Rate and Review: "The Tip of the Zoidberg"

[bartyboy]

The Planet Express crew learn the truth about Farnsworth and Zoidberg's pasts.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Forgot it was on, as I said when I made a thread 2 minutes later than you. Will post thoughts later...

[AdrenalinDragon]

One of Futurama's wackiest episodes yet! I enjoyed this one due to the flashbacks of Farnsworth and Zoidberg, showing their friendship together and why Farnsworth kept him around. I also found the mishaps with Zoidberg and the crew funny, but the Murdulator was the highlight of the episode, seeing the chain reaction of the device setting off slowly towards killing Farnsworth. The revelation of Farnsworth being a Yeti was unexpected, but it was nice to see Zoidberg being quite likable and mature in this one. I'll give this episode a 5/5. Ken Keeler has yet to disappoint!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Wow, this one was REALLY wacky. I mean it almost felt Scully-esque dare I say it (okay not that wacky) but thankfully I enjoyed it anyway. The flashbacks did little for me, but I have to admit some self-satisfaction when I saw the yeti claw the professor and just randomly thought to myself, "watch him become a yeti," but I never thought that was where it would actually go.

The plot felt too convenient at times with questionable actions taken by some of the characters but it was such a wacky and funny episode regardless I didn't really care. Best gags were Fry's multiple transformations in act 1, the Mr. Sandman montage, and Zoidberg and the Professor scuttling together at the end. I was somewhat intrigued by the Zoidberg and Mom interaction and would've liked to have seen more there though...4.5/5, a 5 on the poll.

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

I didn't get wacky at all, it seemed really heartfelt. But funny.

5 for poll purposes

[Ryan]

Really fantastic, Ken Keeler pulls another amazing past/present transitioning storyline that's really heartwarming.

It was also hilarious.

5/5

[Muskrat]

I'd say it was the perfect mix of wackiness and genuine emotion. I loved this one, probably the best of the season so far. It was funny, had an interesting story, and filled in an important chunk of back story. My only complaint is that the killing machine, while cool and creative, was kind of a waste of time. Also I don't understand how the professor changed back from being a yeti at the end. Otherwise, 5/5.

[Gatorgod]

I know some are calling the continuity police on this, but i love the Zoid/Farns prehistory stuff .... 5/5

[arii]

I was "aww"ing at Zoidberg/Farnsworth scenes. A lot.

That's so weird.

I can see the argument that this was a wacky episode, especially considering most of the gags in the first act, but it was really balanced out with a down to earth story and just absolutely fantastic and heartwarming characterization.

And the Murderlator was awesome. When Futurama pulls those sorts of effects they're always worth a second watch.

[TriforceBun]

Never thought I'd be the one to break a combo of 5/5s for a Futurama ep, but...

There was just something off about the writing this time. The medical emergencies sequence was funny due to how terribly Zoidberg was handling things (paraphrased, "We still have three perfectly healthy employees!"), but the cartoonish (literally?) nature of the illnesses was off-putting. Futurama has always been slightly bizarre in that way, but there's a difference between Fry getting his arm sliced off then reattached in some pseudo-futuristic way (Lobstertainment), and Leela's bisected upper half hopping around like a bloody pogo stick, or Hermes literally falling apart entirely. Fry's Simpsons-jaundice was funny, but the illnesses got progressively less amusing as they went on. And Bender wetting himself led to what's gotta be one of the most predictable Futurama gags ever, the laughing-then-peeing thing. Who didn't see that coming the moment he said it?

The pacing was shaky as well, with the alternating past/present scenes generally flowing in a somewhat stilted way. I did like the transitions, but I would've liked to see a greater contrast of competent past Zoidberg and incompetent present Zoidberg. That aside, I thought the past setting was rather cool and atmospheric, and a satisfying way for Zoidberg and Farnsworth to meet and bond.

After a shaky start, the second half of the episode got a little back on track. The writing felt less forced and more natural, the conflict was more interesting, and we got to see a cool new side of Zoidberg in his interactions with Mom ("Carol") and Farnsworth. And the climax with the murder device was definitely a lot of fun to watch, even if the double yeti sequence was more strange than anything.

