Rate and Review: "Overclockwise"

[HMS pinafore]

Bender evolves into a godlike being after vastly increasing his processing power. YAY

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Where's the poll? Someone add a poll please or I'll raise hell!

EDIT: YAY! A POLL!!!!!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

I didn't like this one that much but maybe I should say I didn't get much out of it. I believe this was written as a sort of new series finale since the show wasn't technically renewed yet and if that is true you can definitely tell. My main problem with it, like the majority of episodes this run, was it felt obscenely rushed. Nothing in the Fry and Leela story felt interesting or really authentic to me until their facial reactions to the paper at the very end. Up to that point the conflict, while I guess certainly believable in the scope of the whole show, felt really phony in this episode. I'm not sure phony is the right word though. It felt like they were only addressing it since they felt obligated to in case the show wasn't renewed. Things like it starting with Leela just happening to want to have a change in life, while certainly possible and in that sense legitimate enough, just came off as extremely forced and took me out of the episode. Just about all of Leela's dialogue here felt like that/seemed to have that effect on me. Fry's too I guess now that I think of it. I think the reason why this whole plot didn't work for me was it wasn't given enough time. Maybe just knowing it was written as a type of series finale is making me look at it negatively though, I dunno.

Bender's story was fun but also felt rushed particularly at the end. But then he was going so fast on purpose that maybe that's why I felt that way. The best gag of the night for me was probably Zoidberg being repeatedly hit by the fan but even that didn't get me laughing really. It was nice to see Cubert again but his plot with the Professor also felt very rushed. The whole episode went by so fast I'm not really sure what to make of it honestly. They seemed to be trying to jam too much into one episode. I'll say 3/5 for the moment but my opinion must surely change after a rewatch. Right?

[Gatorgod]

Awesome episode, liked it lots! .. was kinda hoping that the infinitely wise Bender would've had a showdown with the Cosmic computer god from "Godfellas".. but this was okay too.

[Ryan]

That was good and fun, despite the continued, tiring relationship of Fry and Leela being exploited again (the final bit was cute). The courtroom stuff helped make the episode, easily.

5/5

[NoOneFamous]

As usual it was still worth watching due to witty dialog and some cute moments, but jesus they need to slow the hell down. How am I supposed to care about anything at all happening when the plot is flying at you this fast and changing every minute? Almost every episode now seems like they're trying to cram a "movie" into 21 minutes. It just doesn't work.

2/5

[Mr. Krikt]

They missed a good opportunity to parody video games. They simply combined Kinect with standard WW2 shooters. Hell, even modern day people are over WW2 video game fascination, mostly.

Secondly, I thought Leela and Fry weren't together any more. It certainly didn't seem like that the rest of the season, so for them to suddenly revive it at the tail end falls flat for me.

I liked the concept of Bender upgrading himself but I don't think it was developed that well. It was too much of a jump after we see him simply pick up a few microprocessors. I feel as if they should have just abandoned the prison and romance plots.

The ending was also terrible. I don't think it's worth saying much about it due to how much of a cop-out it is. Watching two characters read text does not make an engaging or poignant moment.

[TriforceBun]

More than any other episode this season, I felt like this should've been a two-parter. There were three rather beefy plots with a lot of potential, and all developed at a pretty breakneck pace, lessening the impact of each of them.

I did think Bender's story started off at a reasonable tempo, with Cubert wanting to beef up his processor due to his poor gaming performance (I also liked the sly nod to the premiere, with the "12 years out of date" lines). But after Bender became godlike, I certainly wanted to see a lot more of that than we actually did. His talk with Fry was a particularly cool scene, but he didn't really do much outside of that and his brief appearance in (as?) the courtroom. After that, he just warped down to semi-mortal form for no real reason, and it seemed that they could do much more with the concept as a whole.

Cubert and Farnsworth's legal troubles weren't the most exciting thing in the world, but the storyline here was somewhat compelling and helped add to the sense of hopelessness for Fry's plot. I liked Cubert's role quite a bit, though I would've enjoyed more lines from Farnsworth. The double jeopardy loophole was clever.

Fry and Leela's plot had issues. It's cool that they finally honestly addressed their relationship. And heck, Leela being concerned about what the future holds in terms of her career, etc is actually a pretty believable issue for her. But everything just flew by way too fast--Leela quickly leaves, Fry quickly decides to kill himself, Leela comes back for no raisin. It all just felt too simplistic for this show; the issue with their storyline didn't really have a central conflict or resolution. It started and ended without any sort of logical occurrence pushing things along. The paper reading ending was cute, but due to the mostly empty build-up from the rest of this plot, rang a bit hollow.

Why did Bender seem upset when Fry asked him how his future with Leela was? That seemed to contradict the happy ending.

