A New Planet Express Crew Member...

[Reply #40 on:]

Did you ever see the episode of the Simpsons where they introduced Poochy to Itchy and Scratchy? Introducing a new main character this far in would basically just be doing that.

It has been done successfully before, but usually it comes off as cheesy, and makes it seem like the writers are acknowledging that the show is tired.

[Reply #41 on:]

Not really a new crewmember, but new crewcombinations might be funny.
I already stated before: With everyone of the  trio capable of piloting the ship, none of them is desperately needed for a delivery.
I once commented that this would leave options for Leela solo career episodes with still having the PE ship around (in a subplot, as last-minute-rescue, etc, etc, etc), captained/piloted by Bender or Fry.

Come to think of it, another scenario might be possible in one episode:

Farnsworth no longer having a regular delivery crew, but appointing captainship (and 1-2 crewmembers) individually for each mission. This will reduce Leela, Bender and Fry to temporary workers, reduced pay, and the work ethic "You stay available whenever we call you, but of course you only get paid for your actual flying time".
Of course, being already underpaid as full time employees, the financial situation becomes quickly unbearable for the trio.

[Reply #42 on:]

One scenario I would like to see is a AoI episode which sees the main trio being replaced by Hermes, Amy and Zoidberg as the main characters. 

[Reply #43 on:]

I dont think the show needs a new permanent character...but I love the idea of Patrick Stewart voicing a competant space captain, maybe his name a play on Picard somehow (just makes me think of Q saying "Jean Luck Pickerd..." lol).

I also think there should be an episode about Inger/Professor.

[Reply #44 on:]

You can never have too much Patrick Stewart.
I like that idea. A DOOP Captain who is a competent and professional counterpart to Zapp. Could have a story about a rivalry between the two.
Captain Jérôme-Louis Placard.

[Reply #45 on:]

Yep, a new Doop captain sounds clearly interesting.
To add to the rivality on a personal level, they could have Leela chasing after that new captain, who is not at all interested in her.
Sounds a bit cheap, but often the easiest plots work best. Besides, I like that kind of logically constructed character constellations based on opposites.
Also, after "Overclockwise" the writing staff owes us an episode giving a reason why Fry slapped Leela

[Reply #46 on:]

To be honest, I would have slapped her a long time ago.  There's only so much bullshit I can take off one person.

[Reply #47 on:]

To be honest, I would have slapped her a long time ago.  There's only so much bullshit I can take off one person.

There are certain times when he prolly should have. She hasnt treated Fry that well all the time. I just chalk it up to her rough childhood and trouble trusting ppl. But Fry loves her, and I just cannot see him outright slapping her (well except in Overclockwise).

[Reply #48 on:]

There are certain times when he prolly should have. ...and I just cannot see him outright slapping her (well except in Overclockwise).

But it would be only fair:
- Imagine a male space ship captain, trained martial artist, followed by a cute, but not too bright and ennerving girl. Whenever she gets on his nerves, he beats her (sometimes to the ground).
-> A hell of a punishment would have broken loose on that character storytellingwise
- That little girl would be allowed to attack the captain: After all, she is weaker, cannot really harm him. Some kind of privilege/liberty for being presented as the weaker/inferior one.

Now, with the Futurama writers having a certain fetish for reversing Gender roles:
- Leela's character was supposed to be the stronger one (or at least better fighter, in case a nitpicker comes up and claims we haven't seem a weight lifting contest between Fry and Leela so far ), being granted the positive traits of comparable male space ship captain from above.
- So, it should be only Fry being allowed to punch Leela. Leela punching Fry would on the other hand required that hell of a punishment.

[Reply #49 on:]

I don't think he would be able to punch her to the ground, though.  Not only is she a skilled martial artist, but she seems to be physically stronger then him as well (athletically fit mutant muscles versus pudgy twenty something who never exercises.)  She'd probably break his wrist if he actually got angry enough to try and physically harm her. 

A better form of attack would be just poking her in the eye.  Leela seems to be the recipient of most of the Eye Screams on the show.

