Thoughts on 6ACV18 - The Tip of the Zoidberg - SPOILERS!

[#40 :]

Fun fact:

-The blades on the killing machine were poisoned.
-The blades were used to cut veggies.
-The veggies were made into a salad.
-The Professor ate the salad.
-Poison kills people.
 

[#41 :]

Not all blades were poisoned at that time.

[#42 :]

-Poison kills people.

The blades would inject the poison into the blood.
Just eating/drinking it might have a different effect (like certain snake poisons that could be used as medicine..but I am too lazy to look them up right now;) )

[#43 :]

I thought that was the joke.  That Farnsworth ate the poisoned salad.

[#44 :]

I really don't understand all the hate, and complaining about the realism? This angers me so much. Incase you didn't realise, it's set in the year 3011. Oh, what was that other thing.... Um.... Oh yeah, IT'S A CARTOON.

8/10

[#45 :]

I agree that it was too cartoony and I was questioning things after the first act. However, I really liked pretty much the whole third act. I thought it was paced well, I loved the animation of the killing device (and the fireworks made me laugh out loud, as did Amy's line about "none of that was supposed to happen"). And I liked the very end with the two of them woob-woobing. Left me smiling.

Not sure what to give this one. 8.5/10 right now but I'll decide on an integer later. Better than I thought it was going to be from that preview scene.

LOL Too cartoony?!?  If you haven't noticed.....IT'S A CARTOON!!

[#46 :]

I have yet to see anyone complain about realism in this thread.

[#47 :]

Very unrealistic. Yes, that's silly of me to expect realism from Futurama, but this episode was pretty bad.

Second time I've proved Svip wrong today.

[#48 :]

Very unrealistic. Yes, that's silly of me to expect realism from Futurama, but this episode was pretty bad.

Second time I've proved Svip wrong today.

leiapadme77 likes the Star Wars prequels.  Her opinions don't count.

Try again.

[#49 :]

That's a shitty excuse, you fail Sir.

[#50 :]

That's a shitty excuse, you fail Sir.

Sir is not spelt with a capital S, so you fail again.  But it is not really a shitty excuse, it is just because you cannot find another example, and your post claimed that there was a huge public consensus against the realism when you can only find one post.

Stop being so stupid.

[#51 :]

Sir is an alternative to Mr, Mr is spelt with a capital M because it's addressing someone.

[#52 :]

I am not a knight.  I also recommend you read up on the differences between courtesy titles and honorifics before you continue.

[#53 :]

For the most part I liked it. It was pretty good, definitely not great, and probably my least favourite Ken Keeler episode. That's not to say I hated it though.

I will say one thing though, that there was something unsettling about the Planet Express crew actively seeking to kill the Professor. I know it was mercy killing, but it felt like they were actually enjoying the process of killing him, which I didn't like at all. At least Zoidberg acknowledged what he was going to do would be difficult.

I suppose death is such a non event in the future, that they probably could kill him and then just stick his body into the rebirthing machine to bring him back, perfectly healthy again. Yes, that's how I'll justify this one.

I liked the character development for Zoidberg and the professor, and the jokes were alright. It was a strange episode, but I'll give it 7/10.

[#54 :]

@DannyJC13, Svip>Geez..get a room, you two....

[#55 :]

Death is definitely less of an event in the future, but you do raise an interesting point there.

[#56 :]

but it felt like they were actually enjoying the process of killing him

They way the professor was concerned with his crews safety and survival in previous episodes, they might really have enjoyed it in a "score-to-settle"way (though no one probably would dare to admit this....)

[#57 :]

1. The Star Wars prequels average out to be a perfectly fine set of movies. It's been over a decade and you still spend half your posts whining about a children's movie that didn't live up to your expectations. How can you tell ANYBODY that they "fail" or that their opinions don't matter?

2. I will join the "too cartooney" crowd. Yes, it's a cartoon, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't try to be at least somewhat realistic. Some of the injuries were a little much.

