Newsarama! (Futurama News Thread)

[Reply #280 on:]

Off the top of my head, I can't really recall any straightforward modern biology jokes besides the whale biologist from Three Hundred Big Boys, so as a biologist-in-training I find it refreshing to see them utilizing a science that doesn't have much place in science-fiction for an episode that isn't in Futurama canon, and doesn't necessarily need to be science-fictiony. What sold me on "Naturama" (without having even seen it yet of course) was the inspiration for the Professor as a tortoise, which came from Lonesome George, who just passed away recently. I have a feeling I'll like the last segment the most, then the first segment, then the second segment. As for "31st Century Fox"... eh, I'll just wait and see. I don't think I've seen enough of it yet to tell whether I'll enjoy it much.

[Reply #281 on:]

Wow! I was expecting Lobster-Zoidberg to look more.......Cartoonish! I'm surprised! Good Job Futurama!

[Reply #282 on:]

I do love that Lobster-Zoidberg. And Cohen's comments are a good sign, although he also spoke extremely highly of "Proposition Infinity" back before season 6 started...

[Reply #283 on:]

Yes, and I still haven't forgiven him for that!

That said, though, I'm thinking "Naturama" ought to at least be interesting. The fact that it's non-canon--and not a non-canon AOI episode, for which I have a certain, separate set of expectations--means I hold it to a lower standard than I do a regular episode. So chances are, I won't be disappointed by "Naturama"--I just might not be particularly impressed with it is all.

[Reply #284 on:]

I'm not terribly excited for Naturama, but that Lobster Zoidberg picture is excellent. And the non-canon-ness of it all should make it fun. I think visually, at least, it will be great. These character drawings are a lot of fun and I am excited to see what they look like animated.

[Reply #285 on:]

Am I the only one whose excited for Naturama then?  I have to admit I'm much more excited for it then I was for Reincarnation.  The horrible Deviantart pseudo-anime really put me off it, initially.  

I also love the artwork for the dog and the horsie-copter.  It reminds me of a game I played called Baten Kaitos, and one of the characters had a flying ship that looked like a rocking horse.  http://images.wikia.com/batenkaitos/images/0/03/Melodia%27s_Ship.jpg Nostalgia!

[Reply #286 on:]

I have higher expectations for "Naturama" than I do for "31st Century Fox".  Yes, it is far from the typical episode in its concept, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, certainly the most unusual episodes of any television show are almost always among the most memorable.  I am somewhat put off by the apparent emphasis on mating, but that's just the preview material, which is often only a small part of the actual episode.  It seems that whoever selects the preview material is sometimes under orders to pick the most sexually suggestive portions of the episodes, and the actual full episode has a much different focus.

[Reply #287 on:]

Am I the only one whose excited for Naturama then?  I have to admit I'm much more excited for it then I was for Reincarnation.  The horrible Deviantart pseudo-anime really put me off it, initially. 

I am terribly excited, but I was looking forward to Reincarnation more than I am with Naturama. Still really want to see it though.

[Reply #288 on:]

I don't know why it being non-canon should mean holding it to a lower standard. It's still all jokes and animation and storytelling like any other episode. And it still takes up 22 minutes of your time.

I almost never go in with notably negative expectations though. I expect to enjoy most episodes and really try not too pre-judge. This one, though...,

Even if it truly blows, though, it's just one episode of a TV show.

[Reply #289 on:]

I don't have high expectations for 31st Century Fox, it sounds like a Modern-Day Simpsons kind of episode. Naturama sounds great though, especially if David X Cohen said it may be their best!

I'm not in the super excited zone, but I am pretty excited! I would say I was more excited for Reincarnation last year though.

[Reply #290 on:]

Today's update. Nothing new.

[Reply #291 on:]

This mini-countdown has been kind of pointless.

And why do you people hate non-canon episodes? It's a chance to go fucking mental and have no consequences. Fuck yeah!

