REVIEW: FUTURAMA “A FAREWELL TO ARMS”
An ancient prophecy calls for the world’s end in 3012.
Spoilers Below
Our fabled Planet Express crew stumble on to a pyramid deep underneath New New York City.On the pyramid is a big huge disc that Bender grabs and puts on the ship so that Amy can “translate” the writings. We actually learn that Amy’s Martian is a little off she has it down that Earth is doomed for apocalypse and that its pending to happen at any minute and that the pyramid in the ground is actually a space ship meant to save around 30,000 people. The crew attempts to make a break for it, but Nixon hears about it and ruins their getaway in favor of a ‘draft’ that gets to pick and choose which of Earth’s inhabitants get saved.
Turns out the entire Planet Express crew gets a pass with the exception of Leela who opts to stay behind until Fry forges his own pass on board so that Leela can be saved instead of him. So yea, 30,000 people end up escaping Earth and landing on the uninhabited Mars. While there, the President builds up Mars to look like something out of Watchmen right up until the last Martian comes by to pick up the last of his shit. Turns out, Amy is an idiot because according to this guy she read the inscriptions wrong and that Mars is actually doomed for apocalypse and Earth is gonna be just fine. Almost immediately, Mars takes off and barely grazes past Earth, actually making it possible for all the people on Mars to hop on over to Earth therefore saving themselves from any doomsday scenarios.
The whole doomsday thing has been done quite a bit hasn’t it? I mean there’s been a ton of movies and even on TV there is a bunch of shit on about post-apocalyptic settings and its been done to death but Futurama is set in the future so it gets to be a bit more experimental with time lines and such. Also, this is the first episode of the season that reintroduces Fry and Leela’s on and off again romantic relationship so it was a good job from the writers to get that arc moving again. Also, for some reason I like Bender more in a supportive role as I believe he breaks up any kind of monotony with his one-liners ala the Family Guy cutaway gags, but seeing as how the “Bots and the Bees” was really good it might be tough for me to make that judgment. PS I really hate R.E.M.
