"Welcome to the world of tomorrow !" aka I rate and review Futurama

Wile E. the Brain

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Yep, I'm actually doing it. And I know what you're thinking, yes, there's already quite a number of rate and review threads dedicated to each and every single episode of a series. But it's been something I've wanted to do for months. I wanted to rewatch the show from the start, maybe revisit my opinion on some episodes I have vague memories of, praise my favorite episodes as much as I can, and have fun once again. I love this series, I love its universe, its characters, its lore and everything, and I wanted to do it justice. So here we hare, I'll talk about each and every episode of the show here. I'll probably do it at a quite slow pace, but I want to do at least one review a week. That'd take me two years to go through it, but it seems reasonable to me, and I'll try my best to keep this project alive. Also, any thoughts from you guys is totally welcome. And yeah, you probably guessed it, I didn't chose to start it on December, 31st for a random reason.

So let's start with what every show usually starts with...
 
SPACE PILOT 3000
Season 1, episode 1
Wri. David X. Cohen and Matt Groening, Dir. Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo


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It’s not easy to imagine all the responsabilities a TV pilot has. Think about it : you gotta introduce characters, a whole universe surrounding them, an overall story, you gotta choose what the tone of the story and the style are gonna be like… while still doing an episode that is able to stand on its own two feet. It’s difficult for a pilot to give a clear preview of what the show it introduces is going to be like. Space Pilot 3000 is one of those that do it perfectly. Especially since above being a great introduction to the show, to me, it’s a great introduction to the character all of this revolves around : good ol’ Philip J. Fry.

The prologue already gives us what we need to know first. We get that Fry is a loser of a young adult, with an ungratifying job and a girlfriend who dumps him, and who gets zero respect. The main things are here, but they’re not without their subtleties. The first shot, without even visually introducing Fry, suggests a character who dreams of places elsewhere, absorbed in the imaginarium of pop-culture, before his virtual spaceship is destroyed. Boom. Back to reality with a kid calling him a loser, and our first view on how the character looks like. It’s New Year’s Eve. Not an ordinary New Year’s Eve, the one that precedes the year 2000. For the majority of people, a new millennium seems to be the sign of big things to come in their lives. As for Fry, it’s gonna be another lousy millennium in his life, which gives us what we need to understand about Fry’s current life and how he feels about it. Jumping to the future, however, he thinks about the door opened towards a new life for him, believing that he lost nothing behind him (for now, but we’re not there yet).

In less than 3 minutes, we already have a great introduction to a great character. To me, it’s the heart of this episode. Of course, it doesn’t stop itself to introduce a new universe as well, a universe that allows a lot of creativity. Groening and X. Cohen cleverly use the clichés established by Star Trek and other kinds of films, series, books and everything else with a futuristic set-up, all the better to dismantle them, hitting us in the face with their wacky ideas like the Star Trek-like door hitting Fry’s face (or like the policemen beating the crap out of him with lightsabers). Fry’s first contact with something that really feels like sci-fi is Leela, a cyclop, a surnatural creature, and yet, she’s doing a ungratifying job just like Fry before he was cryogenized. The chemistry is already established, Fry is performing all the formalities while dreaming about the possibilities of the future, before realizing that even though he made a thousand year jump to the future, his past chases him : he’s gonna be a delivery boy, he can’t be anything else.

Fry flees the office and finally enters that fantasised future, filled with unbridled creativity, and with Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo having fun displaying all this. The usual clichés like those gool ol’ flying cars go alongside signs of a more disillusioned vision of the future, such as the infamous suicide booth, with a somewhat long waiting line to go in. Imagine what we would have lost without those suicide booths, since Fox wasn’t much into these. Plus, it’s Fry’s first contact with another iconic character : Bending Bending Rodriguez aka Bender. There are better places for a first encounter, but once again, there is good chemistry. Note that the series was seemingly trying to find its groove regarding that character, which already displays signs of a pretty screwed personality (suicidal, greedy, alcoholic), but has yet to become the psychopath we fully know and love. The reason he wanted to kill himself ? He realized he was working on suicide booths. Usually, the pain of others makes him laugh (« kill all humans », says he two episodes later), but even he, apparently, didn’t take the fact he contributes to many people’s suicide very well. Fry’s personality, on the other hand, is more and more tweaked along the episode, as we realize how much of a kindhearted guy he his. It’s what saves Bender from commiting suicide (because he wants to be his friend), and Leela from a thousand year cryopreservation. Those small gestures are precursors of the (sort of) friendship between those characters.

Leela by the way, personifying Fry’s past chasing him, finds him, and he runs off to a head museum. The opportunity to display the famous – albeit existing way before the show – concept of heads preserved in a jar, and to have fun with some celebrities, like Leonard Nimoy, symbol of Fry’s pop-culture knowledge and symbol of his vision of the future through his role of Spock, which is promptly undignified while eating like a fish in a bowl. Also the opportunity to make fun of Richard Nixon, the first of many times they do this. Our fugitive redhead also gives back to Bender a meaning in his life, bending things, which he was programmed for, but bending what (and who) he wants, which goes against what he was programmed for. The same way than the appearance of the policemen and Leela, all of this is important to go against what is this future’s motto : « you gotta do what you gotta do ». Leela herself is going to realize she’s tired of following that stupid law while Fry and Bender are getting to the sewers where the former discovers an important part of the lore of this universe : the ruins of the old New York. By the way, small regret, the hall of criminals being this underused, not even used for a joke except that it looks like a prison cell.

