Thoughts on 6ACV16 - Law and Oracle - SPOILERS

[Reply #40 on:]

This was a surprisingly well done episode - the broadcast season so far is going incredibly well, all episodes above the general curve for me. After first view, "Law and Oracle" felt like it'll share its first place with "Ghost in the Machines" as best episode of the broadcast season yet.

I was really worried about how the episode was going throughout the first act. It all felt extremely rushed - it had lots of good jokes and call backs, but it just felt rushed. The Roberto part felt quite forced to me, it sort of had been done. I almost thought Zoidberg was going to yell "hurrah, I'm helping!", and I'm glad he didn't. To me, they could much easily have shown a crime (maybe by Roberto) commited on the street outside, the PE crew merely hears noise and looks out to see the brave cops, then we see Leela's reaction and Fry deciding to become a cop. To me, that would have worked much better and it would have felt much less forced.

After the first act, it really picked up. All the jokes and references at various movies and such (especially Police Academy) were inspired and not forced, even though that type of joke has really been done before (especially on the Simpsons). I really liked Sound Effects 5000 and his line about it not being impressive to have that ability because he was a robot, and the chief was funny as well - this is a type of character that easily can be taken a step too far, but I think they handled it nicely. There was some amazing animation in the police chase, some hilarious jokes and a good story that didn't feel out of character at all.

The third act became sort of a mystery, and it was pulled off very well. In such an episode of this, the hard part is getting everything back to status quo in the end, and that was also pulled off well (much better than "Neutopia" or "Ghost in the Machines").

I was a little surprised by the reveal that Smitty retired - he doesn't look that old to me. And they never had him return by the end either. Now will he still be in the force in the future?

Overall, good ep.

[Reply #41 on:]

I was really worried about how the episode was going throughout the first act. It all felt extremely rushed - it had lots of good jokes and call backs, but it just felt rushed.

Agreed, but I was glad they didn't drag out the whole Fry-is-bored-with-his-job thing, which easily could have eaten up a few more minutes of time. I generally don't like when the episodes have such a breathless pace, but seeing as how the writers have roughly a minute less with which to work, I'm glad they decided to cram all the exposition into act one, instead of making the rest of the episode too fast-paced and confusing.

Interestingly enough, acts two and three have much more substance than the first act, but I thought they were perfectly-paced. The writers did a good job cramming a lot of stuff in without making any of it seem rushed.

 

I was a little surprised by the reveal that Smitty retired - he doesn't look that old to me. And they never had him return by the end either. Now will he still be in the force in the future?

I think the writers just had to find a way to get rid of Smitty (without actually killing him) so that Fry could be paired up with an officer the viewers were already familiar with. URL probably provided them with more comedic opportunities than Smitty (and it fit into the whole oddly-matched partners thing the chief mentioned), so that's why the former was chosen and the latter was tossed to the side. I'm sure we'll see him on the force again in the future, with or without an explanation, but this episode was totally worth any minor continuity issues it may cause in the future.

[Reply #42 on:]

I agree that the pacing was excellent, except maybe a little in the first act, but a fast first act is much more excusable than a fast third act. That's partly what gave this episode an awesome "classic Futurama" feel. It was just well done and none of it seemed forced, including the pop culture references. Everything fit in.

I am guessing we'll see Smitty again without any explanation, which doesn't really bother me.

[Reply #43 on:]

I think the writers just had to find a way to get rid of Smitty (without actually killing him) so that Fry could be paired up with an officer the viewers were already familiar with. URL probably provided them with more comedic opportunities than Smitty (and it fit into the whole oddly-matched partners thing the chief mentioned), so that's why the former was chosen and the latter was tossed to the side. I'm sure we'll see him on the force again in the future, with or without an explanation, but this episode was totally worth any minor continuity issues it may cause in the future.

Globviously. I just wish they had gone with something like "he's on vacation". :P

[Reply #44 on:]

Eh, I liked the way the writers played with that "a few days away from retirement" gag. All the send-ups of various police movie cliches were great; I'm not a fan of the genre or anything, but I did like how the writers poked fun at their source material.

Also, on a random just-made-me-laugh note: One of the best moments of the episode for me was the police officer who admitted to not wearing pants, followed by a shot of him shaking hands with Fry and the reveal that, yes, Fry could see that all along, as the other officer was considerably taller than him. So absurd. So hilarious.

[Reply #45 on:]

The scene, where the light (or Schrödinger) was dispersed into the colors was epic! Also I liked the idea with a 3d planet. The funniest part was at the beginning, where Fry received an injury like in the game he played. Like some people here, I didn´t like the female (or male??) chief. Overall a good episode!

