I think one thing they're missing is being restricted. The restricting censorship of being on network TV and the restricting fear of needing to do well to not be cancelled. A lot of good in the original run is from them being creative in regards to getting things into the show that wouldn't have normally been able to make it in. Nowadays they've got free reign so they just do things bluntly instead of creatively to the detriment of the show. I've always been one to say that restrictions help creative endeavors by forcing one to come up with things they wouldn't have otherwise.
I've thought this as well.
There's nothing inherent about being uncensored that makes comedy funnier. It's what I never understood about Jon Kricfalusi's desire to have visible genitals in Ren & Stimpy episodes.
The man is mentally deranged. That's really the only thing to understand.
He's also essentially unemployable at this point, since he's pretty much pissed off/scared away every single broadcaster. Hell, the man can't even get anyone to work for him at an indie animation studio nowadays.
Damn. What the hell did the man do?
Basically turn in EVERY project very, very late, earned a reputation of being an extreme pain in the ass to work with (namely, by being an extreme pain in the ass to work with) and continued to produce stuff the networks refused to air, which essentially turned into a ginormous waste of money. Spike TV brought Ren and Stimpy back with the expectation that the guy would produce extreme stuff, and he STILL produced stuff so out there that Spike refused to air it (that would be "Naked Beach Frenzy").
He'd also give interviews where he'd shit all over pretty much everything currently being animated/drawn (except for his own work, of course) and accuse any animated show that's "adult" oriented of ripping him off. Which, in and of itself, isn't a career destroyer, but when combined with everything else cloudeagle mentioned, isn't exactly going to cause anyone to want to rush out and work with you.
Having followed John K's blog for a while, it becomes apparent that he's an extremely knowledgeable dude. He knows what's up in animation. He's just also extremely, even viciously, opinionated, and just absolutely cannot work with others. I get the feeling he'd be like the Quentin Tarantino of animation if he weren't such a dick.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
That was amazing. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. So many good jokes. So many good physics jokes!
The Schrodinger's cat reference was pretty enjoyable.
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Donkey KongPutting Nintendo out of business with AI nipsRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
Started off a little slow (with a bunch of missed jokes in a row) but eventually picked up steam. A good, solid, well-written episode. It was even punched up and dense like the older seasons (and better new episodes). The chief of police was superb for a thowaway gimmick character.
So many movie references.
Donkey Kong on
Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
I have a pair of red/blue 3d glasses from a 3d capable video card. I didn't get any 3D (only watery eyes) when they went to Pandora. Did it work for anybody else?
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Donkey KongPutting Nintendo out of business with AI nipsRegistered Userregular
I have a pair of red/blue 3d glasses from a 3d capable video card. I didn't get any 3D (only watery eyes) when they went to Pandora. Did it work for anybody else?
I had to adjust my TV's color until the 3D worked without ghosting in both eyes. It was a moderate effect, nothing special, no easter eggs. Everything was behind the full color animation. The joke of "put on 3D glasses one minute ago" was funnier than the little bit of effect.
Donkey Kong on
Thousands of hot, local singles are waiting to play at bubbulon.com.
Personally, I liked the Pratchett spin they put on their Schrodinger joke.
Schrodinger suggested there'd be two possible states for the cat in the experiment: Alive or Dead.
Pratchett though, suggested the third and most likely state for the cat in such an experiment: Bloody Furious.
Undoubtedly the best episode of this season so far. Unfortunately their inability to maintain characterization probably diminished how good this could have been.
He at least reminded me of season 1-4 Fry much more than the last 3 episodes.
"But who will team up with Smitty if he has taken early retirement!?" ...said not expecting any continuity.
Not only does it come across as lazy, but sometimes it strikes me as annoyingly repetitive: what was the point of having Fry shout that he was going to save one of the audience members from that rolling globe moments before he jumped in and saved one of them? Maybe it's just not my kind of humor, but it felt like episode padding to me.
Humor and the plot. Admitting that you can't save both of them while risking your life to save one of them is funny, plus it got a callback with the Amish sphere and the climax, when Bender decides to do something selfless for once. Besides, Fry was yelling it while he was jumping to save one of them. It didn't really feel like episode padding to me.
After rewatching the episode I agree that it wasn't really episode padding and the joke was shorter than I was recalling, but I still couldn't find the humor in it.
I enjoyed last night's episode much more than the last three; definitely felt more like one of the older episodes. I loved the Pandora scene and the whole robbery set up and the brief return of Roberto. I thought the Schrodinger's cat joke felt forced until Fry actually opened the box, and then I lost it.
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Zilla36021st Century. |She/Her|Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
Minority Report, Avatar, and Tron, all in one episode. Couldn't ask for more.
I dunno. I thought the episode jumped all over the place, from one random joke to the next.
On the other hand... every single joke was hilarious, and the entire show was awesome. So yeah.
This. I didn't care that the episode made no sense, the jokes were great.
And while we're pointing out the many, many continuity flaws of new Futurama, Fry was already promoted to Executive Delivery Boy back in the episode where Hermes quit being a bureaucrat, which actually meant he no longer went on deliveries and got an office. He did get fired that episode too, but my point was that Executive Delivery Boy is actually a meaningful title. Not like Executive Producer.
411Randle on
1) Silence 2) Books must be returned by the last date shown 3) Do not interfere with the nature of causality
I still think the episodes are suffering from a lack of flow, but this one was much better. And the Schrodinger's Cat joke was hilarious because of the whole extended setup where it didn't seem funny.