The discovery of the old New York this early is important not only for the lore, but also because of what it adds to Fry. As soon as he realized he is in the future, Fry was happy leaving his past behind him, since he thought he lost nothing. But with this scene, Fry realizes that he did lose some things in the process, all the people he knew, all the people he cared about. This scene makes Fry’s characterization all the more three-dimensional, and all the more endearing. It’s the ideal place for him to confront Leela once again, while he’s just accepting his programmed destiny, thinking that he doesn’t have more opportunities and that this thousand year jump just made him lose his friends and family, his world. I love how much they made this story about a guy not wanting to be a delivery boy dramatic, and it works. All this makes Leela closer to Fry, while she reveals she is alone to (the only cyclop on Earth, abandoned by her parents when she was a child), and ends up deciding to quit her job, realizing what meeting Fry brought to her. But the episode can’t end now with the three of them being job deserters. Fortunately, Fry still has a part of his family in the future, his great-[...]-great nephew, prof. Hubert Farnsworth.

I love his introduction scene, where he looks and acts just like a typical senile old man, and the way the reveal of the famous Planet Express ship is directed, while he’s focusing on things that fascinate him more like wires of different lengths, and while he casually reveals he designed it himself. The characters try to flee the policemen chasing them, during a wonderful scene which mirrors the scene with the countdown to 2000. I love the difference between Fry unenthusiastically blowing into a party horn and Fry enthusiastically saying "blast off". Fry is starting this new millennium, his new life, with a bang. The climax is short but it didn’t need to be longer, it’s creative enough and allows Leela to display another part of her personality, which will naturally lead her to become the captain of the crew. Speaking of which. The professor somewhat dismantles his established senile old man personality by adding a more twisted side to it when he talks about his old crew (while doing some foreshadowing for The Sting, three seasons before it comes up), while he offers Fry, Leela and Bender the chance of being his new crew. Fry, therefore, finally gets a job : he’s a delivery boy, again. But this time, he’s happy about it, since he has the choice and realizes the opportunity the future does have for him now. I also like that the final scene is the only one that happens in space, the pilot being pretty down to earth relatively speaking, this scene opens new horizons that the following episodes will explore with pleasure.

There aren’t many series as far as I know that started out with one of their best episodes, but Futurama did. This episode is an excellent blueprint while focusing on the essential stuff, creating the basic pieces of a hilarious universe lampooning the common clichés, with a neat direction courtesy of Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo (I really like the way some visual jokes are directed, like Bender picking up his arms on the ground), and above everything else, creating a genuine protagonist, as fun as he’s endearing, whose complexity is already very well established. A lot of things that makes Futurama such a great show is here, even though there are still things that the following episodes will tell us about it. Obviously, it’s gonna get a 5/5 from me.

(PS. I doubt next reviews are going to be as long as this one. I wanted to do my best so this project starts out with a bang.)
 
Whoa, this is a neat incentive, @Wile E. the Brain (I always secretly hoped that @Szyslak100 would do it at some point, but now that he's retired from the board that didn't come to fruition, but I'm glad to see someone deciding to do it and that it was you).

I think you know I'm a big Futurama fan (for the longest time, I actually considered doing an R&R thread for the show before settling with 'Avatar The Last Airbender' instead, despite its general impopularity around here) so this will be interesting to follow & to read your thoughts on the various episodes (and I assume you'll do the DTV movies as well?). Good luck with this project (and maybe I'll be inspired to revisit the show myself due to this as it is such an excellent and rewatchable show).

'Space Pilot 3000' is amazing (also I didn't expect such an extensive review). One of the finest TV animated pilots of all time in my opinion (and it showed that they were pretty sure of the premise and had an good idea of how they wanted the show & its characters to be) so it certainly got the show off to a great start. I'm still surprised at how well it began as usually, a show has to find its groove and it may take several episodes or even a season or two (at worst), but that wasn't the case here.
 
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Aw hell yeah, nice to see someone doing this! I might jump on the bandwagon and do this myself as well when I have finished all episodes (currently finished up the first half of Season 6). Also...

"That's it. You just made my list."
 
Thank you guys, I definitely hope to keep it up as much as I can.

@CousinMerl, yes I'm gonna talk about the movies as well. Especially since, outside the first one, I don't have a lot of memories of them, so it's gonna be interesting for me to revisit them. Truth be told, if someone else have decided to do it before I did, I would've hoped it was either Szyslak or you (since, yes, I do know you're a big fan). So feel free to leave some thoughts about the episodes whenever you can, I'm interested. :)

(Also, happy new year guys !)

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Happy New Year!

