"Futurama" has lived more lives than any other show since the dawn of the current millennium. It has been saved from cancellation several times over the years and has maintained a very loyal following, even in the periods where no new episodes were making it to air. It's a credit to what creator Matt Groening accomplished, even going back to some of the earliest episodes. It's actually in one of those early episodes where we get one of the initial flashes of hidden brilliance that helped make the show what it is.
The third episode of "Futurama" season 1 is titled "I, Roommate," and it is a pivotal one. Fry is such a slob that he is forced by the rest of the Planet Express crew to move out of the offices where he's been crashing. He decides to take up an offer from Bender to move into his place, only...
The third episode of "Futurama" season 1 is titled "I, Roommate," and it is a pivotal one. Fry is such a slob that he is forced by the rest of the Planet Express crew to move out of the offices where he's been crashing. He decides to take up an offer from Bender to move into his place, only...
- 5/25/2024
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
In the "Futurama" episode "A Fishful of Dollars", Fry (Billy West) remembers that he had 93 cents in his savings account when he was cryogenically frozen in 1999. After a thousand years of .25% interest, however, that amount had grown into a fortune of 4.3 billion dollars. Thankfully, inflation hasn't kept pace, and Fry is suddenly one of the wealthiest people on the planet. As anyone with abrupt access to a massive fortune might, Fry immediately begins to squander his riches on frivolous things. He buys the Mona Lisa merely so he may use it as a clay pigeon for skeet shooting. He tries to recreate a slobby, 20th-century apartment just as he remembered it. Most notably, he buys an ancient can of anchovies at auction, a valuable commodity indeed, given that anchovies went extinct many years before. The anchovies, still sealed, are guaranteed to be edible.
Unbeknownst to Fry, however, the anchovies are...
Unbeknownst to Fry, however, the anchovies are...
- 5/9/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Futurama, the cult animated comedy series created by Matt Groening, is getting the deluxe art book treatment.
Abrams ComicArts, one of the leaders in the trendy format, will release The Art of Futurama, billed as the first art book to delve into the development and history of the acclaimed sci-fi comedy.
The book will be replete with the cool behind-the-scenes visuals the Art of books are known for and will come with commentary from the Groening, showrunner David X. Cohen and producer Claudia Katz.
It examines the first seven seasons of the series, which first aired on Fox in 1999. Readers will be able dive into the development and visual history of all 150 episodes, including brand–new content, never–before–seen concept art, sketches, developmental work, and a complete episode guide for the Emmy-winning show.
For the uninitiated, Futurama was a social satire that cented on a slacker named Philip J.
Abrams ComicArts, one of the leaders in the trendy format, will release The Art of Futurama, billed as the first art book to delve into the development and history of the acclaimed sci-fi comedy.
The book will be replete with the cool behind-the-scenes visuals the Art of books are known for and will come with commentary from the Groening, showrunner David X. Cohen and producer Claudia Katz.
It examines the first seven seasons of the series, which first aired on Fox in 1999. Readers will be able dive into the development and visual history of all 150 episodes, including brand–new content, never–before–seen concept art, sketches, developmental work, and a complete episode guide for the Emmy-winning show.
For the uninitiated, Futurama was a social satire that cented on a slacker named Philip J.
- 4/30/2024
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"Futurama" is, at least on one level, a workplace show. The main characters all met because they are co-workers at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company. Planet Express, however, is more of a background setting and an excuse to have the characters organically occupy the same space. "Futurama" stories either tend to reach deep into weird sci-fi or involve the characters' personal lives. Plots rarely surround the business and its inner workings.
The biggest reminder that "Futurama" does indeed take place in an office is the presence of Hermes Conrad (Phil Lamarr), the company bureaucrat. Hermes takes care of all the paperwork and accounting and does so with gusto. He's a freewheeling limbo champion who is also weirdly fastidious and obsessed with red tape and organization. In the episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", Hermes sings an upbeat calypso number about how great it is to be a bureaucrat.
The biggest reminder that "Futurama" does indeed take place in an office is the presence of Hermes Conrad (Phil Lamarr), the company bureaucrat. Hermes takes care of all the paperwork and accounting and does so with gusto. He's a freewheeling limbo champion who is also weirdly fastidious and obsessed with red tape and organization. In the episode "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", Hermes sings an upbeat calypso number about how great it is to be a bureaucrat.
- 3/24/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the third episode of "Futurama," called "I, Roommate," Fry (Billy West) is still sleeping at Planet Express, not yet having found a place to live. Fry is a slob, however, and his filthy detritus and unsanitary lifestyle become a nuisance for his coworkers. "Someone's been leaving food around," Hermes (Phil Lamarr) says at a company meeting, "and it's attracting owls. And I, for one, am tired of cleaning those owl traps."
Owls? Yes, it seems that by the year 3000, owls will have replaced rats as New York City's most prolific species of warm-blooded vermin. The owls are rarely addressed directly on "Futurama," but filthy alleyways and garbage-strewn streets are always lousy with owls. From the looks of the animation, they are northern saw-whet owls, although their precise species has never been clarified. Weirdly, the owls are a joke unto themselves, and no one ever makes puns or gags at their expense.
Owls? Yes, it seems that by the year 3000, owls will have replaced rats as New York City's most prolific species of warm-blooded vermin. The owls are rarely addressed directly on "Futurama," but filthy alleyways and garbage-strewn streets are always lousy with owls. From the looks of the animation, they are northern saw-whet owls, although their precise species has never been clarified. Weirdly, the owls are a joke unto themselves, and no one ever makes puns or gags at their expense.
- 3/23/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the very first "Futurama" episode, "Space Pilot 3000" (which is full of hidden clues), the dim-witted Fry (Billy West) awakens in the year 2999 after being cryogenically frozen for a millennium. Fry immediately encounters a bizarre future world he doesn't understand. He is informed that, in the 30th century, human beings are implanted with career chips that will determine their professional fate for the rest of their lives. Fry is told that he has been selected by the computer to be a delivery boy -- the same profession he held back in 1999. Fry, terrified by the prospect, flees into the streets of New New York, the city built on the ruins of Old New York.
Fry is disoriented by what he sees. Aliens and robots stroll the sidewalks, and spacecraft whiz past overhead. He spots a few suicide booths on street corners. Most impressively, he sees a vast, tall network of...
