Happy 5th Birthday!

Today marks five years of posts on this site. Way back on this date in 2008, I was watching a Cheers rerun while surfing Monster.com, Craigslist, and the like for a job. I was a few months out of grad school and a few weeks from landing a job as a researcher. A lot has changed over the past half-decade, and we went from 89 posts in the first year to closing in on 1900 over the past four years. Not every article you read is from me anymore, as we have three other writers with various specialties - and our cartoon guy has recently returned!

I remember a lot of firsts. I remember the first time over 100 people hit in a single day. I remember when I had a solid month of 100+ hits every day. I remember the first time I got 1,000 hits in a day. I remember the first time I had 30 people on the site at the same time. I remember the first time someone sent me a link to something where TheTalkingBox was quoted. I remember the first time a publicist reached out and offered me exclusives in exchange for publicity. I remember my first screeners. I remember the first time someone else in "the biz" contacted me about growing the site. I remember the first month we had a hit from every state in the US.

We've had 600+ posts that aren't recaps and remarks, and a few make the list of Our Ten Most Popular Posts of All Time, though most of those slots belong to the articles folks search for to find out what happened and what we thought about various episodes. Let's take a quick look at the posts in that list...

Deal or No Deal
Who's Who on Season Three of Cake Boss' The Next Great Baker 
Giveaway: Hunger Games Poster! 
Futurama: October, Germany, and Neanderthals
New Competitions: Bridalplasty & The Next Great Baker
Hot in Cleveland: Meet Joy's Grandson 
Next Great Baker: Final Predictions
Favorite Episodes: Roseanne
NEW SHOW: Abby & Brittany
Cake Boss: Car Cake for Danica Patrick

The biggest surprise? Half of those posts are about shows on TLC, a network that covers a very wide variety of programming, with dozens of shows we never cover.

When I started, I didn't think about where this site would be in five years. Now, it's still tough to imagine what might change between now and 2018, but we hope to be here and doing even more!

Rather than list more accolades and milestones, I'll just throw out another THANK YOU, especially to the readers who never come to the site but read loyally over various means (like Google Currents!), and hope that you choose to celebrate our birthday by passing on a favorite article to a friend.

Futurama: Together Forever

If ending a series is rough, ending a series for a second time must be excruciating. However, when the final episode turns out to be a nice mixture of comedy and heart-warming happiness, it must have been beyond difficult to design. The final few episodes left no futures for Hermes or Amy, but Bender found a new criminal friend and Zoidberg a girlfriend, so a happy ending for Fry and Leela should have been inevitable. Though living in a world where you are the only living things would seem to be boring and depressing, Fry and Leela turn their isolation into a lifetime of enjoyment. Their creativity to make the most out of what was left on the Earth was impressive, but it was a hard call to agree to forget it all so that things could return to normal. Good for them for letting mankind also experience a chance at the fulfillment they achieved.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2013 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama "Meanwhile" (S07E26) [Series Finale]: Bender, Leela, and Fry land at Luna Park on the moon, where Fry and Leela made their first delivery. [great balloon sculpture of Leela!] They ride a dangerous attraction together, and Bender vomits screws and metal, which clog up the gears and throw Leela flying. She goes through the moondome and is missing, assumed dead, until a stuffed animal is brought back with Leela inside. [I didn't really get how that worked.] This whole incident convinces Fry to propose to Leela, and the Professor inadvertently helps him determine how. Farnsworth has created a device that can go ten seconds into the past, so Fry promptly abuses it to steal diamonds to make Leela an elaborate engagement ring. [haha.] Then, he asks her to meet him at the top of the Vampire State Building at 6:30 if she will marry him, but when he thinks she is late, he decides to end his life, rather than use the time device to make the moment last forever. [awww.]

He sees her on the way down and realizes that his watch was wrong because he had already abused the time device so much. [ouch! if he lost 32 minutes at 10 seconds a pop, he used it 192 times!] He presses the button, but because it cannot ever got back more than ten seconds, he's stuck in an infinite loop of falling. The Professor figures this out and gets the gang to help him get to Fry in time by moving the Time Protector closer to the Vampire State Building. [big shout-out to Bender who decided that it was better to rat someone out than help someone.] Unfortunately, Fry has been doing it for so long that he begins to fall asleep with each fall and loses control of the device, resulting in him splatting on the ground. Leela picks up the controller and starts to save Fry over and over, but obliterates the Professor in the process, as pressing the button less than ten seconds from when someone gets out of the Time Protector makes them disappear, as there is nowhere to send them back to. [wow, that's weird.] But when Fry lands safely (thanks to the gang working together), he busts the button and freezes the universe. [I somehow don't believe that would have happened.] Fry brings up the marriage proposal again, and Leela accepts. They set up a wedding and set off on a very long honeymoon, fashioning whatever they want out of anything and everything around. [God forbid they ever need any help with medical problems or food or anything!] They grow old together, and after seeing everything on their bucket lists, they return to the top of the Vampire State Building, where Fry talks about how he really did make one moment last forever. [that was kinda cute.]

The Professor has been bouncing around for decades, looking for the time button. He finally gets to Fry and Leela, and it takes the Professor only moments to fix it. [Fry has been carrying the remains all this time??] The world goes back to when time stopped, with Fry and Leela having the time to relive their lives once more. [that was really kind of sweet. but strange that Leela never felt lonely in all that time. and amusing that they never reproduced or anything.]

Futurama: A Happy Ending for Zoidberg

Perhaps because I was not an avid watcher of Futurama in its early seasons, I was unaware that Zoidberg smelled horribly. It doesn't seem to come up around the Planet Express crew, though perhaps they are pretty accustomed to it by now. Bender having a new little pal was actually more interesting, I thought, as Fry will eventually spend more time with Leela than a robot (one would hope). The jokes about reality competition shows fell flat, at least to those like me who gave up on the likes of American Idol and America's Got Talent a decade ago. The hype to the mega-finale (it's not the first finale, but it sure will be the last) has been ridiculous, and there is almost no way that the episode could live up to it, so prepare to be disappointed.

Futurama "Stench and Stenchability" (S07E25): Apparently, Zoidberg has had a long-distance girlfriend for four years, though they have never met. She finally comes to New New York, and although he cleaned up his place for her, his "personal musk" grosses her out immediately, and that ends things abruptly. [awww. it sucks to have someone write you off as soon as you meet. I had a semi-blind date that way when I was 14 and it was horrible.] He goes to return the flowers he bought for her, and winds up impressing the florist when he scares off a mugger.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2013 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

They hit it off, as she has no sense of smell. [boo! a dig at New Jersey! I already dealt with that this week!] The Professor suggests a nose transplant, which Zoidberg could perform on Mary Ann, but it seems to be a conflict of interest. As time goes on, he realizes how much she would like to have her fifth sense, so he mentions the surgery. She is elated at the prospect, so when a donor nose is found after a fencing accident, she goes under his knife. [Amy as the nurse was odd.] When she awakens, Mary Ann finds Zoidberg's stench appealing and the scent of flowers disgusting, so not only does the relationship have promise, but she goes from being a florist to a garbage collector. [I guess it's nice to have the series wrap up on "happily ever after" notes...]

The B-story begins when Bender helps clean Zoidberg's dumpster with a bug bomb. The critters just run out and get on him, forcing him to shake every which way, then stomp them to death. [the bugs seriously grossed me out.] Bender is invited to take part in a tap dance contest, where one of each of the five contestants will be eliminated each week. Of course, it comes down to Bender and a Tanya, a six-year-old with a heart condition. The evil robot plans to put rusty tacks in Tanya's shoes, but she clubs him in the knee first. [whoa! kindred spirit out of nowhere!] He asks Zoidberg to fix it, but he's too busy, so Bender just uses tape. A simultaneous head-to-head tap-off is planned for the final round, and after Bender's leg comes flying off, he taps with his hands. [meh. a bit too gimmicky.] After Tonya wins, she has a hear attack and dies on the stage. [those sappy children words were about to make my teeth rot!] Bender dances on top of her in vengeance, but that actually starts her heart beating again. [hahaha.] It works out well, though, as they devise a scheme to mug people together!

