Day Three Hundred and Fifty-seven - Futurama: Season 2, Episode 8, "He knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're on the can!"

I may grouse that Futurama has fallen far over the years, basically turning into a somewhat better version of Family Guy that is set in the third millenium A.D.,  but I will always owe a debt to Matt, Billy, John, Katey, et al. for all the good work they did... especially in those early seasons.

Once such example of the sweet, yet insane, adventures of the Planet Express Crew was their first Christmas episode, "Xmas Story," which starts them off on a ski trip in the first act but quickly turns into a race for survival against Robot Santa in acts two and three.

This episode happens pre-Leela's Homeworld and still predicates on the notion that she is the last of her kind, a single cyclops alien with no one to love during the holidays, a fact that Fry agitates by deciding to mope over being a man out of time, alone himself. There's never much in the way that shows things from Leela's side, and Fry's realizations concerning how he hurt her with his careless words are a little too quick, but there's only so much you can do in 22 minutes. At least, that's the excuse I want to use, but I've seen quite a few examples of better characterization from the series that would serve as a counterpoint (Luck of the Fryish, Jurassic Bark).

I think the strength of this episode lies in its many gags. The future ski vacation allows pretty much everyone to shine, from "Trees Down!" to Amy's thinly-veiled cast fetish to the Professor sleep slaloming, that first act is packed full of great one-off jokes. I think my favorite is when Hermes goes bobsledding and fails, first with Zoidberg accidentally following suit and Fry saying 'the heck with it' and doing it a third time. Great stuff.

Acts two and three lose a little bit of that momentum, thanks to the Fry/Leela melodrama, but manages to stay somewhat strong despite that. It helps that Robot Santa is voiced by John Goodman and Bender is off fleecing the poor and destitute. Tinny Tim is so cute in his misfortune and the digital clock gag is just beautiful.

This was also back before Zoidberg was the butt of every joke and even got to be the hero now and then. The fact he's the only one of the crew (possibly the world) whom Robot Santa hasn't deemed "naughty" is deliciously funny. I'm rather glad he was able to find the love of his life in the last season. Plus, I love his Apology Dance!

Xmas Story is one of my favorite Christmas episodes of any series... ranking pretty darn high up there. One of my others will be my pick for the twenty-fifth, which shall remain a mystery until then. Sadly, my absolute favorite isn't available on Netflix in the US (though, I think it is in Canada), but I'll save that for the twenty-fifth as well.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

8!

Day Three Hundred and Fifty - Futurama: Season 10, Episode 10, "One last flashback to the year 2000."

It's pretty much a given that at least once a season Futurama will pull at the heartstrings somehow. Whether it's with Seymour the Ever-Vigilant Mutt or the Five-leaf Clover, as bad as the show can get this late in its run, it still manages to hit you right in the feels.

There's a disaster in the making, a sonic spaceship is heading straight to earth and is destroying every piece of rock in its path and it's up to Fry to figure out what they want considering the fact that he's the only one who recognizes the tune it's belting out. In order to kickstart his memories, The Professor helps Fry dive into his dreamspace where he revisits all of his haunts that last day before he was frozen in our time.

While it's not as high a quality as Life of the Fryish or Jurassic Bark, Game of Tones is pretty darn cute and touches on probably one of the last untapped mines from that period of pre-Futurama wackiness, his sports-crazy mother (voiced by Tress MacNeille). While it's a bit of a stretch to think that Fry would risk the end of the world just to spend more dreamtime with his mother, when he can still have access to the memory world after he finds the tune, but it's good to see the old family again... even that cantankerous old hawk of a father of his.

There are a couple of gags that feel like the Futurama of old, not the Family Guy, break-the-fourth-wall and every other rule while they're at it style of jokes. I love the thought-spikes and the vibrating football game, Nixon and Agnew and the Close Encounters bits. It's not on par with the stuff of old, but still pretty darn decent.

