Thoughts on 3ACV02 - Parasites Lost

[Reply #80 on:]

Mouse on Venus:
The Fairly Oddparents
Invader Zim
The Magic Schoolbus
George Shrinks (I think that's what it's called ^_^;
Dexter's Lab
Rugrats

[Reply #81 on:]

You just gave me a list of kids shows. And sure it's been done, but it was making fun of the stupidity of it. That's why they twisted it by making the microdroids.
(PS: ZIM ROCKS!)

[Reply #82 on:]

Meh, I just thought it was a boring idea, is all. The whole Fry getting smarter and other aspects of the episode rocked, though.

[Reply #83 on:]

Innerspace is an example of a film based on that concept. 

@Spacedal: i love horror/horror movies, and suspense horror, and it all scares the crap out of me equally.  i'm always screaming, crying, grabbing my friends, embarrassing them, etc.  and crying in kids movies.  i also hope you were crying at how bad celine dion was, not how touching  but i understand, i cried too. 

(PS Zim rocks as well)

[Reply #84 on:]

 

Originally posted by MrsBender:
(PS Zim rocks as well)

Second. I mean third....

You know what i mean...   

[Reply #85 on:]

 

Originally posted by boxie:
Spacedal11, when you cried at Celine Dion was it because of her crimes against music?

Or were you crying with laughter maybe?

No no. I never wanted to see the movie I thought it looked stupid, but my family & friends made me. I was crying in a way like a five year old "I don't wanna!". I had cried so much that my bladder was over filled by half-way through. But I was quieter in the second-half. I can stand to watch it now but I still am not a fan of the movie but the history.

 

[Reply #86 on:]

Titanic makes me   


hehehehehe i should do this real non-quick reply thing more often!!!

[Reply #87 on:]

there are plenty reasons this episode is so re-watcheable:-

the truckstop scene
Leela's in-famous pink nightie
the holophoner
the crew in Fry's insides
Leela's pink nightie
the 'relationship' that almost was

and did i mention the pink nightie?

[Reply #88 on:]

In 'Parasites Lost' there is a coffee shop just outside the Plant Express building, but I haven't seen it in any of the other episodes. Did it go bust perhaps or is it just that it couldn't be seen in the other episodes because of the angle?

Oh and I agree with MrsBender, Titanic is 'puke-o-tronic'!

[Reply #89 on:]

No. the coffee shop was bulldozed in the 3rd comming of Jesus.

But not really. I just made that B.S. up..


Or did i.........

DA DA DAAAAAAA! *dramatic reverb*

[Reply #90 on:]

They said in the commentary it went out of buisness really fast or something. =P

[Reply #91 on:]

 

Originally posted by Dannilicious:
They said in the commentary it went out of buisness really fast or something. =P

By that they mean the 3rd comming of Jesus!

DA DA DAAAAAA!!!! *dramatic reverb*...

[Reply #92 on:]

Jesus does not take kindly to coffee shops of such nature.

Keyaaahhh!!!! Thats right, its a karate chop. Eyyyaaahh!!!! Hoowwwahhhh!!!!

[Reply #93 on:]

They also shrunk down in an episode of Family Guy when Stewie invades Peter's testicles to wipe out the sperm.

[Reply #94 on:]

I dont know if you know PJF, but some people dont take to kindy to talking about others shows on a Futurama centric thread. I personally dont mind, but i have been yelled at a few times for saying a quote from Family Guy or what not. Just some friendly advice dude.

[Reply #95 on:]

To those of you who said you downloaded it, you're going to go to hell, as was recently depicted in the new passion movie.

Judas just couldn't bear to give up his MP3's.

[Reply #96 on:]

Whoa Coop chill it.  Personally, illegal filesharing lead me to Futurama... if it weren't for my college's amazing network that links up all our computers, i never would have watched an episode, bored late at night while trying to write a paper.  I've been hooked since, and now own all the DVD sets in region 1 (pbbtttthhh region 2!) More evidence the internet is a wonderful thing.   

