MovieChat Forums > Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009) Discussion > Once again a giant disapointment.

Once again a giant disapointment.

posted 15 years ago by KnivesOutBitch
75 replies | jump to latest

I had such high hopes for these four movies; but alas, the 4th time was not the charm as was so much hoped. These movies, what I thought would be a return to form for Futurama, just proved themselves to be an extension of the 4th season: a bunch of lame sight gags and too much focus on bender praising himself with idiotic sayings that take almost no thought to make up, as well as a Fry and Lela love story arch which comes out of nowhere--if you consider the last few films--which serves more to confuse the viewer, rather than please them which was the authorial intent. C'mon, the dialog between the characters became so lame and forced that it lost what made Futurama special. Ex: instead of coming up with any sort of style or any relevance at all to the situation they just rely on the ol' Bender, "It'll be fun on a bun...in space!" Wow. How long did it take you guys to make that one up?!?

I can say that I laughed at maybe 10 jokes throughout this entire movie--and that goes for all other movies, with the possible exception of the 2nd, which I thought to be the best of them all--but in a movie that is 90+ minutes or whatever, the smile to dead-pan-face ratio is just too high. Literally to the point where I felt embarrassed for the creators while watching the movie. I don't know what happened to the writers on the show--especially Bill Odenkirk, whose name I never saw during any of the movie credits--but most of them must have jumped shark after the series started to be butchered by Fox--which was around the 4th season I assume; which explains the lackluster performance for the season entire.

What a wasted opportunity on the creators part. They had all that time to create an intelligible storyline and jokes which breeched the "Bender is amazing," and "Fry is an idiot" divide which cursed the end of the series; instead, they continued to rely on pointless 1 second gags which only served to keep pace of an already too-fast moving storyline which was both confusing and non-interesting at the same time--which is strange, because if something is confusing, it is either: a, an interesting piece of fiction which takes multiple viewings to understand; or b, a directorial *beep*-up which intentionally left plot-holes and had no shame in showing its lack of serious thought regarding the show/movies. Unfortunately, these movies prove to be the later. I'm not here to troll, just to share my thoughts on the subject. If you have something to say against it then back it up with an actual argument on why these movies are good--if you can find any--and don't say something stupid like "no, u"--which I will probably end up receiving regardless.

[–] Radalan 15 years ago

True, while I watched it I wondered what the hell happened to the people who wrote the first and maybe second seasons because these movies have been really UNFUNNY.

[–] WatchAD 15 years ago

Agreed

..
Arrested Development 2009
http://www.arresteddevelopment2009.com
Spread the word!

[–] danzaiver 15 years ago

I agree with you completely, and I'm really confused why some people on this forum seem to think the movies are just as good as the series. What are they smoking?

Re-watch any episode and notice how pretty much every joke is smart and works great. Now watch the movie and notice how pretty much every joke either falls flat, or is just really cheap. The movies are for the most part riding on david x cohen and michael rowe (who never wrote for the series). Now, I love futurama, but in my opinion, either bring it back with the same writers who made the series brilliant, or just don't bother.

The movies leave a bad taste in my mouth, and at times it's almost embarrassing to watch. I can no longer whole heartedly recommend the futurama franchise without using the disclaimer that they should avoid the movies. Sure, the movies have their moments, but ultimately it's a huge step below Futurama's usual quality. It's funny because even that 'lost episode' from the Futurama video game blows all 4 movies out of the water.

[–] KnivesOutBitch 15 years ago

"even that 'lost episode' from the Futurama video game..."

Ha, it's true, it's true! I remember watching that after seeing maybe the 2nd or 3rd movie and thinking how much funnier something which was created to be a video game--which undoubtedly had 1/10th or so the budget of the movies--wiped the floor with the movies humor-wise. There was a scene where two skeletons are talking after one of the Planet Express crew goes into a temple and one of them tells a joke to the other; I remember thinking how that one joke was better than all of the junk they poured into the movies thus far.

