Thoughts on 7ACV25 - Stench and Stenchibility - SPOILERS

[Reply #40 on:]

I doubt we'll see Marianne in the finale, and if the show is revived again, will Emilia Clarke return to voice her as a recurring character? We can only hope. Also, no explanation for Roberto's reappearance. How could he smell Zoidberg? He has no nose.

9/10

He could still have some kind of built-in air filter, enabling him to analyse gas/smoke/etc..., and therefore granting him a sense of smell.

Or -when they put Roberto back together- they forgot to add the "cannot smell anything" microchip

[Reply #41 on:]

9.0/10, great!

[Reply #42 on:]

Such a good episode! as Inquisitor Hein said, it's because makes you feel an aura that "Yay! Zoidberg deserved this, good for Zoidberg" and actually I felt so happy for him! also Mariane is such a good character.

The only thing that kinda ruined the episode was, Bender tap dancing when Tanya (who sounded more like Timmy Turner for me) was "dead", that wasn't funny that was just MEAN, I really really REALLY hated it. But before that the subplot was ok.

So yeah, I love when Futurama shows that is more than sci-fi references,maths or just Fry/Leela, well the writers remembered that they have more characters :P and this episode proves it. I'm giving a 9/10

[Reply #43 on:]

The only thing that kinda ruined the episode was, Bender tap dancing when Tanya (who sounded more like Timmy Turner for me) was "dead", that wasn't funny that was just MEAN, I really really REALLY hated it.

Really? That was the biggest laugh of the episode for me.

Anyway, this was okay. Nothing spectacular, though not as bad as I was expecting it to be. The "Zoidberg smells" jokes were nowhere near as juvenile as I was dreading, though Mariane wasn't a very well-fleshed-out character and I just didn't buy her relationship with Zoidberg. I get that her not having a sense of smell meant that she couldn't distinguish good smells from bad smells, that made total sense, but yeah, I just wasn't invested in this at all. I guess I'm glad things worked out for Zoidberg? I dunno. Honestly, I don't really care.

Also, the little girl had a heart attack at the same point in the episode when Zoidberg was doing Mariane's procedure in the hospital and the stories DIDN'T intersect? Crappy writing, yo.

Having said that, there were enough laughs to make this a more-than-decent Futurama episode. I just don't see any reason to gush over "Zoidberg gets a happy ending!" like everbody else. Who gives a fuck? I'd prefer an episode that actually factored into the show's mythology at this point.

7/10
(Nothing too bad, enough laughs to make it watchable, nothing else really grabbed me, it was okay story-wise and pretty decent humour-wise)

[Reply #44 on:]

But, Box already called it. Back 3 weeks ago.

Just like I'm officially going to call the Meanwhile Thread!

And do you still call shotgun when riding in the car with mom and dad, and play popeye and slug bug while they take you to soccer practice? Seriously, it's pretty annoying when someone makes a thread first, then another PEELer willfully disregards that and creates a new one. Not to mention that it probably violates a rule.

Edit: Thank you Moderator, whomever merged the two threads together.

- The episode played heavily with incorrect expectations: You would imagine Zoidberg and Marianne break up, you did not expect the little girl to be evil at first, you did not really expect her and Bender become friends (whose ways also did not really part at the end). The "things turn out differently then expected" appread like a logically planned episode theme to me, not like an overused plot.

Yes, that's a very good point. I mean, in the first place, one would never imagine a beautiful woman like Marianne to fall in love with Zoidberg. And I was bracing for her to break his heart when she was able to finally smell him.

The scene really SCREAMED for Marinne to have become an ungrateful bitch, who does not need Zoidberg any more and acts accordingly.

I really don't see how that is so. Yes, her line about dumping him, and then the naughty expression on her face, makes the audience think for a beat that the relationship is truly over, and then we're given a nice surprise. But I don't see how we've been set up for Marianne to just become evil. I suppose I don't understand your point.