[Reply #46 on:]

I totally forgot to mention:

I loved the Schrödinger references! This is old school Futurama, not really caring that two thirds or more won't get the joke. It was a funny sequence if you didn't get it either, I suppose, but I found the whole section hilarious.

"What's in the box, Schrödinger?"
"A cat, some poison, und an atom."
"The cat! Is it alive or dead?"
"Eh... It's a superposition of both states until you open it and collapse its wave function."

[Reply #47 on:]

The line "What's in the box, Schrödinger?" alone was enough to make me laugh out loud. This episode was definitely the nerdiest of 6.5 and I loved that.

Fry's "That's the plan" also made me laugh.

[Reply #48 on:]

This is the sort of episode that makes me smarter, precisely because I can recognize the science-y references without having any deeper understanding of them. And now, if I ever want to learn more about Schrödinger's cat, I already have some Futurama-based context to help me out.

Futurama: Making science-illiterate girls smarter since 1999.

[Reply #49 on:]

Gorky, you should learn more about Schrödinger's cat (and entanglement and superposition). Extremely exciting topic.

I also liked the joke about driving 15 miles above the speed of light. "He's breaking the law of Lorentz transformation".

[Reply #50 on:]

Gorky, you should learn more about Schrödinger's cat (and entanglement and superposition). Extremely exciting topic.

I also liked the joke about driving 15 miles above the speed of light. "He's breaking the law of Lorentz transformation".

The Lorentz transformation joke made me squirt seltzer out of my nose when I heard it. It was very, very painful and very, very amusing. That and the Schrodinger's cat jokes made my inner physics nerd so happy.

Besides the physics jokes, there were a lot of other moments that made this episode my favorite of this season so far. I really loved the police chief. I also thought it was interesting to see Fry being good at something without being infested by parasites. Also, my favorite Futurama character of all time (Hedonism Bot) appeared again.

Not to be overly enthusiastic, but 10/10.

[Reply #51 on:]

Loved it.

Not for its story, but its humour. It's quite possibly the funniest episode of season 6 so far in my opinion.
I didn't like the transitional stuff getting Fry away from Planet Express and into the force and vice versa, but everything else was great. Reminded me of Insane in the Mainframe a bit in that I love that episode for how funny it is rather than the storyline.

I'm afraid that I loved all of the pop-culture references. Even Fry's Leno gag had my laughing out loud. Remember that Leno's head is alive and well in the time they're living, so he's still a relevant figure. Isn't there an episode where you see his head inside Bender's body with tape over his mouth on a magazine cover in some sort of montage or did I imagine that? (Possibly Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV?)


Does anybody else find it weird that Fry has been hit by a bus in that fashion twice so far in this season? I hope this doesn't become some sort of running gag.

Also, I'll be annoyed if next time we see Smitty, he's inexplicably back on the force (unless it's a result of the episodes airing out of production order).

I wasn't so keen on the police chief either, she felt like a rehash of material we'd seen in Neutopia.

Unfortunately i only had red and blue 3D glasses not the red and greenish one, but I saw the 3D effect working somewhat, not great but it was there.

quote]
You mean that 3D was actual 3D? That's absolutely awesome! God, I love the Futurama staff for putting effort in on things like that. Can't wait to give it a try.

I loved how visual so much of the episode was actually. The Pandora and TRON sequences were both fantastic.


Anyway, yeah. Loved it. Not sure what score to give it yet. At very least an 8/10 but I'm veering towards a 9... probably not though. I need to let it sink in a bit, first.

[Reply #52 on:]

Even Fry's Leno gag had my laughing out loud. Remember that Leno's head is alive and well in the time they're living, so he's still a relevant figure. Isn't there an episode where you see his head inside Bender's body with tape over his mouth on a magazine cover in some sort of montage or did I imagine that? (Possibly Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV?)

You didn't imagine it, Bender was shown on the TV Guide with the kidnapped head of Jay Leno in Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV.

[Reply #53 on:]

Isn't there an episode where you see his head inside Bender's body with tape over his Does anybody else find it weird that Fry has been hit by a bus in that fashion twice so far in this season? I hope this doesn't become some sort of running gag.

I think it's mostly a coincidence, as the getting-hit-by-a-bus thing served two separate purposes. In "The Duh-Vinci Code," it was an ironic accident on the heels of Fry's comment that he has street smarts; in "Law and Oracle," it was a parody of that paperboy video game Fry was playing. An ironic bus accident is not the same thing as a satirical bus accident!

[Reply #54 on:]

The line "What's in the box, Schrödinger?" alone was enough to make me laugh out loud. This episode was definitely the nerdiest of 6.5 and I loved that.

I'd argue that a plot built around grey goo is a step nerdier than a few jokes.