I don't know: a lot of the new episodes feel very stuccato, and seem to have less flow, but it's weird because some of the all time's greats like War is the H-word basically do exactly the same thing.
The real sciency joke was "That's a violation of the law of Lorentz invariance, baby." And yeah, it was pretty great. The police chef got better with each appearance.
The real sciency joke was "That's a violation of the law of Lorentz invariance, baby." And yeah, it was pretty great. The police chef got better with each appearance.
Forgive me for forgetting the name, but when the chief had the sketch laying on her desk... did anyone else think it looked like Professor Frink?
I didn't stop to see if it actually was, and it obviously wasn't once she held it up.
Wasn't it a Schrödinger mugshot?
Ya, I think so. The smaller version made me think of Frink, but I'm probably just crazy.
Good episode though! I think each one has been better than the last. I especially liked "Fully Buckminstered" and "Who you callin drunk? You're not drunk, I'm drunk!"
JuliusCaptain of Serenityon my shipRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
Loved the last one.
I went and checked last broadcast-season again with a friend and found out that those episodes were funnier than I initially gave them credit for.
I feel that the reason the new episodes seem less funny than the old ones is that I watched previous seasons mostly in one go. Like many other good comedies (Community, Arrested Development and so on) there is a mindset or mood or something that makes you appreciate it more when you don't have just one episode a week. Obviously it doesn't just apply to comedies but I think comedy is more affected by it than other things.
Posts
Basically turn in EVERY project very, very late, earned a reputation of being an extreme pain in the ass to work with (namely, by being an extreme pain in the ass to work with) and continued to produce stuff the networks refused to air, which essentially turned into a ginormous waste of money. Spike TV brought Ren and Stimpy back with the expectation that the guy would produce extreme stuff, and he STILL produced stuff so out there that Spike refused to air it (that would be "Naked Beach Frenzy").
So many movie references.
Seriously.
And knowing the writers, they have probably been trying to work one in since Season 1.
I had to adjust my TV's color until the 3D worked without ghosting in both eyes. It was a moderate effect, nothing special, no easter eggs. Everything was behind the full color animation. The joke of "put on 3D glasses one minute ago" was funnier than the little bit of effect.
That wasn't in 3D, which I thought was a missed opportunity. And it looked really weird with 3D glasses on.
Also, the first time they show the outside of the police station, with the WANTED posters up. Hilarious.
Wait, what?
I either do or don't. Click on the spoiler to find out.
.
Island. Being on fire.
I thought this one was such a boring joke. Also, didn't Schrodinger think the idea was stupid? this being the point of the thoguht experiment.
Overall the episode seemed too happy to just reference things and leave it at that. Not terrible, but pretty far from good in my opinion.
Schrodinger suggested there'd be two possible states for the cat in the experiment: Alive or Dead.
Pratchett though, suggested the third and most likely state for the cat in such an experiment: Bloody Furious.
He at least reminded me of season 1-4 Fry much more than the last 3 episodes.
"But who will team up with Smitty if he has taken early retirement!?" ...said not expecting any continuity.
Also, zombie-Scruffy!
"Life and death err just an endless continuum. Mmm hrm".
After rewatching the episode I agree that it wasn't really episode padding and the joke was shorter than I was recalling, but I still couldn't find the humor in it.
I enjoyed last night's episode much more than the last three; definitely felt more like one of the older episodes. I loved the Pandora scene and the whole robbery set up and the brief return of Roberto. I thought the Schrodinger's cat joke felt forced until Fry actually opened the box, and then I lost it.
On the other hand... every single joke was hilarious, and the entire show was awesome. So yeah.
This. I didn't care that the episode made no sense, the jokes were great.
And while we're pointing out the many, many continuity flaws of new Futurama, Fry was already promoted to Executive Delivery Boy back in the episode where Hermes quit being a bureaucrat, which actually meant he no longer went on deliveries and got an office. He did get fired that episode too, but my point was that Executive Delivery Boy is actually a meaningful title. Not like Executive Producer.
What was his jobtitle under the 80's businessman? I wouldn't be surprised if it were "Executive Delivery Boy" again.
Too bad about the boneitis.
I don't know: a lot of the new episodes feel very stuccato, and seem to have less flow, but it's weird because some of the all time's greats like War is the H-word basically do exactly the same thing.
"I want to compliment you on your bust."
"Thanks! Back at ya."
I didn't stop to see if it actually was, and it obviously wasn't once she held it up.
Wasn't it a Schrödinger mugshot?
Ya, I think so. The smaller version made me think of Frink, but I'm probably just crazy.
Good episode though! I think each one has been better than the last. I especially liked "Fully Buckminstered" and "Who you callin drunk? You're not drunk, I'm drunk!"
I went and checked last broadcast-season again with a friend and found out that those episodes were funnier than I initially gave them credit for.
I feel that the reason the new episodes seem less funny than the old ones is that I watched previous seasons mostly in one go. Like many other good comedies (Community, Arrested Development and so on) there is a mindset or mood or something that makes you appreciate it more when you don't have just one episode a week. Obviously it doesn't just apply to comedies but I think comedy is more affected by it than other things.
Yes. this was the only joke of the episode that had me laughing out loud, not that other jokes weren't funny, but this one evoked a physical guffaw.
/end of episode
"You win this time, show."
I almost laughed at the stab at Leno, but that was it.
The very idea!
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation