Futurama

[Spark Of Spirit]

So they put Futurama up on Netflix here up to the current season (all 98 episodes and 4 movies) and I'm watching through the first comeback season (labeled season 5) and it really is kind of shaky.

Some episodes (The first two episodes, That Darn Katz, The Late Philip J. Fry, and the Bender's mortality and the Lrrr episode) remind me of the old Futurama, in that it has crazy ideas and a plot that is driven by its characters, while other episodes (like the evolution episode which didn't really make very much sense or have much of a point) seem purely made to tackle "issues" or"trends" and instead use characters as mouthpieces or joke machines instead of characters that drive the plot. There are good jokes in these episodes, but they don't feel as natural, Even the better ones like the one with Bender finding the the inspector has way too many limbo jokes for Hermes that frequently make no real sense.

I'm glad the show is back, but I hope season 6 (the proper "7") is more of an improvement back towards the older style.

Also, I don't get the hate behind That Darn Katz, I thought it was hysterical and typical Futurama with unpredictable plot turns and jokes you just don't see coming. I would love more episodes like that.

[Foggle]

Also, I don't get the hate behind That Darn Katz, I thought it was hysterical and typical Futurama with unpredictable plot turns and jokes you just don't see coming. I would love more episodes like that.

I didn't find it funny in the slightest. I actually think it might be my least favorite episode in the entire series aside from that godawful holiday special. I'd rather watch Beast With A Billion Backs in all honesty.

Those aside, I don't really understand the hate the newer seasons receive. They're a bit weaker than the original ones, sure, but they're still very funny, even when they tackle current events and stuff.

[Avaitor]

The new seasons are mediocre in comparison to the original run, but there's still some funny moments in there. It's certainly better than modern Simpsons, if nothing else.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I don't even really find it mediocre, more like completely lopsided in quality. When it focuses on just being itself, it's good. When it tries to be ambitious, it feels forced and obvious robbing it of any punch or unpredictability.

I'd rather watch Beast With A Billion Backs in all honesty

[Commode]

Yeah, those movies are pretty awful.  The first one is watchable, along with parts of Benders Game, but for the most part they're pretty bad.

[Foggle]

IMO: Bender's Big Score and the first half of Bender's Game are quite good. Into The Wild Green Yonder, the second half of Bender's Game, and the first half of Beast With A Billion Backs are watchable at worst. The second half of Beast With A Billion Backs is just awful.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I thought Bender's Big Score was hilarious. Don't know what everyone else was watching, but IMO that movie was the closest to feeling like classic Futurama, in that it had almost everything I liked about the series' sense of humor in it. The rest of the movies were pretty lame, though, but Bender's Game did give me a few laughs, at least.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I really like Bender's Big Score. It's just a shame that the other movies are nowhere near as good as it is.

[Daxdiv]

I only watched Bender's Big Score and the Beast with a Billion Backs. I loved Big Score through and through since it did have the same comedy feel, along with all those emotional feels this show can bring out in me. While with Beast with a Billion Backs, I was questioning what the hell was I watching all the way through. I never watched any other of the DTVs after that due to laziness.

[Nel_Annette]

I love Bender's Big Score because of the same reasons as Dax. That subplot with Lars and his flashback wasn't as up there as the Seymour or Fry's nephew flashbacks, but it did invoke the same feeling from me. I also quite enjoy Beyond the Wild Green Yonder. I'm not sure why. I just like the whole Light one/Dark one plot because it feels like it'd be epic enough for a movie plot, though it never really lived up to that potential.

Beast With A Billion Backs? It feels like a regular episode padded out over four, and comes off as unfunny and obnoxious after Bender's Big Score. Hell, they basically ignore the big tear in the universe for the first half-hour, and after it being the cliffhanger in the last movie, it just kind of sucks how it's handled in here.

Bender's Game? Fuuuuuuck that movie. Another case of a plot worthy of one episode being stretched over four. The whole Lord of the Rings parody just comes off as awkward and stupid after the movie started with that plot at Mom's HQ.

As for seasons 5 and 6, I think they're all right. I do feel that they're weaker than the initial run, and there are a few too many jokes where it just feels like they're trying to show how much they can get away with now that they're on Comedy Central (Amy's orgy gag, Leela's outfit in the gender-swap episode), but I still enjoy the show more than Simpsons, Family Guy and Cleveland at this point.

Plus, Futurama has always been a "comfort show" for me, in which I mean I could watch it and/or marathon it at anytime with now problem if I'm bored, like with American Dad, Archer, or South Park.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I finished off "season 5" by watching the mutant revolt and holiday episodes and my opinion on the season remains unchanged. Completely lopsided. The mutant episode was good, but the holiday one was just dumb.

I'll end up watching the next 13 soon enough, but I'm not anticipating a drastic increase in quality considering its the same season just chopped into two.

[Foggle]

So I just started watching whichever season Volume 6 is (the newest one). Have to say that the first four episodes have really impressed me. Still not quite as good as the original four seasons (though Silence of the Clamps & Law and Oracle come very close), but it's easily better than the movies and most of Volume 5 so far. I was extremely happy to see that they finally brought back the original intro (the longer one with an old cartoon clip at the end) in Benderama. Hope it's in the episodes after that one, too.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I also watched the first few episodes of season "6" just recently. Law & Oracle was great, and I'm about to watch Silence Of The Clamps, but the ghost one was pretty funny. Fry's last line after Bender saves his life is one of the funniest things in the entire show.

The gender swap and Bender clone ones I could have done without, though. They seemed a bit too forced, IMO.

[Foggle]

Haven't seen the ghost or gender swap episode yet. I didn't like the Bender clone episode that much, either, but it was far better than any of the weaker installments from the previous season. The other episode I saw was Mobius Dick. That one was absolutely hilarious, though the ending was kinda' lame.

[Nel_Annette]

I don't really like the gender swap episode that much either, but the rock monster was hilarious.

"Perhaps it was I who learned the lesson... or something."