Reviews: Anything Else [4/6 - 4/10]

[livingfruitvirus]

On this week's anything else:

Futurama
The Oblongs
Home Movies
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
The Brak Show
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Mission Hill
The Ripping Friends
Inuyasha
Cowboy Bebop
Reign

And of course, interstitials, promos, and anything between commercial breaks.

[The Drizzle]

Family Guy promo just aired.

[DianaGohan]

Futurama "Fear Of A Bot Planet" Mini Review

A fairly funny episode, that helps to develop Bender's character a bit more (Shows more of his "kill all humans" and somewhat friendly sides) and a bunch of great robot jokes (The Movie, Tetris Construction, over a thousand failed human hunts, corrupt and stupid robot elders). The Blurnsball bit at the beginning was fairly funny too. Overall, I would give it a B+ (Since there was kind of a little boring at times, and no real scene was truley great).

Oh, and notice that they're finally showing Family Guy promos. Not really that funny, but I'm betting they have funnier ones planned out to use.

[Aurochs]

Lois: Oh my god! My baby is drunk!
Peter: No I'm not...Oh him! Yeah, he's a real lightweight.

[livingfruitvirus]

this is the first time ive noticed closed captioning on Aqua Teen. is this new?

[Aurochs]

It wasn't on my television. But it's probably because my thing is an American-made microwave-oven sized piece of crap from the early nineties. But it serves me well. But if there was closed captioning on ATHF, it wasn't on my TV.

Does ANYONE watch The Ripping Friends?

[Masamune2052]

Does ANYONE watch The Ripping Friends?
I was wondering this as well. It's been a few weeks since I've watched AS Sundays and I completely forgot RF was still on. When will they dump this "show" in favor of something more popular with us?

EDIT: OoOoO, looks like Baby Blues will be doing that for us pretty soon.

[HomeMoviesFan]

Damn! Tonight's Futurama is the only episode wouldn't want to watch. I watched this episode about 5 times this weekend (2 times with the commentary on) on my Futurama DVD. I almost could repeat every line of it. By the way, in relation with FG promos, was anyone reminded of FG in Futurama where Fry sees his reflection in Leela's metal hat?...

[The Drizzle]

By the way, in relation with FG promos, was anyone reminded of FG in Futurama where Fry sees his reflection in Leela's metal hat?...

I was reminded more of Home Movies and Dr. Katz.

[Aurochs]

When will they dump this "show" in favor of something more popular with us?

No, but they are dumping it for Baby Blues.

[StrangerAtaru]

I knew I wasn't the only one who noticed the "Squigglevision" joke when Fry looks into Leela's helmet. (remember, this was probably around the time of the UPN 5 for HM)

BTW: "Mortgages and Marbles" tonight! Expect a review from me sometime soon!

[DianaGohan]

First Aqua Teen, then Space Ghost Coast To Coast, then Sealab 2021, and now Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law A T & T Commerical. They had Myron Reducto do one, which I thought was funnier then the Sealab one, but who was that other guy at the very end of the commerical? I wonder what's next, a Brak Show A T and T commerical? Even though they had the text messaging commerical, they could still have another one with A T and T if they felt like it.

[livingfruitvirus]

but who was that other guy at the very end of the commerical?

Carrot Top

[The_Dominion]

One question about Home Movies. When Brendon says "...more like Gattaca" and Lynch says "Bright colors and music work for almost any age."

Is this the Gattaca they are reffering to?
http://movies.go.com/movies/G/gattaca_1997/index.html
(Bio-Engineering Children to have no defects)

what he was referring to? Because I don't recall any bright colors in that movie, but there was plenty of music.

[DianaGohan]

Carrot Top

Oh, I probably would have known that if I was watching that commerical from a straightaway angle on the T.V. Oh, and while I'm here

Futurama- "A Fishful Of Dollars" Mini Episode Review

Not that funny of an episode. The introduction of Mom was handled pretty well, but there was a bit too much plot and not enough jokes, (even though the jokes there, the commerical in their dreams and Fry's reaction to it, Bender's coat and the oil cans dropping out of them, Zoidberg and the anchovies, Pamela Anderson's Role, and classical music)espically near the end. Although the message of Fry realizing how much his friends met to him was nice. I would give it a B-

[The Landstander]

One question about Home Movies. When Brendon says "...more like Gattaca" and Lynch says "Bright colors and music work for almost any age."

