Futurama! 26 New Episodes! Not Movies! Resurrected!

[peas_and_corn]

There have been a couple, but the Bongo writers are somewhat poor so I haven’t bothered reading it.

[Ridley]

Figures that the anthology would be the combo breaker. :(

[Ridley]

7B has mostly been Good eye em oh.

Which is nice in a way but also a bit sad in a way because the last time the characters could be on TV in a way is in a The Simpsons episode in a way.

[Phil]

I haven’t caught any of it, and I don’t want to tune into the finale lest I accidentally expose my brain to Chris Hardwick.

That and I’ll just watch them all at once when they’re on DVD or Netflix or something.

Glad to hear it was good. I look forward to disagreeing with you some day.

[Ridley]

Your defence of the Scooby-Doo parody better be amazing.

[Ridley]

Satisfying end to the series. Essentially an episode built around Oddworld’s QuikSave.

Philip J. Fry in a fedora reminds me of Philip J. Reed in a fedora.

Although the rocket to the moon and kissing made me of Philip J. Reed as well so there’s probably nothing.to it.

[Phil]

I don’t think I’ve heard a truly negative thing about the finale yet.

I look forward to watching it. On Netflix. In a year and a half. :(

[Ridley]

My manwich!

Can Leela and Fry be a couple from the start this go around?

*Matrix Resurrections parody*

Oh for the love of

[GlenTokyo]

As a huge Futurama fan, I’m a bit ambivalent. I obviously want to see more if everyone is available and they’re going to do it properly, but I feel like they had a pretty bloody good send off so there’s risk involved.

Also I hadn’t seen anything about this being in the works so it was a bit of a shock when I saw it on twitter earlier.

[Flap Jack]

An excuse to bump a thread started in 2009? You love to see it.

On the whole, I’m happy about this news. For me, the Comedy Central era of Futurama is analogous to the Dave era of Red Dwarf – i.e. not as good or consistent as it was on its original network, but still more than good enough to be worth doing, with the occasional all time great episode. So bring Futurama back again, why not. “Meanwhile” was constructed like a series finale but it wasn’t close-ended or anything.

Shame they couldn’t get John DiMaggio back though. :-(

[Jonathan Capps]

Shame they couldn’t get John DiMaggio back though. :-(

I would argue that is is essentially ruinous. Fuck the whole thing off.

[Dave]

I got the impression from the official statement that he’d held out for more money, they’d refused, but were hoping they could still get him on board with their lower offer.

[Flap Jack]

Yeah, I don’t agree that DiMaggio’s absence would make the whole thing fruitless, but it’s still a huge disappointment. … at least he doesn’t play as many regular characters as Billy West?

I see that DiMaggio has been retweeting a bunch of people complaining about the situation, and his own tweet about it was like “Thanks for the support everyone, I’ll keep you posted”, so this is a classic negotiating in the press situation. There’s still a chance they could get him back.

[cwickham]

I would be quite surprised if DiMaggio didn’t end up being on board.

[Moonlight]

I have no idea where else to say this, but I’m like 90% sure the climax of 1978’s Invasion of the Bodysnatchers is parodied when Fry runs along a catwalk in his brain severing things in Parasites Lost.

[cwickham]

What a surprise

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/futurama-john-dimaggio-hulu-revival-1235193435/

[Flap Jack]

Sweet!

[Nick R]

The first new episode is not an instant classic, but it’s pretty good! I realise I might just be forgiving because it’s so nice to have the series back, but it’s a promising start.

Billy West’s Fry voice has aged (which is understandable; he’s 71!), and Hermes sounded a bit off in the few lines he had, but the others all sound fine to me.

I won’t spoil anything specific but just in case:

As has become a tradition with every Futurama revival, time is spent making self-referential jokes about their cancellation and revival with a new home. Only here a lot more of the episode is devoted to this idea than before, and again it’s fine but not as funny as it has been before. (The morons from the Box Network from Bender’s Big Score remain the best version of this joke.)

There’s a bit near the start with a freeze-frame gag that combines a Futurama thing with a current TV series. I thought the joke was funny enough as just text, but then we see it happening, at which point I got worried that they were going to spoil it by overexplaining it. Fortunately they didn’t, but they nearly did!

Early on, it seemed like the episode was going to be a version of Rick and Morty’s Interdimensional Cable, but thankfully the story swerved in a different direction. 

Favourite joke of the episode: a stupid Fry line that reminded me of such classics as “No I’m doesn’t” and “I’ll show ye.”

Bits of the animation look a bit odd: Bender’s mouth, and some characters’ mouth proportions in a few shots. I read a line in the AV Club’s review pointing out how often characters were seen from a certain camera angle, and after that I kept noticing that whenever it happened.

[Ridley]

The Scary Mirror

[cwickham]

Why is Cara Delevingne credited when she doesn’t appear? Presumably she had a scene which got deleted, but why leave such a prominent name in the end credits?

[Moonlight]

The Scary Mirror was a great update for modern audiences.