There weren't a lot of jokes in this episode, but the sweetness of Zoidberg finding love that has eluded him throughout the entire series was a huge balm of satisfaction for me, and many others, it seems. And as someone who loves the old Hollywood hoofers like Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor, I loved Bender's tapdancing with the little girl. It seemed like a reference to Bill Bojangles and Shirley Temple's dances together:

[Reply #45 on:]

Looks like QNF gets the credit for this thread. 

[Reply #46 on:]

Huh, I was startled, when thread disappeared while writing.

I don't think Bender dancing over dead Tonya was too bad. Characters in episode stated it was terrible behaviour, so it was recognised. Outside from episode, it was for laughs, dark humor though, and she did survive as a result. It was funny, because episode focused on Bender's mean personality and it wasn't one-sided.

P.S. They never explained why Roberto's back from the dead. I already kind of expected this, but it's still really bothersome to me.

Yeah it was expected, but it would have been easy to put a little reference to coming back. Of course it's not too hard to explain, because robots can do back-up copying.

[Reply #47 on:]

Looks like QNF gets the credit for this thread. 

Yeah, except now it also looks like QNF made all the retarded typos in the poll.

[Reply #48 on:]

The scene really SCREAMED for Marinne to have become an ungrateful bitch, who does not need Zoidberg any more and acts accordingly.

I really don't see how that is so. Yes, her line about dumping him, and then the naughty expression on her face, makes the audience think for a beat that the relationship is truly over, and then we're given a nice surprise. But I don't see how we've been set up for Marianne to just become evil. I suppose I don't understand your point.

I think what Hein meant was that he personally expected her to act like an "ungrateful bitch" because she's a female.

[Reply #49 on:]

But the retarded typos in the polls were the reason why I chose to post in Boxy's thread while watching the show when it aired.

[Reply #50 on:]

The scene really SCREAMED for Marinne to have become an ungrateful bitch, who does not need Zoidberg any more and acts accordingly.

I really don't see how that is so. Yes, her line about dumping him, and then the naughty expression on her face, makes the audience think for a beat that the relationship is truly over, and then we're given a nice surprise. But I don't see how we've been set up for Marianne to just become evil. I suppose I don't understand your point.

The episode was based on "things turn out unexpectedly".
So, Marianne was a nice person, the logical "unexpected" twist was for her to turn into a bitch.
Also, such a couple featuring a once-character is usually undone at the end. So, the "Marianne turns out ungrateful when she no longer needs Zoidberg" was the last plot twist they could have used to undo these two.

At the end, only two options were possible:
- A couple stays togethfeaturing a regular and a one time char stays together, or
- A one-time character changes his/her ways to restore the status quo.

In these cases, one-time-characters as Marianne were nearly ALWAYS the one undergoing a sudden change in favor of the status quo's restoration.

But let Jezzem stick to his "He just thinks so because she is female". If that simple slogan is enough to make him feel better...let him, let him  

[Reply #51 on:]

The scene really SCREAMED for Marinne to have become an ungrateful bitch, who does not need Zoidberg any more and acts accordingly.

I really don't see how that is so. Yes, her line about dumping him, and then the naughty expression on her face, makes the audience think for a beat that the relationship is truly over, and then we're given a nice surprise. But I don't see how we've been set up for Marianne to just become evil. I suppose I don't understand your point.

I think what Hein meant was that he personally expected her to act like an "ungrateful bitch" because she's a female.

True that. I suspect he thinks that when a PEELette disagrees with his opinion, she's just having PMS. Or, that she hasn't gone shoe shopping in a while, or had a chance to watch her daytime soap operas.  

I just re-watched. Some things I didn't mention before, that tickled me, was Amy's sexy nurse outfit (totally fan service) and her squeejee'ing Zoidberg's forehead; "Limburger King;" Parfum de Liz (or was it Eau de Liz?) and Elizabeth Taylor shaking her head in sadness because Marianne couldn't smell it; the parting scene of Hattie getting up only to get knocked out again by garbage; and the rec center's "Please give us back our basketball" marquee.

