"Futurama" is set a thousand years from our present. The show begins in the year 2999, as the world of tomorrow celebrates a happy New Year, and has since moved forward to correspond to the year the episode was aired — the latest, semi-satisfying season 11, reviewed by /Film here, was set in 3023.
This means that the show is set in New New York City (in the state of New New York). In "Space Pilot 3000," while our everyman hero Philip J. Fry slumbers in cryogenic suspension for a millennium, the metropolis outside is destroyed twice by alien invaders. Late in the pilot, Fry, Bender, and Leela find themselves underground in the ruins of old New York City; the place Fry once called home is the foundation upon which his new one rests.
Despite the thousand years of destruction and rebuilding, New New York still has a Statue of Liberty (though who knows if...
This means that the show is set in New New York City (in the state of New New York). In "Space Pilot 3000," while our everyman hero Philip J. Fry slumbers in cryogenic suspension for a millennium, the metropolis outside is destroyed twice by alien invaders. Late in the pilot, Fry, Bender, and Leela find themselves underground in the ruins of old New York City; the place Fry once called home is the foundation upon which his new one rests.
Despite the thousand years of destruction and rebuilding, New New York still has a Statue of Liberty (though who knows if...
- 3/3/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
"Futurama" is first and foremost a comedy, but by setting events a thousand years in the future, it invited itself to have the kind of worldbuilding you'd see in more straight-laced science fiction. The writers aren't just out to make their audience laugh, but to invest them in a futuristic world.
The "Futurama" writers are learned science-fiction nerds themselves. Series co-creator David X. Cohen has degrees in physics and computer science, while David A. Goodman, who wrote the "Futurama" episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," (which featured most of the original "Star Trek" cast) went on to write for "Star Trek: Enterprise." Since the writers are nerds, they know how obsessive nerds think and engage with media by overanalyzing it.
The creators of "Futurama" admit they've even relied on fans to preserve the series' continuity, checking the "Futurama" wiki rather than rewatching episodes themselves. An audio commentary track for the series premiere,...
The "Futurama" writers are learned science-fiction nerds themselves. Series co-creator David X. Cohen has degrees in physics and computer science, while David A. Goodman, who wrote the "Futurama" episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," (which featured most of the original "Star Trek" cast) went on to write for "Star Trek: Enterprise." Since the writers are nerds, they know how obsessive nerds think and engage with media by overanalyzing it.
The creators of "Futurama" admit they've even relied on fans to preserve the series' continuity, checking the "Futurama" wiki rather than rewatching episodes themselves. An audio commentary track for the series premiere,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
In January 2024, Fourth Doctor companion Louise Jameson returned to Doctor Who in the short promotional film Leela vs the Time War for the release of the Season 15 Blu-ray boxset. It showed Jameson’s character on Gallifrey in the final moments of the Time War being threatened with extermination by the Daleks. “This is not how this ends,” says Leela, before transporting herself to the safety of the Tardis.
As reported by RadioTimes.com, writer/director Pete McTighe said at a BFI screening of 1977 episode “Horror of Fang Rock”, that he saw the new scene as “an opportunity to right [the] wrong” of Jameson’s character’s original exit, in which Leela was hurriedly married off to a Gallifreyan Time Lord.
McTighe has written increasingly ambitious promotional films for these series releases with original actors returning to play their roles, though the complexity of producing them means they won’t be done for every boxset.
As reported by RadioTimes.com, writer/director Pete McTighe said at a BFI screening of 1977 episode “Horror of Fang Rock”, that he saw the new scene as “an opportunity to right [the] wrong” of Jameson’s character’s original exit, in which Leela was hurriedly married off to a Gallifreyan Time Lord.
McTighe has written increasingly ambitious promotional films for these series releases with original actors returning to play their roles, though the complexity of producing them means they won’t be done for every boxset.
- 2/15/2024
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Notorious for terrorising at least two generations of top heroes – in reel life – with just his trademark glare, steely voice, and facial expressions ranging from ferocious to sneering, he especially stood out for his film relations with Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, whom he once bested onscreen with two words.
In one standard of the lost-and-found potboiler genre, Amitabh, with his role’s habitual insouciance, asks a stern-looking, impeccably-dressed character: “Aap kaun hai mai-baap?”. Pat came the terse reply: “Tumhara baap”.
This was “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977) – one of the 11 that Pran, born on this day (February 12) in 1920 – did with the Big B, playing with his father two times more or a reluctant ally. Of these, at least 9 are intrinsic to the Bachchan legend, including “Zanjeer” (1973), “Don” (1978), “Naseeb” (1981), “Kaalia” (1981), “Sharaabi” (1984), and “Shahenshah” (1988)
Pran also had a major part in launching the Big B’s path to stardom as it was he – and...
In one standard of the lost-and-found potboiler genre, Amitabh, with his role’s habitual insouciance, asks a stern-looking, impeccably-dressed character: “Aap kaun hai mai-baap?”. Pat came the terse reply: “Tumhara baap”.
