Direct to DVD Futurama Movie

An anonymous reader writes "In a recent video blog Billy West mentions that a Futurama movie is in production!" From the video: "Good news everyone...there's gonna be a Futurama movie, coming out on DVD, I think we're gonna start doing it soon. There were talks and I guess they're really happy about moving forward with it cuz the DVDs of Futurama sold really well, and then with a possibility of a second one." Already mentioned as a possibility here on Slashdot. He also talks extensively of his new puppet-based project 'Billy Bastard', which will be based on his drunken shenanigans as a band member when he was younger.

Comments

Slang

[michaelhood]

about moving forward with it cuz the

omgwtfbbq will catch on next.. ::crosses fingers::

Re:Slang

[Anonymous Coward]

Screw you guys, I'm going to do my own futurama movie, with Blackjack! And Hookers!

Re:Slang

[byolinux]

Already caught on - it's the quality of a MattX encoded file. Mm 1 byte files.

Re:Slang

[cuerty]

In fact, forget about the movie!

Re:Slang

[booch]

In fact, forget about the movie and the blackjack!

Budget?

[strider44]

I haven't seen the blog but is there any idea as to how big the budget will be for this? Will all the voice actors be returning and will the animation be as complex as in the TV show?

I'm not sure I want a futurama movie in the vein of Starship Troopers 2.

Re:Budget?

[pmj]

Agreed, part of what I like so much about Futurama is its high(er) quality animation compared to just about any other animated show out there right now. That it didn't outlive The Simpsons is a terrible shame.

Re:Budget?

[oldwolf13]

offtopic here, and maybe every knows about it but..

have you seen this video? http://www.jcbsong.co.uk/

Requires flash (yuck), and you have to navigate to either "watch video" or "download video", but it's some of the coolest looking traditional animation I have seen.

Cute little tune too.

Re:Budget?

[lxt]

The actual cost per episode of Futurama (and The Simpsons) was/is around $1 million for around 22 minutes of animation...

Re:Budget?

[fuzzix]

The actual cost per episode of Futurama (and The Simpsons) was/is around $1 million for around 22 minutes of animation...

Which is a crime really, given how unutterably cringeworthy The Simpsons has become. A million dollars for the wacky, wacky adventures of no longer just dumb, but crazy too, Homer Simpson + celebrity guest.

Time for the "When did they Jump the Shark?" debate?

Re:Budget?

[TrippTDF]

This season seems to be a little better than previous ones. I think the Simpsons have stepped up a little now that they have the beast that is Family Guy to compete against.

On a different note, Let's remember that $1 Mil an episode includes the outrageous amounts of money paid to the cast... at least, I hope it does.

Re:Budget?

[NanoGator]

"I haven't seen the blog but is there any idea as to how big the budget will be for this? "

Cohen talked about this a few years ago and he threw the number $10 million around. That is in no way indicative of what the actual budget would be (mainly because I think the implication was a theatrical release...) but you asked for 'an idea'. ;)

Wish I knew where I read that. It might have been in an old IGN.com article. He basically said that Futurama would be well suited as a movie because even though it's a high budget cartoon (sadly, high enough budget that it prevented it from being picked up by another network) that it was so effecient that it'd be a very cheap movie. This was about the time he threw the 10 mil figure out.

Because of this article I'm referring to, I'm not really surprised that this may actually be happening. Very very very happy about it, but not surprised.

Re:Budget?

[davidphogan74]

How are they competing with something in another time slot, on the same network as them?

Re:Budget?

[qbwiz]

Not as much as one in the same time slot, but if you only want to watch about half of an hour of television on Sunday, for whatever reason, you'd have to choose between them. They're competing for viewer time.

Re:Budget?

[haute_sauce]

I remember hearing that it wasnt the cost that prevented it from being picked up, it was Fox refusing to let it go, and possibly diluting the value of reruns and DVD sales

Re:Budget?

[TrippTDF]

It's not just a time slot issue, but more of a top animated comedy slot. The Simpsons has been top dog for years, and now they have someone with whom to compete against not for veiwership, but in terms of pure craftmanship.

Re:Budget?

[Dabido]

They already did the Starship Troopers thing - when they invaded that planet with the sentient balls. As long as the movie doesn't have bouncing of the seventh type - otherwise they can kiss my shiney metal ass.

Direct to DVD?

[node 3]

How about Direct to Download?

