Thoughts on 7ACV06 - The Butterjunk Effect - SPOILERS!

[on:]

I liked the first act, didn't really feel so rushed - Okay maybe a little tiny bit. But I liked the quotes we got from Fry and Bender! Hilarious!

The second act felt better than the first for me, had a lot of funny moments, and all out entertaining.
 
I will agree the third act was RANDOM! I think some parts from the third act should have been in the second act. Now my overall score will be 7/10.

I did enjoy the episode, but the third act was just too random! Definitely should have been handled better.

Way Better than Yo Leela Leela though, that's for sure!

I got super-high hopes for "The Six Million Dollar Mon" though, because it's written by the glorious Ken Keeler!! And directed by the fabulous Peter Avanzino!  

[Reply #1 on:]

Unfortunately, this is what happens when the poll is posted early -- somebody has already given it a "Garbage" rating and the episode is not even half over!

[Reply #2 on:]

Unfortunately, this is what happens when the poll is posted early -- somebody has already given it a "Garbage" rating and the episode is not even half over!

Well they got the ability to change their vote. Just enjoy that this was posted early.

[Reply #3 on:]

The first act totally works: A lot happens, but none of it seems rushed.The Leela/Amy dynamic has been kind of under-utilized in the series, I think; I like how this episode attempts to rationalize their cattiness, and emphasizes the fact that they're actually two women who, though critical of one another, are also genuine friends. (I feel like that's redundant--all female friendships are based on mutual affection and contempt!--but whatever.) In fact, I think the most touching moments in this episode came from Leela and Amy; the former thanking the latter for enduring the rollercoaster of addiction and recovery with her was both hilarious and kind of nice in its sincerity. That said: The steroid stuff itself was a little too obvious, but I actually think that a transparent parody like that can be, like, funny in its lame obviousness...if that makes any sense. Point is, I don't hate it.

The same could be said for act two: I don't hate it. In fact, quite the opposite. I feel like this episode is of a type: It's got a "Raging Bender"/"A Leela of Her Own"/"Yo Leela Leela" feel to it, I guess because it features Abner Doubledeal and some kind of wacky entertainment industry-related hijinks. However, unlike those three episodes, this one is clearly driven as much by the cuh-razy, sort of icky sporting event as it is by the characters and their relationships to one another.*

I love seeing Fry and Kif interact, and bonding over their scary girlfriends (oh, how I enjoyed the run about Amy throwing various chairs at Kif, and Fry being unable to score even verbal abuse from Leela). The Amy/Fry thing didn't bug me, either (I don't know if I can say the same for the butterfly mating that goes on in act three), because it was clear that Fry thought it was Leela--and, also, it was established beforehand that the guys are sort of powerless against the women, particularly uber-violent Amy. Basically, poor Fry didn't stand a chance.

Oh, and I loved the return of Kif's parents, and the Grand Midwife (who has to be one of my favorite bit characters ever). All in all, act two was just as solid as act one.

...And too bad act three blew it all by being too rushed, too lewd, and too nonsensical (seriously? Fry just unmetamorphoses?) for my liking.

The first two acts were worthy of at least an 8/10, but that last act was kind of atrocious: lazy, deflated, and a zillion times more illogical than the already-illogical stuff that preceded it. I'd say this episode manages a meager 6/10, at best.

*It does have one thing in common with "Yo Leela Leela," though: A lousy third act that totally ruins all the good stuff that came before it.

[Reply #4 on:]

I won't even try to review this episode now that Gorky has done it so well. But unlike last week, I actually caught it on time so I'll try and reiterate my own feelings about this one. I too thought the overly quick ending was crap-tastic. It was so random feeling, as if it was tacked on. I've forgiven many episodes for magically fixing stuff so quickly in the past but this one doesn't have an excuse. I'd have liked it better if Farnsworth had done painful experimentation with a fade to black or something. That being said, I really liked the whole idea of the dynamics during the second act. It was rather comedic that Fry would attract Leela with his stench. It felt like a good direction to take Fry/Leela, and it was tackling the whole "helpless" bit like Gorky stated. He honestly hadn't known it was Amy, which added to the drama. That, and naturally the obvious Bender joke was thrown in too.