Futurama: A Monster on the Ship

First of all, let me point out that there is a Wreck-It Ralph Fix It Felix arcade game on a truck in this episode! Always excited to see the film get more coverage! Anyway, this episode was average for the most part, though the basic premise was pretty interesting. I certainly didn't see the truth coming, though I should have, especially after the partnered pairs have no real issues working together after all. I also thought that the assignment of the tasks was off... why make the two largest guys, Hermes and Zoidberg, climb through the vents? Wouldn't you give that task to one of the other groups? Unless the goal was to make things moer difficult than necessary, of course.

Futurama "Murder on the Planet Express" (S07E24): Fry goes to brush his teeth but it seems that Bender has been using his toothbrush. To catch him in the act, he sets up a spy camera, only to learn that Bender harvests one of Fry's kidneys instead. [terrifying.] Similarly, Amy and Leela are surprised when they learn via spycam than Zoidberg caused their problems, and Hermes finds that Leela was to blame for something he thought Zoidberg did. [and the eating of the kidney was totally gross.] Because of all this mistrust, the Professor brings everyone along on a corporate team-building retreat, but the leader soon gets eaten by a hitchhiker who is disguised as a monster.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2013 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The Professor gathers the group into a Panic Room, but when there are immediate problems with the life support system, he breaks them into teams to solve the issues. [and, of course, the teams are the partners with the most distrust for one another.] When the first set of obstacles is completed, the Professor admits that it was all an exercise to teach them the value of teamwork. But, then the monster resurfaces, disguised as the Professor and gobbles down Hermes. The shape-shifting creature eats a few others, leaving only Fry and Bender. The leader returns to say that it WAS all a gag after all, but the buds don't believe him and blast him to death. [ha!] All is well again until the missing man generates a large reward and immunity, testing the two once more. [we all know that Bender would sell out Fry in that situation, right?]

Futurama: Remote Keyless Entry on Spaceships

As the past several episodes have been, this installment of Futurama had a good time playing with its title. While one might have guessed that the storyline here would be akin to something on the HBO series Game of Thrones, instead it was just a play on words, with Fry spending the bulk of the time trying to recall where he once heard a series of tones in the past. The writing is meant to be funny with its stretching of timelines for humor, but instead it comes off as over-the-top and nearly confusing. For instance, the first scene demonstrates that it takes this particular spaceship 17+ days to actually reach Planet Z-7 after it appears semi-close. The reason for this overdramatization is to setup how the Professor and his employees will begin hearing the ship's music a full two weeks before it actually lands on Earth. And, that in itself seems to only exist to make it seem funny that Fry slept for 13.5 days, trying to recall via dream where he has heard the four-note melody. A lot of time was spent to line up everything for that gag, and it fell flat. Not that some of the others (a quick-fix to the Professor's hearing aid, a jab at Shazam, the idea that a disposabe cone in your head could allow someone to read your mind) were better...

 facebook.com/Futurama

Futurama "Game of Tones" (S07E23): Fry finds the tune of a traveling spaceship familiar, and the Professor uses a device to determine that Fry heard it on his last day in the year 1999. Another device allows him to "dream" about the sequence of events that day, in search of the sound. [I liked that things he doesn't know are blank, as he has no memory of them!] He procrastinates, though, as he wants to spend more time with his family. So, the whole gang, plus Agnew and Nixon's head come to drag him onward. [cute pocket doggy!] It turns out that the sound was the very last thing Fry heard before he fell into the cryogenic tube, only he recalls two notes more than the current melody. The group responds to the spaceship with the remainder of the tune, and someone from Nibbler's species shows up in the spaceship. [random!] Well, when this guy dropped off Nibbler all those years ago, the two got drunk and lost their spaceship, and he's been flying around the universe ever since, trying the remote keyless entry to locate it. [I want a remote keyless entry that plays a song! my old car only had the "beep-beep" sound!] Turns out, it's still on the roof of the Cryogenics building. In appreciation, the "Nibblers" grant Fry some time with his mother, courtesy of his mother's dream. [if all he wanted to do was talk to her, why does he just hug her?]

Futurama: Jack Meets Rapunzel, with Batman and Robin??

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2013 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Sometimes I stop and wonder how the writers behind Futurama write the episodes, and with one like this, I just keep going back to one concept... they must come up with an idea that's a bit "out there" and run with it, only to later figure out how to get the ball rolling. In this case, Leela turning into a squid and the shenanigans that follow seem to clearly be the main concept for the episode, and it was only later that it was decided that her condition would surface because of a mechanical bull she's riding.. and that the only reason she's even there is because Bender stole a hat and everyone followed him to the bar. Otherwise, the first few minutes of this episode are irrelevant to the rest of it! Not that the entire episode made perfect sense, mind you... Batman (as a bat) and Robin make a random appearance as well.

Futurama "Leela and the Genestalk" (S07E22): At a country bar, the group takes turns riding a mechanical bull of sorts. Leela has a wilder ride than the others because her hand is sprouting suction cups and she can't let go of the machine. [it must be horrifying to be stuck on there!] Turns out, Leela is going through "squidification," which sometimes affects mutants. [I don't know if I had ever noticed Leela's mother having tentacles!] Fry heads to a marketplace to sell the ship for money to pay for surgery, and winds up getting two magic beans for it. Leela gets so upset as the tentacles grow that she decides to move to the sewer. But, when she sees beanstalk grow, she climbs it instead, coming upon a castle in the clouds with a unicorn ambling about. [haha at there reference to The Jeffersons!]

It's not long before Leela discovers that "Mom" has been genetically mutating all sorts of things in her castle-plane. [weird.] She even breeds pigs and porcupines for a pork treat with built-in toothpicks! Leela's boots fall from the sky, so Fry and Bender use a jetpack-like device to go up there in search of her. [I rolled my eyes over how accurate those boots were...] Leela lets them climb up her tentacles as if she was Rapunzel, and they all attempt to escape. [why are Batman and Robin there??] They stumble upon a Giant being held captive before shimmying down a drainpipe and taking over the ship, crash-landing it but making it home. However, they find out that some of Leela's suction cups were used to genetically engineer a beanstalk, and that Mom can make Leela tentacle-free, just as she modified the Giant to be average height. [status quo for the win!]

Futurama: Bender's Buttocks

As was previously mentioned, the end of the Futurama series is expected to be largely unoriginal and leftover ideas from seasons past that never came to light. "Assie Come Home" only had two moments that were actually reminiscent of the classic collie, but the storyline itself was still lackluster. Had the gang rivalry and Leela's attempts to thwart organized violence been the focus of the episode, it might have been better. Instead, that was just the precursor to Bender having his body stolen. Another aspect that could have improved the episode might have been to have Amy and Zoidberg also out looking for Bender's parts, but the story cut out those characters. And don't get me started on the underwater-shipwrecks-in-space shenanigan... five more episodes and this show will be retired for good.

Futurama "Assie Come Home" (S07E21): The Professor has a delivery for a planet full of criminals, and Fry, Leela, and Bender need to be careful they deliver to the correct gang - rivals Blips and Cruds have very slightly different jerseys. Leela wants to know what is in the crate, and when she learns that it's firearms, she has Bender curve the barrels so they can't be used. [haha, "visit scenic Detroit."] Turns out, the weapons were a gift from one gang to the other, and they wind up having a mass suicide when the guns shoot the holders. [that was a bit horrific!] When Leela and Fry return to the ship, Bender's body has been stolen, and he's nothing but a mouth and eyes. [funny premise.] Hermes had a ro-jack on Bender, leading them to a chopshop, where all but the robot's head has been sold already. The trio go across the galaxy to locate the other parts, at places like a flea market, a Playboy Mansion-esque place, a frat party, a casino boat, and a hospital orphanage, where Bender saws the legs off a young robot. [that made me sad, but Bender taking the kid's cart and then tossing it moments later really made me gasp.]

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2013 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Bender keeps looking for his derriere, but it sank in a shipwreck. [water in space. always so complicated.] A lighthouse keeper helps them recover the part, but they soon learn that it's more reflective than the mirrors in the lighthouse, so Bender allows the guy to keep it in an attempt to stop so many ships from crashing there. [huge cobwebs? a skeleton? how long has it been?!? these things don't form overnight!] But, when the keeper reads Bender's butt a Bible passage, it breaks free and returns to Bender, saving a boy from a well along the way. [haha, the fireworks were crashing spaceships!]

Futurama: Imagination?