Anyway, despite the fast pace and the sort of bungled Fry/Leela storyline, the episode was genuinely interesting and contained several very cool concepts. The humor was pretty light this week, but it certainly wasn't bad at all (although I saw the fan joke coming at the end, it was still a good one). I do have to say that I'm underwhelmed by 3011's video games--that technology is pretty much here already!

4/5

[That Don Guy]

What were all those pagey things?

Calculus
Advanced Calculus
Decline and Fall of the Romulon Empire
The Oxford English Pictionary
NNYC Phone Book
Every Translation of the Iliad
How to Kill a Mockingbird
Ventriloquism for Dummies
Dante's Life in Hell
Connecticut Tax Law
Google Book [with arrow cursor]
Big Book of Tumbleweeds
Guinness Book of Parallel World Records
VCR Repair
The Collected Wisdom of Braino
How I Conquered Your Planet
Complete Simpson Episode Guide
All the Presidents' Heads
Shakespeare Typed by Monkeys - Volube 78
The Sithal War
Calculon on Calculon
Ayn Rand McNally Atlas Shrugged
Some of the Digits of Pi
Genome of the Flatworm Vol. 12

and a few I couldn't read, including Wuthering Gatta(something) and The (something) Diaries

[Adam723]

I didn't like this one that much but maybe I should say I didn't get much out of it. I believe this was written as a sort of new series finale since the show wasn't technically renewed yet and if that is true you can definitely tell. My main problem with it, like the majority of episodes this run, was it felt obscenely rushed. Nothing in the Fry and Leela story felt interesting or really authentic to me until their facial reactions to the paper at the very end. Up to that point the conflict, while I guess certainly believable in the scope of the whole show, felt really phony in this episode. I'm not sure phony is the right word though. It felt like they were only addressing it since they felt obligated to in case the show wasn't renewed. Things like it starting with Leela just happening to want to have a change in life, while certainly possible and in that sense legitimate enough, just came off as extremely forced and took me out of the episode. Just about all of Leela's dialogue here felt like that/seemed to have that effect on me. Fry's too I guess now that I think of it. I think the reason why this whole plot didn't work for me was it wasn't given enough time. Maybe just knowing it was written as a type of series finale is making me look at it negatively though, I dunno.

Bender's story was fun but also felt rushed particularly at the end. But then he was going so fast on purpose that maybe that's why I felt that way. The best gag of the night for me was probably Zoidberg being repeatedly hit by the fan but even that didn't get me laughing really. It was nice to see Cubert again but his plot with the Professor also felt very rushed. The whole episode went by so fast I'm not really sure what to make of it honestly. They seemed to be trying to jam too much into one episode. I'll say 3/5 for the moment but my opinion must surely change after a rewatch. Right?

It seems like all season (maybe longer) people have been complaining that they aren't addressing Fry and Leela's relationships. The finally do, and the first post accuses it of being forced. Tough crowd.

I liked the episode, although, as others have said, the pace was rushed. 4/5

[Mr. Krikt]

It seems like all season (maybe longer) people have been complaining that they aren't addressing Fry and Leela's relationships. The finally do, and the first post accuses it of being forced. Tough crowd.

I liked the episode, although, as others have said, the pace was rushed. 4/5

Just because we wanted the relationship addressed doesn't mean we'd accept this very poor attempt. It could have very easily been left out of the episode, especially to give way to the other plot points.

[Adam723]

Just because we wanted the relationship addressed doesn't mean we'd accept this very poor attempt. It could have very easily been left out of the episode, especially to give way to the other plot points.

Fair enough, although I thought they did a pretty decent job.

[blueguy]

I didn't care for the relationship part. At first I was thinking, "oh neat, they're actually addressing this and pretty much say what everyone's been saying. On again off again." But then it just sorta fell flat and the final scene just didn't work. It was almost like someone said we have to have something emotional each episode. Let's look at their facial expressions while they see their future.

Besides that, I was really enjoying it. Some of the early cuts were well done. "Ding-dong! I'm saying that because you don't have a door bell."

[TriforceBun]

I thought it was interesting that they held on Fry and Leela's "shocked" faces for just long enough to make the viewer wonder if their fate ends up being something surprising and grim (this is right before Bender flips the page). In a way, I almost wish the episode ended there, with that sort of uncertainty. I think it'd be cool knowing that the two are together, but some sort of seemingly-inescapable danger awaits them at some point in the future. It'd be a neat cliffhanger in wondering how the show would end up resolving that plot point.

If Overclockwise was the ACTUAL series finale, I wouldn't have wanted it to end like that, but knowing there are more episodes coming, I think a more ominous ending would've been a cool hint at things to come.

[Zombies Rise from the Sea]

Overclockwise

Eh. I felt bored by what was happening on the screen; I mean given the recent state of episodes and well their fears that it wouldn't get renewed, this should of been a really good episode reminiscent of Futurama's glory day's right?

