Rate/Review "The Late Phillip J. Fry"

[Ryan]

tonight, we go thousands of years into the future thanks to professor farnsworth forwards-traveling time machine.

discuss!

[pocketfox]

Best of the new ones so far. First really emotional episode of the run. Not too much to say here, but I looked them finally addressing the Fry-Leela relationship. I hope they elaborate on that in future episodes, but in the mean time, this is an easy 5/5.

[Cole]

just a cool episode all around. an interesting story, consistent jokes, and some really great visuals. i might watch this again before i go to bed.

[Ryan]

fucking goddamnit finally.

this episode was AMAZING. the story writing was so wonderfully precise and the humor sparkling... I... wow.

we have a perfect instant setup with Bender and his lady friend (I like how he remains Fry's bad influence), funnier than last week's intro, by the way, and we immediately delve into the idea that Fry is always late, and the theme of spending time with loved ones in general. I was instantly hooked.

the forwards-traveling time machine plot was a wonderful treat on the level of "the farnsworth parabox" as we explored different worlds, each funnier than the last. I get a kick out of when shows experiment with short-form vignettes like this, and this did not disappoint. especially the musical montage, even though it was not written by him, I wouldn't be surprised if ken keeler penned the hysterical lyrics. ("in the year one million-and-a-half, the world is ruled by a giraffe") if there was one gag that failed it was the planet of the apes joke, but it's easily forgivable.

meanwhile, the look into the near future at PE was a little lacking at first (for one, no consequences of bender's death are shown), but it was cute, smart and serviceable. leela having fired zoidberg almost immediately after taking over was great. the idea that she would marry cubert is, well, odd, but is quite clever in showing the fact that she's constantly conflicted over her anger and depression over fry. she masks it via trying to marry him again through cubert, therefore she can still retain her anger. though unsurprisingly, it only crumbles again. really brilliant stuff here, not to mention amy as a sex bot and hermes head on a pogo stick.

the third act... jesus christ. this is the futurama I've been missing. last week was manipulative and sappy at points, but this takes honest emotion and blends it with some wickedly awesome philosophical sci-fi, all while retaining a clever edge. now, it's a little bizarre that the cavern on the green would still remain (although it's attempted to be explained early on), along with leela's note, but it still hits the right beats. the idea that the note flies out fifty years later was predictable, but still content and easy within the narrative of the episode. there's layers here, folks, and that's what I like to see.

both fry and leela come to the realization (moreso leela) that their time together is all that matters, which is wonderfully sweet and the climax is laid back yet at the same time quite epic. I loved the notion of taking the h.g. wells approach and having Bender, Fry and Farnsworth sit back and watch sipping on some booze. the solution was rather predictable and a little deux-ex machina, but I didn't really mind at all. the actual CDQ of the episode was solved (fry/leela), and it all made rather clever sense when you look at the physics and philosophy of time travel combined with astronomy. the idea that time only inevitably repeats itself, so best to enjoy what you have is buried right in there. god I loved this episode.

even an odd joke (hitler) was remedied by the humor of having to do the same thing again, which was the final nail in the masterpiece. even the cute ending (that was not nearly as pandering as last week) wasn't needed for me to seal my vote in. oh, and did I mention the animation was INCREDIBLE? I didn't. well now I did. I loved the look of all the different worlds and the future PE, not to mention the time-lapse of the outlook in the climax, ESPECIALLY the past-episode references. auuuugh so good.

can we have more episodes like this? please? pretty please, futurama?

5/5

[Jims]

Gawd this episode was great. Top notch.

This is the kind of episode that reminds me why I love Futurama so much. It took a fairly simple character concept (Fry being late) added some sci-fi elements to it (time travel) and then made it epic. "Epic" is probably the word to describe how fun this episode was. Bender, Farnsworth, and Fry kept flying through the future, giving us small little glimpses of how the world keeps changing. I mean, this is an episode where we witnessed the end of the universe. Twice. If that's not the definition of epic, then your standards are way too high.

It was also a nice companion piece to the third act of Bender's Big Score. We already got to see Fry living his life without Leela in 2000; we now get to see Leela live without Fry in 3000. It's kind of ironic how both characters ended up dealing with their grief through their work. Fry devoted his life to the narwhal whale, whereas Leela devoted her time to expanding Planet Express... Well, and marrying Cubert. But that kind of makes sense, given the lineage.