What do you do at the end of the run of your series? With Futurama, the answer is apparently, "whatever you want." In the most recent two episodes, one is a collage of cartoon spoofs while the other has the Professor acting uncharacteristically to reincarnate a character. Looking ahead to the remaining six episodes, titles include "Assie Come Home," "Game of Tones," and "Stench and Stenchibility," illustrating that the most original writing may not be coming. That said, these types of episode do make for some lighthearted fun and they're not necessarily as raunchy as some of the Bender-centric episodes tend to be. "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" made interesting choices with the treatments of Scooby-Doo and G.I. Joe, as opposed to so many other classic options out there. I found the former to be done pretty well, but the parodies of the latter fell flat. With "Calculon 2.0," it seemed all too easy for the RobotDevil to hand over Calculon's soul, plus the extreme peculiarities of the Professor bringing the robot actor back to life seemed over-the-top and confusing. Or perhaps it recalls some of the character's very early tendencies, from seasons I did not watch?

Futurama "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" (S07E19): Nixon's head wants to watch cartoons at 8am on a Saturday morning, so he tunes into Futurama and Friends Sturday Morning Fun Pit. First up is a Scooby-Doo spoof, with Bender as Scooby, but called Bendee-Boo. [I didn't get it at first, actually.] Fry plays Shaggy, Hermes does Fred, Leela acts as Daphne, and Amy is Velma. Add in the vehicle being the Mystery Express and throwing Bendy Brew instead of Scooby Snacks at the guys, and you're set. In typical Scooby-Doo fashion, the bad guy is the only new person the gang meets, this time George Takei, the owner of a kabuki theater, acts as a ghost wearing a mask. [I feel like that mask was more lucha libre than kabuki...] Well, there's the obligatory guest appearance as well, with not only the Harlem Globetrotters but also a clone team of Larry Birds. [what happened to the clones of Fry, Bender, and the ghost??]

After there's some revolt against cartoons not containing lessons, Nixon tunes into Purpleberry Pond to see "Princess Purpleberry Meets a New Friend." [is this a Brickleberry thing?] This is one of those cartoons heavily relying on merchandising, as there are frequent cereal commercials featuring the purple cereal and its inevitable reiterations, adding more colors and whatnot. The show itself has purple characters meeting Lord Loquat, an orange Fry, for the first time. [watering plants with maple syrup??] Leela is the only one to accept him immediately, but when they all do, that's the lesson. [haha. I remember those cartoons... the ones with no real conflict. how odd they were!]

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

If it's not one thing, it's another. The people are angry about violence in cartoons, so Nixon fixes G.I. Zapp to run in reverse (vacuuming bullets and the like) and voicing over some of the (very obvious) words and phrases. The series even includes a PSA before the channel turns to six hours of golf. [haha, I remember that switch! also, amusing that ACRONYM is set to stand for "A Criminal Regiment of Nasty Young Men."]

Futurama "Calculon 2.0" (S07E20): It's been a year since Calculon's death, but the Professor thinks that they could restart him if they had both the body and the soul. Bender becomes a gravedigger and Fry goes to RobotHell to make a deal with the RobotDevil. It's easier than expected because RobotDevil can't stand the chattering Calculon, and, after a few hokie things, the Professor is successful at reincarnating Calculon. [this whole sequence was odd and seemed severely truncated.] Bender and Fry immediately try to get him his old position on All My Circuits, but the President of the network doesn't think it works anymore. He's actually been largely forgotten, and even his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been replaced by that for Robert Wagner. [haha, dig at FOX.]

Calculon decides to move on to stage acting, but he's received terribly, so he wants to give up completely. However, Fry, Bender, and Leela help him get back on track with it by getting him an audition for his old show, but as a new character. In disguise, he winds up getting a role as Calculon, purely based on his physical similarity. [annoying, but that's the way the world works sometimes!] He's an obnoxious ignoramus who won't listen to any advice until Leela tells him that he's just a grade-B actor who was forgotten shortly after his death. Of course, it soon doesn't matter, as he's killed a second time, though he does regain his star and his ability to torture the RobotDevil!

Futurama: Planet Express as FDNNY, and Beyond

This was another episode in the Futurama canon where the plot was pretty basic and didn't offer much in the way of jokes, drama, or ongoing gags. On one hand, it made returning to the status quo by the end fairly simple - Bender needed to lose his flame and the Planet Express crew needed to stop taking on the responsibilities of the fire department. On the other, the episode seemed rather dull and really could have used a second character doing something amusing. This is particularly poignant when remembering that the previous episode was also light on the jokes and heavy on the Bender. Here's hoping to a more amusing final eight episodes!

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama "The Inhuman Torch" (S07E18): There's a mine collapse on the sun and a rescue would mean certain death... but the Professor wants the Planet Express gang to do it anyway, as he has a spray that protects against extreme heat. [his ideas are sure strange sometimes!] Still, it's unprotected Bender who gets suckered into performing the 15 rescues when he propels himself in and out of the mine, carrying the trapped people in his abdomen/barrel. [and so begins his desire to remain a hero in the eyes of the public.] Planet Express is soon the fire department, and the group becomes exhausted. The gang begins to think that Bender is setting the fires so he can be seen as a hero, but when he's confronted, he believes the infernos to be the work of Flame-O, a blue flame who is framing him. [and Bender actually cares??] In trying to extinguish it, he cannot find an easy method and even travels to the arctic in hopes of putting it out. Fry arrives and believes it to be a pilot light, not a creature with its own mind, and leaves his friend. Of course, Bender later saves Fry from a fire, and Fry confesses to the arson so Bender isn't blamed. [I didn't quite follow why Fry made that move...]

Futurama: Bender as a Folk Singer?

I found it funny that this episode was all about 3-D printing. A friend recently told me that her significant other wanted to purchase a 3-D printer, and both of us were stumped as to what an ordinary person would do with one. I mean, having something printed just for fun is great once or twice, but that's what libraries are for! Or, at least my local library, which does free 3-D printing for cardholders, and you don't even need to be 13 years old! Anyway, aside from the timely topic, I was not impressed with this episode and found it to be quite boring. Sure, I laughed at "flatter than a MacBook Air," but when the installment starts with a prisoner transfer, I just expected so much more, didn't you?

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama "Forty Percent Leadbelly" (S07E17): While transferring a prisoner, Bender meets an ex-con folk singer and decides to fulfill his dream of doing the same. [I feel like this idea came out of NOWHERE!] After 4-5 hours on a 3-D printer, he has a guitar to use while singing his short songs. The problem is that he doesn't have the life experiences to write about, so he decides to try "working on the railroad all the live long day" to get some perspective. [I kinda laughed at the reference.] He soon starts writing songs where the truth comes to life, as he's still wired to the 3D printer. [but everything resolves in the end, of course.]

RETURNING: Futurama: It's Getting Better

After all of the fanfare surrounding the announcement that this will be the final set of episodes for the cartoon, actually watching them seems a bit lackluster. Not as bad as the final few from the previous batch, but not awesome. Still, there were some highlights, like the Professor's leather labcoat and Bender managing to keep the rest of the group from finding out that Fry was stuck on another planet. I especially enjoyed Fry trying to use the answering machine message like Kevin McAllister used his TalkBoy in Home Alone! And there were some thought-provoking commentary as well, like the interesting twist on what we think of caged animals. Nothing groundbreaking, of course, but different nonetheless. And, everything managed to work its way back to "status quo" by the end of the story, so nothing to really carry over, except for the fact that Leela and Fry are still together.

Futurama "2-D Blacktop" (S07E14): The group is to deliver a chandelier, but the Professor upgraded the ship and wrecks it. [Bessie??] It's hauled away for scrap, so Leela buys a safer ship, though the Professor takes it personally and heads to the dump to fix the ship. [Speed Racer joke!] He drives like a geezer until a couple of spaceships tease him, at which point he challenges them to a street race. The police start following them but the Professor pulls a dimensional drift and then joins the "crew" of the others. [yeah, it's rough not knowing someone else's vernacular, LoL.]

Meanwhile, Leela's safe ship has no windows and is slow, though it does make the deliveries automatically. [less exciting vs. less work... hmmm...] Leela and the Professor race, but wind up crashing and their vehicles meld into 2D. [don't ask. I don't know.] After a failed attempt at life there, they take off in the Professor's ship and use the dimensional drift to get back just before the dump would have melted the materials. [ha! timing is everything!] While they were unavailable, Hermes, Zoidberg, and Amy hired the other racing crew to drive for them.

