Thoughts on 6ACV17 - Benderama - SPOILERS

[#160 :]

I don't think we've really learned more about scruffy as much as we've just seen more of him. We still don't know how he came to work at Planet Express, seeing as how the Professor doesn't seem to know him. We don't know anything about Scruffy other then he likes girly magazines and mops the floor.

Scruffy leads a rich inner life, has been known to spend up to $300 on a new haircut to put some "pizazz" back into his existence, and is deeply moral to the point of refusing a liason with his washbucket when it was in Amy Wong's body. He's a man who can both appreciate tragedy for what it is, and remain stoically unaffected, and has a wry, dry sense of humour. He's fiercely loyal to the company, and seems to have been on staff for a long number of years.

All the little details we see, every time he appears on screen, they all give us more information about him. The wonderful thing is that it doesn't really give him any character depth... we see too little at a time for it to do anything but deepen the mysteries surrounding him. It's one of the few really well-done examples of a tertiary character being slowly revealed a piece at a time without giving too much away, or the audience even being that aware of them getting to know him a little. As can be seen from your statement "We don't know anything about Scruffy other then he likes girly magazines and mops the floor", which a casual observer might let slide, but I was not able to.

Y'see, I actually do pay attention to these little details. Scruffy's one of those intriguing characters that might turn out to be more important than he seems, like a certain three-eyed insatiably hungry little cuddlebug who has lived long and is a celebrated pooper.

[#161 :]

Either you are some kind of freak who pulled all of that off the top of his head, or you did a detailed Infosphere search to inform the rest of us about Scruffy's life. Either way, I salute you, Nerd of UK.

[#162 :]

Either you are some kind of freak who pulled all of that off the top of his head, or you did a detailed Infosphere search to inform the rest of us about Scruffy's life.

I don't use the Infosphere very often, to be honest. It actually did come off the top of my head. I keep a lot of useless stuff in there.

Either way, I salute you, Nerd of UK.

Thanks. It's preferable to being beaten round the head with a copy of The Onion.

[#163 :]

Does anyone think that Scruffy may be becoming more of a regular character now? He appeared in both Neutopia and Benderama (I know they were aired out of order, but still), and the Professor knew his name in Benderama. ('Scruffy, what is that tiny Bender doing in my soup?')

Fry: I hid it in a secret hiding place whose location I never told anyone. Not even Scruffy.

[#164 :]

...the Professor knew his name in Benderama.

Farnsworth introduced Scruffy, way back in AOI2. Remember in Brannigan Begin Again, when he can't recall seeing Bender before? The Professor is somewhat senile at the best of times. His memory comes and goes. Usually, this is dictated by what is funny.

[#165 :]

I'm watching Benderama for the third time on channel 11 xD I'm enjoying it even more!

[#166 :]

I'm actually amazed that they're showing a new episode of Futurama in Australia less than a week after its American air date.

It usually takes them at least SIX MONTHS.

[#167 :]

I'm as astonished as you are Freako! And on a free to air channel, too.

[#168 :]

it starts in 30 mins here in western Australia, cant wait to watch it again xD and yeah im surprised its already showing on Australian free to air TV less than a week from the American premiere  xD

good ol aussie free to air TV xD

[#169 :]

I'm actually amazed that they're showing a new episode of Futurama in Australia less than a week after its American air date.

It usually takes them at least SIX MONTHS.

Yeah, that's quite awesome. The way it should be is it should air within hours all over the world. Talk about discouraging Internet piracy. They would get a lot more out of me as a nerdlinger than now, when they only get the DVD sales.

[#170 :]

I have two points to raise regarding Australian TV:

1.

And on a free to air channel, too.

Of course it would air on a free to air channel; have you seen the things they shove on pay TV and refer to as "new"?

2:

good ol aussie free to air TV xD

Implies that TV isn't mostly comprised of unwatchable shit.

[#171 :]

Last Thursday night I was excited but dreading the possibility that this new batch would be lame.  I was pleasantly surprised.  After watching both eps a few times I have gotten even more excited, because they both have grown on me considerably.

I don't have much to add yet that hasn't already been said here but I did want to make a note of the excellence of the animation.  The show is looking really good, and what especially stood out to me is the fact that characters not actively speaking were more animated.  They would move their heads and change expressions rather than just blink.  I see the animators are putting their larger budget to good use.