3. This episode was really funny. Especially for a Zoidberg episode. It blows Lobstertainment and Taste of Freedom out of the water. Rivals Crustacean in Love as the best Zoidberg story.

4. The gag where Zoidberg is about to electrocute Farnsworth/Farnsworth gets scared and dies of a heart attack/Zoidberg walks away/wires fall onto Farnsworth and shock him back to life was one of the best things I've ever seen.

5. I haven't been posting here lately. Honestly, the last few episodes I've seen have been just ok. Nothing great, nothing bad. This episode was good enough to get me to post a review. It had its flaws, but I thought they handled Zoidberg's character perfectly and there were a lot of laughs.

6. Crunch all you want. We'll make more.

[#58 :]

4. The gag where Zoidberg is about to electrocute Farnsworth/Farnsworth gets scared and dies of a heart attack/Zoidberg walks away/wires fall onto Farnsworth and shock him back to life was one of the best things I've ever seen.

Same here, I also enjoyed the sniping scene.

[#59 :]

but it felt like they were actually enjoying the process of killing him

They way the professor was concerned with his crews safety and survival in previous episodes, they might really have enjoyed it in a "score-to-settle"way (though no one probably would dare to admit this....)

That's a very good point you raise there, and it makes a lot of sense. They probably should have included a reference to that somewhere in the episode. A bit of context goes a long way.

"No, it's cheaper just to have you die!" 

[#60 :]

1. The Star Wars prequels average out to be a perfectly fine set of movies. It's been over a decade and you still spend half your posts whining about a children's movie that didn't live up to your expectations. How can you tell ANYBODY that they "fail" or that their opinions don't matter?

I just did.

[#61 :]

It was a good episode and finally some inside into the Zoidberg-Farnsworth backstory.

[#62 :]

I will say one thing though, that there was something unsettling about the Planet Express crew actively seeking to kill the Professor. I know it was mercy killing, but it felt like they were actually enjoying the process of killing him, which I didn't like at all. At least Zoidberg acknowledged what he was going to do would be difficult.

Yeah, it seemed a bit mean-spirited, kind of like Bender's joy at killing Fry in "Ghost in the Machines." That said, I did like that they were all going to add a drop of poison to the blades, so as to all share in the guilt. That seemed like a decent acknowledgment of the gravity of the situation, and it probably would have been silly to dwell on the moral implications of the mercy killing when you could be pretty sure that Farnsworth wasn't really going to die.

And I don't see anything wrong with these complaints about the show being too cartoony. Matt Groening has said tons of times that one of the neat things about both the Simpsons and Futurama is that you're able to make people care about the characters, as if they were portrayed by real people in a more "serious" live action show. There are certainly some live action shows that are just as wacky as most cartoons, but Futurama has always kept a lot of the more slapstick humor to a minimum because it can detract from the emotional impact of a scene (or muck with one's suspension of disbelief). I know it's a cartoon, so it's going to employ cartoon logic from time to time, but the turning-into-a-yeti thing reminded me more of a Saturday morning cartoon than an animated show aimed at adults and so intelligently-written.

[#63 :]

Haha! Enjoyed it even more the second time when I was wide awake! I'm going to bump up my score and give this one a 10/10. I had no problems with the cartoony/wackiness of this episode. 2nd best of Season 6B so far. 

[#64 :]

Okay, upon second viewing, I think it was a solid episode. The "cartoony" violence (how ironic to criticize a cartoon by calling it "cartoony") detracted from it, like it did for several others, but everything else was written and paced well, and the animation was great. I think my absolute favorite part was Bender doing shadow puppets with his hands and feet. I love Bender's geometrical feet (for the longest time I have been trying to puzzle out why I find Bender so adorable).

[#65 :]

It's my 2nd favourite of 6B so far after 'Law and Oracle', but that isn't particularly high praise. I liked it though, it was good. I'm on the side that found the cartoony violence a bit too much, but it wasn't enough to really detract from my enjoyment of things. I enjoyed having that aspect of backstory filled in and it had plenty of very funny moments plus, finally, a good Zoidberg episode! That's something I've been waiting for for a while.