Futurama "Fry and Leela's Big Fling" (S07E15): Fry makes Leela dinner, then they take a walk in Central Park where Bender tries to mug them with a carrot. They wind up stealing his goods and then go eat, but with Zoidberg as their busboy, the romance is killed. Similarly, Nibbler ruins the mood back at Leela's. So, they bite when there's an ad for a week-long getaway at an uber-private resort. [the pineapple ring was weird. the auto-hands got annoying at the dinner.] They are skinny dipping when Leela's old boyfriend, Sean, shows up, because he had used the resort the week before and hadn't left yet. [yeah, I definitely got suspicious at this point!] The old couple catches up, much to the dismay of Fry, though it's not too long before they leave.

Back at Planet Express, the gang is delivering cars to Simian 7, Planet of the Primates. [haha, they just want to make the tires into seats!] Amy knows one of the primates from college, and he shows her, Bender, and Zoidberg around the city, including the zoo. [interesting joke about pulling up a forgotten character.] Turns out, the humans in the zoo are Fry and Leela! The trio try to free them, but they're told about the human behavior experiments taking place. [I liked that you could buy "Fry wigs." that's some fast merchandising!] Bender, Amy, and Zoidberg wind up being eaten by a moonworm, but they're expelled a week later, just in time for Bender to announce that the neckers were in a zoo!

Futurama "T.: The Terrestrial" (S07E16): Lrrr helps his son, Jrrr, earn a merit badge, but the youngster wants to do "skull arranging," instead of "planetary invasion," so they head for the White House lawn and get Nixon's head to sign a surrender. Jrrr then blows up Nixon's body holder, so Nixon puts an embargo on everything, including "cultural exports" like TV. [ouch!]

The Professor needs arthritis medication, and the active ingredient is found only on the Omicronian planet with the embargo, so the group paints the ship to get through the blockade. They pick some herbs, which light up near Bender's magnetic field. [but it wasn't explained why that happened...] Bender lies about Fry's whereabouts and the team leaves without him. [I hate Bender.] Jrrr finds Fry, who quickly becomes homesick. Jrrr treats him as a pet, and they even work on his "emergency communication" badge, but when Lrrr finds out, he wants his son to kill Fry. The boy can't bring himself to do it, though, and Bender shows up to rescue Fry soon after so it all works out. [weird glowing butts.] 

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Fun Friday: Television-Themed Nail Art

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I wasn't allowed to paint my nails until fifth grade, as my mom saw it as a gateway to makeup or something. As you might imagine, I went overboard in the few years after that... in sixth and seventh grade, I painted my nails weekly. In eighth grade, as my collection of colors and brushes grew, I'd plan several outfits in a row, paint my nails so they'd go with all of them, then repeat the process so that my nails matched my clothes as often as possible. At some point I acquired a set of small bottles of nail polish with very, very thin brushes, along with a booklet to show you how to paint designs. I never got good at it. I could do a simple flower one one nail after messing up the other nine... that was about the extent of my skill. My sister, on the other hand, is quite good at nail design, cranking out a truly cool set of fingers a few times a year. [and, in case you were wondering, I no longer ever paint my fingernails... the look of chipping after two days bothers me. BUT, I never go longer than a day without paint on my toenails, so I still retain an extensive color collection that I utilize monthly or so!]

Anyway, I came across a slideshow of "comedy nail designs" and wanted to share a few of my favorites. Weigh in on which you like best (from my picks or from the original collection) or shoot us a link to some other neat nails!

The Big Bang Theory

Doug!

Futurama

South Park

well... what did you think??

Four Futuramas: Farnsworth's Parents, Mars Vegas, Fox Hunting, Animals

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

One thing that I like about Futurama (and other animated shows like The Simpsons) is that, for the most part, you can watch them out-of-order and nothing really changes. I mean, aside from having a good grasp on the qualities of each character (like the Professor and Fry being related, the fact that Amy's parents are rich folks who live on Mars, and that Fry and Leela are an on-again/off-again couple), these final four episodes of the first half of the seventh season could easily be viewed much earlier in the series sporadic canon. I didn't care much for "31st Century Fox," but the other three were worth watching, I'd say. (Though I found it weird that the janitor character appeared throughout the final episode... just strange to be reminded of him so often, I suppose.] None were beyond notable or must-sees, and I feel like I've said that quite a few times for this season of the show... so, unless something drastically changes, we will not be covering this show upon its return in a few months.

Futurama "Near-Death Wish" (S07E10): ["There's no bismuth like show bismuth" was the tagline. a tad funny?] At some random awards ceremony, Hermes and his wife are supportive of their son while Fry is alone, the Professor having skipped the affair. [awww. I can relate. Many times as a child I'd be the one without parents at my events. of course, part of that was that I had many of them...] Fry wins a Clippie for Best Delivery Boy, though all three of his competitors are deceased. [AWKWARD! but how did he get nominated for this, exactly? and, really, the "Academy of Delivery Sciences"??] Sad, Fry decides to seek out some relatives on another planet, where he finds out that the Professor's parents are being used as batteries. [yay! hating on The Matrix!] Fry, Leela, and Bender try to connect with the virtual world, getting sucked into it, and Bender uses a reverse-mortgage scam to convince Fry's "grandfather" to let them in. [haha, that was funny!]

The trio bring back Farnsworth's parents (who say that the Professor was crotchety as a child) to New New York (even if it's through using them for their "energy" once again), and Fry has great fun with them. The Professor gets upset, jealous that his parents didn't have enthusiasm in his interests as a child. See, he was accepted to MIT at 14, but his parents thought that he wasn't emotionally ready for college, so they moved him to a farm from the city. [yeah, I'd hate my parents for that, too.] He was so full of hate that he never spoke to them again after he moved away. Leela and Amy suggest that he talk to his parents about all of this, but after doing some hating, the Professor streaks away, running to the farmhouse. [in Queens? I liked the tires joke though!] Well, "the grandparents" tell of the Professor's older brother, who was instituted at a young age... but it turns out that the Professor WAS the older brother! [how awkward can you possibly get??] He was in the institution for 25 years, and his parents never knew that he was released! [they never checked on him? and LOVED the "it felt like a minute compared to grad school!" comment!] It seems that the Professor's parents spent every night trying to keep him calm while he slept, which is why they never had the energy to play with him as a child. Don't worry, they're not sticking around, though... the professor sends them to a virtual farm. [yeah... weak.] 

Futurama "Viva Mars Vegas" (S07E11): [The opening was made by hand, resulting in a cool effect that I hope we see more than once!] The crew heads to Amy's parents' casino on Mars Vegas for the weekend, but because Zoidberg isn't the greatest at managing his money, Amy suggests that he stay home. [awww! he looked so dejected!] Well, a "Binks" truck gets robbed by the Robot Mafia, who drop the loot in Zoidberg's dumpster to get away from the fuzz. ["DeNiros" instead of "dinero" was a little amusing.] Zoidberg takes the money as a sign from God, heading to Mars Vegas, begins spending lavishly, and is immediately labeled a sucker. [can we pause for a moment to think about our own "Indian casinos" ? Here, many of the casino employees are native Martians, who make minimum wage on land that was once theirs. sound similar to anyone? also, loved the "Big Spender" song spoof!] Zoidberg bets $8M on roulette, hits for $288M, and lets it ride... winning $10B+. Rather than stop while he's ahead or collect any of his winnings at all, Zoidberg lets it ride again, losing it all. [boo!] Well, the robot mafia catches up with him back in New New York and threatens to kill him... luckily, he gets away by inking. [why would he come back to the same dumpster?? ph, because it never occurred to him that someone could be after that money!] Fry was having a tattoo removed when Zoidberg bursts into Planet Express, and the removal laser makes him invisible, as he was covered in so much ink! [odd. and a stretch. but okaaay...] Unable to recover the money, the robot mafia decides to take over the casino as well as the Wong mansion. [how did they just "take it all over?" and, haha at "what's rent?"]