Sigh, at least I have seasons 1 - 3 to keep my faith.

[–] shaolinking 15 years ago

Sigh, at least I have seasons 1 - 3 to keep my faith

I agree 100%.

Only the second movie was slightly better than the others.

My Homer is not a communist.He may be a liar,a pig,an idiot,a communist,but he is NOT a porn star!

[–] gigantes 14 years ago

> It's funny because even that 'lost episode' from the
> Futurama video game blows all 4 movies out of the water.

i don't know if this is it, but i definitely enjoyed it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyQQ67cM5Q

(part one of five, i think)

i'm definitely impressed at how much sharper the jokes and comic timing were, compared to the movies. (what's the flippin' story behind that?)

[–] IndyRams91 15 years ago

Are you kidding?
I laughed at all the movies.
They were great and I loved them.
The gag with the leech that kept jumping on Leela and sucking her blood was too funny.
She would scream and try and pull it off.
THey havent lost their touch.

[–] Stink_Face 14 years ago

IndyRams91 , FAIL, seriously though I was WITH you up until you chose to praise this particualar "gag" out of all the gags in the films you thought this was well funny? Sorry you are wrong, that's a totally lame unfunny joke, swearing isn't big or clever.

I have enough faith in my judgment to recognize a stinker.

[–] bgh122 15 years ago

Yep agreed. The Futurama movies are all embarrassingly shoddy. It's a shame that the creative team lost their touch so badly as Futurama was once one of my favourite programmes. It was one of those epic classics where you could turn it on, have a great laugh and not be preached to with some political agenda.

Then (about the time that the 'Amazon Women in the Mood' episode was made imo) it started to slowly die. By the end of season 3 (season 4 in the UK) it was becoming rapidly poor. By the time the movies came about it was just plain bad. This film would have been far better if they'd spent less time focussing on left-wing issues and more time focussing on comedy.

[–] pcnew2 15 years ago

You do realise that there's a 5 year gap between (producation) season 4 and the first movie... right? Or do you just like spewing random stuff. I don't make any sense. For one, the original run never had a weak season, maybe just some weak episodes.

PHILIP J. FRY IS UNDERRATED!!!

[–] Wveth 15 years ago

I think the Fry and Leela stories work really well, all the time. BWABB was all about how destructive relationships can be, and how they can force you to settle and make bad decisions. The entire point of BBS was the old saying, "If you love something, let it go," which is why he moved to Colleen... and then, once that screwed up, he was left bitter and angry about relationships in general, which was the entire point of the second movie.

I really think Futurama ties its themes up very nicely. BG was just a fun little ride for the writers to get out their D&D humour. lol

And I really liked this one too. After all the jazz in BBS and BWABB, it all came back to: they've been through so much, there's an incredible trust there that forms the basis of their new relationship, which comments wonderfully on the events of BWABB, in my opinion.

So, I don't wanna argue, but there's my point of view. I felt all the movies were pretty good, they all had -epic- endings, but they tied the show together really well and made me satisfied as a huge Futurama fan.

Wveth!

[–] wishkah7 14 years ago

I agree with the majority. I myself had high hopes for ITWGY. It was the worst of the four movies. I loved the first three, BBS, BWABB, and BG. Didn't like how Leela was treated in the movie, and didn't like the sexist rampage Amy's father Leo Wong started. Leela was the movie's punching bag. First she gets attacked by the Dark One, then Leo Wong cruelly tells her off about the gold course, and then once Leela joined the Feministas, the men all turn against the women and vice versa.

Of course, Zapp wants to get revenge on Leela, and so pursues her and the Feminstas who Amy and Labarbra later join, and they all end up in prison. The ending was the worst, Leo Wong almost beats up Leela, and they all become fugitives and disappear into a wormhole without any explaination about what happened to them? Even the special features and deleted scenes weren't any good. The 'How to Draw' seemed so sad and final. And after this movie came out, it seemed like Futurama was gone forever. Especially with that disapointing ending. The only good parts were Bender having an affair with Fanny and Fry and Leela getting together. It all should've just turned out to be a bad dream.