It's such a weird, mixed bag of an episode for me. I quite liked the development of Zoidberg and Farnsworth, but even that was something that I think could've been written more strongly and naturally--their friendship in the flashback never fully solidified for me. In fact, pretty much everything in the episode felt a little less clever than what Futurama's capable of: the yeti twist was unexpected, but altogether not quite a satisfying wrap-up to the decade-spanning plight of Farnsworth, Zoidberg/Farnsworth's reasons for being friends, the whole "he has the disease, oh wait, no he doesn't" thing for Farnsworth, Zoidberg's trade to Mom, etc. Not to mention the sub-par or nonexistent humor, especially for the first act.

I actually do really like the new characterization of Zoidberg. Without a doubt, he was the best thing about the episode and Farnsworth wasn't too far behind, strange plot occurrences notwithstanding. But most everything that went on in the episode not involving their characterization was shaky and a bit lacking from a writing standpoint. 3.5/5 for the mix of good and bad, 3/5 on the poll.

[D DEBBS]

WOW...a lot a people liked this ep.

I didn't.

[irvine_11]

2/5

Not good. Probably the worst they've done in a while. The plot was poorly executed and didn't make any sense and Zoidberg's incompetence was exaggerated to a point where it wasn't funny.

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

what planet do you people live on

[Mira]

Eh, I kinda hated this one; almost all of it would have been called "cringe-worthy" if similar gags happened on The Simpsons. It went beyond wacky to the point of being really cartoony and a little bit stupid. Fake killings and plots about killing characters are officially overdone. Plus I didn't laugh much.

[DotheBartman]

See, I was gonna say...on PEEL everyone is complaining about all the craziness of this episode....as opposed to, you know, the ones where they travel through time, or they start aging backwards from youth mud, or they have limbs eaten off and then replace them at businesses that promise new hands in an hour.

I'd be a little concerned (though, no longer surprised) if The Simpsons traveled through time, but it doesn't bother me on Futurama. They're different shows.

(I did cringe a little bit at the noises Leela's spine made, though...but I was laughing all the same, so, I guess the cringe-worthiness itself is funny?)



I guess I didn't like the episode as much as others did, but I also suspect this might be another "The Sting" or "Lethal Inspection" where it improves a lot on subsequent viewings, at least for me. And in any case it was a really good episode all the same. At times the story maybe felt just a little bit too hollow and the whole yeti-ism thing was way too convenient (as I think the AV Club review noted, Farnsworth has a disease that just HAPPENS to have almost identical symptoms to the one he thought he had), but it fleshed out Zoidberg in a pretty intriguing way and there were some surprisingly heartfelt moments. And some really creative (that killing machine thing was just awesome) and hilarious gags too. I'll have to give this one a re-watch soon.

"My jaundice has progressed to Garfield Syndrome! *Sigh* I hate Mondays..."

[HMS pinafore]

I felt like This episode wasn't that whacky, It had whacky things in it but at the center it was a down to earth story about zoidbergs and professers past. I felt like this episode (as well as all the other episodes this season) should have gone longer to advance the story more insted of convienient discoviries. That said I rather enjoyed this episode so I will be giving it a 4.5/5

[Mira]

In those other examples of craziness or wackiness, there's usually some explanation to go along with it though. Especially if it's a major plot point. They told us why and how they were able to time travel or reduce their ages. I don't have a problem with the show having ridiculous events, but there still has to be some kind of consistency and reason for why their universe is the way it is. Just saying, there's limit to how far any show can go, even sci-fi/ fantasy, without giving the viewer an answer of some sort.

[chris]

that was funny when zoidberg smashed the needles deeper into fry's hand and blood was gushing out!

[NoOneFamous]

I didn't like this one very much. The humor did feel like Scully-era Simpsons at its' worst, the pacing was terrible, and while I could see how they were trying to juxtapose past confident Zoidberg with current incompetent Zoidberg, but that just felt sloppy at best. I also don't understand why Zoidberg even tried killing Farnsworth at all if he apparently knew all along that it wasn't really "hyper-malaria" and knew what the actual cure required. Farnsworth's reason for keeping Zoidberg around seemed like they were really grasping for a plausible reason, but it still doesn't make sense since you know, Farnsworth could just use a suicide booth, or whatever.

Also I feel like they're trying to make almost every new episode have the scale of one of the "movies", and it doesn't work. You can't successfully cram this much story into 21 minutes.

2/5

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

he only figured out the actual problem after analyzing the hair on the lab coat

I'm really, really not getting the Scully complaints. I mean, maybe you could argue that Zoidberg's operating on the crew was Scully-esque, but that took up all of about 5 minutes of the episode.

