Reviews

First off, if you haven't watched this episode yet, do yourself a favour and watch it, before reading the reviews. A recurring theme in futurama is the contrast between what fry thinks the people (and the dog) around him felt about him, and what they actually felt. He is convinced that they cared very little about him, so much so that this is one of the reasons why he's relieved when he learns he is being frozen for a thousand years: everyone who knew him is now dead. We are lead to believe for several episodes that he's right in thinking so, but as the series progresses we gradually learn how wrong his perception was. The contrast is shown beautifully in this episode where, almost up until the end, we are offered his point of view, his rightful (based on his assumptions) indignation, only to learn that the alter ego wasn't his jealous brother stealing his life, dreams and name, but in fact his nephew, his brother's son, named after him "to carry on his spirit". Very beautifully written. On a side note, the joke on the article "the" (including bender's answer) is also very on point because it really tells the viewer the level of obsession fry had reached.

It truly is beyond me how anyone other than a small child could rate this movie positively. Videogames are one thing, movies are a different story. Absolute drivel. A not particularly original plot, a "modern" version of princess toadstool which per se is neither good nor bad, because it doesn't really add anything to the story, some fan service... That's it. I don't even know what to say, because this movie is basically... Nothing. A platform game doesn't need an interesting plot, nor a credible character development, the fun is in the game mechanics. But a movie does. For children under 8 only, at 9 I figure they have already outgrown this stuff.

This is easily the best episode of Seinfeld, or at the very least the funniest of this series. It's also referenced in Scrubs and it's not surprising, because it's so iconic of the kind of quirky and at times surreal comedy of Seinfeld. It's the one episode many will know and remember even if they haven't watched much of the show. As we all know and as Seinfeld itself says in a meta-episode, this is a show "about nothing", built on everyday experiences rather than stories, in which the comedy derives from the main characters facing situations that challenge our expectations based on what we usually consider normal. The Soup Nazi is the best representative of this model of comedy: we would expect a vendor to be first and foremost interested in selling the product, but in here the personal obsession with a certain order subverts our expectations and it reaches a peak when it's pushed to the point where the cashier (on the order of the soup nazi) gives back the money to George and takes back the soup from him, because he caused a disturbance in the process.

I'm a great fan of Futurama, i've watched all the episodes several times, but sometimes I skip Jurassic Bark because it's really that sad, so much so that it almost gives you physical pain. Yet, i have nothing but praise for this gem. A constant theme in Futurama is how Fry misjudged the people around him of the past: as shown in other episodes, most notably Luck of the Fryrish (another masterpiece), they sorely missed him (well, with the partial exception of his vapid former girlfriend). Of all of them, Seymour is the one who waited for him to come back till its last moment on Earth. What makes you shiver is this sharp contrast between Fry's idea that Seymour has forgotten him, and the closing sequence when we see the dog's unwavering faith in Fry's return succumb only to death. Futurama writers sure knew how to do their job. I hope the revival of the show is going to be at least half as good as episode such as this one were.

It is a show for kids, but surprisingly mature: we can see the psychological progression of a character from self-loathing in childhood to tyrannic and evil behaviour as an adult, and also themes such as racial discrimination, illness, doping in sport, and others. All of this is beautifully packaged in something a child can understand. So that's what I love about Alfred Kwak: unlike most children's shows, it doesn't treat children like little idiots, it gives them credit and believes in their ability to understand good and evil in contexts that are fairly close analogies to what happens in the real world. Also, i like that the characters grow up. In short, a clever and educational cartoon.

I'm sorry to say this, but the show is really, really bad.

I feel that if it wasn't for nostalgia's sake, and to some the hope of seeing Creddie become a thing, nobody would watch it.

They promoted this as being an adult version of the old Icarly, which I would very much welcome if there was any substance to it, but that's not the case.

This shows flirts with the idea of being adult, without getting there or even coming close to that.

I'm totally on board with all the adult jokes, and I like them, but what makes a show "adult" is ultimately the characters dealing with adult stuff (for starters work and romance) and acting like adults.

But neither Carly nor Freddie have done much in that respect and Spencer conveniently became rich.

You would argue that Carly's job is Icarly, but we don't see much of the show itself and the little we see is frankly lame.

As for Freddie, yes, he has a past, but what we get now is him doing what he did when he was 12, including living with his mother.

So what happens to them in the 10 years between the end of the old series and the reboot becomes nothing but a footnote and they both are again where they were 10+ years before.

But of course the magic of the olden days couldn't be replicated... It was fresh and new back then, now is stale in the best of cases.

As for relashionships, Carly behaves like she's still 12 in the childish way she handles them, in that she doesn't know how to handle feelings, as if she didn't even know what a feeling of love truly is: which, again, is typical of tweens dealing with this stuff for the first time.

And we hardly ever see kisses, or more "mature" romance, or any sorts of commitments, or the protagonists truly trying to move on with their ives.

The characters are basically all stuck in the world of the old Icarly, both practically and mentally, which doesn't suit them anymore because they are in their late 20s now.

Oh, and Spencer, at around 40, is basically just the old goofball. Which again, was fine once upon a time, but now... still just that? What is his role other than offering Carly and Freddie an economical parachute when they screw up?

Harper and Millicent are appendages and add nearly nothing to the show. Millicent is just a kid who seems to love the world od business, but her jokes never land; Harper is a stereotypical sassy girl.

Unlike other people, i don't think this Icarly is "woke", but the added characters are only meant to attract new audiences and feel out of place, as they hold no relationship with the core of the series, and offer no entertainment value (the actresses playing them are fine, nothing against them).

Many jokes look like the writers simply read the latest Twitter trends and try to make something funny out of them (mostly failing).

The plots are nearly always silly and thin or non-existent.

You are left with the feeling that basically hardly ever something actually happens in this show.

Just one example: when things seemed to move into some direction with Carly being forced to choose between the two guys, she simply dumps them and that's it.

She barely elaborates on her feelings, saying that she didn't love either of them. And that's it, in a matter of 1 minute we're back to square one.

One can already see where this show is probably headed: nothing will keep "not happening" and when the viewer ratings become too low so it won't be renewed, in order to get one last bump in views they'll finally get the fans the Creddie many are waiting for (given that Sam won't be returning), and it will almost certainly feel kind of fake and rushed.

There's so many things Icarly's revival could have been, they chose to try and recreate the old atmosphere adding a thin (way too thin) layer of adulthood. This approach was doomed to fail, even more so because the new writers are not particularly good.

Especially with Jennette McCurdy not reprising her role, the new Icarly should have moved into a different direction, instead of capitalising on the viewers' nostalgia, going as far as offering cameos to all the characters of the original Icarly.

They truly seem to have no ideas other than navigating around the comfort zone of the same type of comedy which could only work when the characters were teenagers.

I wonder if the writers lack courage or skills, or (more likely) both.

I really, really wanted to like "Icarly 2021", but so far (I've watched up to the second episode of the second series) there's no redeeming qualities to it.