Fry is disoriented by what he sees. Aliens and robots stroll the sidewalks, and spacecraft whiz past overhead. He spots a few suicide booths on street corners. Most impressively, he sees a vast, tall network of...
- 3/17/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Much has been made of the 1989 pilot for "The Simpsons," which told the bittersweet story of how the dog Santa's Little Helper joined the family, but it's clear that "Futurama" delivered an even stronger first impression ten years later. "Space Pilot 3000," which begins with pizza delivery guy Fry falling into a cryogenic chamber and waking up a thousand years later, introduces us to a new futuristic world that has a lot of cool technology, sure, but is definitely not a utopia. There are suicide booths on every corner, angry drunken talking robots, and no shortage of delivery jobs that still don't pay as much as they should. Fry still finds a better life in the fourth millennium, but it's a major adjustment.
In one of the early drafts for the pilot, Fry's adjustment to this new world (and this new cast of characters) was made even harder, because the circumstances...
In one of the early drafts for the pilot, Fry's adjustment to this new world (and this new cast of characters) was made even harder, because the circumstances...
- 3/11/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In this brave new world of "Star Wars" fandom, it's almost unfathomable that there exist elements within the various films, novels, comics, and TV shows that don't have some sort of backstory or origin point. While obviously this stems from the huge fanbase for "Star Wars" loving the fictional universe so much that they wish to study and know absolutely everything that's in it, this trend also originated out of an inherent idea popularized by creator George Lucas with the very first movie in the franchise back in 1977 -- the implication that we're seeing a small part of a larger world, and every planet, ship, and creature we see (whether in the foreground or background) has its own history and story.
It's a powerful implication, and one that's essential to constructing a wholly fictional universe. Yet, of course, it's mostly hogwash -- or at least it used to be. While...
It's a powerful implication, and one that's essential to constructing a wholly fictional universe. Yet, of course, it's mostly hogwash -- or at least it used to be. While...
- 3/9/2024
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
"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
Bender (John Dimaggio), the drunken alcoholic robot on Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" is fueled by alcohol. Indeed, if Bender doesn't have a cocktail once or twice a day, he begins to rust, his batteries begin to run down, and he behaves as if he's drunk. Of course, consuming too much booze also makes Bender behave like he's drunk, so it's a careful balance to ensure he's functional. If that seems unclear, don't worry. The characters on "Futurama" don't quite have a grasp of it either. When Bender claims to have seen a werewolf car (!), Fry (Billy West) responds by saying "You've been drinking too much, or too little. I forget how it works with you. Anyway, you haven't drunk exactly the right amount."
Early in the series, Bender had more of a "drunken" voice, with actor Dimaggio giving the character a slightly raspier effect as well as a slight,...
Early in the series, Bender had more of a "drunken" voice, with actor Dimaggio giving the character a slightly raspier effect as well as a slight,...
- 3/2/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The 2009 "Futurama" movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder" -- the show's fourth and final -- was, one might recall, supposed to the be definite end of the series. "Futurama" was notoriously canceled in 2004 thanks to flagging ratings, but gained new life through DVD sales. The series was initially resurrected in the form of four straight-to-video movies released in 2008 and 2009, a quartet that was intended to signal the franchise's farewell. Of course, when those four films also sold well, Comedy Central stepped in and resurrected the series for a second time. As of this writing, the show has been canceled and resurrected a third time. New episodes are currently on Hulu.
Of course, the makers of "Futurama" didn't know in 2009 that they would come back, leading them to give the finale of "Green Yonder" an appropriately epic feel. The story of "Green Yonder" deals with cosmic energies, extinction, and the mass...
Of course, the makers of "Futurama" didn't know in 2009 that they would come back, leading them to give the finale of "Green Yonder" an appropriately epic feel. The story of "Green Yonder" deals with cosmic energies, extinction, and the mass...
- 2/25/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The fourth "Futurama" movie, "Into the Wild Green Yonder," was released on DVD on February 24, 2009, and it was intended to be the final word on the series ... again. The initial run of "Futurama" ended in 2002 after encountering poor ratings. DVD sales of the show remained robust, however, and Fox agreed to make four straight-to-video "Futurama" movies as a way of resurrecting the series for what was essentially one final season. The four movies did better than expected, and Comedy Central picked up "Futurama" for a third run, starting in 2010. "Futurama" is the brain that wouldn't die.
But for a while, it looked like "Into the Wild Green Yonder" was going to be the last time audiences would ever see "Futurama," and the makers wanted the story to be appropriately epic. The story of "Green Yonder" involves a sudden cosmic surge of Chi, or life-giving energy, that spontaneously pulsates into the galaxy.
But for a while, it looked like "Into the Wild Green Yonder" was going to be the last time audiences would ever see "Futurama," and the makers wanted the story to be appropriately epic. The story of "Green Yonder" involves a sudden cosmic surge of Chi, or life-giving energy, that spontaneously pulsates into the galaxy.
- 2/23/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the "Family Guy" episode "Patriot Games", Peter (Seth MacFarlane) is enlisted to play for the New England Patriots after he charges through a crowd of people on his way to the bathroom at a high school reunion. Peter, the shallow egotist that he is, is soon fired for showboating, but at least he got to meet Tom Brady (himself). The plot continues into a snobs-vs.-slobs story wherein Peter becomes the coach for a British football team called the London Sillinannies.
Like every episode of "Family Guy," "Patriot Games" contains many, many asides, pop culture references, and throw-away gags presented without any context whatsoever. Case in point: early in the episode, two characters are watching the news on TV, and the announcer, having finished speaking about the main story of the night, announces "Coming up: America's hottest new curse word. Clemen!" Or maybe it's "kleeman." There is no explanation as to what "kleeman" means,...
Like every episode of "Family Guy," "Patriot Games" contains many, many asides, pop culture references, and throw-away gags presented without any context whatsoever. Case in point: early in the episode, two characters are watching the news on TV, and the announcer, having finished speaking about the main story of the night, announces "Coming up: America's hottest new curse word. Clemen!" Or maybe it's "kleeman." There is no explanation as to what "kleeman" means,...
- 2/22/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
One of the best (and silliest) qualities of "Futurama" is just how much the world of the future hasn't changed from the present. Yes, there are alcoholic robots and aliens all around, but the characters are always just so happening to deal with the same basic social issues of the audience's time, from global warming to corporate greed to bitcoin. History repeats itself, it seems, and according to "Futurama" it repeats itself in thousand-year cycles.