Well, at least we fans can take comfort in knowing Futurama is coming back next summer! This movie never should've been like how it was.

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

I'm not sure I want to respect the opinions of someone who misspelled "disappointment" in the title, Leela's name in the only place he used it, and doesn't know the difference between later and latter...

That cheap shot aside, I think a lot of you nerds have your standards WAY too high. While I admit the movies haven't provided all of the smooth humor of the original series, in my opinion they've been fun and well worth watching. I mean, if you think there was a big negative change in the show from the third to the fourth season, your standards are astronomical and there's no sense debating with you about this.

That being said, backing up an argument with why the movies are "good" is impossible, since good is a matter of taste. I think the writers were just having fun with stories and weren't as concerned with making it sidesplitting-ly hilarious all the time. Especially with regards to the last movie, try to enjoy the fun and the adventure without investing yourself so heavily in the quality of the product as compared to the previous stuff.

Also, how many of you bought all four films? Because if you didn't pay for all of them, you really have no right to complain.

[–] Comrade_Baron 15 years ago

The movies were a mixed bag really, I very much enjoyed Bender's Big Score. It wasn't particularly funny but it did have an interesting plot so it was very watchable.

The Beast with a Billion Backs however was, the first 20 minutes or so aside, pretty poor to say the least. The humour dried up early on, the story was dull and there was the awkward sense that a few people (notably Fry) seemed very out of character. Only watched it once and not had the desire to watch it again since.

Bender's Game picked things up again though not to any great extent. Had a number of laugh out loud moments but despite it supposedly being the main gimmick of the movie, the Lord of the Rings parody was very dull and not really amusing. The parody was too obvious and seemed to lack any real edge to it. The ending was poor as well, the climax just comes out of nowhere and is resolved before you know what's going on, far too rushed. It was enjoyable enough on the whole but didn't have much replay value.

Into the Wild Green Yonder however was up there with the very best episodes of the series and actually ranks as my favourite Futurama segment of all time, whether it be an episode or movie. The guys posting in this thread will obviously disagree with this but that doesn't really worry me. It had me laughing throughout and it was just Futurama through and through. It was also quite touching in a number of places and it really summed up just why me and so many others love the show. Brilliant ending too, especially as it's probably going to be the last one they do.

You'll disagree with me in all likelihood but that's fine, you have your views and I have mine and I doubt we're going to change each others minds.

[–] danzaiver 15 years ago

The difference between the Futurama series and the Futurama movies is akin to the difference between Simpsons in its prime and modern Simpsons. I'm sure some people still like the Simpsons and are satisfied with cheap laughs of seeing Homer doing dumb things and are none the wiser, but there is a quality divergence that's evident to those with a more sophisticated appreciation. I don't believe that there was a quality shift from season 3 to 4 (I think season 4 has some of the best episodes actually) but the movies are incredibly sub-par and it's akin to modern simpsons writing, which totally makes sense anyway since apart from particular segments of Bender's Game, they have an extremely limited writing staff, especially for movies of this length. Try checking out the deleted scenes on series DVDs and notice how a lot of the material that ends up on the cutting room floor is actually good. Now check out the movie dvds and notice how not only are there hardly any deleted scenes (like they used every scrap of material they had), but the ones that are there are terrible.

And in response to tyler-92, I've bought the first 3 movies, but even if I hadn't I would totally have the right to complain. What kind of stupid logic is that anyway? I can't critique a cinema movie or TV program until I've bought the dvds too I presume? You're nuts.

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

No, the reason you wouldn't have a right to complain is because you didn't pay for anything. If you didn't buy it, they don't owe you a single laugh or, hell, a single frame of animation.

Critique is different from complaint. You can critique something (like these movies) that you didn't pay for but don't start acting like the writers betrayed you, like some of these folk have.

