The ‘global warming’ storyline kinda limits what they can do, but there are some good laughs from Bender and Farnsworth. 8/10
Showing posts with label Futurama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Futurama. Show all posts
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Even for a show as clever as Futurama, the idea of turning Bender into a TV star who sets a bad example to kids is genius. And very funny.
My favourite part was the TV executives.
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Less Than Hero . Amusing parody of superhero tropes. With some nice stuff on Leela’s new backstory thrown in. Now that we know who her parents are, it adds a lot to her character.
Best bits: whenever Fry turns to Bender for moral guidance.
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Kif Is Pregnant. Main story is okay, but there are some great Zapp Brannigan gags and lots of knowing digs at Star Trek.
NCIS, Dark Blue, Arrested Development, Futurama, Night Court
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
05.00 NCIS
06.00 Dark Blue
07.00 Arrested Development
01.00 Futurama
01.30 Night Court
NCIS. Season 5, Episode 13. "Dog Tags" Abby protects a dog.
Only on NCIS could they do a story about one of the team protecting a dog (accused of murder) and get away with it.
It should be corny and silly, but I totally rooted for Abby (and the dog) was was totally satisfied by the twist revelation of the killer.
Dark Blue. Episode 2. "Guns, Strippers and Wives" Ty is taken hostage.
I tried to like this. I really, really did. I even gave it two episodes. But... it's rubbish.
Nothing here that you haven't seen before done better in other shows.
Ty seems like an idiot for putting his wife at risk, and the bad guy's obsessive interest in where he went that night seems like false jeopardy to me from the start.
So... I thought the 'hero' was an idiot and I didn't believe in the drama for even one second. So, yeah, I won't be watching this again.
Arrested Development. Season 2, Episode 15. "Sword of Destiny"
A mess of an episode. It is riddled with over-dubbing and doesn't flow or fit together like a typical episode AD. I can only presume that the behind-the-scenes issues (mentioned many times in the story) are responsible for the mess that appears onscreen.
Having said all of that...
...there are still some wonderful moments in the episode. All the digs at FOX cutting the episode order from 22 to 18 are priceless. Ben Stiller is hilarious as a magician, with several laugh-out-loud moments and the entire magic act involving Buster and Gob is fantastic.
So, while there are classic funny moments there is still enough bad stuff on display to make me want to call this "The Worst Episode Of Arrested Development."
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 17. "War Is the H-Word"
One of my all-time favourite episodes of Futurama. Bender and Fry go to war. With Leela in tow, disguised as a man. While Zapp Brannigan leads them all.
If everything about that previous sentence doesn't make you salivate with glee then you are not in tune with all the things that are wonderful about Futurama.
Night Court. Season 2, Episode 3. "Billie and the Cat"
Another new cast member joins the ranks and... defies Harry. So he sends her to jail for contempt of court.
A good story, not silly, with lots of funny moments.
Highlight? Futurama (war)
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Futurama
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
04.00 Futurama
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 15. "The Problem with Popplers" The newest snack craze on Planet Earth turns out to be the young of an aggressive alien race. (Don't you hate when that happens?)
One of the best and funniest episodes. It makes you laugh (a lot) but, in common with all the best Futurama episodes, it also has something to say. Not just about what we eat (the final scene is terrific) but about things like fast food chains and television sponsorship. Not bad.
Plus, it's got a rather high death toll. Millions of popplers, an ape, and a hippy. Not bad.
All the best lines got to Zapp Brannigan, of course.
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Futurama, Arrested Development, Catweazle, Hammer House Of Horror
Friday, July 25th, 2009
06.30 Futurama
07.00 Arrested Development
07.30 Catweazle
10.00 Hammer House Of Horror
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 14. "Mother's Day" Robots rebel under the leadership of Mom.
Most of the humour in this one stems from the idea of really old people having sex. Farnsworth must seduce Mom (a recurring baddie on the show) in order to save the world. The robot controller is hidden in her bra. Of course. Women are always hiding things in their bras. On TV. I've not yet met a woman in real life who hides anything in her bra. But I live in hope.
Story-wise, it's a lazy one. Mom programs her robots to take over the world, and her children identify Farnsworth as the one who can put a stop to this madness and seek him out. So it's a lazy trundle from Point A to Point B in this one. Not complainin', just sayin'...
