Things You Hope _Don't_ Happen in Future Episodes

[Reply #40 on:]

I think that as long as Kurt doesn't get hired as a Futurama writer, we're all reasonably safe from terrible, terrible episodes.

That's if he isn't one already, testing the waters with these "ideas"...

Sooo looks like I was 100% right and Neutopia is my proof. Huzzah.

[Reply #41 on:]

Anything that involves Leela doing the nasty (in the pasty, presenty, or even in the futury) with someone other than Fry, and vice versa.

Oh dear.

[Reply #42 on:]

While I don't think this is a bad thing, I am really disappointed how there has been a major lack in just Fry, Leela, and Bender-centric episodes. I mean having the entire crew around all the time is annoying because they usually have nothing to add. If it's Fry-Leela-Bender + the Professor or Zoidberg that's fine but having all members in every episode, I'm bored with it.

[Reply #43 on:]

Agreed. I keep picturing the way the supporting characters have been utilized in my favorite episodes of the past, and comparing it to what we've gotten so far in season six. I mean, the entire PE crew plays a role in "The Sting," what with trying to help Leela through her battle with guilt-stress and the crazies and such, but it is still an episode that is mostly about Leela and Fry, and the importance of their friendship. "Godfellas" is mainly about Bender and Fry, but there are some scenes of the rest of the crew trying to cheer Fry up. "Insane in the Mainframe" is a Fry-centric episode where all the supporting characters get significant, but appropriate, screen-time.

Meanwhile, what's with episodes like "Benderama," where the entire crew accompanies Fry and Leela and Bender on their delivery? Since when is that how things are done? It adds nothing to the episode (and it doesn't even detract anything, per se; it just seems out-of-place). Same with the entire crew visiting that cyclone planet in "Proposition Infinity."

That said, there have been a few episodes in the new run where the supporting characters were used sparingly; "Attack of the Killer App," "The Duh-Vinci Code," and "The Late Philip J. Fry" come to mind. So the writers are capable of writing episodes that are more centered on the core trio (or just one member of that group)...it just seems like they're not too interested in doing so.

[Reply #44 on:]

Too many non canon episodes. Those kinda bug me a lil. They can be fun but the last one (xmas) has kinda turned me off to the idea.

[Reply #45 on:]

Too many non canon episodes. Those kinda bug me a lil. They can be fun but the last one (xmas) has kinda turned me off to the idea.

So you're not looking forward to Reincarnation?

[Reply #46 on:]

Gorky: You're spot on with what I'm saying. No offense to Hermes, Amy, and hell even Scruffy at this point, but I am just not nearly as interested in their characters as I am with Fry, Leela, and Bender. Episodes with the entire crew such as Farnsworth Parabox are a great use of the crew but in Benderama, they have no purpose being on deliveries. It's frustrating me.

I like the non-canon I just really didn't like the holiday episode.

[Reply #47 on:]

I agree!!
I too miss episodes that mainly involve just Fry, Leela, and Bender. Involving everyone else all the time just makes it seem like there are too many unnecessary characters and it just gets too "messy".

[Reply #48 on:]

Too many non canon episodes. Those kinda bug me a lil. They can be fun but the last one (xmas) has kinda turned me off to the idea.

So you're not looking forward to Reincarnation?

I am and I'm not. If its done well, then they are fun. Its just that last Xmas one...........bugged the crap outta me. I can't wait to see the different styles tho......I'm torn.

[Reply #49 on:]

Everyone else has already hit upon the thing that probably made the entire 2010 season a bit off. The rest of the crew was along for most of the ride, and while they didn't take anything away they seemed to be little more than fancy cardboard cutouts off to the side. Personally I'd also like to see even more nerdy jokes, some more intelligent jokes I will never understand and leave tasteless jokes to a minimum. I laugh at penis jokes as much as the next pervert but there's a point when they're used way too much. I know Spanish Fry entirely centered around that but they didn't just yell "PENIS!" for the whole episode because they couldn't. I felt that last season they said it often just because they are now allowed to say it. Maybe I just prefer when writers come up with clever names for the junk downstairs.

[Reply #50 on:]

Definitely. Less common humor jokes (ie. Fart type jokes) and more intelligent esoteric funnies. Even if I don't get all them the first time.

[Reply #51 on:]

Episodes with the entire crew such as Farnsworth Parabox are a great use of the crew but in Benderama, they have no purpose being on deliveries. It's frustrating me.

That's a good point, and spot on. Hermes, of all people, certainly shouldn't be tagging along for deliveries (unless it's a very important one, I guess). Although I imagine they're on the UGM delivery simply so they already know who the monster is when he reappears later in the episode.

[Reply #52 on:]

i hate the cheap planets. cyclone planet. amish planet. being a sci-fi geek, i'm sure that cohen and the writers can come up with something better than those. heck, i can.

[Reply #53 on:]

i hate the cheap planets. cyclone planet. amish planet. being a sci-fi geek, i'm sure that cohen and the writers can come up with something better than those. heck, i can.

Okay, so re-name those planets for us.

[Reply #54 on:]

cyclone planet: Coriolis IV
amish planet: Grebelmanz

[Reply #55 on:]

I hope we don't get more lazy 21st-century reference jokes.