Case in point was the 2010 episode "Proposition Infinity," an episode that was clearly inspired by California's Proposition 8, in which California voters in the 2008 election voted to effectively ban gay marriage in the state. The controversial proposition is so infamous in part because of how quickly voters' views on gay marriage would change; if the proposition had been on the ballot just a year later, it's likely most Californians would've voted against it. If it had...
Case in point was the 2010 episode "Proposition Infinity," an episode that was clearly inspired by California's Proposition 8, in which California voters in the 2008 election voted to effectively ban gay marriage in the state. The controversial proposition is so infamous in part because of how quickly voters' views on gay marriage would change; if the proposition had been on the ballot just a year later, it's likely most Californians would've voted against it. If it had...
- 2/17/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Voice actor Billy West plays several of the lead characters on Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's 31st-century sitcom "Futurama." His voice for Fry, he has said, is essentially how he sounded when he was in his 20s. He also voices the elderly Professor Farnsworth, the incompetent lobster Dr. Zoidberg, the blow-hard Shatnerian space captain Zapp Brannigan, and the severed head of Richard Nixon. He's also played a wide variety of store clerks, alien slugs, terrifying robots, and North Pole elves in his tenure on "Futurama." There is nothing, it seems, he can't do.
It also takes a great deal of professionalism to be so silly. Voice actors, especially prolific ones, have to recall how dozens of characters sound in a split second, able to call up whatever voices a scene needs. In West's case, he likely has to have conversations with himself, using two or more unique voices in a single scene.
It also takes a great deal of professionalism to be so silly. Voice actors, especially prolific ones, have to recall how dozens of characters sound in a split second, able to call up whatever voices a scene needs. In West's case, he likely has to have conversations with himself, using two or more unique voices in a single scene.
- 2/15/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
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
On David X. Cohen and Matt Groening's 31st-century sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the world's citizens are hooked on a high-octane ultra-soap-opera called "All My Circuits," a long-running TV series starring a cast of mostly robots. The main character in "All My Circuits" is a tall, egocentric blowhard named Calculon who is constantly discovering evil twins, engaging in robotic infidelities, and discovering multiple personalities. In a strange metanarrative twist, the Calculon on "All My Circuits" is played by a robot ... that also happens to be named Calculon, and also happens to be an egocentric blowhard.
In reality, Calculon is played by veteran voice actor Maurice Lamarche, one of the best voice actors currently working. Maurice Lamarche plays Calculon with a bloviating confidence that only seems to infect famous actors. Calculon eventually reveals that he is many hundreds of years old, and changes his identity every few decades. In previous lives, he...
In reality, Calculon is played by veteran voice actor Maurice Lamarche, one of the best voice actors currently working. Maurice Lamarche plays Calculon with a bloviating confidence that only seems to infect famous actors. Calculon eventually reveals that he is many hundreds of years old, and changes his identity every few decades. In previous lives, he...
- 2/10/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
At the start of Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's 31st-century sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," the alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) sounded a little bit more like a drunken vagrant. He slurred his speech more and seemed less able to concentrate. As the show progressed, Bender became more self-assured, like the guy at the bar who — after his fourth shot of Jim Beam — is 100% confident he could thrash the bouncer. Bender became egotistical in addition to being a drunken criminal. On DVD commentary tracks, the makers of "Futurama" have said that Bender, in being a robot, allowed them more explicit depictions of violence and vice; a human character cannot drink a gallon of rotgut whiskey and smoke four cigars simultaneously, but a robot can. The Fox censors are weird.
Prior to "Futurama," Dimaggio only had a few credits to his name. His first gig was playing ancillary voices in...
Prior to "Futurama," Dimaggio only had a few credits to his name. His first gig was playing ancillary voices in...
- 2/9/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Voice actor Maurice Lamarche is one of the preeminent elder statesmen of his craft. He started his career in stand up, finding he was a talented mimic, moving into animation in 1980. He appeared in hit shows like "Inspector Gadget" and "Transformers," really hitting his stride in 1985 playing Ego Spengler in "The Real Ghostbusters." He cycled through the KidsWB canon aggressively in the late '80s and early '90s, appearing in "Taz-Mania," "Batman: The Animated Series," "Tiny Toon Adventures," "Freakazoid!," and "Animaniacs" wherein he employed his spot-on Orson Welles impersonation to voice the power-hungry mouse the Brain. His largest sampling of voice caricatures came from his work on the 1994 series "The Critic," where he voiced celebrities ranging from William Shatner to Elizabeth Taylor (but only when she was belching).
In 1999, Lamarche became one of the regulars on Mat Groening's and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" where he played Kif,...
In 1999, Lamarche became one of the regulars on Mat Groening's and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" where he played Kif,...
- 2/4/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Who doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg? Everyone! Everyone doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg. At least that's one of the running gags of "Futurama," the undying sci-fi sitcom created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Dr. Zoidberg, voiced by Billy West, is a pathetic dumpster-dwelling lobster monster whose body is lousy with parasites and who sprays his peers with ink when startled. He's grievously awkward and doesn't have any friends. What's more, he's a terrible doctor, completely baffled by the anatomy of the mammals he works with; his diagnoses tend to be for fish-related ailments like fungi.
Naturally, the "Futurama" writers love writing Zoidberg scenes. It's actually astonishing how much humor the "Futurama" writing staff has been able to mine from having a big lobster on the show. There are more gags and jokes about sea life than one might think. For example, when Zoidberg vomits, he ejects liquid from both his...
Naturally, the "Futurama" writers love writing Zoidberg scenes. It's actually astonishing how much humor the "Futurama" writing staff has been able to mine from having a big lobster on the show. There are more gags and jokes about sea life than one might think. For example, when Zoidberg vomits, he ejects liquid from both his...
- 2/4/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The premise of David X. Cohen and Matt Groening's "Futurama" is pretty simple. On New Year's Eve in the year 1999, a feckless and directionless pizza delivery boy named Fry (Billy West) accidentally falls into a cryogenic freezing tube and remains suspended for a thousand years. He awakens just as the world rings in the year 3000, and eventually takes a job working for a distant nephew named Professor Farnsworth (West), who owns a space-bound delivery company of his own. He also develops a crush on an impatient cyclops named Leela (Katey Sagal). The world of the year 3000 is replete with sci-fi trappings familiar to any fan of the genre; there are robots, aliens, space travel, and ineffable technologies.