Is this the Gattaca they are reffering to?
http://movies.go.com/movies/G/gattaca_1997/index.html
(Bio-Engineering Children to have no defects)

what he was referring to? Because I don't recall any bright colors in that movie, but there was plenty of music.

i never saw gattaca, i dont really think the joke worked like that. the joke was more in exactly what Brendon wanted to do with his film (instead of the simple Seasme Street Lynch suggested, Brendon wanted to do something big like Gattaca)

[Condiment King]

Sunday, April 6th, 2003:

Futurama: "Fear of a Bot Planet"
Fairly good episode, a lot of Bender in this episode is always good, and its nice to see plenty of a plot revolving him. Okay episode overall.
Grade: B

The Brak Shows:
Ok, nothing really special. The only Brak Show that truly stands out for me is "Presidential Dad". I guess I just don't find that much in The Brak Show.
Grade: B-

ATHF: "Revenge of the Moonities"
This is one of my favorite ATHF episodes, so many classic lines from the Moonities. Its great and it really complements the original episode. You just gotta love ATHF.
Grade: A

SGC2C: "Art Show"
I hated the first guest, didn't really stand out. The first band person was ok, but the second one was fantastic. Great use of the nervous jokes pitch. Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar were more into this episode than the guests and those episodes seem to stand out better.
Grade: B+

Mission Hill:
Good episode from Mission Hill and a great pilot to start off a series. Don't know why this show was scratched by WB, it was pretty good.
Grade: B

Monday, April 7th, 2003
Futurama: "A Fishful of Dollars"
Fairly good episode, better than Sunday's, nothing totally special to stand out.
Grade: B+

Home Movies: "Mortgages and Marbles"
Great episode. I would easily put this in the Top 10 episodes in Home Movies history. Plenty of classic lines and great story behind it all.
Grade: A

My comments on Trigun are in the talkback.

[Masamune2052]

.:Inu Yasha - #21 - Naraku's True Identity Revealed:.

Well, this is one of those sweet and waffy episodes...kind of. You get to see the conclusion of the Hell Wolf fight and also some of Kagome's activities in her time. But then Kagome is back in her time and you get the dramatic and romantic look-at-me-sailing-through-the-sky-with-hair-flowing scene between Inu Yasha and Kagome. Oh yes, don't forget the random twinkles of light around them. Hit slow motion and watch as Kagome runs into his arms and they say a few words (everybody say "Awww").....then we are reminded that it's Inu Yasha and Kagome we're dealing with (now say "...oh yah"). However, that's not the end, we still have to deal with our bishy antagonist. They sense Naraku and we get another look-at-me-sailing-through-the-sky-with-hair-flowing pose from Inu Yasha as he and Miroku come down on Naraku. We get a quick history lesson on relationships and *bam* death cloud! Shirt gets ripped off and once again another look-at-me-sailing-through-the-sky-with-hair-flowing shot (Inu Yasha really must be wanting to please fangirls). One thing that I ponder on is how Kagome, Shippo, Kaedae, and mIroku can run like 1/2 mile out of the death cloud in 10 seconds....oh well, I guess I shouldn't point stuff like that out. Anyways, we get more death cloud swirls and finally Inu Yasha starts acting like a guy, whips out the glowing sword, and proceeds to try to slice Naraku in half but only succeeds in slicing off his shirt/haori/thing (**FANGIRL ALARM**) revealing the spider burn scar. Of course then he escapes and the group are left there to ponder on the day's events *sigh* Overall, good episode, A+ because of plot advances and the Inu/Kag moment.

^^v

[Midou Ban]

That episode of Inuyasha was pretty contradicting...Inuyasha says that Kagome can't go through the well thanks to the tree but she obviously came back to feudal times with the tree still in the well thanks to the shikon shard.

[StrangerAtaru]

HM: "Mortgages and Marbles": Well this one's been a long time coming. Actually, I have seen this episode plenty of times, but this is the first time since I started reviewing the show. But the episode is probably one of the more uneven ones to me, with a somewhat insanely brilliant plotline paired up with one that is just barely hanging in there.