And yeah, I guess I'll briefly run down some stuff about this episode as well - still one of the best debut episodes to this day. Not many episodes achieve as much depth as Space Pilot 3000 does in just 22 minutes. We get introduced to the 3 core characters of the series as well as what life is like in the future, but it's also a bit sentimental with Fry realizing how his life would just be the same if he was never frozen. While he no longer can see his family, it gives him a new course - a fresh start in life. Leela quits her job for a similar reason - as an alien outcast with no knowledge of her parents, she knows how Fry feels, and with Bender not ending his own life, the three now are on a quest to survive - and thus they find professor Farnsworth, officially becoming a part of the Planet Express Crew. And we also get introduced to the other characters such as Smitty, URL, Michelle, Richard Nixon & Leonard Nimoy, all who will have their times in the limelight in the next episodes. ...and of course, who can't forget the famous quote known as "Bite my shiny metal ass!". Not quite a perfect episode, but it comes very close. - 9.5/10
 
@CousinMerl, yes I'm gonna talk about the movies as well. Especially since, outside the first one, I don't have a lot of memories of them, so it's gonna be interesting for me to revisit them. Truth be told, if someone else have decided to do it before I did, I would've hoped it was either Szyslak or you (since, yes, I do know you're a big fan). So feel free to leave some thoughts about the episodes whenever you can, I'm interested. :)

It's been ages since I saw half of the movies (the first and third at least. I only own the second and fourth but I'm hoping to find the other two) but I will still try to comment on them (I think I'll probably have rewatched them by the point you'd reach them, lol).

I think you're a better choice than me to cover the series (partially as I'm not sure I think that I could keep up with reviewing such a sizeable show with my usual length of reviews before running out of steam), but I think I could have pulled it off, but settled for A:TLA instead as said (and fully knowing that action-adventure shows doesn't have much traction on this board, especially those not made by Disney). I don't reget my choice, but it would still be nice to revisit 'Futurama' while you're reviewing it. I'll definitely comment on each episode.
 
THE SERIES HAS LANDED
Season 1, episode 2
Wri. Ken Keeler, Dir. Peter Avanzino

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(Hey, the gelatinous alien in the Planet Express commercial has the same burp than the great Wakkorotti !)

One of the advantages of the pilot is that it didn't force itself to introduce as much characters as possible, so it could keep a focus on the most quintessential ones and make them a lot interesting to see, while taking its time later on to introduce some more. So here we have the rest of the Planet Express crew introduced in the first act : Hermes, the jamaican bureaucrat enamored of paperwork, Zoidberg, the lobster-like staff doctor who knows nothing of human anatomy, and Amy, the long-term intern. Though Amy is the only one who plays a big part in the story of this episode, I enjoy that it's able to make the three of them well-rounded in only a couple of minutes, even if we still have a lot to know about them, but we're not there yet. The episode introduces them as both characters and crewmates, which helps to give us some informations while making us want to get more (though I find the fact that Amy is just kind of standing here the first time she appears on screen amusing). Also, the not-so-inoffensive personality of Farnsworth is showing itself a little more here, seemingly caring a little more about Amy's blood than about her well-being. Also, I wonder if "I'm already in my pajamas" was supposed to be a running gag.

The actual plot of the episode is about the first delivery of the new crewmates. The first episode being as down-to-earth as it could have been, limiting what's going on in it on Earth, this one actually takes us to a trip out of our world. But it saves the crazy new planets for later on and takes us to the closest place of our planet, the Moon. So this episode, instead of showing us a whole new environment completely made-up by the writers, takes a place that is familiar to us and gives it a new twist, by making it a literal luna park. It's not done in vain, since the episode revolves around Fry still getting a first view of the XXXIst century, and going to a place that was just some kind of wonderful dream to the child he once was, only reached by a few men by the time he was frozen, whose exploit symbolized the giant leap for mankind. So you can understand his disappointment when it turns out that once he gets here, he can't go outside the lousy amusement park like any other on Earth, from the XXIst like from the XXXIst century ("You might as well stay on Earth").

The Series has Landed seems to confirm that Fry is a young adult who dreams of other places and it offers an interesting clash with that jaded vision of the future (it's right there in the scene where they fly off, with Fry doing a countdown which he doesn't even get to finish). To the people of the year 3000, reaching the moon doesn't sound much like a feat anymore, it became a place like any other, to the point where they completely forgot the history of the first men landing on it, attributing the merit to a TV sitcom from the 50's. A big, dusty rock, big deal. There is even an hysterical parody of hillbillies on it, maybe to make fun of those time when they wanted you to believe through educational videos that someday, you're gonna have a life on the Moon. Also, the farmer having robot daughters is just so cleverly hilarious. Of course the first thing Bender does after having been kicked out of the amusement park is to flirt with one of them (probably nitpicking but it took some time for the Crushinator - don't know if I spell it right - to stop chasing Bender because she loves him, aha). I really like the scene in the space modulator, which feels genuine while making Fry even more sympathetic. His point of view helps Leela to look beyond what she sees (#Rafiki) and it's honestly sweet, in some way it even kind of delivers a nice moral. Also we get some fun scenes with Amy and Bender in the amusement park. The gags they add are cleverly brought up back later on (and Bender's link with folk isn't gonna be a one-off thing). Again, the climax is pretty short but the essential is here, Fry's final line being some way to concile both worlds, both points of view.

While it's lacking of a je-ne-sais-quoi to be on the same level of the pilot episode to me, that still makes two great episodes in a row. This one is even better than I remembered, as a matter of fact. It keeps the satire, the clash of generations and their respective point of views and the heartwarming factor of the first episode, it expands its universe while still making sure to keep a lot of meat for what's to come, and the staff members prove how good they are to write genuine characters once again. 4.5/5
 
A great follow-up to the pilot episode. A very good, fun & also a bit heartfelt plot of Fry trying to come to terms with how things have changed drastically in a hundred years, shown here with how even the Moon has been radically altered (and in some diculous and hilarious ways), as well as introducing the rest of the main characters. kind of see it as a direct continuation of the pilot (and to be honest, I always kind of saw the first three episodes as a connected story as they are all, in essence, about Fry discovering the future and "settling in").
 