So yeah, I liked it.

[#66 :]

but it felt like they were actually enjoying the process of killing him

They way the professor was concerned with his crews safety and survival in previous episodes, they might really have enjoyed it in a "score-to-settle"way (though no one probably would dare to admit this....)

That's a very good point you raise there, and it makes a lot of sense. They probably should have included a reference to that somewhere in the episode. A bit of context goes a long way.

"No, it's cheaper just to have you die!"  

The Professor sees his staff as disposable (isn't that part of his slogan in the second episode?).   When Hermes is trying to kill himself?  The Professor tells him to hurry up, just stop letting that liver going to waste.  When Leela was knocked out, he rushed off to get a pair of tongs and a cooler to put her organs in.  And he makes no secrets about coveting Amy's blood for himself (if anything happens to her, make sure you bring back her blood).

Anyway this was a pretty enjoyable episode.  It suffers from the same problems as the other 6b episodes, a rather silly or strange twist ending, and being a bit too thin on the laughs, but unlike those episodes, it has an extremely engaging plot to distract from that (We're always more forgiving of the plot heavy or emotional episodes for being less funny then a regular ep).   Also I was very pleased to have Mom back at her finest, rather then her mostly subpar appearance in AOTKA. Carol?  Awesome.

Again the Were Yeti was rather stupid and tacked on.  It would have been fine if it turned out that Mom was just too spiteful or stingy to actually let out there was a cure for the space malaria, (I am sure Yeti blood or whatever is more expensive then hiring new soldiers, and they could have said Yeti blood contains compounds that resist the space malaria.)  After all she actually seems to like Zoidberg, or at least respect him, so the were yeti was just rather pointless.

Also: Shut up and give me my kidney!  Amy had a lot of lines this episode, but I guess it was to make up for the fact that we didn't get to see her operate her own killblade, or that she wasn't featured in the beginning in the spine and liver harvesting.

All in all: good episode and easily one of the few I really liked this season.  It was so good it was woobawoobawoobwoob.

[#67 :]

An embarrassing, unfunny mess. Fry turning into a Simpson, Garfield and a smurf was just abysmal.

It shouldn't need to have in-universe realism because it's a cartoon is one of the stupidest arguments I've ever heard.

Kind of strange to be killing off the Professor with absolutely no mention or appearance of Cubert, but so what. The murdolator was fairly entertaining, but thats about it.

Double-Yeti. Christ. How's the Bring Back Futurama petition coming along?

[#68 :]

I don't know about you guys, but I thought the funniest part was seeing Scruffy's head attached to his foot!  I literally burst out laughing when I seen that.  

[#69 :]

An embarrassing, unfunny mess. Fry turning into a Simpson, Garfield and a smurf was just abysmal.

It shouldn't need to have in-universe realism because it's a cartoon is one of the stupidest arguments I've ever heard.

Kind of strange to be killing off the Professor with absolutely no mention or appearance of Cubert, but so what. The murdolator was fairly entertaining, but thats about it.

Double-Yeti. Christ. How's the Bring Back Futurama petition coming along?

U mad bro

[#70 :]

An embarrassing, unfunny mess. Fry turning into a Simpson, Garfield and a smurf was just abysmal.

It shouldn't need to have in-universe realism because it's a cartoon is one of the stupidest arguments I've ever heard.

Kind of strange to be killing off the Professor with absolutely no mention or appearance of Cubert, but so what. The murdolator was fairly entertaining, but thats about it.

Double-Yeti. Christ. How's the Bring Back Futurama petition coming along?

U mad bro

No, bored. U talk in memes bro?

[#71 :]

Agreed.  I thought the whole Simpsons Jaundice thing was just not funny.  The only injury I thought was funny was Amy demanding her kidney back, before nonchalantly putting it in her pocket.  It was pretty cartoony, but it was cartoony enough to fit in with the Futurama universe (The Professor keeps his heart in a jar after all, Fry having his arms and nose attatched with lasers, the dodgy surgeon selling gills and intestines off his coat, human horn.)  Everything else was just too over the top, especially Leela's sawn in halfness. .

