Futurama Season 7 Discussion Thread
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
It's interesting that everyone sees the middle segment as a Smurfs riff when it really drew more on Strawberry Shortcake, a show that was based on a toy line for young girls. But then, that was apparently a series of annual specials rather than a full series, so maybe that's why it's less well remembered. Or maybe it's just that a lot of male viewers never saw the show. I was aware of the franchise from the commercials, but I can't say I ever watched it.
I suppose there were a few Smurf-based elements to it, like everyone being the same color. The Professor did have a Gargamel-like quality, though I think he was based on the Strawberry Shortcake villain, who lived in a large hilltop residence made of metal cookware, according to Wikipedia; the rendering here of the Planet Express building seemed to fit that description somewhat.
I suppose there were a few Smurf-based elements to it, like everyone being the same color. The Professor did have a Gargamel-like quality, though I think he was based on the Strawberry Shortcake villain, who lived in a large hilltop residence made of metal cookware, according to Wikipedia; the rendering here of the Planet Express building seemed to fit that description somewhat.
Yeah, I wasn't to thrilled with this one either. The only one of the shows I watched was Scooby-Doo, so I that one was OK. But I've never seen either of the other two, so they really didn't do anything for me. I did find the blatant product placement in the Strawberry Shortcake one, pretty funny, but that was about it.
I ended falling asleep about 5 or 10 minutes into the reairing of last week's, so I still haven't gotten to see that one. Hopefully I'll get to watch it when it pops up on Netflix.
I ended falling asleep about 5 or 10 minutes into the reairing of last week's, so I still haven't gotten to see that one. Hopefully I'll get to watch it when it pops up on Netflix.
The show was bad, and you should feel bad!
I never saw either show; I was going by the fact that everything was the same color and they were using made-up words derived from purple.
I thought that was the best one of this season so far.
I'm with you guys, haven't laugehd that much during any other episode this season!
I liked the Scooby-Doo riff.
Having the Harlem Globetrotters appear was perfect, considering they've been on both Futurama and Scooby-Doo.
I always enjoy George Takei whenever he makes a guest appearance somewhere.
I love how during the chase scene they appeared to start that classic Scooby-Doo bit where they all randomly go in and out of the multiple doors in the hallway, only to have them realistically go through just one door, and that's it!
“I would never have gotten away with it regardless of you meddling kids.”
Me too. The bits that got the biggest laughs out of me were the reversing of the school blowing up with “*patriotic peacekeepers who rebuild schools with their bullet-sucking vacuum tanks*”, and "That'll blow them straight to h-*church*!” Oh, and "*I landed the plane safely next to this naturally occurring fireball!*"
ETA: Here's the Futurama Comic-Con panel, where the cast does a table read of the entire first act of the series finale. Spoilers of course.
Having the Harlem Globetrotters appear was perfect, considering they've been on both Futurama and Scooby-Doo.
I always enjoy George Takei whenever he makes a guest appearance somewhere.
I love how during the chase scene they appeared to start that classic Scooby-Doo bit where they all randomly go in and out of the multiple doors in the hallway, only to have them realistically go through just one door, and that's it!
“I would never have gotten away with it regardless of you meddling kids.”
Me too. The bits that got the biggest laughs out of me were the reversing of the school blowing up with “*patriotic peacekeepers who rebuild schools with their bullet-sucking vacuum tanks*”, and "That'll blow them straight to h-*church*!” Oh, and "*I landed the plane safely next to this naturally occurring fireball!*"
ETA: Here's the Futurama Comic-Con panel, where the cast does a table read of the entire first act of the series finale. Spoilers of course.
I saw what they were going for there, but it didn't make me laugh. Just staring at a motionless scene for many seconds isn't much of a punch line, not without some further payoff.
Also, given that the plot involved a cloning machine, there was a perfect setup for a gag where we see the usual running-through-many-doors gag and then it turns out that it was a bunch of different copies of the characters running through different doors and finally running into one another. That seemed like a missed opportunity.
"Calculon 2.0" was awesome. It more than makes up for the disaster that was last week's show, and has supplanted "The Inhuman Torch" as the funniest, most moving episode of the season. The Professor's "science" to resurrect Calculon was hilarious. The story of Calculon's comeback was solidly funny and a good character story, and I loved the arcs Calculon and Leela went through. The climax was great, and though the outcome for Calculon was a bit disappointing, the Robot Devil's final punchline was magnificent.
Most of all, in the parts where Calculon lost his bluster and became truly humble, it gave Maurice LaMarche a chance to show what a really superb actor he can be. That was really moving.
My one disappointment was that the invasion by Morbo's people was just a throwaway gag at the start. I've been wishing for years that they'd do an episode about Morbo, something that required him to put his money where his mouth is -- either reveal that his bluster about destroying us all is a cover for his insecurities or something, or have the invasion actually happen and have everyone surprised that his threats were genuine all along. So to see it treated as an afterthought was disappointing.
Most of all, in the parts where Calculon lost his bluster and became truly humble, it gave Maurice LaMarche a chance to show what a really superb actor he can be. That was really moving.
My one disappointment was that the invasion by Morbo's people was just a throwaway gag at the start. I've been wishing for years that they'd do an episode about Morbo, something that required him to put his money where his mouth is -- either reveal that his bluster about destroying us all is a cover for his insecurities or something, or have the invasion actually happen and have everyone surprised that his threats were genuine all along. So to see it treated as an afterthought was disappointing.
Forgot again. Lucky for me they always repeat the episode the following week. 
Futurama may be ending, but Planet Express and her crew will be seen again afterward... on The Simpsons.
Loved that bit with his crappy HAL9000 play.
Which was a parody of Hal Holbrook's famous one-man show about Mark Twain. Layers!
That was fantastic! From Robot Devil's torture, Calculon's genuine acting and the HAL 9000 play to the science/magic and Hollywood gags and the heartfelt story that killed Calculon all over again and actually kept him dead, this was not only the best episode of the season, but I'd argue it's the best episode since "The Late Philip J. Fry."
I agree it's a little disappointing to see that opportunity missed out on, but I never expected to see it be more than a throwaway gag.
