Futurama escaped that fate, but only because they were cancelled so early. Scrubs is currently experiencing it. Just my thoughts.
i was always terrified that Futurama was going to eventually go downhill, because if had been able to keep up what it was doing for another 3-4 seasons, in my mind it would unseat the simpsons as best animated series of all time.
i man, you watch futurama's last season and there's a few slow episodes with not that great premises, but they're still AMAZING. "Love and Rocket" has probably the most layered joke in existence, during the montage of Bender and the Planet Express Ship dating, where Bender sings "DAISY DAISY, GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER, DO. I'M HALF CRAZY ALL FOR THE LOVE OF YOU. IT WON'T BE A STYLISH MARRIAGE, I CAN'T AFFORD A CARRIAGE. BUT YOU'LL LOOK SWEET UPON THE SEAT OF A BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO"
that joke works on at least three levels. i love it
The last season or two of Futurama had a LOT of bad episodes. The worst being "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television". Christ, that was horrible.
On the other hand, The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings was pretty awesome.
I enjoyed that episode, and quite a few others from that season if I remember correctly.
And who the hell called the missionary episode of the Simpsons from season 11 good? That episode is probably where I stopped watching entirely. The jockey episode didn't help either.
The only stand-out bad episode of Futurama is hte one with the Space Bee Jelly and Leela thinking she killed Fry.
I have to agree there. Nixon and Gore were awesome (and those weren't actually cameos). Some of the others... meh. Its like there were no famous people between 2000 and 3001.
I mean, the planet had been leveled by aliens twice yet people still know about Pamela Anderson?
Also, in Star Trek, they're still focused on Mark Twain and Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes.
Shakespeare, maybe, but I don't remember anyone obsessing over Mark Twain except in the time travel ep where he appeared. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think you may be reading too much into the passing interest of a handful of Enterprise crewmembers.
Shakespeare, maybe, but I don't remember anyone obsessing over Mark Twain except in the time travel ep where he appeared. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think you may be reading too much into the passing interest of a handful of Enterprise crewmembers.
Season 11 had both the Focusin and Tommaco episodes... Those two episodes alone are almost equal in quality to dogshit.
I fixed that for you.
Edit: In fact, looking at the episode list for Season 11, the only one I actually remember enjoying was the "Behind the Music" parody.
Are you kidding me? The Behind the Music episode is possibly the worst episode in the entire run of the Simpsons. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
The Behind the Laughter episode was far from great, but it's also far, far from the worst episode. Hell, I'd be inclined to give that honor to the Tomacco ep, but from what I've seen recent seasons have been even worse. That ep was more or less where I stopped watching as a regular thing. I didn't stop completely until the 13th season, I think.
I actually remember the episode that made me stop watching. It was the one where the comic-book-guy kidnaps Lucy Lawless. Can anybody tell me what season that was in?
Shakespeare, maybe, but I don't remember anyone obsessing over Mark Twain except in the time travel ep where he appeared. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think you may be reading too much into the passing interest of a handful of Enterprise crewmembers.
Shakespeare, maybe, but I don't remember anyone obsessing over Mark Twain except in the time travel ep where he appeared. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think you may be reading too much into the passing interest of a handful of Enterprise crewmembers.
You mean the starring cast?
Data, Geordi, Picard, and that's pretty much it.
And Worf.
What was it.. "Hamlet in the Original Klingon?"
No ancient, obscure, or non-Western literature, nor anything in the centuries between then and now, that I can recall.
I actually remember the episode that made me stop watching. It was the one where the comic-book-guy kidnaps Lucy Lawless. Can anybody tell me what season that was in?
That was from the 1999 Halloween episode. To be fair, that segment did give us the classic line:
Lawless: Ah, yeah, well, whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.
Season 11 had both the Focusin and Tommaco episodes... Those two episodes alone are almost equal in quality to dogshit.
I fixed that for you.
Edit: In fact, looking at the episode list for Season 11, the only one I actually remember enjoying was the "Behind the Music" parody.
Are you kidding me? The Behind the Music episode is possibly the worst episode in the entire run of the Simpsons. You clearly have no idea what you are talking about.
The Behind the Laughter episode was far from great, but it's also far, far from the worst episode. Hell, I'd be inclined to give that honor to the Tomacco ep, but from what I've seen recent seasons have been even worse. That ep was more or less where I stopped watching as a regular thing. I didn't stop completely until the 13th season, I think.