Not at all my favorite this season. With a strong opening couple of episodes, I feel like in comparison this episode (and maybe last week's as well) just don't live up to the bar as much as the previous ones did. Meh. I guess I can give it a 6/10.

[Reply #5 on:]

A bit better than I expected. Rather than being bad, it was merely average.

What I liked:

-Leela and Amy finally getting an episode. I'm surprised it's taken so long for an episode about the two of them specifically, similar to how "That Darn Katz!" was the very first Amy episode that wasn't about her love life.

-Consistent writing for Fry and Leela this season. I'm glad that on-again-off-again crap is over.

-Lots of great visual gags; namely the Professor's carrot cigar (And seeing Bender using it later!   ), the ship sinking in the water, and the strangely hilarious gag with Fry squirming on the floor like a caterpillar.

-The reappearance of Kif's parent's was welcome. Also, more of the washbucket is a big plus.

What I didn't like:

-The Butterfly derby. The entire concept is just stupid; and I don't mean "funny stupid" like the show often is. Just regular stupid. It's just a lame plot which unfortunately spoiled the episode.

-Fry saving the day. As soon as Leela's wings ripped off I said to myself "Oh, Lord" because I could immediately guess that Fry was gonna suddenly be a butterfly and save the day. Okay, I didn't expect the mating part, I'll admit that. That was also a bit lame.

-The fact that every episode Abner Doubledeal touches ends up being sub-par. What's up with that?  

-The ending. Way too fast.

I'm also giving this a 6/10. Probably the worst this season, but it was still much better than I thought it would be. The good news is that the rest of the Season sounds excellent.

[Reply #6 on:]

Well the writer of this episode is Micheal Rowe, who also wrote "Proposition Infinity", and "Fry am The Eggman". But I really think this should at least deserve a 7/10-8/10 rating area. But that's your opinion, so I won't be a total a**hole about it.  

EDIT: Did anybody else realize the return of the Sportsbot-5000?  

[Reply #7 on:]

That was pretty crappy. It was too much like that crappy Simpsons episode Large Marge or something like that.

[Reply #8 on:]

That was pretty crappy. It was too much like that crappy Simpsons episode Large Marge or something like that.

You probably mean "Strong arms of the Ma", in which Marge starts bodybuilding. ("Large Marge" is the episode in which she accidently gets breast implants)

[Reply #9 on:]

This episode was better than I thought it was going to be. I didn't think the whole Butterfly Derby plot was that interesting but I'm glad we got to see Leela and Amy in a story together (and I liked seeing Fry and Kif interact as well).

I liked that we got to see Kif's planet (and the Grand Midwife and Kif's parents). I thought there were a lot of good jokes as well, particularly from Bender (I laughed so hard at his "Why don't you and I ever do things together?" and his various gasps at Fry and Amy in bed together).

The ending was a bit rushed, but I thought ButterFry (as I named him in my head just now) looked pretty cool, as far as weird human/butterfly mutant things go.

I'd put this as a 6.5/10 rounded up to 7 for the pool, I think.

[Reply #10 on:]

I enjoyed it. Ending was a bit rushed though. 8.5/10 rounds to 9.

[Reply #11 on:]

The first act was promising. The second act was funny. The third act... I'm afraid you've completely lost me. And may I nominate that ending as the worst in Futurama history?  

Ugh... 4/10

I enjoyed Yo Leela Leela far more, if that puts it in perspective.

[Reply #12 on:]

8/10

I enjoyed it. The plot sounded bad but it turned out rather enjoyable. I was laughing my ass off at the ending.

[Reply #13 on:]

The first act was promising. The second act was funny. The third act... I'm afraid you've completely lost me. And may I nominate that ending as the worst in Futurama history? 

