Thoughts on 7ACV22 - Leela and the Genestalk - SPOILERS

[Reply #40 on:]

Great episode. One of the best of 7B for sure.

Best episode with 'Leela' in it's title? I can't think of any better...

[Reply #41 on:]

This episode started off kinda slow but got way better towards the end. Thought it was pretty funny and the plot was interesting.

It wasn't the best episode this season, but it was certainly not the worst. It was probably my 4th favorite episode so far.

I gave it a 8/10

[Reply #42 on:]

Who else noticed that Inez was missing in this episode?  She was even in the promo pictures.  Perhaps this is something I can use for my thread about unused ideas.

This episode was pretty good, I'll give it an 8/10.

[Reply #43 on:]

Who else noticed that Inez was missing in this episode?  She was even in the promo pictures.  Perhaps this is something I can use for my thread about unused ideas.

Noted that too, that's the second time they didn't use a promo image in the actual episode...

I wonder what will happen now the ship is sold, Bender probably already stole it back between the two episodes ^^

[Reply #44 on:]

It's interesting that you mention that, since I felt like a lot of last-minute cuts were made to this episode. There were a lot of unusually quick scene/shot changes, which made it feel a bit rushed to me.

I enjoyed the episode nonetheless. I noticed they never got Bessie back at the end though...

[Reply #45 on:]

Okay, I'll make it quick an painless:

The pacing was good:
+ No long introduction, but rather directly to the main theme.
+ The single actions "interlocked" rather well.
+ The main plot was rather spot on.

Yet, it missed some continuity:
Leela seemd to be the only character with a constant motive. Other characters often just "rushed" into view to deliver some isolated plot details. E.g.

- Fry was confronted with the need to search Leela, and immediatelly the boots fell off the sky.
- After Fry and Bender entered the castle and opened the door, the characters were rather passive and just dragged along by Leela. As if the writers wanted to say "Erm...we do not really need them by now anymore...please go on. Proceed. There is nothing to be seen here".
- The genetical engineering theme and the underlying hypocracy ("I am against it, unless there is a use for me) was just a throwaway gag. I recall of BBoIC, when that kind of human hypocracy played a larger role. (Or the South Park episode in the Rain forest, etc..).
- Also: Mom helping just because of gratitude? I just think the character should rather have been forced into doing so (e.g. being blackmailed by threatening to sue her, etc...)
Instead of: "Okay, we need to undo those mutations" "Okay, here you go" "Thanks".
So, all in all:
A solid episode with a spot-on main plot.
Yet, if suffered from having "throwaway-plot-element" that often randomly thrown into play when needed.

Two things:
- Wasn't Amy written to use a female character for physical comedy? Unfitting that she (and Zoidberg) were the only ones not being ridiculed riding the bull.
- Leela occasionally lays an egg. Erm....yep. One eye, ellbow talons, singing butt boils, turning into a squid, laying eggs = Least mutated mutant ever? Nope...just...nope.

[Reply #46 on:]

I really enjoyed this episode. The jokes with mom and her sons were great. It was also nice to see Fry telling Leela she's beautiful and he loves her-with or without tentaces. Great writing and solid plot.

[Reply #47 on:]

- Leela occasionally lays an egg. Erm....yep. One eye, ellbow talons, singing butt boils, turning into a squid, laying eggs = Least mutated mutant ever? Nope...just...nope.

Perhaps this is only in her appearance to everyone else.

[Reply #48 on:]

- Leela occasionally lays an egg. Erm....yep. One eye, ellbow talons, singing butt boils, turning into a squid, laying eggs = Least mutated mutant ever? Nope...just...nope.

Munda saw the single eye, but the rest of those traits may have shown up later. (Puberty can be hell.)

As I said before, I don't check out the titles of the episodes beforehand, so I thought this one was going to turn into "Fry and the Beanstalk" (or, if the beans talked, "Fry and the Beans Talk").

I feel it had some good points, but the ending seemed rushed and forced. This would have worked better as a multi-part episode, where it would take a while to discover how to desquidify Leela. (It's like what happened to Fry at the end of The Butterjunk Effect.)

And I expected a callback to the Chihuahua doctor.

[Reply #49 on:]

This probably isn't the best time to bring something like this up, but our old friend Unmentionable (we all know who I'm talking about) is starting to dearly show his hate for Futurama again.....




Who he is, is pretty obvious. 

