# Futurama July 1: "Attack of the Killer App" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262 "2010-07-02T02:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/1 "2010-07-02T02:40:27Z")
Fun stuff tonight as _Futurama_ returns to classic form tonight to satirize the iPhone and Internet culture. Jokes like that have been done before, but there was a lot to like about this episode, especially Mom’s evil plan (the kicker at the end revealing what it was was kind of an obvious joke, but I wasn’t expecting it to go that way), a bit of relationship tension between Fry and Leela, and in what may be one of the best bad puns ever, a boil named Susan with a magnificent singing voice (voiced by Craig Ferguson). ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/2 "2010-07-02T04:05:47Z")
Fantastic! I may have to watch it again. Along with every other episode ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/3 "2010-07-02T04:58:25Z")
That was much better then the two opener episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/4 "2010-07-02T05:14:10Z")
Loved it loved it loved it!!! It’s the Futurama I know and loved!!! Bad news tho: My DVR killed the end for me. So I don’t know what happens after Fry asks Leela for a hug. Can someone spoiler box it for me? I’ll have to remember this and program the DVR accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/5 "2010-07-02T07:05:04Z")
The exaggerating satire was bad. But there were some funny bits. “My what now?” ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/6 "2010-07-02T07:15:51Z")
I thought it was better than the last episode but not as good as _Rebirth_. Much more in keeping with the characters, though Mom was like a parody of herself. The Susan Boil gag annoyed me, however. It _might_ have worked on a random mutant, but on Leela it came out of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/7 "2010-07-02T08:13:23Z")
The virus made me think of **Snow Crash**. Would have liked to focus more on that, really. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/8 "2010-07-02T09:30:55Z")
The timing of this episode couldn’t have been more perfect. I know that the episodes take months to complete, but having this episode coming out around the launch of the iPhone 4 was uncanny. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/9 "2010-07-02T10:16:06Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Bad news tho: My DVR killed the end for me. So I don’t know what happens after Fry asks Leela for a hug. Can someone spoiler box it for me? Leela is reluctant to hug Fry, but Susan encourages her to and they do, obvlious to the fact that the Twitworm has created an army of zombies who all march…to the Mom Store to buy the new eyePhone 2.0. Mom watches in glee: “Dumb bastards.” ---
**Author:** ![MeDrewNotYou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@MeDrewNotYou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeDrewNotYou)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/10 "2010-07-02T14:02:21Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Loved it loved it loved it!!! It’s the Futurama I know and loved!!! > Bad news tho: My DVR killed the end for me. So I don’t know what happens after Fry asks Leela for a hug. Can someone spoiler box it for me? > > I’ll have to remember this and program the DVR accordingly. That’s the big thing that infuriates me with Comedy Central. [adult swim] never messed up timing like that. I also prefer 1 commercial block in the middle and a big set at the end, but that probably isn’t optimal advertising, so I don’t feel it fair to complain. > [@Lobot](#): > > I thought it was better than the last episode but not as good as _Rebirth_. Much more in keeping with the characters, though Mom was like a parody of herself. > > The Susan Boil gag annoyed me, however. It _might_ have worked on a random mutant, but on Leela it came out of nowhere. Agreed with the Susan Boil bit. I thought it relied too much on making 2010 references and didn’t pay much attention to the characters, even if they behaved appropriately. Of course I laughed, but not like I did last week when Zap started going “Guh!” and fessing up. Honestly, though, I thought this one sucked by _Futurama_ standards. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/11 "2010-07-02T14:23:46Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > The virus made me think of **Snow Crash**. Would have liked to focus more on that, really. This. The virus _was_ Snow Crash. I kept expecting a throwaway Neal Stephenson joke somewhere, but was sadly disappointed. Maybe I should rewatch the episode on the DVR, because if there’s a Stephenson joke there, it’s probably encrypted. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/12 "2010-07-02T14:42:15Z")
> [@Lobot](#): > > The Susan Boil gag annoyed me, however. Enjoyed the episode, but ditto on being annoyed by the Boil bit. It was funny that the boil sang showtunes, and that was enough for the gag to work. When they went ahead and named the boil “Susan” then continually referred to her as “Susan” that was major overkill- O.K. guys, we _get_ it! We got it _before_ the belabored explanation. “Eeew! And she’s _Scottish_!” was just more overkill. Then the facial hair on Susan was just kind of mean. I don’t think Mom was more of a cartoon of herself than ever. It’s really just her true character to be a cartoon of herself. If anything she was toned down: Her evil plan was just to get people to buy her product . . . not, say, to create a robot army to take over the world. I did really like the way they combined the Apple logo with Mom’s silhouette. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/13 "2010-07-02T15:17:56Z")