[Reply #292 on:]

I like non-canon episodes. I tend to be more forgiving of them, which is maybe why I don't hate TFHS as much as everyone else does. To me, it doesn't really matter what happens in a non-canon episode and you can just sit back and laugh at the stupid stuff that happens. For example, when they went back to the space-bee hive in TFHS, that didn't "ruin" The Sting for me because in the universe of the show, it never technically even happened. Or something.

[Reply #293 on:]

I love cameos and callbacks, and the ones we've been seeing are some of the most enjoyable parts of the new season.  But at the same time, we've seen quite a few good ideas dragged up from the classic run and screwed about with, such as the Near Death Star and Chapek 9. 

[Reply #294 on:]

I like non-canon episodes. I tend to be more forgiving of them, which is maybe why I don't hate TFHS as much as everyone else does.

I too am more forgiving to non-cannon episodes on a whole, but TFHS was truly awful IMO, not because it was non-cannon or anything, but because it was just... well.... 22 minutes of unfunny bullshit

[Reply #295 on:]

I enjoyed the Robonikuh segment a lot.  Everything else was pretty forgettable.

[Reply #296 on:]

I don't have high expectations for 31st Century Fox, it sounds like a Modern-Day Simpsons kind of episode. Naturama sounds great though, especially if David X Cohen said it may be their best!

Hahaha. This ended up being reversed, at least for me. Naturama felt like they'd borrowed an idea from the writers' table at the Simpsons offices, and 31^st Century Fox was very good for a new run episode, comparing favourably with pre-cancellation Futurama.

[Reply #297 on:]

I had thought that "31st Century Fox" would be fairly bad, while "Naturama" could be very good.  After seeing the episodes, my opinion has not changed too much.  "31st Century Fox" was better than I had expected, but "Naturama" was still better.

[Reply #298 on:]

I must be the only one who thinks this season is really good, and I love almost every episode that aired. Although, I was really surprised with Naturama - normally I don't crave the non-canon episodes, but this one caught me off-guard. It was really funny !

[Reply #299 on:]

Does anyone know when the next episode is coming out?

[Reply #300 on:]

Next June, probably?

I don't think you are, Univers. I think the general consensus around here is that 7A was a good season. No particularly amazing episodes, but no real stinkers either.

[Reply #301 on:]

Yes, 7A was good overall.  As spira says, while there were few outstanding episodes, there were no terrible ones either.  The worst episode of 7A was in my opinion "The Butterjunk Effect", and that was far from the worst episode ever.  Most of the episodes were good-to-average, with "Fun on a Bun" one of the best ever.

[Reply #302 on:]

My opinion of 7A is that there were no Worst Episodes Ever, but there weren't any Best Episodes Ever either.  I found most of them fairly forgettable, except maybe Naturama.   6A had some horrifically bad ones like AOTKA but it also had TPOB and TLPJF.   I'd much rather have a season with some new classics if it means putting up with a few stinkers. A season full of forgettable episodes is worse, in my opinion.

[Reply #303 on:]

I don't think I'd mind if 7B fluctuated more, like 6A did. It would be worth sitting through a dud or two to be thoroughly awed by an episode again. 7A's are definitely forgettable, I hardly even remember the ones I only saw once. Fun on a Bun and 31CF are particularly good episodes that are toward the top of my list of favorites, but I don't think these will break anyone's top 10.

[Reply #304 on:]

Hear, hear.   One or two might be in my top 20, but that's being generous.

[Reply #305 on:]

If it weren't for Zapp Dingbat and Fun on a Bun (FoaB, to me, was perfection), I'd consider this season passed a rather bland one. To me it spawned one of the worst episodes of the entire series (The Butterjunk Effect) and with the exception of the above plus AFtA, TBatB and Naturama (if only for the novelty of creature incarnations) the episodes were rather forgettable.

I'm not going to speculate 7B too much. All I know is that it contains an episode called 'Fry & Leela's Big Fling', which, if not about a giant catapult, is sure to make a mark in the history of the series. I want that. They're together now, so the only way I'm going to be truly satisfied is if they make the next commitment, whether it be an engagement or marriage. The only way for the relationship to progress now is for that to happen.