(It's funny how Cubert only gets to appear on the show when he's a plot device. The moment you see him, you know he's going to be used for something.)

Still, this episode showed us more about Leela than we knew before. The show has basically spelled out that Fry and Leela are basically meant for each other, and we've seen how Fry lives without her, but we haven't seen Leela deal with it. And, honestly, Leela's reaction is probably more interesting. Fry has always been the head-over-heels passionate one; Leela has been more detached about the relationship. Whereas Fry absorbs himself completely in his work and doesn't remarry, Leela has a "rebound marriage" that ultimately fizzles out. It says something about how the two characters move on with their lives. We've kind of seen this behavior in Leela before, like with Lars in Bender's Big Score. If Leela can't have Fry, she'll always gravitate to the closest possible alternative (albeit subconsciously).

Humor was great. The central concept of the episode really makes the jokes shine. My favorite joke was probably Bender/Farnsworth sabotaging each other's ideal eras... It seems like the kind of thing people would actually fight about. Also loved the little smart people and then the quick jump to them being crushed by the stupids. The Statue of Liberty joke was funny too... Although it's tough to tell if it went on a couple too long or not. The song parody was hilarious and so very, very appropriate. It's almost like they wrote this episode concept just so they could do that song parody.

And, of course, the episode gave us more Continuity Porn that we Futurama fans love so much. It was fun watching them fast-forward through the series and rattle off the individual episodes they show. It will be cool to look at the screenshots later.

Really fantastic episode. 5/5.

[D'ohmer]

fucking goddamnit finally.

this episode was AMAZING. the story writing was so wonderfully precise and the humor sparkling... I... wow.

we have a perfect instant setup with Bender and his lady friend (I like how he remains Fry's bad influence), funnier than last week's intro, by the way, and we immediately delve into the idea that Fry is always late, and the theme of spending time with loved ones in general. I was instantly hooked.

the forwards-traveling time machine plot was a wonderful treat on the level of "the farnsworth parabox" as we explored different worlds, each funnier than the last. I get a kick out of when shows experiment with short-form vignettes like this, and this did not disappoint. especially the musical montage, even though it was not written by him, I wouldn't be surprised if ken keeler penned the hysterical lyrics. ("in the year one million-and-a-half, the world is ruled by a giraffe") if there was one gag that failed it was the planet of the apes joke, but it's easily forgivable.

meanwhile, the look into the near future at PE was a little lacking at first (for one, no consequences of bender's death are shown), but it was cute, smart and serviceable. leela having fired zoidberg almost immediately after taking over was great. the idea that she would marry cubert is, well, odd, but is quite clever in showing the fact that she's constantly conflicted over her anger and depression over fry. she masks it via trying to marry him again through cubert, therefore she can still retain her anger. though unsurprisingly, it only crumbles again. really brilliant stuff here, not to mention amy as a sex bot and hermes head on a pogo stick.

the third act... jesus christ. this is the futurama I've been missing. last week was manipulative and sappy at points, but this takes honest emotion and blends it with some wickedly awesome philosophical sci-fi, all while retaining a clever edge. now, it's a little bizarre that the cavern on the green would still remain (although it's attempted to be explained early on), along with leela's note, but it still hits the right beats. the idea that the note flies out fifty years later was predictable, but still content and easy within the narrative of the episode. there's layers here, folks, and that's what I like to see.

both fry and leela come to the realization (moreso leela) that their time together is all that matters, which is wonderfully sweet and the climax is laid back yet at the same time quite epic. I loved the notion of taking the h.g. wells approach and having Bender, Fry and Farnsworth sit back and watch sipping on some booze. the solution was rather predictable and a little deux-ex machina, but I didn't really mind at all. the actual CDQ of the episode was solved (fry/leela), and it all made rather clever sense when you look at the physics and philosophy of time travel combined with astronomy. the idea that time only inevitably repeats itself, so best to enjoy what you have is buried right in there. god I loved this episode.

even an odd joke (hitler) was remedied by the humor of having to do the same thing again, which was the final nail in the masterpiece. even the cute ending (that was not nearly as pandering as last week) wasn't needed for me to seal my vote in. oh, and did I mention the animation was INCREDIBLE? I didn't. well now I did. I loved the look of all the different worlds and the future PE, not to mention the time-lapse of the outlook in the climax, ESPECIALLY the past-episode references. auuuugh so good.

can we have more episodes like this? please? pretty please, futurama?

