Godfellas

Godfellas is definitely among my favorite episodes, along with The Sting, Luck of the Fryrish and other. This is definitely not a gaggy episode, but a thinker, emotional one that is even philosophical and really deep. Although the concept of the Galactic Entity is inspired by Star Trek as well as many classic science fiction stories, it is taken to a new level in a way that is seldom if ever seen in what basically is a sitcom. And even though I know that Bender isn't lost forever, I really feel for Fry and I cry with him when searching for his friend, even saying he'd spend his entire life searching for him even though he knows it's virtually impossible to ever find him. The line that he coincidentally sends out, "I wish I had Bender back" and the zoom through the universe... is simply epic and greatly done, visually and musically, with awesome sound editing.

Though not a gaggy episode (I don't think there could be more jokes without ruining the emotions, but I still lower the points somewhat seeing as they managed in other emotional ones), it features some great lines, like the ending when they realise they forgot to help the monks out ("Aw, do we have too?") and Bender's wonderful line "Who would have known playing God could have such terrible consequences?". We also see some great jokes in the whole sequence with Bender being god, including the sudden death of the entire civilisation ("Maybe if I hug God hard enough, he'll save us from the---")

There are so many things to point out in this wonderful episode, but I will add a final minor remark before leaving: as a pianist myself I just love the whole idea of Bender focusing the remainder of his life trying to play Polonaise in C minor and then destroying the piano after failing.

A wonderful episode, beautiful and philosophical, and maybe the best Futurama episode to date.

I'm in a minority who doesn't think this is one of the greatest episodes of all time. It's certainly not bad, and I appreciate what the episode was trying to explore, I just don't feel as if it achieves to its fullest potential. A lot of the plot feels dull and certain elements (such as the visual design of the Shrimpkins and Malachi's voice being one of David Herman's stock-voices) just feel bland. Every cartoon ever has parodied The Twilight Zone's "The Little People" and I feel like most other parodies have pulled it off better.

That said, the plot we have here still isn't half-bad and Fry's searching for Bender subplot is very touching. I prefer it to the main story. They tie together well at the end.

The episode has less jokes than usual for Futurama, but that seems like a conscious decision to compliment the story and what jokes remain are fantastic. Fry's delivery of "I've NOT heard of them" is among my favourite lines in Futurama's history.

The character interaction is all very good and the overall animation is jaw-droppingly gorgeous as is a lot of the music. A strong episode, yes, but certainly not one of my favourites.