Rate/Review "Rebirth"

What did you think of Rebirth?


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Ryan

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It's officially back!

New Futurama time is coming to the east coast in just 90 minutes! You ready, east coast?!

Fry and Professor Farnsworth must rejuvenate the fallen crew of Planet Express by undergoing a "rebirth" operation.

Discuss!
 
I'm ashamed to say I watched it a few days ago (hey, I'm British) and I don't know when to wait to post this, so screw it.

I thought "Rebirth" was a decent return for the show. It had a few drawbacks, which I'll get out of the way first. The voices were quite off for several characters. I don't blame the cast as it's been so long since the regular show came to an end, but I don't remember them being this off in the DVD movies. The dialogue also seemed a bit stiff in places, with not many big laughs to be had. And although it was done in a really interesting unexpected way, I thought its efforts to restore the status quo felt a little contrived. The show can poke fun at itself all it likes, it doesn't make it any better. On the plus side, it had some weird and wonderful concepts such as the "rebirth", the Fry/Leela twists, and the whole cyclops thing. Thankfully, none of my criticisms detracted from the sheer glee I got from seeing a regular Futurama episode again. I'll give it a solid 4/5.
 
thanks paul for posting. yeah, I spoiled (don't worry, kiyo, I'm still recording the premiere since I'll be on the open road tonight), and here are my thoughts on "Rebirth":

I have to wonder if this will be the most negative post about since everyone is excited about its return to half-hour form, but I was rather disappointed. it felt as if the episode did not know what it wanted to be: a wacky return that only wants to celebrate; an emotionally-driven story revolving around fry and leela; or a twist-n-turns thrill ride. to be honest, "bender's big score" already did all of these three things rather flawlessly at that, especially compared to this episode. to me, it felt as if the writers had gotten too used to the 88-minute format, and this episode clearly shows growing pains. (or should that be shrinking pains?)

yes, it was still very funny in parts (although there was some awful clunker jokes [hermes' "umbilical cord" and zapp yelling, although dead]), but it wasn't enough to make up for the odd story structure, not to mention a weak Bender subplot. there's a fantastic twist in the third act that nearly improved the episode greatly, which was destroyed when they did absolutely nothing with it. (oh, hey, look here's Fry, nevermind folks!) even the ending with bender/cyclophage was weak (oh, nevermind Bender, you wouldn't kill yourself and everyone, the professor's just insane as usual!)...add to the fact that much of the Fry mourning over Leela scenes has been done so much better before, and felt rather forced with this awful melodramatic score underneath. (what the hell, Chris Tyng?)

Nevertheless, there are some good points to the episode, for one as I mentioned I laughed quite a bit, much moreso than I would in current day Simpsons, and aside from an abrupt and weak ending, the story flowed smoothly and was engaging. I don't know, I just didn't feel "Rebirth" as much as I wanted to, but the next episode is an improvement and definitely proves that the series will be back on its ass-kicking feet very soon.

3/5
 
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I thought this episode was great, but to enjoy it properly you really do have to get in the mindset of, "Futurama was cancelled 5(?) years ago, and then it kind of came back, but, hey!, now it's back!" and obviously a few of the lines admit plainly that the first episode is really just the device that acts as the return-to-normalcy. Luckily, this was my mindset exactly.

Think about it. It involved a cheap weird technological/future excuse for a main plot line. Oh hey look everyone can rebirth themselves. Oh hey look perfect clone with current memories no problemo just take a pop in the toaster. Fry and Leela have something specific that the episode needs to take care of (and the episode's sentimentality/emotion does kind of walk the line, but then would people really be more broken-up or curious about whether (real) Leela survives and whether the series will continue with them as a couple or no), but how do we announce The Return of Bender? Party hard, of course. You can call it contrived, but I just consider it an appropriate welcome-back.

I laughed a whole lot, so that helps too. I watched it a few days ago and won't have a chance again till tomorrow, so maybe I'll be less obstructed by the shimmery glow of "whoa, this is actually on my TV" when I rewatch, and I'll see it for the mediocre thing it might have been. But most probably not.
 
Better than the second episode. But pretty boring compared to older eps.
 
I thought this episode was great, but to enjoy it properly you really do have to get in the mindset of, "Futurama was cancelled 5(?) years ago, and then it kind of came back, but, hey!, now it's back!" and obviously a few of the lines admit plainly that the first episode is really just the device that acts as the return-to-normalcy. Luckily, this was my mindset exactly.

Think about it. It involved a cheap weird technological/future excuse for a main plot line. Oh hey look everyone can rebirth themselves. Oh hey look perfect clone with current memories no problemo just take a pop in the toaster. Fry and Leela have something specific that the episode needs to take care of (and the episode's sentimentality/emotion does kind of walk the line, but then would people really be more broken-up or curious about whether (real) Leela survives and whether the series will continue with them as a couple or no), but how do we announce The Return of Bender? Party hard, of course. You can call it contrived, but I just consider it an appropriate welcome-back.

the four movies, which weren't that long ago, mind you, destroyed the premiere of any sort of "oh, it's okay, they're just returning to normal" excuse or "yeah, it's back!" flavor. after all, it was done ten times better with "bender's big score".

thus I found it pretty impossible to even tap into that mindset. I was excited about the return of futurama in half-hour form, not the show itself.
 
the four movies, which weren't that long ago, mind you, destroyed the premiere of any sort of "oh, it's okay, they're just returning to normal" excuse or "yeah, it's back!" flavor. after all, it was done ten times better with "bender's big score".

thus I found it pretty impossible to even tap into that mindset. I was excited about the return of futurama in half-hour form, not the show itself.