In regards to the rest of your post, I know what you mean about the style difference, and how it bares similarity to what happened to the Simpsons. A similar thing happened to Family Guy when it was resurrected. The difference with these movies, in my opinion, is that they're still fun and the somewhat wacky stories are full of fun reveals and twists. I just think many of you are way too focused on the pure laugh factor. Not to mention it's extremely hard to repeat the level of humor that the original series brought.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

Right?

[–] insulincarl 15 years ago

"there is a quality divergence that's evident to those with a more sophisticated appreciation"
Wow, danzaiver thinks quite highly of his/her cartoon viewing.
Although i agree that the movies are not as funny as the early episodes, it wasn't really surprising. Cartoon movies rarely are funnier than 30 min episodes. The pace is much slower but there is a quality to it.
I love Futurama and hope they keep making it, in any kind of format..

[–] hadmatter 15 years ago

but there is a quality divergence that's evident to those with a more sophisticated appreciation.

Well, I may not be as "sophisticated" as you, but at least I'm not a right twat.

Ooo, baby, your domestic gross is SO BIG. That's how I know how GOOD you are!

[–] itto_2 15 years ago

I agree with you Comrade Baron. There are things to like and dislike about the movies. I think that mostly what the writers wanted to do was to focus more on the storylines as opposed to the humor. This is what I've liked about Futurama since before it was cancelled. The jokes were funny, but the writing in the show was amazingly solid. For the movies, I think they let the humor slide a little bit and decided to mostly focus on the story.
Bender's Big Score I thought was on par with most of the episodes of the show, not as good as the best mind you, but good none the less. The Beast with a Billion Backs was, in my opinion, the one to be disappointed about. The jokes and the story were good for the first half of it or so, but after that they brought it to weird and uncomfortable places. The characters were not themselves really. Bender's Game was out there, story-wise, but it actually held together much better than I expected. Sure it was predictable, but it was still a fun ride.
Into the Wild Green Yonder got a little bit too political for my tastes, but I'm more than willing to put that aside because the plot was one of the most character-driven stories I have ever seen in the show. The movie really relied on the emotions and behaviors of the characters to drive it to where it was going. And this whole Fry and Leela love arc "that came out of nowhere" has actually been going on since the very first episode of the show premiered 10 years ago. Since no future Futurama projects are confirmed, the writers probably just wanted to bring it to the front and wrap it up as best as they could without fully closing the story.
I for one am glad to see more of the show so you don't see me complaining too much. Sure the movies weren't perfect, but they were far from a let down. The humor isn't as prevalent, but for the most part, the story writing is as strong as it's ever been. Your opinion may differ, and that's fine, but for me, that is the larger slice of the pie.

[–] tinytyrant 15 years ago

i feel sorry for you, Champ.

all of the 'movies' were great and this last one: The Best.

_________________________________________________________________________________
"Woo-Hoo, Silent Bob's dead, long live me, Internet Guy!"

[–] yannickvindevoghel 15 years ago

I didn't like it. Had to watch it in three sittings just to finish it. Which is pretty bad for futurama IMO cause whenever I bought a season on DVD I'd just spend 12 hours watching the whole season in 1 sitting. It's also the only show I'd justify myself buying so many DVDs of. Yeah I was a pretty big futurama fan when I was a kid, I knew all the dialogue from the first season and could just talk along with it and it still didn't get boring. I knew every episode's title if someone gave me a description. I LOVED that cartoon. I still do actually. These movies are not futurama to me.

So many *beep*-ups too: "We're out of whale oil!" Even though the planet express ship always worked on dark matter.

Also where was Nibbler ? Did they just forget about him ?

The first movie was alright cause it was the first and had so many references to the show. The second one was alright but still not futurama.

The third one was just a piece of *beep* But that might be cause of my natural bias against Fantasy (Sci-fi is the way to go!)

The fourth one was the simpsons movie in futurama style and I puked a little in my mouth.

