Thoughts on 6ACV10 - The Prisoner of Benda - SPOILERS

[on:]

The old gray mare ain't what she used to be. So we got a new one for this week!

Review and discuss the new Futurama episode 'A Prisoner of Benda' in this thread and consider posting a short review on CGEF, too!


I'll leave this thread open for the time being, but please don't post before there's something to be said (e.g., before the episode is on).

[Reply #1 on:]

Not to nitpick, but I'm pretty sure it's "The Prisoner of Benda", not "A Prisoner of Benda".

It's a reference to "The Prisoner of Zenda".

[Reply #2 on:]

you are technically correct - the best kind of correct. Fixed it.

[Reply #3 on:]

The Prisoner of Benda, stop being so awesome.

[Reply #4 on:]

Ken Keeler's episodes of Futurama normally make me think to laugh. This one still makes me think in order to laugh, but there was a bit less of that and more of pop-culture-y Verrone humor. It's still a good episode, but could use a bit less Nicolas Cage jokes unless they're by Harry Partridge and are related to chocolate cake. The Fry-Leela scenes were quite disturbing, but strangely touching.

Still great with all of the swapped bodies, and the science behind it! It also reminded me of Three Hundred Big Boys or 22 Short Films About Springfield, two great episodes of my two favorite shows. Favorite After TLPJF and Lethal Inspection.

I give it a 9 out of ten, and a 4 out of five.

[Reply #5 on:]

Outstanding episode and my new second favorite this season. Only TLPJF tops it. The Robo-Hungary thing was a great callback and I loved Scruffy's relationship with the bucket.

[Reply #6 on:]

Truly brilliant episode. I'm gonna watch it again instead of Love's Labours Lost in Space.

[Reply #7 on:]

Poor Scruffy

9/10

[Reply #8 on:]

Truly brilliant episode. I'm gonna watch it again instead of Love's Labours Lost in Space.

Seems as if they air this one after a majority of these new episodes. At least that I can remember. Or at least Prop Infinity.

[Reply #9 on:]

Absolutely one of the best episodes this season. I thought the humor was spot on. It had me laughing the whole time. And hermes: "3 decades of the munchies and you beat me to it" Haha. Oh, and when Leela walked out fat... loled.

This was a great episode. Characters seemed all in place and their lines were brilliant. Ken Keeler delivered!

[Reply #10 on:]

Third best episode this season (next to Late and Clockwork). 9/10

[Reply #11 on:]

Awww yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Though I still think TLPJF edges this episode out for best of the season so far, this episode brings back the balls-to-the-wall humor and pacing of some of the best classic episodes. (Though maybe it was just a smidgen TOO fast-paced...but it was sure a ride to watch, so yeah.)

And I totally wasn't expecting the Fry/Leela 'ship to get kicked up another notch like that, but there it is. Yeah, it's a weird way for Fry and Leela to prove they do love each other for what's inside, but that Leela-Farnsworth/Fry-Zoidberg makeout scene was awesomely gross. Sure, I wasn't expecting them to go all the way in the bodies of a decrepit old man and a space crustacean, but Ken Keeler finally proved that there is a way to do FxL as a couple and still make it hilarious. This 'shipper is extremely pleased. (Though I'd have liked something at the end to wrap things up - though it did look like they were makin' eyes at each other at the end, so yeah.)

And yet another WIN for the Scruffy and Washbucket-Amy bit. (And is it just my imagination, or did ol' Scruff sound even more like Wilford Brimley than usual?)

[Reply #12 on:]

This episode was great. And then the Fry/Leela love scene and the Scruffy romantic moment had me rolling on the floor. 10/10. Great ep, funny all around......

[Reply #13 on:]

I gave this a 10/10 for making my sides hurt laughing! Fry-Zoidberg and Leela-Professor were the best! Kinda reminded me of this. I need to re-watch the episode to get the math behind why you need a minimum of two extra bodies to complete the swap.

Scruffy and Bucket-Amy were a hoot! Especially Scruffy's "yeeeup" at the end!

Zoidberg-Fry and Emperor-Bucket were ok, I felt more could be made of Zoidberg's cluelessness.

[Reply #14 on:]

2nd best this season easily. (Even beats The Late Philip J. Fry in some instances) Definitely the funniest. (Fry and Leela finally having sex as Zoidberg and Farnsworth, damn...well, the shippers got their wish! XD)

EDIT: I'd actually put them on par now. This episode was just too hysterical while still being clever.