I actually remember the episode that made me stop watching. It was the one where the comic-book-guy kidnaps Lucy Lawless. Can anybody tell me what season that was in?
Season 11 rears its ugly head again... Halloween episode, season 11.
Sentry on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
wrote:
When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
So, I got back from the movie, and it really wasn't that bad. I agree with the assessment that on a quality scale, I'd put it somewhere around season 8 or 9 (and I consider anything from 11-on unwatchable). I had free tickets, but I'd still consider it worth a matinee price, if you're on the fence.
Season 11 had both the Focusin and Tommaco episodes... thus completely negating any possible point you could make. Those two episodes alone are almost equal in quality to anything that came before season 11, with the possible exception of Lisa the Vegetarian and, of course, the Monorail episode.
Also, I thought the movie was pretty great... would have been better with some Conan O'Brian writing, but over all it was very good.
?!?
In the entire lexicon of Simpsons history, you select those as the best episodes ever?
Sheesh.
Anyway, the main problem with Homer's character is that with all these learning experiences and epiphanies he keeps having, he's supposed to get better and better, and yet, when you look at it as a whole, he only seems to get worse and worse. How does that happen? If in one season Homer learns how to be a more sensitive husband, and in the following season he goes from dumbass to malicious, then it becomes pointless.
So, I got back from the movie, and it really wasn't that bad. I agree with the assessment that on a quality scale, I'd put it somewhere around season 8 or 9 (and I consider anything from 11-on unwatchable). I had free tickets, but I'd still consider it worth a matinee price, if you're on the fence.
Season 11 had both the Focusin and Tommaco episodes... thus completely negating any possible point you could make. Those two episodes alone are almost equal in quality to anything that came before season 11, with the possible exception of Lisa the Vegetarian and, of course, the Monorail episode.
Also, I thought the movie was pretty great... would have been better with some Conan O'Brian writing, but over all it was very good.
?!?
In the entire lexicon of Simpsons history, you select those as the best episodes ever?
Sheesh.
Anyway, the main problem with Homer's character is that with all these learning experiences and epiphanies he keeps having, he's supposed to get better and better, and yet, when you look at it as a whole, he only seems to get worse and worse. How does that happen? If in one season Homer learns how to be a more sensitive husband, and in the following season he goes from dumbass to malicious, then it becomes pointless.
Actually, the movie does a fairly decent job of explaining why Homer seems to ignore all of his self-improvement.
Basically, he admits he doesn't think, but just pushes all the crap and ignores all the shit that happens to him to the back of his head, until he gets to go home and be with Marge.
I know we've seen it a thousand times in various episodes, but I got choked up with the whole
Marge takes the kids and goes back to Springfield without Homer thing.
Kavner's performance was really, really good and was what separated it from all the other episodes that went down this line.
The cinema I saw it in was pretty packed but the laughs weren't particularly huge. A group of about 15 people walked out about three quarters in, guess they didn't enjoy it.
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
There's an entire thread dedicated to discussing omitted faults of historical figures, proving that our own knowledge of the past is in many ways just as poor as theirs.
And who the hell called the missionary episode of the Simpsons from season 11 good? That episode is probably where I stopped watching entirely. The jockey episode didn't help either.
Oh come on, the missionary episode is where "Jebus" comes from. Plus the ending is brilliant. But you're right, the jockey episode sucked.
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
There's an entire thread dedicated to discussing omitted faults of historical figures, proving that our own knowledge of the past is in many ways just as poor as theirs.
I always thought that was the joke. The stupid pop-cultural shit remains forever carved in stone, but the things we think of as great achievements were forgotten.
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
There's an entire thread dedicated to discussing omitted faults of historical figures, proving that our own knowledge of the past is in many ways just as poor as theirs.
I always thought that was the joke. The stupid pop-cultural shit remains forever carved in stone, but the things we think of as great achievements were forgotten.
The ratio of customers in my store who buy trashy celebrity tabloid magazines to those who buy history books or even books on important current political/cultural/social events leads me to believe that this is exactly what things will be like in the future.
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
There's an entire thread dedicated to discussing omitted faults of historical figures, proving that our own knowledge of the past is in many ways just as poor as theirs.
I always thought that was the joke. The stupid pop-cultural shit remains forever carved in stone, but the things we think of as great achievements were forgotten.