The central joke of "Futurama" is that, despite all of humanity's advancements, human beings are still dumb and petty and concerned with their selfish creature comforts and base impulses. Fry may have been whisked into the future,...
The central joke of "Futurama" is that, despite all of humanity's advancements, human beings are still dumb and petty and concerned with their selfish creature comforts and base impulses. Fry may have been whisked into the future,...
- 2/3/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When "Futurama" debuted in 1999, smartphones weren't yet ubiquitous. There were some computer-like phones on the market, of course — tech-savvy nerds might recall Ibm's Simon from 1994 — but the first wireless internet-ready phones weren't put on the mass market until 2001. The first iPhone wasn't introduced until 2007, and by then, "Futurama" had already been canceled for the first time. As such, when one sees the 31st-century characters on "Futurama" using cell phones, they are extrapolated from the cellular technologies of the present. It wouldn't be until the 2011 "Attack of the Killer App" that modern iPhone technology would be addressed on "Futurama," and the showrunners depicted a world where eyePhones were implanted directly into the users' eyeballs.
During the writing of the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", the most popular cell phone on the market was the Nokia 3310. Some people may have also still had their old Motorola StarTACs, released in 1996. Cell...
During the writing of the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", the most popular cell phone on the market was the Nokia 3310. Some people may have also still had their old Motorola StarTACs, released in 1996. Cell...
- 2/2/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Although "Futurama" is filled with some of the best science and math jokes in animated comedy, it is still very much a show where humor trumps realism. "Futurama" expects its audience to understand the time travel rule that accidentally killing a young version of your grandfather will create a paradox, only to resolve the paradox with the nonsensical (but very funny) punchline of Fry accidentally becoming his grandfather, which doesn't quite make sense from a genetic point of view. It similarly expects its audience to understand how compound interest works for a joke about Fry's 93 cents in 1999 turning into $4.3 billion in 2999, yet conveniently sidesteps any questions about inflation.
This all comes down to a central rule in the show's writers' room, one that was apparently written on a whiteboard: "Science Shall Not Overrule Comedy." As co-creator David X. Cohen explained in a 2013 interview, "We wanted as much as possible to...
This all comes down to a central rule in the show's writers' room, one that was apparently written on a whiteboard: "Science Shall Not Overrule Comedy." As co-creator David X. Cohen explained in a 2013 interview, "We wanted as much as possible to...
- 1/28/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
In the case of most animated movies and TV shows, the voice actors are recorded separately and at different times. An actor can come to the studio based on their own schedule, record their own lines without any of their co-stars in the building, and "bank" an episode before the animation begins. Typically, behind-the-scenes footage of voice actors plying their craft tends to feature them alone in a soundproof booth.
There are, of course, plenty of exceptions to the rule. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill famously acted out their scenes together for "Batman: The Animated Series," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" saw the four titular turtle teens all recording together. One can see the advantages and disadvantages of both individual and group recordings right away. The former can make for a streamlined animation process that can bend to the schedule of an actor, while the latter can produce...
There are, of course, plenty of exceptions to the rule. Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill famously acted out their scenes together for "Batman: The Animated Series," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" saw the four titular turtle teens all recording together. One can see the advantages and disadvantages of both individual and group recordings right away. The former can make for a streamlined animation process that can bend to the schedule of an actor, while the latter can produce...
- 1/28/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
When Matt Groening and David X. Cohen's animated sci-fi comedy "Futurama" began to be developed in the late 1990s, it was not treated with the respect one might expect for a follow-up to "The Simpsons." Where Groening's previous cartoon dealt in the classic sitcom setup of a dysfunctional family, "Futurama" was a harder sell, set in the year 3000 but in a world that largely looked like the late '90s. Only with aliens and spaceships.
Fox, the channel on which the show premiered, should have been a good home. After all, "The Simpsons" was an incredible success, at that point entering its 10th year on the network. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels had produced the excellent "King of the Hill" for Fox, giving the channel another animated sitcom hit. Seth McFarlane's "Family Guy" was in development around the same time. All of these shows would become part of Fox's...
Fox, the channel on which the show premiered, should have been a good home. After all, "The Simpsons" was an incredible success, at that point entering its 10th year on the network. Mike Judge and Greg Daniels had produced the excellent "King of the Hill" for Fox, giving the channel another animated sitcom hit. Seth McFarlane's "Family Guy" was in development around the same time. All of these shows would become part of Fox's...
- 1/27/2024
- by Anthony Crislip
- Slash Film
In the "Futurama" episode "Attack of the Killer App", the Planet Express crew becomes rabidly enamored of a new piece of consumer electronics, the eyePhone, an eyeball-mounted social media browsing widget released by the evil MomCorp. The episode's writer, Patric Verrone, was careful to lampoon the fervor that accompanied Apple's iPhones in real life, pointing out that any scarcity is manufactured, and that consumers tend to be a little too cavalier with the object's inexplicably high price. A store employee tells Fry (Billy West) that the eyePhone costs $500, and also that "you have no choice of carrier, the battery can't hold a charge, and the reception isn't very —" Fry interrupts him by screaming "Shut up and take my money!"
That line of dialogue has become a well-worn meme across the barren alkali flats of the internet. Whenever a new film is announced, or a new product is introduced into the market,...
That line of dialogue has become a well-worn meme across the barren alkali flats of the internet. Whenever a new film is announced, or a new product is introduced into the market,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The fourth of four "Futurama" movies, "Into the Wild Green Yonder," came out on DVD in 2009, and it was assumed to be the final word on the series. "Futurama" would eventually return in the ensuing years, but for the moment, it looked like "Green Yonder" was the final appearance of the beloved sci-fi series. As such, the story was appropriately sprawling, involving an evil, unknowable, galaxy-wide force of evil in the universe -- the Dark Ones -- and their attempt to snuff out a mysterious new planet that just appeared out in space. The planet will later be revealed to be the egg of an Encyclopod, an outsize space-faring creature that catalogs and stores the DNA of all species in the galaxy.
At the end of "Yonder," Leo Wong (Billy West) aims to obliterate the violet dwarf star that hosts the Ecyclopod planet, as he wishes to build a galaxy-wide golf course.
At the end of "Yonder," Leo Wong (Billy West) aims to obliterate the violet dwarf star that hosts the Ecyclopod planet, as he wishes to build a galaxy-wide golf course.