It's also one of those episode where the regulars characters are pretty-much together for the whole episode. Bender runs off, to join the revolt, but the rest of them function as a unit for the remainder of the episode.
The Farnsworth sex scenes are funny, but not as funny as the show thinks they are.
Arrested Development. Season 2, Episode 3. "¡Amigos!" Everyone heads to Mexico.
The first strained episode of Arrested Development. All the zaniness doesn't quite hang together, especially in Mexico where it is just a group of people who keep running up to, and then away from, one another. For no obvious reason. A lot of running and jumping doesn't always make for great comedy. Even on Arrested Development, sadly.
Gob's attempts to find a real friend is, likewise, a bit too strained to work properly. It's neither funny not touching. It's just there. For too many scenes.
Gene Parmesan is one of the episode's high points. Not because of Martin Mull, who is oddly muted in his performance, but because of Jessica Walter's hilarious reactions every time he reveals himself in disguise. For that alone, I wish Gene had appeared more.
The other funny bit, of course, is the fact that they forget Ann and leave her behind.
Catweazle. Episode 2. "Castle Saburac" Catweazle finds a home.
A direct continuation of episode one, but with more comedy and more of a sense of adventure. And it sets up important elements of the series to follow.
Everyone in the Bennett household is still talking about Carrot's odd behaviour the night before, and - to Carrot's surprise - the scruffy 'wizard' is still running around the farm buildings. When he catches up with him, our young hero forces him to take a bath and clean up his act a little bit.
The discovery by the housekeeper of Catweazle in the bathroom, and the later theft of his own clothes from the washing line, give the episode it's comedic highlights with the clothes line stuff being especially funny. Sam, the farmhand, is the only one to see Catweazle and bears the brunt of everyone's suspicion and ridicule. It's very obvious comedy, of course, but Neil McCarthy makes it work.
This then leads to the adventure portion, with Sam giving chase to the poor wizard through the woods/countryside. Some of this stuff (especially in the old house) is very exciting and well staged/filmed by Quentin Lawrence.
Eventually Catweazle finds a home to live in (for the duration of the first season) and - more important - we at home get to see that he really can work magic (he hypnotises the housekeeper so that she cannot see him) and that sometimes his magic will fail to work (he cannot do the same when it comes to Sam!). This neat duality allows him to be both exciting and comedic. The perfect lead for a series that must appeal to children as well as adults.
Hammer House Of Horror. Episode 1. "Witching Time" Couple battles witch in remote cottage.
The premise is similar to Catweazle, the role of protagonist switches from one person to another, there are some unanswered questions, but the story zips along and it's great fun (if not exactly scary).
The story opens with the focus on David Winter, working all alone in a very old country cottage. His wife makes a brief appearance (when they speak on the telephone) and we learn that she is having an affair. Apart from that the story stays with David. There's a sudden, strange storm and David finds a mysterious woman who claims to be a witch, who has travelled forward in time to escape persecution from Witchhunters. David doesn't believe her, of course, but he comes to realise that she's definitely to be feared.
From here until the mid-point David's behaviour gets slightly more erratic as he appears to be the only one who can see this mysterious woman. Eventually his wife returns home (from working in London) to take care of him. At first she thinks he's having a break-down of some sort, but some mysterious happenings soon convince her that her husband is telling the truth and she sets out to save her husband and, of course, her marriage.
Which is all very unusual in storytelling. Usually, if we find out that the wife of the 'hero' is off having an affair we dismiss her as an unsympathetic character and 'hate' her. Which is what 99% of these narrative's want us to do. No so here. Prunella Gee makes a great charismatic lead and, as soon as she shows up to try and save her husband, we start to like her. The writer never makes it clear why she was off having an affair, but it's obvious that she cares deeply for her husband despite her wanderings and her decision to end the affair and try and help her husband is very welcome (if under-explained).
There's also the matter of the dog. Much of made of it disappearing. But the story never mentions the mutt again. In any context. Which makes me wonder why they bothered showcasing his disappearance. Maybe just for atmosphere...
The climax arrives far too soon (this would have made a very watchable feature) but sends the story out in style with a good old fashioned girl fight as David is trapped in a burning building.
