In the event of...

[on:]

I was watching "XMas Story" last night, and saw that even in S2, they were pushing the Shipper thing really freakin' hard. It made me wonder:

If Fry and Leela had actually gotten together, would the show have suffered from Moonlighting Syndrome?*

I personally like the way it was written in the four seasons, but I would have liked to have seen it happen eventually. (please God.)

*Moonlighting Syndrome: When the sexual tension between two characters is finally releived, and the show suddenly sucks rocks.  See also: The Nanny, Friends, Boy Meets World. (Wait, those shows were lame anyway...you get the point.)

[Reply #1 on:]

it might have im not sure, maybe as that was the main point of the show and other wise it would be very liniar plot! but i would like to have seen them make out in the end! either that or more seasons then they make out!

[Reply #2 on:]

It would've been good anyway.  Whether Fry and Leela got together or not.

[Reply #3 on:]

Nope, I don't think it would have been as good.  The Fry/Leela Tension subplot made it fun.  Just my opinion though.

Boy Meets World did not suck, you blasphemous... jerk! All my fond childhood memories...

[Reply #4 on:]

I think the writers of the show are competent enough that they could have avoided the Moonlighting Syndrome.  They would simply have had/will have to add some other kind of ongoing tension - hopefully not an obvious one like keeping the relationship a secret or something.  They would have/will have not to overexploit the relationship; i.e. don't make it the main obvious point of the show.  It should be noted that Fry/Leela was an underlying plot throughout the entire series, but it was never the only reason for its existence.  Any escalation of the relationship should be like that.

Also, I don't think Friends sucked because of anyone getting together.  I think it sucked because everyone involved jut got lazy, and it was dragged out to a point long after losing its originality.
Oh, and same with Boy Meets World, but that was lame for pretty much the entire run.

[Reply #5 on:]

I took a quick look at www.jumptheshark.com  and their contributors count only twelve shows that went downhill after the sexual tension was relieved.  "Moonlighting" is high on the list (88 contributors say the show JTS after David and Maddie consumated), as is (surprisingly) "Frasier" (189 voted for JTS upon Niles and Daphne's roll-in-the-hay, as opposed to 102 who said it never jumped).

[Reply #6 on:]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is moonlighting and shipper? (Specifically what they mean in this thread.)
And I don't think the show would've blown if Fry and Leela had a relationship starting in Season 2,3, or 4. If the writers just wrote the show regularly, and acknowledged the relationship, that would be OK. (ex. Everyone is running for their lives, and Fry says to Leela that he hasn't been as scared as the time he proposed to Leela, then says when she accepted, everything worked out, and that they will surve from whatever is trying to kill them.) I know that example was extremely bad, but if it was done along those lines, and then the episode continued, then that would be OK. Kind of like Parallel Leela and Fry, only a bit toned down. (Not much, but just a tiny bit.)

[Reply #7 on:]

Moonlighting: TV Drama, originally aired in the 80s, starring Bruce Willis, Cybyil Shephard, and the guy who played "Booger" in Revenge of the Nerds. The show was famous for the funny banter and sexual tension between its two leads. Eventually, the two leads finally got together, after which the show went to crap and was soon cancelled.

Shipper: Short for "relationshipper", someone who supports a relationship between two particular characters.

[Reply #8 on:]

 

Originally posted by Eyedol7513:
Please excuse my ignorance, but what is moonlighting and shipper? (Specifically what they mean in this thread.)

Moonlighting was a TV show in the 1980s, starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.  Many people feel that the show went downhill after the two main characters finally became an actual couple.

"Shipper" is short for "relationshipper" and is a term used to describe fans of a TV show who enjoy the romantic subplots of the show.

[Reply #9 on:]

Of course, the smart Futurama shippers are all for Fry and Leela, right Kryten?

[Reply #10 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:
I think the writers of the show are competent enough that they could have avoided the Moonlighting Syndrome.  They would simply have had/will have to add some other kind of ongoing tension - hopefully not an obvious one like keeping the relationship a secret or something.  They would have/will have not to overexploit the relationship; i.e. don't make it the main obvious point of the show.  It should be noted that Fry/Leela was an underlying plot throughout the entire series, but it was never the only reason for its existence.  Any escalation of the relationship should be like that.

That's pretty much what I was thinking. The "shippy" parts of the show were only the main parts of an episode no more than three times a season, and even then, often part of a larger story.

One of the greatest strengths of the show was that it was able to work several genres and goals at once, including its shipper element. I watched for the comedy and geekiness...but totally girlied out on the romance.

It's the perfect show for me!   

[Reply #11 on:]

N-o-r, on your original point, perhaps.  I've thought that way before, but I think it may be shippers coping with denial. 

My thoughts: the relationship tension between Fry and Leela are part of what keep people, especially shippers, interested.  With that tension, we talk about it, wonder when they will ever get together, and end up with threads like this one.  If they got together, even if it wasn't a main focus of the show, that tension would disappear, and we'd all be thinking "well, what do we do now?" 

On a side note, and I don't know why I didn't notice this months ago, "Xmas Story" was when Fry really fell in love with Leela (and I think she fell in love with him, too, she just denied it constantly).  Fry has hit on Leela in previous episodes, but that's when the real deep, meaningful friendship started.

