Leela and Fry sitting in a............

[Reply #120 on:]

Okey did I just make no sense ahh well no change there then.

Wow It's been along time since I did this
TotPD

[Reply #121 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ben:
I agree with the wanker. Amy and Leela should get together, just to piss off all the hopeless romantics in this thread. If you want soppy romance and plot devices drawn to their obvious conclusion, watch a soap. Futurama is comedy.

[Madding Rant]
Yes Futurama is a comedy. but its not just a comedy! if it were there wouldn't be hopless romentics in this thread! The fact is that Futurama is a Comedic Science Fiction Drama. Not just one, but all three! take any one of those things out and Futurama will suck ass!

If wanted nothing but pure dramatic drivle then I would watch a soap. But thats not what I want! Drama is only good when combined with another genre otherwise its just gossip. 

and wu_konguk is right there is nothing wrong with a hopeless romantic. In fact the world doesn't have enough of them!
All these damn retards who seem to think life is nothing but sex and beer ...  what a shame ...

Anywho I'm a Hopeless Romantic and damn proud of it. If you think anyless of me becuase of it then go burn in a firey pit of your own feces! 

[/Madding Rant]

[Reply #122 on:]

My, my...harboring some anger there, Erdrik? 
As for the genre dispute, I fully agree with Erdrik.  Futurama is really just a mixture of a bunch of different genres.  One week, you've got a mob comedy when Bender joins the robot mafia.  The next, Fry swoons over his unrequited love object, Leela, in a quite sad romance.  And then the creators throw in a story about rescuing the Star Trek cast from a big floating deity.  How versatile can you get?  I can't really think of anything to compare it well to and the closest I've come up with are the Hitchhiker trilogy or "Farscape" and let's face it:  Hitchhiker is just too zany and "Farscape" is for space cadets.    You have to understand that Futurama is one of the only shows that can be hopelessly romantic, space opera-ey and gut-busting at the same time.  As previously mentioned, you take one aspect out and you lose it's appeal.  That's just the way it is.  So just leave us helpless romantics alone!    JK.   

[Reply #123 on:]

 

Originally posted by BumbleBeeTheta:
My, my...harboring some anger there, Erdrik?   
...snip...

yeah... just alittle... oh and to whoever reads that rant above don't take it personal... I's just steamin' at this and that, not anyone in particualar, except maybe Fox...

[Reply #124 on:]

Oh, I'm sure this will piss someone off, but it's all Ben and iliketowankalot's fault...when I finish up my fanfic Dr. Strange-Love, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Worm, I'm going to put off The 666th Day for a little to write Sleeping With Mine Enemy (or 6.7 Nights):

Show spoiler

With Fry sidelined with a case of anacondaitis, Amy joins Leela and Bender on a delivery. They wind up stranded on a hostile uncharted planet in the Galaxy of Terror with no hope of rescue. Amy's taken a smack on the head, Bender and the ship are disabled by the planet's powerful magnetic field, and Leela's got to keep them all alive through blazing hot days and lethally-cold nights. While dealing with Bender's delusions of Godhood (with his inhibition unit knocked out and his hard drive in deep deep trouble), Leela and Amy discuss their assorted "issues." Survivalist leg-shaving, boys, sunbathing, man-eating critters, tentacle-monsters, catfighting, sleeping-bag-sharing...and a line WILL be crossed--one that will affect both Fry and Kif. Oh, and there'll be some gags, too.

I like to push envelopes, but I do have a sense of taste--so while this might have one or two scenes that wouldn't make it to the screen, it will read (as much as I can muster) like an actual series episode. Don't worry, it's childishly oversexed, but it ain't porn--no more than FOX normally puts on telly anyway.

All I gotta work out plot-wise is whether to use the lighthearted, funny ending, or the emotional, heartfelt ending. They're both good, but I can't use both.

Nasty tips: Only two of three characters are going to leave that planet. The Planet Express Ship is going to join all the old Enterprises in that Great Hangar In The Sky. Don't hate me for that.

 

[Reply #125 on:]

Hmm sounds interesting BrainSluggo I'll be interested to see the result. Nice plot device by the way. 

[Reply #126 on:]

Sounds like a certain Wanker will be pleased. 

[Reply #127 on:]

 

Originally posted by Erdrik:
 [Madding Rant]
Yes Futurama is a comedy. but its not just a comedy! if it were there wouldn't be hopless romentics in this thread! The fact is that Futurama is a Comedic Science Fiction Drama. Not just one, but all three! take any one of those things out and Futurama will suck ass!

Drama? Ha! When's the last time you took your head out of the world of fanfictions and actually watched an episode of futurama?

