Thoughts on 6ACV21 - Yo Leela Leela - SPOILERS!

[#360 :]

I admit the pacing was frenetic, however that is what success in Hollywood it like.

No TOPD just to ^40th

[#361 :]

You know, people compain about Fry's knowledge of Lady Gaga, yet in 'The Mutants are Revolting', Bender plays The Black Eyed Peas' 'The Boogie That Be' at the 100th Delivery party, which, in 3010, would have been 1007 years old...

[#362 :]

As stupid as that is, and as bad as The Black Eyed Peas are, it's a little more acceptable for Bender seeing as he can read a whole book in about one second, so the amount of knowledge he's capable of absorbing and storing is infinitely higher than that of a human being such as Fry. Bender has also been around for over 1000 years too...

[#363 :]

Bender has also been around for over 1000 years too...

Yeah, but underground or in the limestone cavern...

[#364 :]

Did you not see the deleted scene for 'The Late Philip J. Fry'? When the Universe was reborn Bender stopped in 2010 to pick up a copy of the song from a music store for his party that's 'going to be in a few episodes time' 

[#365 :]

People today still enjoy musical pieces written as early as the tenth century AD, and some even earlier. Gregorian chant has been going since the 3rd. There are hymns from medieval times which are still recited today, virtually unchanged. The works of composers like Hildegard of Bingen are reproduced faithfully, as are numerous church 'plays' from that time. Not to mention works of poetry that you all probably know bits of without realising it that date from the first millennium.

Point being - if we still play and listen to various musical and lyrical forms from over a thousand years ago, when audio recording media didn't exist, then why shouldn't people a thousand years from now have access to our music? Especially considering how much of it is recorded.

[#366 :]

Exactly. So now we have enough evidence to back up that Fry knows about Gaga.

[#367 :]

Would Fry really listen to Lady Gaga though? I'd like to think not. By that time in the future there would presumably be an additional 1000 years of recorded music. Not only that, but I doubt Earth would be the only planet producing music in the entire universe, so there would almost certainly be vast amounts of music available from other planets all over the universe too...

Just think of how much recorded music has been made in the last 70 years or so. I don't know who a lot of the acts on TOTP 2 are, yet I like to think I have a reasonable knowledge of music from when the charts started. Also, a shit joke is a shit joke...

[#368 :]

It's also quite possible that Fry knows about Lady Gaga because she's still a relelvant celebrity in the 31st century like Beck and the Beastie Boys.

[#369 :]

Would Fry really listen to Lady Gaga though?

I don't purposely listen to Lady Gaga, but I've heard her songs millions of times.

Not only that, but I doubt Earth would be the only planet producing music in the entire universe, so there would almost certainly be vast amounts of music available from other planets all over the universe too...

Maybe he went to a 20th/21st century themed disco party or something when he was feeling homesick?

[#370 :]

If she's still a relevant celebrity in the future then that would be quite sad. Of course it is possible, but going by that logic there would also have to be another 1000 years worth of relevant celebrity heads in jars too. That's a hell of a lot of relevant celebrities. Is Lady Gaga really going stand out that much to Fry out of 1000 years worth of them given that she was famous from a time after Fry got frozen?...

As for how many times people have heard Lady Gaga songs despite not being fans (although I haven't heard her that much due to my hermit lifestyle), that's because she's very relevant now. It is still relatively recently that she broke through to fame. Sure she could still be famous for quite some time, but is Christina Aguilera someone that people even reference now? She was back in Futurama's original run. Already she has fallen somewhat by the wayside in favour of the likes of Lady Gaga. Sure she's still around today and famous, but not in the same way as she was back then...

How long has it been since that Christina Aguilera joke in Futurama's original run? The answer is a relatively tiny amount of time compared to the 1000 years in which Fry makes a joke referencing Lady Gaga, thus highlighting the obvious flaw...

As for the 20th/21st century disco party idea, surely Fry would want to go to a disco themed on 80's and 90's music which he grew up with, not music from after he got frozen? I mean most of the reason for going to such an event would be for nostalgia after all...

[#371 :]

How long has it been since that Christina Aguilera joke in Futurama's original run? The answer is a relatively tiny amount of time compared to the 1000 years in which Fry makes a joke referencing Lady Gaga, thus highlighting the obvious flaw...