5/5

I would write all of what I loved of this episode, but I think you've pretty much covered it. I loved almost everything about it. I only have two extremely minor problems with this episode.
-Fry, Bender and Farnsworth crushing their clones from 10ft above was a little dues ex machina for me.
-I know it isn't really a big deal as they were older, but because Leela is regularly in her 20s and Cubert is just a teenager, I found Leela's attraction to him a little gross, similar to what I thought of that Bart/Edna gag from Futura Drama. Yuck!
Still, these are extremely small problems that I probably shouldn't even bother bringing up. It's just that this episode was so good that I notice small problems like this. 5/5

[EthanRunt]

People saying "Ooh, if this were part of the original run, you'd have loved it" for the new batch are wrong, if THIS were part of the original run, I'd have loved it, and I do.
It's funny, interesting, well told, simple, sweet, creative, entertaining and full of the characters at their best. Sublime Futurama.

I like that it's 10 years on and it's possible for episodes like this to be made. Puts a smile on my face.
5/5

[Paul]

I can't really add much, but wow, incredible episode. I'm just adoring everything about Futurama right now. Full marks.

[Cartoonnetwork]

even an odd joke (hitler) was remedied by the humor of having to do the same thing again

Odd joke? I thought it was hilarious the first time, the second time was just fantastic.

Superb episode. This should make the "new episodes suck" threads disappear for at least three seasons.

Loved the song, loved the end of the universe (as strange as it sounds) and even the second Big Bang, which is possibly the biggest Deus Ex Machina there, but it was used for some great jokes. So humanity didn't ever invent the backwards time machine, eh? They should have tried to make popcorn next to an exploding supernova .

This was really one of the best episodes ever.

5/5

[Ryan]

Odd joke? I thought it was hilarious the first time, the second time was just fantastic.

it was too random, quick and weirdly pointless without enough irony for me to crack a laugh the first time, and I suspected that a piece of it was missing. sure enough, they came back around.

[Alpha]

5/5, easy.

[arii]

Concept aside it was feeling very run-of-the-mill Futurama to me. Which isn't a bad thing at all, because Futurama is a very good show. It was funny and the characters were all a treat to watch, and the song montage with the idea of human history advancing itself and then just ending and rebounding on generally the same path... but with giraffes... Oh, brilliant.

It was the concept of this one that was making me expect something a little bigger to come along, and when they reach the year one billion... Boy, does it ever. The cracked earth with absolutely nothing on it was a brilliant visual and to just see only Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth there was really, really striking. The end of the earth was pretty beautiful.

And such a flowing narrative, despite all the jumping around between time. Because it jumps around brilliantly. And while we see the wacky situations of the new worlds, seeing what we already know but advanced back at Planet Express is much more sobering. Sure, it still has its gags, like Amy and Hermes, but Leela still remains a straight character, just one aged and embittered. In part due to Fry, but also just generally due to, well, age. But mostly Fry. She's older but unhappy, she has a complete failure with Cubert - and what a great reveal with the photograph comparison, by the way. Cubert is like Leela's Leelu, really, only on a more depressing to her level; Fry still found comfort and love, whereas Leela got... absolutely nothing, just more anger and depression.

Until the card flies out at her and it's what, forty years later? A much older Leela, still angry, still sad, but the card with such a youthful and eager and sincere Fry brings her right back down and then... If we'd seen more of what had happened to Leela beyond leaving her own personal message for Fry, since the card gave her closure and let her forgive him and it was the logical spot for her... Man, that just would have made it more depressing. And also there wouldn't have really been any room for it.

The atmosphere after Fry finding the message is brilliant. I mean, it was before, with the dead earth and dead civilizations, and it was during, with Fry and Leela still able to connect so well across so many years, but Fry just walking back and accepting it... It's kind of like a five stages thing here, and whenever you reach the last stage, there's always an air of, well, it's hard to describe, but it just... has an air to it. To accept it and just figure, fuck it, let's just watch the universe end.

