To A Cartoon Dying Young

[Reply #80 on:]

Maybe when they watch em they'll realize the idots of fox and renew it!

[Reply #81 on:]

Well, I still move that in the ratio of good eps to bad eps, 4acv is much worse that 1acv, 2acv, and 3acv combined.  I do not believe either, that the worst Futurama episodes (IMHO, of course) are better than the current Simpsons episodes.  They're just as bad.  But, again, we'll never know if this is a continuing streak.  I don't know for sure if Futurama would've jumped the shark or not, and we'll never know that.  Remember people, all the above is just my opinion.  For whatever reason, much of 4acv didn't appeal to me.   

Anyway, I sure hope Fry and Leela get together in the last ep.  After all, now that Futurama has been cancelled by Gail "Bastard" Berman, the relationshipship will not cause Futurama to jump the shark, because there wouldn't be anymore Futurama episodes anyway!

[Reply #82 on:]

Actually I'd rather see it go on until it jumps it.

[Reply #83 on:]

Same here.  Futurama may be a unique show in the fact that it never jumped the shark, but really it never had the opportunity to.

[Reply #84 on:]

I'd watch it even after it jumps it, cause about every show does and Futurama still will b good after it jumps it i bet

[Reply #85 on:]

Can I check - does everyone here know where the phrase 'jumping the shark' came from, or any of you just afraid to ask? Sorry if I sound smug. It's just that everyone was talking about shippiness and I didn't know what it was, so I thought ... y'know?

[Reply #86 on:]

no there is no need for fry and leela to get together it wouldnt add anything to the show except probably remove an element from it which if all the talk is true about it jumping the shark would just confirm fears and also the show was never intended to be a romance/scifi show but it seems to be more ands more about that and less about the haha personally i would prefer to lose the shippiness if it meant making it funnier the shippiness does nothing for me im afraid

[Reply #87 on:]

reverend: there's a book about the shows that have- simpsons being the only one that hasn't- but i'm not sure if they book got it from elsewhere

aussie dude: you're just an anti-shipper, and thats ok. but like me, many shippers will disagree. just remember it's your own or their own opinion.  besides, i think it could have them get together without jumping the shark.  for sure, but we'll never know 

[Reply #88 on:]

Someone said earlier 'jumping the shark' comes from Happy Days when fonzie jumps a shark on his motorcycle apparently the show went down hill from there.
Future_hill i know it is just everyones opinion I just feel that sometimes the shippiness gets a bit too pathetic (on frys part sometimes im embarresed for him)

[Reply #89 on:]

i've never seen eny ep where i thought the shippiness seemed forced. and as far as production season 4 is concerned the only eps i didn't absolutely love were

kiff gets knocked up a notch (i almost didn't list this one, it just barely made my list)
a taste of freedom
crimes of the hot
where no fan has gone before

that's just 4 i didn't care for. So Futurama has yet to jump or even enter the arena with my shark

[Reply #90 on:]

 

Originally posted by reverend:
Can I check - does everyone here know where the phrase 'jumping the shark' came from, or any of you just afraid to ask? Sorry if I sound smug. It's just that everyone was talking about shippiness and I didn't know what it was, so I thought ... y'know?

what does shippiness mean? is it episodes when they go out to space?

[Reply #91 on:]

People are being way too harsh on 4acv. I hate to sound like a lame-o fanboy in denial, but it wasn't that bad.

Somewhere in 3acv, the show lost it's great dialogue. 2acv had such great rhythm...since then, though the jokes are still good, and the plots are even better, it doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as before.

But still, 4acv has been spread out so slowly over the past couple of years, it's difficult to see it as one complete season. I was "eh" on a lot of 3acv episodes, but rewatching them on Cartoon Network has given me a new appreciation for them. Futurestock went from one of my least favorites, to one of my favorites.

Jumping the shark is supposed to be the "point of no return"...but 4acv had some great episodes. I think the writers could get back their previous level of consistency, if they had another season.

[Reply #92 on:]

For aussie dude, the phrase jumping the shark does come from that Happy Days episode, where Fonzie and the gang go out to California for a vacation?, and Fonz takes a dare to put on some water skis and he has to jump this ramp with them, and there was supposed to have been a shark that swam around the ramp, increasing the "danger".  Well, Fonzie jumps it, and there was much celebrating. Yay.  The next few seasons though, it was percieved that the show was starting to run down, with cast members leaving, and the storylines getting stale.  So eventually, it became known as jumping the shark, when a TV show reached a point where it was starting to become more of a shadow of it's former glory.  I guess you could say the same about movies as well, as I've seen several long running movie series that sure aren't as good as their earlier parts.  SW, anyone?

