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BigBadShadow25 With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg. from Basement at the Alamo (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Desperate
With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg.
#1701: Aug 5th 2024 at 6:01:25 AM

Bump. Okay, today’s episode was an oddly bittersweet throwback to Fry’s past and a reminder of how well meaning his parents could be. It was also a parody of Squid Games so have fun with that.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Aug 5th 2024 at 9:01:45 AM

You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.
RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#1702: Aug 5th 2024 at 9:21:12 AM

Never seen Squid Game so to me it seemed more like a riff on the Star Trek episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion".

I liked it all right, though weirdly, the best version of ultra-powerful aliens forcing a bunch of Futurama characters into death games is from the otherwise god-awful "Neutopia".

dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
#1703: Aug 5th 2024 at 11:59:19 AM

Another resounding meh.

I don't get why They keep retconning Fry's parents to be less awful

Plus it was obvious from the deaths in the second game that they weren't going to stick. Even the cast seems to know it. Because their reactions did not scan for real deaths even if they're not in on it.

As For Leela: "as a women you sometimes claim to love", are we going back again on them being a steady loving couple? Really?

MakeMineMedia Since: Jan, 2023 Relationship Status: My own grandpa
#1704: Aug 5th 2024 at 12:35:14 PM

This episode felt so formulaic. It felt they wanted another Luck of the Fryish or Jurassic Bark, but they've run out of interesting stories from Fry's past.

[up] Also agree that I'm getting sick of both them making Fry's family less bad and going back and forth on him and Leela being in a happy relationship.

HoloMew151 Space Gal from From Deep, Deep Space Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Tweaking my holographic boyfriend
Space Gal
#1705: Aug 5th 2024 at 12:35:25 PM

[up][up] At the very least, Fry showed Leela the location of the last baseball as a form of self sacrifice, even if it wasn’t the right thing ultimately. Still a weird thing to say though.

But yikes, the ending hits hard and in a quite mean-spirited way. Just birthday trauma after birthday trauma.

Edited by HoloMew151 on Aug 5th 2024 at 8:36:27 PM

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1706: Aug 5th 2024 at 1:15:00 PM

I guess that's the price of rebooting a series that has run out of ideas. They have already done all the interesting ideas and explored Fry's life up and down.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#1707: Aug 5th 2024 at 3:13:14 PM

Is this a complaint about gradual "Less awful-ness"...?

Because the first the parents were ever shown to be bad and worst they were ever shown was in "Jurassic Bark".

Neutral otherwise.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
MakeMineMedia Since: Jan, 2023 Relationship Status: My own grandpa
#1708: Aug 5th 2024 at 4:05:02 PM

[up]No, as far back as the episode where Fry's ex-girlfriend comes back, she mentions that his parents didn't want to waste tax payer money to search for him.

ErichoTOME Since: Apr, 2015
#1709: Aug 5th 2024 at 4:39:39 PM

Who else never watched the show but went to the Honest Trailers and Screen Rant Pitch Meetings and looked up to see is there was a How It Should Have Ended of it to understand it?

Yeah, we're not mentioning CinemaSins or TV Sins in this case.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#1710: Aug 5th 2024 at 4:51:56 PM

[up][up]She could've been lying though...

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
jakovu (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1711: Aug 5th 2024 at 5:17:31 PM

I'm sorry, was I watching the same episode as you all to think it made Fry's parents "less awful"? Their well-meaning actions in the flashbsck gave him trauma that lasted into adulthood, and the very last shot shows they couldn't recognize his clear despondency even then.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#1712: Aug 5th 2024 at 5:46:38 PM

Outside of Game of Tones...

None of the flashback episodes with his parents really made them "less awful"...like they have some pretty flawed parenting habits and the dad especially never hides his disappointment.

But the idea was always to show that they did care about Fry...

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
HoloMew151 Space Gal from From Deep, Deep Space Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Tweaking my holographic boyfriend
Space Gal
#1713: Aug 5th 2024 at 9:16:08 PM

[up] Even in this episode, we can see that Fry’s parents attempts to give him a happy birthday instead gave him a hatred of them. It does make me surprised though that this issue only came up now. Did no one make an attempt to celebrate Fry’s birthday beforehand?

IvanovTroping97 Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#1714: Aug 5th 2024 at 9:31:32 PM

As For Leela: "as a women you sometimes claim to love", are we going back again on them being a steady loving couple? Really?

I wouldn't be surprised if Katey Sagal hated saying that line.

dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
#1715: Aug 6th 2024 at 1:17:04 AM

I'm sorry, was I watching the same episode as you all to think it made Fry's parents "less awful"? Their well-meaning actions in the flashbsck gave him trauma that lasted into adulthood, and the very last shot shows they couldn't recognize his clear despondency even then.

