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Futurama re-watch

Started by dead-ced-dead, October 30, 2020, 08:46:11 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Lemming

Another weird thing is that the show feels really really dated to the early 2000s. Not a criticism, but even thinking about Futurama has the power to violently catapult me back to those years. It can't just be nostalgia since there's a lot of other media from the same time that doesn't have the same effect. Odd. Probably doesn't help that there's an episode about Napster.

Quote from: The Mollusk on November 01, 2020, 04:37:06 PM
Plus a lot of the incidental characters are funny

True. That Australian guy in the hat who gets tortured and enslaved like three times in three different episodes still gets me.

Consignia

I loved the series at first, but found there was a sharp drop around season 2 with only a couple of decent reprieves afterwards.

For some reason, I have quite a lot of affection for the Richard Nixon episode. Maybe it's just something about Billy West's impression but it really tickled me.

The Mollusk

Billy West is so fucking great isn't he? Futurama is far from my favourite animated sitcom but Fry is legit one of the best hopeless romantic idiot characters ever, I think, and it's totally down to West's performance. This bit where he tries to manually open a can of food during the mother's day robot revolution has me in fucking stitches.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

"... and the fifth reason whales kill is for the sheer fun of it! "

"There's only three real monsters, Fry: Dracula, Blacula and Son of Kong."

The Mollusk

"Caffeinated Bacon? Baconated Grapefruit? Admiral Crunch?!"

"Well if you don't like that, try some Archduke Chocula."

Phil_A

Quote from: The Mollusk on November 01, 2020, 05:14:40 PM
Billy West is so fucking great isn't he? Futurama is far from my favourite animated sitcom but Fry is legit one of the best hopeless romantic idiot characters ever, I think, and it's totally down to West's performance. This bit where he tries to manually open a can of food during the mother's day robot revolution has me in fucking stitches.

I agree, West's performance is crucial in making Fry a sympathetic annoying idiot, instead of just an annoying idiot.

I'm particularly fond of the bit in the Slurm episode where Fry tries to gnaw off his own arms to get through the drain cover - "I could get through if I didn't have these DAMN arms!"

chveik

I like it. it's funny. good memories of watching it with my sister after school

MojoJojo

Quote from: The Mollusk on November 01, 2020, 04:37:06 PM
Farnsworth is funny as well. Plus a lot of the incidental characters are funny, like (plucking straight out of thin air here) the mob robots, the whale biologist and the horribly conservative snobby judge. In addition to this, it's a good sitcom because it has funny writing. It is a funny TV show.

I think the point was that if you don't find Phillip/Zoidberg/Bender funny, you'll struggle to enjoy it as they account for the majority of the jokes (I'm not sure Zoidberg actually counts, except for some episodes, but whatever). Not that no one else was funny.

The judge, Ron Whitey:
QuoteRon Whitey: The charge is bank robbery. Now, my caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested. Therefore, robbing a bank is tantamount to that most heinous of crimes, theft of money.

Is a great line. Brilliantly crafted to be ridiculously over the top ("my caddie's chauffeur") without becoming clunky.

Old Nehamkin

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children... and hitting them?"

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

"Whoa. Get a room, you two."
"We're in a room."
"Then lose some weight!"

idunnosomename

That explains these boat eggs

The Mollusk

Favourite episode, anyone?

Off the top of my head, Insane in the Mainframe is definitely up there. Great plot and fun Cuckoo's Nest parody, very high gag rate, just seems to be a really well filled-out episode that bounces greatly from one scene to the next.

Nurse Ratchet: I hope you're ready to meet your roommate. His name is Malfunctioning Eddie.

Fry: The car dealer? I guess his prices really were insane!

Nurse Ratchet: He's very excitable, so don't say anything to surprise him.

Malfunctioning Eddie: Pleased to meet you.

Fry: Actually we've met once before.


magval

I saw that on Channel 4 one morning and they had to cut all the Roberto stuff up because of the stabbin, so certain scenes made no sense and it was a lot shorter. Can't mention my pal Frankie without my brother saying "poooor Frankie".

Favourite episodes were always Bendin in the Wind and Time Keeps On Slipping, but my gut reaction there was actually Spanish Fry which is riotous and naughty and very very funny. Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television is also great.

I can't link from my phone but if you search for 'Calculon No' on YouTube, that's my favourite Futurama clip, right down to the way the robot applause stops dead.

madhair60

Quote from: The Mollusk on November 02, 2020, 10:02:06 AM
Favourite episode, anyone?

Off the top of my head, Insane in the Mainframe is definitely up there. Great plot and fun Cuckoo's Nest parody, very high gag rate, just seems to be a really well filled-out episode that bounces greatly from one scene to the next.

Nurse Ratchet: I hope you're ready to meet your roommate. His name is Malfunctioning Eddie.

Fry: The car dealer? I guess his prices really were insane!

Nurse Ratchet: He's very excitable, so don't say anything to surprise him.

Malfunctioning Eddie: Pleased to meet you.

Fry: Actually we've met once before.



Ow, my head! Ow, my feet!

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

"Keep your chin up, Fry."
"Ow, my chin!"