Overall I’d say it was pretty good. I did miss seeing Fry for much of the episode though. It feels more like Comedy Central era than FOX era, but that’s almost to be expected. Made me laugh a decent amount. Overall I’d say good, not great. I’m waiting for the season to wow me by pulling out a “The Late Phillip J. Fry” like the CC era did. I’m sure they will. I need to go back and freeze frame all the TV show titles, I caught some good ones like “30 Rock from the Sun”.

Also hot take: the actual best Futurama episode is The Sting, and no I will not argue about it. You know I’m right. Other contenders like Jurassic Bark just do not at all have the same emotional impact on me. 

[Formica]

It feels more like Comedy Central era than FOX era, but that’s almost to be expected.

If it keeps about even in quality with the CC era, I’ll be perfectly content.

[Flap Jack]

I’m pretty much on the same page as Nick R, Moonlight and Formica. It was far from peak Futurama but it was solid and funny. Futurama was one of my favourite shows growing up, and seeing a new episode after all this time was oddly comforting.

I thought the combination meta/current tech inspired plot was pretty well done for what it was, and hopefully won’t age too quickly. It’s a far cry from that one Comedy Central episode where Bender and Fry were in a competition to see who could get more followers on “Twitcher”, and Fry discovered that Leela secretly had a sentient, singing boil on her arse called “Susan Boil”. Still need to occasionally remind myself that wasn’t a fever dream.

The transition from the incredibly earnest ending of “Meanwhile” to the de-ending at the start of this episode was quite jarring, but I guess there’s no easy way around that. At least they care about continuity!

It’s a bit weird to see so many references to the show being on Hulu when Hulu doesn’t even operate in the UK (here it’s on Disney Plus). I suppose the original run wasn’t on Fox either and there were references to that, but we did still get the “30th Century Fox” tag on the episodes.

On a related note, one very minor grievance I have – which is far from new for Futurama – is when a show has a stand-in for a major company or brand, and they just take the real name and change a letter or something. (What a Simpsons podcast I listen to calls a “palport”, citing Apple / iPods -> Mapple / MyPods as the key example). Either use the real name or come up with an actual joke, please. “Fulu” is not a joke.

Also hot take: the actual best Futurama episode is The Sting, and no I will not argue about it. You know I’m right. Other contenders like Jurassic Bark just do not at all have the same emotional impact on me. 

Don’t know if I agree it’s the best – I was always partial to Roswell That Ends Well and The Farnsworth Parabox myself – but I agree The Sting is a better episode than Jurassic Bark. Jurassic Bark is good, but its final emotional twist is cheap. As “heart-rending” episodes go, The Sting, Luck of the Fryish and Leela’s Homeworld are more deserving.

[cwickham]

Hot take: Peoples’ views of the Comedy Central episodes are unfairly tarnished by the first few episodes where they were clearly trying to remember how to make the show again, once they find the rhythm again the quality and consistency is broadly the same as the original run.

Also, just a little tidbit but “Nona di Spargement”, the credited writer for ep 3 of the current run, has been confirmed to be a pseudonym for Ken Keeler

[Flap Jack]

Hot take: Peoples’ views of the Comedy Central episodes are unfairly
tarnished by the first few episodes where they were clearly trying to
remember how to make the show again, once they find the rhythm again the
quality and consistency is broadly the same as the original run.

I should really rewatch the Comedy Central seasons sometime soon. I’ve only ever seen those episodes once, while the Fox era I rewatched obsessively for some time. Instinctively I feel they probably were underrated even if I agree they still weren’t as good, but it’s hard to judge it fairly.

What I will say for now is that my current off-the-top-of-my-head worst ever episode of the show is in the original run, so it’s not black and white.

Also, just a little tidbit but “Nona di Spargement”, the credited writer
for ep 3 of the current run, has been confirmed to be a pseudonym for
Ken Keeler

Ooh, cool to know he’s involved, but why the pseudonym? Usually if that happens there’s a legal reason they can’t officially be credited, or they’re ashamed of the result and don’t want it on their CV.

[cwickham]

It’s possible the pseudonym riffing on “non disparagement” and the episode being about bitcoin are related… maybe he just doesn’t want to deal with crap from the cryptobros.

[Formica]

Certainly the episode I quote the most is from the CC run.

[Stephen R. Fletcher]

I liked last week’s episode but I do agree about some of the weaknesses. I thought this week’s was much better by comparison. It was a little bit clunkily done getting to the exposition (for one thing, l’m not too fond of Leela not remembering she’s the biological mother of Kif’s kids) but the emotional moments worked well. I’d even say Lauren Tom gave her best performance as Amy in this ep. 

One geeky little sidenote that stuck out to me (that probably still only me is really interested in) was the change they’ve done with the cast credits at the end now. 

I noticed John DiMaggio got first billing last week. At first I wondered if that was part of the deal to get John to come back. If that had been the case, it honestly wouldn’t have felt right to me. I love John and yes, Bender is obviously the breakout character of the show, but I personally think Billy West should still be credited first. 

I saw Katey Sagal was credited first this week though, so it looks to be a case of a different cast member getting first credit each episode, which is an interesting decision and feels more fair. 