[Reply #50 on:]

How wonderfull... Better just ignore all his crap

Also: I NEED HYPNOTOAD MERCH!
_{warning: may cause headaches and/or loyalty to the hypnotoad}

Show spoiler

[Reply #51 on:]

This probably isn't the best time to bring something like this up, but our old friend Unmentionable (we all know who I'm talking about)

I know, I know...it's Voldemort, right?

As I said before, I don't check out the titles of the episodes beforehand, so I thought this one was going to turn into "Fry and the Beanstalk" (or, if the beans talked, "Fry and the Beans Talk").

In fact, I would have prefered that kind of twist.
So far, we haven't had a season 7B episode in which Fry actively did something, and 7A was also not too good regarding that matter.

[Reply #52 on:]

The part that cracked me up is when he said he was a witch. Main reason why I posted it.

And yes, we really could use more Hypnotoad Merch, Eternium. All we got are them expensive Comic Con ones. I really can't afford to buy one of them. Because hey, I'm not made of money, leave me alone!

[Reply #53 on:]

One of the better episodes considering this season's standards.

I liked the good Bender lines this episode has in it, also the cowboy hats. I expected Bender to do some folk-singing, though. The unicorn eating eels wasn't bad either. Quite sweet shippyness-wise too.

But Leela and Mom seemed awfully out of character! Leela always used to be a rational thinker instead of a hysterical 'NO, NO, NO!!!' sayer (and then even a terrible hypocrite), so she would've realized that genetic engineering isn't neccessarily a bad thing to be against in the first place without taking an analytical look at it beforehand. Mom was too nice. Since when did she want to help starving people (Remember A Fishful of Dollars ? She wanted to use poor children to produce cheap robot oil by genetically altering them) or anybody else? Of course she would've made a lot of money with those giant beans like Monsanto already does these days but the starving people she intended to help don't have the money to buy such a product. And as in the episode I already mentioned she just would've made use of her DNA donators instead of altering/curing them.

Overall, 6.5/10

[Reply #54 on:]

Actually I'll raise my score to an 8.5/10, there were subtle things I missed until today.

This probably isn't the best time to bring something like this up, but our old friend Unmentionable..
Who he is, is pretty obvious. 

It's Galvatron.. he has returned from the pit!!!!!

[Reply #55 on:]

Of course she would've made a lot of money with those giant beans like Monsanto already does these days but the starving people she intended to help don't have the money to buy such a product. And as in the episode I already mentioned she just would've made use of her DNA donators instead of altering/curing them.

Overall, 6.5/10

I bought the "feed the starving people". After all, Mom was already shown to appear as a friendly old lady in public. So, producing cheap food for the needy is a suitable marketing strategy.
Also, the beans grew rather rapidly, therefore their production costs have been rather low. So, cheap food prices paid by many, many, maaaany consumers is still profitable (and she can position herself in that market before someone else does).

Should Earth be hit by starvation,  bloody revolutions might occur. Things like communism could come up. Earth could become to hot for her.

Mom being an economist, I do not see her having problems with a win-win situation. She just tries to get the best deal for herself. Should the other party also benefit from the deal: I do not see a reason why she would mind.
Making a deal for the other party as negative as possible is rather the Robot Devil's thing.

[Reply #56 on:]

That's pretty much how I interpreted the situation as well, Hein. Mom was probably in a good mood since she was on the verge of becoming even richer.

One more thing I've gotta say is it's slightly worrying that I found Leela to be attractive even when she was half squid.  

[Reply #57 on:]

The ending was yet another deus ex machina to me.
Sometimes I like them on this show when they are done really funny.
But it usually feels like the status quo has to be reset fast, so they just do whatever is very obvious to get things back to normal within one minute.

It's why I couldn't vote a 10/10 on this one.
That's just not good writing, plain and simple.
I liked the commentary about people being hypocrites on genetic engineering, and that when it can help save them they jump on board; leaving their soapbox for dead.
But that doesn't make it good writing.

Still a very solid episode.

Personally I think it would have been cooler if Leela refused, got Mom arrested and thrown in prison, and stayed a squid for the final four episodes.
And Fry teaches the audience a lesson about real love being deeper than any horrific mutations can stop.

But hey, that's just me.

[Reply #58 on:]

I think Mom wanted Leela to promote the new beans, she mentioned that Leela could be used to advertise them.. that's why the offer was made to change her back, so that she'd agree to being the face of the new beans. As she says - "I'm in!".

The ep was great, definitely a solid 8/10.. I've really been liking this season so far, only 1 ep I didn't like.