I basically slept through the movies and don't remember much, so maybe that's it? either way whoooo!!! it's back (and it's airing right now).
 
I pretty much agree with the real melvin. The entire point of the episode was create a sense of normalcy going forward, which it handles perfectly. The lingering questions are answered, all the loose ends are tied up and everything is back to normal by the time the episode ends.

It helps that it was laugh out loud funny, even though there were a number of stupid gags (HAHA ZOIDBERG CUT HERMES' PENIS OFF HILARIOUS)... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt all things considered. I was slightly less than enamored with Bender's subplot, and the resolution was a major cop out. The voices are way off, especially Fry and Leela's, but I'll give that the benefit of the doubt, too.

I'll give it a 4/5.
 
It almost didn't feel like a proper episode to me. The whole episode relied too much on flashbacks, game-changing revelations and explanations. I know that was the point, but it quickly started to just feel wonky, ridiculous and kinda lazy to me. Some of the dialog was really weird too, like Fry yelling out the secondary characters' full names when being reborn. Bender's partying and dancing didn't get any laughs from me either, and it went on throughout the whole episode. :( Fry also spent so much of the episode depressed that it was hard to enjoy him. I dunno, I just wasn't feeling this episode overall. Felt like a cheap face-saver for people who give a shit about continuity.

Watching the two new episodes actually felt strange because I had gotten used to the movie format, with longer storylines and everything.
 
I'm with Tommaco here. It seemed like an awkward attempt at catering to new audience members. The obvious example would be the "joke" that Brodie just mentioned, but the whole episode reeks of being a reintroduction, which I suppose is completely fitting considering the title. Still, it fell completely on its ass. The meat of the episode's comedy is seriously just BENDER DOING GOOFY MOVES IN THE BACKGROUND -- I know Futurama has a knack for doing goofy, sort of "childish" humor but this just felt like really lazy writing. "Hey guys, you know what would be hilarious? If Bender sang a Culture Club song! That would remind everyone of how spontaneous and silly he is, or something!"

It probably didn't help that the attempt at producing another one of those "high-concept" episodes was an unmitigated failure too. Seriously, the entire premise is that Leela and Fry are robots? Well, that's pretty boring, but hey the characters we've followed for the entire episode decide to throw off their "meat masks" and become robot lovers. Oh, hey, here's some Terminator references. Everything about the jokes here just seems so forced and off. They would have been dated in 2003 and they're really fucking dated now. Let's be topical and reflect on stem cell research, but let's also make the professor say something stupid.

I didn't laugh once, a smile here and there, but overall, very disappointed. I'm being hard on the show I guess, but still, this definitely belongs on the same shelf as That's Lobstertainment!
 
A great episode to bring back Futurama. Hilarious, great plot, and great ending.

Best joke of the season/series:

"Gotta check my eBay bid."

[Sorry, You've Been Outbid]

"Dammit!"

The fast-timing makes it more hilarious.
 
pretty bad, writing made me cringe at times. at least the "bad" episodes in the original run weren't a chore to sit through

and what the fuck is next week supposed to be
 
What happens to Facebook, Twitter, the iPhone, and iPod in the future. Mom running Twitter and Bender hacking Facebook sounds okay...not sure though.
 
It's hard to really feel objective about this episode because just watching a new Futurama is such a treat.

Overall, I had trouble getting into this one. The whole resurrection aspect was just too much of a Deus Ex Machina for me. It reminds me of the commentary of "The Sting" where David X. Cohen commented that resurrecting Fry from the royal jelly was something you'd expect on a slightly worse show than Futurama. That quote kinda echoed in my brain as Farnsworth went through his explanation for bringing them back. I get the symbolic aspect of it they were pushing, but it's still such a massive cheat as a plot device. It didn't really stop there, either... Like Leela's sudden-and-magical recovery at an opportune moment.

Still a lot of fun in the episode, though. The premise was a bit of a cheat, but the final reveal with Fry was unexpected and clever. I guess if you're going to do a convoluted plot, you may as well have some clever devices in it.

Overall, probably a 3/5. It's really more of a 2/5, but gets that extra fanboy boost for being the first new Futurama.
 
I loved it. I thought it was a great return for the series. While the plot got a little wacky at times, I thought it was handled very cleverly. For example, I like the twist where Fry turns out to be a robot. Still, even with all the stuff that went on, the episode managed to return the series to status quo. I also loved the gags in this episode, which I found very clever. For example, I thought that the entire Bender subplot as well as the Leela/Leela battle were hilarious. More than humor, I also found this episode to be moving and emotional at times. I really felt bad for Fry and I was really hoping that he would get Leela back. 5/5!
 