[#172 :]

I see the animators are putting their larger budget to good use.

Do they have a larger budget now?
I though the opposite. Though I'll agree with your statement on the animation.

[#173 :]

Their budget is lower this year. Hence the move to a smaller animation studio, and a smaller crew of writers and directors. Listen to the commentaries.

[#174 :]

I have listened to all of them Aki, but yes, you are right.  My mistake.  I keep forgetting that this season is split.  I withdraw my earlier statement and replace it with: I see the animators are putting their lower budget to good use.  Acceptable?

Do they have a larger budget now?
I though the opposite. Though I'll agree with your statement on the animation.

For some inexplicable reason, the animation I saw in just those two new episodes left more of an impression on me than most of the first half of season six.  Did anyone else experience this or am I just loony?

[#175 :]

For some inexplicable reason, the animation I saw in just those two new episodes left more of an impression on me than most of the first half of season six.  Did anyone else experience this or am I just loony?

You're not alone--I noticed it, too. It's similar to how I thought "Into the Wild Green Yonder" was the most consistent, accomplished movie, animation-wise (and writing- and story-wise, but I digress). My guess is that it just took the animators a while to get back into the swing of things.

[#176 :]

Two great examples of their animation abilities were the opening scene of Neutopia and the fight scene of Benderama. The animation and direction of the Professor entering was fantastic. And with Benderama, as I've mentioned before, the little Benders that fly off of Big Bender and the dents in him the blows caused were absolutely wonderful. It's great to see that they took such attention to details as small as that. And how about even at the end when the water was flowing from the river into the crevasse?

[#177 :]

Of course it would air on a free to air channel; have you seen the things they shove on pay TV and refer to as "new"?

Indeed I have (Top Model D:). Perhaps it's my prolonged exposure to Foxtel that's made me oblivious to real premiere dates, and also the fact that until now I believed that all the new channels had to offer were shows like I Dream of Jeanie and Big Bang Theory reruns ("GO!"), but I'm now very happy Australian TV is progressing via last night's Benderama episode. I suppose they have no excuse for showing episodes 6 months after their initial world premiere now with the internet age.

[#178 :]

i thought the river in Neutopia looked especially good. to me, it seemed to have a cheezy-1960's look to it.

[#179 :]

This episode was better... not much, but better. Too many plot holes, and it felt kind of mean-spirited, but the Scary Door sequence knocked it up a few notches.

Wait, wasn't there an Ugly Americans where they had to kill tiny versions of a main character?

[#180 :]

Wait, wasn't there an Ugly Americans where they had to kill tiny versions of a main character?

you actually watched ugly americans? nah, i'm just kiddin'; i did too. should i avoid the fact that this scene was less than two minutes? nah, too lazy.

btw, that john denver was full of shit.

first guy to get the reference(without  the internet's help) will get a prize.

[#181 :]

There was an Ugly Americans where everyone had Mad Larry Disease and looked like Larry King, dunno if that's the one you're talking about, I have only seen first season...

I pretty much concur with Kryten on Neutopia and Benderama. I will watch them both again this weekend though, noodle free

[#182 :]

I have listened to all of them Aki, but yes, you are right.  My mistake.  I keep forgetting that this season is split.  I withdraw my earlier statement and replace it with: I see the animators are putting their lower budget to good use.  Acceptable?

Dude, I didn't mean to sound mean or anything, just frank.

For some inexplicable reason, the animation I saw in just those two new episodes left more of an impression on me than most of the first half of season six.  Did anyone else experience this or am I just loony?

Yeah, you're right, the animation in both first episodes of this broadcast season has been way above average. I don't think there's any big reason for this though, it's mostly coincidence - "Neutopia" is a space adventure, hence the cool 3D stuff, and "Benderama" has a lot of microscopic stuff, hence the cool 3D stuff. I don't think they thought much about it other than that.

I hope the viewers will go up enough through this season though, so that their budget will go up again. As I've understood it from DXC in the commentaries and interviews, they are working extremely hard to still produce so good material from the budget, instead of just going lazy and produce lower quality than before. DXC has remarked before that he doesn't expect the quality to be effected by these changes at all, which is pretty bad ass.

