For the most part, I’ve been impressed with ‘Futurama’s‘ return to the airwaves. Some episodes have been a little rocky, but there’s always more than a few bumps when a show has to penetrate the thin layer of TV’s re-entry layer.
It feels like the old show did, but something has been missing from the last few episodes: a real sense of emotion. One of the great things about ‘Futurama’ and shows like it are its surprising ability to make you feel something other than laughter. The “Jurassic Bark” episode, the one in which Fry’s dog waits for Fry’s return long after he’s been frozen in the cryogenics lab, was the closest I ever came to crying at a TV show. Thank God for man’s inability to divert tears from flowing by sheer will, even though I had to use a pair of pliers and some loose thigh skin to take my mind off of the emotional pain.
Thankfully, it returned last night.
The episode had a nice mix of comedy and adventure, as did all good ‘Futurama’ episode since it’s main focus is as a space epic in a blue collar future. However, it’s biggest strength was its sense of heart. It not only made for a nice twist that fit together a little too nicely, but it also proved that ‘Futurama’ can be much more than just a simple comedy show about robots that drink and aliens with obvious skin conditions.
This time, Bender realizes that he is just as mortal as the meatbags he works with, thanks to a flaw in his initial design. So he and Hermes set out to find his initial inspector, the fabled “Inspector No. 5,” by infiltrating the never-ending maze of paperwork and fine print that is the Central Bureaucracy.
Episodes that center around this setting are always good because they give the show a “Douglas Adams” feeling that even high speed technology and storage information can make things even more convoluted and confusing. It also sets up for great bits like the giant Rubik’s Cube-like cubicle, complete with Billy West’s dead-on Paul Lynde workmate as the “center square.” The ‘Hollywood Squares’ joke felt like I was watching an episode of ‘Family Guy’ with better plot development (really any “plot development” would be a step up from ‘Family Guy.’)
The plot moves to its road-hopping adventure tangent pretty quickly as Bender and Hermes head to Mexico to find his inspector at the Mom factory where he was born/built. The bits work pretty well. Bender’s attempt to speak Spanish had me cackling, just because John DiMaggio’s thick New York/Brooklyn voice sounded like the farther dialect possible from a Mexican accent.
I still found myself wanting more out of the road trip aspect of the episode. These two are on an adventure and it felt like it ended rather quickly, before it had much of a chance to get started. That’s just a sacrifice to the cruel and heartless gods of time that only gave ‘Futurama’ 30 minutes to get a plot going, 23 if you count the commercials.
The ending where it’s revealed that Hermes was actually Bender’s original inspector and responsible for letting him live in spite of defect felt a little too tacked together, like it had been stapled around something that didn’t quite fit and causing it tear apart at its seams. But it had such a great sense of heart that the thought quickly left my mind. It didn’t beat the lesson over your head that life is always worth living no matter how short it is by sticking to the comedy that makes the show work, like the “Killbots’” ridiculous ability to mistake gun puns for orders.
This was no “Jurassic Bark,” but the ending had plenty of bite.
Click here to download Futurama episodes for free
Related posts:
- Futurama Season 6 Episode 1 ‘Rebirth’ Recap (Season Premiere) It’s here! It’s finally here! ‘Futurama‘ is back baby! And...
- ‘Futurama’ Season 6 Episode 5 ‘The Duh-Vinci Code’ Recap A friend of mine who was also a big fan...
- Futurama Season 6 Episode 7 ‘The Late Philip J. Fry’ Recap Anyone who has ever said that the new Futurama episodes...
- Futurama Season 7 Episode 8 ‘That Darn Katz!’ Recap Futurama Season 7 Episode 8 : ‘Futurama’ is one of...
- Futurama Season 7 Episode 10 ‘The Prisoner of Benda’ Recap The staff writers and show runners for Futurama aren’t your...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Recent Comments