In Where I Talk Cartoons

[moonshayde]

My stress level has been high again, mainly do to panicking over the real life job issue. Namely, wanting so bad to get a job where I can support myself and be reasonably happy. I can teach now, want to teach, and no jobs! *cries* That stress is hindering my fannish life and my original writing and...*sigh*

So I've been trying to escape through Futurama. I'm still tense, but I'm trying. I'm really trying.


I'd forgotten how much I loved this show. It was so SMART.

I remember when I first watched it I wasn't very impressed. I was a junior in college when it premiered and one of my roommates and I decided to watch it. I was all about The Simpsons back then and my precious X-Files and I had no intention of watching something I thought would be stupid.

It didn't take long for me to start to really enjoy it, though. Needless to say, I really hated Fox for preempting it all the time and putting it on air at lousy times.

I don't know. It's just good. Great for scifi fans. I guess if you're not into scifi, most of it wouldn't make sense, but what I loved about the show is that it had this way of still staying culturally relevant to today while still taking place in the future. And it is really nothing but a satirical look at our society with pop culture thrown in to keep it funny. The dialogue and one liners were amazing. And while Fry isn't the brightest bulb, I think a lot of people can sympathize with him. He really represents the audience in the context of the show as he tries to fit into a futuristic world different than our own.

But what I think what I liked most about it was it also had the ability to be touching. The Simpsons also had this ability back in its first seasons, too. I could be laughing one minute and suddenly something poignant would happen to leave me stunned. I'm thinking of episodes like "The Luck of the Fryish" and "Jurassic Bark" to name a couple. I find that those moments came through the most when the story focused on Fry and the life he left behind as well as Fry and Leela struggling to be comfortable with each other. I know many people will just shrug it off as a cartoon, but I take cartoons just as seriously (or not) as everything else.

And seriously? It has some of the best 'ship on TV. And it's a cartoon. Crazy how the cartoon relationships seem more real than the ones I see on life action shows.

I really loved this show. It's been to smile again with it.

Comments

[dknightshade.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the job finding stress. It's really unfortunate that the market isn't good right now for teachers. My fannishness tends to totally shut down when I'm stressed too. Either that or it gets very passive. I watch shows or read stories, but that's it.

I hope you find something soon so you can relax. Sending good jobby thoughts your way.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

It's pretty good for science teachers. And while I excelled at science all my life, I don't have the credentials to teach it. No need for history teachers these days. From what I am seeing, a lot of programs like history, art, and music are being cut from schools anyway since they aren't deemed to be as important

*fumes*

Anyway, I'm just trying to find some balance. These in between times when I struggle to find it leave me a littl testy.

[pepper-field.livejournal.com]

Aw, hon, I'm sorry you're feeling down. Futurama sounds like a good way to deal with it. It really grew on me - I didn't think all that much of it at first, but it happened to be on at the right time, and the more I watched it, the more I thought it was just brilliant. Doctor Zoidberg in particular, because he is deeply disturbing.

...And, in searching for quotes from him, I find he's pretty popular.

Professor: Anywho, your net suits will let you experience Fry's worm-infested bowels as if you were actually wriggling through them.
Dr. Zoidberg: There's no part of that sentence I didn't like.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Hooray for Zoidberg!

Yeah, it's one of those shows that really grows on you.

And thanks. I'm trying to make it a point not to whine on LJ so much. I really am trying. I don't come on LJ to whine. I come on LJ to geek. I come on LJ to be fannish and to talk about writing and to just be full of glee, whatever form that might take. The past year and 1/2 have been very hard. Getting a shiny graduate degree didn't end up being so shiny after all. But I'm trying.

[nialla]

I'd forgotten how much I loved this show. It was so SMART.

I read an article about it a while back, and there was a mention of how so many of the writers were not only geeks, but genius level geeks. They sneak in math jokes in the background of scenes.

According to Billy West (Fry, among other voices), DVD movies are in the works, and I'm really looking forward to something new.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

It's true. I have some of the DVDs and they had some quantum physics jokes in the commentary I was listening to. I was quite impressed.

I'm glad to hear some confirmation from someone like Billy West (love his voice work). I went to IMDB yesterday. While not always reliable, it does have some of the mocies titled and listed. The first one has a summary and a release date of Dec 07 on it. We'll see. If it's true, I'm excited to see something new as well :)

[ausiewanab.livejournal.com]

"The Luck of the Fryish" and "Jurassic Bark" always make me cry. I think I've posted about those two episodes before how they make me sad whenever I watch them. Fryish is one of the best episodes of the show.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I think I remembr you posting about them. And I agree. Fryish is one of *the* best episodes. The writing just was so amazing.