- 1/15/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"Space Pilot 3000," the first episode of Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's sci-fi sitcom "Futurama," sees the bumbling, directionless Fry (Billy West) delivering a pizza to a cryogenics laboratory on New Year's Eve, 1999. While at the facility, Fry notices that his delivery is for someone named "I.C. Wiener," and he figures he has been pranked. As the world counts down to the year 2000 outside, Fry eats the pizza and cracks open a beer in solitude, toasting another lousy millennium. He then falls backward in a chair and tumbles into an open cryogenics pod. It slams shut and automatically activates. Fry remains frozen for 1,000 years.
Throughout "Futurama," the characters would periodically return to the cryogenics lab where Fry was frozen to find others from Fry's time being freshly resurrected (e.g. Pauly Shore). The cryogenic freeing was a handy way to get 20th-century characters into the year 3000 without...
Throughout "Futurama," the characters would periodically return to the cryogenics lab where Fry was frozen to find others from Fry's time being freshly resurrected (e.g. Pauly Shore). The cryogenic freeing was a handy way to get 20th-century characters into the year 3000 without...
- 1/14/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
By the estimation of "Futurama," Christmas will be celebrated very differently in the early 30th century. For one, festive, decorated fir trees will be replaced with palm trees. Also, the spelling of "Christmas" will officially evolve into "Xmas." Most importantly, Xmas will see the release of a real-life robot Santa Claus, built many years ago to gauge the niceness and naughtiness of the world's children and distribute worldwide gifts accordingly. Sadly, Robot Santa's programming had a glitch, and he now gauges everyone to be naughty, a sin punishable by death. Jolly Old St. Nick now takes to the skies on Xmas armed with missiles and bombs, merrily murdering anyone he sees on the streets. Fearful citizens huddle inside shielded beneath anti-Santa armor, a standard feature of most 30th-century buildings.
This is a wonderfully irreverent concept that blends Christmas imagery with science fiction in a blithe and silly fashion. In his...
This is a wonderfully irreverent concept that blends Christmas imagery with science fiction in a blithe and silly fashion. In his...
- 1/14/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the U.S.S. Enterprise's communications officer on "Star Trek," rarely got episodes of her own. Audiences learned about Uhura through her interactions with the other members of the crew, remaining professional on the bridge, and keeping her personal life personal. It wouldn't be until the "Star Trek: The Animated Series" episode "The Lorelei Signal" that Uhura would take command of the Enterprise and solve the crisis of the week. Uhura remained the communications officer on the Enterprise through the events of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" in 1991. On "Star Trek: Picard," it was mentioned that Uhura had become the captain of a ship called the U.S.S. Leondegrance and made first contact with hundreds of new species.
Fun trivia: King Leondegrance was Guinivere's father in Arthurian myth. In John Boorman's 1981 Arthurian film "Excalibur," King Leondegrance was played by future "Star Trek" luminary and Picard himself,...
Fun trivia: King Leondegrance was Guinivere's father in Arthurian myth. In John Boorman's 1981 Arthurian film "Excalibur," King Leondegrance was played by future "Star Trek" luminary and Picard himself,...
- 1/2/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
There were plenty of obstacles to bringing "Futurama" back for season 11, as there always are when a show's been off the air for nearly a decade. First, there was the pay dispute between Hulu and John Dimaggio, and then there was the fact that all the voice actors have (of course) aged 10 years since their last appearance. Although no cast member on "Futurama" has struggled as much as some of the performers on modern "Simpsons," you can still hear the strain on Billy West's characters in particular. Fry's voice is slower and deeper than it used to be, as is Professor Farnsworth's. It's not that bad if you haven't watched any older episodes recently before starting the revival, but the difference is jarring when you finish a new episode and then return to a scene in the pilot.
Lauren Tom, who voices the loveable Martian physicist Amy, had...
Lauren Tom, who voices the loveable Martian physicist Amy, had...
- 1/1/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Prior to the debut of "Futurama" in 1999, preeminent voice actor Billy West was already a towering presence in his field. He had previously played Doug Funnie in the hit Nickelodeon series "Doug," in addition to voicing the Larry Fine-like Stimpson J. Cat on "The Ren & Stimpy Show" opposite show creator John Kricfalusi. When Kricfalusi was fired for missing deadlines, West took over the role, playing both leads for the bulk of the series. West also played Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in the 1996 oddity "Space Jam" and has voiced the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee and the Red M&m in myriad TV commercials.
In the normal course of seeking more work, sometime in the late '90s, West found himself in front of the casting directors for Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's new sci-fi sitcom. West, of course, would be cast in multiple roles for "Futurama,...
In the normal course of seeking more work, sometime in the late '90s, West found himself in front of the casting directors for Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's new sci-fi sitcom. West, of course, would be cast in multiple roles for "Futurama,...
- 12/26/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The future of "Futurama" is secured, thanks to Hulu. The streaming service revived the series for the second time (following in Comedy Central's footsteps), ordering 20 new episodes following the escapades of everyone's favorite intergalactic delivery crew. Ten of those episodes debuted as a revival season (season 11 by broadcast order) earlier in 2023. Following that, the series has been renewed for two additional seasons and there's even been talk of a new "Futurama" movie.
Before getting ahead of yourselves though, there's the back half of the initial 20 episodes that Hulu ordered. This is either season 12 or season 11 part two, depending on if you go by production or broadcast order — we'll stick with the latter for now. No official release date has been given yet, but these ten new episodes are expected to arrive in 2024.
At New York Comic-Con 2023, the "Futurama" production team partook in a roundtable and teased the upcoming episodes...
Before getting ahead of yourselves though, there's the back half of the initial 20 episodes that Hulu ordered. This is either season 12 or season 11 part two, depending on if you go by production or broadcast order — we'll stick with the latter for now. No official release date has been given yet, but these ten new episodes are expected to arrive in 2024.
At New York Comic-Con 2023, the "Futurama" production team partook in a roundtable and teased the upcoming episodes...