Ugh... 4/10
Nomnate it all you want. It won't win.

I enjoyed Yo Leela Leela far more, if that puts it in perspective.

[Reply #14 on:]

"I don't even know why were helping find that addictive drug for our mean girlfriends". -Haha!

Um...overall I liked it. It was weird. Poor Fry. The first two acts were pretty good, the third petered out a little bit.

I'll give it an 8 on the poll but I think it's really a 7.5

[Reply #15 on:]

kinda weak.  It seemed like they had an idea for a plot but couldn't figure out how to make it work, so they just showed alot of Leela and Amy half-naked.  It wasn't terrible, and it had some funny moments, but it's definitely the weakest episode of the season so far.

6/10

[Reply #16 on:]

I won't even try to review this episode now that Gorky has done it so well.

Agreed.  Stop being so stingy and hoarding all of the awesome to yourself, Gorky!

At this point I really don't have much to add that hasn't been said already.  I enjoyed the first two acts, and most of the third act.  As the others have said, the ending was a complete 'WTF' moment.  I made that inadvertent slack-jawed face with the head tilt that my brain makes when it doesn't understand what is currently happening.

The butterfly derby was kinda neat, but why 'derby'?  Seemed closer to wrestling to me.  Probably because of the associations with roller derby I guess.

Maybe the pacing will improve watching it without ads but dang it was sloppy.  Some of the scenes near the end cut so abruptly it made me wonder if the editor had a seizure.  Also, is Fry transforming into some crazy thing at the end to save the day going to be a new thing?  I hope not because it's pointless and obvious.

With all of the crap out of the way, I did like most of it.  I enjoyed the interactions between the two couples, and especially Leela & Amy.  It would have been great if this had been a Leela & Amy episode without the goofy derby thing thrown in. Oh well.

6/10

[Reply #17 on:]

Not impressed.

[Reply #18 on:]

Overlooking all the shippiness and fanservice... I'll give it an 8/10.

Much better than 'Baghead'.. by far and a bunch.

And nothing in this one can be compared to the awfulness that was "All the Presidents' Heads".

I mean at least the didn't have to use time-travel shoiehorned in(yet again) to get more nectar or something dumb... and most of the jokes worked in the new ep.

I literally didn't find anything good in 'ATPH' except for a Lars crack and a crack about Jefferson and hemp.

At least this one had me laughing the whole time and not bored to tears like 'YLL' and/ or 'ATPH' did when they first aired.

[Reply #19 on:]

Would have been nice to resolve who won the derby in the end - were the Murderflies disqualified for mating with ButterFry (© Jezzem)  in the arena?

[Reply #20 on:]

Alright so two categories

Stuff I enjoyed:
This scene:

Frys cat noises (and then Bender later!)
Leela/Amy banter
'With one sixth gravity, you can work and be lazy at the same time. Just like being a voice actor'
Callbacks to "The Series has Landed"
'Why don't you and I ever do things together?'
The montage with Benders narration
Frys subtle reaction to Leela and Amy on nectar (lol at his nervous glancing around)

Also carrot cigar
'Oh, so now I'm your last minute booty call, huh? ... Alright, let's go!'
Slurm girls! (I forget their names, nice to see they got out of jail)
'It's not easy being a Derby wife'  
'Lets go already' (that's the second time I've heard that, new catchphrase?)
'Pe-ew, thank God I don't have a nose!'
Frys confusion at Leela being turned on at the smell  
'I'm done polishing my... kay, I'm just going to say, ALL of Benders lines are complete win.
Fry's caterpillar shuffle  
Washbucket
Carrot cigar II
Leela and Amy working together to keep alive

Bad stuff:
Should be called Butterfly wrestling, and it's not that exciting to me. BRING BACK DEATH ROLLING!
Muscled characters that weren't originally designed to be muscly
All the insults hurled at Kif >< also chairs.
All Nectar fuelled insults
Amy/Fry, Leela sharing Fry, Fry enjoying being shared? ... just no. >< I thought Fry had made it clear he had a one girlfriend policy
The "mating"
Frys, uh, return. - also, why is he wearing clothes? He was naked when he made his cocoon, at least shirtless... dafaq? It just ended?