A little bit of a weaker episode this time around because it lacked the excitement and now does not feel fresh but has enough jokes and we get introduced to the rest of the crew. Magnetized Bender, Fry's dream of becoming an astronaut, the Farmer chase, Amy's cursing and Georges Méliès' A Trip To The Moon reference are the highlights. - 7/10

And yes, "I'm already in my pajamas" was meant to be another one of Farnsworth's catchphrases but was abandoned, as stated in the episode's commentary. No idea why though.
 
(and to be honest, I always kind of saw the first three episodes as a connected story as they are all, in essence, about Fry discovering the future and "settling in").
I agree with you. Especially since it's really with the fourth episode that they start to display crazy new environments and alien creatures from outer space (well, the Planet Express commercial excluded), but we'll get to that eventually.

And yes, "I'm already in my pajamas" was meant to be another one of Farnsworth's catchphrases but was abandoned, as stated in the episode's commentary. No idea why though.
A shame I don't have my DVD set of the complete series with me right now, I would've loved to hear the commentaries while doing this retrospective.
 
I, ROOMMATE
Season 1, episode 3
Wri. Eric Horsted, Dir. Bret Haaland


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Aka the episode with the funniest banana peel joke in the history of banana peel jokes.

I, Roommate might be the most down-to-earth episode season one of Futurama has to offer. Even more so than the first one. At least, this is the first episode where the events happen only on Earth, while the previous episode was set on the Moon and the pilot episode has technically an ending happening in outer space, like to give a preview of what's to come. So it can be surprising, even this early on the show, to get an episode revolving around one of the most basic plots a sitcom can deliver : one of the characters has got to find a place to live. In this case, our beloved Fry, which is indeed still on his way to settle in, but for now has nowhere to live but the Planet Express building. Gotta love though how Fry has only spent a month in the future and is already kind of back to a sluggish attitude, as if this jaded future already got the upper hand. So yeah, he's doing what you would expect from a "parasite" and is promptly kicked out when Farnsworth thinks he's got to go for of a hilarious reason. He's definitely more inconsiderate in this episode, which is the opportunity to develop his relationship with the even more inconsiderate Bender, when the robot offers the meatbag to live in his own appartment with him. And then you have the common plot turn, Fry being unable to live in Bender's appartment correctly, with a new and clever - while making complete sense - spin on it, Bender's closet for an appartment looking spacious enough for him, but not for Fry. (Also the opportunity for the writers to prove they're geeks with pretty damn good scientific knowledge, with the binary codes on the robots' doors.)

Again, while still obviously having the futuristic touch, most of what happens in the plot could come out from a sitcom like any other. Fry and Bender are looking out for some appartments, find the one they feel the more comfortable in, but there's something that threatens their future as roommates, and so on. And that's the whole episode, the most sitcom-like situations with a fresh perspective, darkly humourous moments to help the plot go on (the appartment Fry and Bender live in formerly owned by a now dead colleague of Farnsworth - his first news to everyone, which isn't a good one, from his perspective I mean), and spins that feel both obvious and clever, like a big part of the last act dedicated to Bender acting like a complete drunk because he gave up on alcohol. At some points I feel like the writers are getting a kick out of playing with us expecting the expected, like when the old lady tries to find the cause of the bad TV reception, which is long enough to reach a point of no return in hilarity. Even Fry and Bender learn a valuable lesson - thanks to good ol' TV - backwards (which would have been funnier in my opinion if Leela didn't lampshade it). It still does have genuinely unexpected moments, the most memorable one of them all obviously being that hysterical twist of Bender owning a closet himself, which is big enough for Fry to move in. Somehow it even deepens the difference between Fry and Bender's understanding of each other, Bender's own room in their new apartment being its tiny closet. Nice mirror effect, which benefits the side of the plot I like the most : the deepening of Fry and Bender's friendship.

This is the episode where the chemistry between the readhead and the robot feels fully developed. Even in universe, Bender at first bonds with Fry over a soap and over their sluggish, I-don't-give-a-crap attitude, and when he offers Fry to move in with him, he considers him a "pet". And when they spend some time together and make themselves at home in their new apartment, Bender considers Fry his first friend. So Bender being a wreck because Fry decided to stay and left Bender alone in his old apartment feels believable and actually pretty touching. I really like the scene where he comes back alone to his old appartment and feels like it got bigger and emptier. We love Futurama because it's a show able to make a greedy, sociopathic robot sympathetic to the audience, and his situation is engaging. At the opposite, Fry feels a little harsher in comparison of the first two episodes (implying himself that "guys don't have feelings"), but mostly because he doesn't know any better, probably thinking Bender is tough enough to handle the fact they can't be roommates, despite the two of them sharing a bonding (the laugh they share), maybe too subtle to make Fry realize Bender does care about their friendship to the point of being in a self-destructive behavior when they're separated. Even if they learn something thanks to TV (and the wrong way), it feels genuine when Fry actually realizes his mistake (and understands how much Bender values his antenna) and wants to make it up for Bender, moving back in with him despite the lack of space. So the discovery of the closet feels earned and satisfying for everyone.