Really quite a simple story, but still enjoyable and very sweet. I really appreciated Bender and Tonya's evil friendship/crime partnership that they forged at the end, and running away hand in hand. Cute stuff.

[Reply #52 on:]

True that. I suspect he thinks that when a PEELette disagrees with his opinion, she's just having PMS. Or, that she hasn't gone shoe shopping in a while, or had a chance to watch her daytime soap operas. 

^Nope. That post here was acutally the only time I ever thought so...

[Reply #53 on:]

Honestly, I was kind of dreading this episode. But I was surprised at how good it turned out to be. The story was well written. The B-story was funny too. And both plots had a happy ending. 9/10

[Reply #54 on:]

This episode really surprised me. It started off not so great, but got way better towards the end. I thought the ending was great for both plots. The main plot's ending really surprised me and it was great. The ending of Bender's side plot was hilarious. I though that Bender dancing on Tonya's dead body was so funny and the part at the end where they work together was great.

Overall this episode was really funny and had a pretty good plot. Like an 8.7/10 which means 9/10 on the poll.

[Reply #55 on:]

But let Jezzem stick to his "He just thinks so because she is female". If that simple slogan is enough to make him feel better...let him, let him  

I don't think it's a slogan since this is the first time I've said it. I'd say it's more of a possible interpretation of your post based on themes from your posting history.

But I'll let you stick to your "But let Jezzem stick to his "He just thinks so because she is female". If that simple slogan is enough to make him feel better...let him, let him". If that simple slogan is enough to make you feel better... I'll let you, I'll let you

[Reply #56 on:]

Was I the only one who knew that as soon as Bender started dancing on top of Tanya that he would bring her back to life?

[Reply #57 on:]

Was I the only one who knew that as soon as Bender started dancing on top of Tanya that he would bring her back to life?

Nah, it was kinda obvious.

[Reply #58 on:]

I genuinely really liked this one. It's easily my favourite of 7B so far (not that that's saying a whole lot).

The main reason were that the gags came hard and fast, most of them were very good and, more importantly, none of them were really cringey.

The plot was good enough - nothing hugely special, but nothing wrong with it and a good vessel for the jokes.

I love that Zoidberg got a happy ending for once - especially as this is the penultimate episode of the show, so now we can just imagine that he lives happily ever after with whatever her name was. I imagine we'd probably never hear from the character again, had the show been picked up for season 8, but now we don't need to worry about that.


I still had a few gripes, but they're very minor:

1. Roberto was back with no explanation whatsoever. I know that there's a million reasons why he could be back, but just as with Mars being back in orbit with no given explanation, this sort of think is really irking and wastes the good continuity that the show had previously established for itself - not to mention that it completely undermines the show's death scenes for the future, if they can just bring anybody back with no explanation - not that that's going to matter much from now on.

2. I didn't like Emilia Clarke. I haven't seen Game of Thrones yet, so I didn't get anything out of her being in the show for the novelty of it and, frankly, her performance was incredibly awkward and stilted. She's clearly not a very vocal actress. I imagine she does most of her acting with her face - either that, or she does lots of angry shouting in the show and struggles with the more intimate moments. Some actors simply aren't suited to voice-acting, and even when they are - it often largely comes down to how well the voice fits their character. For example, Michael J. Fox did a fantastic job as Stuart Little but his voice just felt completely off in that Disney film, Atlantis.


Anyway, on the whole, I liked the episode a lot.

6/10 by Futurama's standards (don't bite my head off; I'll happily show you a list of episodes ranked from 10/10 to 1/10 that makes this make sense in spite of me being positive about it), a very strong 8/10 by overall TV standards

[Reply #59 on:]

I genuinely really liked this one. It's easily my favourite of 7B so far (not that that's saying a whole lot).

The main reason were that the gags came hard and fast, most of them were very good and, more importantly, none of them were really cringey.