Erm, summary... The best thing about this episode hands down was Bender.
Worst thing, everything Nectar fuelled characters did/said and how it ended so abruptly, wasn't even funny  

TLFs alternate ending:
Fry flies into the arena, the "murder" team is distracted by the smell and sight giving Amy and Leela the chance to rip their wings off and the bad guys plummet into the lava, screaming and then once they hit the lava (offscreen) they do the 'comic' reaction of being burnt: shooting up into the air with a trail of smoke behind them, bums on fire.
Everyone cheers as Leela and Amy wave to the crowd ("Winners don't use drugs!")
[Cut to next scene:]
A squirming ButterFry lying on the table with the Professor prodding, accidentally prods a hole and goo comes squirting out, but then does Frys fist! Fry smashes some of the bug casing before a joyous Leela starts helping, consequently covering everyone in goo.
Fry crawls out, naked and covered in the goo which Hermes questions 'what is this stuff?' to which the Professor looks through a scope and answers 'It appears to be some kind of regenerative mucus, but where did it come from?"
Fry promptly sneezes out the goo. Bender:"That explains it." Collective "eww"
Bam. Le end

6.5/10

[Reply #21 on:]

Would have been nice to resolve who won the derby in the end - were the Murderflies disqualified for mating with ButterFry (© Jezzem)  in the arena?

Just have them all die in battle, and let the God Galaxy sort 'em out

[Reply #22 on:]

Amy/Fry, Leela sharing Fry, Fry enjoying being shared? ... just no. >< I thought Fry had made it clear he had a one girlfriend policy

I can only remember when he said he's not a one-woman man in Put Your Head on My Shoulder.

[Reply #23 on:]

A bit better than I expected. Rather than being bad, it was merely average.

This. Except it wasn't quite as good as I expected, but it was merely average rather than being bad.

5/10

I liked seeing the moon farmer again, though. As well as the Grand High Amphibiosian. Oh, and seeing The Crushinator with her sisters in the audience. Those were all good points. As was the nectar dealer sidling behind the lockers, and the entire news segment.

The first act was a great setup... the ending was rushed and felt slightly wrong. I wanted the Murderflies to burn in lava.

The animation of the all the natural butterflies was a little off, but apart from that, the animation was what we've come to expect. Overall I can't really say it was a bad episode, but it did feel like it was adapted from a low quality fanfiction set in an alternate universe.

I'm conflicted. It has good points, bad points, and a whole bucket of "meh" points. I wanted to like it more than I did. This is, for me, the first real disappointment of Season 7.

[Reply #24 on:]

Enjoyed the Jar Jar Tartar. It was pretty fast paced but probably after repeated watchings it won't seem so. I gave it an 8(ish) because somehow the Fry/Leela/Amy triangle wasn't quite as wacky played out as Futurama has done with situations like that. Also the Fry bit at the end was a bit weak. Might have better without Fry metamorphosing but with the same things happening more or less at the contest.

I am noticing that so far whenever Leela does anything with Fry that it's due to an external influence. Intestinal parasites, not in own bodies, and now Nectar but never with each other as they are. Not so with Leela and Zapp or Fry and Amy.

[Reply #25 on:]

I liked seeing the moon farmer again, though. As well as the Grand High Amphibiosian. Oh, and seeing The Crushinator with her sisters in the audience. Those were all good points. As was the nectar dealer sidling behind the lockers, and the entire news segment.

The first act was a great setup... the ending was rushed and felt slightly wrong. I wanted the Murderflies to burn in lava.