[Reply #12 on:]

Shippers are their own doom. See also: X-Files, the. That show totally jumped the shark after Scully got knocked up by Mulder, but they were giving in to the fan outcry for the Scully/Mulder relationship to go somewhere. Once it did, both characters seemd really flat and boring. Maybe the writers just got really lazy.
On Topic: I am in the boat with the nay-sayers. I think if Leela & Fry had gotten romantically involved, the show wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway. I never thought it believable that Leela could have ever been satisfied with Fry. He's nice for a while, but that wears off and then you're just stuck with some toenail-biting moron.
Sorry.
I'll move along now.

[Reply #13 on:]

I am more for expereiments if for no other reason that becouse the tension wasn´t goig anywhere either.
On the other hand I like progression but it would must be natural. Not getin right together after "TDHAIP".

[Reply #14 on:]

 

Originally posted by Zoidberg227:
  If they got together, even if it wasn't a main focus of the show, that tension would disappear, and we'd all be thinking "well, what do we do now?"

Wonder if they'll end up having kids and start panicking every time their relationship gets rocky?

[Reply #15 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beej:
 Wonder if they'll end up having kids and start panicking every time their relationship gets rocky?

I just had a horrible vision of Fry and Leela as Cyclops and Jean Grey with the time travel shenanigans with their kids...

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by Zoidberg227:
N-o-r, on your original point, perhaps.  I've thought that way before, but I think it may be shippers coping with denial. 

If they can emotionalize a smegging animated robot, they can keep two completely opposite people in a relationship from getting boring.  Especially given the varierty of "takes" on the show by different writers.  Remember, there's plenty more to Futurama than just Fry and Leela (a fact that many of my fellow shippers seem to forget sometimes.)

Yuki: That's why a relationship could be interesting.  It shouldn't work, but it might.  It's the same thing that makes the tension interesting.

Rhodan: SILENCE!  I concur.  After four seasons, we need at least some advancement of the subplot.  Some would argue that the apparent progress Fry makes in 4ACV is advancement enough, but if it leads to nothing, then what's the point?

Beej: Two things:
1) Young main characters having kids tends to get boring real quick.  See Friends.
2) Hopefully, if/when this actually occurs, the writers will be able to avoid the clichés.

ANd LeopardLady: God and Stan Lee forbid...

[Reply #17 on:]

 

Originally posted by Kryten:
...and the guy who played "Booger" in Revenge of the Nerds.

Curtis Armstrong. (four years my senior, no less!)
Sharp viewers will also note that he played the Joker
in those Batman/OnStar commercials that aired a couple years ago.

[Reply #18 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:
Beej: Two things:
1) Young main characters having kids tends to get boring real quick.  See Friends.
2) Hopefully, if/when this actually occurs, the writers will be able to avoid the clichés.

Uh, yeah. I was joking.

[Reply #19 on:]

The problem with relationships is they can't go on forever, and at the same time they can't be brought together, because the very moment they do, it ruins everything.  Relationships in sitcoms should never be serious, that's why Amy + Fry = Works.  I'm not saying Leela and Fry don't work together, the problem is that our expectations grow so wildly, that they exceed the reality of the situation; it happens with most everything as well.

[Reply #20 on:]

I never got the impression that the Leela/Fry relationship would work from the show. Yes, it shows his eagerness and her feeling of pity toward him sometimes, but just as often shows Leela's exasperation with Fry's stupidity, sloth and poor personal grooming habits.
Then, I thought it was obvious that Scully and Mulder were wrong for each other. After all, he's an isolated porn freak, she's a sexually repressed Catholic. Good times for a while, but it would get old for both of them.

[Reply #21 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:
Of course, the smart Futurama shippers are all for Fry and Leela, right Kryten?

OOH!  Nerd-o-rama, you just gave me a secondhand burn!  *puts out flaming sleeve*

But seriously, the show wouldn't have changed regardless of whether or not Fry and Leela got together.  Of course, the last two seasons were chock full of shipper episodes, but the plots didn't exactly revolve around the Fry/Leela complex.  "The Farnsworth Parabox"'s main plot could have jsut centered around the crew trying to find the two Zoidbergs.  The part with the rest of the crew chasing them was a million times better than Fry and Leela going out at the end.  Personally, the Fry/Leela shipper thing has been overplayed... A LOT. Although some of the Fry/Leela stuff was good, some episodes would have been better off without a romantic sub-plot thrown in-- uh oh.  *hides behind the couch as Fry/Leela shippers bombard her with flaming bicycles from their bicycle guns*

[Reply #22 on:]

 

Originally posted by Athena1999
some episodes would have been better off without a romantic sub-plot thrown in--

Just out of curiosity, which ones?  *Looks for bicycle gun*

[Reply #23 on:]

*Stands by with a flaming torch and some gasoline, waiting for N-o-r's return*

Although some shipper endings weren't really necessary to the plot of that particular episode, they don't hurt either.  Just because you like Zapp doesn't mean we shouldn't be the happy ones!

Also, it's good to have you back!

[Reply #24 on:]

*holding a bicycle gun*
May I join in too? I've been waiting to use this thing for ages.

I believe that once Fry and Leela do get together it might be alittle hard to make a episode. I agree with Zoidberg227, what will happen once they are together? The tension will be gone, and there will be nothing shippers will really look forward too. Well, maybe the wedding if they ever decide to make it into an episode. Of course this is not the only plot in Futurama.
I also agree that X-mas story was the episode that Fry  realized he really loved Leela. I know, I'm late.