[#183 :]

Dude, I didn't mean to sound mean or anything, just frank.

Hey no sweat, Aki.  You didn't come across as mean, maybe just a bit prickly.  Message boards tend to make everything sound meaner than intended though, wouldn't you say?

Yeah, you're right, the animation in both first episodes of this broadcast season has been way above average. I don't think there's any big reason for this though, it's mostly coincidence - "Neutopia" is a space adventure, hence the cool 3D stuff, and "Benderama" has a lot of microscopic stuff, hence the cool 3D stuff. I don't think they thought much about it other than that.

I hope the viewers will go up enough through this season though, so that their budget will go up again. As I've understood it from DXC in the commentaries and interviews, they are working extremely hard to still produce so good material from the budget, instead of just going lazy and produce lower quality than before. DXC has remarked before that he doesn't expect the quality to be effected by these changes at all, which is pretty bad ass.

You may be right, but I hope it is not a coincidence and that the rest of this season will display the quality of animation (among other things) seen in these first two.  We shall see later tonight.  I too hope that good ratings will net a larger budget for them next time around.  Seeing how well they are working with the budget they have now makes me very excited for that prospect.

[#184 :]

Im glad they brought back the fact that they actually do deliveries still. thought I always enjoyed when the delivery took most of the episode instead of just a bit of it. I for some reason did not like that they used Patton Oswalt to do the voice of the Giant.

[#185 :]

I for some reason did not like that they used Patton Oswalt to do the voice of the Giant.

Complete opposite, I enjoyed the Unattractive Giant Monster and I think Patton's voice has some kind of uniqueness to it.

Also, he wasn't really a Monster, he was more of an Alien, right?

[#186 :]

His name is "unattractive giant monster", so yeah, he's a monster.

[#187 :]

Is it wrong that I was rooting for the "unattractive giant monster" throughout the big fight with megabender?  Admittedly he had a short temper, but he was genuinely trying to work on controlling it (the therapy sessions) and had come to NNY to apologize for losing it earlier (after numerous insults from Bender).  And then when he apologizes, he gets nothing but insults from everybody, and is actually fired upon by Zapp.  So yeah, I was rooting for him to smash up NNY real good.

[#188 :]

Is it wrong that I was rooting for the "unattractive giant monster" throughout the big fight with megabender?  Admittedly he had a short temper, but he was genuinely trying to work on controlling it (the therapy sessions) and had come to NNY to apologize for losing it earlier (after numerous insults from Bender).  And then when he apologizes, he gets nothing but insults from everybody, and is actually fired upon by Zapp.  So yeah, I was rooting for him to smash up NNY real good.

Second. He didn't deserve to die.

[#189 :]

I think I posted something about that too. I really felt bad for UGM - he was really nice, he just had some bad luck and some anger management issues! I showed the episode to a friend as well, and she almost teared up when he died, and then sat on the edge of the sofa till the end of the episode going "he... died? Why did he... die?"

[#190 :]

Hey, Futurama needs more female giants!  AND DON'T MENTION THE COMIC!

[#191 :]

Hey, Futurama needs more female giants!  AND DON'T MENTION THE COMIC!

Which comic?

Also, *cough*Amazonians*cough*

[#192 :]

They aren't giants, they are Amazonians. Get your darn facts straight.

[#193 :]

Yeah, I am not talking mini-gts here, Danny.  Look it up.

[#194 :]

They aren't giants, they are Amazonians. Get your darn facts straight.

I knew that, but they're close.

[#195 :]

Have you compared the sizes of the Amazonians and UGM? Wowsa! He's about ten times as tall.

[#196 :]

Have you compared the sizes of the Amazonians and UGM? Wowsa! He's about ten times as tall.

I meant the closest thing we've seen (outside of the comics) to a giant woman.

[#197 :]

What about Femputer? She was kind of big.

Oh, wait, she was a fembot of Bender's size.

Oh, well, she's close.[/Danny]

[#198 :]

Oh, well, she's close.[/Danny]

Not. She's a robot.

[#199 :]

No-one said the female giants had to be biological.

Hey, Dr. Widnar is kind of big!

Oh, wait, I'm getting her confused with the dinosaur.