[Reply #59 on:]

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. There were a few too many gaping plotholes for me to swallow here - a lot of stuff just didn't add up, not to mention Mom acting waaayyyy out of character. Also, wasn't the intention of this episode originally to explain why Leela's mother didn't have tenticles in I Second That Emotion? What happened to that? Seemed like a bit of a wasted opportunity to not try and write in some explanation for that. Or did I just miss it?

Anyway, story issues aside, I was laughing immensely the whole way through, so I can't be too upset with this episode. It was consistently funny and very, very entertaining (though the second act was considerably weaker than the rest). I'd say it's probably a 6 or 7 for me, but I'll have to re-watch before I make my mind up.

[Reply #60 on:]

loved this episodes cameos of Adam West and Burt Ward was hilarious and then seeing Jake and Finn, did not see that coming but just LOL.  I saw the deus Ex Machina coming, and Leela's reaction was just typically Matt Groening humor.

[Reply #61 on:]

Leela always used to be a rational thinker instead of a hysterical 'NO, NO, NO!!!' sayer (and then even a terrible hypocrite), so she would've realized that genetic engineering isn't neccessarily a bad thing to be against in the first place without taking an analytical look at it beforehand.

From "Why Must I Be a Crustacean In Love?":

AMY: Pssst... Look what life was like before genetic engineering.

LEELA: Those poor twentieth century women.

Not to mention numerous other instances in various episodes of genetically engineered creatures and people being accepted without comment by Leela.

[Reply #62 on:]

I thought this one was pretty great in basically every regard. I think this is probably the funniest episode of 7B so far, or at least a close tie with "Assie Come Home", and I loved both the Adventure Time and Burt Ward/Adam West cameos.

Also, the Leela/Fry interaction was adorable here. I especially adored how sweet Fry was throughout the whole thing. The fairytale aspect was really cool, too, and I thought the cloud-castle design was pretty interesting.

The only things I didn't appreciate were, as Beamer said, the plot holes. I also thought the ending was a bit of a deus ex machina, but that didn't bother me very much at all.
I'm giving this one a 8/10.

[Reply #63 on:]

- Leela occasionally lays an egg. Erm....yep. One eye, ellbow talons, singing butt boils, turning into a squid, laying eggs = Least mutated mutant ever? Nope...just...nope.

When she was born, the only mutation she had was her one eye and the doctor said she was the least mutated mutant ever. Nobody since then has ever claimed she's the least mutated mutant ever.

[Reply #64 on:]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and would go so far as to say that it's among he top three of this season thus far (its companions being "Fry and Leela's Big Fling" and "The Inhuman Torch"). I loved pretty much everything about it, from the country-western bar opening (I particularly enjoyed Leela's explanation of what makes line dancing fun, and thought the mechanical bull thing was a neat way to reveal her suddenly be-tentacled state), to the return of Mom and her sons (I disagree that she was out of character here: she was motivated by greed, not compassion for Leela or any other being...least of all her incapable-of-discerning-puns-from-wordplay sons), to the Fry/Bender zaniness (I agree with Jezzem and others who felt the "We didn't grow up together!" line was so very, very funny), to the Fry/Leela sweetness (it veered slightly into melodrama with the last scene, but the line about sharing goulash totally saved it for me), to the fact that this is the third episode in as many weeks that has had a nice, trio-centered storyline.

So, yeah, I can't say much about this one other than that it was pretty damn awesome. But I guess I can throw my worthless two cents in and address some of the gripes others seem to have with this episode:

Decent episode. The fairy tale parallels and jokes were a bit overdone, and the way Leela got to Mom's castle was a bit unnatural which I really didn't like.

I feel exactly the opposite way about the fairy tale references. I thought they were actually clever and adorable, and I thought that the way it turned out to be genetic engineering instead of magic was hilarious in a vaguely dark, futuristic way.

I agree with coffeeBot entirely. I would have been really pissed if the writers hadn't given us some quasi-scientific explanation for all the beanstalk/unicorn/cloud-castle/giant whimsy. The fact that they provided a perfectly believable (within the realms of cartoon logic, of course) explanation, with a perfectly plausible antagonist (Mom was utilized quite well here, I think) made the whole thing quite palatable to me. I also appreciate the fact that this episode tackled a part of popular culture that the show has more of less kept off-limits for much of its run (I guess the Wizard of Oz segment from AOI II is the closest thing to a fairy tale we've previously been given); much like I enjoyed the historical angle (if not the execution) of "All the Presidents' Heads," I have to give this episode props for exploring a new part of our collective cultural consciousness.