The key words there are "well meaning", there's a long speech about how much his mother loves him and how they are trying to make him happy.

That's a far cry from the neglect and apathy they showed previously.

eta: @randomness4, there's zero indication Michelle was lying, Fry immediately agrees it was plausible and it was the same reason that they kept him out of school.

Edited by dcutter2 on Aug 6th 2024 at 9:26:19 AM

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#1716: Aug 6th 2024 at 1:35:45 AM

The "indication" would be that she immediately used it to manipulate him by affirming his thought that nobody cared he was gone.

And then tried to make it seem like she cared.

The retcon from the first movie doesn't matter as much, but that's a thing to note.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1717: Aug 6th 2024 at 5:04:08 AM

I don't get how this premise of Fry hating his birthday could never have come up, despite living in the future for years now. How old is Fry supposed to be now, anyway?

There's so much plot armour on all these characters, it's obvious all the deaths are going to be fake. Like You Would Really Do It, indeed.

I have no idea who the dorky kid competing with Fry is supposed to be. The wiki says he is Josh Gadgie, from a 2009 episode. Could have used a bit more introduction.

Kid Fry sounds like adult Fry, which is to say he sounds like an old man whose voice is going bad.

Is this supposed to be a Halloween episode? Because it kind of reads like a Treehouse of Horror episode.

This episode is really trying to pull heartstrings, but it just feels empty and manipulative, since it is perfectly clear no one will actually die anyway.

Fry's parents are cheating in ways that should be glaringly obvious to all the other children. It's kind of hard to believe no one noticed.

This episode feels like it is just playing with our emotions. I can't say Fry's sudden aversion to cheating rings particularly true either. It smacks of that plot point in Back to the Future where Marty is suddenly super susceptible to dares when he gets called chicken. Even if there are no explicit counter-examples (and I would be surprised if there aren't), it just doesn't ring very true to the character. Since when is Fry such a stickler for Honor Before Reason?

Edited by Redmess on Aug 6th 2024 at 2:33:31 PM

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
IvanovTroping97 Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#1718: Aug 6th 2024 at 6:49:01 AM

Is this supposed to be a Halloween episode? Because it kind of reads like a Treehouse of Horror episode.

Or a rejected "Anthology of Interest" episode. God, I miss the What-If machine.

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#1719: Aug 6th 2024 at 8:07:10 AM

Kid Fry always sounded like adult Fry...

He never really tried putting on a voice since he was already quite aged when the original series came out anyway.

The closest thing he ever did was just making Fry's voice crack when the entire cast was de-aged and over enunciating his words.

Edited by randomness4 on Aug 6th 2024 at 11:07:25 AM

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1720: Aug 6th 2024 at 8:33:19 AM

The well of Fry's past does seem to be one of diminishing returns. And it does feel like trying to recreate greatest hits from the past, but it doesn't quite work here. It feels kind of banal in a way those original episodes about Fry's past weren't.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#1721: Aug 6th 2024 at 8:47:26 AM

I think the ep would have been better if they'd reversed things around:

Fry as a kid loses badly at all the party games, and (because Fry's parents are obliviously awful) give out cake and presents as rewards to the kids who win the games. So Fry's left as the only kid at their own birthday party with nothing, while everyone else has a great time without them.

But while Fry sucked at those games in the past, in the future Fry's the only one who's ever played them before, and so dominates at the aliens' death games. And Fry gets really into the joy of winning for once, even though it means the people who lose are all being killed. Pretty standard character arc of learning friendship is more important than winning, nothing groundbreaking, but dealing with feeling like a loser (and getting wrapped up in anything that makes them feel not a loser) is much more on-brand for Fry.

Ookamikun This is going to be so much fun. (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
This is going to be so much fun.
#1722: Aug 6th 2024 at 5:35:13 PM

I thought there was already an implication that Fry's family do in fact care even in some small capacity, especially with Luck of the Fryrish.

RJ-19-CLOVIS-93 from New Zealand (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1723: Aug 6th 2024 at 5:52:58 PM

Did I mishear it, or did young Fry mention his grandmother is in Hell. Hmm...I wonder which one he's talking about

Deadpoolrocks Since: Sep, 2010
#1724: Aug 6th 2024 at 8:14:55 PM

also there is a difference between a 20+ year old slacker going missing for a few days in a big city, and an 8 year old worried he wont win any of the games his parents insisted on having for his party.

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#1725: Aug 6th 2024 at 9:00:39 PM

[up][up] Yeah, I don't know what that was about either. If it was a reference to an earlier episode, I have forgotten.

That would be the second reference to something from so long ago that viewers may well have forgotten about it in this episode.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times

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