Same here.
It was kinda awkward to see such a Leela/Amy centered episode in which they cooperate because Amy usually just comments on Leela's style/makeup in a bad way. Since when are they girlfriends ?!
The ending with ButterFry saving Leela and Amy was predictable, but not in the way of him seducing the Murderflies.

I liked that we saw some old characters, which appears to be more common this season (like Lee Lemon in Zapp Dingbat).

Overall... 6/10

[Reply #26 on:]

The first sub par episode this season. The first two acts were good, and I actually quite liked the butterfly derby concept, but things got weird in the third act. And not good weird. I feel that people have been harsh on the endings to episodes this season, but I have to agree in this case. Dafuq was that? There wasn't even a joke there.
Also, I think Mr. Doubledeal should stay away from futurama from now on. I don't mind his character, I guess he's just a bad luck charm, because every episode with him in it after Raging Bender has fallen kinda flat.

I give it a 6/10, and as a bonus, I include my favourite quote from the stupidest review I've seen so far on CGEF.

Ever since "Theif of the Baghead" episode, episodes started becoming ice cold. Except for "Zapp Dingbat".

[Reply #27 on:]

Definitely the weakest episode of the season (so far). Bender had some great lines, Fry had a slightly bigger role (), I dunno why but Amphibios 9 seemed more interesting in this episode, the Butterfly Derby was pretty clool and the return to the Moon was alright too. I also liked Leela's fancy boots, even if they are knock-offs...

ALSO, I've been saying ever since the preview clip that Bender said "planet", NOT "plan"! [hydroponicfarmer] Yep, called it! [/hydroponicfarmer]

The worst part of this episode was the ending. Just. What even. It's like someone ran into the studio and said "STOP WORKING ON THIS EPISODE RIGHT NOW OR EVERYONE WILL DIE!" in the middle of the scene.

Dafuq was that? There wasn't even a joke there.

The joke was Fry does stupid things like squirming around and acting retarded in his normal state, so they were all like "He's back!".

[Reply #28 on:]

Also, Fry has zero delta brain activity, not zero brain activity completely.  I get that that's the joke but man it's weak.

My favourite part of the episode was imagining a scene in the future (of the future?) where an aged Fry and Kif are sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch of a ranch on Mars, drinking beer or whatever and reminiscing about the times while their SO's are out and about doing their thing.

[Reply #29 on:]

I just edited my review after a second viewing. Now I know what you all mean by the third act: Too Random!

[Reply #30 on:]

I didn't mind the episode, but it probably is the worst of this series so far. Not that it was a bad episode, but the season as a whole for me has been very strong. This episode had a few problems, and yes, the ending was absolutely shit

[Reply #31 on:]

Gorky pretty much said what I was going to say.   I really like the first act, and I'm really glad we got a finally got an Amy and Leela episode, one that explores their friendship.  Their relationship has always been odd, so it's nice to finally get one that confirms that they do care for each other.  I hope we get more Amy and Leela storylines.  "It's when women are polite to each other, then you should be worried!" was my favourite line.

I was also pleased to see the Grand Midwife again, even though this is probably her least funny appearance, though still good for some chuckles.  I also loved the Amphibios section of the episode, it looked good and had some good laughs.  My only gripe was how cliche'd a lot of the episode was, especially the nectar addiction.  It didn't help that the episode was pretty all over the place in terms of plot, making it feel a bit confused and fanfictiony.

The last act however was horrible.  If the episode was all over the place before, then the last act was like spaghetti in a blender with the lid off.    Still, I loved seeing the Crushinator and her sisters again (especially Lulabelle 7 covering her face in disgust at the end.)  

So a good but flawed episode.  The bits that were good were very good, and it gave two characters some pretty good character development.   It also helped that there weren't as many unfunny jokes about sex and gender stereotypes as there could have been.