The Christina Aguilera reference was made by Bender so that kinda makes it about as stupid at the Lady Gaga reference being made by Fry but, of course, no one cares about that because pop culture references from the original run are totally fine.

[#372 :]

That reference was simply terrible. It was made to be funny, but who laughed? Honestly, all this episode did was make fun of kids shows and celebrities.

@Jezzem Was the Christina reference when Bender got the "massage"? Because if so, I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be Miley Cyrus.

[#373 :]

I'm talking about "That's like Christina Aguilera singing in Spanish" from Bendin' in the Wind.

[#374 :]

That seems to make more sense. When Futurama references celebrities, at least it's somewhat decent. (Lady GaGa joke aside) But all the Family Guy celebrity references are just plain horrible because half the time I don't know who they're bringing up! God, it's like they expect us to watch TMZ all day then 20 minutes of Family Guy...

[#375 :]

How long has it been since that Christina Aguilera joke in Futurama's original run? The answer is a relatively tiny amount of time compared to the 1000 years in which Fry makes a joke referencing Lady Gaga, thus highlighting the obvious flaw...

The Christina Aguilera reference was made by Bender so that kinda makes it about as stupid at the Lady Gaga reference being made by Fry but, of course, no one cares about that because pop culture references from the original run are totally fine.

I'm also highlighting the flaw in the Christina Aguilera joke too by what I was saying, I'm not letting that off, no way! I remember people complaining about it a long time ago, possibly even in the review thread for that ep. The Christina Aguilera joke was absolutely terrible and I'm sure most Peeler's will agree on that...

The ironic thing is, had Fry made the Christina Aguilera joke it would have made much more sense because she was relevant at the time he was frozen, and therefore could still be fresh in his memory. It would still have been very bad and unnecessary all the same though, make no mistake...

Bender making the Christina Aguilera joke was almost as bad as Fry making the Lady Gaga joke. I say almost, only because as I pointed out above the amount of knowledge Bender's capable of absorbing and storing is infinitely higher, so theoretically he could have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all pop music right down the smallest detail...

How it was relevant for him to make such a comparison though, is harder to justify...

[#376 :]

I'm glad we somewhat agree, then. It's just that everyone seems to think that current pop culture references in Futurama are something that are just now being introduced in the new episodes and that annoys me, especially because I'm watching through the original run at the moment and noticing a lot of pop culture references that seem dated now.

[#377 :]

In my honest opinion, the Lady GaGa reference was pure filler, and it filled that moment with crap. It was just so squished in there, and wasn't funny in the first place. And we all know the error of how Fry would be aware of GaGa. God, sometimes it feels like this episode ruined the series.

[#378 :]

I'm glad we somewhat agree, then. It's just that everyone seems to think that current pop culture references in Futurama are something that are just now being introduced in the new episodes and that annoys me, especially because I'm watching through the original run at the moment and noticing a lot of pop culture references that seem dated now.

I do think the Lady Gaga joke is perhaps the worst pop culture joke to date on the show (edit - oh wait, after Susan Boyle of course), but when I referred to the Christina Aguilera joke I was also pointing out how bad that was too. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough with the way I wrote it...

What I meant was that it was a relatively tiny amount of time since the Christina Aguilera joke and now, and yet already she's fallen somewhat by the wayside now, let alone by the time period in which Bender told that joke. I was using that example and applying the same theory to the Lady Gaga joke to highlight its flaw...

In my honest opinion, the Lady GaGa reference was pure filler, and it filled that moment with crap. It was just so squished in there, and wasn't funny in the first place. And we all know the error of how Fry would be aware of GaGa. God, sometimes it feels like this episode ruined the series.

It hasn't ruined the series, but it's certainly tarnished it a little bit more after the tarnishing Holiday Craptacular already gave it. It also unfortunately proved just how low Futurama can sink, which worries me somewhat about the potential future prospects of the show...

[#379 :]

I'm glad we somewhat agree, then. It's just that everyone seems to think that current pop culture references in Futurama are something that are just now being introduced in the new episodes and that annoys me, especially because I'm watching through the original run at the moment and noticing a lot of pop culture references that seem dated now.

I do think the Lady Gaga joke is perhaps the worst pop culture joke to date on the show, but when I referred to the Christina Aguilera joke I was also pointing out how bad that was too. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough with the way I wrote it...