[Reply #50 on:]

Well..the mentioned above little girl would also not be able to physically harm that male martial artist. I was not so much refering to realistic fighting (after all, when Futurama shows a woman who can defend herself against several men, any realism was flushed down the toilet beyond any redemption ), I focus more on character designs, their limits and allowances (sorry if I haven't been too  clear about that).

With the butt-kicker role (at least for a halfway positive, non-villain main character), comes a certain responsibility, and appropriate plot punishments should those fighter abilities be abused (e.g. turning on weaker ones without any need for self defense).
You once mentioned some time ago that Leela is the character most likely to get away without any consequences for her actions.

And this is one of those points regarding character conception which is the most repulsive one to me:
- They wanted to make that character being able to fight like a man.
- But when it came to the responsibilty/consequences applied to the butt-kicker role (You may not turn without any need against weaker ones, and if you do, the plot will punish you), Leela was immediatelly put back into the lenient refugee of the "little helpless girl privileges".

Which -at least in my perception- is not the writing on a fighter, but rather on a raisin picker. "As good as any man...at least until things get a little bit difficult. Then the little girl privileges will weazel her out of many consequences".

Not only is she a skilled martial artist

Not really an important point, but I wouldn't be me if I missed the opportunity to point out:
She is SUPPOSED to represent a skilled martial artist With her fighting style, any weekend warrior would beat the crap out of her in a real fight

[Reply #51 on:]

One scenario I would like to see is a AoI episode which sees the main trio being replaced by Hermes, Amy and Zoidberg as the main characters. 

AoI3: "What if PE got a new member?" Good idea!

[Reply #52 on:]

AoI3: "What if PE got a new member?" Good idea!

That is indeed an excellent suggestion.

[Reply #53 on:]

Now, with the Futurama writers having a certain fetish for reversing Gender roles:
- Leela's character was supposed to be the stronger one (or at least better fighter, in case a nitpicker comes up and claims we haven't seem a weight lifting contest between Fry and Leela so far ), being granted the positive traits of comparable male space ship captain from above.

How about an episode where Fry takes up knitting?
 

[Reply #54 on:]

We had Neutopia once, and we don't need it again.

[Reply #55 on:]

I think having a mutant new crew member would be interesting. The mutants have only been allowed on the surface for a while, so that'd account for why they just applied to work at PE for shockingly low pay.

As a sewer mutant, they could bring a fresh perspective to things that everyone else (including Fry, as he at least lived on the surface his whole life) takes for granted.

It'd be interesting to see how they interacted with Zoidberg, as he's currently the low man on the totem pole.

Edit - Plus, don't you think there would be some integration issues to explore as the mutants attempt to adjust to their new station in life?

[Reply #56 on:]

If it were a one-episode deal, I'd love to see that.

If it were an attempt to actually introduce a new, permanent member of the crew, I'd hate it.

[Reply #57 on:]

Would be awesome to have an episode where Randy joins the crew.

[Reply #58 on:]

I disagree.

edit - why? Justify your opinion to us, Turnip. (TheMadCapper)

edit II - Because he's a one-note character whose ability to be fleshed out is something I doubt and whilst I don't dislike 'Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences', I don't want the Simpsons-esque "background character comes to stay indefinitely" plot framework to become a common thing in the world of 'Futurama'. Especially not after 'The Silence of the Clamps'.

[Reply #59 on:]

I agree. Randy's fun but he's pretty one-dimensional. To be a main character he'd need a lot more development, which would be jarring, considering how little he's gotten.

[Reply #60 on:]

Yeah. I wouldn't mind if they slowly snuck a bit more development in - sort of like his scene in 'Overclockwise', but they'd have to do it gradually and subtley.

And I mean... the joke of his scene in 'Overclockwise' is that he's such a one-note background character, wasn't it? Or did I miss something?

[Reply #61 on:]

Ocw showed that Randy was pretty intelligent, or at least by my inference.

[Reply #62 on:]

'Crimes of the Hot' showed that he wasn't.

His role in 'Overclockwise' suggested a high degree of emotional intelligence which isn't really the same thing although it makes up part of it.

[Reply #63 on:]

The reason that scene was funny is because Fry was saying to him that he was his only friend left, and we've never seen them interact before.

Come to think of it, that was my favourite part of the episode. 

