Thoughts on 6ACV07 - The late Philip J. Fry - SPOILERS

[on:]

Another week, another episode:

The Late Philip J. Fry airs tonight at 10pm/9c on Comedy Central.

This thread is for reviews and general discussion of the episode.

If you can express your feelings in a number between 1 and 5, CGEF would like to hear from you, too.

[Reply #1 on:]

And we're open for business!

Awesome episode. Mind-blowing. Mind-breaking, even.

Futurama is BACK, baby.

[Reply #2 on:]

AMAZING EPISODE. I laughed, I cried -- and does anyone have an mp3 of their time traveling song yet!?

(That part really reminded me of Adventure Time when they break into song about obscure and specific things going on)

[Reply #3 on:]

I was very impressed. i could nitpick to infinity, but that'd be stupid. imo, that was as good as 'jurassic bark', 'roswell that ends well', and 'luck of the fryrish', if not better.

[Reply #4 on:]

I'm mixed on this episode. Part of me is very very pleased with it, but then part of me felt that it was overall meh because they just kept continually going forward and time and didn't really stop and take in these new periods.

I enjoyed the time traveling song.

The best part was the retrospective shots of previous episodes. I saw Space Pilot 3000, Love's Labours Lost in Space, Future Stock, A Taste of Freedom, Beast With A Billion Backs, and Attack of the Killer App.

I was very impressed. i could nitpick to infinity, but that'd be stupid. imo, that was as good as 'jurassic bark', 'roswell that ends well', and 'luck of the fryrish', if not better.

No way that was better than any of those episodes. There wasn't as much of an emotional impact as Bark or Fryish, and the plot didn't settle down like the other three.

[Reply #5 on:]

That was a fantastic episode. Wasn't the absolute "funniest", but that's not a bad thing.

[Reply #6 on:]

I'm torn between this or Adventure Time winning an Emmy =/

[Reply #7 on:]

AMAZING EPISODE. I laughed, I cried -- and does anyone have an mp3 of their time traveling song yet!?

(That part really reminded me of Adventure Time when they break into song about obscure and specific things going on)

I have an urge to rewrite the siong from "Evicted", about this episode.

[Reply #8 on:]

Amazing...

[Reply #9 on:]

Well done.  Glad to see that Fry's tardiness wasn't due to him being completely delinquent, as I've seen well enough of that in the past.

Nice callbacks to "I Second That Emotion" (birthdays), "Bender's Big Score" (time travel paradoxes), and others that escape my mind at the moment.  

If any of Fry, Bender or Farnsworth could read Alienese, they'd have fished the book "Backwards Time Travel Made Easy" out of the bonfire in the year 10,000.

[Reply #10 on:]

Pretty good. 8/10. This and LI were the first of the new episodes that felt up to the quality of the old ones in my opinion. I liked hedonism bot's line about there being bodies everywhere and then an explosion.  

The only problems were that the Planet of the Apes gag, which was good up to the Ape statue of liberty, went on way too long and kinda got annoying. Also the ending felt a bit rushed and I sort of wish that the first time, instead of overshooting the present, the professor had accidentally dropped the laser gun at Nuremburg and caused a Nazi future. But then again I'm a huge alternate history nerd, so that's just that part of me talking.  

[Reply #11 on:]

AMAZING EPISODE. I laughed, I cried -- and does anyone have an mp3 of their time traveling song yet!?

(That part really reminded me of Adventure Time when they break into song about obscure and specific things going on)

I have an urge to rewrite the siong from "Evicted", about this episode.

Evicted is certainly the song that came to mind

[Reply #12 on:]

Out-freaking-standing! Easily one of top 10 best episode's ever. Funny throughout the entire thing, touching and clever. If especially loved the way they ended up solving the time travel problem.

I actually guessed how they'd do it when they reached the point when all life was extinct because I saw an article a few months ago about a theory that the universe would eventually collapse back in on itself creating a second big bang.

The Planet of the Apes and Hitler jokes were priceless too.

[Reply #13 on:]

I loved the Hitler joke, but how'd they get to Germany? The Eleanor Roosevelt follow-up was great, but then again, it would've been great at the end of the episode if they noted one small difference in time due to it. There were three instances where they changed time in those two universes!