Amy plans to break into the casino vault and get everything back to normal by having "invisible" Zoidberg enter the vault while it's getting the usual deposit, his scent masked by that of rotten shrimp being carried in a cart pushed by some of the others. [haha, chart room! and Wong instead of Wynn!] Zoidberg will have to EAT THE MONEY to get it out of there, while the others cause a distraction to keep the vault from being closed prematurely. Bender acts as a rich cowboy, Hermes like a Nigerian King, and Farnsworth as a young billionaire. [I thought that Hermes' line about spam emails and the Professor's line about wearing a hoodie were pretty funny.] Things look clear until a blind security guard smells something funny and blows flour on Zoidberg, making him visible. Luckily, Amy has a backup plan - she has the original contract that her ancestors signed with the Martians - the land will be returned to the natives! [I found this to be a tidy but frustrating solution.] Fortunately, the Martians give the Wongs back their home and their second casino, so all is well in the end. [haha, a Treasure Island casino spoof. not nearly as funny as the Wynn, though!] And, a bath makes Zoidberg visible again, too. [so... by that logic, wouldn't getting Fry's face wet make his tattoos reappear?] 

Futurama "31st Century Fox" (S07E12): The crew goes shopping for new uniforms, which the Professor had been denying them for quite a while. Everyone tries on different options, but they wind up getting personalized "Planet Express" uniforms off the clearance rack because they were ordered a year ago and never paid for. [figures. made me angry!] Bender picked up a fox-hunting outfit at the shoppe, becoming obsessed with the sport before learning what it is. So, he and Fry head to an event which Leela boycotts, advocating that fox-hunting is cruel and inhumane. [hahahaha - "what's that weird cat?"] The hounds and fox-hunters head into the woods, and it's soon revealed that the fox is actually robotic, enraging Bender into starting BARF (Bender's Animal Robot Front), a movement to stop robots from having to do things to other robots. [anti-gravity snares?? I call shenanigans!] They would stop robots shooting robot ducks at carnivals, robots butchering robot pigs, and robot farmers from forcing robot chickens to lay robot eggs. [yeah... it all seemed pretty odd, actually.] At the next weekly hunt, Bender wants to liberate the robot fox, but before you know it, Bender winds up being the hunted robot! [didn't see this coming... I wonder if I should have!] Bender winds up cutting off his finger in the forest and doing an interpretive dance to signal for help... but gets his foot stuck in a trap. Things look bleak, and after robo-fox chews off Bender's foot to free him, he kills the creature. [see why this episode was my least favorite of the bunch?] 

Futurama "Naturama" (S07E13): [strange "Mutual of Omicron's Wild Universe" opener/revolution spoof.] This episode has three sub-stories, the first of which had no specific title. The crew are mostly salmon, with Zoidberg being a crab who eats them. They're born, make their way to the open water, and Leela and Fry plan to mate when it's time to spawn. Zapp gets in the way, of course, but it's not a big deal until it's time to go back upstream and it turns out that Leela and Zapp are from the same river but Fry is from one river over. [I laughed at all of the "mysterious salmon" jokes.] We see Bender fertiliing everyone's eggs, including Amy's. We see Hermes works his way under the rocks to avoid having to jump, but Zoidberg eats him. [I just shrugged at that.] Fry refuses to release his goods without Leela around, though everyone else around him is dying. Fry tries to jump over to the other stream but beaches himself. Fortunately, a bear eats Zapp and is going after Fry when his wife chastises him, allowing Fry to find Leela before she dies. [yeah, this was a segment, guys... not making this up.]

"The Pinta Island Tortoise" take place in the Galapagos Islands, where Zoidberg is the blue-footed booby, the Professor is a special tortoise, Bender is an iguana, the Robot Mafia is a snake, and Fry, Hermes, Leela, and Amy are birds. The Professor travels 100 feet in search of a mate, and, eighteen months later (the lifecycle of several generations of birds, apparently), he makes it, thinking a rock is his long-lost tortoise love. "Mom" is the real "other tortoise," and they mate, leaving three eggs as their legacy. Four to eight months later, the babies are born, only to be rolled over by a rock. [figures.]

"The Elephant Seal" has Bender as a large seal with whom all of the females mate. Hermes, Kip, Fry, the Professor, and a flamboyant seal are weaker seals who decide to try and mate with the females while Bender is asleep. But they have to impress the ladies, and Kip dives to bring Amy an exotic squid played by Zoidberg. [Also, Nibbler plays a small fish in the abyss.] Bender isn't happy about Kip going for Amy, but Kip "challenges" Bender to a duel, eventually dying from the two throwing their bodies at one another for hours. [eep!] New litters are born, with one small elephant seal resembling each of the other weaklings.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama: The Importance of Free Will

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Free will is one of those concepts that kids love to learn about. Before we can truly understand the facets of the idea, we think of it just like free speech and freedom of religion... meaning we try to use these to our advantage in getting our way and disobeying. Of course, it never occurred to me to take the opposite route like Bender! I mean, his attorney argues that, because robots don't have free will (much like children, really), crimes can't possibly be their fault, as they just do what they've been programmed to do. I thought that the lead-up was too long, though... Bender is always doing bad things, so why come up with a huge story about enrolling in college, borrowing tuition, getting hooked on drugs, and doing whatever it takes for money just so Bender goes to court? Maybe it's because Bender is far from my favorite character, but the merits of this episode only barely matched the downfalls. Oh, and about that opening line? Why wouldn't you want to show this episode to horses? LoL!

Futurama "Free Will Hunting" (S07E09): Bender goes out in nerd glasses and another robot invites him to a sorority party, he needs to be a college student. Of course, in order to attend Columbiac, he has to borrow $10,000 at 10,000% interest from the robot mafia. [the mafiolios sometimes have great episodes... but not necessarily today.] Within 32 seconds, Bender manages to drop out and join a gang, and he only gets back $1,000 of his tuition because of the damage he did "to the dean's wife." [... I don't even want to know.] Fights, tattoos, and a rival gang all come about in a matter of minutes, so Bender turns to "spark" to get high. But he needs money, and without even five bucks, he resorts to vomiting on someone for money. [again, I don't want to know!] Bender realizes that he's been making some bad life choices after the robot mafia beat him up for not paying back his loan, but it doesn't matter all that much. He turns around and fights some young girls selling cookies, landing himself in court.

His lawyer, a Foghorn Leghorn sound-alike, argues that robots don't have free will, so they can't make their own decisions. Bender is released and has to go on a delivery because it's on robot planet who hate humans and free will. [of course things work out so this would take place just afterward!] Bender is depressed and doesn't want to leave, so he mopes about the planet, stumbles into a bunch of monks (led by Ab Bot), and talks about the dooms of not having free will. [I liked the abbot joke.] He's told that they can take pleasure in the ritual of autonomy, and Bender join the Monk outfit by putting on a monk outfit. [yes, seriously. laugh a little and move on.]

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Bender is at peace by the time he is initiated, but when he learns that robots have a "free will" slot (just in case "Mom" ever succeeded in making an upgrade available), he strips and takes off for home. He interrupts Fry and Leela, demanding that they help him break into Mom's and steal a "free will unit." Bender acts as if he can't make decisions on his own, but he does most of the planning while Leela and Fry just follow along. [loved the reference to the shapes/blocks game. proving that Bender thinks on his own was kinda funny, though.] "Mom" says that the free will chip was developed by Farnsworth, but he didn't like the idea that robots might take over, so he's hidden the chip. [OF COURSE it would relate back to him. figures.] Bender goes make the Professor give it to him, but he made the robots incapable of picking up the unit! [I thought that this was silly.] Apparently, Bender also can't harm the Professor... until he puts in the chip and Bender shoot him. [... and I just sit here shaking my head!] Bender is back in court under an attempted murder charge and is found guilty... meaning that robots can can possess free will, even if only via a special chip. [still, everyone cheering was odd.]

Futurama: October, Germany, and Neanderthals

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This was a strange episode. Creepy, even. Between Leela and Fry eating chips and salsa with their toes in the beginning and later staring at things that resemble the other, I thought that this episode was almost excessively gross. And useless. While I enjoy a themed episode as much as the next person, I didn't particularly care for what they did with Oktoberfest. I've never personally been, and as someone who doesn't drink beer, I can't even fully appreciate the "excitement" surrounding festivals such as the one depicted in this episode. Then again, I don't know what could have helped an episode that sickeningly reminded us that the one-eyed mutant and the anti-maturity man-from-the-past are still together. Were you a fan? What would you have done differently to make this episode better?