10/10

[Reply #15 on:]

I'm all for describing the current episodes in terms of previous ones, so let me take a whack at this one: it's like combining all the science-y goodness of "The Farnsworth Parabox" with the vignette-y interconnectedness of "300 Big Boys." In other words: I loved it. A lot of episodes this season have focused on the crew as a whole, and I think this one did it best: it captured the nuances of the characters (Fry and Leela's attraction, Amy's "demonic food-lust", Farnsworth's desire to recapture his youth, Zoidberg's need for some friends), mixing-and-matching them perfectly. Loved the use of Scruffy; his little love story was hilarious.

And I liked what they did with Fry and Leela in this episode. I mean, it was disturbing as all hell, but the message was good (tongue-in-cheek, though, which worked better than some touchy-feely episode about the dynamics of Fry and Leela's love); clearly the writers know that the ship can exist as a subplot (or as subtext, or in some other sub form), so I hope we see more of that at some point in the remaining episodes.

All in all, this was an excellent episode. Definitely in my top three for the season, behind "The Late Philip J. Fry" and (potentially) "Lethal Inspection."

9/10

[Reply #16 on:]

Ah, what would Futurama be without an act ending in the form of a spit take?  

I'm eagerly awaiting nerdnalysis as to whether or not the chronology of the brain switches made sense.

[Reply #17 on:]

One of the funniest so far out of what has been a very funny season. Holy cow, Scruffy had his best moment yet. I was lol'ing like crazy!

The plot was delightfully absurd, with the robo-hungarian cannon killing herself to shoot Farnsworth and a dozen robot midget clowns to sword fight the emperor's murderous cousin. I loved every second of it. I give this episode the maximum amount of stars!

[Reply #18 on:]

A big pile of meh, too much like the 500 big boys episode 4/10. Last two were a bit better.

[Reply #19 on:]

This was my favorite episode of the season. Yes, even more than Late. And here's why:

This episode was funny.

There. That's it. This episode was the perfect blend of sci-fi and humor, and it blended it much better than Late did. Late did have the epic factor going for it but did so at a sacrifice to humor.

And the obvious comparison episode to this are Three Hundred Big Boys and The Farnsworth Parabox, but this episode pulled the 22 Short Films concept better than either of those did. It didn't feel jolted like Farnsworth did and had constant laughs.

Best part of the night was definitely Scruffy's speech. I love that he's so deep.

First viewing, I'm giving this a 10/10. I wasn't expecting to give this such a rating when I first heard the title and concept, but this definitely defied my expectations. Ken Keeler wins again!

[Reply #20 on:]

Pretty good, although all of a sudden they're a couple again? Jeez, pick a story and stay with it!

[Reply #21 on:]

This was my favorite episode of the season. Yes, even more than Late. And here's why:

This episode was funny.

There. That's it. This episode was the perfect blend of sci-fi and humor, and it blended it much better than Late did. Late did have the epic factor going for it but did so at a sacrifice to humor.

You know, I'm watching it again and I'm really inclined to agree. This is the funniest Futurama I've seen in years with a great, clever sci-fi plot. Everything about it was spot on. Now I wish I could take back my vote.

[Reply #22 on:]

 This episode was oustanding in my opinion. It highly blew my expectations for this one out the window.   I gave this one a 9/10

[Reply #23 on:]

fun episode, really hilarious/disgusting way to finally get Fry and Leela together

[Reply #24 on:]

You know, I'm watching it again and I'm really inclined to agree. This is the funniest Futurama I've seen in years with a great, clever sci-fi plot. Everything about it was spot on. Now I wish I could take back my vote.

Have you considered using the "remove vote" button? Or is that a mod-only feature for some reason?

[Reply #25 on:]

Have you considered using the "remove vote" button? Or is that a mod-only feature for some reason?

Oh, I see! I've only been around here a little while, guess I didn't notice it.

[Reply #26 on:]

Love the Japanese translator guy's delayed reaction of his arm being cut off. Also liked scruffy's scene and the professor in the circus. Correct me if I'm wrong but I beleve that was Fishy Joe as the Circus leader. just about everything in this episode was good! I find the first act of each episode this season is always been the low point in each episode...

9/10

[Reply #27 on:]

Awsome. my second favorite of the season, just below TLPJF.
Tho in terms of humor I gotta agree its the best of the season.
Loads of laugh out loud scenes. Scruffy. Fry in Zoidy gill burp. Fat Leela. Proffesors skinny tummy under the seemingly beer belly shirt. Stove expolsion at Robot Arms.
So. Much. Funny!

9/10

[Reply #28 on:]

SCATCH MY EARLIER PREFERENCE OF TLPJF and LI over this one!!! People tried to convince me things and my head hurt. Then I rewatched some episodes and my head hurts more, but I agree with these people.

This is my favorite of the new season and maybe my favorite of all time. I'll have to mathematically rework my favorite episode list on the Favorite Episode forum.

[Reply #29 on:]

I Luh-uh-ved this episode. I must watch it again, as it was so fast-paced and packed with gags, that I can't really give my fullest thoughts. But some of the things that are still making me chuckle is the vacuous look on Amy's face after the bucket robot changed minds with her (but that was really Bender's mind, just in Amy's body--I guess?), Amy/bucket-robot declaring her (its?) love for Scruffy, Fry/Zoidberg doing the grossest and strangest things I've seen Zoidberg do, and Amy/Leela pigging out.

Oh, and I'm just waiting for somebody to post a detailed, diagrammed explanation of the math of how all the minds were properly restored to their rightful bodies. I know that this forum is full of analytical minds. Please, because I'm no good at math (maybe because I thought as the Professor said--I never thought math had a real-world application, so I never paid attention).

[Reply #30 on:]

Reverse Turing test:  if you didn't like this episode, you might be a machine.

[Reply #31 on:]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I beleve that was Fishy Joe as the Circus leader.

You better believe it was!

[Reply #32 on:]

Suppose n persons used the mind swapper and are all scrambled up with themselves.  Let's just say n = 5, and let's label the persons such that 2 is in 1's body, 3 is in 2's body, 4 is in 3's body, 5 is in 4's body, and 1 is in 5's body.

Bodies:   1 2 3 4 5
Minds:     2 3 4 5 1

Throw in two extra bodies X and Y:

Bodies:   1 2 3 4 5 X Y
Minds:     2 3 4 5 1 X Y

Pick some i less than n, say i = 3.  Apply the swaps (X,1), (X,2), up to (X,i).

Bodies:  1 2 3 4 5 X Y  
Minds:    2 3 4 5 1 X Y

After (X,1):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 3 4 5 1 2 Y

After (X,2):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 2 4 5 1 3 Y

After (X,3):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 2 3 5 1 4 Y

Now apply (Y, i+1), (Y, i+2) up to (Y, n).  In our example, we'll be applying (Y,4) and (Y,5):

After (Y,4):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 2 3 Y 1 4 5

After (Y,5):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 2 3 Y 5 4 1

Now apply (X, i+1) (in our case, (X,4)) and apply (Y,1).

After (X, 4):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
X 2 3 4 5 Y 1

After (Y, 1):

1 2 3 4 5 X Y
1 2 3 4 5 Y X

Everything is back to normal, except X and Y have switched.  Note that every swap takes place between one of (X,Y) and one of the 5 people (so we don't ever have to worry about how persons 1-5 got their minds swapped), and there are no pairs of bodies that swap twice.

If 1-5 are the only persons who swapped, then you can just swap X and Y now.  If, say, persons 6-9 swapped their minds, then do the same thing with them; at the end X and Y will have swapped minds again, so they'll actually be in their right bodies.  If you have any number of persons, divide them up into disjoint cycles and apply the procedure once for each cycles; if it's an odd number of cycles X and Y will have to swap at the end.

And in case anyone was wondering, it was implemented correctly in the ending.

[Reply #33 on:]

This episode is now #1 on GCEF, I know it's early but its still kinda cool

[Reply #34 on:]

Ah, what would Futurama be without an act ending in the form of a spit take?  

Bender B. Bending Rodriguez, the cinematic poet of spit takes.

Anyways, HILARIOUS episode tonight, each and every gag topping the last, from sly to broad to just plain disturbing (you know the scene... ). One demerit, however, for the now-lame take on the obligitory "What happens in [blank], stays in [blank]" gag in the opening credits.

[Reply #35 on:]

Amazing. I loved it. Very shippy as well. Kinda really gross but yeah...

Scruffy's scene was very touching.

[Reply #36 on:]

Also gotta love how Bender could make even a scantilly-clad Amy into a cigar-chewing, belching jerk.

[Reply #37 on:]

Also gotta love how Bender could make even a scantilly-clad Amy into a cigar-chewing, belching jerk.

I loved that. I don't think they could've pulled it off with the male cast, but with Amy it works. Kinda how everyone complained about Fry saying "penis" in Rebirth but nobody minding it with Leela in this one. Maybe because it was funnier in this episode too with the fact that nobody realized until then that they were both males at the time (I hadn't considered it)

I hope that Scruffy and the Bucket get a spinoff.

[Reply #38 on:]

I don't even want to know how that worked out...

[Reply #39 on:]

This was very reminiscent of "Three Hundred Big Boys" where everyone has a story. I loved this episode.

9/10