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4ACV02: Leela's Homeworld
First UK airing: Sky One, 7:00pm, 14-4-02
"Then today's your lucky day,
because I happen to be a holding, stroking, loving machine. Also
spanking."
Fascinating fact: according to the stats for this
site, 60.08% of visitors find it using Google with the phrase
"Amy Wong naked". In that case, to increase my chances
of getting some hits, Amy Wong naked! Amy Wong naked! Amy Wong
naked! Amy Wong naked! Amy Wong naked! Amy Wong naked! Now watch
the counter rocket! Woohoo!
But back to Futurama.
Wow, Leela certainly owes Fry bigtime now, doesn't she? If not
for him being smart and determined enough (bloody hell!) to find
the letter and get it analysed, and brave enough to head back
into Mutantville (where, let's not forget, he'd just been threatened
with death!), she would have killed her own parents! Our favourite
ginger deserves a proper kiss from her for that, at the very
least...
Ever since 'I Second That Emotion' (where a one-eyed,
purple-haired mutant appears in the far background of one shot)
I'd wondered if Leela might turn out to be a mutant rather than
an alien, and now the question has finally been answered. As
has the correct spelling of 'Turanga', which I don't think had
ever appeared onscreen before. So, does Bender have any family
secrets to uncover?
The show wasn't as strong or as affecting as Fry's
big emotional discovery show, 'Luck Of The Fryrish', and I think
(boy, the Leela fans will probably hate me for this) that some
of that was down to Katey Sagal just not being as good an actor
as Billy West. No matter what voice he's doing, Billy can always
project the emotion behind it, but Katey often seems a bit forced
when she has to do anything more extreme than Leela's usual state
of perpetual mild annoyance -- and Leela getting almost hysterical
when she thinks the mutants killed her parents, which was meant
to be the big emotional moment of the show, was getting perilously
close to "AAAC-TINGGG!" Still, it didn't actually damage
the episode, which was still entertaining, and the song at the
end was rather endearing. Anyone know who it was?
Behind all the emotional stuff there were some good
gags, like the whale (Bender stomping it down into the manhole
like garbage was inspired cruelty), Fry's heartfelt letter to
Leela going down the toilet and the whole bit with Bender's unicycle.
Plus another dig at Starbucks. Seeing as Bournemouth (where I
live) is about to be invaded by its first, but probably not its
last, Starbucks, this was a joke that had a lot of meaning!
Rating: 
PS: Say, how come Leela didn't have
her bracelet on when her wrist-thing rolled away in 'Mother's
Day'? Eh? Eh?
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