Also, I'd like 'the other' thing to be adressed very soon. I don't care if the other turns out to be Hermes or Amy, I just want it to be brought up again and perhaps resolved. They've been rehashing old plots no one particularly wanted all 7A, so why not bring up something that actually matters to the fans?

Okay, I'll shush. I need South Park to return to take my mind off Futurama for the next 10 months.

[Reply #306 on:]

I'm not quite ready yet to go into hibernation until next June, so here's my two cents' worth.

I count four total episodes that I would call "stinkers" in the three broadcast seasons.  In 6A are "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", "Attack of the Killer App" and by far the worst, "Futurama Holiday Spectacular". In 6B is "Yo Leela Leela".  There are no real stinkers in 7A, the worst is "The Butterjunk Effect" but that is merely a poor episode, not a stinker.

On the other hand, 6A had "Lethal Inspection", "The Late Philip J. Fry", which is surely a top ten all-time episode, "The Prisoner of Benda", which is also a possible top-ten episode, and "The Mutants Are Revolting".  6B had a multitude of good-to-great episodes: "Mobius Dick", "Law and Oracle", "Ghost in the Machines", "Cold Warriors", "Overclockwise" and "Reincarnation", none of them (except perhaps "Reincarnation") in the very top level, but all of them solidly above-average episodes.

7A, on the other hand, has only "Fun on a Bun" and possibly "Near-Death Wish" in that category, although "Fun on a Bun" is another top-ten episode in my opinion.  So while it has very few poor episodes (really only "The Butterjunk Effect") it also has very few outstanding episodes (only "Fun on a Bun" is definitely in that group).  That leaves up to 11 episodes that are decent but not great, which has a value of its own.

I rate the three broadcast seasons as all about even in average episode quality, but with the most variation in quality in 6A, average variation in 6B, and finally 7A with the least variation in quality..

[Reply #307 on:]

I'm not going to speculate 7B too much. All I know is that it contains an episode called 'Fry & Leela's Big Fling', which, if not about a giant catapult, is sure to make a mark in the history of the series. I want that. They're together now, so the only way I'm going to be truly satisfied is if they make the next commitment, whether it be an engagement or marriage. The only way for the relationship to progress now is for that to happen.

Catapult? Classic. Also, we can never discount the professor's doomsday devices.

This was a solid season for me. If not for the poor and abrupt ending, I would have found TBE to be a solid ep.  Too bad the season ended with a whimper, imho. They say to try to start and finish with a strong impression (okay, there's no "they"; I say this) and I think the season did not attain that.

[Reply #308 on:]

Well, this is technically just the first half of the season. 6A ended with the Spectacular. I guess that did leave a strong impression, but it wasn't quite the impression they were looking for...

I think I liked 6A better than 7A, on the whole, since Benda for me far made up for the crapfest that was AotKA and IAGDL (man, those were the second and third episodes of the new run... I wasn't watching Futurama then, but I'm sure all the rest of the fans were scared out of their minds) and I didn't hate the Spectacular as much as everyone else did. But it's all been good. I used Svip's ranking site the other day and the color-coding proved that the new run episodes are scattered quite evenly amongst the old run ones in terms of my ranking.

[Reply #309 on:]

I didn't hate the Spectacular as much as everyone else did.

I thought I was the only one! I liked Holiday spectacular after the first viewing, but I started to dislike it after more viewings, because of the flaws in the episode (Stuff that I thought were just stupid). I still like it better than Naturama though. Naturama is only good as a one-time view kind of episode. It's just really dull and uninteresting to me after two viewings.

I also liked Season 6A better than 7A, because there was at least 6 or 7 episodes that stood out as a classic. 7A however only has about 4 or 5. I hope Season 7B proves otherwise, although the titles do seem interesting! I hope it to at least be BETTER than 6B, which will be a very had goal because I loved Season 6B.