[#72 :]

On second viewing, I actually like this episode better. There is really a lot of character development in Zoidberg and the Professor. Their friendship is not only explained, but it is solidified and strengthened. (We also saw a little of their friendship in Mobius Dick.) Just the fact that they call each other by their first names shows how comfortable they are.

And Zoidberg really was a decent doctor. If he could have been great staying with Mom, he must have been. Not only that but he tried to calm the sick soldiers by saying they'd recover and 'marry a supermodel.'

Mom and Zoidberg apparently are on good terms as well, which is interesting, as you wouldn't think of Mom as that friendly, or of Zoidberg as having a decent professional relationship.

All together, I thought the episode really helped justify and develop the character of Dr. Zoidberg, and was a refreshing break from the usual missions and chaos.

I can look past the cartoony beginning.

And the Murdolator is still epic, maybe more impressive.

Also, I just caught a line of Fry's towards the end when Farnsworth transforms: ''He's like some kind of believable hulk!'' Made me chuckle. Also Amy's line after the Murdolator breaks still cracks me up.

[#73 :]

I agree with those saying the first act felt off, but it was okay. Fry's diseases were indeed taken too far (having him just change in the background would have sufficed). My biggest complains were about the characters being too quick into hating Zoidberg (having them just doubt it a little would have made great difference - "but he did after all..." "shut up Fry!"), and the characters being too quick into seemingly enjoying having to kill the Professor. I loved the Murdolator, but it could have been done without the crew turning into monsters. Everyone but Bender could have been extremely sad at the time, but still feeling obliged to do it. I loved the ending, and the Professor turning into a yeti was fun to see. The Professor and Zoidberg made an excellent pair throughout.

All in all, good ep.

[#74 :]

I really liked this episode. I really, REALLY liked this episode. I would put this in the top three of this half of the season, behind LaO and GitM.

This episode was incredibly whacky and unbelievable, but I thought that the level of ridiculousness that they reached was so high that it made the episode funnier. I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I thought the cartoon diseases were hilarious. In fact, I'm pretty sure that "It's not easy being gangrenous" was my favorite line of the episode. The yetism also fits into the category of things in this episode that were so ridiculous that they were hilarious.

When it comes to Futurama "realism", I have a much easier time suspending my disbelief when it comes to ridiculous plots and  cartoon-y injury. The only times when I will really complain about things not being realistic in the Futurama universe are the times when characters interact unnaturally or are out-of-character. I had no problem with cartoon injury or yetism, but I had serious issues with Leela talking about squashing puppies last episode.

Anyway, maybe I'm a little too enthusiastic, but I gave this a 10/10.

[#75 :]

Something I'm confused about, why were they hunting Yetis? And why were they in Army outfits? Was there a war? Why did they need the Yeti organs? (Remember, I only pay attention to the details of the plot on my second viewing.)

[#76 :]

They were hunting yetis to harvest their organs, which apparently contain some kind of toxin that can be used in biological warfare. Farnsworth and Zoidberg were part of some kind of pseudo-black ops kind of organization run by Mom. There was no real war, they were just on a mission to get the yeti organs in order to ramp up Mom's stockpile of biological weapons.

[#77 :]

Exactly. The building was "Mom's Old Fashioned Jams, Jellies, and Military Systems." The soldiers were to kill the yeti, Zoidberg was to gut it, and Farnsworth was to smuggle the parts in. He wasn't a soldier, he was just on the mission.

[#78 :]

A side note- Mom looks disgusting, even as a young'un.

[#79 :]

On the other hand, Zoidberg looks good when he's in shape.

I think a reason he is sometimes a bad doctor now is simply old age. Obviously he's old, if he's been with the Professor for over 80 years now. Sometimes he's terrible, other times he's not.