Thanks **Mobo**!! ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/14 "2010-07-02T15:28:03Z")
I thought this was a much stronger episode than “In A Gadda…”, right up there with Classic Futurama… Flexo\> Us Bending units are dangerously outdated, we overheat, we’re radioactive, and we cause erectile disfunct…\ The “Third World” (of the Antares System) stripping down the PE ship and Bender in minutes “this thing (Bender) is 40% Chromium” “Okay kids, let’s play find the Shiny!” The satire on the iPhone/eyePhone was dead on (and I say this as a happy iPhone user/Apple fan) \“Okay, it’s $500, you have no choice of carrier, the battery won’t hold a charge, and the reception isn’t very…” \(inerrupting) Shut up and take my money! \“The new eyePhone is wonderful, I use it to check recipes, and to send threatening e-mails to unauthorized third-party App developers” and the whole Direct Marketing/Twitcher/TwitWorm Zombie Virus thread… “The eyePhone records everything…” As a Sims 2 player (well, “torturer” really) the “Real Housewives of Sim City” gag pretty much nailed the inherent stupidity of the Sims in the game, if they wanted to be truly accurate though, they should have had all the Sims in the bathroom, including the wall-walker, as the Sims seem to be obsessed with bathrooms (at least mine are) The Leela/Susan Boil thread left me cold though, I have no idea who Susan Boyle is, I’m assuming she’s an American Idol contestant or something, and since I don’t watch Idol… ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/15 "2010-07-02T16:34:34Z")
My DVR cut out. What happened at the very end? I left off just as Fry and Leela were hugging, and there were zombies walking behind them ETA : Never mind, someone else had the same problem. Thanks **Mobo**. Joe ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/16 "2010-07-02T16:40:16Z")
Not much, the “Zombies” march towards the MomStore, Mom announces the “eyePhone 2.0” the huddled eyeZombies cheer, holding aloft cash in their fists, crash zoom to Mom in her office at the top of MomCorp, she looks down on them, smugly and says “dumb bastards”, fade to black ---
**Author:** ![TheFifthYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@TheFifthYear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFifthYear)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/17 "2010-07-02T16:49:07Z")
Wow, I’m shocked by the reaction here. I thought this was easily, by far, the worst episode of the show’s run, new or old. The iPhone satire was lame, obvious, and nothing that hasn’t been done a thousand times already, and usually better. The Susan Boyle part wasn’t even a little bit funny. The whole thing was awful. Also, when has Futurama ever been about topical humor? The best episodes of this show are timeless. In five years, not only will this episode still be unfunny, it will be incredibly dated. I mean, iPhone jokes? Susan Boyle jokes? Terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/18 "2010-07-02T17:14:02Z")
I did not think this one all that great. iPhone stuff has already been done to death by everyone and their mother, Susan Boyle needs to cease to exist already. meh ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/19 "2010-07-02T17:15:53Z")
> [@TheFifthYear](#): > > Also, when has Futurama ever been about topical humor? The best episodes of this show are timeless. In five years, not only will this episode still be unfunny, it will be incredibly dated. I mean, iPhone jokes? Susan Boyle jokes? Terrible. I’ll give you that the Susan Boyle thing was dumb and very topical. I don’t think you can say the iphone stuff is dated and not “timeless”. Iphone and Iphone accessories will be there for a looooong time, or they are so entrenched in the culture that it’s hardly just a fleeting afterthought. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262/20 "2010-07-02T17:37:08Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > The Leela/Susan Boil thread left me cold though, I have no idea who Susan Boyle is, I’m assuming she’s an American Idol contestant or something, and since I don’t watch Idol… Susan Boyle was an elderly Scottish woman with a singing voice you would not expect from an elderly Scottish woman. Her appearance on _Britain’s Got Talent_ was a YouTube sensation and was in fact the most viewed video on YouTube in 2009- hence using Susan the boil as an internet phenomenon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/futurama-july-1-attack-of-the-killer-app/545262.md?page=2)