Starting with the "Mortgages" storyline, we have something that we know "should" work in theory: a teamup between Eric and McGurk as McGurk tries to move out of his old apartment. Considering how well I hear the two of them worked together on "Dr. Katz", not to mention episodes coming up later, we know that the two actors can work together well. But unfortunately, it is the plotline that gets in the way and prevents the interactions from being as comedically viable as it should be. While I do understand why McGurk wants to move out of his apartment once he talks with Eric, everything he goes through in this episode just isn't really that funny. Then again, it does seem to start off funny with his claims that he makes more money than he really does. ("$2 million") But once McGurk moves into his new place, this plotline loses steam, since I really didn't like any of his comments at this point. But then again, it sort of gets worse once, for no reason whatsoever, he moves out of his new place and ends up bunking over at Eric's (and Melissa's) until something new could be set up. McGurk was acting like his typical self, but in the context it just isn't as funny as it should have been take over the house like uninvited guests typically can do on shows like these. Yet with all of this going on, Eric seems to have all of the classic lines, talking with the soccer coach like an old friend at times instead of a real-estate broaker. (the scene where he talks of how much paint a certain place needed is hilarious every time) In the end, the whole plot just seems to go nowhere as McGurk goes back to his old place, but this time with triple the rent! Sadly, I think that if this plotline was running the episode by itself, it wouldn't really have made for a good episode....

...but then there is the "Marbles" part of the episode, which is one of the most classic sequences in the whole series. Essentially, Brendon decides that he has to make an educational video after watching his sister Josie put one too many marbles in her nose. The episode starts off simply with a simple, but funny, interaction between Brendon and his baby sister, which is somewhat rare on this show considering a lot of shows don't do much with baby characters. (especially that huge block in season 2 where Josie didn't show up at all) Brendon's enthusiasm carries on to his conversation with Lynch over creating the video, where he is able to get away with "possibly" getting extra credit on the project in case he was able to get kids to learn something. But, of course, the final product turns into a huge disaster...and one of the funniest scenes in the whole series! The video starts off as a strange puppet show where Brendon plays a character named Spikey McMarbles who, appropriately, puts marbles up his nose. Brendon hams up the scene away from Melissa and Jason (playing "Dr. Teachum") in order to prove that what he is doing is wrong. (note how at one point Jason calls this "the worst movie we've ever made"....something he will get used to saying later) But what makes it hilarious is that all the kids start doing exactly what Brendon/Spikey did just because they think it is cool. And to further reinforce it, we have an insane Scab video trying to drive down the fact of "Don't Put Marbles In Your Nose" while using as many music video cliches they can cram in to parody! It gets so insane that not only Lynch not give Brendon extra credit, he is suspected of doing it himself! But luckily, all becomes right in the end as Brendon teaches Josie with a video of Jason having a similar procedure she had at the beginning, proving overall that Brendon can make an educational video even if it takes him a couple of tries. I guess overall, this episode could have had "perfect" all over it for just the "Marbles" section....but the whole "Mortgages" bit dragged it down too much.

[DianaGohan]

Futurama Mini Review of "My Three Suns"

A good deal up from the last episode. The beginning was pretty slow (Elzar becomes his own character later, but now he just seems like a cheap alien Emirl rippoff) until they went to Lil Neptune. Fry wanting the Z Ray Eye ("It's twice as good as the X-Ray) and willing to trade his lungs for gills (espically when the merchant says he'll give him gills next week and take the lungs now) were fairly funny. Bender's cooking was handled better in "30% Iron Chef" but Zoidberg's line about not having second's to Bender's nearly near the toxic limit of Salt Overdose Slug was good. The episode really kicked in when Fry became Emperor. Making Bender Prime Minister, Choosing a wife from those bottles, the speech about the grasshopper and the octopus and the coronation speech that all the Emperor's in it was pretty great. I think the best part was probably act three though. Although the Emperor annoyed me with his constant *****ing to the crew about getting rescued (Technically, couldn't they just force him to urinate out of Fry or something?), the rest was great. Zoidberg's bone crushing method, Bender trying to make Fry cry, Leela beating down all those water creatures to get to Fry, and the end where everyone beat up Fry so he would cry out the emperor (Even though I really didn't like the fact that the emperor and crew were still beating on him after the emperor came out, but I guess that was to teach Fry a lesson) were all handled very nicley. I would give this episode an A-.

[Condiment King]

Tuesday, April 8th, 2003

Futurama: "My Three Suns"
This is one of my favorite episodes of Futurama. I love the whole scene with the temple and Fry. The ending is just classic with everyone beating down Fry and trying to get him to cry. Its laughable how Bender continues even though its over. My favorite part of this episode is when Fry attempts to buy an organ from the guy on the street.
Grade: A

Home Movies: "Law and Boarders"
I love this episode of Home Movies. A great complement to "Mortgages & Marbles", another great episode IMO. One of the greatest movies in Home Movies history happens with the 'Don't Kill Children' movie and easily the best Dwayne song from the series, 'Don't Kill Children'. The ending is classic with so many ironys:
1.) McGuirk goes to the bathroom twice, flushing, and he still has the fish trying to decides 'what you do with a dead fish'.
2.) The policeman calls him McGwirk implying that he is mispronouncing his name, but McGuirk says that McGwirk lives down the street. :p
And of course the fantastic ending with him dropping his dead fish. SAMMY!!!!!!111
Grade: A

[Aurochs]

Too bad the commercials can't be surreal and post-modern like the shows. And too bad they can't be commercials for "Old Kentucky Liquor".

[DianaGohan]

Futurama Mini Review Of The Episode That was on Tonight at 11:00 p.m eastern, 10:00 central on the date of 4/09/03 that is airing for the second time on Cartoon Network called "A Big Piece Of Garbage" (aka damn, too long an episode review title).

Without a doubt, I can easily say this is the worst episode of Futurama's first season, and one of the worst episodes of the shows. Wormstrom is a very boring character (I'm glad they admitted he was a jerkass at the end) and even though the Professor's feeble Smelloscope drawing and Deathclock were good for a few laughs, the first act had very little good jokes. The second act picked it up a little bit. The video was okay (The new Jersey comment was the funniest line, even though it seems like Futurama downplays New Jersey too much in it's First Season. ((This episode, "I, Robot" and tommorow's episode all have New Jersey Cracks in them)) Luckily, they don't overdo the joke in other seasons) and Fry's comment to the Professor about giving up wasn't funny, but significant: This is the first Time that Futurama would have a joke the Simpsons would steal (In "The Bart Wants What it Wants" Homer and Bart did a similar "Don't quit guy, oh you're not listening I'm quitting" joke like this episode). However, the funniest part of this episodes derives from the Simpsons (Bender eating Bart's shorts). The rest was okay to semi boring, except for the Professor counting, his, Fry's and Bender's Heartbeat's, and the Garbage Ball Colliding with the other garbage ball). Even with all this, it's still a below average episode that has little laughs and barley any emotion (except for the Professor at the end of the first act. You did have to feel kind of sorry for what happen to him), or that great of a story line. I would give it a C (Which is the lowest I've ever given a Futurama Episode).

[nothing]

what's up with the watering hole? do they all suck or was this one an exception? i've seen funnier things carved into the back of a bus seat.

**fifty-five**

[StrangerAtaru]

Been thinking about a few things the last few days watching HM: I've started to notice things before and clues to later occurances that I just couldn't remember at first the first several times I watched these episodes. I guess it all started Monday, when watching "Mortgages and Marbles" again, I really noticed that a certain fishbowl was on top of McGurk's stuff. Not only that, but I think in one of the scenes at Melissa's/Erik's, there is a bird cage in the background. (and note that they don't note it themselves until the beginning of "Shore Leave") And then I remember the comment from tonight's episode when Brendon talks about his mother's writing (which is expanded upon in "Writer's Block" and "Storm Warning"), which I passed off before. I guess Mr. Small and everyone else really pays attention and does certain developments based off what comes before.

Now all we have to do is figure out which McGurk tales are true and which he made up....

One more quick note for Landstander: I remember in your comments about "Brendon's Choice", you mentioned the archeologist movie as seperate from the other movies. But I think that it is actually another piece of "Fat Her", considering the similar themes and Melissa in the same dress as in the "Fat Her" presentation at the awards.

[Condiment King]

Futurama: "A Big Piece of Garbage"

This episode was average. The Smelloscope seemed a bit out of character for such a brillant man to come up with, at least in other episodes he's came up with better. The best jokes came from the end with the Bart Simpson dolls and the like. Loved the part with Bender eating his shorts. Overall, it wasn't the best episode though.

Grade: B-

Home Movies: "Brendon's Choice"

I loved this episode. It was a fantastic episode of Home Movies. The beginning is pretty slow, I must admit. The award show is slow but hey, who couldn't love a great concept like 'Titanic II'. :p
Classic McGuirk when he went to anger management. Excellent bit and Erik was great in this episode as well. His scenes concerning coffee and alcohol were great. Erik really works with the nervous laughs every time he tries. Never gets old.
Paula worked in this episode (with what little lines she had). Ok, I know that I'm using the Paula hater, but I got to say that a few more lines in this episode wouldn't hurt.
The movies in this episode were certainly not the best movies though, and I would even venture to say that they were below average, but they were kind of in the background, even though it was the main subject of the interviews.
The interviewer was a good fit, not overly great, but a good fit nonetheless. One of the better parts of the interviews was when the interview would overly analysis the movies such as a zebra and what it stood for, and Brendon would just say 'Yes.' Funny. :p
The entire final scene was flawless. Starting with the final product of all the interviews, the photo that they decided to use for a backdrop for her analysis, their reaction to it, the phone call, and the end credits. It was truly Brendon's choice whether to take the call or not. Truly the most emotional, by far, Home Movies episode in its history.