Futurama TM and (c) 2010 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Futurama "Fun on a Bun" (S07E08):  [opening caption: "50% more colors than bargain brand cartoons"]

The Professor decides that everyone should spend more time socially, so they make plans to go to Oktoberfest three months in the future. Next thing you know, they're there, and it's much more sophisticated than Fry expected. [I guess that's how you want a show that airs in summer to have a fall episode?] Even Bender believes in keeping things classy, hanging out in the sausage tent and wanting to compete against others who have fancy meats, like hummingbird. So, when he hears that there are wooly mammoths under the nearby ice, Bender wants to go find one for its meat. Fry goes along, having just been dumped by Leela for acting like a drunken Neanderthal. [I was SO DISGUSTED by the idea that Fry would drink from others' spittoons!!] They find the right are, thanks to the fact that the ship apparently has an elephant finder. [mmhmm...] They use the "mammal mulcher" to ground it up, and Bender gets third place in the competition. Back home, they have a funeral for Fry, thinking he got sucked into the machine and ground into the sausage. [freaky, eh?] Leela is, understandably, horribly upset, and even has the synapses connecting her Fry memories destroyed.

Meanwhile, Fry wakes up around Neanderthals - he had gotten out of the grinder but fell into a hole in the ice and was frozen for a week. In fact, the hole he fell in (that is from digging out the mammoth) is the first time the Neanderthals have had a chance to escape their world! So, they ride mammoths out of the underground arctic and start destroying things around the festival (where the gang has returned because of that final round of competition). [sloth jokes stopped being funny years ago, guys.] As all hell is breaking loose, Bender steals the sash of the second-place winner, and then the first-place winner. [you shouldn't be surprised.] Leela and Fry wind up in head-to-head combat but when they notice the color of one another's hair, they stop fighting and kiss...which starts all of the Neanderthals trying to get with modern-day humans. Leela's synapses grow back and she remembers Fry, and all is back to the status quo. [loved the throwback to The Flintstones!]

Futurama: Hermes is Out of Control

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Not the biggest fan of this episode. I mean, I guess it was a decent way to show how you could turn a person into a robot, effectively "cloning" in a way, but there wasn't too much else going on. We didn't even have a secondary storyline going on to try and draw the attention away from Hermes trying to perpetually upgrade himself into a bigger and better... being? The one redeeming factor in this episode was Zoidberg constantly believing that the things Hermes says to him are out of friendship, not out of hate. Even after being corrected multiple times, Zoidberg just would not stop believing that Hermes is really his secret bestie... ridiculous as it would seem, it was a cute touch. Agree?

Futurama "The Six Million Dollar Mon" (S07E07): After Hermes conducts the annual performance reviews, he fires himself, deeming the biggest waste of the company's assets is actually him doing those reviews. [who would've thought? ha!] A machine replaces him and Zoidberg takes it personally, even though Hermes hated him. [and we see an extremely long sequence designed to show how fiery the curried goat was.] Hermes and his wife are out for a walk when a robot wants her skin... luckily, the police come and apprehend the guy. [maybe I'm not a Futurama aficionado, but what would that robot want with someone's skin??] We then see Hermes ask Bender for a favor. [and we're supposed to believe that Fry cares more about overhearing this conversation then jumping in the shower with an inviting Leela AND Amy??!?] Hermes wants to be part machine!

The first step is having a harpoon added to Hermes' chest. He shows the Planet Express gang, then re-hires himself because his harpoon will reach boxes that the machine can't. [okay, so machines rule. got it.] Hermes then gets an extend-o-arm added because the machine threatened to do it. [competition, got it.] Eerily, Zoidberg takes the body parts that Hermes had removed and builds a garbage Hermes to talk to. [awww!] Hermes' next step is getting Cylon "eyes" put in because he's tired of his glasses. He then promises his wife (with crossed fingers) that he won't get any more upgrades, but before long he's totally robotic, except for his brain.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

MegaHermes has no interest in insulting Zoidberg, so Zoidberg keeps using the "pieces," and soon has a ventriloquist's dummy that he takes to comedy clubs. [I found this to be out of nowhere...] MegaHermes is filled with regret that he's still human at all, so it's time to have his brain replaced. [I also had a difficult time following the train of thought to get there...] His regular "surgeon" won't do it, so the Professor steps in, and they exhume a robot body to find parts/circuits. Of course, they picked the brain of the robot who was executed for trying to mug Hermes and his wife for their skin. Hermes' wife and son protest the surgery, but Hermes still wants to go through with it, through the threat of divorce. [intense!] The Professor decides that he doesn't want to operate, but Zoidberg volunteers, though his claws will force the dummy to do the work. [LOVE that it was set to "Monster Mash"!!!] Little did everyone realize, but Zoidberg just plops the brain into the "dummy" and HumanHermes is whole once more. MegaHermes turns into Roberto and again wants to eat Hermes' skin, even using a peeler to get some of his arm! Luckily, the skin was so saturated with curried goat that it disintegrates the robot. [I thought this was a useless storyline, really.] Hermes thanks Zoidberg against his will, and we're done!

Futurama: Nectar Junkies

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Did I somehow miss every other instance where Leela and Amy are at one another's throats with insults? Or was that just built up for this episode only? I mean, I'm fine with either, but it was fairly enjoyable and I'd like to see some more of it, LoL. The overall episode, however, wasn't top-notch. Steroids are so 15 years ago! It was not without some decent jokes, like "you can work and be lazy at the same time - like a voice actor," but I wouldn't call it a re-watchable episode in the Futurama canon. It's wholly a stand-alone episode, though it was fun to see Kif's parents once again and be reminded that, technically, there are ongoing relationships on this show. I don't imagine we'll be treated to such things again in the near future.

Futurama "The Butterjunk Effect" (S07E06): [haha at the tap water in the bottle.] There's a butterfly derby that intrigues Fry, so he, Kif, Leela, and Amy go to see what it's about - apparently, women wear wings and battle in an arena (where fly swatters, bug zappers, frogs, and sticky traps act as obstacles), trying to be the last one aloft. [odd.] Leela and Amy decide to enter as amateurs, but they're not just against each other - they're up against some professionals. They lose but are still invited to join the league. [that should have been a sign, ladies...] They go for it but wind up ready to quit when they keep losing. They see that the others are on "nectar," and Amy is immediately interested in trying it. Their voices deepen and they become built and ripped, and they no longer care about their men. Before you know it, they're on a winning streak!

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

But, soon enough, their supplier can't provide any more nectar, so they must go with Kif and Fry (and Bender, for some reason) to Kif's home planet, where they can find it in the wild. They're told not to disturb the butterflies while they're mating, but a male sprays Fry with a scene he cannot wash off. [gross!] Well, as Leela and Amy are part-butterfly at this point because of all of the nectar that they have ingested, they're turned on by Fry, even though everyone else can't stand the smell [McGruff reference!?!] Both girls just can't get enough of him, so they have to get off the nectar. This means, of course, that they aren't souped-up for their final match, making them worry that they'll die fighting over a lava pit. [at that point, a reasonable fear!] The girls' wings are torn but they band together to act as one butterfly... for a split-second before TransformedFry flies in and attracts away the opponents - as they're still on the nectar. [totally should have seen this coming!] Later, Fry comes out of the inside of the insect and we're back to status quo.

Futurama: Leela's Parents

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

You know what? This season had been doing pretty well with the hilarity, in my opinion. This episode killed that streak. It was losing my attention, not making me laugh, and I generally wanted it to end. I even said to my husband, "this episode makes me want to stop watching this show." Okay, maybe I'm blowing things out of proportion, but I really didn't like it. Maybe if there was a decent sidestory going on it could have been salvaged, but no. Maybe part of my problem with this episode was that it wasn't going anywhere as soon as we saw Munda kissing Zapp... obviously this show wasn't going to have those two end up together. Also, I don't know if it was a general error or what, but the "scenes from the next" that aired right after the episode were for THIS EPISODE. Did you see that, too, or was it just an error in my local market for whatever reason? 