Highlight? Hammer House Of Horror (good fun)
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Futurama
Friday, January 4th, 2008
04:00 Futurama
04:30 Futurama
Futurama. Season 3, Episode 4. "The Luck Of The Fryrish" is my favourite episode of Futurama. It's a wonderful story. Half of it is told in the year 3001 as Fry heads back to his old neighbourhood in search of a lucky clover he used to own, and half of it is told in the years leading up to Fry disappearance (the latter years of the 20th Century). In these flashbacks, we witness his life growing up, with particular emphasis on his uneasy relationship with his older brother. It's a very funny episode, but more than that it has lots of heart and a wonderful ending that is sure to bring a tear or two to the eye.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 13. Laughs are few and far between in the episode where Bender falls in with the Robot Mafia and ends up taking part in a raid on the Planet Express ship and holding his friends hostage. The episode takes a very long time to get going and some of the best laughs come from Leela not Bender. Which is unusual.
Futurama, Laurel And Hardy
Tuesday, December 25th, 2007
11:00 Laurel And Hardy
11:30 Futurama
Laurel And Hardy. 1930, Film 1. "Night Owls" is classic Laurel And Hardy and one of my most favourite of their films. It's got a great story, and lots of great set-pieces. We start off in a police station and learn that Officer Kennedy is under severe pressure to catch some burglars who are robbing houses on his beat. Meeting Stan and Ollie in a park that night, he suggests they help him out: rob a house, so he can catch them and look good. What will happen next?, they wonder. Have no fear, he assures them, Kennedy will fix it all. What follows is masterful slapstick of the boys scaling a wall, being confused by open/closed doors/windows and - eventually - getting full run of the house to steal/destroy as much as they can. Hilarious. I love it.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 4. One of the best-ever Futurama episodes. It's Christmas-time in the year 3000 and Fry is lonely because of all the friends/family he left behind in the year 1999. But, in the middle of wallowing in his own sorrow, he realises that Leela is even sadder since she never had any friends/family at all in her younger days. So Fry (for all his stupidity) sets out to get Leela a present and show her that she's got someone now.
Futurama is my all-time fave animated show because (in common with sit-com greats like Taxi or Cheers) it's got heart and the characters are very real. Despite all the jokes flying around the writers always write the real emotions of the characters. Bender is an amoral lying thief, but he really does like Fry and they really are best friends. Fry is an idiot, but his love for Leela is very real. The writers have fun with everything else, but they (wisely) never make fun of Fry's feelings. This episode is driven by the fact that he wants to do something sweet for his friend. And the fact that this honest effort to cheer her up inadvertantly brings him out of his own funk makes the episode genuinely sweet and heart-warming. What more could you want from a Christmas episode?
Oh yeah, there's also a Killer Santa Robot on the loose....
Corner Gas, Futurama, Laurel And Hardy, Seinfeld
Saturday, December 22nd, 2007
06:00 Seinfeld
06:30 Futurama
12:30 Laurel And Hardy
01:00 Corner Gas
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 8. Jerry and Kramer switch appartments. And Jerry begins to act like Kramer. Surely one of the funniest moments ever in the history of the show. Aside from there is the usual tangled web of plotlines involving all of the characters. Elaine and George spend a lot of time together in this episode, he's done something to really annoy her and it's great fun to watch her push him around.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 12. A weaker-than-usual episode from the Year 3000 Gang. Everyone goes fishing. The ship gets dragged far under the sea and the crew finds The Fabled Lost City Of Atlanta. And that's about it gag-wise. Fry has a love-affair with a mermaid, but laughs are few and far between.
Laurel And Hardy. 1929, Film 6. "The Hoose-Gow" differs from the two films before it by having more of a story and several scenes/set-pieces rather than a multitude of gags built upon one situation. Consequently, I prefer it. And it contains some of my favourite Laurel And Hardy moments. Scene 1 finds the boys arriving in prison, and contains lots of very funny stuff with a guard. Scene 2 finds the boys at work in a Labour Camp with lots of nice slapstick. Confusion of where to sit at meal times follows. Then they managed to chop down a tree with a guard still in it. The final third of the movie is devoted to a visit from the governor (the always funny James Finlayson) and it all degerates into a free-for-all rice-fight. One of my favourites.