[Reply #56 on:]

While I could do without a lot of the pop culture references, I don't know that they're such a problem in the context of the series as a whole. I mean, a classic episode like "The Why of Fry" has references to Mary Worth and the Dave Matthews Band (somewhat close together, too), but they don't detract from my enjoyment of the episode (the Mary Worth line is actually one of my favorites of the episode). "Love and Rocket" references Mountain Dew (albeit, only in the background) and Six Flags, includes a 21st century example of college rock, and has that exchange between Lrrr and Ndnd about Friends. So, even if the quality of the pop culture references has gone down (the Kardashians, writers? Really?), it's not like they're an anomaly and have only begun to appear in season six.

[Reply #57 on:]

"The Series Has Landed" mentions the Monsanto corporation, although I'm not sure if that qualifies as a pop-culture reference.

[Reply #58 on:]

Episodes with the entire crew such as Farnsworth Parabox are a great use of the crew but in Benderama, they have no purpose being on deliveries. It's frustrating me.

This is so true. The whole crew did not need to go to Mrs. Astor's mansion to give her the souffle. I am pretty sure Leela could have handled it. We can throw Bender and Fry in there too because of funny.

Also, why the hell do they ever even take Zoidberg anywhere? Looking through the list of missions on CGEF, he hasn't played an integral role in any of them. He usually screws things up, if anything. Sense: not made.

[Reply #59 on:]

Concerning taking the entire crew with, Danny asked Eric Rogers and he responded why, read more here.

[Reply #60 on:]

Also, why the hell do they ever even take Zoidberg anywhere? Looking through the list of missions on CGEF, he hasn't played an integral role in any of them. He usually screws things up, if anything. Sense: not made.

That's like asking why does Zoidberg even exist. Nobody likes him, he's a terrible Doctor and he always screws things up. Why is he there?

For the funny.

[Reply #61 on:]

Episodes with the entire crew such as Farnsworth Parabox are a great use of the crew but in Benderama, they have no purpose being on deliveries. It's frustrating me.

This is so true. The whole crew did not need to go to Mrs. Astor's mansion to give her the souffle. I am pretty sure Leela could have handled it. We can throw Bender and Fry in there too because of funny.

Bender was vital to that delivery. Fry isn't necessary for any delivery, but he's on the payroll as a delivery boy, so that's why he always goes.
Is it a huge stretch that maybe everybody wanted to go along and be part of the 100th delivery seeing as they were making a big deal out of it?

[Reply #62 on:]

Is it a huge stretch that maybe everybody wanted to go along and be part of the 100th delivery seeing as they were making a big deal out of it?

That's what I assumed, which is why it didn't bug me that the entire crew made that delivery. And it also didn't bother me that they were all deported to the sewers, because once they got there it was pretty clear that the main story was about Fry and Leela.

[Reply #63 on:]

Is it a huge stretch that maybe everybody wanted to go along and be part of the 100th delivery seeing as they were making a big deal out of it?

...duh. okay. You win. :3

[Reply #64 on:]

Is it a huge stretch that maybe everybody wanted to go along and be part of the 100th delivery seeing as they were making a big deal out of it?

That's what I assumed, which is why it didn't bug me that the entire crew made that delivery. And it also didn't bother me that they were all deported to the sewers, because once they got there it was pretty clear that the main story was about Fry and Leela.

Also, they had a pretty good excuse to be deported. If only Fry was thrown down, it would be weird since the others also harbored her. Bender was ofcourse busy with the party and so no-one deported him.

[Reply #65 on:]

Exactly. And I actually find it kind of sweet that the entire crew goes to the mayor's office to plead Leela's case. Those cute, we're-a-bizarre-kind-of-family moments work for me, and I think that's when the use of the entire crew is most justified.

[Reply #66 on:]

Indeed. I have some high hopes about Cold Warriors, on how the entire crew will play in pretty nicely in that story, while at the same time having a side story of Fry and Leela as

Show spoiler

Leela is locked in.

Could be kind of 6ACV12-ish, I think.

[Reply #67 on:]

Exactly. And I actually find it kind of sweet that the entire crew goes to the mayor's office to plead Leela's case. Those cute, we're-a-bizarre-kind-of-family moments work for me, and I think that's when the use of the entire crew is most justified.

They might not be a traditional family, like the Murphy's next door or the lesbian coven across the street, but they are a family.

[Reply #68 on:]

Exactly. And I actually find it kind of sweet that the entire crew goes to the mayor's office to plead Leela's case. Those cute, we're-a-bizarre-kind-of-family moments work for me, and I think that's when the use of the entire crew is most justified.

Yeah, that didn't bother me in the slightest, quite the opposite, nor did all of them getting deported because that made sense and also most of the time they were chillin' in the land boat or just being part of the crowd.

Xanfor, haha, cute.

[Reply #69 on:]

I mean, a classic episode like "The Why of Fry" has references to Mary Worth and the Dave Matthews Band (somewhat close together, too), but they don't detract from my enjoyment of the episode (the Mary Worth line is actually one of my favorites of the episode). "Love and Rocket" references Mountain Dew (albeit, only in the background) and Six Flags, includes a 21st century example of college rock, and has that exchange between Lrrr and Ndnd about Friends. So, even if the quality of the pop culture references has gone down (the Kardashians, writers? Really?), it's not like they're an anomaly and have only begun to appear in season six.

Yes, but the pop culture references in the past at least seemed to make sense in the context. I mean, the items that you used as examples were things that Fry actually experienced - Fry actually listened to Dave Matthews, it has been established that Omicron Persei 8 is watching 1990s sitcoms and so on. The Kardashians are something that Fry would have not experienced as he lucikily missed out on that by being frozen. The joke seems so forced in there with no relevance just to take a dig. More Family Guy style than Futurama.