Unfortunately not.

For one, it seems like the plot is disjointed and unnatural; like somebody was given a day to come up with a plot and this is what they came up with. Bender being overclocked, Hubert and the Professor being arrested and everything somehow being returned to normal. I seriously don't know how that video game tied into the plot other than to start the plot up with overclocking Bender and than involving Mom through his sons (they sure like to be close.). It would of made more sense to reference it in the end, just so they can tie up a stand that was left dangling.

As it is with recent Futurama episodes; they manage to straight out refrence other movies; I mean I get that the robots Mom sent out look like they came straight out of "The Matrix" with minimal changes. Also Mom's version of the Xbox could of been more subtle... It's these types of things that Futurama aims for that makes these second part of the episodes feel... well like one of those other shows out there... I just wish that they would slow down a bit and take their time with this stuff. You're on a cable network, you don't have to appeal to the masses, you just have to appeal to your fans.

Anyway, while it may sound like the plot has a lot of bad moments, it also has some good moments. It's pretty enjoyable to see the overclocked Bender run wild, getting smarter and smarter and smarter; I have to say that he outclasses everybody in the entire episode, even though he doesn't appear much by the 3rd half. I also enjoyed Fry's antics somewhat, even though he was being driven by a weak subplot, speaking of which...

The subplot involving Leela and Fry fell flat, I mean I have never been so disinterested in what was happening with them in all my life. While what they're trying to do is sweet, it just seems forced and seems to scream out "possible series finale" as loudly as it can. The moments surrounding it is okay but it could of been more involving.

Comparing this to "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder". I have to say that this is the weakest unintentional series finale in Futurama history, the only thing that felt final about it was the Professor and Hubert and the only closing thing is Fry's and Leela's relationship; which happened on a piece of paper... I have to agree with what ryan said. This is not a bad episode per say, it's an okay disappointing episode. You can tell that they put some effort into it but as it turns out it ended up middle-of-the-road material.

5.0/10

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

It seems like all season (maybe longer) people have been complaining that they aren't addressing Fry and Leela's relationships. The finally do, and the first post accuses it of being forced. Tough crowd.

I liked the episode, although, as others have said, the pace was rushed. 4/5

They finally address it but it is along with 2 other plots and feels rushed/unbelievable/tacky. This needed more time to develop and it wasn't given it plain and simple. I also felt they were trying to recreate Devil's Hands but failed at that pretty badly.

[Postmaster]

It just felt like saying that they have an on again off again relationship was a bit of a cheap way to retcon the previous season. If they'd been intentionally trying to have them be on again off again then it hasn't come across that way.

I agree that it basically should have been a two parter or both stories should have had a whole episode devoted to them. It was a good episode, but it just seemed like a huge waste of potential.

[Dark Homer]

too much of the episode was spent in a goddamn courtroom or dealing with nerd issues like license agreements and overclocking. bender becoming a god-like figure never felt bender-y. everything with fry & leela felt ridiculously tacked on, forced, and aimless. the show mostly ignored their relationship for 24 episodes, and now we're suddenly supposed to care about it? it never adequately explained what leela's beef was, it was crying out for a line like "I love his boyish charm, but I hate his childishness" that never came. for a moment I thought they were finally going to pay off the "she must be the Other One" teaser when leela left and fry insisted they had to stay together, but I guess it'll never happen. and the ending where they both read their future was just ...what.

[irvine_11]

Let me tell you how good I thought it was: I never cared about the Fry-Leela relationship until now. I'm also glad that nobody created a stupid portmanteau name for it like "Fryla." Oh, goddamn it!

Anyway, this was a very touching and thought provoking episode. It topped The Late Philip J. Fry as Comedy Central's best Futurama episode and I would consider it to be the only CCFT episode that could hold up with Fox's classics. Best episode in a long time and I hope the season next year can bring us more episodes like this. Ken Keeler does it again. 5/5 (A+)

[Ryan]

But everything just flew by way too fast--Leela quickly leaves, Fry quickly decides to kill himself, Leela comes back for no raisin.

I see what you did there.

[Adam R]

great at times, not so great at others, like most of the last few episodes. well the only real problem i had was the final scene. how are you even supposed to carry on with two characters that know their entire future together?

i've been thinking about moving on with my life, and hearing the words 'nibbler on the roof' has given me just the kick in the pants i needed.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

No sir, didn't like the final scene either. I think that now that they know their future their relationship won't be interesting.

[The Angry Animated Comedy Nerd]

It was awesome, I'll watch it and laugh again and again.

Ultra Supreme Omniscient Bender for President in 2012!

[HRH Sir Prince Charles]

I have like absolutely no recollection of having watched this