I didn't really entirely understand why any of what happened in this episode made Leela and Fry question where they stand with eachother. The real versions of themselves still kissed at the end of Yonder, and Fry didn't really fall for a different person... He basically fell for Leela twice. I dunno, everything in the episode seemed like too much of an awkward stretch.
 
Better than the second episode. But pretty boring compared to older eps.
maybe you found it unfunny, but this was about 500 miles away from being boring. it's largest flaw was that it desperately clawing away at any possible chance of boredom like a starved and angry cougar.

yeah, not an especially funny episode, relatively (i chuckled two or three times). and way too many ideas crammed into one episode, but i enjoyed it for them anyway. it was fun.
 
oh god I totally forgot about the terminator voices at the end.

yeesh that was simpsons season 21 awful.
 
Good episode. It was nice to see Futurama back in episodic format. Though it didn't exactly wow me as much as I'd hoped, I'm optimistic for the rest of the season.

It's probably a 4/5, but I voted 5/5 because I can. :coolspot:
 
Yeah, I'm going to have to agree that this wasn't particularly funny. The story lost itself by being too expository, and that really sucked a lot of the life out of it. There were a lot of ideas going on and the writing seemed to highlight they weren't quite sure what to do with them. I also felt Fry and Leela's voices sounded really off (though they sounded normal in the second episode, luckily). I smiled at times, but man, new Futurama, it's kinda involuntary.

"BENDER DOING GOOFY STUFF IN THE BACKGROUND" genuinely amused me, though. I guess you could call those jokes the laziest of the lazy, but those gags worked for me somehow.
 
Wow, I thought it was great. A ton of laugh out loud stuff, classic CRAZY Futurama sci fi plot...just...everything worked really well for me and my friends. It really felt like classic Futurama. I'm so excited for more.
 
bender's ZANY ANTICS have been overplayed since before the dvd movies. but i did really like bender cartwheeling out of the jungle.
 
I think the biggest problem with this episode might have been that they were coming off of the movies, actually. In the same way that the movies suffered because they went from episodic to fucked up four parters, this one suffered because they were coming from fucked up four parters to episodic. As a result it did feel like there was too much crammed in, too many coincidental moments, etc, just to fit it all in. The show has done big concept episodes like this before, but they were all in the midst of doing other episodes with a similar format. So the pacing felt a little bizarre to me, although part of that could also come from the fact that the last new Futurama I saw was, well, a fucked up four parter.

Still. As they eventually found their groove with the movies... they're going to find their groove with the episodes. And we'll all get used to them in this format again. So just because this wasn't the most epic, mind-blowing thing ever doesn't mean that the show is going to flat-out suck from hereon out at all. It's going to get better and hell, this one was still pretty good.

I thought it was going to be far more dramatic and high concept initially; I don't know how much of that I can blame on the promos for this, not to mention the huge way ITWGY ended, but that's what I came in expecting. Instead what I got was something I found to be much more light-hearted and just having fun with the crazy world of the future Futurama has crafted for us before that we all love.

Which is partially disappointing, because they could've done more with this, easily. Parts could have been cut out or elaborated upon, the pacing could have been different; everyone who's mentioned it before in this thread is right, it came across as very trying-to-capture-new-fans. Which I can't really blame them for, and ultimately, what they were going for, I'd say worked. Because the episode was still entertaining.

I mean, god, it was funny. Most jokes were hits. I don't get the problem with Bender... Sure, I thought the idea was a little stupid, but most of the time he was just partying in the background and they didn't address much attention to it. Could the episode have lived without it? God, very easily. But for what it decided to go with, it wasn't all bad.

There were way too many coincidences in this one though, and they really could have done something high scaled and cool, but we've had enough direct love letters to the fans so it's cool that they didn't but... yeah. The channel thing in the beginning should've been as far as it went... Leela woke up in much too timely a manner, the real Fry came back far too timely... and such. The cyclops-eating monster was a pretty pointless addition overall and taking it out along with Bender's constant partying could've allowed for some more deep and thematic explorations of character.

But I think I was, in the show's absence, overvaluing its most beloved episodes. Are they phenomenal? Absolutely. Is this a show with an amazing record for making people just lose it and break down sobbing? Yup. But not every episode is like that. Considering the idea of everyone dying, I was expecting it to be, and so was left feeling somewhat underwhelmed with what resulted. (I talked about this with Ryan earlier, and I need to watch the episode again; I don't fully remember Tyng's dramatic score, but I do remember how jokingly dramatic moments were treated after their reveals, such as Leela's waking up to find the Leela robot.)

Fry being a robot the whole time was a great twist though. Totally blindsided me, but in a good way.

Ultimately? It was beautiful. I laughed, a lot more than I've laughed at any recent primetime animated show I've watched; granted I don't watch many and even though this story was crammed, it was completed. It was kind of simultaneously over and under-ambitious, but what they put out - for what it was - succeeded. A somewhat dramatic, mostly comedic adventure with these characters, which is the general tone the show has always taken. So I'll take this, because I was entertained, and it was not a bad way to pick up where we left off at all. Good episode, good return, good show.
 
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