Edit; Back to adult swim for me. Example of a well done cartoon movie is the ATHF one and that one actually came out in theatres. It's more like a DVD movie than the futurama ones with their "epic" plots. Seriously if you're gonna make a straight to DVD movie you shouldn't try and hollywood it up. You should stay true to the series. Like ATHF did, only they even did it in theatres.

[–] danzaiver 15 years ago

Wow, danzaiver thinks quite highly of his/her cartoon viewing.

the fact that you put so much emphasis on the form illustrates your own ignorance. The Simpsons for example was renown for it's writing, and was respected above most live-action sitcoms, hence the numerous awards it won. Likewise, I could quite easily say the the writing of the futurama series was on par if not above that of sitcoms such as Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, etc.
Just because you label it as merely a cartoon, doesn't mean everyone else should share your ignorant perspective of equating it with poor quality comedy.

[–] edmarsh-3 15 years ago

nah I think they were pointing out your arrogance on the whole "sophisticated viewing" thing rather than saying animation should be held to a lower standard, I could be wrong
I thought the movies were pretty awesome, they don't have as many laughs as the tv series but its like 4 times the length so they can afford to be more subtle
and the ending was really sweet :)

[–] danzaiver 15 years ago

Hah, well I know what his problem with my statement was. People are always trying to knock down the self-righteous. I don't care, what I've stated needs to be said for the betterment of quality programing.

But ultimately he wouldn't have alluded to it being a "cartoon" if that wasn't relevant to his point. If we were talking about Shakespeare, my alleged arrogance about it's sophistication wouldn't be scrutinized. Understand?

[–] bravesteen_22 15 years ago

"what I've stated needs to be said for the betterment of quality programing."

What you stated didn't affect anything. He was commenting on the pompous way in which you declared that anyone with a differing viewpoint is less intelligent. The comments of this humor not being as good as the show are on-point though, but upon watching it is readily apparent that the show has potential to reach its former glory. You have to take into account that most 30 min. animated shows made into movies do not do well in terms of "flow" and are usually inferior to the show.

I believe that if Futurama came back in the form of multiple 30-minute episodes that it could be great.

But I'm just a fan of the show.

Feed me a stray cat.

[–] edmarsh-3 15 years ago

haha, I've had a fair few arguments with shakespeare snobs in the past actually
and he was talking about a trend in cartoon movies so it doesn't seem desperately odd that he used the word cartoon and it kinda seems like you dodged the point by focusing on that and going straight on the attack
but whatever, get over yourself or don't it's not like I'm ever gonna meetya :p
course now I've half forgotten my point, but I think people can enjoy comedy because of its laughs, classics like fawlty towers etc. deliver big on that, or more subtle subversion, think hitchhikers guide or dead like me, and I think the people who loved the series but were cold to the film tend to like the former style but not the latter
I think futurama was at its best when it had both styles done well, maybe it'll get back there with a tv series but I actually like this movie as an end to it all :)

[–] djeminences 15 years ago

very true

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

As explained in the commentary by David X. Cohen, if you remember in the third movie, all Dark Matter was rendered inert, so they needed something else. If anything, it's remarkably consistent, and you're a fool.

[–] hadmatter 15 years ago

Exactly! People who don't even pay attention to the movies really have no right to bitch about them.

Ooo, baby, your domestic gross is SO BIG. That's how I know how GOOD you are!

[–] johnshinobi 15 years ago

WRONG!

dark matter was rendered useless in the third film

[–] MischaRodermond 15 years ago

So many *beep*-ups too: "We're out of whale oil!" Even though the planet express ship always worked on dark matter.

Did you not see the third movie?

Also, I think this movie is the best of the four, enjoyed it a lot. Who cares about better than episodes, worse than episodes? Do you view an episode and afterwards compare it to the one you've just seen?

I found the movies entertaining, and some episodes more. Whether I'm gonna rewatch an episode or one of the movies depends on my mood. And I think I'm gonna watch this one a couple of more times.

[–] redwyrn 15 years ago

The whale oil was not a mess up, Dark matter is now inert and in a previous episode, it is mentioned that the ship can also run on whale oil...

