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2ACV17: War Is The H-Word
First UK airing: Sky One, 8:30pm, 14-1-01
"We have all seen too many bodybags
and ball sacks."
Well, a spoof of Starship Troopers was somehow inevitable,
and Futurama did a decent (though
not spectacular) job with it. 'War Is The H-Word' was one of
those okay-grade episodes that raised some laughs but didn't
really engage me -- once it finished, it was largely forgotten.
Let's face it, the whole war was just an excuse to get in as
many jokes about the word 'balls' as possible. I did think they
missed one opportunity, though, especially considering the Starship
Troopers spoofing going on -- when the aliens attacked en masse
for the first time, one of the soldiers should have started screaming
"Balls! Baaaalls!"
Still, it was fun seeing Zapp suffering from Mary
Martin Syndrome (or as MST3K fans know it, Mr B. Natural Syndrome)
with "Lee Lemon", and for the 'shippers out there one
thing was firmly established -- Fry fancies Leela, and she's
pleased about it. Will this be followed up? Probably, since the
sexual tension between Fry and Leela is a staple of the show,
but it was nice to see it being addressed so openly. (I still
think Amy's a better match for Fry, though!) However, what little
sympathy I had for the deeply pathetic Kif vanished when it turned
out he was also a bully. I mean, bullying Fry... it's like kicking
a kitten or something.
The M*A*S*H spoof was quite entertaining as well,
even though it did take me two viewings before I fully got 'iHawk'
(which produced a real "D'oh!" for not realising earlier).
Hey, I'd had a few beers, okay? Zoidberg playing the Frank Burns
role (and wiping out a few patients) got some laughs too. Actually,
has anyone done a 'Death Tote Board' for the Planet Express gang
yet? Bender took out at least three people in were-car form last
week, Zoidberg finished off a few wounded soldiers, the Professor
has a whole set of delivery crews that he's sent to their deaths...
hell, even Fry (indirectly) caused mass devastation by knocking
Single Female Lawyer off the air. These people are killers! One
genuinely black bit of comedy was only visible in freeze-frame,
at the recruiting office. A poster on the wall shows the Earth
Army 'employee of the month'... a coffin with a flag draped over
it.
Continuity Cops: After Bender's lack of familiarity
with "round rubber feet" in 'The Honking', how come
there were all those tyres to hop through on the assault course?
(Maybe the Springfield tyre pile is still in business.) And strictly
speaking, shouldn't Fry and Bender already have military
discount cards? They did fight for DOOP against the Omicrons,
after all. Isn't there a veterans' discount, or something?
Incidentally, I finally got hold of the first issue
of the Futurama comic (since my
comic shop upped sticks and moved last year, it's a hell of a
lot less convenient to get to). Apart from the fact there wasn't
nearly enough Amy in it, I liked it, though you've got to be
worried about the disclaimer "printed on recycled paper
with 10% post-consumer waste". I don't even want to think
about what's been mixed in with the paper... Something I did
notice, though; in Matt Groening's intro, he says, and I quote,
"we're also going to try to sneak in some actual human emotion
along with the laughs." Considering what The Simpsons has
turned into lately, it's pretty clear which show is getting most
of Matt's attention, I think...
Final note: the 'wrong'-sounding theme music noted
in 2ACV18 seems to be here to stay. Is it just me, is it a PAL/NTSC
thing, or has anyone else noticed it too?
Rating: 
BTW: I just realised that because
of all the pre-emptions on Fox, the US is only two or three episodes
ahead of the UK now. Does this mean that come the next batch
of re-runs on Fox, Sky will catch up and then move ahead... or
will Rupert Murdoch (who owns both networks) step in and prevent
us Brits getting first dibs on new episodes? We'll see (although
I bet I already know the answer).
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