[Reply #97 on:]

You have season 4 in Region 1? You're some kind of weird time traveller? And if you are can you tell me who'll win the Euro Championships? I can make millions (and ship you a season 4 DVD set (Region 2 ofocurse, that the best region!  ))

It's an old thread, back then downloading wasn't an issue on PEEL, but now it is.

Anyway, less talk, more reviews.

[Reply #98 on:]

Who said anything about season 4?  And yes, I *AM* some kind of weird time traveller... how did you guess?  Anyways, in terms of review, this episode is awesome.  Besides all the regular awesome stuff, I particularly like the truck-stop humor where Fry tries to defend Leela. 

[Reply #99 on:]

I like it when they go inside his body the best.

[Reply #100 on:]

 

Originally posted by Spacedal11:
I like it when they go inside his body the best.

Yippy-ki-yay! You'll never guess where i've been! 

[Reply #101 on:]

Anyone know where I can get the music from the episode. Im partial to the holophone music, also anyone know what instroment they used?? Thanks-Great episode

[Reply #102 on:]

LOOOVE IT. I mostly love the Fry and Leela scenes.

[Reply #103 on:]

ooooo marmalaid that has to be the funniest scruffy quote ever good episode but not the best

[Reply #104 on:]

why are you bumping old threads? 

[Reply #105 on:]

   

Originally posted by Shiny:

quote:
----------------
Originally posted by Ride The Walrus:
And on Leela's shallowness... Did she ever think about Fry in parasites lost? No. She sabotaged the plan the others had to help him so that he would continue being someone who pleased her. Shallow was a poor choice of words. She didn't even think about the fact that the worms were robbing Fry of his humanity. She was a little selfish.
----------------

Did the other PE staff think of Fry?  No.  They planned to remove the worms (which were a beneficial parasite) without consulting him.  Granted, the Professor feared the worms would then be warned, but still, once they found out that the worms were not harmful, they should have had at least a few second thoughts about removing them.

And the worms were "robbing him of his humanity" ...how?  Were they controlling Fry's actions?  Were they taking over his mind or directing his thoughts?  Did they push him along the continuum of Evil and Good - in either direction?

The only way they influenced his behavior is giving him a craving to eat metal (and that is just a craving to which it is still his decision whether or not to respond).  I see no evidence that the worms did anything to what we usually mean when we say "humanity" - that is, his mind, his self-will, or his moral choice.  To say that they did is innaccurate and sensationalistic.

The brain slugs interfere with their hosts' humanity.  The worms do not.  Fry had other beings living inside him, you say? So what?  We all do - bacteria that perform vital functions in our bodies.  Each and every cell we have supports a mitochondrium - an alien creature.

But my biggest argument with your post is

quote:
----------------
She sabotaged the plan the others had to help him so that he would continue being someone who pleased her.
----------------

BZZZZT! WRONG! She did no such thing.  All the time she was with him all day, she knew that the worms were making him smarter, healthier, more muscular (she knew they were healing him, and she's smart enough to make the connection when he starts using $20 words and beating up Sals).  But she did not think of calling off the others' mission, even though she was impressed with his feats.

It was not until she asked him why he was doing these things, and he confessed his love, and said he'd realized it lately (since the worms) that Leela took action.

It was not to preserve a Fry that pleased her.  She'd had a Fry that pleased her all day. It was to preserve a Fry who realized he loved her (and who was clearly happy about knowing it).

Selfish?  Perhaps a little.  But not to the extent you make out.

As for her reaction...well, time for another shameless plug:

The Other Side of Parasites

Now, I gotta go prove that (despite rumors to the contrary) I am not as old as the Professor.  i.e., I gotta go help someone move their stuff...joy.

But you may consider yourself bitch-slapped.

Shiny aka "The Shippinator"

         

Originally posted by TomAllen:

I've kind of narrowed it down to a more practical question.