And holy god, is it beautiful. Watching Fry and Bender and Farnsworth just kick back, drink, and watch everything that is blink out of existence leaving nothing but emptiness and to just take it in is such a beautiful sentiment and it's such a hard idea to describe, which is why it was best left to visuals. And the visuals were beautiful.

And then to have it all over again and see history play out, also initially beautiful and turning to humour seamlessly - "It's history!" and Hitler - and then to just skip it and hit the year 10 000 again. And we see all of the beauty again but this is Futurama, and now it's just about humour and it's so "oh fuck it" and it's hilarious, because surely seeing all of these wonders a second time would mean something? ... But nope we don't are anymore and it's just awesome. This show has the best tone ever. Serious when it's meant to be, but for the most part satirical and just a comedy. Such a good show.

Great ending too, not just with Leela and Fry, but the callous crushing of the other Fry/Bender/Farnsworth and Bender burying them under a bridge.

This show is so great. I love how time travel means nothing to petty human emotions when Bender and Farnsworth fight over which era they're going to be in, simultaneously crushing each other's dreams. God, this show is so brilliant. It never takes itself too seriously but when it does it knows how to do it. Just perfection.

[Tomacco]

Loved the quick cycling through previous episodes' boardroom scenes (Love's Labors Lost in Space, Taste of Freedom, Futurestock, Beast With a Billion Backs, and then even this year's App episode).

[DotheBartman]

I'm kind of blown away and don't have much to add yet, but I'll just say this.

Anyone who doesn't like this episode is a communist. There, I said it.*





*(Relax folks, I'm kidding. Kind of. But sweet Jesus, this one was good.)

[Mira]

Every episode is not going to be this good, really that's just unrealistic and even in the old futurama a lot of them were average or just kind of shitty. it's only the 7th episode and it was great... some of you expect a bit much from a show that never consistenly delivered episodes of this caliber.

[Kiyosuki]

I laughed so much at the In the Year 2525 mock song while they were going forward. To me this and last week's are a good indication that the show really is back, and that sentiments of it being ruined beyond repair were just a tad melodramatic. (In fact I'm a bit surprised I haven't heard more gripes about people seeing the whole "they went so far forward that time repeated itself" thing coming a mile away like with last week's end.) There's not much I can really say that hasn't been said but I will say that one of the things that really stood out to me about this was the attention to detail about everything. From the whole narrative, to many of the sneakier quick jokes, to the scenes from previous episodes flashing in front of them as they try to get back to the right minute they left. I think there was quite a bit of attention given to many of the theories on time travel and paradoxes as well, even if its in a mocking tone, which really gave it that extra geeky level.

I've heard some people elsewhere thought the emotional content that came later was a bit overblown but I don't agree, I think it was done in a way that gave some gravity to the situation. I think that's where a lot of the Simpsons' attempts to be emotional tended to fall flat after a point, rather than be used to give some weight to the situation so it's not completely fluff minded and lackadaisical with its situations all the time they just feel hammy to the point it's self-mocking...but then it just feels inserted. I guess that's the point...but anyways back to this show, here it makes Fry's predicament, while a fun adventure, but at the same time you do sorta feel sorry for him and hope he gets back somehow (which you know he will but that's besides the point.)

But it's really all about the details in this one like said. Anyways, great one.

And yeah I wouldn't make claims like "I hope every episode is as good as this!" that kinda mentality's just begging for disappointment. Even in the original run there were some clunkers in between all the episodes people quote and remember all the time.

[Malachy]

five over five

[Ryan]

And yeah I wouldn't make claims like "I hope every episode is as good as this!" that kinda mentality's just begging for disappointment. Even in the original run there were some clunkers in between all the episodes people quote and remember all the time.

If this is addressing my comment, I know every episode won't be like this, but I want more. This is the first 5/5 I've given out, and we're seven episodes in. So a higher ratio of fantastic eps would be nice.

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

oh my god... I don't have the words right now. I'll have to review this tomorrow, I need to compose my thoughts more.

It's just so perfect and awesome and fuck man, this is Futurama.