I got what you meant about highlighitng the silliness of the Christina Aguilera joke (hence the part where I said I'm glad we agree somewhat), but I was also pointing out that a lot of people get all angry at the new episodes for having current pop culture references and seem to forget the ones that the original run had.

[#380 :]

I think the reason for that is because a lot of these new pop-culture jokes are referencing things from after Fry's time. Sure there were some like that in the original run, but were any as bad as the Lady Gaga joke? At least with the terrible Christina Aguilera joke she was relevant from Fry's time (even though Bender made the joke)...

Then there's that Susan Boyle joke... ugh. Well, not just an isolated joke, but a freaking plot device! The sheer disgrace of this pop-culture joke/plot device outweighs any of the bad pop-culture jokes from the original run by a country mile!...

[#381 :]

The reason most of the pop culture references that were current in the original run were from around Fry's time was because the show didn't really go on for that long past "Fry's time". If the show didn't get cancelled I'm sure there'd be plenty of references from after Fry's time in the later episodes.

As for Susan Boil, I haven't watched Attack of the Killer App for a while but I don't remember being too bothered by it. I didn't think it was that funny, but I can't say I threw me into a fit of rage.

[#382 :]

Had the show not been cancelled then you're probably right, they'd have probably shoehorned in pop-culture jokes relevant to the years it aired beyond, but not to the future where they're actually being told. I still think we'd have been complaining about them though, just like we are now. It's just that there wouldn't have been such a bold line between then and now, it would have been more gradual...

It would be best if they just dropped the pop-culture jokes from after Fry's time altogether if you ask me. Let The Simpsons have them, at least they're more relevant there. I like a certain amount of plausibility with what the characters say, I like it to be natural rather than forced for the purpose of telling a bad pop-culture joke which is not only unfunny, but as it's from after Fry's time, takes me away from the future setting and leaved me questioning it...

The Susan Boyle joke, apart from not being funny in the first place, will date horribly. Perhaps it will be the most dated joke on the show in 10-20 years time...

[#383 :]

I might have disliked the Susan Boil joke more if one of the characters made an overt reference to her or acknowledged that it was a pop culture reference, like: "You named your boil Susan? Like the singer?" or something but I find the current pop culture references to not be so bad when it's the show itself that makes them and not the characters (if that makes any sense).

I think we may have drifted rather far from the original topic of Yo Leela Leela at this point, though.

[#384 :]

While it is good that no character said "Like the singer?" regarding the Susan Boyle joke, it was still horrible. I like to think of Futurama as having a timeless quality given that it's set in the future. Instead, with these pop-culture jokes what we get is something which destroys that timeless quality...

For example, if I have kids and in 15 years time I watch Yo Leela Leela with them (oh god, the thought of subjecting them to such a thing!), they could potentially ask me who Lady Gaga is when her name is mentioned. What am I going to say? "Oh, she's some famous pop singer from about 15 years ago." Then my kids ask me; "But daddy, I thought this show was meant to be set in the future?". After all, the show will still be set a long long time in the future even when watching it in 15 years time, and there we have a problem...

The writers simply aren't thinking this through properly. Do they want a brilliant show with a timeless quality? The amount of development which has gone into the show, along with the deep character relationships and back-story, the emotion built up over time, and the design of the whole future setting all suggest yes, they do. So why drop cheap pop-culture jokes to appeal to the lowest common-denominator only at the time of airing, which will only take away from the shows overall longevity and timeless quality when watched beyond that? It really is sad, and highly unnecessary...

[#385 :]

I was thinking yesterday, will Futurama ever have another episode just as bad or even worse than Yo Leela Leela? I hope not.

[#386 :]

I think we hit rock-bottom boys...

[#387 :]

I suspect at least one ep in Season 7 will be of a similar suckitude. Two in 26 eps sucked hard out of Season 6, so odds are two will suck hard in Season 7. I hope Season 7 proves me wrong though, I really hope it does...

[#388 :]

I just hope that the writers and co. clearly saw their mistakes from last season, I sure hope so.

[#389 :]

The only pop-culture references allowed should be eighties and nineties ones, by Fry.

[#390 :]

The only pop-culture references allowed should be eighties and nineties ones, by Fry.

This. This is why this....

I was also pointing out that a lot of people get all angry at the new episodes for having current pop culture references and seem to forget the ones that the original run had.