The only flaw I see,the writters keep doing Fry more stupidier in every episode

Though I don't think the writers are really portraying Fry as any more of an idiot than they have been for, at least, the past two seasons (if not also during the original run), I will say that all of the main characters in this episode seemed a little less, uh, intelligent than usual. Leela was a bit too single-mindedly focused on the whole Genetic Modification is Wrong thing, to the point of being kind of an uninformed windbag about it; Fry, of course, was equally dense. I'd go so far as to say that Bender was this episode's straight man (what with his constantly pointing out the stupidity of Fry's various comments)--but that totally worked for me. I've always thought--in trio-based episodes, especially--that Fry and Leela and Bender all take turns being the stupid one and the smart one; this episode just happened to show us a slightly misguided Leela, a stupid Fry, and a sensible Bender. And that totally worked for me.

This show's sense of humour is getting really surreal. Not in a particularly good way, either - more in a really stupid way.

I wouldn't call it "surreal," but I definitely agree that this episode, at least, had a certain comedic quality to it that I don't often associate with Futurama. The best examples I can think of are Leela's (to me, hysterical) line about occasionally laying an egg, and Bender's frustrated reminder to Fry that he knows about the taco shells in the bathtub because he was there: these are jokes that actually caught me off-guard with how absurd and silly they were. Futurama, to me, is not a show that often surprises me with its zaniness--I think it's a hilarious show, of course, but the humor has always been more clever and subtle--but this episode in particular had a lot of lines that were in-your-face ridiculous. And I laughed at all of them.

I am reminded of what the Simpsons producers claimed happened in that show's fourth season: all the writers knew they were leaving at the end of the year, and this emboldened them to do wild things that they never would have attempted had they planned on keeping their jobs. With Futurama winding down, I wouldn't be surprised if its writers had a similar sense of the limitless potential of the show's humor. That's one possible explanation for the seemingly sudden shift in its comedic style--though, again, I'm not really complaining about it. I think that, at its best, the show is still capable of being clever and subtle--it's just that it's now also open to the possibility of being off-the-wall loony. (And this in itself is nothing new; there are plenty of straight-up crazy episodes from the original run. "Spanish Fry" comes to mind, for some reason.)

Also, wasn't the intention of this episode originally to explain why Leela's mother didn't have tenticles in I Second That Emotion? What happened to that? Seemed like a bit of a wasted opportunity to not try and write in some explanation for that.

I do recall DXC mentioning that in interviews and some of the 7A commentaries; however, I'm wondering if during this episode's production the writers realized that they couldn't really explain Munda's lack of tentacles in "I Second That Emotion" in a satisfactory way (after all, as other posters have mentioned, Munda already had tentacles in "Leela's Homeworld"--which chronologically precedes ISTE), so they just dropped that thread entirely.

In any event, I'm pleased with the direction this episode took, and wasn't really bothered by the lack of the promised explanation for Munda's disappearing tentacles. This was a solid 9/10, I'd say.

[Reply #65 on:]

I comment on an episode, and Gorky does not quote me to object to something?
Good grief..what has this world come to...

[Reply #66 on:]

Somebody has to make a Hypnotoad lunch box. Like right now.

[Reply #67 on:]

I comment on an episode, and Gorky does not quote me to object to something?
Good grief..what has this world come to...

I'm confused about Gorky's review. So the cops knew that Internal Affairs was setting them up?

(and brb,I'm trying to reply her,but my english is too stupid for post it)

[Reply #68 on:]

This show's sense of humour is getting really surreal. Not in a particularly good way, either - more in a really stupid way.

I wouldn't call it "surreal," but I definitely agree that this episode, at least, had a certain comedic quality to it that I don't often associate with Futurama. The best examples I can think of are Leela's (to me, hysterical) line about occasionally laying an egg, and Bender's frustrated reminder to Fry that he knows about the taco shells in the bathtub because he was there: these are jokes that actually caught me off-guard with how absurd and silly they were. Futurama, to me, is not a show that often surprises me with its zaniness--I think it's a hilarious show, of course, but the humor has always been more clever and subtle--but this episode in particular had a lot of lines that were in-your-face ridiculous. And I laughed at all of them.

The gag that springs to mind was the one where Bender managed to bend a door because the door was too stupid to know that wooden doors can't be bent. I'd say that qualifies for surreal.