There would be a handfull of times that there has been elements of drama in an episode of Futurama. It is first and formost a situation comedy. There is a situation and around that funny things happen.

You've made mention of shows such as Friends and Mad About You. There is one slight advantage that Futurama posesses over these shows. It doesn't suck.

This is why I don't particularly like fanfictions, whether they be Simpsons, Futurama or whatever. There's a reason professional writers get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

[Reply #128 on:]

Okey the drama is not as heavy as it is in other shows but it does exist. There is also a good reason for it. If the show was pure comedy with no emotional drama the characters would become too two dimensional ( I know it is a cartoon and they are 2D but that's not the point.) with out emotional interplay there could be no progression in the characters or in the stories. This is just my view at any rate if you disagree fine but you might find it hard to convince me otherwise.
Incidently I find to read fanfictions it is best to realise this is just a fans view and treat it for what it is a piece of fiction. Granted some aren't great but there are a few talented writers otu there. 

[Reply #129 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ben:
This is why I don't particularly like fanfictions... There's a reason professional writers get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

...since fanfic writers are doing it for free--often for no other reason than a desire to share with others--no one has to read them, but we might cut them a little slack. Especially since professional writers, even with their big salaries, still manage to make so much TV so freakin' craptacular...

All things require some sort of balance. An episode of Futurama doesn't have to be wholly "dramatic" to have elements of drama in it. But it needs at least a touch of those elements to be a good episode.

We've seen episodes with absolutely no serious dramatic elements, and they're A Pharoah To Remember. We can't relate to Bender's concerns about mortality--he's a thousand-year-old robot head, for crying out loud, who has survived atmospheric re-entry and other catastrophes--building a big statue of himself while Fry and Leela bide their time waiting for the inevitable escape. It's got gags galore, some delicious satire--but most of us find something missing: A Little Drama.

Check the finalists in the "Best Episode" poll. They all have dramatic elements--Fry fighting his Slurm addiction to save his friends in Fry and The Slurm Factory; Leela's lonliness, Fry's near-fatal parrot-chase, and the mistletoe bit in X-Mas Story; fighting, space-battles, making out, and a trial in Where No Fan...; and the clear favorite, Luck of the Fryish, hinges completely upon a dramatic revelation. It doesn't need to be heavy-handed, soapy weepy sloppy hoo-de-doo, but a little romance here and there does not hurt, and a touch of suspense--even if we still know everyone's going to be okay (more or less)--is good too. When we give a hoot about the characters' problems, "funny" becomes "hilarious" and "damnable crap" becomes "almost as good as Parasites Lost."

If anyone give a flying fart, these are my personal ground rules for writing fanfics--which is why I'm taking so damned long with mine...

1) Remember, but don't repeat.

2) Push buttons and push envelopes...but don't push your luck.

3) The beauty of writing in some sort of "script" format instead of regular narrative: everyone knows what Bender looks like, so you don't need to use twelve adjectives to describe him in every sentence, and you don't need to tell anyone what he thinks to himself about marshmallows.

Narrative:
Amy made her entrance wrapped tightly in a stunning strapless evening gown, its sequins sparkling in the night air like the limpid pools of her deliciously mesmerizing eyes.

Screenplay:
Amy walks in wearing an evening gown.

Drop the thesaurus and focus on dialogue, which is what counts most; leave the rest to the animators (or in fanfics, the readers' imaginations).

4) Dialogue should be regularly interrupted by actions, or Action, whether it's an alien attack, a hoedown, a fistfight, a bawling breakup, or someone getting stuck in a butt.

5) If an open-minded, interested reader can get through the entire thing without, at some point, gasping or going "awwwwww"--for whatever reason--You Are Not Finished.

[Reply #130 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ben:
 Drama? Ha! When's the last time you took your head out of the world of fanfictions and actually watched an episode of futurama?

Last night. I try my best to keep the fics as close to the show as possible. whens the last time you took your head out of your ass and took a look at the world?
(I'm not trying to be insultive but I have to respond to yer question lol    )
 

There would be a handfull of times that there has been elements of drama in an episode of Futurama. It is first and formost a situation comedy. There is a situation and around that funny things happen.

