TV Review: FUTURAMA – Season 7A – “A Farewell To Arms”

By CARL CORTEZ / Contributing Editor

Posted: June 22nd, 2012 / 09:32 AM

Stars (voices): Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, Dave Herman
Writer: Josh Weinstein
Director: Raymie Muzquiz
Network: Comedy Central, Wednesday nights
Airdate: June 21, 2012

The second half of the FUTURAMA Season 7A premiere is even better and funnier than “The Bots and the Bees.” Taking its cues from big disaster and end-of-the-world type of movies, the film parodies all the tropes that come with those types of films.

The episode begins with weird weather patterns and results in Fry inadvertently discovering an ancient “Mayan” temple underneath the earth. What they learn is it’s actually a “Martian” temple and as Amy tries to translate the text, she learns that earth will end in 3012 – the current year of the series.

Other revelations include learning that the temple is actually a spaceship and the head of President Nixon enacts a lottery that determines who shall leave earth on this ship to go start a new life on Mars.

It’s all rather silly and fun, and also includes some nice Fry (Billy West) and Leela (Katey Sagal) moments – particularly the curse that every time Fry extends his hand out to Leela, something bad happens to her. Think about that and then connect it to the title and you get a pretty gross and appropriate final moment.

Moving at a super-fast pace, “A Farewell To Arms” is classic FUTURAMA filled with some great sight gags and excellent animation. Ever since the series moved to the wide screen format, the show has taken on a feature film look and when they do these big parody-like episodes, it benefits them the most.

It’s nice to have FUTURAMA back for two more summers and let’s hope Comedy Central continues to be pleased with the show’s performance, because having it as a summer animated fix makes you look forward to the summer even more.

Related: Exclusive Interview with FUTURAMA voice actor Maurice LaMarche

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