[Formica]

for one thing, l’m not too fond of Leela not remembering she’s the biological mother of Kif’s kids

Yeah, it really felt like they were desperate for ways to remind viewers what happened, couldn’t think of any good ones, and just ended on something that made the intentions way too obvious.

I honestly preferred 1 to 2. Don’t plan to keep up a ranking for all ten weeks, though.

[Flap Jack]

The weird thing about that is, if they needed a character to not remember such a hugely significant event so they could exposit it, Fry would fit that perfectly – and Farnsworth would make more sense too, due to his sometimes-senility. I kind of wonder if there’s an impulse among the writers to give Leela quirkier moments wherever possible, to avoid the trap of letting the female lead of a comedy always be the most sensible character in a scene. Also, they probably could have cut the “recording” of the birth shorter, because it makes it plain how strange it is for Leela not to remember when she’s literally in the footage. Her currently being drunk was kind of funny, though.

Other than that (and the Grand Midwife’s behaviour being pretty weakly justified), good episode. Definitely the stronger of the 2 so far thanks to its more consequential story and its emotional moments. Jokes were generally good, too. You have to try harder to fail in a Zapp Brannigan episode, honestly.

I was a bit surprised that they’re going to do the “Hulurama” thing for the whole season and not just the first episode. Imagine if for every episode of Red Dwarf X, the title appeared first as “Red Dave” before flickering and changing to “Red Dwarf”. It’s kind of obnoxious.

[Ridley]

The Hulurama thang maybe should have been the opening caption first episode.

[Flap Jack]

But if they did that, they couldn’t have made it “AVENGED!”, which was too perfect an opportunity to pass up.

[Formica]

Just giving us the video was lazy too. Maybe I just felt sour the whole episode after the overexplanation, especially after they didn’t give us the dummy treatment at the start of the first episode. Just started at the end of the previous finale, no explanation at all.

[Flap Jack]

Tangential, but as this new season made me want to watch some older episodes, I gave ‘Hell Is Other Robots’ a watch, and clocked for the first time that the title caption was missing. I searched for anyone on the web acknowledging this, and who do I see but G&T’s own Christopher “MATHS IN THE RED” Wickham! Small world.

A baffling edit that even made it into the intro video on the “Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection” DVD. I wonder if it was just the UK that got this change.

[Jonathan Capps]

[Jonathan Capps]

Sorry, that’s probably the second most cursed thread now

[Flap Jack]

Only fair to refer to someone by their biggest influence on popular culture.

(I am assuming that in the future when society and all technological infrastructure has collapsed, the only surviving remnant of 21st century art will be a printout of the complete “Idea for an episode.” thread. I think it’s reasonable to do that.)

[cwickham]

The idea for an episode thread *did* have a role to play in the most important thing me writing about anything has ever accomplished.

https://cwickham.blogspot.com/2018/06/just-ask-for-south-by-south-east-yet.html

[Formica]

(I am assuming that in the future when society and all technological infrastructure has collapsed, the only surviving remnant of 21st century art will be a printout of the complete “Idea for an episode.” thread. I think it’s reasonable to do that.)

[Flap Jack]

The idea for an episode thread *did* have a role to play in the most important thing me writing about anything has ever accomplished.

Oh wow, nice work.

[Moonlight]

Cwickham sounds like a microwave ham dinner.

[cwickham]

*That* explains all those blog comments from Findus.

[Flap Jack]

Another solid ep this week. The cryptocurrency premise risked being cringeworthy and dated, but thankfully they seem to actually understand it (both how it broadly works, and that it’s fundamentally a scam), and were able to tie it into the old west/gold rush parody well. The Dwight subplot was good, Leela as a barmaid was funny, and the mere presence of Roberto in a Futurama episode is enough to elevate the experience – but on the downside the Apple Maps joke was eyeroll-inducing – so overall I’ll give it a Better Than ‘Where The Buggalo Roam’ But Not As Good As ‘Gunmen of the Apocalypse’/10.

Unfortunately no clues as to why Ken Keeler would refuse credit for this one. Maybe he actually was ashamed of it, and he just has really high standards.

Also, this isn’t related to the new season, but did anyone else notice that Disney+ pulled a reverse Timewave?

[Moonlight]

Roberto’s knife-gun was an extremely funny idea. I’m so happy to see him back I’ll ignore the fact that last time we saw him he died.

[Nick R]

It made me think of a slightly different sort of Knifegun:

[cwickham]

Patric Verrone openly said Keeler was the writer at a ComicCon panel, totally unprompted, in a way I don’t think he would have done if Keeler had taken his name off it because he didn’t like it.

[Formica]

If it’s almost silent, why do they keep putting so much emphasis on it?

[Flap Jack]

If it’s almost silent, why do they keep putting so much emphasis on it?

Come again?

[Formica]

Come again?

Have you watched this week’s new Futurama episode?

[Flap Jack]

Have you watched this week’s new Futurama episode?

No, I prefer to save the new ep for the evening…

My bad, I’m used to posts referencing the newest episode opening with some context. 😅

[Author]

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