[Reply #310 on:]

Of possible interest is this listing of episodes from the new production run, with their ratings as determined by their PEEL poll results (modified to reduce the effects of vandals who give every episode a "1" rating).  The blue titles are the non-canon three-part episodes.



note -- Photobucket is very very slow right now, it might be some time before it properly downloads images.

[Reply #311 on:]

Wow, that confirms this exactly:

I rate the three broadcast seasons as all about even in average episode quality, but with the most variation in quality in 6A, average variation in 6B, and finally 7A with the least variation in quality..

[Reply #312 on:]

Yep, as many of us said. Season 7 has been consistently good, but there hasn't been a truly spectacular episode.

[Reply #313 on:]

Okay, I'll shush. I need South Park to return to take my mind off Futurama for the next 10 months.

South Park's only on for like 2 months...

[Reply #314 on:]

I've been stocking up on DVD's of good shows I never bothered to watch before to keep me occupied before season 6 comes out in the UK. So far I got Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Archer, Arrested Development and The Slap. Anything else people recommend that's good, since that will probably only last me until December-ish?

[Reply #315 on:]

Extras.

[Reply #316 on:]

Somebody on the Futurama Madhouse forums claims they went to a Seattle convention and confirmed the topics of the three segments in the non-canon series' finale "Saturday Morning Fun Pit": Scooby-Doo, G.I. Joe, and... Strawberry Shortcake.

I got a bad feeling about that, guys. I was hoping that they were going to do something girly like "My Little Pony" or "Care Bears", so I guess I was right. But, c'mon, "Strawberry Shortcake"?

I'm really only complaining because I really wanted ponies. Everybody wants ponies. Maybe they could inject a reference...

I've been stocking up on DVD's of good shows I never bothered to watch before to keep me occupied before season 6 comes out in the UK. So far I got Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Archer, Arrested Development and The Slap. Anything else people recommend that's good, since that will probably only last me until December-ish?

Ponies. Hundreds of hundreds of ponies.

Also Gravity Falls. It's new, but very good.

I can't believe it's on the Disney Channel!-good.

[Reply #317 on:]

Somebody on the Futurama Madhouse forums claims they went to a Seattle convention and confirmed the topics of the three segments in the non-canon series' finale "Saturday Morning Fun Pit": Scooby-Doo, G.I. Joe, and... Strawberry Shortcake.

I got a bad feeling about that, guys. I was hoping that they were going to do something girly like "My Little Pony" or "Care Bears", so I guess I was right. But, c'mon, "Strawberry Shortcake"?

I like how this episode is sounding! I'm excited for those first two! But c'mon, I agree that it should have been care bears for the third segment. But it still sounds great! The next Reincarnation maybe??  Or maybe i'm just thinking too positive. But still, it sounds awesome. I hope 7B is alot better!

[Reply #318 on:]

I'm not going to speculate 7B too much. All I know is that it contains an episode called 'Fry & Leela's Big Fling', which, if not about a giant catapult, is sure to make a mark in the history of the series. I want that. They're together now, so the only way I'm going to be truly satisfied is if they make the next commitment, whether it be an engagement or marriage. The only way for the relationship to progress now is for that to happen.

I have a hunch that this episode will end with them breaking up. 

That's what a fling is and all unless it is a play on words.  And what better way to keep people watching?  I'd almost be willing to put money on it.

[Reply #319 on:]

I actually don't remember Strawberry Shortcake on TV as a child... I honestly thought they were going to do either Carebears or Ponies (ew) or even Disney style, but Strawberry Shortcake?!? Well, I'm intrigued, that's for sure.

I've been stocking up on DVD's of good shows I never bothered to watch before to keep me occupied before season 6 comes out in the UK. So far I got Breaking Bad, the Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, Archer, Arrested Development and The Slap. Anything else people recommend that's good, since that will probably only last me until December-ish?

American Horror Story! I watched the entire first season in 2 days, it's great. Also, AHS: Asylum is coming soon, but you need not see the first season to watch that one (but do so anyway, Jessica Lange is incredible).

Also, The Slap? The Australian series? God that's brilliant, you'll enjoy that.