[hughes]

And was fucking hilarious

[DotheBartman]

Scully's violence was often really grisly and terrible, and too frequent - like every other episode Homer was getting mauled or terribly hurt in some way. The stuff in this episode was....pretty extreme, but it was treated in a more comical and cartoony (that's not inherently bad, you know) way that made it a lot funnier since it was so absurd, rather than someone just being realistically mauled by a badger until their organs are showing or something. And again, really, I just accept a lot more from Futurama than I do The Simpsons; this show has ghosts and dark wizards and translucent aliens that constantly eat people on the street, and that's just bit characters. Yeah they'll make some effort to explain major plot points (though often in comically ridiculous ways) but there's got to be thousands of completely ridiculous jokes that go by without any explanation and that's why they're funny.

If they start impaling Fry every single week I'll probably complain but as it stands it's just not a big deal or even that far off from a lot of other gags (Hermes' decapitation, the T-Rex eating Fry's hands, Zoidberg cutting off Fry's arm) that have happened over the years.

[DotheBartman]

Okay, so someone on PEEL pointed out that when Fry has "Muppet Gangrene," you only ever see him from behind the table and waist-up...just like an actual Muppet.

God that's awesome.

[jordan]

Ok wow

I thought this may be the worst episode of the entire series.

What the hell happened to these characters?? Do they just not give a shit about each other anymore? Why do they all say "yay!!!" when they are trying to kill the Professor?

My friend has been saying for weeks now "it feels like the heart is gone from this show. Everybody is being kind of cruel and heartless and the characters don't give a shit about each other." This episode completely cemented that theory.

I was already annoyed by everybody's head's being chopped off and shit (are they immortal now? what's going on?), but I just was GENUINELY BOTHERED that they were all too happy to kill the Professor.

Remember seasons ago? When the Professor thought he was going to die? And everybody is sad, and the entire episode is spent trying to get him back and save him? What happened to that? Why don't they give a shit anymore?

[Comicshow MolemanBob]

Ok wow

I thought this may be the worst episode of the entire series.

What the hell happened to these characters?? Do they just not give a shit about each other anymore? Why do they all say "yay!!!" when they are trying to kill the Professor?

My friend has been saying for weeks now "it feels like the heart is gone from this show. Everybody is being kind of cruel and heartless and the characters don't give a shit about each other." This episode completely cemented that theory.

I was already annoyed by everybody's head's being chopped off and shit (are they immortal now? what's going on?), but I just was GENUINELY BOTHERED that they were all too happy to kill the Professor.

Remember seasons ago? When the Professor thought he was going to die? And everybody is sad, and the entire episode is spent trying to get him back and save him? What happened to that? Why don't they give a shit anymore?

They felt bad for stopping Zoidberg killing the professor when he wanted to be killed, so he doesn't have to go through all the pain and misery of a long and horrible death. They're not being mean, they're helping the professor die so he doesn't suffer...

[prince jafar allah]

Remember seasons ago? When the Professor thought he was going to die? And everybody is sad, and the entire episode is spent trying to get him back and save him?

.....no?

seriously, what episode do you mean. i cant remember it based off that description

[jordan]

.....no?

seriously, what episode do you mean. i cant remember it based off that description

The one where he gets sent to the giant beurocratic graveyard planet.

They all go there to bust him out. Because they....care about him.

[jordan]

then why do they say "yay!!" when one of their closest friends is about to die

if you had to help a friend of yours die, you'd still be SAD, wouldn't you?

The characters in this show used to feel like real characters, with reactions and emotions. Not even in the best episodes, but in basically most episodes.

This season, they're trying to kill each other, they just don't give a shit. It's so depressing and cynical and mean, something that Futurama never was before. I like cynical comedy but it's not working for this show and honestly I have gone from "so excited Futurama is on tonight!" to just dreading it.

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I can see what you mean about the really sudden willingness to kill the Professor, and that was part of the questionable decisions in my original post, but it was supposed to be a mercy killing whether you want to see it as such, or think the show gave a proper amount of time before the sudden decision

EDIT: He means the one where he turned 160, I think?
EDIT 2: Yeah comicshow beat me to it...

[Postmaster]

I see where you're coming from, it didn't bother me that much, because really the characters vary so much from episode to episode so I wouldn't say this wasn't particularly representative of the season as a whole. But yeah their attitude towards the Professor and Zoidberg seemed a little too much.

And yeah the amount of mutilations seems to have gone too far, I know you can give more leeway in a show like this, but I don't think you would have got some of this stuff in the first four seasons.