Yeah, he’s right, it doesn’t get any better than the initial four season run. And there are some very ropey patches in the later seasons, though by the end it gets really good again.
The sequence is: four seasons on Fox (but aired originally as five), cancelled. Season five is four “movies” aired as 16 episodes on Comedy Central. Then four more half-seasons aired on Comedy Central.
The movies are OK, but they really suffer as individual episodes from the format. Season six is kinda bad, though there are some good episodes in there. The attempts to be topical really fall flat. Season seven is mostly great.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the movies compared to the shows. But I actually think the final season is pretty damn good. I just finished rewatching it a couple weeks ago, and I was constantly surprised at how much more I seemed to enjoy those final episodes than I remembered the first time or two around.
2nd Movie wasn’t great either. It was the one about the entity from the other universe who wanted to date the living beings in our universe and love everyone.
It had some funny moments, but overall fell flat for me.
3rd Movie was a little better. I really enjoyed Bender’s Game, especially the parts with the kids playing D&D. The part that played out like a PSA against D&D was sort of weird, but it’s interesting that the movie had such a huge effect on the universe though, as the primary fuel source used in the universe is now inert. I haven’t watched the fourth movie yet, but this has to have pretty severe and catastrophic effects.
Ok, the fourth movie was pretty good. I love the interstellar golf course, the environmentalist angle, and Fry actually becoming useful for once with his telepathy. And yet, he was barely useful, for just a second. Very appropriate. A great end to the series.
I couldn’t resist a small sneak peak at the first minute of Season 7. Looks like this one is not going away on July 1st. Phew. So it was only the Fox seasons that are going away tonight. I made it, just under the wire!
Now I can go back to leisurely watching, instead of binge watching. 1 episode per month should be a good rate.
I watched the first couple of episodes of Season 7. Yay! What a huge relief! These episodes done for Comedy Central are a real return to form. The movies really left a bad taste in my mouth. It just didn’t feel like Futurama. A lot of things seemed out of character, and the whole thing was just weird and for the most part, not very funny.
In these first two episodes of Season 7, I was laughing out loud a lot, so it’s a relief that the show has shed the horribleness of those movies for now.
I’ve warmed to them a bit over repeated viewings, but that was definitely my initial reaction to most of the movies. They lacked the essence of what made the show great, and focused instead on unnecessary present-day issues and gimmicks.
That said, some of the CC episodes did the same, trading contemporary commentary for the classic timelessness of the original run.
I was not a fan of the Futurama movies upon release, and I think I may have done them a bit of a disservice. As someone who considers those first four seasons to be staggering works of genius whose throwaway gags are funnier than most other shows carefully built jokes, the movies just felt off. The characters were off, the scenarios didn’t seem right, it just was missing that special ingredient, the joy that the show had once had. But I haven’t gone back to watch them, maybe going back with lowered expectations will help. Like it does with pretty much everything else in life.
Having watched them recently for the first time, I would agree with all of that. I don’t think you’re off the mark.
As for whether re-watching it will change your mind? I suppose it could. Usually on re-watch you won’t be as concerned with the characters being off, the scenarios not seeming right. Instead you’ll be going in with a different set of expectations. Honestly, all that stuff will still be true, but you’re more likely to overlook it. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t still suck when compared to the rest of the show.
I watched the Leonardo Da Vinci episode last night. Where we discover that Leonardo was actually an alien who was tired of being the dumbest in his class.
The only genuinely laugh out loud moment was a call-back to the beginning of the episode when Fry was on Millionaire, and he thought the best way to hammer a nail was with another nail.
Good news again, everyone! Futurama is coming to SyFy. Don’t get too excited, these are just the existing episodes that are no longer available elsewhere. But who knows?
I’m still making my way through the Season after the movies (Season 7 I think).
Two weeks ago, I saw the evolution episode, which I thought was one of the best episodes of the show. Just really well made from both a writing perspective, overall theme of the episode, and the laugh out loud moments.
And then this last week I saw the episode after that, which was the one where everyone is switching bodies. Fry and Leela trying to prove to each other that they did/didn’t care about each other’s looks was just so perfect. And when the mop bucket got involved with the body switching, I was dying. So good. And so funny.
So these two back to back episodes were some of the best episodes of the show for me.
Unfortunately, I saw the episode after that last night, about that alien who gets separated from his wife during a midlife crisis. It was decent, but nowhere near as funny as the last two.
Still, it’s great to see that the show has recovered from those horrible movies.
Uh-oh. Time to accelerate my viewing again. I’m almost through Season 7, but I can’t keep going at this slow pace anymore, even though I want to. Watching the show slowly really makes me appreciate it more. When I was watching it as a marathon, the similar jokes over and over made it a lot less funny.
Oh well, time to marathon again. The remaining seasons are leaving Netflix on January 30th.
I’m not sure which seasons Comedy Central shows. Do they show the first 6 seasons, which were only on Fox? Those were removed from Netflix a while ago. Seasons 7-10 are on there now, (which were original Comedy Central seasons?) but will go away from Netflix on January 30th.