[Reply #55 on:]

I thought that this was a funny, albeit average, episode of Futurama. It had plenty of LoLs, cultural references, and callbacks to previous episodes. But IMO this episode didn't provide as many "laughes per minute" of a typical Futurama episode. So this episode was good, but not great: 7/10*.

[* I confess that I might be more generous than usual regarding this episode after last week's worst-episode-ever IMO.]

[Reply #56 on:]

I thought that this was a funny, albeit average, episode of Futurama. It had plenty of LoLs, cultural references, and callbacks to previous episodes. But IMO this episode didn't provide as many "laughes per minute" of a typical Futurama episode. So this episode was good, but not great: 7/10*.

[* I confess that I might be more generous than usual regarding this episode after last week's worst-episode-ever IMO.]

You should research what the words I bolded mean.

[Reply #57 on:]

And let the flaming begin...

[Reply #58 on:]

Hm, a little weird in places, but overall a great ep. Some moments made me LOL, and I loved the remake of SP3 at the beginning. Awesome.

7/10

[Reply #59 on:]

 

[Reply #60 on:]

So many references Tron, Minority Report, Space Pilot 3000 Avatar.

AND Police Academy!

[Reply #61 on:]

I thought that this was a funny, albeit average, episode of Futurama. It had plenty of LoLs, cultural references, and callbacks to previous episodes. But IMO this episode didn't provide as many "laughes per minute" of a typical Futurama episode. So this episode was good, but not great: 7/10*.

[* I confess that I might be more generous than usual regarding this episode after last week's worst-episode-ever IMO.]

You should research what the words I bolded mean.

Firstly, I've explained in the appropriate ratings system thread that my scores are based on my ENJOYMENT of an episode compared to all Futurama episodes. I do not conform to anyone else's rating standards or criteria -- especially not a shameless instigator like you who obviously wants to incite a flame war (as Gorky pointed out).

Second, YOU apparently need to research "average", because anyone who has passed elementary school math should know that there three basic types of averages: mean, median, and mode. You're apparently thinking only of the median average of 1-10, which would be 5. But if I were to tabulate my ratings for all Futurama episodes, the mean average would probably be around 6.5. Hence my rating of 7/10 for this particular episode is my average rating.

You obviously don't know WTF you're talking about, FistfulOAwesome.

[Reply #62 on:]

So many references Tron, Minority Report, Space Pilot 3000 Avatar.

AND Police Academy!

AND Police Academy IV!

[Reply #63 on:]

So what was with the Scruffy being a zombie line? Another throwaway?

[Reply #64 on:]

So what was with the Scruffy being a zombie line? Another throwaway?

um.......yes.

[Reply #65 on:]

um.......yes.

100% sure on that?

[Reply #66 on:]

You could assume that Scruffy has always been a zombie, and that his death occurred at some point prior to where the series begins. That would explain why we're not introduced to him until the end of season two (and even then, it's only in an AOI episode), and why none of the newer employees know who the hell he is; it took Farnsworth a while to bring him back to, uh, undead life as a zombie.

Alternately: You're probably reading a bit too much into it.

[Reply #67 on:]

Alternately: You're probably reading a bit too much into it.

You can talk.

'It sure was nice of the Mayor's wife to have sex with me!'

[Reply #68 on:]

Ack, it kills my shippy soul!

But yes, we all pick our battles when it comes to such nitpicky details. For my part, I thought the Scruffy joke was funny (and I loved seeing the wash bucket, too).

[Reply #69 on:]

Scruffy being a zombie is one frack more logical than Fry sleeping with other gals without Leela being upset, though.

[Reply #70 on:]

If you go by "number of times I laughed out loud during the episode", I'm pretty sure this is best one since the 4 movies era...

...and no laugh was louder than, because I wasn't looking for it, and since no one's mentioned it yet...  the body motion that apparently means "rewind"

(close second for me was "what have I will have done?")

[Reply #71 on:]

For me, by far the best one of the most recent ones - to my surprise actually. I still think sometimes that the shorter time available sometimes leaves to storylines having to be hurried along - some episodes do this better than others - but, apart from a few flat jokes (for me) and niggly things about whether or not I felt Leela should have at least shown more response to Fry leaving and eventually returning, there was very little I could fault. Thoroughly enjoyed it, I really liked how they used URL, loved the cultural references, which this time didn't appear too forced, and furthermore I really liked the art direction. Great episode - maybe not an all-time classic - for me - but yeah

8/10

[Reply #72 on:]

Does anybody else find it weird that Fry has been hit by a bus in that fashion twice so far in this season?

Also noticed that.

I hope this doesn't become some sort of running gag.

Me, too. I don't like seeing characters I like physically harmed in episodes. Others may think it's funny but I don't. On the bright side, they are just cartoons so at least they don't feel the pain.

