Rate and Review: "The Thief of Baghead"

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

Bender becomes a paparazzo and tries to photograph a famous actor whose face has never been seen. He succeeds, and that's where the trouble really begins...Discuss!

[Oh, that's raspberry!]

It seemed alright to me but nothing great. The story felt kinda rushed with each plot turn seeming too convenient, and I really didn't laugh at all. The reveal of Fry getting his "life force" sucked out was an unexpected and therefor cool effect that perked up my interest initially but where they went with it wasn't that interesting. I'll be quick to forget this, 3/5. I guess we won't be seeing Calculon anymore unless that episode title for next year's run is legit...

[irvine_11]

This was a fantastic episode. The jokes were hilarious and non-stop, the cultural references were very clever and I actually felt sucked into the plot. After a rough past few seasons, this new one seems to be redeeming its self big time! I hope it keeps up this trend. 5/5 (A)

[Flimpson Tide]

Nothing too exciting or funny tonight. Maybe Comedy Central realized this and threw it on Independence Day knowing a dud wouldn't be watched by too many people. (EDIT: I look at Wikipedia and this season is airing in production order. So maybe not.) Me and three friends did watch though while waiting for fireworks to start, but I felt like they were getting bored by halfway through. And seeing as though paparazzi are not likeable people, that didn't cause me to root for Bender at all. 3/5

[Dark Homer]

Nothing special, but there were some cool ideas with the bag guy and the id/ego thing. my favorite part was bender wasting time in his darkroom which actually paid off

A lot of it was just softball "take that celebrity culture!" zingers and bad robot puns (parts hilton, really???)... I did laugh at larvae levin though

[Shaunbadia]

Pretty fuckin' weird episode, the image of the bag guy was surprisingly amusing. The whole Souls/Life Forces argument was stupid. Seeing Calculon act well was great. Bender and Leela holding hands was cute....Calculon dying would have been more shocking if I didn't already know that he's going to be revived.

"You just hired yourself a new whatsowhatso" was the best line of the episode, second place goes to "I'm a celebrity, I can kill anyone I want!"

3/5...very, very close to a 4

EDIT: Two other things that irked me...Zoidberg didn't feel like he needed to be used at all.....I dunno, he just didn't seem right. It could have worked better had Amy been used to explain the celebrity stuff to Bender.

Also, I'm sooooooooo sick of Fry's "Help! Police!" catchphrase.

[cloneasaurus]

Bender had some good lines in this one. 3.5/5 rounded down to a 3

[Cartoonnetwork]

Erm...Is Calculon dead now?

This was a little strange, not so sure about it, but it got better once the bag guy was introduced. Original concept, and the gags in the second part were better too, especially Bender wasting time in the revelation room. I guess it could get a 4/5.

[Flimpson Tide]

Amy definitely could have been used there, but I actually enjoyed the scene with Zoidberg in front of the TV. I loved how he was getting angry over nothing.

[D DEBBS]

I liked the first 1/2 more than the 2nd 1/2...2nd 1/2 was one big M-E-H.

[Mr. Krikt]

Far better than the last few episodes; it actually felt more like a Futurama episode and was lacking any tacked on emotional nonsense etc.

So Calculon's dead then? I can't help but feel like they've lost their Troy McClure.

[Jims]

Pretty weird episode. I can't put together a cohesive post tonight, so I'm doing my numbering thing.

1. The Bender as paparazzi angle was decent enough, and was a very typical kind of Bender romp they like to do. Things didn't get interesting until the Bag Head guy was introduced. With these kinds of episodes, you're just waiting for that "Futurama twist" to come about, and the moment you see that guy, you know something unexpected is going to happen.

2. Was genuinely shocked when Fry, Amy, and Hermes' bodies deflated like that AND IT WASN'T A DREAM SEQUENCE. Futurama likes to do those kind of fake outs (like the Maltese Liquor), so it was surprising when the scene kept going and going.

3. I also liked that they never showed the guy's face. It fit well with the plot logic of the episode (I don't want my face to melt), and it's more interesting to leave things to your imagination. It's refreshing when a series can show that kind of restraint. Very Seinfeldian.

4. I got a little confused when they started up the whole id/ego discussion because my college psych classes kicked in and made me think of the psychological concept of the ego, as opposed to the traditional "attention-whore" ego definition. At first, I was thinking they were just talking about the id-superego bridge that controls decision-making, so it took a second to realize, oh, they're being more casual when they say the word "ego". I kind of wish they hadn't brought in the concept of the id, just to simplify what kind of ego they're talking about.

5. Liked that they killed Calculon. And I liked the way he went out, actually giving a good acting performance for once. I've watched so much Simpsons by now that I was waiting for the fake-out at the end but it never came. Knowing how Futurama operates, they're probably going to figure out a way to bring him back, but it's a nice little way to keep things fresh and interesting. Now they have somewhere to go with the storyline.

Eh. 3/5.

[irvine_11]

Regarding Calculon: there is an episode named Calculon 2.0 in the database, so I think that should answer your question.

[The Angry Animated Comedy Nerd]

Whilst it wasn't awful... it wasn't that great.

[Alex_Of_Darkness]

It was okay and I laugh a few times but it's the worst of the first four of the season IMO. 3,25/5 => 3 in the poll.

[♩ ♪ ♫ ♬]

I can imagine this episode being towards the end of season 4

that's a good thing

[Malaise Forever]

An interesting episode because it began as a casual kind of your average Futurama "PE Crew Member gets a job" but then evolved into a weirder episode and kind of disgusting. I think it makes sense in the end but I dislike whenever a character gets killed drastically and gets revived in the same episode (When their "lifeforce!" is taken away). So yeah I liked the beginning better, it made me think of the average seasons 1-5 episodes. I like the original ways Bender was photographing the celebrity caught in hot water. I'm also surprised how little of Fry was in this episode. He spoke so little in the first part only to get rid of in the second. So.. that has to be one episode with the less Fryin it.

Some good commentary on celebrities but nothing really deep.

Anyway 3.5/5

[Dark Homer]

I think it makes sense in the end but I dislike whenever a character gets killed drastically and gets revived in the same episode (When their "lifeforce!" is taken away).

this is an odd complaint, since they weren't actually killed to begin with and calculon still remains dead

[Malaise Forever]

Well maybe it was just the way huh..that their "lifeforce" was taken away in the episode. It seemed to have more to do with magic than something Sci-Fi-ish. But even now I expect these things to happen often but like when in "AFTA" when they lose their arms I'd expect them to faint or something...it usually feels cartoonish. And in this episode it feels kind of out-of-place (like some others said)
Anyway, I liked Calculon's death. It felt like he redeemed himself and I wonder why he didn't win..And he's gonna be revived in an episode.

[zartok-35]

This episode had an interesting plot, but it wasn't very funny.

[The Angry Animated Comedy Nerd]

I wanna change my vote to a 2/5, screw this episode.