That being said, I still think that Futurama had a few good years in it, and was not nearly ready to jump the shark yet. Even with a Fry/Leela romance, I think that the writers and actors could have pulled it off for a while longer. 

[Reply #93 on:]

This thread is important enough to make me register...

Regardless of wether or not the show was going downhill, I find it rather nice to know that it is finite. It has a beginning and an end, and when it is done, I will say "It's been grand" and move on. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of Futurama over the years, but after "Devil's Hands," it will be very satisfying to be able to look at the show as a complete work. I am confronting my usual desire that things last forever? it's better to realize that the world about change.

So, although I think that Futurama could have had another few funny seasons, I am very happy to appreciate it as-is, and skip the discussion of what might have been.

[Reply #94 on:]

Well put.  Welcome to PEEL, zb.  It's nice to see the thread back on topic.

[Reply #95 on:]

Welcome to PEEL, zb, and I agree.  But I still gotta keep hope alive in back  of my head that someday it'll be back.  It's okay to hope, just don't live in the past.  I am grateful for what it's been like. 

[Reply #96 on:]

I also agree with zb. At least we should count our blessings in this matter. "Futurama" could have turned out like "The Simpsons" did -- it could have jumped the shark and we (as the die-hards) would beg for it to be cancelled. A few weak episodes is one thing, but getting really really bad is another.

[Reply #97 on:]

I can accept the possibility that this is the end of Futurama, but that doesn't mean that it is or that it has to be.  Reports of the fat lady singing may be exaggerated.  Where are the dreamers amongst us?  I was amazed how fast I was shot down for trying to imagine what it would take for it to continue - I KNOW there are infinite possibilities, that you can never know what will happen.

I too am sad that Fox has stopped something that I thought was beautiful and wonderful.  Saying that something ending is good because it was good when it ended seems upside down to me - it sounds like trying to convince oneself its for the best, chin up and all that, to relenquish possibility to keep from being disappointed.  The show has gone places I never saw coming, with some really amazingly touching episodes and such scathing social commentary (which is why I think Fox wanted it off their airwaves - too iconoclastic for their hyper-conservative tastes).

And I LIKED the episode where Kif gets knocked up.

I'd rather have more episodes produced and let ME choose what I think of them, rather than predict it just would have gone downhill.  That seems defeatist and no amount of evidence that is based on things in the past can convince me otherwise.  Even now there could be some chain of events seemingly unrelated which could yield more episodes.  ANYTHING is possible, however improbable it might seem from some perspectives.  And all of our thoughts and words and actions however seemingly insignificant may play a role.

And if it does end here, I am so grateful for what has been created.

[Reply #98 on:]

OK right I haven't read this whole thread, so I don't know if somebody has already said this.
I have to say that i'm truely shocked that some of you are even thinking that Production Season 4 isn't as good as the first three. Infact it is easily the BEST! Every single episode (and I really mean that) can rank as one of the all time greats! Or if every episode (all 72) were ranked, then all of Season 4's episodes would be in the top half of the list.
I love Season 4 it's my favourite. Futurama is NOWHERE near 'Jumping the Shark"!, it had many years of life left in it!

[Reply #99 on:]

I would say out of the seasons I like best, 2 and 4 would be the ones. But even a crazy sci-fi show where anything can go on can soon test the writers' creativity, and that would result in it jumping the shark. And as for FOX, forget about satisfying them, they're already done with. If you listen to the commentary for I, Roommate notice they talked about how FOX doesn't like the subject matter dealt with the show, and I, Roommate was their attempt of bringing the show more down to earth. It was only their third episode, and FOX already hated the show!

But I still think the writers have the creative edge and they have the potential to put out good stuff well into the 6th production season. And they made a smart move when they heard the news that their series was cancelled by concluding it properly. Who knows exactly what will happen in Devil's Playthings but I hope it goes out with a bang. Like Seinfeld, Futurama is a great series that deserves a nice finale.

[Reply #100 on:]

I find the concept of a Hyper-Conservative FOX quite funny DrewCycle.