...is a bit daft. I mean, the original run had pop culture references that weren't out of place. People are complaining about things like the Kardashians and Lady Gaga and Facebook being mentioned because it's unlikely they'll still have the same place in society or status in a thousand years, plus Fry should be totally ignorant of them. He was frozen before they became famous.

[#391 :]

I already pointed out the pop culture references in the original run that were similarly out of place (the Beastie Boys and Beck still being celebrities, Bender referencing Christina Aguilera, etc.) on this very page.

Remember the how the whole point of the head museum was so they could have current celebrities guest star as heads in jars?

[#392 :]

The whole idea of the Head Museum is sort of flawed.

[#393 :]

I already pointed out the pop culture references in the original run that were similarly out of place (the Beastie Boys and Beck still being celebrities, Bender referencing Christina Aguilera, etc.) on this very page.

You're missing the point. Yes, there were occasional pop culture references that were slightly off (Beck being the major one here), but they were all at least from a period that Fry would be familiar with. Bender's reference to Christina Aguilera is probably the least easily forgiven, due to him being from the 29th Century.

But there were a lot that were funny and well done in context.

The newer pop culture references are almost entirely all out of place. They're not funny. They feel shoehorned in. They're therefore not as easily forgiven.

Remember how the whole point of the head museum was so that there was a reason why long-dead celebrities were making guest appearances or being name-dropped?

The new pop culture references feel different. It's like the writers have abandoned all pretense at trying to make a show set in the thirtieth century, and are setting it today but with a futuristic "art  upgrade".

The whole idea of the Head Museum is sort of flawed.

[#394 :]

Remember how the whole point of the head museum was so that there was a reason why long-dead celebrities were making guest appearances or being name-dropped?

How does the head museum not provide a reason for this particular celebrity's name being dropped? He could have referred to "Lady Gaga's head" but they usually just refer to the heads as their name rather that "so and so's head" more often than not.

The new pop culture references feel different.

Of course they do. They're different references to different things. The old pop culture references were references to things from Fry's time because that's still the time we were in before the show got cancelled.

As I already said, if the show hadn't been cancelled in the first place, the later episodes would still have references that were more current at that time rather than Fry's time.

In the end I don't really care about any of the pop culture references (including the ones from the original run and the new ones) I don't think it would affect my enjoyment of the show if they weren't there from the beginning, but them being in there doesn't harm my enjoyment of the show, because when there are ones that I don't like (I don't particularly like the Lady Gaga one myself, but that's mostly because I can't stand Lady Gaga) I can just think "well that wasn't very funny" and move on. I just think it's a little drastic to say that the show is just full of pop culture references now and it's like it's not even set in the future anymore.

I guess it doesn't really matter anyway.

[#395 :]

I have further evidence that Fry looked up/watched/listened to stuff from just after he got frozen! In "The Duh-Vinci Code", when he thinks da Vinci is DiCaprio, he tells him he liked the Titanic but The Beach was "neh", however, The Beach was only released in cinemas in February 2000, almost 2 months after the night he got frozen.

[#396 :]

It makes sense. I mean... if I was frozen, I think I'd want a crash course in history and pop culture following when I was frozen.

And I'd probably watch lots of "classics" from shortly after I was frozen. Who knows, maybe he was looking forwards to The Beach before he got frozen.

[#397 :]

He probably was, if he liked Titanic he must have been looking forward to DiCaprio's next film.

I wonder if he's seen Inception? I would LOVE to hear Fry sum up the plot of that film in his own words.

[#398 :]

I was looking forward to The Beach soundtrack until Prodigy and Robert Del Naja pulled "No Souvenirs" from it at the last minute because it was "too good". It's still never been released since either! ...

As for the movie, it was ok. As for it being a Futurama reference from Fry, it could be another pop-culture joke which doesn't quite work, or it could be as cyber_turnip says; something which Fry knew about before he got frozen and was looking forward to watching, and then he caught up in the future...

[#399 :]

I wonder if he's seen Inception? I would LOVE to hear Fry sum up the plot of that film in his own words.

He'd probably sum it up the same way everybody sums it up: "something about dreams. Stuff happens". It's not a movie that lends itself to succinct summations. You've got to go into detail to describe what's going on, which is in itself an ingenious way to get people interested in seeing it.