Futurama "Zapp Dingbat" (S07E05): The gang goes to Leela's parents' 40th anniversary party, where we see a video of their history. The couple winds up fighting because they both gave things up to be together. [...okay.] Later, Leela's mom goes out with her and winds up kissing Zapp while Leela talks to Fry and Bender. [you know, because it's such a small world and all.] Before you know it, Leela is telling her dad that he needs to move on and follow his lifelong dreams - like surfing the world's greatest sewers. [why give up that easily, Leela? Especially when you then want your parents back together anyway?] Bender and Fry go with him, as Leela spies on her mother and Zapp. [her mom is a spiteful woman! "sex with Zapp" over and over was gross.] Leela decides to invite Zapp to dinner with her and her mother, and invites him to come over two minutes before her mother is set to arrive - so she seduces him to prove that he's only after her. [not a bad plan, but maybe I missed the part in the characters' backgrounds where they're both obsessively punctual?] Zapp claims that he loves Munda, and she arrives to say the same. Zapp proposes, Munda accepts, and Leela tries to protect her mother from Zapp's womanizing ways one last time.

photo credit: Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth
Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Her dad shows up and has chilled out, so he won't help Leela stop the marriage. [because all surfers are laid-back, you know.] Everyone heads to the wedding, though Leela resisted going until the last minute. Well, things fall apart anyway, and Leela's parents get back together. [I mean, could you seriously see episodes where Zapp is Leela's stepfather? NO.]

Comic-Con is Coming!

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

So, last year I went to Comic-Con with my friend, Kelly. She isn't going to be able to make it this year, but my husband is coming with me, so it should be even more fun. I've been trying to make it clear just how crazy the whole thing is (you know, getting up at 6am to wait in line for three hours, etc.), so we'll see how I did when we return! He's figuring out his plans right now, but I, of course, started working that out as soon as each day's schedule was released. Speaking of which, last year I posted my dream schedule a few days before the epic weekend and thought that I would do the same again this year. Though, I must admit, of last year's schedule, what I actually did kinda looked like:
Thursday: Completely different except I did make it to the LGBTX: Queer X-Men panel.
Friday: yes to Falling Skies, maybe to G4's anime panel, and yes to NCIS: LA.
Saturday: made it through the first half of the day perfectly, bailed after American Dad to do non-panel stuff, caught the Masquerade in an overflow room.
Sunday: made it to Jim Henson, The Simpsons, and Snoopy.

So, here's what I have in mind at the moment for this year (not including time spent on the floor and stuff) ... and, yes, I know it's impossible:

Thursday:
2:15-3:15pm: USA Network's Psych
Psych returns to Comic-Con for a fourth consecutive year, with a fan-focused event that will invite the audience to be not just viewers, but active participants. Psych-O fans can look forward to a hilarious and uncensored experience with the creative team behind the hottest fake psychic detective agency on TV. Psych stars James Roday (Shawn Spencer), Dulé Hill (Burton "Gus" Guster), Maggie Lawson (Juliet O'Hara), Tim Omundson (Carlton Lassiter), Kirsten Nelson (Chief Karen Vick), and Corbin Bernsen (Henry Spencer), along with Psych producers Steve Franks (creator/executive producer), Kelly Kulchak (executive producer), and Chris Henze (executive producer) will dedicate the afternoon to answering fan questions and interacting with the audience, sharing secrets & stories from the set in this "chat" with 4,250 of their closest fans. Attendees will see video clips produced exclusively for Comic-Con, a never-before-seen "first look" at the Season 7 episodes currently in production, and a taste of Psych's milestone 100th episode, "100 CLUEs".

4:40-5:45pm: Behind-the-Scenes Look at CBS' Elementary
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson over 120 years ago. This fall on CBS, the dynamic duo gets a modern-day makeover cracking cases in contemporary New York City. Brilliant investigator Sherlock, played by Jonny Lee Miller (Dexter), is a recent rehab graduate paired with his worst nightmare: sober coach Joan Watson, played by Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels). Together, Sherlock's unique detective skills and Watson's medical expertise make a formidable force capable of solving the NYPD's most impossible cases. Be the first to see an exclusive sneak peek at the new television series, followed by a panel discussion with series stars Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu and executive producers Robert Doherty and Carl Beverly, moderated by Entertainment Weekly assistant managing editor Dalton Ross.

6-7:15pm: Showtime's Dexter
The gasps from last season's finale can still be heard among Dexter fans as their worst fears were realized, Dexter got caught and by none other than Deb! What will he do? What will she do? What's next for America's Favorite Serial Killer? If the suspense is killing you, don't miss this incredible panel, where you'll be the first to see the Comic-Con exclusive first two minutes of the season premiere. Moderator Ralph Garman (KROQ Entertainment reporter) presides over a revealing interview and Q&A session with the stars and executive producers of Dexter. Featured panelists include series star/executive producer Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Jennifer Carpenter (Deb), and special guest star Yvonne Strahovski (Hanna). Also appearing are executive producers John Goldwyn, Sara Colleton, Scott Buck, and Manny Coto. Plus Dexter fans will be the first to see the world premiere trailer of one of the hottest series on television, Homeland, presented by executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. The new season of Dexter premieres September 30, at 9pm ET/PT only on Showtime.

*I'm also toying with the idea of donating blood in the morning. It would take some time away from the floor but still get me out in time to get in line for Psych. I may wait to hear what Jonathan has planned for the morning before signing up for that. Otherwise, I may try to hit it Sunday morning.

Friday:
10-11am: Hasbro: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic 
Panelists from Hasbro Studios and The HUB TV Network's My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic share details of the making of the animated series and how the "friendship" and "magic" are brought to life. Fans won't want to miss it! Also includes Q&A time.

12:05-1:05pm: Big Bang Theory Screening and Q&A
Boldly go Big Bang Theory! For the first time ever in Hall H, the mega-popular TV series returns to Comic-Con for a special screening and a lively discussion. Will Howard ("Froot Loops") Wolowitz return from space? Where do things stand with Penny and Leonard? And will unscheduled handholding affect "The Relationship Agreement"? From Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television, The Big Bang Theory airs Thursdays at 8/7c on CBS. The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Fifth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 11.

2:45-3:45pm: Game of Thrones Panel and Q&A
Based on the bestselling fantasy book series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, HBO's Game of Thrones series concluded its 10-episode second season on June 3. Created and executive produced by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the series follows kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and noblemen as they vie for power in a land where summers span decades and winters can last a lifetime. Season 2 of the hit series told an epic story of duplicity and treachery, nobility and honor, conquest and triumph, set in an enthralling world of intrigue, seduction, and magic. Based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, production of season 2 also took place in Croatia and Iceland. Some of the cast featured in the second season and appearing on this panel are (in alphabetical order) Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, and Richard Madden as Robb Stark. George R. R. Martin, who also serves as a co-executive producer and writer on the series, moderates with executive producer Carolyn Strauss.

4:30pm-5:30pm: Falling Skies Panel & Clips
Continuing the fight against alien invaders, TNT's Falling Skies follows a band of human survivors on their quest to outrun and outwit the powerful alien force that invaded Earth. Join stars Noah Wyle (ER), Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation), Will Patton (Armageddon), Drew Roy (Secretariat), Collin Cunningham (Living in Your Car), Sarah Carter (The Vow), and Connor Jessup (The Saddle Club), executive producer Greg Beeman, and show runner Remi Aubuchon (Caprica), with Q&A hosted by Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Big Bang Theory). Watch never-before-seen clips and be treated to an in-depth discussion on Falling Skies season 2.

7pm-8pm: Serialized Shows that Ended Too Soon
You saw every episode, you followed every storyline, you hoped against hope that they'd get another season...and they didn't. What would have happened if the show had kept going? Hear writer/producers Andrew Chambliss (Once Upon a Time), Scott M. Gimple (The Walking Dead), Ian Goldberg (Once Upon a Time), Javier Grillo-Marxuach (Lost), and Jose Molina (The Vampire Diaries) talk about the stories that weren't to be on such shows as Dollhouse, FlashForward, Firefly, and The Middleman.

8-9pm: Aquabats!
Hey Aquabats fans! The band of five heroes out to save the world from boredom -- Ricky Fitness, Jimmy the Robot, Crash McLarson, EagleBones Falconhawk, The M.C. Bat Commander and directors Jason Devilliers and Matt Chapman -- plan to arrive at Comic-Con 2012 ready for battle! Fans can anticipate a special guest moderator and meet the stars of The Hub TV Network's new hit series. Grab your goggles and join the legions of fans for a gnarly time with the awesomest superhero, rock music band ever to hit San Diego!