[Reply #69 on:]

Also, wasn't the intention of this episode originally to explain why Leela's mother didn't have tenticles in I Second That Emotion? What happened to that? Seemed like a bit of a wasted opportunity to not try and write in some explanation for that.

I do recall DXC mentioning that in interviews and some of the 7A commentaries; however, I'm wondering if during this episode's production the writers realized that they couldn't really explain Munda's lack of tentacles in "I Second That Emotion" in a satisfactory way (after all, as other posters have mentioned, Munda already had tentacles in "Leela's Homeworld"--which chronologically precedes ISTE), so they just dropped that thread entirely.

In order to get Leela through her transformation, Munda produces a pair of fake, hollowed-out rubber arms for Leela to slip on over her tentacles. She then mentions off-the-cuff that she wears them herself sometimes. Bam! Done. Explanation covered, we're off the clock. Let's go home.

[Reply #70 on:]

In order to get Leela through her transformation, Munda produces a pair of fake, hollowed-out rubber arms for Leela to slip on over her tentacles. She then mentions off-the-cuff that she wears them herself sometimes. Bam! Done. Explanation covered, we're off the clock. Let's go home.

A good explanation indeed.
Maybe we'll get a deleted scene on the DVD, covering the Munda arm/tentacle aspect. Or the writers announcement (delivering that explanation) was a bigger bite than they could chew.

[Reply #71 on:]

Mom wasn't out of character at all. The episode was making a point (one that was beyond obvious, but people still seem to be missing). It turned out that Leela's fears about engineering were partly irrational and that there were actually good uses for it, but at the same time, the company/people in charge of it were using it primarily for their own gain rather than helping people being their cued concern. It's a parallel to the modern argument about genetically modified crops, where companies like Monsanto are certainly evil and self serving in many ways, but the actually act of genetic creation has many benefits that their detractors are ignoring.

Not a classic. But a quality episode.

[Reply #72 on:]

The gag that springs to mind was the one where Bender managed to bend a door because the door was too stupid to know that wooden doors can't be bent. I'd say that qualifies for surreal.

Apparently, it was a Doctor Who nod. The sonic screwdriver works on everything but wood. That's what I've heard anyway. Makes sense I guess.

[Reply #73 on:]

So the Adam west and burt ward cameos were parodies of cameos on the batman show?  

And on an unrelated note was he who shall not be named banned?

Edit...who voted 1/10? come on....

[Reply #74 on:]

Holy crap! I was all set to give this one around a 5 at the half way point, but that second half is probably the most I've laughed at Futurama this season, and that includes 7a. Pretty much everything hit when Fry and Bender reached the castle onwards, and I agree with others that Bender's "I keep telling you, we didn't grow up together!" was fucking brilliant. I give it an 8/10, and it would've been a high 9 had the first half been nearly as good.

The worst part of this episode was Leela's "this situation deteriorated fast" line. It was so obviously meant to be a gif/video reaction. It made me cringe.

[Reply #75 on:]

Loved the episode. Act 1 was a little weak but it really picked up in Act 2 to be a great episode.

Great episode. One of the best of 7B for sure.

Best episode with 'Leela' in it's title? I can't think of any better...

In a Gadda Da Leela and Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles. I also liked Yo Leela Leela a lot but I know I'm in the minority on that.

[Reply #76 on:]

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" is also pretty unanimously considered to be terrible.

[Reply #77 on:]

Best episode or greatest episodes?

This show's sense of humour is getting really surreal. Not in a particularly good way, either - more in a really stupid way.

It was far from the worst that they've done, but it did nothing to persuade me that season 7 isn't really poor.

Most of the jokes fell really flat for me.

4/10 by Futurama's standards, 7/10 by overall TV standards

The show was always at least a bit surreal, and if this had just been a fairy tale episode, I'd have been upset because there's no logical reason for that to occur.  Then they actually made a decent reason for that to logical occur, and explained everything enough to give me a sense that it was explained without also over-explaining it.

Basically they took a genre and rewrote it in a unique way, and they managed to actually put jokes in it.  Plus, like older simpsons and futurama episodes the show was also a discussion on a modern divisive topic without taking one side completely over the other, whilst being subtle about it.

If I got episodes with jokes like these on a regular basis, I'd enjoy Futurama continuing.

[Reply #78 on:]

Don't human woman normally lay an egg once a month?

[Reply #79 on:]

Futurama is going to its "ending" again and they're making this episode's funny
9/10 then