[Reply #73 on:]

Rewatched it today. I still love the no pants gag. The tone of voice was spot on. It really hit for me.

[Reply #74 on:]

Rewatching the episode (in HDTV quality, awesome) and I thought I'd point out some thoughts:

• I still love the beginning - Fry's game, Leela's Panucciesque voice, all the callbacks, awesome.
• The Roberto part still feel a bit rushed and forced on second viewing. I like him, a lot, but he feeled like he didn't belong in this episode (at least not like this).
• The no-pants joke - gold. I love Fry's matter-of-fact line.
• The joke about them throwing light sabers on graduation really feels done. I recall the Simpsons doing a long joke about lots of graduation throwing stuff, including some WWI graduation with dagger hats... and it was old even before that.
• On a shot of the police office, there are signs of two wanted people (a woman and a man), while at the same time the exact same people are walking past the office. Nice freeze frame joke that I didn't notice before.
• Noticed that a Slurm sign says "Unnaturally delicious!" - didn't notice that before.
• Amy's imitation of the Professor's "good news everyone" really made me laugh out loud. The entire subplot with the crew handling being without Fry is really sweet and funny - the Professor explaining that his catch phrase was to make Fry feel better about himself, Leela and Bender on a mission without Fry...
• Rewatching the racing scene in HD quality... wow. Such amazing animation.
• The Schrödinger jokes are still holding very strong. Classic Futurama.
• "So... you're a robot?" :laff:
• The plan to murder Hattie, marry her birds and then get their money... awesome plan.
• The music throughout the episode is really cool. Is it a reference to something I don't get?
• It's nice to see Leela be attracted to Fry for once.
• "Avoid... committing... crime." "You wrote 'commit the crime'!" :laff:
• "Angry? Frustrated? Apply to be a cop!"
• On second viewing, I'm somewhat annoyed with how Pickles didn't predict the plan. Why couldn't he foresee that they were planning to set the whole thing up? And what the frack is the deal with a "prediction-safe glass"? That feels a little cheap, doesn't it? This didn't annoy me on first view, but on second...
• Fry understanding that the prediction was wrong because Bender would never share ("the very idea!") was hilarious.
• I didn't think of this the first time around: when Hermes tells Leela about "executive" being a meaningless title that helps insecure people feel better about themselves, is when the credits start rolling: "EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Matt Groening, David X. Cohen". Maybe it was obvious to everyone but me, but I just realized it (and laughed out loud).

In summary, on second view: Awesome episode.

[Reply #75 on:]

The 3D effect does actually work but not very good. I tried two different red/blue glasses and I had a lot ghosting. When they are in the ship, the effect worked best.

[Reply #76 on:]

So Planet Express delivers pizzas now? And they've been doing it for the last ten years? WTF?

Average. Solidly average... except that the TRON sequence was sub-par animation compared to what I was expecting and the Avatar stuff was irritating in the extreme. So it loses points for those. Five out of ten. No, I'm not feeling particularly generous today. Yes, today's been shitty. Yes, I will probably revise my opinion later and wish I'd scored it more highly.

But shut up. Seriously, shut up.

This was a funny episode, I'll admit that much right now. But the beginning annoyed me. Everything up until Fry takes his pants off is one huge stinking turd. Everything that takes place after is either good or distinctly better than bad - with the exception of the Pandora/Avatar bit.

Had the animation been better for the TRON spoof, then I'd've loved it more. Had they been more subtle about the Schrodinger joke instead of killing it by explaining it just that little bit too much, I'd've loved it yet more. But IMO the writers missed a couple of tricks, and shamelessly exploited a couple that would've been better underplayed (Schrodinger's joke should've been more subtle, the Avatar reference would've been better dropped entirely).

So it's an average episode with a sub-par rating, for me. If you disagree, feel free to fuck a squirrel. It's not like I'll be returning to this thread to read your responses anyway. Annoyingly, I now have stuff to do.

I can't articulate exactly how much I hate everything right now (which may also have contributed to my underwhelming score), so I'll just ask everybody reading this to imagine me sitting morosely in my chair, giving you the finger.

[Reply #77 on:]

I actually enjoyed this episode 8/10
well played writers now lets keep this standard up.

[Reply #78 on:]

So Planet Express delivers pizzas now? And they've been doing it for the last ten years? WTF?

Not to start an argument now that you're obviously a tad upset, but I thought that to be quite obvious. They practically deliver everything they can to stay in business - in "Neutopia" they agreed gladly to deliver a letter (granted it turned out to go to the Professor, but they didn't know that and still agreed gladly), and in "The Mutants Are Revolting" they delivered a souffle. Why not a pizza?

[Reply #79 on:]

I thought it was a fun episode that kept me engaged, despite the premise being so silly.