Corner Gas. Season 3, Episode 13. Christmas arrives in the quirky town of Dog River just as Lacey decides to head home to Toronto for the holidays. Hank is on a mission to help needy people, while Brent struggles to adjust when his parents switch to a new Tree. Much mileage is gotten from a robot goat (it seems that Trans-Farmer Toys are the In Thing) and there are a lot of laugh-out funny sequences. Most coming from little more than character interaction. There's also a moment of almost-sweetness when Lacey realises that "home" is back with the folks in Dog River. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it was there. And it felt very real. Apart from that, it was laughs all the way.
Highlight? Corner Gas
Carnivàle, Entourage, Futurama, Seinfeld
Thursday, December 20th, 2007
03:30 Seinfeld
04:00 Futurama
04:30 Carnivàle
05:30 Entourage
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 7. George becomes enraged when religious cult carpet cleaners (notorious for brainwashing clients) make no attempt to add him to their ranks. I love that kind of thinking. This episode also dusts off the NBC pilot that the guys made back in Season 4, when Kramer convinces George and Jerry that the show will be a big hit in Japan.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 11. Hermes (the one cast member I don't find funny) gets more than usual to do in this episode, when his job is taken and he is replace by a more efficient bureaucrat (who has an affair with Fry and disables Bender, thus making for a very funny episode). It all ends with a horrible musical number from Hermes, but - despite that - I still rate this as a winner.
Carnivàle. Season 2, Episode 3. The seedier side of life gets plenty of airtime in this chapter of 1930s supernatural adventure. Stumpy is making his wife and daughter sleep with Johns all day to help cover his debts, Ben (on the trail of his father) is offered the services of a 'retarded girl', and - over on the dark side - Brother Justin commands his maid to perform services on him (in full sight of his bitter enemy Reverend Balthus). Later on, Ben falls victim to a gang of backwoods robbers and - in general - everything in the episode seems dirtier and grimier than every before. The ending, where Sofie wakes to hear Brother Justin on the radio is absolutely chilling...
Entourage. Season 2, Episode 12. Vince's romance with Mandy is starting to make everyone nervous. Especially when he misses an important Physical. Ari gets tough, but Eric gets tougher. I love watching these two characters go head to head. The tension between them, and their battle for control of Vince, is one of the things I love most about this fantastic show. In other plotlines, Turtle becomes an agent to an up and coming musician.
Highlight? Entourage.
Futurama, Harvey Birdman, Stacked, The Tick
Monday, December 10th, 2007
10:00 Harvey Birdman
10:15 Harvey Birdman
10:30 The Tick
11:00 Stacked
11:30 Futurama
Harvey Birdman. Episode 3. "Shaggy Busted" is my favourite of the early HB installents and it's probably the first one I saw. I've seen it so many times now, over the years, that I no longer know if I still find it funny or not. I just love watching it. There are many things to love here: First and foremost the inclusion of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy Rogers, Fred Jones (who?), Velma Dinkley and (the very sexy) Daphne Blake. Secondly, this is the episode that introduces the character of Peanut (Harvey's clerk at the law firm of Sebben & Sebben) and their scenes together at the start of the episode are some of the funniest ever given the two characters. Harvey's "you'll never use that" attitude to the law, and Peanut's links to murder (?) and sexual perversion (!) are given an ample airing. His full-on advances towards Daphne later in the episode are equally hilarious. But this is Harvey's show. His arrival at prision (to be greeted by a chorus of disgruntled former clients) and his willingness to get hammered the night before trial all server to generate a lot of laughs.
Apart from that, neither the judge (Hiram Mightor) nor the prosecutor (Spyro) are among my favourites. Neither are very funny, but this is still my favourite early episode of the this wonderful series.
Harvey Birdman. Episode 2. Maybe because I haven't watched "Very Personal Injury" quite as many times as "Shaggy Busted" but it proves to be much funnier this time around. Apache Chief, the Native American former Superfriend who has the power to grow very large, saves the city once again. Afterwards, he heads into Javalux for a cup of coffee and accidentally spills the hot coffee on his lap. Ouch! Myron Reducto (one of my fave characters) sits in the prosecutors chair and is hilarious from start to finish. He even gets to win the case, and help Apache Chief find happiness and true love in the process. Yay! Even better than this, this episode introduces the silent Bear who goes on to appear in many, many episodes.
The Tick. Episode 1. I've finally got around to watching The Tick on DVD. My Tick collection - up to now - has consisted of video tapes with Voice Overs on the closing credits. Very annoying in Season 3 when The Tick was reading out letters from fans and you couldn't hear the jokes. Thank goodness for DVDs. Yay!