Futurama is an excellent candidate for a direct to download experiment. It's got geek appeal, has no network time slot, and is an established, legitimate show.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Atario]

Download may be ambitious for now. But, hell, I'd even be happy if they successfully pioneered the concept of the direct-to-DVD series. If we had had that just a few years ago, MST3K need never have died.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[HyperChicken]

Just because it has geek appeal doesn't mean it gets a pass on things that keep all shows from becoming (legally) downloadable.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Duncan3]

Everything is direct to download now. In fact, everything is to download weeks before it's to anything else, or even released.

Oh wait, you mean you didn't have the new Harry Potter PDF 3 weeks ago? Well not me of course, torrents are all blocked here.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[MoonFog]

It's easier to reach the core audience wouldn't you say? Not saying that there aren't obstacles, but if they are going to try making something downloadable a show were the audience knows technology well enough to actually make use of the opportunity would make more sense than releasing the movie version of "Days of our lives" or something.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Anonymous Coward]

Futurama is an excellent candidate for a direct to download experiment. It's got geek appeal, has no network time slot, and is an established, legitimate show.

Geeks can bite my shiny metal ass.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[HyperChicken]

It's easier to reach the core audience wouldn't you say?

Just because you can reach doesn't mean they'll come.
Just because they come doesn't you'll profit.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[MoonFog]

That's not what I said either, but there have been talks about providing movies for download (or maybe just Slashdot talk, but still) and so it would make more sense to provide a movie where the audience is more likely to make use of the service, which seems to be the point of the original poster as well.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[ne0n]

How about Direct to Download?

wow, they already granted your wish!
it's fantastic quality & the language is English, in case you're wondering..

Re:Direct to DVD?

[HyperChicken]

so it would make more sense to provide a movie where the audience is more likely to make use of the service

What kind of weird fantasy world do you live in? FOX isn't providing a service with Futurama. It's a product that is designed to make money. They'll do whatever they can to make the most money from it.

"Direct to download" isn't one of them.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Jarnis]

That 'new harry potter PDF' three weeks ago was a crappy fake made by some obsessive fan.

The real is of course out now, but it wasn't prior to release date (had it been, it would've been all over the news, and the paid congresscritters would already be drafting new laws to protect old ladies that make $30M+ in a day in book sales)

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Fusen]

the only one going round was a fake

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Velk]

"The real is of course out now, but it wasn't prior to release date"

It was actually, not a long time prior but still. I thought it was kind of a ballsy move after the pounding that the torrent sites got for Revenge of the Sith.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[leenoble_uk]

I can personally guarantee that following its successful release on DVD about 5 months will elapse before it will be broadcast on Fox/Sky/Highest Bidder's station.

This is a well rehearsed tactic in the UK. Coronation Street was the most famous example. ITV made a special one-off video only episode of the long running serial, just in time for Christmas. Then in February or March, they broadcast it on TV. They were sued and had to pay back lots of people who bought the video under the impression that it was the only way they could see it.

Now no-one would now be as stupid to claim that this will never be broadcast on TV. The way I see it all they're doing is swapping around the TV/DVD release dates. This will ensure greater sales of the DVD from devoted fans since none of them will have had the opportunity to see it on TV and record it for themselves (ahem) and then they can just broadcast it anyway and pick up the rest of the DVD sales from not so devoted punters.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Mandoric]

The Japanese have been doing it for about two decades, beginning with VHS. US translations of various of those have existed nearly as long.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[generic-man]

Just toss it into your Netflix queue and it will be downloaded to your TiVo as soon as it's available.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[Bios_Hakr]

This one has more seeds.

http://thepiratebay.org/details.php?id=3299963

But 13GiB is a *massive* download; even for bittorrent.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[mranchovy]

It's going to be a brand new experiment in video distribution......

It's a suppository.

Re:Direct to DVD?

[jasonmicron]

I'd even be happy if they successfully pioneered the concept of the direct-to-DVD series.

I am pretty sure that Family Guy is pioneering the "Direct-To-DVD" concept. Much more pull and a much bigger fanbase too.

9/27/2005 can't come soon enough!

Re:Direct to DVD?

[j-turkey]

What kind of weird fantasy world do you live in? FOX isn't providing a service with Futurama. It's a product that is designed to make money. They'll do whatever they can to make the most money from it.

Semantics...but I'll bite. Broadcast networks are service providers, of a kind. They provide service to their viewers, and they also provide service to their advertisers. Yes, they own content, which isn't a service -- but they also distribute that content, which is a service. Yes, they will do whatever they can to make money from the content that they own, and the service that they provide is free over the air. They own the hardware (or local affiliates do), and they license the airwaves. You watch the ads and they collect the revenue. In the end, how is it any different from other service models?