- 12/25/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Time is a tricky adversary in "Futurama." It's been 24 years since the show first debuted in 1999, but in the latest season, available on Hulu, the characters clearly haven't aged 24 years. But, unlike on "The Simpsons," the characters have aged at least a little bit. Bart Simpson has been 10 years old for 35 years. Fry and Leela (Billy West and Katey Sagal) seem to have grown together as a couple and both have matured ever so slightly, implying the passage of real time. In 24 years, they have aged maybe seven. Hilariously, the Professor (West) seems to have continued aging apace, remaining the doddering old fool he always was. The alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) hasn't really grown up, but he has changed over the years, remaining criminal but growing a sense of self-pity. Amy (Lauren Tom) has graduated from college, gotten married, and has three newt-like children with her invertebrate husband Kif (Maurice Lamarche).
Throughout the show,...
Throughout the show,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Fans of "Futurama" might have noticed the Number 9 Man early on. He was a bald man with mauve skin and a grey beard wearing a long white nightshirt with the number 9 emblazoned on it. He could be seen in backgrounds and crowd scenes, yet another unusual feature in the bizarro, alien-riddled "Futurama" landscape. His number 9 was a mystery, and the character didn't have any lines or significant part to play until the 2009 "Futurama" movie "Into the Wild Green Yonder." Sci-fi fans might have posited (as this author did) that the Number 9 Man was a reference to the classic 1967 sci-fi series "The Prisoner," wherein Patrick McGoohan plays an ex-spy who was unexpectedly imprisoned in a bizarre carnival town and rechristened Number 6.
While "Futurama" co-creators David X. Cohen and Matt Groening would likely be flattered by the comparison to "The Prisoner" -- they are undoubtedly fans -- it seems that the Number...
While "Futurama" co-creators David X. Cohen and Matt Groening would likely be flattered by the comparison to "The Prisoner" -- they are undoubtedly fans -- it seems that the Number...
- 12/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"Futurama" may be set in the 31st century, but a lot of its humor relies on the pop culture of the 20th and 21st. As early as episode 10, "A Flight to Remember" (the season 2 premiere going by broadcast order), "Futurama" was parodying contemporary movies: in this case, "Titanic," then the highest-grossing film of all time. The episode's title comes from another movie about the 1912 ship sinking, "A Night to Remember."
The Planet Express crew takes a vacation on the Titanic; this one is a spaceship rather than an ocean cruiser. On board, Bender romances the Countess de la Roca, a robot who looks suspiciously like Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet). Amy's parents are also on the cruise, while Zapp Brannigan is the ship's captain. So, both Amy and Leela rope Fry into pretending to be their respective boyfriend to get the elder Wongs and Zapp, respectively, off their backs (it...
The Planet Express crew takes a vacation on the Titanic; this one is a spaceship rather than an ocean cruiser. On board, Bender romances the Countess de la Roca, a robot who looks suspiciously like Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet). Amy's parents are also on the cruise, while Zapp Brannigan is the ship's captain. So, both Amy and Leela rope Fry into pretending to be their respective boyfriend to get the elder Wongs and Zapp, respectively, off their backs (it...
- 12/10/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
In case it needed reiteration, David X. Cohen -- writer on "The Simpsons" and co-creator of "Futurama" -- is a big, big nerd. He has a B.A. in Physics from Harvard and an M.S. in Computer Science from Uc Berkeley. Additionally, he clearly loves jokes about math, science, and technology, and savvy, well-educated viewers of "Futurama" will likely understand at least a handful of the show's many mathematics jokes laid out in plain view. I can think of no other sitcoms, for instance, that feature an extraterrestrial Harlem Globtrotter referring to the 19th-century Polish mathematician Józef Hoene-Wrońskye.
Cohen began his career writing for animated programs back in 1992 when he started penning scripts for Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head." Yes, it takes a lot of intelligence to write dumb jokes. The following year, Cohen started writing for "The Simpsons" and would eventually work on 14 separate episodes, including five...
Cohen began his career writing for animated programs back in 1992 when he started penning scripts for Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head." Yes, it takes a lot of intelligence to write dumb jokes. The following year, Cohen started writing for "The Simpsons" and would eventually work on 14 separate episodes, including five...
- 12/9/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Bender Bending Rodrigeuz (John Dimaggio) is the most irreverent "Futurama" character by far, which makes the 2002 episode "Godfellas" such a compelling character piece.
At the episode's beginning, Bender is taking a nap in the Planet Express Ship's torpedo tube; during a battle with Space Pirates, he's shot into the void at light speed. Drifting through the cosmos alone, he's eventually hit by an asteroid home to diminutive "Shrimpkins." The aliens settle on his body and worship him as a god — he tries both an interventionist and abstaining approach to helping his subjects, but neither works. Soon, the faithful and atheistic Shrimpkins wipe each other out in a nuclear war.
Bender, alone again, comes across an omnipotent spiral nebula that communicates in binary code — Bender speculates this eternal entity may be God himself. They exchange notes on Godhood ("You [Bender] were doing well until everyone died") before "God" sends Bender back to...
At the episode's beginning, Bender is taking a nap in the Planet Express Ship's torpedo tube; during a battle with Space Pirates, he's shot into the void at light speed. Drifting through the cosmos alone, he's eventually hit by an asteroid home to diminutive "Shrimpkins." The aliens settle on his body and worship him as a god — he tries both an interventionist and abstaining approach to helping his subjects, but neither works. Soon, the faithful and atheistic Shrimpkins wipe each other out in a nuclear war.
Bender, alone again, comes across an omnipotent spiral nebula that communicates in binary code — Bender speculates this eternal entity may be God himself. They exchange notes on Godhood ("You [Bender] were doing well until everyone died") before "God" sends Bender back to...
- 12/4/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
In the "Futurama" episode "The Prisoner of Benda," Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) invents a body-swapping device that trades the consciousnesses of two users. He, being a very, very old man, would like to occupy the youthful, more active body of his employee, Amy Wong (Lauren Tom). Amy, meanwhile, longs to overeat as she once did as a child, and the Professor's bony body would allow her to indulge in her appetite. They swap bodies, but only after doing so realize that the machine doesn't allow them to swap back. A third body would allow Amy to return to her body, but then the Professor and the third party would be swapped. It was all very complicated.
Eventually, Fry (West) and Leela (Katey Sagal) are having romantic dates in the bodies of Dr. Zoidberg (West) and the Professor, and the Professor is performing in an Eastern European circus in Bender's body.
Eventually, Fry (West) and Leela (Katey Sagal) are having romantic dates in the bodies of Dr. Zoidberg (West) and the Professor, and the Professor is performing in an Eastern European circus in Bender's body.