9-10pm: Worst Cartoons Ever!
Presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, animation historian Jerry Beck (Cartoon Brew) returns with an all-new program of some of the worst cartoons ever made, including the Phys Ed superhero Mighty Mr. Titan, space cadet Johnny Cypher, and some of those 1960s Marvel Super Heroes cartoons. Have a ball with the best/bad animation ever!

*Alternatively, I'm considering buying tickets for the Sonic Boom 2012 event that starts at 5pm over at House of Blues. Honestly, I'm not sure why it isn't sold-out yet, LoL. But if I get into Falling Skies, I'm not leaving early. I also don't know how late the party goes and if there's in/out privileges (doubtful), so we'll see...

Saturday:
11-11:45am: Once Upon a Time Magic is coming! Moderator William Keck (TV Guide Magazine senior editor and columnist) takes you to Storybrooke, where a curse placed on its fairytale inhabitants by the Evil Queen has been broken and reality and myth have merged. It's a place where magic is about to be introduced, but with it comes its own set of consequences. Co-creators and executive producers Edward Kitsis (Lost, Tron: Legacy) and Adam Horowitz (Lost, Tron: Legacy), along with Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Jennifer Morrison (House), Lana Parrilla (24), Josh Dallas (Thor), Emilie de Ravin (Lost), and Meghan Ory (Vampire High) engage in a Q&A about their hit TV series.

12-12:45pm: Futurama
Futurama cannot be killed! Join the cast and crew of the Emmy-award-winning series for world premiere footage of the all-new season on Comedy Central. Plus: Wear your Futurama-themed costume for the chance to win slightly valuable prizes! Scheduled panelists include creator/executive producer Matt Groening, executive producer David X. Cohen, and stars Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Zapp Brannigan), Katey Sagal (Leela), John DiMaggio (Bender), and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, Calculon, Morbo).

12:45-1:30pm: The Simpsons
Now entering its 24th season, The Simpsons is a living animation legend. Join moderator David Mirkin, creator Matt Groening, executive producer Al Jean, supervising producer Mike Anderson, and the voice of Lisa Simpson, Yeardley Smith, for a lengthy look at the upcoming Treehouse of Horror, a sneak (2D) peek at Simpsons theatrical short The Longest Daycare, and much, much more (okay, 45 minutes' worth).

1:45-2:30pm: Family Guy
Seth MacFarlane, Alex Bornstein, Mila Kunis (Black Swan, Book of Eli), Seth Green (Robot Chicken), Mike Henry, and showrunners Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan offer a sneak peek at Family Guy's funniest scenes from the upcoming new season, followed by a freakin' sweet Q&A with the audience.

2:30-3:15pm: American Dad
An exclusive preview of next season's most hilarious moments, followed by a panel conversation with the cast and producers of American Dad featuring Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schaal, Scott Grimes, Rachael MacFarlane, Dee Bradley Baker, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman.

3:30-4:30pm: Disney Channel TV Animation
See exclusive footage and clips from upcoming episodes of Disney Channel's award-winning series Fish Hooks and its newest mystery adventure series Gravity Falls, plus a sneak peek at the upcoming series Wander Over Yonder. Panelists include Fish Hooks creator Noah Z. Jones (Almost Naked Animals) and executive producer Maxwell Atoms (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch (Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack), voice talent from both series, and Wander Over Yonder creator Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) and co-producer Lauren Faust (My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic). Moderated by Eric Coleman, senior vice president, original series, Disney Television Animation.

5:15- 6:30 6pm: Person of Interest Screening and Q&A
The smash hit Person of Interest returns to San Diego! Join series stars Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line), Michael Emerson (Lost), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and Kevin Chapman (Rescue Me), along with executive producers Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Greg Plageman (Cold Case), for a Q&A and special video presentation highlighting the most-watched new series of the 2011-12 television season-and a sneak peek at what's to come in season 2. Person of Interest is a crime thriller about a presumed dead former CIA agent, Reese (Caviezel), who teams up with a mysterious billionaire, Finch (Emerson), to prevent violent crimes. Aided by "The Machine" -- and opposed by ruthless criminals, corrupt cops, and shadowy elements within the government -- the team works with NYPD detectives Carter (Henson) and Fusco (Chapman) to stop crimes before they happen. From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Person of Interest airs Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.

7:15-8:15pm: MythbustersA Comic-Con fan favorite, MythBusters is back with their traditional Saturday evening panel. Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman, Tory Belleci, Grant Imahara, and Kari Byron talk about their recent exploits and upcoming fall Mythbuster-y goodness!

8:30-11:30pm: Masquerade
Fabulous original and re-created costumes crafted by our talented attendees will be showcased on stage before an audience of thousands, with impressive awards and cash prizes bestowed to those judged most outstanding. The MCs will once again be writers/artists Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio of Studio Foglio.

*because my husband isn't enthralled with costumes like I am, I might decide to bypass the Masquerade and hit up a party or off-site event instead.

Sunday:
10-11am: Fringe Screening and Q&A
Fringe returns to Comic-Con for its farewell panel to celebrate its fifth and final season. Series stars Anna Torv (The Pacific), Josh Jackson (Dawson's Creek), Lance Reddick (Lost), Blair Brown (Altered States), Jasika Nicole (Take the Lead), and John Noble (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King), along with executive producer J. H. Wyman (Keen Eddie), offer a Q&A with fans and an exclusive video presentation. Don't miss the discussion about the climactic conclusion of this critically acclaimed thriller. From Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, Fringe airs Fridays at 9/8c on FOX. Fringe: The Complete Fourth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 4.

11:15-12:15pm: Supernatural Screening and Q&A
Series stars Jared Padalecki (Friday the 13th [2009]) and Jensen Ackles (My Bloody Valentine 3D), recurring guest stars Misha Collins (Ringer), Jim Beaver (Justified), and Mark A. Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica), executive producer Jeremy Carver (U.S. version of Being Human), and consulting producer Ben Edlund (The Tick) return to Hall H to answer questions from the audience about what's in store for the eighth season of this thrill-ride series. Fans will also see an exclusive video presentation featuring series highlights, as well as a portion of the special features from the upcoming Supernatural: The Complete Seventh Season DVD and Blu-ray release, in stores September 18. The eighth season of Supernatural will premiere in October on its new night, Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. The series is produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television.

12:30-1:30pm: Dr. Who
The Doctor and the Ponds land in San Diego. BBC America's Doctor Who stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Arthur Darvill join award-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock) and award-winning executive producer Caroline Skinner (The Fades) for a Comic-Con panel and Q&A. As fans eagerly await the new season's premiere, BBC America is making sure Steven Moffat brings new footage to reveal on the big screens in Hall H. Ahead of the new season, BBC America will premiere new Doctor Who specials-The Science of Doctor Who, The Women of Doctor Who, The Timey-Wimey Stuff of Doctor Who, and The Destinations of Doctor Who-as part of the Supernatural Saturday programming block starting Saturday, August 4 at 9pm/8c. For those new to Who, the previous two seasons from Steven Moffat are available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download.

1:45-2:45pm: The Cleveland Show
See the world premiere screening of "Menace II Secret Society," the season 4 premiere episode of The Cleveland Show, featuring unbelievable guest voices followed by a Q&A with panelists Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry, Kevin Michael Richardson (Thundercats, Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Transformers Prime), Reagan Gomez, and Rich Appel.

2:45-3:45pm: Sons of Anarchy
Get an inside look into the world of FX's highest-rated series ever, with creator Kurt Sutter (The Shield) and stars Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Ron Perlman, Maggie Siff, Kim Coates, Mark Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Ryan Hurst, and Dayton Callie.

4-5pm: Harry Potter Fandom in 2012
Seven books from J. K. Rowling -- or ten, depending on how you count -- plus hundreds of thousands of fanfics. Eight studio movies -- plus dozens of popular fanfilms, musicals, and songs. One theme park -- but soon there'll be three or more! An international museum exhibition -- and piles of fan-made shirts, crafts, fanart, CDs and DVDs. An encyclopedic website -- and fancons, fan-made wikis, and history courses on the impact of the Harry Potter fandom. We'll look back at 15 years of Harry Potter fandom and try to predict -- better than Trelawney! -- where we go from here.

*I kinda imagine that all of the hardcore Dr. Who folks will sit through the morning programs, so I might skip Fringe and Supernatural (and Dr. Who) and hit the floor again in the morning, then head over for the afternoon parts of the plan. [or donate blood if I haven't yet.]