REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

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REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by archonix » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:58 pm

Summary is something like the origin of life comes in to question when a distant planet inhabited by evolved androids is discovered. I can't be bothered looking it up. Suffice to say this episode was one of the more ropey ones, being very much an "issue" episode. Like Star Trek, Futurama has dealt with all sorts of current political issues in the past and usually manages to do it with a little grace and humour, but sometimes it just starts out with an almighty KLUNK and you just know it's going to be off-kilter.

Despite that, I found plenty funny about this episode. After the initial, frankly intelligence-insulting opening it segued into much more familiar and creative territory.
Spoiler
Unfortunately the sub-plot with Zoidberg was crap. Yes, I said crap. It went nowhere, it didn't grow the characters much and to be honest it could have been dropped entirely.

I said after the fist minute that I wouldn't like this episode, but I was wrong; I enjoyed it a great deal, despite the more obvious problems and the absolute klunker of an opening sequence (though even that had some amusing bits, I'll admit). It was not the best, not by a long-shot, but it was good enough.

The problem seems to be when the raise "issues" to the foreground, which seems like it might be setting up to be this season's malad du jure. The writers have done issue/politics episodes in the past without being so brow-beatingly obvious about it (Crimes of the Hot anyone?) and they successfully satirised their own opinions and those of the designated opponents without coming across as boorish and childish. The redemption of the episode is that they got over it pretty fast and got on to the meat of the story.

So, rating: god, but not great. B-
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by kaspired » Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:20 pm

Good stuff:
I liked the gags, some were really insightful (Amy: We'll take half their rocks in the divorce. Leela: I prefer to take my own rocks.), one was gross (Amy knoocks off a finger and then later says "Hey! That's mine" as she takes a fingertip out of the stew).

The animation was amazing (the robot courtroom).

Not so good stuff:
But I did have trouble with the basic "Why?" of the episode. It started out as a good satire of the religious/darwin version of evolution, but then it lost focus.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by c_nordlander » Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:42 pm

I agree with a lot of the things Graham said. I don't get creationist demonstrations in the 3010s. I kind of liked Dr. Banjo, though: as with Katz last week, this season has proved that it can do good new characters (something that was sorely lacking from the movies). And at least they haven't turned Preacherbot into a catch-all strawman.
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Things picked up with the robot planet, which was a feast for the eyes, and had more than a few nice plot twists and a funny ending. I found the episode a bit lacking in jokes, though. (Except Fry's being persistently attacked by dinosaurs, which was funny.) Also, I could have lived without Amy's chopped-off finger in the stew. :amy

The Cubert and Zoidberg subplot was completely bland. I thought it was leading up to Cubert saving the crew somehow, but instead, it was just filler. That's not to say I didn't think the scene with Blob Jr. was kind of funny.

Not a *bad* episode, but not likely to dethrone "That Darn Katz" for me. Nice robot wildlife, though.

EDIT: And is it just me, or did that robot naturalist who discovered them look like the Countess? No wonder Bender wanted to get in her... uh, chassis. I guess.
Last edited by c_nordlander on Sat Aug 14, 2010 12:31 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Gulliver63 » Fri Aug 13, 2010 11:35 pm

I have to agree with everybody else...not the greatest, but cute. My wife watched it with me, so it passed the Nancy test (she also got to finally see That Darn Katz all the way through). I liked Dr. Banjo, who I thought was drawn well. I mainly liked the action on the asteroid where they had to flee to the cave. I thought Fry had some funny lines as well. :fry
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Kif White » Sat Aug 14, 2010 6:21 am

Yeah, I agree that this was good, yet not the strongest. The Zoidberg/Cubert subplot did fall flat, and there were a few clunkers throughout. Beyond that the overall plot was neat, and there were some hilarious moments scattered throughout. I am always a sucker for science vs. religion style jokes (especially those where science clearly wins), and there were some nice stabs at this. And for some reason the pineapple pizza joke just caught me.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by archonix » Sat Aug 14, 2010 11:48 am

