Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Impressions: Futurama Season 1 (Spoilers)

(Spoilers for Futurama Season 1)

 I had seen a few episodes of Futurama from later seasons (which is why I picked it up), but this is the first time I've watched it in order. I  watched 13 episodes in 4 days. Yeah.

 So, here's my thoughts:

  • Space Pilot 3000: Fry's life in 1999 is hilariously terrible. Bender is awesome from his first moment. I laughed out loud several times during this episode. There's a severe lack of background music, which is disappointing.
  • The Series Has Landed: Picks up immediately following the pilot episode, and shows a shocking amount of continuity for a comedy. We see the beginnings of the Fry/Leela relationship. The series hasn't hit its stride yet, but there's still some good moments.  
  • I, Roommate: First appearance of Calculon. The episode looked like it would be a typical comedy house-hunt, but it (thankfully) gets that part out of the way quickly. Bender's bender is both hilarious and heart-wrenching.
  • Love's Labours Lost in Space: First appearance of Zapp Brannigan, Kif, and Nibbler. Meh. This was the first episode where I didn't laugh out loud.
  • Fear of a Bot Planet: The fist robot focused episode. The human/robot role flip was entertaining, but a bit cliche.
  • A Fishful of Dollars: I had to pause after Fry's freakout until I stopped laughing. My dog thinks I'm crazy. First appearance of Mom. Anyone who thinks Fry is the mastermind behind anything is almost as big an idiot as Fry himself.
  • My Three Suns: Bender's a** is now shiny. I kept thinking of Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy. "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water." I hate to break it to you, but Zoidberg might be bad at his job. Background music has started creeping in.
  • A Big Piece of Garbage: First Farnsworth episode. First appearance of the news crew. Sort of a parody of typical conservationist propaganda, but kind of has a twisted conservation message of its own.
  • Hell is Other Robots: Fry has awesome hair. Was that really an honest to goodness musical number? Background music is getting better too. I both this and the next episode, I kept wondering what Bender's angle was, before I remembered that this was before his flanderization.
  • A Flight to Remember: Drama! Romance! Fake love triangles! Backstory! Parody! Danger! Tragedy! All this and more!
  • Mars University: Nature vs Nurture at its worst. Also: GÜNTER?!? HOLY CRAP!(Don't mind me, just an Adventure Time fan questioning his whole existence.) 
  • When Aliens Attack:(I'm ignoring the "Second Coming" gag.) First alien invasion/incursion episode. It's kind of surprising that it took them this long. First appearance of Lrrr. I know that Zoidberg is just a butt monkey, but his incompetence is setting in early. Some good commentary about TV. The animation seems to have improved sharply since the pilot.
  • Fry and the Slurm Factory: Do all of Fry's "ideas" happen like the one in this episode? Kudos for not just doing Soylent Green, though they did get a gag out of it. Can we just stop with the Willy Wonka send-ups? I realize that it's cultural icon, but that movie was over 25 years old when this came out (40 years now). Self-awareness doesn't make it better. The episode's best moments came after the writers abandoned the overdone parody and did their own thing. Is the Amy slipping thing supposed to be a running gag, or did they just reuse it this once? Either way, it feels out of place.

 While this season does show its age, a decent chunk of the humor still works. The animation and sound improved steadily though the season, but the writing still has a ways to go. Bender was hilarious from his first moments. A good start to a long-running, oft-canceled series.

 On to season 2!


 I took my dog to the vet for the last of his shots, so I can start taking him out next week.

 I joined the Bronies of Northern California on Meetup.com, so expect to see me being more social. I'm thinking about going to StocktonCon this weekend. Anybody been/going to be there?

 I have something of a dilemma. I just haven't felt like watching season 2 of Friendship is Magic, but I want to catch up on the series. Should I jump ahead to the season finale? Or even skip to season 5?


 God bless.

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