode, but I like this later one, so the one I don't like is canon, but the one I do like is".

I hope that made sense.

[#626 :]

I agree with you to an extent, cyber_turnip, but my thinking is that no one episode is so downright rotten that a fan would choose that episode and that episode alone to erase from canon. For example, I'm a fan of Gilmore Girls, and I like to pretend that everything that happened from the middle of season six onward was all just some horrible dream--in other words, not canon. I think people choose to disregard whole seasons and not single episodes, because the dissatisfaction generally lies with a general trend, a sharp and noticeable decline in quality that has you wishing for older, more accomplished episodes. But, yeah, if I really hated "Bender's Game" (which I did, but that's beside the point) yet really loved everything that came after, I couldn't really forget about BG, because its ramifications are felt in subsequent episodes.

And "The Principal and the Pauper" basically denies its own canonical nature by resetting things by the end of the episode and naming Armin the true Seymour Skinner. But I get what you mean.

[#627 :]

And "The Principal and the Pauper" basically denies its own canonical nature by resetting things by the end of the episode and naming Armin the true Seymour Skinner. But I get what you mean.

Which is the point of the episode, that makes fun of fans who can't handle a change in status quo and decanonizing.

...wait a minute...

[#628 :]

I wouldn't say any of the episodes have been so horrible that they don't fit in with the rest of the series. Killer App did have some real nonsense and had Fry not acting like I'd have expected him to.

If you don't like it just pretend Fry's lack of delta waves didn't get along with the  eye-phone and it caused him to imagine the whole thing that or space bees stung him.

[#629 :]

No. There is canon and everything else is personal delusion.
Only the creaters of the show can determine what is authentic Futurama and what is not.
Any decision you make is a false personal belief that has nothing to do with canon.
Not that I have anything against such things. Your free to like/believe whatever you wish. Its just not canon in any way.

Also, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith all sucked donkey balls.
End.

[#630 :]

i'm glad i started the whole 'canon' discussion.

however, my original view stands. the boil on leela's ass was just plain bad writing. it was never seen before, and it will never be seen again. also, mom's incorporation in the episode was just cheezy. why would she randomly decide to follow fry and bender? it was just awful. i am not used to bad writing from futurama(worst writing up to that point was bg, which is still satisfactory, imo), so that episode hit me like a sack of potatoes, and made me temporarily loose all faith in the show. thankfully, it got back to normal(starting at tdvc, imo).

due to the characters being out of character, and the really bad writing, i refuse to watch those two episodes ever again. although i know that it is technically part of canon, i have to pretend that it isn't. if i don't, then i can expect episodes to be of that caliber in the future, as it is okay, for they did it before.

end rant.

[#631 :]

I completely disagree with your assesment of AotKA.
The boil didn't seem that bad a joke to me. Granted, not the best joke ever, but tolerable at least. And its not like they haven't ever given Leela new mutations. BwBB gave Leela Elbow Talons for example.
Mom following Bender and Fry was not random. They were appearently the the first ones stupid/bullheaded enough to get a following of enough people to carry out her plan.
Sometimes all it takes is being the first, in order to become a target.
The writing in that episode was no worse than I Dated a Robot and other average episodes.

If yer gunna dislike it thats fine, but bad writing?? No way.

[#632 :]

It had horrible writing but not for the Mom following them on Twitcher thing, that was clearly explained and made sense. Well that and she wasn't 'following' them, just keeping an eye on them because they were coming up to a million followers.

The bad writing stemmed from Mom's plan making no sense whatsoever. Why does she have to wait for someone with a million followers to deploy the twit-worm or whatever it was called? Why not just send it out to EVERY eyePhone she has?
And then the fact that all her twit-worm did was make people go and buy the latest eyePhone like slaves when they all would have anyway (based on how they blindly bought the first eyePhone at the start of the episode) was ridiculous. Yes, I get that it was supposed to be funny, but that doesn't excuse the lack of logic.

Another thing that irks me about the overall episode, although it's arguably not the episode's fault but later ones, is how we've not heard of the eyePhones since (excluding the brief glimpse in The Late Philip J. Fry), and we probably never will hear of them again. Yet there's absolutely no reason why everyone on Earth isn't still obsessed with them. Hell, Hermes complains about lugging a cell phone about in Lethal Inspection. Whatever happened to his eyePhone? It annoys me even more because the episode was setting up for a decent 'stop Mom' plot towards the end and that could have easily led to everyone getting rid of their eyePhones because they're 'evil' and so on, but no. Wasted opportunity.

Not to mention the lack of intelligent humour throughout the episode.

[#633 :]

I have to be the evil dude yet again and claim that I loved the ending of AotKA. I thought the joke was hilarious. And hey, one good idea they never mention eyePhones again: IT WAS A FAD!

[#634 :]

Can't wait for the next two eps, plus the 14 in Broadcast Season 8, and then the millions more ordered by Comedy Central!!!

2 Questions:
When do the next 14 eps (Season 8) begin?

And how many MORE eps were ordered? 

My mind is sufferin' serious 'drain bamage' or dablage (but in a good way, though!) 

[#635 :]

And hey, one good idea they never mention eyePhones again: IT WAS A FAD!

Yeah, except Mom brainwashed everyone into buying the new eyePhones. It doesn't make any sense that she'd stop with the 2.0 model.


And moonbus69, the 13th episode airs November 21st. We don't know about the last 13 episodes or broadcast season 8, but we're guessing pretty much the same time that broadcast season 7 went out this year, but next year.
And no more episodes were ordered (yet), they were joking.

[#636 :]

And hey, one good idea they never mention eyePhones again: IT WAS A FAD!

Yeah, except Mom brainwashed everyone into buying the new eyePhones. It doesn't make any sense that she'd stop with the 2.0 model.

Maybe she got bored.

[#637 :]

1. The Late Philip J. Fry
2. The Prisoner Of Benda
3. The Mutants are Revolting
4. Rebirth
5. Lethal Inspection
6. A Clockwork Origin
7. The Duh-Vinci Code
8. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences
9. Proposition Infinity
10. That Darn Katz!
11. Attack of the Killer App
12. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

[#638 :]

Updated list:

Outstanding
The Late Philip J. Fry
The Prisoner of Benda

Very Good
Lethal Inspection
A Clockwork Origin
The Mutants Are Revolting

Above Average
Rebirth

Average
The Duh-Vinci Code
Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Below Average
Proposition Infinity
That Darn Katz!

Poor
In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

Terrible
Attack of the Killer App

[#639 :]

12. Attack of the Killer App   (1/10)
11. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela   (2/10)
10. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences    (4/10)
9. Proposition Infinity   (5/10)
8. The Duh-Vinci Code   (6/10)
7. That Darn Katz!   (7/10)
6. Lethal Inspection   (7/10)
5. The Prisoner of Benda   (8/10)
4. A Clockwork Origin   (8/10)
3. Rebirth   (8/10)
2. The Mutants are Revolting   (9/10)
1. The Late Philip J. Fry   (10/10)