This was “Amar Akbar Anthony” (1977) – one of the 11 that Pran, born on this day (February 12) in 1920 – did with the Big B, playing with his father two times more or a reluctant ally. Of these, at least 9 are intrinsic to the Bachchan legend, including “Zanjeer” (1973), “Don” (1978), “Naseeb” (1981), “Kaalia” (1981), “Sharaabi” (1984), and “Shahenshah” (1988)
Pran also had a major part in launching the Big B’s path to stardom as it was he – and...
- 2/12/2024
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
When you're making a show that lasts over 25 years, there will inevitably be some material from early seasons that don't age as well as expected. Comedy is the quickest to age and the quickest to age poorly, they say, so we should probably go easy on older sitcoms when they can't fully escape being products of their time. While early "Futurama" has aged better than most sitcoms from 1999 — thanks to how most of the woes it satirizes are still around today, but worse — there are plenty of moments that the creators regret. Case in point: "In-a-Gadda-Da-Leela," the 2010 episode where Leela and Zapp find themselves alone, naked, in an unknown planet.
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In the "Futurama" episode "War is the H-Word," Fry (Billy West) and Bender (John Dimaggio) discover that they can get a 5% discount on ham-flavored chewing gum if they have a military I.D. Feeling that they would never be drafted into any kind of foolish military conflict, the two sign up for the armed services and absquatulate with their gum.
And then the war came.
Fry and Bender are immediately drafted into a bizarre battlefield excursion they're told very little about. They are trained to fire guns and be generally boorish and sexist, as their commanding officer is the irrepressible misogynist Zapp Brannigan (West). Fry's and Bender's much more capable friend Leela (Katey Sagal) joins the army in disguise (she puts on a beard) just so she can make sure the two dopes don't get blown up on day one of combat. It won't be until they are shipped to...
And then the war came.
Fry and Bender are immediately drafted into a bizarre battlefield excursion they're told very little about. They are trained to fire guns and be generally boorish and sexist, as their commanding officer is the irrepressible misogynist Zapp Brannigan (West). Fry's and Bender's much more capable friend Leela (Katey Sagal) joins the army in disguise (she puts on a beard) just so she can make sure the two dopes don't get blown up on day one of combat. It won't be until they are shipped to...
- 2/10/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"Futurama" has been around for a long time by this point, which means it's more than possible that viewers of the new season have forgotten about events from the old seasons. It's been over 20 years, after all, and even though the characters don't seem to age, it's been twenty years for them, too, so it makes sense that they'll occasionally find themselves on familiar adventures.
The most recent episode, "Parasites Regained," finds yet another member of the crew under attack from a bunch of parasitic worms. Back in season 3, the infected crew member was Fry, who got infected by eating a long-expired egg sandwich he found in a men's bathroom. This time, it's the adorable man-eating Nibbler who finds himself infected by the worms, and the crew needs to on go a "Dune"-inspired quest across Nibbler's litter-box to figure out how to stop them.
It's a continuity-heavy episode, mining...
The most recent episode, "Parasites Regained," finds yet another member of the crew under attack from a bunch of parasitic worms. Back in season 3, the infected crew member was Fry, who got infected by eating a long-expired egg sandwich he found in a men's bathroom. This time, it's the adorable man-eating Nibbler who finds himself infected by the worms, and the crew needs to on go a "Dune"-inspired quest across Nibbler's litter-box to figure out how to stop them.
It's a continuity-heavy episode, mining...
- 8/15/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
"Futurama" is finally back... again! The beloved animated sci-fi series following the misadventures of the ragtag crew of an intergalactic delivery company debuted in the spring of 1999 on Fox, where it ran for four seasons. It was then canceled by Fox, revived by Comedy Central, canceled by Comedy Central, and now, 10 years after its last episode ran, "Futurama" has been brought back for an eleventh season on Hulu.
Matt Groening's left-brained follow-up to "The Simpsons" has always, like that classic sitcom parody, played directly in the sandbox of hyper-current pop and political culture. The series has devoted entire episodes to satirizing (as a means of analyzing) everything from "Star Trek," to the controversial presidential election of 2000, to James Cameron's "Avatar," California's marriage equality referendum Proposition 8, and even "The Simpsons" itself.
Naturally, as the series has an abiding sci-fi/retro-futuristic bent, many of those references have been to works of fantasy,...
Matt Groening's left-brained follow-up to "The Simpsons" has always, like that classic sitcom parody, played directly in the sandbox of hyper-current pop and political culture. The series has devoted entire episodes to satirizing (as a means of analyzing) everything from "Star Trek," to the controversial presidential election of 2000, to James Cameron's "Avatar," California's marriage equality referendum Proposition 8, and even "The Simpsons" itself.
Naturally, as the series has an abiding sci-fi/retro-futuristic bent, many of those references have been to works of fantasy,...
- 8/14/2023
- by Ryan Coleman
- Slash Film
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