Suppose you could get an injection that made you smarter and wiser. Maybe you get worms, maybe you get hormones, I don't care.

If you accept such a treatment, are you still you? Are you you, but, like, you++? Or does the treatment alter you so much that you're somebody else?

Myself, I think you're still you, you just took a cheap way to greatness. The rest of us have to improve ourselves, if we choose to, by long, hard work.

I _think_ that's the moral of Parasites Lost. Fry could have taken the easy route; Leela was still seduced from before. But he wanted to be loved as Fry, not Fry++.

This episode is one of the many I hold out as examples that Fry is much wiser, and more heroic, than we think he is.

More than that, "Parasites Lost" is, IMHO, one of the best (strictly speaking) science fiction episodes of Futurama, and for that matter, of any program, of the last twenty years. How do we humans feel about symbiosis? How do we define ourselves -- purely genetically, or by our interactions with other lifeforms? What are the ethical ramifications if Fry had decided to keep the worms, or Leela to have let them be destroyed?

I have vague feelings, but not any grand answers. That's why I love this episode. PL doesn't present any easy answers -- just the feelings and beliefs of its characters.

And that's great science fiction. "Here's a scientific question. Here's how our characters answer it. Now what would you do?"

         

Originally posted by Ride The Walrus:

quote:
----------------
Originally posted by Shiny:
 
But you may consider yourself bitch-slapped.

----------------

That was one of the best thought out bitch slaps I have ever recieved. I did enjoy it.

I do get a bit overdramatic, but it isn't completely without reasoning. Lets look at a couple of things. I agree the worms were beneficial parasites. However I have a fervent belief that these benefits are temporary. I have two reasons to believe this. First, it was Farnsworth who insisted that Fry's worms be removed. I think Farnsworth is a genius who hides behind a cloak of senility and madness so he can enjoy his vast fortune and create his atomic monsters in peace. (He basically created the universe.) So who would know better as to why the worms needed to be removed? Secondly, I was looking at worm-ridden Fry in the long term. Think carefully about this... who would you become if you were honed from the inside into a perfect being? Would you be the greatest person you could be? Or would you merely become an instrument of your own abilities? It was too early for Fry to lose all his imperfections, but eventually they would have been gone, leaving only his intention remaining. (Like a set of directions). Fry's brain would have become a computer, able to access vast amounts of data at once and probably giving him eidetic recall. Over many years this would cause a conflict which would blur the lines between "the correct course of action" and "the right thing to do". (Remember, the parasites do what they do in the interest of self-preservation, so I have no doubt that in time this would have become Fry's overriding motivation.) His body would have become the embodiment of perfection. In the future, it would have become difficult for him to relate to physical imperfection at any level. His life would have definetely been lengthened, forcing him to watch his loved ones age and die before him. I could go on at great lengths, (as I most likely have already), about the negative long-term effects of the parasites. But in the end one stands out in my mind the most. No matter how much power the worms put at Fry's disposal, they would never be able to rid him of the realization and the doubt that perhaps no one around him loved him for who he was. He would never know if any of his friends were still there simply because he'd become this perfect man. Fry would lose his humanity because, by maintaining his inner collective, he'd lose touch with the outer collective; other people. Fry is the dumbest genius in the universe, and that's why he got rid of his own worms.

I agree with pretty much everything else you said, though. I was trying to be as easy as I could on Leela, but I still came a across as a bit harsh. She loves Fry, so there's no reason why she would want him to realize his inner potential. But if she just thought about it for a bit longer... (Strange that Leela got suddenly so impulsive when it came to Fry, huh?)... she would have realized that it was kinder to allow Fry to improve naturally, as opposed to being bio-reengineered by parasites.

         

Originally posted by HopelessShipper:

I completely agree with your analysis RTW. But one must ask if this thought poped into Fry's mind. (Please don't mistake that as saying Fry is stupid.)