- 12/4/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Once per season, the makers of "Futurama" like to tinker with their formula by presenting speculative anthology-style episodes wherein they can tell stories that are even wilder than usual. The second edition of this format was entitled "Anthology of Interest II" and aired on January 6, 2002. The wraparound device for "Interest II" was that the Professor (Billy West) invented a TV-like device called the What-If Machine which could present short videos of whatever speculative question one thought to ask it.
Fry (West), being something of a shiftless layabout, announces that he's only ever been proficient at old-school video games, and asks the What-If Machine what life would be like were it to adhere to the rules of said video games. He and the rest of the "Futurama" characters find themselves in a world where diplomatic talks between Earth and the planet Nindenduu 64 have broken down, causing Donkey Kong to throw a...
Fry (West), being something of a shiftless layabout, announces that he's only ever been proficient at old-school video games, and asks the What-If Machine what life would be like were it to adhere to the rules of said video games. He and the rest of the "Futurama" characters find themselves in a world where diplomatic talks between Earth and the planet Nindenduu 64 have broken down, causing Donkey Kong to throw a...
- 12/3/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
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A big issue with most animated shows is that they take a long time to make, so topical humor is inherently risky. "Futurama" has learned this the hard way lately in its new season on Hulu, where it centered nearly half of its episodes poking fun at social issues of 2021-2022, most of which had felt played out by the time the season actually aired in 2023. That Bitcoin episode might've been a classic if it had come out two years ago, but now? Our patience has run thin on the subject.
The 2008 film "Bender's Game," which is split into four parts on Hulu and listed in season 6, almost had a similar issue. The script originally had a joke involving the American dollar, only for a certain economic crisis to quickly age the joke. As co-creator David X. Cohen explained in the behind-the-scenes commentary,...
A big issue with most animated shows is that they take a long time to make, so topical humor is inherently risky. "Futurama" has learned this the hard way lately in its new season on Hulu, where it centered nearly half of its episodes poking fun at social issues of 2021-2022, most of which had felt played out by the time the season actually aired in 2023. That Bitcoin episode might've been a classic if it had come out two years ago, but now? Our patience has run thin on the subject.
The 2008 film "Bender's Game," which is split into four parts on Hulu and listed in season 6, almost had a similar issue. The script originally had a joke involving the American dollar, only for a certain economic crisis to quickly age the joke. As co-creator David X. Cohen explained in the behind-the-scenes commentary,...
- 11/26/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
The plot of the 2008 "Futurama" movie "Bender's Game" is massively complicated. When the alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) tries playing "Dungeons & Dragons" for the first time, his imagination gets a little carried away and he, like Don Quixote, begins to believe that he is actually a knight errant named Titanius Anglesmith. In a fit of fantasy, Bender scoops fistfuls of dark matter into his abdominal cavity. In the world of "Futurama," dark matter is actually a solid substance pooped out by an alien species called Nibblonians, of which Nibbler (Frank Welker), Leela's (Katey Sagal) pet, is a notable leader. Dark matter is used as starship fuel.
The conversion of dark matter into starship fuel was a process discovered by the Professor (Billy West) many years before, and the process produced a pair of (essentially) magical crystals. The Professor has one of said crystals among his possessions. When the two crystals are brought together,...
The conversion of dark matter into starship fuel was a process discovered by the Professor (Billy West) many years before, and the process produced a pair of (essentially) magical crystals. The Professor has one of said crystals among his possessions. When the two crystals are brought together,...
- 11/18/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the very first episode of "Futurama," Professor Hubert Farnsworth (Billy West) a doddering old relic of the scientific intelligentsia and mad scientist extraordinaire, was about 149 years old. It would later be revealed (in 2000's "A Clone of My Own") that he had lied about his age and that he was actually 159 years old. Then, thanks to a mystical time-acceleration whirlpool on a distant planet, as seen in the 2003 episode "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles," the Professor would age forward even further. At last count, the character was hovering somewhere around 175.
The Professor is rarely seen in anything other than a lab coat and slippers. He also always wears incredibly thick glasses that obscure his eyeballs. The Professor's eyes have never been seen on "Futurama." When Mom (Tress MacNeille) removes his glasses before a moment of intimacy in the 2000 episode "Mother's Day," he is only seen from behind. She remarks that...
The Professor is rarely seen in anything other than a lab coat and slippers. He also always wears incredibly thick glasses that obscure his eyeballs. The Professor's eyes have never been seen on "Futurama." When Mom (Tress MacNeille) removes his glasses before a moment of intimacy in the 2000 episode "Mother's Day," he is only seen from behind. She remarks that...
- 11/13/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
It took a lot of writerly sci-fi calisthenics to get there, but the events of the 2008 "Futurama" movie "Bender's Game" take place largely in a Gygaxian world of wizards, knights, centaurs, and dragons. There are no hobbits, but hobos and rabbits are doing what they can to redress their absence.
It seems that the alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) was built without an imagination, a grievous deficiency indeed when he is asked to play "Dungeons & Dragons" with his 12-year-old friends Cubert (Kath Soucie) and Dwight (Bumper Robinson). Bender eventually comes around and invents a character named Titanius Anglesmith, Fancyman of Cornwood.
Sadly, playing D&d forces Bender's newly discovered imagination into overdrive, and he soon believes that he is Titanius Anglesmith. Like Don Quixote before him, Bender now sees himself as a brave knight errant, tilting at the high-tech windmills of the 31st century. He will eventually be committed...
It seems that the alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) was built without an imagination, a grievous deficiency indeed when he is asked to play "Dungeons & Dragons" with his 12-year-old friends Cubert (Kath Soucie) and Dwight (Bumper Robinson). Bender eventually comes around and invents a character named Titanius Anglesmith, Fancyman of Cornwood.
Sadly, playing D&d forces Bender's newly discovered imagination into overdrive, and he soon believes that he is Titanius Anglesmith. Like Don Quixote before him, Bender now sees himself as a brave knight errant, tilting at the high-tech windmills of the 31st century. He will eventually be committed...
- 11/13/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Even with a lascivious, rapacious character like Zapp Brannigan, things can be taken too far.
In Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's "Futurama," Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is the captain of an outsized warship called the Nimbus, and works for an organization called the Democratic Order of Planets, or Doop. Brannigan is a vain, idiotic blowhard who treats his crew like trash and clumsily flirts with any woman within spitting distance. He often touts his sexual prowess, even though he is notoriously bad at sex. He loves his thigh-revealing velour uniform, murders alien invaders without considering the consequences, and calls his quarters "the love-nasium." He can't pronounce the word "champagne" correctly. Zapp is a terrible person.