2525/5

[Coach McGuirk]

NOW THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!

i literally felt like I was watching from something off season 3 or 4. brilliant episode.

all the jokes worked.

elzar's happy bday appearances were hilarious.

the joke where leila tells zoidburg that she fired him 20 years ago was probably the best joke of the season so far for me. I kept laughing well into commercial break.

and people who have read my reviews know that i'm really hard on this show because I grew up on it...but I can't find any flaws in this episode.

I knew when I would come on here today that I would see nothing but 5's.

that hitler joke. "i'll shoot hitler from the window" hahahaa...farsworth is so gangsta.

[Henrik P]

Wow, without a doubt one of the best Futurama episodes ever. I wasn't expecting this from season 6...

[Postmaster]

Not that this wasn't great, but I'm a little perplexed as to what people who had been complaining about new episodes up to this point thought was so much better about this (other than the concept and story) than previous new episodes. The characters and humour didn't seem like they were leagues ahead of everything else this season. It wasn't flawless and there was plenty in this episode you could potentially bitch about, even though I didn't really take issue with them myself. But for example Leela marrying Cubert is far more questionable (but still something I buy) than her fucking Zapp, yet people went fucking mental at that.

I don't know why I'm even complaining about this, it's just if people were being consistent there'd be more complaints this episode.

[D DEBBS]

Sorry....it SUCKED.

I don't seem to like any of the new eps except the one about Bender and Hermes.

The Fry/Leela romance....THUMBS DOWN....WAY DOWN!

[DotheBartman]

Not that this wasn't great, but I'm a little perplexed as to what people who had been complaining about new episodes up to this point thought was so much better about this (other than the concept and story) than previous new episodes. The characters and humour didn't seem like they were leagues ahead of everything else this season. It wasn't flawless and there was plenty in this episode you could potentially bitch about, even though I didn't really take issue with them myself. But for example Leela marrying Cubert is far more questionable (but still something I buy) than her fucking Zapp, yet people went fucking mental at that.

I don't know why I'm even complaining about this, it's just if people were being consistent there'd be more complaints this episode.

I would have to half-agree with you, but I did think this one was particularly good. One of the best ever, quite possibly....and certainly in the top 20, maybe 10. So I would say it was clearly better than the other episodes this season, but in the same sense that, say, "Jurassic Bark" or "The Sting" is clearly better than "Love and Rocket" or "The Why of Fry." It's not an insult to the other episodes, but just a statement about how good this one was, at least for me. I know others will differ on that.

(Regarding Cubert: I thought it made sense and was surprisingly clever if you think about it. Barring the Professor, he's Fry's closest living relative, and would naturally remind Leela of Fry, her "true" love, as he got older. Yet, aside from the photo, they don't really play that up, and rely on the audience to - eventually - get that themselves.)

So yeah, I thought this one was really excellent. There was a moment when they first arrived on the desolate future earth and I just thought "wow, they really went there." I can't think of another comedy show willing to imply the long-ago death of most of its cast, and yet still find a way to make it funny and uplifting. It was really touching and somewhat philosophical I thought, and certainly really fucking funny. I don't expect all episodes to be as good as this one, but I'm glad they still have episodes like this in them, 7 (really 8) years after they were first canceled.

[Magnum]

i am bothered by the professor saying the startover universe is a copy, rather than it being the same universe in some sort of time loop. but i guess they abandoned thinking over that sort of hard continuity stuff. it's just a thin line of expository dialogue anyway, close enough. good episode.

fry, bender and the professor saying fuckall and just watching the universe end is one of my all time favorite futurama moments.

[Swartzweldian]

Emotional episodes are always loved on this forum, regardless of the show. It's the main reason I'm not a big fan of the 4th season overall. Way too much "love story" type stuff.

Haven't seen this episode..but I think I am gonna finally give in and try to watch some of the new episodes. Going in with super low expectations, at least I can't be disappointed.

[Magnum]

why did leela write backwards onto the cave ceiling?

[DotheBartman]

why did leela write backwards onto the cave ceiling?

Wasn't that just so the rocks would fall down in the right way? That was my assumption.

[Maefteda]

Futurama is back. Great pacing, great plot, great jokes, great visuals. Thank you very much! Awesome effects on the universe evolving and cool plot that makes you think.

5/5 Keep this up please, I won't give you up Futurama!

[vince23]

Best of the new ones........ so far!