With I, Roommate, Futurama is able to make us care for such a simple plot thanks to good writing when it comes to characters (Fry is harsher but not enough to look like a jackass) and the chemistry between them. Almost makes me forget that Hermes and Zoidberg are still characters with little to offer yet. Very nice direction from Bret Haaland too, I especially like the reveal of the tightness of Bender's appartment, and the shot with Bender in front of the TV static noise towards the end. Many great jokes and lines along the way and a good display of this universe's possibilities when it comes to the blend between the regular and the sci-fi fun stuff, and yeah, I, Roommate makes three very solid episodes in a row and feels like it came up at the right moment in the series. Now, just like Fry, we settled in, and we're ready to discover new horizons. 4.5/5
 
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Unpopular opinion: This is the weakest episode of Season 1. I am sorry, but this episode just feels a bit too uneventful for me. Yes, it has jokes, but it's one of those episodes where nothing really happens. Fry searching for a new apartment feels basic. I loved where Bender's antenna was the reason why the crew couldn't watch All My Circuits, and also the apartments Fry was searching gave me a few laughs. But other than that, could have been so much better. - 6/10
 
It's fine but it feels very much like they were trying to prove to skeptical fox executives that they can be a "normal" show
 
I haven't fully rewatched this one yet, but remember it as a solid, good episode. It is certainly smaller and not as eventful as a lot of the others (not even in the first season), but I like it for that (and it does have its share of great moments and jokes) & I like that they spent an entire plot on Fry searching for a home and finding one (in such an unlikely place), plus it really did a lot for his and Bender's friendship. I used not to care a lot for it at first, but it quickly grew on me. Great end to the "series intro" trilogy.
 
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I understand you guys when you feel like this one is too "normal" but I believe it contributes to its charm, especially because we're still in the earliest episodes so to me, it came up at the right moment, before the show truly starts to get into the wacky sci-fi stuff. And I respectfully disagree about it being "uneventful", as I said I think it's an important episode for the development of the Fry / Bender dynamic, but again, you know, opinions and everything, aha.
 
LOVE'S LABOURS LOST IN SPACE
Season 1, episode 4
Wri. Brian Kelley, Dir. Brian Sheesley


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Not looking forward to the day cyborgs enslave humanity.

Now here we have an important episode in the history of the show for a few reasons. First off, like it was hinted before, yes, it is the first time the show explores places we aren't familiar with and kind of wacky plots. The Series has Landed took us in outer space, but it was still "just" the Moon, even with a completely new depiction of it. This time, we explore, albeit for a few minutes at the end of the episode, a new and unusual planet, Vergon 6, while still playing with the vision we got of new and unusual planets in many sci-fi films and movies, like the green sky and multiple moons. But we don't see the planet long enough to be annoyed by the clichés, plus, I find it rather amusing that the first planet they completely invented for the show is a planet about to blow up. And like I said, the plots start to get a little less "ordinary", as this time, the Planet Express crew does something quite unusual for a simple delivery company, they go full Noah's ark, by trying to save a couple of each species of animals populating the planet before it implodes. And yet, once again the episode starts with a rather mundane plot idea, as it's about Leela feeling lonely and trying to find a man who doesn't reject her because she's got only one eye, going as far as meeting a bunch of eligible bachelors. Even though she's got herself pretty high standard, I mean come on Leela, this guy just has a lizard tongue, but he seems perfectly fine. Homer accepted a family with lizard tongues, so you should too !

Hum. Well, another reason why this episode is important, it's obviously because of the first appearance of a couple of characters. Above the others, it introduces the general Zapp Brannigan, to my dismay. Yeah, gotta be honest with you guys here... I never was much of a Zapp Brannigan fan. He has his funny moments, but most of the time, I consider him a little more annoying than truly amusing. And yes, I know, he's supposed to be annoying and hateful, but to me, he's not the kind of character I love to hate (although I don't hate him with a capital H either, by that I mean I don't think he's such a terrible character), and he tends to drag down a number of episodes he has a big role in as far as I'm concerned (until I rewatch them and may change my mind on them), such as Brannigan, Begin Again and Amazon Women in the Mood (sorry). As for this episode, I don't find him really entertaining in it either, mostly because many of the jokes he brings stick to a certain formula and I gotta admit seeing him saying or doing something dumb followed by his "loyal" lieutenant Kif Kroker (another first appearance) groaning becomes pretty old pretty fast.

But I like a few things about the character though. One, I appreciate that the series crew didn't try to make some kind of Disney twist villain out of him, as soon as he appears, while playing with an appearance worthy of a Captain Kirk successor, he's depicted as a moron and a selfish jackass, and this right after Leela think of him as a hero, which already says a lot about what the propaganda on Earth says about him, and it's an interesting piece of background to me (also, the fact that he inconsistently applies a law which actually bears his own name, and the biting satire of people interfering with something when it's convenient for them). Otherwise, not even his crew respects him ("Screw you", says one guy, and me at the same time), hard to blame them since he apparently sends his men to their death for something heroic while he takes all the credit. I still don't like him that much, but even I have to say, he's really well introduced. Two, since he really his kind of a villain, I like how they depict him as a manipulative bastard to get what he wants. He plays with Leela's emotions and allows her to go right after the sex act because he knows she'd crawl back to him eventually, which she attempts to do when the ship goes out of fuel. I don't remember if that side of the character sticks with him as the series goes on, guess we'll have to wait and see.

