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Futurama. The Simpsons' younger daddy. It was one of the biggest shows around, spawning four successful seasons and owning a huge fanbase. But then, it stopped. The show was cancelled. Futurama fans were heartbroken - the series hasn't even had its 100th episode. But now, Futurama returns! The series has given four straight-to-DVD films. This is the first one - Bender's Big Score.
This was a delightful comeback. Everything you loved from the previous episodes was put in, and had a weird selection of jokes - from crude (Are you talking to my penis?) to the more lighter jokes, BBS score managed to give in all that. Characters were on their top form, with loads of standout scenes. The DVD managed to have three plots;
- Lars / Leela plot
- Bender plot
- Hermes plot
- Bender / Lars / Leela / Fry mixture
Lars and Leela: This was a very interesting plot, since Leela's relationship with Fry hasn't been questioned yet. The plot manages to spawn some very funny scenes, and some good emotion with Fry feautured in. Lars wasn't the best character, but the ending and his death was very surpising and unexpected.
Bender: This was, in total, the main plot. Bender's character was funny as usual, spawning some jokes (fifty terabites of porn), and his interactions with the naked scamming creatures was also great. Bender repeatingly speaking out the time travel code on Fry's buttocks was another funny moment. The ending with all the alternitive Benders was funny as it ended on a great cliffhanger.
Hermes: This was my least favourite plot. Hermes rivarly with Slim was a bit unused, and the plot used a bit too much airtime and was too concertrated. There was some funny moments (The son needs a dad), but I wouldn't really expect anything special and there was nothing special. Good connection in the end however.
Lars / Leela / Bender / Fry: The most cleverest and the best of all the bunch. The previous episode refrences were cheerful and hilarious, as well as the Jurassic Bark retcon. Bender's search to find Fry was great, and checking everybody's ass he searched for was okay and wasn't dragging. There was some nice moments between all this, most noticabley Bender destroying Gore's notes leading to the Bush win and Michelle's new boyfriend. The unexpected ending with Lars and Fry really shocked me and would to the audience, and Fry's stay in New York City was excellent.
As the jokes go, there were a countless amount of superb jokes that were seperating the plots and base moments. Box Broadcasting, Bender exploding, the funeral will, Hermes' two decipatations, the Family Guy refrences and the scammers looking for information were all highlight jokes, but there's much more. The two songs were excellent and catchy, and the exciting spacefight was amazing.
But there are downpoints. The connections and episode refrences can be a little bit confusing but better in rewatches - several characters were un-needed and the entire thing was a bit disconnected at very small times. Hermes' plot was a bit unenjoyable. And here's the plus: The animation was great, as well as the theme tune remix. The self-refrences about the show's cancellation was a nice beginning.
Overall Grade: A.
Highly recommended, better than The Simpsons Movie.
Homer burns down all of Springfield's fast-food restaurants. In order to rebuild them, Mayor Quimby moves up election day to the upcoming weekend, making Springfield's primary election the first in the nation. The candidates in the election are not compelling. When voting day arrives all the townspeople of Springfield write in "Ralph Wiggum," who wins the election. As a result, both candidates embrace Ralph, even though it is not known which party he is running for.
Al Jean has been honest with political satire. I'm being honest; "Mr. Spritz Goes To Washington" is maybe the best for its season, and there's been a lot of good examples recently; "You Kent Always Say What You Want", despite the very usual plot and humour, has some sharp satire - "I D'oh-Bot" was also a good satire attempt. But this is taking it too far. I'm not looking up to it.
The plot turn sounds awful. Homer burning down the fast food restraunts is certain to lead into a horrible character. The politics idea is silly and won't work properly, especially with Ralph Wiggum. His character has been awful recently; his proper airtime and sensibly hilarious one-liners (Do you like... stuff?) has been transformed into a mentally retarted boy who wets his pants in nearly every appearence.
So, the good points? Ralph's character can be improved. If he does more than telling everybody to be unitards, then the episode can have a reedeming feature. The characterisations can also be improved, and there needs to be some great jokes and include some sensible characters to the show. All in all, I'm not looking very forward to this. Sounds like "This Little Wiggy", "Sideshow Bob Roberts", "Mayored To The Mob" and "Maximum Homerdrive" all in one.
Predicted grade: C range - D range
Note: I also got Bender's Big Score today. Full review tommorow.
The Simpsons' latest episode. An improvement from the season's quality?
Eternal Moonshine Of A Simpson Mind
This episode was a slight improvement from the last episode, and among the best of the current season. However, it wasn't a perfect episode, but very impressive. The episode was funny throughout, with entertaining jokes - the Duff blimp, the Forget Me Shot, Homer having a nose bleed, the dog attacking Homer being somewhat entertaining and more. The entire marriage crisis was a mystery, which was an awesome idea; not ruining characterisation, and keeping the quality straight. However, when it reached the 'surpise party' theme, things started to fall; it wasn't expected, and worked, but didn't work perfectly, and failed in the emotional aspects.
The animation is worth highlighting here; it's maybe the best on the season. It provides some awesome standout, and it really shines several jokes, such as Moe being freeze-framed. The previous episodes refrences was a delight, and was entertaining. There wasn't many cringeworthy jokes during the first and second act; except the silly 'Apu as Homer's first kiss' scene, that was so... hateful. The last act wasn't that beautiful, but was an understandable mystery. Its excution of its 'cleverness' was nice, but nothing special. Patty & Selma's character was certainly classic, too.
But he best part was the beautiful, hilarious and lovely YouTube Homer's life video. Not only it brilliantly parodied the ending of YouTube videos, it standed out with an excellent music montage, some neat animation, some great background jokes and some stunning direction. The ending was great, with 'The End?' being an unexpected finisher. Overall, this episode was great, and was very realistic. The jokes also managed to be very interesting and funny.
A-
Total note: Best episode since season 18's "24 Minutes", and a modern classic so far. The season is managing to be an improvement, with some great episodes, if a little incosnsistant.
Season Rankings:
He Loves To Fly and D'ohses: C
The Homer Of Seville: B-
Midnight Towboy: B+
I Don't Want To Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: B+/A-
Treehouse of Horror XVIII: C-
Little Orphan Millie: B
Husbands and Knives: D+
Funeral For A Fiend: B+
Eternal Moonshine of a Simpson Mind: A-
Hi. I'm In Amon. But call me Inamon. This is my blog. I'm a big fan on the animation of television. I love animation; but my favourite show is The Simpsons. This is just built; so don't scream and complain.