[–] mikethecoder 15 years ago

I enjoyed the movies (except the 2nd)... all definitely fun to watch and there were some good laughs.

Obviously not as good as the show but I mean it isn't exactly easy writing full length movies from this show. Episodes will always be better than movies because they are short and sweet... concise... and as a result will keep your attention the whole time. Movies need fillers... they cant just be joke after joke like the show tried to fit in. This won't appeal to everyone unless you just relax and take it for what it is. Like I said, I did enjoy them overall.

[–] glooba110 15 years ago

I honestly think that this would tie with Bender's Big Score for the best of the four. I wasn't really impressed with Beast and Bender's Game, but they both were fun nonetheless.

The style of the show definitely changed from the first three seasons compared to the fourth and the movies, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it had gotten worse. It may not be as funny or comical to the majority but it's still fun regardless. I personally love the Fry and Leela arch, and I don't think you can really argue about how it "comes out of nowhere." It's a motif thats been in the story even if it hasn't been so linear, and coincides with the plot in this movie pretty well I think.

When I watch Futurama, I don't expect big laughs or crying in tears, but just the little things that made the entire series so great to me. I burst out laughing though when they showed the striped biologist taunters though. Gold to me.

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

Thank you, rational person. Well, you and the person before you, both of whom realize the trouble of making a full-length film and how even without constant humor, the movies are still a lot of fun. I was starting to think the boards were just filled with die-hards who only live to absolutely love or hate things.

[–] visualmagic 15 years ago

Possible light spoilers. *

The thread is entitled - "Once again a giant disapointment."

A bit harsh, it was more a mediocre outing than a giant disappointment, and I agree the 2nd movie was the best of the 4.

I will always love and hold dear Futurama, certain episodes stand out, the romantic sentimental, never to forget Frys dog, or the holophone episode, or the message Fry wrote in space. The comedic lover never to forget Zoidbergs attempt to win a mate, the Whatif machine, or anything Bender has ever done. Oh, and Zap of course, (moreso than Kif).

The episodes that appeal the least to me are the lengthy plot related Nibbler time twisting episodes, and the other overly story arced episodes that introduce new characters too often, which is the category in which I would place these movies.

I have to say that the Wong family has always been consistently boring material for me, and I know, others too.

I guess 90 minutes has that problem, in that there is a necessity to create a drama rather than a subsection of throwaway laughs and The Simpsons movie suffered from a similar fault. I believe it could have been done though. It's fair to say that South Park pulled it off better than most with their Bigger Longer movie.

It's sad to see the gang go. Regardless of speculation, it will be years, if at all, before they re-emerge, and although these 4 episodes were less than perfect, each and every outing was punctuated with many smirk worthy hits, if not laugh out loud moments, and anything that can keep you smiling and wanting more is worth archiving on the good shelf in my opinion, and I will revisit not only classic episodes but these movies again and again over the years ahead.

The idealist in me looks forward to a day that the writers get off the phone and yell, 'we've been unaxed!', cause although movies are eager berries to pick, they often lack the exhilirating hit, the condensed juice of a good 22 minutes of laughter, packaged in the format we have trained our brains to consume so well.

What say Fox, these guys deserve a call for their efforts. Agreed?

[–] mark6785 15 years ago

I will always love and hold dear Futurama, certain episodes stand out, the romantic sentimental, never to forget Frys dog, or the holophone episode, or the message Fry wrote in space. The comedic lover never to forget Zoidbergs attempt to win a mate, the Whatif machine, or anything Bender has ever done. Oh, and Zap of course, (moreso than Kif).

The episodes that appeal the least to me are the lengthy plot related Nibbler time twisting episodes, and the other overly story arced episodes that introduce new characters too often, which is the category in which I would place these movies.

I have to say that the Wong family has always been consistently boring material for me, and I know, others too. "

nice summary! specially the first papragraph. the dog , the holophone , the message in space. Also one of the most memorable/emotional episodes for me was the "the sting". its making me well up just thinking about it.