I'm not questioning what type of comedy it is. And I know its a comedy first but there is more drama in it than you apparently have noticed.
SP3000 eps: Drama: in the sewer when Leela quits.
TSHL eps: Drama: in the lander Leela/Fry looking at Earth
IR Eps: Drama: Bender and choping off little bender for Fry
FoaBP Eps: Drama: Bender Telling them to leave without him, and Bender not wanting to smash his friends after the trial.
AFoD Eps: Drama: Duh! Fry misses his era.
MTS Eps: Drama: Fry thinking Leela's Dead.
ABPoG Eps: Drama: The Proff sadden over his loss at the convention.
HIOR Eps: Drama: Bender converting and finding robot Religion.
AFtR Eps: Drama: Do I realy have to? Bender/Countess Leela/Fry.
MU Eps: Drama: Super intellegent monkey.
IStE Eps: Drama: Leela worried about nibbler.
XMass Eps: Drama: Duh! Leela's lonely-ness, Fry getting her a gift. The Mistle toe.
PYHoMS Eps: Drama: Amy/Fry, Leela bailing out Fry.
LoTE Eps: Drama: Bender and Flexo 'whos the real theif' delema
RB Eps: Drama: Leela's Flashback.
ABBfT Eps: Drama: Duh! Leela finding her 'homeworld', Leela getting married, Fry saving her.
HHRhGB Eps: Drama: Duh! Hermes attempted suicide. and getting assigned paid vacation.
TDS Eps: Drama: The crew not believing Fry, Fry/Umbriel.
TPwP Eps: Drama: Leela about to get eaten by Lrr.
TH Eps: Drama: Bender wanting to Kill Leela and not Fry.
WitH-W Eps: Drama: Fry talking to Lee Lemon about Leela.
PL Eps: Drama: DUH! Fry/Leela's walk Fry/Leela's 'romance' Fry's Holophoner sequence.
AWitM Eps: Drama: Kif singin' to Amy, Kif Confessing Love to Amy.
TDtESS Eps: Drama: Leela sad about Nibbler being 'stupid'.
T'sL Eps: Drama: Zoidberg giving The Oscar to his Uncle Calculon not killing them.
TLotF Eps: Drama: DOI! All those flashbacks, Fry finding the rest of the text on the tombstone.

Ah screw this! I'm trying to say practicaly every episode has at least a little drama in it!
Just becuase you don't like that part of the show doesn't mean it dosen't exist!
And that list was all from memory! should someone go thru and watch the eps and list all the moments of Drama
Im shure there be even more!
 

You've made mention of shows such as Friends and Mad About You. There is one slight advantage that Futurama posesses over these shows. It doesn't suck.

I never said Friends was good. I said the Monic/Chandler Relationship was good.
And what the hell is wrong with those types of shows?!
They're funny and romantic(when written well).
 

This is why I don't particularly like fanfictions, whether they be Simpsons, Futurama or whatever. There's a reason professional writers get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Oh?  so your saying that the professional writers of today didn't get that good by writing stories of there own?
Funny, 'cause I was under the impression that you have to practice writing to get good at it.
Fan fiction wrting is the perfect tool
to practice writing.

... just out curiosity, how old are you?
I'm 21(22 in June).


------------------
Call me Erdrik
--hvErdrik
-[DRK]Erdrik
-Erdrik
Boycott Fox!! Down with the Evil OverLords!!
Down with the Evil Letter: 'C' ARRRG!

[Reply #131 on:]

You're pulling the age card? Really...

I'm 19.

[Reply #132 on:]

Hmph. Kids.

[Reply #133 on:]

I was just curious..   

Besides since when is this a 'game'? the 'age card'?! jeeze   

[Reply #134 on:]

 

Originally posted by BrainSluggo:
Fry fighting his Slurm addiction to save his friends in Fry and The Slurm Factory

That's a strech and you know it

[Reply #135 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
 That's a strech and you know it

is not!     

[Reply #136 on:]

The point is, that without the dramatic elements, the audience can't ientify with the characters, and there's no reason to care about them.

I give you exhibit A: Family Guy. A series of unconnected gags hung on a framework thinner than an anorexic Calista Flockhart. Sure, you laugh at Peter... but do you actually give a damn about him?

[Reply #137 on:]

 

Originally posted by Kryten:
The point is, that without the dramatic elements, the audience can't ientify with the characters, and there's no reason to care about them.

I give you exhibit A: Family Guy. A series of unconnected gags hung on a framework thinner than an anorexic Calista Flockhart. Sure, you laugh at Peter... but do you actually give a damn about him?

Exquisitely stated. 

[Reply #138 on:]

i completely agree. i thought family guy was hilarious but i didn't give a damn about the charactors and lost interest in the whole series after a season. I still think its funny but im not gonna go out of my way to watch an ep. with Futurama, you actually feel for the charactors to some extent and that makes what their going through at any given time more interesting. Without the dramatic elements it would just be Family Guy in space...and without the family. Funny, maybe but soooo not worth my time.

[Reply #139 on:]

Absolutuly drama is integral for charater development, comedy without drama only really works on sketch shows.

[Reply #140 on:]

Can you imagine a world with Fry and leela together?
can you imagine them not getting together?
Sorry, barney the dinosaur crippled my imagination as a child....