Anyway.
The first episode opens with The Tick and Arthur talking about their time together as superheros. We flash back to see how The Tick first came to The City and met Arthur for the first time. His arrival is typically hilarious, and Arthur is a wonderfully sweet and likable character from the get-go. This first story gives us a great view of The City, with it's scores of superheroes running around bumping into one another (literally at one point). Die Fledermaus and American Maid get little more than cameos and if this episode has a weakness it is the Villians: the Idea Men (the very definition of a one note joke). They wear masks. We can't hear what they are saying. That's it. Funny once, yes. After that? Not so much.
But this is the story of the Tick all the way. "You don't eat crackers in the bed of your future!" he yells at one point. He's crazy. He's idealistic. And he's one of the best superheroes they've ever put on TV.
Stacked. Episode 17. Stranger and stranger. "Stacked" started life as one of the funniest shows on TV. Yet, curiously, all these later episodes are somewhat devoid of laughs. Strange. Gavin, Stuart and Skyler try to reason with a noisy neighbour for most of the the episode. Brian Scolaro and Steve Valentine get laughs, but everyone else falls flat.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 10. A very funny episode with focus firmly on Professor Farnsworth who - depressed at his advancing years - unveils his clone for the first time. Cubert is a jerk, however, and seems to prove that Farnsworth has created another failure. There are a lot of great gags, as always, but - as with the best Futurama episodes - there is some honest sentiment at the core of the episode, and it makes for a very rewarding outing.
Highlight? Futurama.
30 Rock, Futurama
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
11:00 30 Rock
11:30 Futurama
30 Rock. Season 2, Episode 7. One of the best elements of 30 Rock (and one of my favourites) is the friendship between Liz (the geek) and Jack (the sophisticate). Jack's genuine interest in, and liking for, Liz is one of the show's strengths. He sometimes acts like a mentor to her. Pushing her gently (and sometimes not so gently) in the direction of life's best offerings. And some of the shows best moments come (a) from their conversations, and (b) from their unexpected social meetings, when Jack bumps into Liz away from work.
"Courgars" is one of the shows funniest episodes, and both storylines are generated/sustained (to some degree) by Jack's mentoring personality. Liz dates a much younger man, and Tracy coaches a little league team. Jack encourages Liz to pursue her romance (as part of his long-term plan to overhall her, I suppose) and he totally takes over the running of the little league team from Tracy (in a nicely done political allegory). There are many, many laugh out loud moments.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 9. A very funny episode with focus firmly on the core trio of the show: Leela (who falls in love with a jerk), Fry (who gets thrown in prison for trying to point this out to her) and Bender (who steals a lot of stuff while this is going on. And I mean a lot of stuff.). There's a also a nice shoutout to Married With Children, with Leela drawn to look like Peggy for much of the story.
Highlight? 30 Rock.
30 Rock, Corner Gas, Futurama, Seinfeld
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
08:30 Seinfeld
09:00 30 Rock
09:30 Futurama
10:00 Corner Gas
Seinfeld. Season 8, Episode 2. An example of the show at it's best. Best storyline: Paranoid George leaves a tape recorder behind at a business meeting, to hear what is being said about him after he leaves. Then spends days trying to figure out what the mysterious sounds on the tape are. In other plots, Jerry and Kramer both enlist the aid of Newman (!) when they vie for the heart of the same woman, and Elaine meets a guy who agrees with her. About everything. Elements of each story criss-cross at frantic pace, until the climax when almost every character appears together at the same location. Wonderful.
30 Rock. Season 2, Episode 3. The so-far-lacklustre second season delivers it's most even episode so far. No huge laugh-out-loud moments, but all the storylines are equally amusing. Which has got to be a step in the right direction.
Futurama. Season 2, Episode 8. Bender, the show's best character, becomes a wrestler. Some of the best laughs come from Leela's flashback to her childhood. And Bender, of course.
Corner Gas. Season 4, Episode 4. Disappointing outing. The idea of a Fondu Club is strange without being funny. Emma starts being nice to her husband Oscar and, due to her constant insults, he develops a crush on Wanda. And while that, at least, raises laughs, it doesn't seem all that likely. Even in the odd town of Dog River.
Highlight? Seinfeld.
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