I've only seen the first of these 4 movies, and off the top of my head i cant actually remember it, which isnt a good sign. I just dont think 1/2 hour sitcoms translate that well into full length films, animated or not.

..but i look forward to watching the remaining films with an open mind...

[–] floyd_dylan 15 years ago

The ending reminded me a little of Star Trek: The Next Generation's pilot episde, Encounter at Farpoint. Where the city was in fact an alien life form, and a similar thing happened at the end of this movie.

I thought it was okay, it had some funny moments, but it does prove that Matt Groening and his teams, are useless when it comes to full length movies, The Simpson's movie being the classic example.

They are better off doing tight half hour episodes, where the jokes come thick and fast, rather than stretching out it in to an 80 odd minute movie.

[–] KnivesOutBitch 15 years ago

Eh, this thread has grown in the last few days I guess.

First of all, "some of you don't like the 4th season. tools." Ha! Alright buddy. At least give me a reason why the 4th season is good. Because they started sucking Al Gore's dick? Because 3/4 of the episodes were Bender heavy, and Bender is "TTLLY AWE4SOME!!." Right?!? Bender's good as a side character, but devoting half your season to episodes which deal solely with him is so *beep* boring. It's like what South Park and The Simpsons have done: South Park is now all about Cartmen, and The Simpsons are all about Homer. It's so god damn formulaic and unoriginal. Face it, the 4th season is the same exact pile-o-crap that they've riddled the movies with: after good writers had established a well developed plot/character base, new writers came in and just created jokes feeding off of those already established ideas without trying to be original. It's true. After the 3rd season they just couldn't get past the "Fry is an idiot/Bender is great" paradigm that they had created.

Even worse, I felt like the show had started to lose its intelligibility. Jokes started having to be explained--even when they were obvious--and it felt like someone was holding my hand while I watched the movie. It's like the jokes, if they had ended 2 seconds before they did, would have actually made me laugh. Right before I had reached that threshold of laughter they would say something stupid like, "I'm sciencing as fast as I can" and ruin it. H-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s. And the argument that a cartoon can't be sophisticated: that's what Futurama was for the first 3 seasons! Jokes were actually well-thought and relevant to the situation that the crew was in. They didn't just have Bender stealing the show with inane concepts like "I'm just like a turtle because I can't get off my back"--what the *beep* does that even mean? It's not funny; it's retarded; it's child humor which takes little thought to come up with/find amusing.

And as to the whole, "you didn't pay for it so your opinion doesn't count;" that is the god-damn-dumbest thing I've ever read in my life.

[–] glooba110 15 years ago

When you allude to an earlier statement, you either quote it word for word or paraphrase it. You did neither.

He simply said that if you haven't paid for it, then you have no right to complain about it. That's completely different than what you said, which is that your opinion is devalued.

And he's right, you shouldn't complain if you haven't paid for it. It's like stealing cable and complaining that theres nothing on.

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

I was going to defend myself but you beat me to it. And you basically put it exactly how I meant it, so a tip of the cap to you, good sir.

I mean, what can you expect from writers whose pockets you haven't lined? I mean, they're mostly Jewish, so what do you think fuels their engines?

Ok, I belittled my own point by making a bad, offensive joke. But still.

[–] KnivesOutBitch 15 years ago

so if my friend buys it and i borrow it i still can't comment? i didn't put any money toward it, guess i shouldn't complain about it sucking then.

...right

either way, i stopped contributing money after the 2nd movie came out. it just wasn't worth it anymore to buy something i knew was going to be a giant disappointment--though i had such high hopes.

and you guys still haven't given reasons why they're good. you're just toting around some stupid morality which leads you to believe you are able hold a higher level of criticism than everyone else. tell me why these movies are good. please.