As unpopular as it may make me, I don't blame Fry (or Leela) on the Parasites Lost failure. I think we are expecting too much of the one eyed toboggan  to think that the only reason she stoped the operation was because Fry was able to admit that he loved her. It's no coincidence that Fry became the man of her dreams. On the flip side Fry gets a equal amount of blame due to the way he acted after getting back to apartment 1I.

This episode is a real can of worms. Analysis of it depends on how you watch it. The first time I wanted to blame Leela, second Fry and now I have managed to make peace with my flimsy excuse of it's no ones fault.

And now that I've gotten that out of the way, may I axe why no one seems to have noticed the obvious references to Issac Asimov's 'Fantastic Voyage'?

[Reply #106 on:]

Not sure if when I originally reviewed this ep if it was my fave, I mean it ranked up there, but it definitely is now no question! It has been for a long time actually. Despite the movies and Season 6 coming along since this thread was last posted in, nothing has topped this ep for me (although TLPJF came close, and Möbius Dick is also a notable mention)...

I just love the whole thing, from the opening at the truck stop and the humour which ensued, to Scruffy's fantastic appearance, the whole journey into Fry's body, the action scenes which were brilliantly executed and tense, the romance which didn't suffocate the ep and added depth and emotion, the animation, the pacing, the Sci-Fi elements, and, well, it just had it all!...

I've also recently realised that some of my favourite Futurama episodes are parody episodes. Fry & The Slurm Factory being my second favourite and Möbius Dick also ranking quite highly up there. A Flight To Remember is also pretty damn decent. I guess the Futurama writers just know how to do a good parody!...

I never gave this ep a rating before, although it's pretty obvious really...

10/10

[Reply #107 on:]

Whose Losy, and why does she have parasites?

I quite like this episode, but if I'm honest it's one of those episodes that always seemed to be on Sky 1, and I really have gotten fairly tired of it by now.   Plus it's a bit... gross.  Not an episode you can enjoy while watching a snack.

[Reply #108 on:]

Not an episode you can enjoy while watching a snack.

Why would you watch a snack when Futurama is on?

[Reply #109 on:]

Whoops.

That mix up is so funny though I'm not going to change it. 

[Reply #110 on:]

This is a great episode. I do think it's slightly overrated, but I cannot deny how well-written and well put-together it is.

Abandon ship!

9/10

[Reply #111 on:]

I did abandon ship...

And then I saw the ending with Fry making the Holophoner Leela.  So I climbed back aboard.

[Reply #112 on:]

How dare you abandon ship! It kept me firmly seated for the ride, the whole ride! You've reminded me though, the music in this ep is another high point and yet another aspect which this ep delivers with flying colours...

[Reply #113 on:]

Arguably the best episode ever. (Not imo) 10/10

[Reply #114 on:]

Arguably the best episode ever. (Not imo) 10/10

Second.   10/10 from me.    In my Top 5.

My favorite line is from Sal:  "Watch, I'm gonna puts my moves on her.   Eeeooohwwaaaahhhhhhoooohhh!"

[Reply #115 on:]

Poll added, and fixing that "losy" thread title...

[Reply #116 on:]

Aww, the losy part was funneh... Looks like I'm first to vote in the poll. It's quite satisfying seeing this eps current rating at 100%. Let's hope it stays that way, or else! ...

[Reply #117 on:]

Aww, the losy part was funneh... Looks like I'm first to vote in the poll. It's quite satisfying seeing this eps current rating at 100%. Let's hope it stays that way, or else! ...

Well it hasn't change after I voted (Great to see another member who's favorite episode is this masterpiece )

[Reply #118 on:]

This was a pretty decent episode, after it aired it became my favorite up until Roswell That Ends Well. I can't say what I would rate it yet, definitely leaning toward a 10 though...

[Reply #119 on:]

Aww, the losy part was funneh... Looks like I'm first to vote in the poll. It's quite satisfying seeing this eps current rating at 100%. Let's hope it stays that way, or else! ...

I voted 9/10. Come at me.