The ratio of customers in my store who buy trashy celebrity tabloid magazines to those who buy history books or even books on important current political/cultural/social events leads me to believe that this is exactly what things will be like in the future.
the other thing is that futurama is a comedy show, where they're going to make a joke even if it seems anachronistic for the time. if it's funny, they'll use it. that's what comedy shows do, they make jokes.
this is the show that had zoidberg's underwater house burn down because of a lit cigar, people. God.
WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS
Pants Man on
"okay byron, my grandma has a right to be happy, so i give you my blessing. just... don't get her pregnant. i don't need another mom."
Didn't Hermes even coment on how that made no sense?
Zoidberg: My home! It burned down! How could this happen?
Hermes: ...that's a very good question.
Bender: (picks up his cigar) Oh, there's my cigar.
Hermes: That just raises further questions!
The only stand-out bad episode of Futurama is hte one with the Space Bee Jelly and Leela thinking she killed Fry.
I'm sorry to bring this back up from the previous page, but this is so terribly wrong.
Seriously. I'm not a huge fan of Bender Must Not be Allowed on Television... but the Space Bee episode was great.
Leela referring to the last Planet Express crew: The only thing they did better then us was suck and die.
Sentry on
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
wrote:
When I was a little kid, I always pretended I was the hero,' Skip said.
'Fuck yeah, me too. What little kid ever pretended to be part of the lynch-mob?'
The only stand-out bad episode of Futurama is hte one with the Space Bee Jelly and Leela thinking she killed Fry.
I'm sorry to bring this back up from the previous page, but this is so terribly wrong.
Seriously. I'm not a huge fan of Bender Must Not be Allowed on Television... but the Space Bee episode was great.
Leela referring to the last Planet Express crew: The only thing they did better then us was suck and die.
"I'm sick'a shakin' my booty for these fat jerks!*while dancing it*"
"*Bees gasp*"
"I didn't mean all of you. *Dances as well*Just fatso over there."
"HE INSULTED OUR FAT QUEEN!"
I sort of felt that seasons 10-13 or so were unwatchably bad, but that the series has occasionally gotten back on the right track since then. I don't watch it consistently anymore, but when I do catch it, often times the episodes are pretty good. Rarely are they of the quality of Seasons 2-8 (although every once and a while they get really close), but I wouldn't characterize them as "bad" like they usually were under the Mike Scully Error.
As for the movie, I thought it was okay. The main dissapointing thing was that it could have been better.
For one, the overall plot sucked. It focused too much on the family at the expense of the rich wealth of secondary characters. Seriously, how did characters like Mr. Burns have such a minor role in this film?
The actual jokes were usually pretty good. There were several real winners that have already been mentioned in this thread. But the lack of a good overall plot made a lot of them just too forgetable.
For one, the overall plot sucked. It focused too much on the family at the expense of the rich wealth of secondary characters. Seriously, how did characters like Mr. Burns have such a minor role in this film?
I thought that was a positive. There's such a massive amount of secondary characters that to try and focus on all of, or even a large part, them would have diluted the movie.
It was better for the Simpson movie to focus on the Simpsons family, if you ask me.
Pata on
Episode 5: Mecha-World, Mecha-nisim, Mecha-beasts
0
Options
Dusdais ashamed of this postSLC, UTRegistered Userregular
edited August 2007
I, uh...
I absolutely loved it. I've actually seen it twice now. Which is strange, because I dropped the Simpsons a long, long time ago.
The minor character thing kinda bugged me too. I guess they didn't want to focus on too few character. instead they went for the other extreme where virtually every character in the Simpsons universe got a least one or two lines. It felt very odd cuz when you think about it most episodes really only focus on the family and maybe 3 or 4 minor characters. Most of the moments they spread around were at least goid ones( like Ralphs and Moe's)
nexuscrawler on
0
Options
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
edited August 2007
I really think The Simpsons was the best when Conan O'Brien was still on staff. He wrote the episode "Marge vs. The Monorail," for instance.
Posts
I just...what?
"According to this Gizmometer, Fry is dead and nothing can ever bring him back! *Walks off*Remarkable..."
I don't know, I thought it was pretty awkward how 20th-century celebrities were constantly being treated as relevant to 31st-century culture.
I mean, the planet had been leveled by aliens twice yet people still know about Pamela Anderson?