The plot was good enough - nothing hugely special, but nothing wrong with it and a good vessel for the jokes.

I love that Zoidberg got a happy ending for once - especially as this is the penultimate episode of the show, so now we can just imagine that he lives happily ever after with whatever her name was. I imagine we'd probably never hear from the character again, had the show been picked up for season 8, but now we don't need to worry about that.


I still had a few gripes, but they're very minor:

1. Roberto was back with no explanation whatsoever. I know that there's a million reasons why he could be back, but just as with Mars being back in orbit with no given explanation, this sort of think is really irking and wastes the good continuity that the show had previously established for itself - not to mention that it completely undermines the show's death scenes for the future, if they can just bring anybody back with no explanation - not that that's going to matter much from now on.

2. I didn't like Emilia Clarke. I haven't seen Game of Thrones yet, so I didn't get anything out of her being in the show for the novelty of it and, frankly, her performance was incredibly awkward and stilted. She's clearly not a very vocal actress. I imagine she does most of her acting with her face - either that, or she does lots of angry shouting in the show and struggles with the more intimate moments. Some actors simply aren't suited to voice-acting, and even when they are - it often largely comes down to how well the voice fits their character. For example, Michael J. Fox did a fantastic job as Stuart Little but his voice just felt completely off in that Disney film, Atlantis.


Anyway, on the whole, I liked the episode a lot.

6/10 by Futurama's standards (don't bite my head off; I'll happily show you a list of episodes ranked from 10/10 to 1/10 that makes this make sense in spite of me being positive about it), a very strong 8/10 by overall TV standards

I have to agree with you on the voice acting but she is great on A Game of Thrones.  This probably her best scene in the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gqypjKqisY

[Reply #60 on:]

I think she did pretty well considering she wasn't physically in the room with Billy West (or any other actor, for that matter) to get a real feel of the energy of other characters and their interactions.

[Reply #61 on:]

There's a term in wrestling, where, between two massive, important matches, they'll put in a meaningless short little one, to calm the crowd down, give them a chance to go to the bathroom, and prepare for the main event. I can't remember what that term is, but this is what this episode felt like.

It wasn't bad at all. It was a good idea to have this as the penultimate episode of the series, since the rest of the field is laden-d with serious, scary and emotional episodes, one that's just a bit silly was a nice break. I only laughed out loud once, at Cahill's "And yes, they're real" just because of how out of nowhere it was. I was all ready to hate Bender's plot, since I'm just about done with "Bender gets a new job/hobby" plots this season, but it was amusing. Tonya was a little too annoying for me, at times she felt like a fanfiction OC, but I enjoyed how it was resolved. I give it 7/10. I enjoyed it, but it didn't feel like anything more than a chance for us all to breathe a bit before the big finale.

[Reply #62 on:]

For me I'd give it a 7/10.

The Zoidberg storyline seemed really forced and didn't click well. The Bender storyline was awesome though and should have been the main focus of the episode.

Extra points for Bender and the evil girl decking that cahjigger woman (her name has slipped me).

[Reply #63 on:]

There's a term in wrestling, where, between two massive, important matches, they'll put in a meaningless short little one, to calm the crowd down, give them a chance to go to the bathroom, and prepare for the main event. I can't remember what that term is, but this is what this episode felt like.

It wasn't bad at all. It was a good idea to have this as the penultimate episode of the series, since the rest of the field is laden-d with serious, scary and emotional episodes, one that's just a bit silly was a nice break. I only laughed out loud once, at Cahill's "And yes, they're real" just because of how out of nowhere it was. I was all ready to hate Bender's plot, since I'm just about done with "Bender gets a new job/hobby" plots this season, but it was amusing. Tonya was a little too annoying for me, at times she felt like a fanfiction OC, but I enjoyed how it was resolved. I give it 7/10. I enjoyed it, but it didn't feel like anything more than a chance for us all to breathe a bit before the big finale.