That, of course, is the joke. In interviews, actor Billy West has said that Zapp Brannigan is what would happen if actor William Shatner was in charge of the starship Enterprise rather than Captain Kirk,...
In Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's "Futurama," Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is the captain of an outsized warship called the Nimbus, and works for an organization called the Democratic Order of Planets, or Doop. Brannigan is a vain, idiotic blowhard who treats his crew like trash and clumsily flirts with any woman within spitting distance. He often touts his sexual prowess, even though he is notoriously bad at sex. He loves his thigh-revealing velour uniform, murders alien invaders without considering the consequences, and calls his quarters "the love-nasium." He can't pronounce the word "champagne" correctly. Zapp is a terrible person.
That, of course, is the joke. In interviews, actor Billy West has said that Zapp Brannigan is what would happen if actor William Shatner was in charge of the starship Enterprise rather than Captain Kirk,...
- 11/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In the 31st century of Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's "Futurama," Christmas has evolved. Instead of fir trees, for instance, people decorate palm trees. Gift exchanges are still common, but families don't merely gather together to enjoy the warmth of the holiday season. They gather together because a rogue robotic Santa Claus, judging the entire world to be "naughty," annually flies around the Earth murdering anyone outdoors with guns and missiles. Families gather out of fear. Robot Santa was initially played by John Goodman, but the role was taken over by John Dimaggio after his first appearance.
Eventually joining Robot Santa in his holiday shenanigans was the Kwanzaa-Bot played by late rapper Coolio, and, with the release of "Bender's Big Score" in 2007, the Chanukah Zombie played by Mark Hamill. The machinations of the film's plot had all of Earth's denizens stranded at the North Pole of Neptune,...
Eventually joining Robot Santa in his holiday shenanigans was the Kwanzaa-Bot played by late rapper Coolio, and, with the release of "Bender's Big Score" in 2007, the Chanukah Zombie played by Mark Hamill. The machinations of the film's plot had all of Earth's denizens stranded at the North Pole of Neptune,...
- 11/4/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The central joke surrounding Dr. Zoidberg (Billy West) on the sci-fi sitcom "Futurama" was established early on. Set in the early years of the 31st century, "Futurama" features a rogue's gallery of aliens, robots, mutants, and talking severed heads living alongside its relatively recognizable human characters. Zoidberg is a bipedal lobster-like alien who regularly issues drugs and surgically slices into the employees of Planet Express. In some of Zoidberg's first scenes, way back in 1999, he can be heard saying things like "Now open your mouth and let's take a look at that brain" or diagnosing his human patients with strange, fish-sounding diseases like fin fungus. He can sever and reattach limbs without much issue, although he doesn't always put them in the right place.
The gag, of course, is that he's a bad doctor. Being a space alien — specifically a Decapodian — Zoidberg doesn't seem able to grasp the biology of the mammals he works with.
The gag, of course, is that he's a bad doctor. Being a space alien — specifically a Decapodian — Zoidberg doesn't seem able to grasp the biology of the mammals he works with.
- 11/4/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
There are more adventures of Phil, Leela, and Bender in our future. Hulu has announced the Futurama series has been renewed for seasons 13 and 14 and a total of 20 episodes.
A sci-fi animated comedy series, the Futurama TV show was created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen. The voice cast includes John Dimaggio, Katey Sagal, Billy West, Maurice Lamarche, Phil Lamarr, Tress MacNeille, Lauren Tom, and Dave Herman. The story revolves around Philip J. Fry (West), a New York City pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself in 1999 and gets defrosted in the year 3000. He befriends hard-drinking robot Bender (Dimaggio) and falls in love with cyclops Leela (Sagal). The trio finds work at the Planet Express Delivery Company, founded by Fry's doddering descendant, Professor Hubert Farnsworth (West). Together...
A sci-fi animated comedy series, the Futurama TV show was created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen. The voice cast includes John Dimaggio, Katey Sagal, Billy West, Maurice Lamarche, Phil Lamarr, Tress MacNeille, Lauren Tom, and Dave Herman. The story revolves around Philip J. Fry (West), a New York City pizza delivery boy who accidentally freezes himself in 1999 and gets defrosted in the year 3000. He befriends hard-drinking robot Bender (Dimaggio) and falls in love with cyclops Leela (Sagal). The trio finds work at the Planet Express Delivery Company, founded by Fry's doddering descendant, Professor Hubert Farnsworth (West). Together...
- 11/3/2023
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
A scene from ‘Futurama’ season 11 (Photo by: Matt Groening/Hulu)
Futurama won’t be wrapping up anytime soon. The popular animated series returned after a 10-year break with season 11, and season 12 is targeting a 2024 premiere. Ahead of season 12’s debut, Hulu has officially renewed Futurama for seasons 13 and 14.
Season 11, which premiered on July 24, 2023, features the voices of John Dimaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice Lamarche, Lauren Tom, Phil Lamarr, and David Herman. Series creator Matt Groening executive produces along with David X. Cohen, Ken Keeler, and Claudia Katz.
Hulu’s offers this description of the animated show’s 10-episode 11th season:
“After a brief ten-year hiatus, Futurama has sprung triumphantly from the cryogenic tube, its full original cast and satirical spirit intact. The ten all-new episodes of season eleven have something for everyone. New viewers will be able to pick up the series from here, while long-time fans...
Futurama won’t be wrapping up anytime soon. The popular animated series returned after a 10-year break with season 11, and season 12 is targeting a 2024 premiere. Ahead of season 12’s debut, Hulu has officially renewed Futurama for seasons 13 and 14.
Season 11, which premiered on July 24, 2023, features the voices of John Dimaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice Lamarche, Lauren Tom, Phil Lamarr, and David Herman. Series creator Matt Groening executive produces along with David X. Cohen, Ken Keeler, and Claudia Katz.
Hulu’s offers this description of the animated show’s 10-episode 11th season:
“After a brief ten-year hiatus, Futurama has sprung triumphantly from the cryogenic tube, its full original cast and satirical spirit intact. The ten all-new episodes of season eleven have something for everyone. New viewers will be able to pick up the series from here, while long-time fans...
- 11/2/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
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