I hope the movies/new eps will be good!

[lyore.livejournal.com]

I've never really seen Futurama. Perhaps I should watch.

(And good luck with the RL-job things, as well)

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Oh I highly recommend it. Especially if you're a scifi fan. The show is written by smart geeks, basically. So not only do you get tons of Star Trek and Star Wars jokes, but you get math and science jokes too, all in the context of history and pop culture with a side of black humor.

I don't know what you know about it, but the premise is that a loser of a person, Philip J Fry, a pizza delivery boy, delivers a pizza to a science lab and gets accidentally cyrogentically frozen on New Year's Eve, 1999. He wakes up in the year 3000. basicaly, he has to adapt to all the changes so you see everything through his eyes. The best episodes focus on his past or when he tries to fit in, or when he struggles to express his feelings for one of the other characters named Leela. Most of the show is based on old scifi cliches :)

A couple of quotes:

Chief Giant Brain: Pathetic human race. Arranging their knowledge by category just made it easier to absorb. Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands! Ha ha ha ha!

Episode concerning a trip to the moon...
Narrator: No one really knows when, where, or how man landed on the moon...
Fry: I do!
Narrator: ...but our Fungineers imagine it went something like this...
[Animatronic whalers emerge from a lunar lander]
Animatronic whalers: [singing] We're whalers of the moon.
Animatronic gophers: We carry a harpoon.
Animatronic whalers, Animatronic gophers: But there ain't no whales, so we tell tall tales and sing a whaling tune.
Fry: That's not how it happened.
Leela: I don't see you with a Fungineering degree.

Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Most video tapes were damaged in 2047 during the second coming of Jesus.

On a random note, all of this reminds me that I really want to watch Star Wars again.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Argh! Stop making it sound good! The last thing I need is another show to obsess over!

all of this reminds me that I really want to watch Star Wars again.

*nods* You should, watching Star Wars makes everything better :)

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Futurama is awesome. I just watched Space Pilot 3000 again last night. Hee! I love that show. All of the wonderful science fiction references...it really is a gift to science fiction fans. It's kind of weird how much I ship Fry/Leela when it's a cartoon and all, but they're so great and they're fleshed out very well. Love them.

I'm sorry to hear about the job stuff. Hope it gets better soon. *hugs*

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

I ship Fry/Leela kind of hard. It's a bit embarassing.

I think it's because it seems more realistic to me despite being a futuristic cartoon. Sort of the way The Simpsons used to be before they really dumbed it down. Fry is the typical guy. I don't like when they dumb him down either, but it never went too far, imo. Fry likes beer and video games and partying and sex. He's a slob and he's not perfect. But he's really sweet and he'd do anything for Leela. He's likes who for who she is no questions asked. He's just not some sterotype, somehow. it works so much because he's the type of guy I would likely totally bypass. Just like Leela, I'm not perfect. But I have certain ideals that I'll probably never attain. So I can sympathize with them both. I didn't really make my point clear here, but I'm tired.

I so need to see the pilot again. I decided that even though I shouldn't I ordered the first season so I could bask in it again. It's just so good. And I need something that will make me smile and make me feel smart at the same time right now.

And I hope things get better for everyone soon.

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

Ack, random. I was impatient waiting for my S1 DVDs to come in so I went to youtube to see if they had any clips from the pilot that I could watch. And I found the scene where Fry gets frozen. However, in that pilot scene, if yu freeze frame it when the chair tips, you can see Nibbler's shadow. Did you know that? And do you know if it was there to begin with or if the creators added it in when the DVDs were released?

[6beforelunch.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I need to watch it again to see if I can spot that. I have no idea if it was in there originally or added later. I would suspect it was there originally. That show was better than a lot of "serious" shows about their continuity. *g*

[moonshayde.livejournal.com]

If you're lazy and don't want to search your own DVDs, here's the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S1Zd-XPyqE

You can see it without pausing, but if you pause at :06 seconds, you can distinctly see Nibbler.

I wasn't all that fond of Nibbler having been present when Fry was frozen. I thought it was a meh kind of retcon. But if he was there from the pilot episode, then I take it all back.