Also... wasn't Leela supposed to be an animal lover at some point?  The part about her killing a sea turtle with her stilettos was a bit much.  In the past, Leela has refused to cull overpopulated cute animals even when it was for their own good.   She even volunteered to be fed to an endangered species upon her death.   But since Rebirth, her pro-animals stance has gone down the crapper.   I know her hypocrisy has always been a strong element of her personality, but those sociopathic "i like to kill cute animals" remarks can easily be given to any other member of the team, especially Bender. 

[Reply #32 on:]

@Tastes Like Fry: I too thoroughly enjoyed that visual gag of Fry hiding behind Hermes. He and Bender were the best parts of this episode (except or the butterFry, that was weird).

[Reply #33 on:]

One minor gripe:  I really hated the designs for the butterfly fighter wings.   This is just artistic snobbery on my part, but they reminded me waaaaay too much of bad deviantart drawings, or horrible pseudo anime sculptures from HotTopic.

[Reply #34 on:]

Also... wasn't Leela supposed to be an animal lover at some point?  The part about her killing a sea turtle with her stilettos was a bit much.  In the past, Leela has refused to cull overpopulated cute animals even when it was for their own good.   She even volunteered to be fed to an endangered species upon her death.   But since Rebirth, her pro-animals stance has gone down the crapper.   I know her hypocrisy has always been a strong element of her personality, but those sociopathic "i like to kill cute animals" remarks can easily be given to any other member of the team, especially Bender.  

Yeah it's Micheal Rowe. He came up with the "Stomping a Puppy" one too. He obviously doesn't know how much of a Animal Lover Leela is supposed to be.

[Reply #35 on:]

Bad.  Did he come up with Mobius Dick as well?   Those kind of lines would actually be funny if someone like Bender was speaking them: when Leela comes out with lines about how much she likes to squish endangered butterflies or stomp puppies into a bloody pulp, they just feel horribly jarring and OOC.

On a plus note:
Fry looks so freaking adorable with his hair down.  I don't know why, but he does. 

[Reply #36 on:]

The puppy and the sea turtle could have been.... ALL EVIL!

Anyway, I agree.. Mike don't give no fuck's about what Leela was like before.

Look at his episodes... he cares about slapstick, and dry comedy... fuck the characterizations and overall story archs...

WE GOT PUPPIES TO STOMP!

With that said... I actually like MOST of his episodes.. execpt for the obviously terrible one's!

Rowe has written the following episodes:
 "Bend Her"
 "Bender's Game" (Credited for Part 3)
 "Proposition Infinity"
 "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular"
 "Fry am the Egg Man"
 "The Butterjunk Effect"

[Reply #37 on:]

God, just write the guy a moodboard of Leela's personality.  LEELA LOVES ANIMALS, ESPECIALLY ENDANGERED ONES, AND CAN EVEN FIND IT IN HER HEART TO TAKE CARE OF UGLY DISGUSTING LEECHES THAT BITE HER EYEBALL.

One other thing I'd like to say: this episode feels like Neutopia to me, in that it's several ideas that would have made great standalone episodes mashed together, causing the plot to be all over the place, and for each storyline to be wasted since 20 minutes is not enough for multiple storylines to develop properly.   The Butterfly Derby could have been its own story, the nectar addiction could have been its own story (they could have given it room to breathe rather then going down a very cliche'd retelling of a very cliche'd plotline), and the idea of Fry being sprayed with alien pheronomes could have been its own episode.   There was just not enough time for all 3 plotlines to breathe, and they came together in a very unsatisfactory manner, same with Neutopia none of the storylines: PE becoming its own airline, the battle of the sexes on the mineral world and the genderswap ever reached their potentials.

[Reply #38 on:]

Bad.  Did he come up with Mobius Dick as well?  

Well..that would imhO explain a lot But, nope:

Möbius Dick:
Written by: Dan Vebber
Directed by: Dwayne Carey-Hill

The Butterjunk Effect:
Written by: Michael Rowe
Directed by:Crystal Chesney-Thompson

[Reply #39 on:]

This OOC wickedness is the work of Granny Hester.  Mark my words.