It's also the first appearance of Nibbler, and I like how he's depicted as kind of a silly and hungry animal while there's still something mysterious about him, since he's not on the checklist and is the only one of his species on this planet. Knowing that he's actually sentient brings some questions (mainly, how did he get here and how did he intend to get out of here... if he did) and it's amusing. Having devoured the other animals doesn't stop Leela for adopting him as a pet and finally finding some kind of company as a result. It really is Leela's episode, where we get to see how multi-dimensional she can be, and as much as I'm not a Brannigan fan, her duel against him is pretty enjoyable, it's satisfying to see her standing against him, although the results are not so optimistic, as Zapp, in a way, won this round, leaving Leela to her death, which she escaped out of luck, because Nibbler can excrete dark matter. I guess it's all a matter of opinion, but in any case, it makes the last moments (with both character's spin on the captain's diary trope) funnier. If it wasn't for Nibbler and the fact the fan knows what he brings later on, all this mission would have brought is Leela having sex with a jerk. Again, it's kinda jaded, and I love it. Even though the main plot feels a little inconsistent at some points as a result.

Even if I'm not a die-hard fan of this episode and even if it doesn't change my mind on Zapp Brannigan much, it's better than I remembered. I forgot some hilarious jokes ("This planet is supposed to collapse in approximately... two hours ago"), I forgot some things it adds to the background of the universe of this show, and it's definitely a pleasant watch once you can look beyond the easy jokes. It's a nice first time for the really inventive concepts, even if the Noah's ark thing kind of acts like a subplot, even if I understand what they we're going for. It's definitely a nice change of pace after the quite ordinary previous episode, albeit I still prefer I, Roommate by a long margin. Still, pretty good. 3.5/5
 
Same score here, a.k.a. 7/10. Leela's scream after realizing she was wooed into having sex with Zapp Brannigan was priceless! One also can't avoid laughing at Zapp's dumb mispronunciations of words and Nibbler just gobbling up every animal.

And honestly, I'm not too big of a Zapp fan myself. He has his ups & downs, but especially downs in a much, much later episode.
 
For a first "regular" episode (now that the main premise and characters & settings had been introduced within the first three episodes), this is a nice one with a good Star Trek-esque adventure plot and a few new faces & some really good humor and gags. Probably not one of my favorites of the first season, but still pretty solid stuff

It is interesting to see someone dislike Brannigan like you do @Wile E. the Brain (kinda felt like much of this review ended up being kind of a rant about him, lol, but I don't mind at all), though I can see why you have problems with him.

I wasn't a huge fan of him when I got into the show, but somewhere along the line I did start to appreciate him more as this arrogant, selfish blowhard idiot coward of a captain (great spoof of classic sci-fi captains) who's more of a antagonist and/or nuisance than anything, intentionally unlikeable but amusing and memorable (and a lot of great lines), but I am one of few who kinda prefer Kif (sorry, I do like the running gag with him sighing at his boss's incompetence). The show has better supporting characters, but I still enjoy the two (and I like the design of the starship & the concept of the Democratic Order Of Planets, a take on Star Trek's United Federation Of Planets).

I do think Zapp was too much in an episode like 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela' (probably one of my least favorites), which relied heavily on him being a manipulative and creepy douchebag (and it is the basis of the main plot as well).
 
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Yeah, that was the episode I was referring to. I found that episode ok primarily because Futurama shows that it can really step out of its comfort zone. It is silly, it is crude, but it's also mature. And really, it has by far the worst characterization of Zapp Brannigan and you feel sorry for both Fry & Leela. (I have a full review posted on gotfuturama to not go into this further)
 
@CousinMerl, well, since it's the first time the character shows up, I might as well say most of what I think about him so I'm not getting repetitive when reviewing his next episodes, aha. Plus, all things considered, I'm less harsh against him than I thought I would before writing that. I did find things I like about his character after all. ^^ And like I said, I don't hate him with a capital H... just, eh, never was a fan, and probably never will, even if I'm aware he's an intentionally unlikeable spoof of your typical sci-fi captain. I'm also one of those who prefer Kif, especially when he became more than Brannigan's groaning sidekick to enhance a punchline.

He has his ups & downs, but especially downs in a much, much later episode.
I knew which episode you were referring to before Merl said its name, and good Lord, I'm not looking forward to revisiting that one as I always thought it was waaaay too much for my taste. Definitely Brannigan's worst appearance until I eventually find a worse one while doing this project.
 
I'm also one of those who prefer Kif, especially when he became more than Brannigan's groaning sidekick to enhance a punchline.

I never really understood the fans' dislike for Kif. He's a great character who even ended up being able to really hold his own as someone even separate from his captain. Maybe his episodes weren't the greatest, but I still enjoyed them really well (oh, and 'Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch' is underrated for sure).
 
FEAR OF A BOT PLANET
Season 1, episode 5
Wri. Evan Gore and Heather Lombard, Dir. Peter Avanzino, Carlos Baeza, Ashley Lenz and Chris Sauve (whew !)


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Meh, the alien nudity was less exciting than I thought it would be.