What I liked about the episode wasn't that science "won". It didn't. Neither side won (or both did), they reached an accommodation that made both sides feel better about the whole thing without one "winner" being triumphal about it.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Stretch_Dude » Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:29 pm

Far from the best episode of the season or series, but still decent. Like everyone said, it was an interesting plot. The Zoidberg/Cubert subplot was kind of bland, but I liked the Father-Man scene and Zoidberg wondering about the facts of life.
Archonix wrote:What I liked about the episode wasn't that science "won". It didn't. Neither side won (or both did), they reached an accommodation that made both sides feel better about the whole thing without one "winner" being triumphal about it.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Chug a Bug » Sat Aug 14, 2010 9:45 pm

Whoa, tough crowd. Unlike That Darn Katz which was so meh I couldn't even be bothered to watch it again never mind write a review of it, I have to say I thought this one was great, it felt like a season 3 or 4 ep and not season 6 at all, and thats definately a good thing.

Evolutionary theory is one of my favourite subjects and this was just a great voyage through that. Many of the themes of this seasons stories have passed me by to be honest, not being an American: Proposition Eight/Infinity, the Meow Mix adverts that to my knowledge never aired over here (I had to look them up on YouTube to see what everyone was talking about) but I have heard of the Creationist V. Evolutionary debate (again very much a US thing, no-one seriously questions Evolution here) and the Professor's debate with Dr Zaius.. sorry, Banjo, parodied the Creationist's arguments very well. I found it hilarious, and spot on. (The emergence of the nanobots from the pond reminded me very much of the Replicators from Stargate SG-1 and I was a expecting some kind of parody to ensue, until I remembered that Stargate is one of the things Futurama never references, along with Dr Who)

There were plenty of laugh aloud jokes (no-one in their right mind likes pineapple on their pizza, no-one! Amy suggesting that they should become the cavemen's wives to get half the rocks and did anyone else catch the R2-D2 joke in the Ascent of Bot display?) The plot integrated nicely with the central theme (unlike Proposition Infinity, which just seemed forced) it felt confident, well paced and like season 6 is finally finding it's feet at last and it didn't feel like it was trying too hard for all-time-great status (TLPJF, anyone?) Zoidberg and Cubert was a nice little B-plot (yes, finally we had a proper one) Cubert was being annoying as usual, until he got a attack of conscience and relented and the father-son thing was oddly touching, but even Zoidberg had to revile him at the very end. Well, he is still Cubert. Perfect.)

I was slighty disappointed that the Kubrick parody went no further than the title, but still it was one of the best, if not the best, of the current run. Not far short of a classic IMO.

A-
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Kif White » Sun Aug 15, 2010 6:34 am

Chug a Bug wrote:(The emergence of the nanobots from the pond reminded me very much of the Replicators from Stargate SG-1 and I was a expecting some kind of parody to ensue, until I remembered that Stargate is one of the things Futurama never references, along with Dr Who)
I was actually half expecting to see a replicator at some point, and the bugs also actually reminded me of the genetically modified Ori bugs from a late SG-1 episode. I was also expecting to see Grimlock or another dinobot from Transformers early on too.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by Gulliver63 » Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:36 pm

Good point about Dr. Who...they never seem to reference Ringworld either. Could you imagine Farnsworth arguing with the Doctor? :)
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by missy_misery » Fri Aug 20, 2010 5:40 am

Finally saw this one:
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Letter Grade: B
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by c_nordlander » Fri Aug 20, 2010 12:52 pm

I don't think the caveman plot was meant to go anywhere.
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I fully agree about the pointlessness of the Cubert and Zoidberg plot, though. It was clearly just filler.
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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by AssistantCrone » Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:47 pm

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Re: REVIEW: A Clockwork Origin

Post by missy_misery » Sun Aug 22, 2010 3:39 am

Oh, I know it wasn't meant to go anywhere
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