It's called the Divas match in the WWE.

[Reply #64 on:]

Heh. No, there's an actual term. Like a rubber match or something.

[Reply #65 on:]

I have mixed feelings about this episode, but still enjoyed it.  This episode had two storylines that would have been better if each were its own episode.  The Bender dancing scene was great, but I feel there's a scene missing showing that the little girl is a monster before Bender tells Fry and Leela what he plans on doing.  A girl dying and Bender dancing on her was hilarious, so much dark humor.

Zoidberg falling in love was great and Marianne was a cool character, but wish we got to see more of her, but sadly, I feel this was it.

[Reply #66 on:]

Great dark humor in this episode, and Bender cracked me up. Zoidberg and Marianne are a wonderful couple, and I liked how Fry and Leela showed sensitivity to the little girl, maybe hinting that they like children and would like some in the future, maybe?

[Reply #67 on:]

Wow, I'm surprised that pretty much everyone liked how mean Bender was in this episode. I assumed everyone would've thought that it was too evil, as I initially did.
I realised the humor in it after a second viewing, myself.

[Reply #68 on:]

Bender tap-dancing on a dead girl ? Best bender moment ever.

[Reply #69 on:]

Somebody needs to make of GIF of it. Definitely.

[Reply #70 on:]

Bender tap-dancing on a dead girl ? Best bender moment ever.

Yep, that even surpassed his previous record (bringing his first born son to the robot devil).

[Reply #71 on:]

It was fairly decent and weirdly enough Bender's subplot being much better than Zoidberg's main one, delivering quite alot of good jokes and dark humour. I had the same problem with the actress voicing Marianne as cyber_turnip did though. She just didn't sound natural at all and was by far the weakest part of the entire episode. The Bender plot saved it though, so I think I'll boost the score a little and give it an 8/10 on first viewing.

[Reply #72 on:]

Yeah, her voice just sounded too stiff to me. She just didn't show enough life in her performance to make the emotional plot really work.

[Reply #73 on:]

Yeah, her voice just sounded too stiff to me. She just didn't show enough life in her performance to make the emotional plot really work.

She was a boring character, but she's the straight man to Zoidberg's quirks in this one.

[Reply #74 on:]

Heh. No, there's an actual term. Like a rubber match or something.

A rubber match would go like this if you and I wrestled and I won the first one and you won the second one and the third match would be the rubber match.

You are right there is a term but usually its the Divas match that everyone goes to the bathroom and calms down for the main event.

I just can't think of the term myself.

[Reply #75 on:]

This episode's end had me squealing nonsensically. I'm so happy for Zoidberg, Bender and Tanya at the end was adorable. I was kinda shocked at the scene where Bender danced on her corpse though, holy shit was that dark. A really great episode though. Loved it.

10/10

(Damn it I am so excited for Meanwhile)

[Reply #76 on:]

I kind of loved this episode. It's not like it was the greatest thing the show's ever done or anything--but it was definitely one of my favorite things it's done this season. I've never been a huge Zoidberg fan--he is essentially a two-note character: he's poor and he's a bad doctor--but this episode did a lovely job giving him a genuinely sweet, compelling story that made me heave a big ol' "Awww" at its conclusion.

Aside from the nice emotional story and the excellent writing of Zoidberg's character (I appreciated how he managed to be both characteristically pitiful but also kind of suave; it made sense to me that Marianne would find him charming), this episode was quite funny. In fact, though the Bender subplot was undoubtedly wackier, I think Zoidberg's story made me laugh harder (I loved, for example, that his dumpster once belonged to a prominent raccoon).

That said, I appreciated how the episode wove the two stories together, particularly with that week-by-week montage that cataloged both the dance contest eliminations and Marianne's inability to smell stuff. I kind of hate the way the new run has relied so heavily on montages--and, hell, this episode had more than one--but I think this is one of the rare instances where it really worked; it indicated that time was progressing (which made the Zoidberg/Marianne relationship seem a bit less all-of-the-sudden), and it provided some fun visual humor, and it all-in-all made me pretty happy.