I don't remember when American people decided it was fun to constantly poke fun at baseball but each time I watch this episode, I do kinda feel like Fry as I'm unable to understand the game at all, but it sure looks fun though. Gives me some Calvinball vibe. Anyway, since the future is the opportunity for the writers team to have fun with virtually anything by putting a new spin on it, it's nice to see them doing it for, well, anything, including in this case sports. It does make for a couple of entertaining minutes, and I like that it isn't completely useless to the plot, since during it, the Planet Express crew members discuss about blernsball players and drift pretty smoothly to the lack of respect humans have towards robots, as Bender notices. Even if such a topic could have been brought up in basically almost any situation, I like the way it is here. Especially with Bender providing pop-corn as a friendly gesture, but in some way confirming the fact robots were build to make life for humans easier as a result. It's subtle, so subtle I wonder if it was intended, but I like it anyway. Bender is pissed off though, and it's the perfect opportunity for a contrivent mission, delivering a package to a planet inhabited by robots who hate humans, even though they still ordered something from humans apparently (I don't really know how that works, but yeah, nitpicking).

This episode takes us to another completely made up planet, Chapek-9, which we get to explore way more than Vergon-6 previously (it helps that this one isn't about to blow up). And it's a good thing, since I really like the way they manufactured this robot society, a blend between commonplace human environments (they've got a movie theater and a hall of justice) and clichés embodying the way we see robots, like with their very specific schedule shifts. It makes for fun visuals too, great to see how well the CGI animation ages (it helps that it isn't constantly used). And the thing I like the most, it's that this planet has adopted human propaganda system against humans, and it makes for a relatable and sharp satire with the robot leaders using propaganda to distract the robot people from their real problems, as important as they are, like the fact they're about to run out of lugnuts (having that as the resolution with the package Planet Express was supposed to deliver is so funny and wisely brief). Now that's satire that ages like fine wine, too. I really like how the propaganda is used to help the story go on, like when Fry and Leela are "humans guilty of the crime of being humans" and nothing more, and the robot elders having spreaded so much propaganda against humans that they don't remember what they've made up. A part of me would've liked that they did more with the idea of Fry and Leela being sentenced to perform typical Earth robots tasks to push the mirror effect even further, instead of quickly switching towards the robot elders sentencing them to death.

Either way, a robot planet holding a grudge against humans is both an obvious and clever place to put Bender on. This episode is another one that deepens the relationship between the main characters, and does it pretty well, it doesn't feel repetitive since it's about Bender not feeling respected because of something actually inherent to our society (relying on robots to make our life easier and not considering them more than machines). I think it works well all around. First off, it's the first episode which fully revolves around the dynamic between Fry, Leela and Bender since the pilot. No other member of the Planet Express crew, no important secondary character like Zapp, just the three of them. And said dynamic is well written and never feels forced to me. They care for each other while still feeling in character. Bender ending up leader of the human hate preachers is, again, a natural evolution of the plot (by the way, I like that we never see what happens to Bender between the moment we see him arrested and the moment he shows up as leader, keeping us through Fry and Leela's point of view until they're reunited with their robot friend), and him not wanting to kill Fry and Leela feels earned and satisfying, knowing what the human and the cyclop do to show that they do care about him (throwing a Robanukah party while they're fully aware Bender made that holiday up, and obviously, risking their butts out there to save Bender when they think he's in danger). Bender's feeling towards his friends may flip-flop depending of the needs of a specific plot (or even joke, hence Bender threatening Fry with a bottle at the very end) as we'll see later on, but that's still nice to see.

Another episode that is better than I remembered, because to be honest, while I never considered it not good, I always thought it was more on the forgettable category. And even if it does lack that little je-ne-sais-quoi to truly make it a stand-out, it's still a very good one, efficient both satire-wise and characterization-wise, offering a neat new world which still feels reminiscent of our own society and aware of the way we usually see and depict robots, and just enjoyable all throughout. What more do you want. 4/5
 
Oddly, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the episode is the robot entrance test (especially the puppy part).

Really good and often overlooked episode. A planet inhabited by only robots that are xenophobic of humans and other "meatbags" is a simple yet great concept and it was utilized so well here, creating a fun and funny episode with some memorable moments, jokes & nice character designs for the various robot characters (the robot elders definitely come to mind).
 
Definitely another episode out there I feel like is very overlooked. It feels more simple and perfectly explores the feelings between the 3 core characters of the series. Although I feel like the tone of the episode feels too murky because there's too many dark colors and palettes in this one, it doesn't really detract from the overall experience. - 7/10

I should also point out this is the first episode where Farnsworth's catchphrase is introduced, albeit as "Great news, everyone" instead of "good".
 
Although I feel like the tone of the episode feels too murky because there's too many dark colors and palettes in this one
I feel like it's a coherent choice, considering we're on a robot planet, completely artificial, with zero flora and fauna around the city (amusing since they do talk about flowers aha), I get the choice they made.

Oddly, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the episode is the robot entrance test (especially the puppy part).
I admit I completely forgot this moment before rewatching the whole thing and it made me lose it. Almost caught me off guard as much as the Invasion of the Body Snatchers reference (I haven't seen this episode in ages so now I know what it is a reference to aha).

In any case, I'm glad we all agree that this is a pretty overlooked episode. I mean, I overlooked it myself.
 
The dark colors and muddier palette was perfect for the episode. Like @Wile E. the Brain said, it is in line with how it is set on a robot planet, which obviously would have lots of articiality, metal, industries and so forth and those wouldn't allow much clean skies or green grass & plants so the look of the episode was very suitable considering the inhabitants & their culture.
 