...or did I somehow completely miss the point? (it wouldn't be the first time)

Re:Direct to DVD?

[ConceptJunkie]

I am pretty sure that Family Guy is pioneering the "Direct-To-DVD" concept.

Yeah, plagiarizing Homer Simpson jokes at heretofore unprecedented efficiency.

Must be said.

[HyperChicken]

I'm walking on sunshine! WHOA-O-O!

Re:Must be said.

[cpt kangarooski]

And Scruffy plays it on the bagpipes at Fry's funeral in the fifth season episode 'The Sting.' IIRC, Amy comforts Leela by saying that Fry is walking on sunshine now.

Re:Must be said.

[HyperChicken]

And "War Is The H-Word".

Re:Must be said.

[October_30th]

HyperChicken (794660)

Excellent nick for this thread. Is that your regular nick or just something for Futurama threads?

Re:Must be said.

[HyperChicken]

This is my norm. I'm uncreative.

Re:Must be said.

[stupidfoo]

Most depressing ending to a cartoon, ever?

Just finished watching seasons 1-5 and that ending put me in a hell of a bad mood.

Re:Must be said.

[stupidfoo]

should have been clearer: the ending to Jurassic Bark = depressing

Re:Must be said.

[sg3000]

> the ending to Jurassic Bark = depressing

I heard that "Jurassic Bark" generated the most hate mail for the show than they've ever received. And rightfully so, as it was so completely depressing.

I got the feeling that Groening felt like Futurama was being left to rot on the vine by Fox, and maybe he did that episode to illustrate how he felt -- Futurama was Fry's dog and Fox was Fry, I guess.

I watched it on DVD only to listen to the directors' commentary, but it wasn't very enlightening. They made one comment in the beginning about how much people hated the episode, but then they were careful to not talk about the plot, but to focus on the technical aspects of the episode. Almost like they were afraid to rehash the episode's plot again.

The 4th season of Futurama was kind of weak compared to 2 and 3 -- mostly because of that stupid episode where Leela and Fry become super heros, but Jurassic Bark sealed the deal!

Re:Must be said.

[nherm]

Coming soon on a illegal DVD!!!

Re:Must be said.

[Blakey Rat]

Ok, I love the Superhero episode... that's one of my favorites. The weakest episodes in the series (IMO) are the one where Zoidberg makes a movie, and The Honking in the first season.

Re:Must be said.

[Some_Llama]

I really liked the ending to Jurrasic bark, I thought it was touching and moving.

I didn't think it was depressing, I guess that is because Fry thought that the dog forgot all about him which would have been sad because they were such good friends, but instead the dog did love Fry and that love endured until his death... I dunno maybe I got the wrong message or i'm just too sentimental? *grabs tissue*

Re:Must be said.

[cg]

How is it Fry's fault he was frozen?

Do explain...

Video Blog?

[Orgazmus]

Oh please, say it aint so!

Has the word "blog" infiltrated us so deeply that we have to use it on EVERYTHING?

Re:Video Blog?

[DesiGuy421]

Check out Maddox's take on "blog".

Re:Video Blog?

[aussie_a]

Has the word "blog" infiltrated us so deeply that we have to use it on EVERYTHING?

Says the person posting to a blog.

Re:Video Blog?

[lxs]

"If U dnt like it, dnt blog it", as I blogged yesterday in my retro blog (that's a paper diary for you unhip people)

Current mood: smug as hell
Current music: My U2 iPod is so cool, I don't need music on it to feel good.

Re:Video Blog?

[fafaforza]

Just wait til they start inundating us with "vidcasting"

Re:Video Blog?

[kesuki]

It's a part of the alien overlords plot to gradually make us used to speaking thier language. 'blog' is a very common word so of course it's one of the first. i believe the meaning of the word blog is like aloha. I could be wrong, it could mean something like 'yes master, anything you please'

but it clearly is one of those alien words. they just want you to beleive it's a 'shortened version/typo' of 'web log'. we blog.

oh god, I can see it now

[rlthomps-1]

Direct to DVD? Does this mean we get an uncut version never intended for television?

*gasp* lets all hope Zap Brannigan's hem line doesn't creep any higher.

Come Kiff! Hold up my blur circle so as not to traumatize my audience!

