So this was on tonight. Not impressed. I wasn’t expecting much, but this was really a bad idea. I love Futurama and I love the Simpsons (well, through parts of Season 10) but this was just terrible. The only truly funny part was the couch gag with Hedonismbot. If this was the plot of an episode of Futurama (without the Simpsons part of it) it’d be the worst time travel episode they ever did. Some of the little sight gags and references to Futurama were mildly amusing but overall meh.
While I realize this isn’t the first crossover the Simpsons has done, at least with the Critic the crossover wasn’t really integral to the plot. They could have done the exact same episode with a guest actor like Roger Ebert instead of Jay Sherman and the episode would have been fine.
Yeah, I was disappointed too. The character designs for the Futurama cast seemed a bit off. Never the less, nice to see Fry, Leela et.al. together on prime time again.
Only so so. A few good moments: The opening splash screen (“One show out of ideas and the other out of episodes”). And, of course, the callback to the dog.
Considering the sad state The Simpsons has been in for longer than I can remember (and that Futurama never stopped being good) I really liked it. Being that it technically took place in the Simpsons’ universe I was expecting them to hit the reset button at the end. They could have made a good joke about it: When the Planet Express people are leaving have only Lisa making a big deal about how them having knowledge of the future will still corrupt the timeline, have the Professor not care (like in Roswell That End’s Well - “SCREW HISTORY!”) but then finally have him shoot (again only Lisa) with a memory erase ray just to shut her up!
I hate to be Comic Book Guy, but I’m a bit disappointed that although they established early on in Futurama that The Simpsons was just a show in their universe, they ignored that in the crossover. In the comic crossovers, they addressed that.
Worst. Crossover. Ever. Nah, just kidding, I enjoyed it still.
I liked it and I agree with those upthread who said that it’s great to see the Futurama gang back one more time. There were a few things that seemed like they were just ticking off references on a checklist (Seymour and the one small bit with Zoidberg, for instance) but I thought the genesis of the mutant rabbits was very clever and well done including the line by Burns that the green goo in the hole could be anybody’s. I’m OK with Bender showing up as a background piece ala the giant totem of Xtapolapocetl, the Olmec god of war.
If it’s any defense, it was funnier than the non-Futurama episode that might have been shown instead.
What’s odd to me about it is that they take a swipe at freemium games (South Park did!), even though there is a Simpsons’ freemium game. I’ve been playing the game, and although I haven’t spent any actual money their criticism of the genre is spot on (as was, more elaborately, the South Park criticism). But it was through that game that I was informed that there was going to be a cross-over episode to begin with. But they didn’t really acknowledge that their own franchise has such a game.
On the other hand, they did do a great callback to an earlier nose-thumbing about their own more traditional sellout when Lisa tells the invading monsters, “Attention, goblins! Madison Cube Garden is filled with Butterfinger bars, and people are laying fingers all over them!”
The whole episode is filled with amusing callbacks and freeze-frame gags. It’s worth your time if you’re a Futurama fan. Beats the hell out of The Flinstones meet The Jetsons.
I kind of enjoyed it but was also kind of expecting more. Fun, but not spectacularly so.
What bothered me a bit was that the episode wasn’t a Treehouse of Horror segment or fantasy of some kind, but apparently now part of the Simpsons’ canonical continuity (such as it is).
Yeah, I know it’s just a cartoon sitcom, and for whatever reason I’m OK with the fact that Homer has been an astronaut, won a Grammy, and boxed for the heavyweight championship, that Bart has repeatedly been the target of a homicidal psychopath, that a lower-middle class family has traveled just about everywhere on earth, and any number of other outlandish situations.
But the Simpsons time-traveling just doesn’t fit in my brain.
Are you mad? Do you want to create continuity with The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Simpsons and Futurama? Every program you throw in the mix risks turning the show into a dream in the mind of that kid from St. Elsewhere.
I really liked it. I wasn’t the biggest Futurama fan, but watched enough I got a lot of the jokes and it was a nice balance. I loved the explanation of freemium games. “And that’s how I owe Clash of Candies $xxx”. Plus Kang and Kodos are always welcome.
Honestly I loved it. If anything I wish it had been an hour episode because I would have loved to see more interaction between the characters both in our time and the Future. It made me miss Futurama. Maybe it will get resurrected third time?
I liked it! I dunno what people expected out of it. It was current The Simpsons quality mixed with *Futurama *quality.
As for making fun of freemium games, Johnny Angel - it’s all tongue-in-cheek. Or meta? Something. They very much were making fun of themselves and their game, just like they do in the game.
I was surprised the Futurama characters were so off (visually), would’ve thought they shared largely the same animation studio. Ah well. It was okay, overall… definitely more a Simpsons ep than Futurama.