[Reply #141 on:]

 

Originally posted by Bender3000:
Can you imagine a world with Fry and leela together?
can you imagine them not getting together?
Sorry, barney the dinosaur crippled my imagination as a child....

Well with all thats happened between them in the past I can't imagine them not getting together.

How long it takes and whether we ever get to see it is a another question, but IT WILL happen, you can count on it    they're meant for each other.


          

And anyone who disagrees can sit on this   

      

[Reply #142 on:]

 

Originally posted by BrainSluggo:
1) Remember, but don't repeat.

2) Push buttons and push envelopes...but don't push your luck.

3) The beauty of writing in some sort of "script" format instead of regular narrative: everyone knows what Bender looks like, so you don't need to use twelve adjectives to describe him in every sentence, and you don't need to tell anyone what he thinks to himself about marshmallows.

4) Dialogue should be regularly interrupted by actions, or Action, whether it's an alien attack, a hoedown, a fistfight, a bawling breakup, or someone getting stuck in a butt.

5) If an open-minded, interested reader can get through the entire thing without, at some point, gasping or going "awwwwww"--for whatever reason--You Are Not Finished.

Somebody should forward this to the writing staff on 'Enterprise' immediately. Judging by the final rule, I don't think I've seen a single 'finished' story on that show!

[Reply #143 on:]

 

Originally posted by Kryten:
Sounds like a certain Wanker will be pleased.   

Who?
Hermes?

[Reply #144 on:]

Nice idea Brainsluggo, do you think you could animate the Leela-Amy scenes or at least draw pictures of it?

[Reply #145 on:]

Animate? Oh, hell no. Draw?...maybe. Let me get the thing written first; still working on the one before it! But thanks to all for your support.

[Reply #146 on:]

Thank you to everyone for giving me enough ammo to attack my South Park/Simpsons/Family Guy loving firends. I enjoy these shows on an occasional basis.

Friends is also good. I can relate with the characters and when the writing is done well this is an excellent show. But only about half the episodes are this good. The others are rather pointless and painful to watch.

Futurama is the only show (actually Cold Feet also) which combines the humour and the drama. And that is why I love it so much.

[Reply #147 on:]

Ding ding ding ding we have a winner. your prize a harty hand shake. The idea that a show can survive with only one type of theme is preposterous but this does not mean that shows do not need heavy doses of other themes just enogh to keep it fresh. In other words as long as there are hints of drama in Futurama  it will keep the show fresh but not turn into soap opera which none of really want do we?

[Reply #148 on:]

If we wanted soap operas we would'nt be here, and soap stars would be richer than Bill Gates. Fortunetly that will never happen.
*shudders at the thought*

[Reply #149 on:]

That is so scary it does not bear thinking about   

[Reply #150 on:]

MUST NOT LET THREAD DIE... 
I've been trying to see things from Ben's point of view, but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass... 

[Reply #151 on:]

BAM!!!

[Reply #152 on:]

Hey, thanks BBT. I've always been friendly to you here and on #FC and never said anything against you, other than having a difference in opinion, which in my view isn't justification for a personal attack on me. You're obviously not mature enough to be able to differentiate between the two. I have now lost all respect for you. I hope you're happy.

[Reply #153 on:]

BAM!!! right back!

[Reply #154 on:]

My, someone's a bit over-sensitive...   
Naw, I'm just joshin' ya, Ben.  You're alright.  Though this thread seems to be for die-hard LFRs like myself, which means having a difference of opinion can be deadly.  I know we're all harboring bitter, murderous resentment for anyone who disagrees with us...What's that?  You guys aren't?  Maybe it's just me... 
Anyway, s'okay.  I have no respect for myself either.  I just felt like saying that.  It's on my best friend, Kelsey's, keychain.     Sorry if I offended you.

[Reply #155 on:]

*pours gasoline on the fire*

[Reply #156 on:]

Well it was totally unjustified, if you catch my drift...

[Reply #157 on:]

Hey, Ben, you an only child?  If you have siblings, are you the youngest or middle kid?
Sorry to be playing on stereotypes here, but you seem to be kinda...defensive.  Though I suppose if you thought it was a personal attack, you'd hafta react that way.  Anyway, I ask because I've always know the baby of the family to be quite defensive/sensitive.  I'm the eldest in my family so I'm usually the offender.  I very easily offend people without trying.  Hey, maybe that's why I got dumped...I did call his friend a bitch...Ah well.  He was a wimpy Mama's boy who should've killed kittens for a living. 

[Reply #158 on:]

What? You amounting a psychological profile on me now?

[Reply #159 on:]

Shmeesh.  I'm just askin', buddy.  Not need to go nuclear on me...