What made me a little less happy was how irredeemably awful Bender was throughout the episode, though I guess it was neat that Tonya actually turned out to be a total sociopath as well. I think what bugged me most was the fact that, you know, he danced on a dead little girl's chest--though I saw the whole he-inadvertently-revives-her thing coming--but that is by no means the darkest thing the show's ever done, so I guess I shouldn't really complain about it. And, since it was nowhere near as overt as, say, the Susan Boyle reference in "Attack of the Killer App," I guess I also shouldn't complain about the oh-so-dated, unnecessary Tonya Harding reference that ended act two...so, even though that also kind of bugged me, I will elaborate no further on my annoyance; ultimately it didn't adversely affect my opinion of this episode too much.

But, yeah, I certainly preferred Zoidberg's story in this episode to Bender's. The ending in particular surprised me by not being a total slap in the face: the "I'm dumping you" thing had me momentarily worried that the writers were going to renege on the happy ending...but, of course, I was pleasantly surprised when that was not the case. This episode just left me with a very, I don't know, nice and uplifting feeling; they did with Zoidberg's love life what an episode like "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" does for Amy and Kif's love life, or even what an episode like "Rebirth" does for Fry and Leela: they treated his character with a degree of respect and dignity, and made me root for him and care about the outcome of his relationship. I feel compelled to give this a 9/10, and name it one of my favorites of this run of episodes.

[Reply #77 on:]

Somebody needs to make of GIF of it. Definitely.

http://i.minus.com/imi9JrvqGhCdG.gif

Somebody did. It wasn't me, I just found it.

[Reply #78 on:]

I don't know what's going to happen in the last episode of Futurama but at least I can rest easy knowing Randy got a good send-off. That's how you say good-bye to a somewhat enjoyable and oft-forgotten tertiary character.

But anyway, the dead/dying child thing in Bender's storyline made me feel uncomfortable. Bender's supposed to have a tiny speck of heart in his cold metallic chest. For me, I would rate this episode somewhere between 70/100 and 80/100, and the Bender subplot is really holding things back. It really ruined some of the momentum in the otherwise feel-good Zoidburg story, which I enjoyed.

It's a shame this is coming at the end of the show's run. It would be fun to have an episode where Marianne's trash collector job earned them enough to buy a small apartment and Zoidburg was able to move out of the dumpster -- but kept one in the apartment to sleep in, anyway. ("What can I say? Old habits, they die hard.") Her character could have been a bit deeper, but I suppose they could have embellished on that in later episodes.

[Reply #79 on:]

I think this is my new favorite for this season.  Unlike many of the others, I felt good after watching it as opposed to indifferent or sour.  The main cast being more or less nice to each other for the whole episode was a nice change of pace, as they can be so downright mean to each other with no comedic value sometimes.  Warm fuzzies were to be had from Zoidberg's love story, which is good for me because I'm a softie and he deserves it.  This episode had some good genuine moments, with subtle character interactions that didn't affect the plot but added to this eps hmm authenticity?  The jokes weren't mile-a-minute, but when they came they hit home.  Like some others have said, Bender tap dancing on the fresh corpse of a cute little girl is so deliciously dark, and was a genuine laugh out loud moment for me.

I liked that they used the full opening, because I die a little inside everytime they use the shortened version (also I enjoyed the caption).

Agreed 100%  I've brought this up with my friends before and no one seems to think it is as big of a deal as me.  Hearing the full song puts me in the right head-space for Futurama, and hearing the butchered version well.. doesn't I guess.  I think I end up enjoying episodes that feature the whole song more than I would just by themselves. (I'm holding out on a slim hope that they will use the full, original theme from the first run in the finale.)  As for the caption, there's some nice symmetry in that this episode's tone is a complete 180 from the sadness of JB. It definitely is not the one about the dog.