Blumf

Where did the idea that 'robot' Fry would speak with a weird medieval accent come from? Works far better than it has any right to.

"I'll show ye!"

Non Stop Dancer

Used to be absolutely obsessed with it. In "Where no fan has gone before" , Fry says that he loves Star Trek so much because when he had no friends, it made him feel like he did, and that's how I regarded Futurama back on my darkest days, and they knew that line would have resonated with lots of the people watching. The original run is very nearly up there with The Simpsons.


dead-ced-dead

Quote from: Non Stop Dancer on November 02, 2020, 09:57:09 PM
Used to be absolutely obsessed with it. In "Where no fan has gone before" , Fry says that he loves Star Trek so much because when he had no friends, it made him feel like he did, and that's how I regarded Futurama back on my darkest days, and they knew that line would have resonated with lots of the people watching. The original run is very nearly up there with The Simpsons.

It's moments like that which keep you on Fry's side even at his worst, he is un-ironically sincere about his love about things like Star Trek.

"Because it... it taught me so much. Like, how you should accept people, whether they be black, white, Klingon or even female... But most importantly, when I had no friends, it made me feel like maybe I did."

the

People tend to fixate on the sci-fi element as being Futurama's distinguishing feature, when I've always thought what sets it apart from, say, The Simpsons is that its central situation is 'we're dislocated young workers in a big city', at heart it's an urban workplace comedy. Which to me felt a lot fresher and more relatable than the parent/child smalltown dynamics of The Simpsons.

evilcommiedictator

70% Iron Chef. The main story is amazing and the side story of Zoidberg breaking a ship in a bottle and blaming it on Fry is done so silly but so well.

The whole last DVD of season 3 is amazing too, Anthology Of Interest II, Roswell that Ends Well, Godfellas and Future Stock.

Commentaries are amazing too, it's great to remember all the time I had to do that!

"Who needs bravery when you have...a gun!"


Menu

Quote from: Sonny_Jim on October 31, 2020, 03:17:38 AM
I'd say there's a least one decent chuckle per episode, but it all hinges on whether you find Fry or Zoidberg funny, as they seem to get the best lines.


By the end of the 4th season Zoidberg was the real star of the show. Big laughs with every appearance.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


Menu

Quote from: The Mollusk on November 01, 2020, 05:14:40 PM
Billy West is so fucking great isn't he? Futurama is far from my favourite animated sitcom but Fry is legit one of the best hopeless romantic idiot characters ever, I think, and it's totally down to West's performance. This bit where he tries to manually open a can of food during the mother's day robot revolution has me in fucking stitches.

Also Zapp Brannigan is Phil Hartman-level voice comedy. I'm sure I've said this somewhere recently but I always felt The Simpsons missed a trick by not bringing in West to do Hartman-style characters on the show. He would have nailed it and it would have opened up some potential for the kinds of stories that Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure enabled. Phil Hartman's characters were involved in most of the best episodes, one way or another.

Menu

Is it sacrilege to say that Hermes isn't just a weak link, but actively hurts the show cos the writers felt they had to keep including him?

idunnosomename

I'm glad the Simpsons at least had the dignity of retiring Hartman's characters: they probably wouldn't now.

Hartman had extremely limited vocal range but he was funny as hell for whatever he did. I mean see even in the English version of Kiki's Delivery Service where he lifts the whole dub from perfunctory to genuinely enjoyable (yeah they change bits of dialogue who cares)

West is an absolute master VA and just about the only person who could step in for Zapp without it seeming audacious. I've said it before but he's one of the few people on Earth who can replicate Jack Mercer's classic Popeye voice: doing a high voice and a low voice at the same time basically like a throat-singing technique. That he helped make Fry into such a loveable idiot is testament to how brilliant his work is

Menu

Quote from: idunnosomename on November 03, 2020, 12:25:44 AM
I'm glad the Simpsons at least had the dignity of retiring Hartman's characters


Definitely the right decision but couldn't they have just created new characters which were just different enough for it to be ethical (but similar enough to mine that rich comedic stream) that West could have voiced. It feels like a parallel universe where we could have got literally hours more top comedy. Phil would have wanted that surely.

Menu

Quote from: idunnosomename on November 03, 2020, 12:25:44 AM
I've said it before but he's one of the few people on Earth who can replicate Jack Mercer's classic Popeye voice: doing a high voice and a low voice at the same time basically like a throat-singing technique.

Which I think he demonstrates on one of the commentaries. He also explains how he does the Nixon. Another 'plus one' from me for the Futurama commentaries. It's basically listening to very smart funny people being smart and funny. The Simpsons ones are good too.

The Cloud of Unknowing

Quote from: Menu on November 03, 2020, 12:25:24 AM
Is it sacrilege to say that Hermes isn't just a weak link, but actively hurts the show cos the writers felt they had to keep including him?

"Sweet jabber of CaBber!"

Blumf

Quote from: Menu on November 03, 2020, 12:25:24 AM
Is it sacrilege to say that Hermes isn't just a weak link, but actively hurts the show cos the writers felt they had to keep including him?

He's not that bad, one of my favourite bits involves him in The Farnsworth Parabox episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuCz3sGsim8

But a lot of his stuff is rather straight forward,