A FISHFUL OF DOLLARS
Season 1, episode 6
Wri. Patric M. Verrone, Dir. Ron Hughart and Gregg Vanzo


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The first appearance of Futurama's most quintessential character... All hail Scruffy.

A Fishful of Dollars mostly talks about our connection with two things : materialism and our past. The former is quickly tackled, through a very inventive satire of advertisement business, because in the future, ads will take over your dreams, and there's no way to escape them... which doesn't differ much from our current time, when you think about it, and as Fry points out when he talks about all the ways advertisement is forced on us. You can tell how Futurama differs from a lot of films and series about the future when it first came out. The wonders of technology cohabit with a vision very reminiscent of modern society, and our main characters are, like many others, victims of the rules of capitalism. In any case, while trying to buy what is literally the product of his dreams, Fry realizes that he's broke. It took him a while to realize it now that I think of it, but doesn't matter. What matters is that he's actually rich, thanks to the 93 cents his account had contained in 1999 and the interest (detail everyone noticed and has talked about at this point, if you do the math, the balance gives the correct result). As if the idea of someone like Fry suddenly becoming rich wasn't hilarious enough, the episode seamlessly tackles through its run what money can't buy, and for that, it has to make Fry the most nostalgic he's ever been since it was hinted in the pilot episode, and it's introduced through anchovies, which is amazing.

I like that introspection into Fry's character. It's very relatable to see someone feeling nostalgic over what seems like the most mundane thing just because it's reminiscent of their past. Fry may have settled in, he knows there are things of his past he misses, despite how much of a loser he felt like back in 1999. So getting him through such a situation makes a lot of sense, as he thinks he feels like a fish in water once more, and I like how it's displayed, changing the roles in a way since this time, it's Fry who explains to his friends what they don't understand or know about his time, and not the other way around. But the thing is, Fry traps himself into the past through his artifacts from the 20th century, and is completely unable to move on. As funny as the episode is, it's a great way to make the main character even more endearing despite him turning his back on his friends (who in this case personify the will of moving on, which Fry refuses to). But being so absorbed in the reminiscence of the 20th century ends up biting him in the ass eventually, not only because he isolates himself, but also because of the rival he unconsciously finds himself making, the seemingly sweet old lady from the robot oil ads, Mom, who makes her first appearance. Much like Zapp, at first I wasn't much of a fan of her character, but unlike Zapp, she grew on me and I do think she's a really funny character, and her first appearance as her true self is a testament of that, the staff giving her all the signs of a nasty personality as quickly as they can (she swears, she yells, she smokes, she's bitter, she doesn't treat her sons very well), going against the sweet image of herself she gives in the ads for her products (I'm sure she's the only one to do that... yeah), and it's great. Also and mostly because Tress MacNeille feels like she's having a blast voicing her, as much as we have listening to her.

The last part of the episode is a very fun way to deal with both aforementioned topics, as one artifact from the past Fry possesses is a tin of anchovies, the last one known, and could put Mom out of business if handled properly. So to take over Fry's fortune, because there probably weren't any other way to get his PIN number (or just the anchovies but to be fair, Mom did ask them to get his PIN number), her sons recreate as poorly as expected Panucci's Pizza to trick Fry into believing he never was in the future and just fell asleep at work, and of course, Fry buys it, now completely absorbed in the past, in a hilarious way by confronting the poor vision of the past people from the year 3000 have (the boys invoking Pamela Anderson to get the PIN number) and the ditzy guy who actually is from it. And it causes his downfall, leading him up to lose his fortune, but making him realize that he does have to move on, and to come back to his friends to fully accept it. Well, he eventually finds a way to concile both his reminiscence of the past and his acceptance of moving on, by eating the anchovies with his friends, instead of selling them to Mom so he could become rich again. In the end, it's once again a lose-lose situation, since Mom keeps her monopoly on robot oil and nobody but Fry (and Zoidberg of course, who goes berserk after eating the last ones and wanting for more) likes the anchovies, but our protagonist is still happy (and happiness is a thing his fortune couldn't buy), and in the end, it sort of is all that matters.

Much like the previous episode, the more I watch this episode, the better it gets. It's like how anchovies are described in it (although I don't remember ever eating anchovies) : I didn't like it much the first time, but it grew on me. Patric M. Verrone's script is both multi-layered and pretty straightforward, and it really works. It's a hilarious satire combined with a neat introspection on a side of Fry, and it can count on several great jokes and situations, fantastic voice acting and clever ways to have fun with lazy plot turns like Fry nonchalantly revealing what his PIN number is. This one is a ton of fun, plain and simple. 4/5
 
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Really good and fun episode. We've seen the story before (Character gets unexpectedly rich,forsakes friends, loses the fortune and goes back to them with the lesson that they are his true wealth), but this one was handled really well with intelligent writing, nice satire and good jokes all around. I also liked the introduction of Mom & her sons (though I felt she later got overused) & of course the legendary Scruffy. The Downer Ending kinda sucks (especially with the villain winning big time) and perhaps Fry is a little too much of an idiot, but the rest is good (and some of the stuff is hilarious, like Zoidberg's anchovy obsession & the overly elaborate credit card scheme). The first season do have better episodes though.
 
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