[Reply #14 on:]

Part of me is very very pleased with it, but then part of me felt that it was overall meh because they just kept continually going forward and time and didn't really stop and take in these new periods.

(snip)

No way that was better than any of those episodes. There wasn't as much of an emotional impact as Bark or Fryish, and the plot didn't settle down like the other three.

I think perhaps they could have made fewer time-travel stops and explored each one a little more, and they could have spent a little more time on Leela's life without Fry -- there's something really, really tragic about her harboring a grudge against Fry for 40 years and settling for Cubert -- but overall I think it was fine.

[Reply #15 on:]

The Eleanor Roosevelt follow-up was great, but then again, it would've been great at the end of the episode if they noted one small difference in time due to it. There were three instances where they changed time in those two universes!

They kinda did, with the, "Would you like any more meatloaf" line by the waiter.

Anyway, loved the ep. 10/10.

[Reply #16 on:]

It'll take a few more viewings before I decide if I'm putting this one in with the all time greats, but the first ep of the new season that felt nearly 100% like the genuine article.

And of course they've swept loads of future continuity issues under the carpet with "Nope, this time around history went a little different."

[Reply #17 on:]

The Eleanor Roosevelt follow-up was great, but then again, it would've been great at the end of the episode if they noted one small difference in time due to it. There were three instances where they changed time in those two universes!

They kinda did, with the, "Would you like any more meatloaf" line by the waiter.

Anyway, loved the ep. 10/10.

The line was different because we were seeing the beginning of the date instead of the end.

[Reply #18 on:]

What a lovely episode.  I too liked how they solved the time-travel problem, although the implications are...hilariously disturbing I suppose (that last scene is priceless).
  
And the time traveling song was a take-off on one of my fave songs, "In the Year 2525" (same music, diff lyrics).

Other things I liked (and can remember):
- the robot sex noises (drilling - ha!)
- Bender sending them forward in time from the all lady/backward time machine era, simply out of spite.

[Reply #19 on:]

I think perhaps they could have made fewer time-travel stops and explored each one a little more, and they could have spent a little more time on Leela's life without Fry -- there's something really, really tragic about her harboring a grudge against Fry for 40 years and settling for Cubert -- but overall I think it was fine.

I thought it was not her harboring a grudge so much as her missing Fry so much she was willing to settle for someone who slightly resembled him.

[Reply #20 on:]

I like that Leela was smart enough to write backwards and upside down so she knew Fry would see it. That is very tragic for that Leela that she had to settle for Cubert, and actually didn't get along with-but only went with him because he reminded her of Fry. =/ Kind of a bittersweet ending.

I wonder what wound up happening with the universe in between, supposedly Fry and Leela would still meet but there wouldn't have been an interruption when they were using the time machine so the same thing that happened to the "real" Fry happened to the second one. Would it cause a loop where they're all destined to repeat the same mistakes? Should we even care?

[Reply #21 on:]

Okay. JoshTheater and I are discussing this in chat right now, and here's our theory: The Four Universe Cycle Theory.

Universe One's trio goes forward and kills Universe Three's. One Leela dies lonely, One Trio lives happily ever after in Three.
Universe Two's trio goes forward and kills Universe Four's. Two Leela dies lonely, Two Trio lives happily ever after in Four.
Universe Two's first legged fish and Adolf Hitler die.
Universe Three's Eleanor Roosevelt dies.
There could be unknown effects to Universes Three and Four by Two Trio going through Three and into Four.

This cycle continues into infinity.

[Reply #22 on:]

The Eleanor Roosevelt follow-up was great, but then again, it would've been great at the end of the episode if they noted one small difference in time due to it. There were three instances where they changed time in those two universes!

They kinda did, with the, "Would you like any more meatloaf" line by the waiter.

Anyway, loved the ep. 10/10.

The line was different because we were seeing the beginning of the date instead of the end.

The point was, the waiter was serving meatloaf, at a time when he should have been serving bread.  It was supposed to be a slight change that resulted from the time travel incident.

[Reply #23 on:]

Or, being the future, it's possible that meatloaf is served before all meals.