Grade: A

[Aurochs]

I have a question about the "Darwin" watering hole. I've seen this one dozens of times thanks to whoever's at the seat at Cartoon Network sticking cartridges into the broadcaster always seeming to put this one in. But I still can't understand what they're saying. The manatee says "I'm not talking about you're theory of..." and the elk ellipses him with the one-syllable name of the theory. I can never catch it. Does anyone know what his theory is? And is the monkey supposed to be flirting with the ostrich? And what's the significance of the over-looking elk and manatee’s comments; "Jeez, how'd you like to come to work knowing you came from those two bull-heads", "we sure dodged a bullet there". I can understand what the manatee’s comment means if in fact the monkey is flirting with the ostrich, but either way, I have no idea what the elk's comment about dodging the bullet is. Maybe I'm just not very good at getting jokes. If anyone can explain any of this to me, I'd appreciate it.

[DianaGohan]

Futurama "Hell is Other Robots" Review In the Hiz-ouse Kickin Some Old school beats for the Fiz-ans (Aka why the hell am I talking in rap terms episode review)

Just as Yesterday's was the worst of Futurama's first season, this is probably the best comedey wise. The drama here is mainly that Bender goes from being to evil and concieted to being to good and annoying and learning to keep a steady medium of the two. However, you can ignore all that because it's the comedey that's the star here. From the beastie boy's concert, to Bender wigging out on electricity (Including that cosmic trip that involved dancing around with an electric eel) to going out with Fry to get more electric wasted without Fry even knowing, to the Jacking on comment, to Bender turning the ship into the storm, to trying to jack on with the sign at the church, to Bender's Bapstimal, to the dinner with the long prayer and hugs, to taking Bender to New Jersey and tempting him with hooker bots, wine and stealing purses to get him back to normal, to him pretending to be a director in order to score with some Fembots, to the Devil smacking him and Bender awaking in robot hell, to the pamphlet for Robot Hell, to the "Who would have though hell exists, and that'd it be in New Jersey" comment, to the Song Number (One of the best scenes of Season One) To the fiddle concert, to Bender getting out and looking like some sort of robot angle, to the credits where the Beasties were giving out creds to all the Futurama workers, it was all great. A great way to end the first televised Season. A+.5.

[StrangerAtaru]

Quick note: I finally translated the "eye chart" used in Brendon's campaign video tonight in "Politics". (well considering it was only in the last viewing that I learned the eye chart was Japanese) It says:

"I can't. I can't read anymore."

[The Landstander]

Quick note: I finally translated the "eye chart" used in Brendon's campaign video tonight in "Politics". (well considering it was only in the last viewing that I learned the eye chart was Japanese) It says:

"I can't. I can't read anymore."

Ha! *adds to site*

[Condiment King]

Futurama: "Hell Is Other Robots"

Okay episode. Not nearly the best. The song saved it somewhat, very annoying song. It did its charm. :cool: The puns throughout this episode were funny, I suppose. They got old though.

Grade: B-

Home Movies: "Politics"

I've always loved this episode of Home Movies. It has a great premise of Brendon running for Class President and actually winning! You know, the scene with Brendon and his mom at the kitchen table remind me of "Get Away From My Mom" scene. To see the vast characterization changes between the two is simply stunning. Also, the change from Squigglevision to Flash is very hard to take. Flash seems so simplistic and almost an Internet Movie compared to it. Still good though.
Nice to see Shannon back from 'The Art of the Sucker Punch', one of the good UPN 5s. He was very in character (or at least of what his character was shown from the one other episode he was in). It still worked very much though. He was a great fit for an episode like this.
The person that Brendon ran against was very good, but I don't see how hard it would be to see that Brendon would beat that guy. Maybe a more popular guy would have done more justice or to have more people that just those two running would have been better.
I loved the storyline of McGuirk: The Soccer Comic. Or should I say 'McGee'. Loved the opening scene when he ragged on Melissa. A surprising lack of Jason in this episode, as well. I only noticed him in a few scenes, one being the one where Melissa and Jason come clean about their assumptions of Shannon.
A great movie from the threesome for this episode. 'Reading can hurt your eyes!'.

Grade: A-

[Bogey B]

simply briliant futurama an A+

my favorite past? benders prayer from the profet "jeramatic" :p