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[Boronx]

I'm sorry, sir, they don't make blur circles that large, sir. (rolls eyes)

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[TeknoHog]

*gasp* lets all hope Zap Brannigan's hem line doesn't creep any higher.

At least then we'd find out about the 'uncut version'...

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[TeknoHog]

This reminds me of someone I know...

http://80.81.189.232/g//00/00/60/77/2938862.jpg

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[generic-man]

Why? Zapp Brannigan was voiced by Billy West, who's still alive. Phil Hartman, the original actor tapped for the part, died before Futurama went into production.

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[Rasta Prefect]

*gasp* lets all hope Zap Brannigan's hem line doesn't creep any higher.

I seem to recall that the comentary mentioned that the Korean Studio doing the animation kept making it shorter and shorter...

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[The Evil Cub]

I've listened to the commentary tracks on the first three seasons of the DVD's, and it sounds like people keep trying to inch Zap's hemline up a bit at a time. Luckily for us all, Matt Groening and David Cohen have taken a pretty firm stand on the issue. That otufit is already as Zaptastic as it should ever be. By the way, I love that line. It's funny and dead on. Except he'd probably be willing to traumitize 'the ladies'...

Re:oh god, I can see it now

[deblau]

[Zap is standing in the shower tent when Kif walks in holding Nixon's head at three feet off the ground.]

Nixon's head: Brannigan! My God, cover yourself. I didn't live a thousand years and travel a quadrillion miles to look at another man's gizmo.
Zap Brannigan: Uh, sorry, Mr. President, I... I didn't realize. Kif! Raise him up about nipple high.

I Havn't owned a TV in Years

[FidelCatsro]

This is a trend i hope continues as the show is great and I like to watch things when i want and as often as i want in the best possible quality and VHS or even a DVD recorder is no substitute .
usually i get rather irate with the length of time it takes things to come out on DVD , but straight to DVD removes that problem at least .
I would honestly prefer a direct download , but the chances of it being unencumbered is so slight that its not really worth considering ,
And so long as their is no shark jumping , I look forward to a few more seasons/movies of futurama to come

Direct to DVD...

[ZSpade]

I'm not sure this is a good thing... In the past whenever something went direct to dvd/video, it meant that basically they had produced it on a shoestring budget, for the sole purpose of taking advantage of success from it's prequels... If disney has taught us anything, it's how to run a franchise into the ground. I'm not sure I want futurama's good name ruined in such fashion...

Re:Direct to DVD...

[Ours]

Well, in the West direct to video has always been a sign of lesser quality productions. But in Japan direct to video animations (Original Video Animation) is a big thing. It fits well something too long for a movie and too short for a complete series. They often come out in 4-7 episodes on DVD. Some great stuff has come out in that format. Lets hope the West can emulate that success bringing us great content on DVD free from the TV distribution medium where the biggest of masses of viewers is required for a show to succeed.

Re:Direct to DVD...

[elrous0]

If disney has taught us anything, it's how to run a franchise into the ground.

Don't worry guys, Matt Groening would never run a series into the ground, would he?

[crickets chirping]

-Eric

Re:Direct to DVD...

[evilviper]

In the past whenever something went direct to dvd/video, it meant that basically they had produced it on a shoestring budget,

That WAS TRUE when it was VHS. Now that the DVD sales generate MORE REVENUE THAN THEATRES it's definately not the case.

I'm still NEVER going to buy a DVD for $10 or more, when VHS was less than that new, and $5 after a few months. If it wasn't for Netflix, I wouldn't be watching any DVDs at all.

Re:Direct to DVD...

[EggyToast]

In the past, direct to video meant that it was a crappy show that would flop so horribly at the theaters that it wasn't worth it. It usually showed in the stories, directing, and talent on hand.

Consciously making a direct-to-DVD movie/video that is used as a creative extension is something else entirely.

The big thing about most Disney direct-to-video releases is that they were simply to milk a franchise. "Hey, if we put this out w/ the same name, people will buy it for their kids, and they won't care about quality!"

With the attention DVD releases are getting, though, I could see a direct-to-DVD show or movie perform really well. Given, of course, that it was quality in the first place.

Wooo! Go Bender! Go Bender!

[slackarse]

Here's to hopefully seeing a legendary TV series resurrected with a movie, instead of destroyed by one.

Re:Wooo! Go Bender! Go Bender!

[trompete]

Yeah. It worked pretty well for Family Guy, but now Chapelle show has the market cornered for comedy. Oh noes!

Not greenlit?