It's kind of sad to think that there are just three short episodes left before the whole shebang is done... at least for now. Sure, there's always talk of finding home on another network (especially from the cast, when asked), but I get this sinking feeling that this is it. We'll have to just wait and see, I guess, and just savor the last few as they come.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Three Hundred and Forty-five - Futurama: Season 10, Episode 1, "It's Finally Happening!"

Welp, it happened.

Futurama was cancelled... again... and the last season has finally hit Netflix.

I almost want to feel sad, as Billy West, Katy Sagal, and John DiMaggio have almost always brought me quality scifi adventure with occasionally poignant and thoughtful episodes. Things were especially strong before the "Movie Season" era, but after its return to full run status, the show really hasn't been the same.

Case in point, this first episode of the final season... 2-D Blacktop.

Despite its inspired third-act journey to Flatland, a two dimensional world based on Edwin Abbott Abbott's (no, that's not a typo) novella, the rest of the episode is filled with crap gags that are more Family Guy than classic Futurama... and that's a GREAT disservice to the series. I mean, honestly, having Speed Buggy and Speed Racer show up for gags is all well and good, but have them quietly populating the background, don't do one-off reference jokes that break the fourth wall. It's bad enough when Seth MacFarlane does it.

Maybe it's just that they've run out of ideas on how to support the main thematic setpieces, but I see the same problem happening in modern era Simpsons, as well. It's like the story editors have burnt out and don't have anywhere else to go... that or they really ARE pandering to the Family Guy crowd.

That's not to say that there aren't a decent amount of old-style Futurama jokes to be had... like the Constellation Class spaceship in the background of the junkyard and Bender warming up his "blame-Fry" routine, it's just that there's not enough to cover up the shameless bits.

With this as the season premiere to it's 10th, I can definitely see how the writing was on the wall for the series. This is technically my first run of the last season, as I gave up cable in favor of Netflix well over a year ago, so I'll definitely keep going all the way through to it's finale... but, at this point, I'm really only interested in seeing the Adventure Time cameos later in the season.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and Forty-six - Adventure Time: Season 1, Episode 13, "To remain Pure while Wading in filth is a Herculean Task!"

In the interests of full disclosure (and to whine to you a little bit) I have to say that today has been a reaaaalllly sucky day. Not the parts where friends came over to hang for the past few hours, that's been great... just the rest of it.

Computer crashes, brake failure, several hundred dollars in brake repair... I suppose it could have been worse. I could've wrecked the car and ended up a in a full-body cast, the computers could've exploded instead of just losing a few hours of work, and I might not have had the small cushion of extra money in my checking account that I had been saving for moving expenses in the event that I got the Arts & Culture position in Juneau (spoiler alert: I didn't get the job).

Still, all of today's karma conflagrations haven't left me all that much in the way of time to watch something for Couchbound. As such, I cheated a bit and only saw a single episode of Adventure Time (which is, generously, about twelve minutes long).

Sue me.

Anyways, this particular episode was called City of Thieves and had Finn the Human and Jake the Dog first trying to retrieve a poor girl's basket from constantly being stolen by more and more residents of the eponymous City of Thieves, then trying to get the basket from the repository of ALL treasure in the City... the Tower of the King of Thieves. Seems that there's a magical force field that repels all thieves, making it impossible for any but the pure of heart (see: Finn) to get past it.

Of course, as we find out, it also kept the King from leaving the Tower... as evidenced by his decrepit bones lying stagnant on his throne.

So, Finn retrieved a chest that he thought held the young girl's basket (her name is Penny, btw) and wound up becoming a thief, himself, in the process... losing his pure heart... which caused him to go all Dark Knight on Penny, using Jake as his cape!

As episodes of Adventure Time go, this is almost as good as it gets. From its non sequitur opening moments to its random acid trip jokes (a horse bathing in a tub?), the only thing missing are the other show regulars like Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, and Ice King.

I also really like how there are several "lessons" over the course of the ep, but they're not really forced on the viewer in any heavy handed way. Finn tries to retain his purity by not becoming a thief, but faces the moral quandry that trying to do right by Penny actually made him one. To fix things, he resorts to becoming the worst of thieves to gather the necessary materials to get rid of the "filth"... in a quite literal matter (remember that horse taking a bath? they stole its soap... among other things).