[Reply #101 on:]

Well said, DrewCycle, although you haven't really said anything new. (Oh, and for the record, I agree with you about 4ACV.)
As for where the dreamers are - we're still here, it's just that we're a bit difficult to see right now. I like to be realistic rather than blatantly setting myself up for more disappointment, but I and several others have a dream of continuing Futurama ourselves (fan-made "virtual seasons" ), and things are very much looking up on that front. We can't have everything, but we can and WILL have something. "Futurama" is bigger than the episodes alone - look at the fan community; look at the fan-created work; look at the comics. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we're not going anywhere.

[Reply #102 on:]

What I'd like to see in a finale of Futurama is a big-bang.  I wanna see it explode at the end.  I want it to be so good, that it makes people salivate for more.  I want Fox to stop and ask themselves why they cancelled it.

Of course, we'd be ultra-hungry for more episodes afterwards, but I would still love for the series to end with a blast.

[Reply #103 on:]

i really liked DrewCycle's comments.  Maybe it is defeatist to assume that without an early death, the show was doomed to obsolescence.  The crucial difference between TV shows and people, the analogy I used originally, is that there's no natural law that fixes the lifespan of a TV show.  I can't express how disheartening it would be to watch Futurama fade away like the Simpsons, but, at least for those of us who don't believe that the 4ACV season represents a decline, there's no real reason why this fate should lie in store for Futurama. 

I'm really torn on this issue, and I think that's the only reaction one can sensibly have to it.  That was sort of my point with the poem and all the pontificating in the first place.

[Reply #104 on:]

Personally, I think all 5 seasons of the show have been pretty consistent. Sure, there are some episodes I don't really like but they don't affect the overall quality of the season they are in. I hope Devil's Hands ends with Fry and Leela getting together. I guess I'm a sucker for a happy ending. The Why Of Fry would also have been a good way to end the show.

[Reply #105 on:]

yes, all seasons were great, and even the worst episodes of futurama are better than almost anything else on tv.  there's not one ep i wouldn't want to see given the oppurtunity. 

everyone i know or who i've talked to about futurama likes it- everyone seems to like it except fox.  i, roommate wasn't the best episode, but how could you not love it!?  i don't get fox-it may not be for a while, but one day when all their good shows (only malcom, simpsons, futurama) are gone, all their crappy stuff will soon lose people's interests after they do the same thing over and over again (think reality tv). who knows what kind of tv people will watch  in the future, but lemme tell ya something: they all die out- they're, you could say, fads.  but there's always some people who enjoy it still and don't leave it.  in this case, i think it's safe to say we all like comedy shows, after all, that's what futurama is, we still watch them, or at least i do (you know, cn kinda stuff).  maybe one day one of those comedy fans will start a succesful television company and get quality shows, like futurama.  thank you and goodnight.

[Reply #106 on:]

futurama=dead, deal with it. i know i have and have subsiquently moved on, i stick around here for reviews on episodes and to vent my anger at the internet....

feh! SIT BOY!!! SIT!!!

[Reply #107 on:]

Well it's good to see people moving on.

...

[Reply #108 on:]

 

Originally posted by getak2003:
futurama=dead, deal with it. i know i have and have subsiquently moved on, i stick around here for reviews on episodes and to vent my anger at the internet....

feh! SIT BOY!!! SIT!!!

Not for much longer you're not.

*waves banstick threateningly*

[Reply #109 on:]

I think that futurama did die before its time. People stopped liking the simpsons when it was old. I think it is good that futurama went out young and fresh but they could have gotten at least 2 more seasons out of it. Someone was talking about a futurama theme park. I would LOVE that, also they would SO be enough material for a movie. If you people think that season 4 and 5 are rubbish then you are not true fans. true fans stick by the show through thick and thin and if the quality went down a bit it is just beacuse they had to cramm the rest of the material into a few episodes and i bet it wasn't easy.

[Reply #110 on:]

that's what i said ^

yes, a theme park would rule but if by some miracle there was enough money to put into it, it would still go out of business shortly.

[Reply #111 on:]

HEy, if u have satelite, u can go to tbs and 11 in the morning to see it! works for me, i am totally obsessed witht the show, its so funny n cute!!!!, i have a question, if ur close to tracy or in tracy, were can u get futurama comic books?

[Reply #112 on:]

Stop asking that!  If you come down to Santa Cruz I could show you a place, but it's really not on topic here.  Maybe people could help you out in the stockroom or in off-topic.

[Reply #113 on:]

direct tv doesn't allow you to! and i don't think you can even if you had to pay!