[Reply #24 on:]

Okay. JoshTheater and I are discussing this in chat right now, and here's our theory: The Four Universe Cycle Theory.

Universe One's trio goes forward and kills Universe Three's. One Leela dies lonely, One Trio lives happily ever after in Three.
Universe Two's trio goes forward and kills Universe Four's. Two Leela dies lonely, Two Trio lives happily ever after in Four.
Universe Two's first legged fish and Adolf Hitler die.
Universe Three's Eleanor Roosevelt dies.
There could be unknown effects to Universes Three and Four by Two Trio going through Three and into Four.

This cycle continues into infinity.

I'm making a shitty MS Paint graph to illustrate this theory.

[Reply #25 on:]

I loved this episode it was the best one I've seen. Unlike LI, which I found really lopsided this one was consistent and had a great story. I was impressed that I figured out a lot before it happened. I really liked this episode and I'm gonna watch it tomorrow when it gets online.

IE: Leela would get the card years and years later and somehow get through to Fry. And I assumed that they would go so forward in time that they would just loop back around (although I wasn't thinking about other universes).

[Reply #26 on:]

That is so terribly sad

[Reply #27 on:]

I'm rewatching this episode right now, because the first time I watched it with my brother and a friend, which meant I couldn't quite focus on it as much as I wanted to. My first impression, though, was that this episode was touching and inspired and there were some excellent gags (I loved the nod to "Roswell That Ends Well", the Eleanor Roosevelt thing, and Leela having a date with "some idiot")--but it was by no means the funniest episode of the season or the series. The heart and the story itself make up for what's lacking in the humor department, though.

Initial rating: 8/10, but that's liable to change (probably for the better) in about, oh, 22 minutes.

[Reply #28 on:]

Watched it with Joysauce. We both loved it. I wish it would win every Emmy ever.

[Reply #29 on:]

I like that Leela was smart enough to write backwards and upside down so she knew Fry would see it.

I also loved how her solution was to grab her gun and blast a message for Fry out of the rock. It seemed like such a classic Leela solution to me.

[Reply #30 on:]

That was a fun episode.  It was a little bleak, but really well handled.  I have to admit freaking out when I saw "Dear Fry."  The sad thing is that I have to embrace the concept of a circular timeline because I was always like 'Nope.  Straight line.'

Pretty damn good ep.

[Reply #31 on:]

Or, being the future, it's possible that meatloaf is served before all meals.

Well, agree to disagree, you sniveling idiot.  Nah, I'm just kidding, you're alright.

[Reply #32 on:]

Fantastic episode. The series has officially hit it's stride.

[Reply #33 on:]

Absolutely brilliant.

Quite easily ranks as one of my all time favorites.

The shot at the end sealed the deal.

[Reply #34 on:]

Ok, more thoughts.

-The  2525 song was awesome. Didn't catch all of the lyrics, though. Must listen to it again.

-Time is cyclical? But in 2ACV19 we were specifically told that it was a straight line! I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

-Christopher Tyng is the man. What a great job he is doing this season.

-Lewis Morton! I love that guy.

-Having a beer and watching the universe end was a beautiful moment

[Reply #35 on:]

Peter Avanzino did a terrific job directing. This was probably the first time that I can remember that I really noticed and enjoyed the direction on first viewing.

[Reply #36 on:]

Alright, here is the crappy MS Paint graph I made to illustrate Weiner's and my Four Universe Cycle Theory:

[Reply #37 on:]

-Time is cyclical? But in 2ACV19 we were specifically told that it was a straight line! I sure hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

Time isn't cyclical, as far as Fry knows.  At that point, all Fry knows is that time isn't cyclical from (roughly) the year 2000 to the year 3000.  Turns out, he was wrong.  

[Reply #38 on:]

Did anybody else feel like this episode could've been used as a season/series finale à la Devil's Hands? The call backs made me smile.

[Reply #39 on:]

On reflection, something that was subtle stood out.  I like how over the years Leela turns planet express into a thriving delivery service, but says specifically in her message that she was happier with Fry.

Good job, guys.  Now lets make a planet-hopping delivery episode, dammit!