[Reply #64 on:]

edit II - Because he's a one-note character whose ability to be fleshed out is something I doubt and whilst I don't dislike 'Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences', I don't want the Simpsons-esque "background character comes to stay indefinitely" plot framework to become a common thing in the world of 'Futurama'. Especially not after 'The Silence of the Clamps'.

Exactly. And by coincidence I stopped watching Simpsons shortly after that became prominent and they actually didn't do main character storylines anymore

I don't know if I could see a mutant working for them. Honestly, I'm just sick of the mutant experience. It's like trotting out Jerry's Kids for a half hour special, heh. Wow, that was bad even for me.

It would have to be a new character, and for only an episode. That is the only way it would work.

[Reply #65 on:]

'Crimes of the Hot' showed that he wasn't.

His role in 'Overclockwise' suggested a high degree of emotional intelligence which isn't really the same thing although it makes up part of it.

Now that I think about it, it was a lot of common sense...

[Reply #66 on:]

A lot of the ideas on here are awesome. I've wanted a Farnsworth and Igner episode since Bender's Game. It could be another family-oriented, heart string plucking episode.
I like the rival space captain suggestion. There haven't been many Zapp heavy episodes and it would be interesting to see if he could carry an episode solely based on him and maybe a bit more character development for Kif.
A social commentary on Mutant segregation would be good, so long as they parodied it as well as Proposition Infinity.

[Reply #67 on:]

If they hadn't already used him in Mobius Dick, I'd have wanted Lando Tucker as maybe a second in command under Leela. I really like the generic hero shtick, it'd be a great contrast (and annoyance) to Fry, which would be funny.

[Reply #68 on:]

No. We don't need another crew member.

But I think it would be funny if the Professor made a brief reference to Katrina and Xanthor.

Imagine if they ended up as regular characters like Scruffy...

Xanthor, Katrina and Scruffy should be in a scene. Someone like Fry to walk past and say 'Hi Xanthor, Hi Katrina, Hi... who are you?'

[Reply #69 on:]

Ha ha, that'd be great TLF! Are they original characters from the writers' minds then? I thought they were obscure sci-fi references and I forgot to ever look them up.

[Reply #70 on:]

The whole running gag of "nobody recognises Scruffy" seems to have died off though, which is unfortunate. However, I suppose that it does make sense, because having the characters still not recognise him after 10 whole years isn't very realistic.

Still, I hope we get at least one more of those jokes. I miss them dearly.

[Reply #71 on:]

I'm sure they can find clever ways for the crew to use that joke. Amnesia, the Professor's memory loss. What if Scruffy had a brother and brought him in? Who are you? I'm Rocky, the cafeteria person. Or he could have a Sister who's a maid.

[Reply #72 on:]

A maid and a janitor sort of fit the same purpose but I know what you mean.
Or maybe they could have a joke when they all recognise someone we've never seen before (like a chef) but someone (probably Amy, as I don't think she's asked before) asks Scruffy who he is. Depending on the context, that could work well.

[Reply #73 on:]

Xanthor, Katrina and Scruffy should be in a scene. Someone like Fry to walk past and say 'Hi Xanthor, Hi Katrina, Hi... who are you?'

I think they'e more likely to be included in Freako's pornography before they actually make a return to Futurama.

Although, I wouldn't be averse to learning their backstories (assuming that they are actually canon characters and that the part of the episode they appeared in is in itself a canon segment).

[Reply #74 on:]

Just a little nod in their direction to explain their one appearance might be nice. I wouldn't want them to go into too much depth about them though because I wouldn't want either of them to become established characters in the show.

[Reply #75 on:]

who would you most like to see as an extra member of the crew

[Reply #76 on:]

I voted for Kif.

[Reply #77 on:]

We've already seen Zapp, Kif and Clamps as members of the crew.

[Reply #78 on:]

You forgot Nibbler who is technically the 8th crew member.

[Reply #79 on:]

I quite liked Clamps as a Crew Member in 'The Silence of the Clamps', so I'd go for him. There'd have been good rivalry dynamic between him and Zoidberg had he stayed in the company. Plus, his mafia relations could've opened many new story opportunities for further episodes.