It's hilarious how ineffective his treatment is at changing Penny, who readily tricks him again, but Finn isn't bothered. In his mind, he's regained all of their purities by cleansing them with actual soap.

It's nonsensical and naïve... but also rather sweet, and representative of the series' vibe as a whole.

Recommending Adventure Time to everyone with a sense of whimsy (both young and old) is an easy thing. I don't think it would go well with anyone who doesn't want to live in a state of wonder, but who knows, maybe the doubters can be converted. Either way, my only regret is that there's still only a single season available on Netflix.

Le sigh.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Ninety - Adventure Time: Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2, "Oh... mah... GLOB!"

Alright, if you're on the internet and you haven't heard about Adventure Time somewhere, somehow, I shudder to think of your cultural awareness.

Adventure Time isn't just a cartoon... it's a bonafide creative phenom!

Set in a plastic future where humans have all but completely died out (really, there's only one left) thanks to "the mushroom war," Adventure Time is a journey through surreal landscapes filled with the impossible and populated by the so highly improbable that you'd think Candy People and Lumpy Space People and Breakfast People would stretch your suspension of disbelief.

...But they NEVER DO.

Adventure Time is cute, irreverent, and just plain awesome.

Each episode lasts fifteen minutes and, even if it they don't continue a solid story arc in an obvious fashion, there are always details that filter through between episodes and build the mythology. Everything from the Enchiridion to the waving/shaking-fist snail has some connection to either the past or the future in Adventure Time.

The first episode dumps you right in the universe with little to no explanation... and you really don't need any. Everything about its fantasy nature just falls into place in your mind naturally.

The first thing you see is the Candy Kingdom where Jake the Dog and his girlfriend Lady Rainicorn are play-flirting outside the city walls. From there we're introduced to the spastic Finn the Human and Princess Bubblegum who are randomly trying to raise the dead Candy Folk. Something, of course, goes wrong and it's up to Finn and PB to race back to the castle and protect those still alive both from the Return of the Candy Dead and from themselves (when Candy Folk get scared, they explode).

The second episode introduces Lumpy Space Princess (yes, it seems like there's a Prince or Princess for every wacked out species in the future). At a bouncing tea party, she accidentally bites Jake and gives him Lumpy Space Sickness all werewolf style (RAWRG-RAWRG-RAWRG). If he doesn't get the antidote, which is in Lumpy Space, he'll turn all apathetic, lumpy, and (most frighteningly) VALLEY. See, the Lumpy Space Folk all seem to act like they're Californian suburbanites obsessed with weekly Prom-Coming Dances, make-out point, and acting like they don't care.

Freaking BRILLIANT satire.

It's weird, it's silly, and it feels like something a ten year old would write, but it's soooooo much more than that. You can feel the love and attention that goes into Adventure Time. All the details, all the light-hearted devotion from every single character.

From Manfred the Talking Piñata to the Keepers of the Royal Promise, I can't help but laugh and love all at the same time. Even Starchy the Janitor (who looks suspiciously like Scruffy from Futurama), when his sole purpose in the first episode is to be a deus ex'd victim, pleases with his too on the nose vulnerability and exit line ("Don't squeeze me! I'll fart!").

And the character depth... even as Finn is single-minded in his quest for Adventure and Awesome Times, we see he's struggles and cognitive dissonance along the way. We can tell he's got a desperate crush on Princess Bubblegum (the older woman at 18 years of age), but always wants to do the right thing, even as he makes mistakes as he goes.

THIS is how we're supposed to teach our children morality... and it has the added bonus of being funny and endearing as hell even if you don't need to learn the lesson of the day (be it "keeping promises" or "cutting a misguided friend some slack").

I am SO... FREAKING... HAPPY that Adventure Time is finally on Netflix. It's just a pity that it's only the first season. I look forward to the rest showing up and will chomp at the bit till they do.

Also, how freaking awesome is it that Lady Rainicorn only speaks in Korean?!

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~