[–] kingatrock 15 years ago

Yep, I agree these movies are terrible and not nearly what the tv series was. I got this feeling and then realized that sometimes its actually good when a studio like fox reins people in, making them come up with stories that go somewhere and make sense and make you feel for characters instead of just cheap gags one after the other. Then I read that the original writers werent even on the films, I just dont get why they made these films if not just for a few quick bucks. Obviously they had no burning desire to finish the series properly or even continue the stories left behind on the series in a clever way. I agree with the first few posts, I too felt embarrassed at times for watching what I thought was just a series of amateurish films that missed what made the series so special. Through each film I cringed at parts, and wondered at the end why I bothered watching them all the way through (which I did stop part way through on each to do other things because of disinterest). Very sad to me, I was so excited when I heard they were "coming back" even in straight to dvd form. Most of the scenes I ended up with the same questions, "what does this have to do with the story," "what is the story," and "man, the tv series was so much better than this." It's almost like they could care less how connected fans were to the characters and just thought up wacky ideas and slapped them all together on a few dvds for a quick buck. Just my opinion from a huge fan of Futurama... The TV Series.
Oh forgot about the ending, they slapped that on there to appease people but also tie up the fry+leela love story that went no where for all the seasons and movies. Really quick and totally out of place for leela etc.

[–] robspacey 15 years ago

Have to agree too. Movies seemed very forced overall. I also found there being too many cheap jokes, almost as if the writers felt a need to 'family guy' their content as the simpsons have done over the years.

I felt embarrassed every time they cameoed a character purely for the sake of it. Green yonda particularly - even the Kif/Zap writing wasn't funny (a first!).

[–] Sushi432 15 years ago

Ok, I glanced at all the comments and just want to mention that The Simpsons Movie was well-received by critics and a box office success so why are some of you acting like it was garbage. Uggh. It's so annoying that I've heard this so much and I just wanted to comment on it. I mean... come on. Can we all get a little less pretentious and snooty and just let something be what it is and call it a fun ride? I loved the movie. It was different but I think we cannot relate back to the Futurama movies the same way. I think, if anything, The Simpsons Movie was a step up from the modern show, which I still find fun to watch by the way. The fanboys are always the hardest to please and it bugs the hell out of me.

"I married a beautiful woman. Turns out a thirty-eight year-old jewish woman would marry anything."

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

I don't know who told you that they didn't have the original writers. These films were spearheaded by Groening and Cohen, who created the original series and wrote the pilot.

All four of these films were basically a joint venture of Ken Keeler, Patric Verrone, Eric Kaplan, and Michael Rowe, all of whom wrote for the original series. Rowe came on a little later, I believe, but the other three were probably the three most senior writers outside of Cohen.

[–] iamroont 15 years ago

are you people serious??? i can not understand why you think the SECOND movie was the funniest. bwbb was THE WROST of the movies. and this is coming from a RAVID futurama fan. i loved WGY and i thought benders game was pretty good. not great but OK.

but beast was just friggen abismal. not funny at all. david cross?? gimme a break. the whole tenticle thing was ludicris and retarded. kiff dying and being recreated by the stupid...thing.. Yvo? and making up new words of shle shlem. what the HELL was that?? unfunny is what it was.

----
Seth MacFarlane is the only real joke Family Guy ever had

[–] inanc 15 years ago

I would rank the movies as:

1. Bender's Big Score
2. Into The Wild Green Yonder = 3. Bender's Game
4. The Beast With A Billions Back.

:: Fry old buddy, it's me! Bender! ::

[–] tyler-92 15 years ago

I thought the plot to the second film was the worst but a lot of the humor was top-notch. I would probably call it my least favorite, but I enjoyed all of the films.

Also:

Ravid should be rabid
Tenticle should be tentacle
Ludicris should be ludicrous

[–] stu_157 15 years ago

Ravid should be rabid
Tenticle should be tentacle
Ludicris should be ludicrous

Good lord, some people just come across like terrific arses on the internet. Always leads me to wonder if they're so condescending in real life to everyone who disagrees with them...

Sayonara, not to be confused with cyanide, which is, of course, goodbye in any language.