Also, in Star Trek, they're still focused on Mark Twain and Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes.
Shakespeare, maybe, but I don't remember anyone obsessing over Mark Twain except in the time travel ep where he appeared. As for Sherlock Holmes, I think you may be reading too much into the passing interest of a handful of Enterprise crewmembers.
You mean the starring cast?
I actually remember the episode that made me stop watching. It was the one where the comic-book-guy kidnaps Lucy Lawless. Can anybody tell me what season that was in?
And Worf.
What was it.. "Hamlet in the Original Klingon?"
No ancient, obscure, or non-Western literature, nor anything in the centuries between then and now, that I can recall.
That was from the 1999 Halloween episode. To be fair, that segment did give us the classic line:
Lawless: Ah, yeah, well, whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.
Season 11 rears its ugly head again... Halloween episode, season 11.
yes, that's the joke
'90s celebrities making cameos and professing to have had a profound effect on the development of Earth and the entire universe is also a joke.
Apparently, there are lots of jokes in this show.
interesting. will have to examine this phenomenon further, only this time with a sense of humor
?!?
In the entire lexicon of Simpsons history, you select those as the best episodes ever?
Sheesh.
Anyway, the main problem with Homer's character is that with all these learning experiences and epiphanies he keeps having, he's supposed to get better and better, and yet, when you look at it as a whole, he only seems to get worse and worse. How does that happen? If in one season Homer learns how to be a more sensitive husband, and in the following season he goes from dumbass to malicious, then it becomes pointless.
Actually, the movie does a fairly decent job of explaining why Homer seems to ignore all of his self-improvement.
The cinema I saw it in was pretty packed but the laughs weren't particularly huge. A group of about 15 people walked out about three quarters in, guess they didn't enjoy it.
It's hard to take seriously since its so incocnsistent. The characters in the show are constantly ignorant of the 20th century(like take the Old New York exhibit they go to in the one episode) yet whenever it suits them they also have an enclycpedic knowledge of 20th century pop culture.
There's an entire thread dedicated to discussing omitted faults of historical figures, proving that our own knowledge of the past is in many ways just as poor as theirs.
Oh come on, the missionary episode is where "Jebus" comes from. Plus the ending is brilliant. But you're right, the jockey episode sucked.
I always thought that was the joke. The stupid pop-cultural shit remains forever carved in stone, but the things we think of as great achievements were forgotten.
The ratio of customers in my store who buy trashy celebrity tabloid magazines to those who buy history books or even books on important current political/cultural/social events leads me to believe that this is exactly what things will be like in the future.
XBL |Steam | PSN | last.fm
the other thing is that futurama is a comedy show, where they're going to make a joke even if it seems anachronistic for the time. if it's funny, they'll use it. that's what comedy shows do, they make jokes.
this is the show that had zoidberg's underwater house burn down because of a lit cigar, people. God.
WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS
I'm sorry to bring this back up from the previous page, but this is so terribly wrong.
Zoidberg: My home! It burned down! How could this happen?
Hermes: ...that's a very good question.
Bender: (picks up his cigar) Oh, there's my cigar.
Hermes: That just raises further questions!
Seriously. I'm not a huge fan of Bender Must Not be Allowed on Television... but the Space Bee episode was great.
Leela referring to the last Planet Express crew: The only thing they did better then us was suck and die.
"I'm sick'a shakin' my booty for these fat jerks!*while dancing it*"
"*Bees gasp*"
"I didn't mean all of you. *Dances as well*Just fatso over there."
"HE INSULTED OUR FAT QUEEN!"
As for the movie, I thought it was okay. The main dissapointing thing was that it could have been better.
For one, the overall plot sucked. It focused too much on the family at the expense of the rich wealth of secondary characters. Seriously, how did characters like Mr. Burns have such a minor role in this film?
The actual jokes were usually pretty good. There were several real winners that have already been mentioned in this thread. But the lack of a good overall plot made a lot of them just too forgetable.
I thought that was a positive. There's such a massive amount of secondary characters that to try and focus on all of, or even a large part, them would have diluted the movie.
It was better for the Simpson movie to focus on the Simpsons family, if you ask me.
I absolutely loved it. I've actually seen it twice now. Which is strange, because I dropped the Simpsons a long, long time ago.
BEST EPISODE EVER!