[antdude]

From Can't Get Enough Futurama Web site:

Futurama Direct-to-Video Greenlit?

Update by [-mArc-]:
Due to some communication hickup within CGEF, the following had been posted without all information attached. Most importantly, our latest information from David X. Cohen is that the movie(s) have NOT been greenlit yet. So, take what Billy says as a good sign, but not neccessarily as the final word on it.

It seems that FOX has finally given the Futurama Direct-to-Video the green light. In the first of IGN's exclusive Video Blogs direct from San Diego's Comic-Con International, voice actor Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, the Professor, and many more voices for many more shows) revealed to us that a brand-new direct-to-video Futurama movie has been greenlit. There is also an option on a second dvd.

Thanks to IGN for this exclusive information. The information has not yet been confirmed by Matt Groening or FOX itself, so let's just keep hoping ;)

Direct to DVD

[Kadin2048]

I find it interesting that they're talking about having the movie go straight to DVD. I guess maybe I'm biased, but the straight-to-home-video market was always a very low budget domain. So I'm curious as to whether this will break the B-rated mold. I can't see a Futurama movie doing well in theaters, so I think it's a good move...I just wonder whether maybe that will catch on more generally. I could think of a bunch more series shows that are definitely movie potential, but probably wouldn't draw millions upon millions into theaters.

Maybe DVD has raised the worthiness of direct-to-home-video in the eyes of producers from the network-made-for-tv ghetto that was VHS. If so, that's definitely a Good Thing.

Re:Direct to DVD

[Hellasboy]

I read somewhere that said that movies in the theater are basically commercials for the DVD. The DVD market has become the industries saving grace.

I'm sure the fanbase for Futurama is loyal, so it looks like they are now skipping the middleman - the theaters.

Re:Direct to DVD

[starwed]

It seems that this is (or at least used to be) common with anime series in Japan. They're called OVA's, and as it happens my favorite TV show of all time isone. (FLCL)

Re:Direct to DVD

[monkeyGrease]

For 2D hand-drawn, true, the budget is often much lower, with less in-between frames actually drawn (lower effective framerate).

In this case there is a sort of animator hierarchy, with lead animator doing every N frames, with sketchy lines. Then a lower tier of animator fill in frames, and in some cases there is yet another tier below that. Labor intensive. halve the framerate, halve the largest labor cost.

For CGI, this is not quite the same. The render farm is doing that last tier. Skipping frames just saves render time (and finaling, which is labor intensive). For CGI, the main cost reduction mechanism is offshoring all of the animation itself and dropping the marketing and distribution budget. Alot of CGI cost is relatively independent of framecount. CGI needs the mostly frame independent rigging (virtual puppetmakers), surfacing, lighting (minute/shot dependent, framerate independent) as well as the frame dependent finaling and rendering.

A CGI direct to DVD movie, based on a preceeding theatrical release movie, is less likely than 2D to have visible compromises in the content itself. Note that Toy Story 2 was direct to video until very late in production.

Futurama is a hybrid. Where and how direct to DVD cost-cutting will have an effect is unclear. Also note that direct-to-DVD during production does not mean it will not be upgraded to theatrical release later, as happened to Toy Story 2.

Hopefully this will come out...

[JrbM689]

...before the year 3000?

Re:Hopefully this will come out...

[designerboy]

...and not in a parallel universe!

Re:Hopefully this will come out...

[johnny_sas]

...before the year 3000?

You could always ask the 'What If' machine...

Re:Hopefully this will come out...

[ari_j]

...and formatted to fit our primitive screens.

You knew it was coming.

[PakProtector]

Professor Farnsworth: Good news, everybody!

Re:You knew it was coming.

[ilyaaohell]

Yeah, we knew it was coming because in the video he says that line in Professor Farnsworth's voice.

Re:You knew it was coming.

[mrpostal]

Yeah, we knew it was coming because in the video he says that line in Professor Farnsworth's voice.

also it's at the TOP OF THE DAMN STORY.

*sigh*

Re:You knew it was coming.

[roman_mir]

-Good news, everybody! They are going to put us into a DVD only movie. On the other hand it is not good news at all! It sounds uncomfortable and humiliating. Now if only they could provide the movie in the form of suppository!

great news... maybe

[rm999]

This is most likely a great thing - futurama, probably the best prime-time cartoon with geek appeal ever is being resurrected. The reasons why I said "most likely":

1. the show was starting to get bad around the end. The jokes were less thought-out, the plots wildy random and inconsistent. This could be because the creators knew the show was going to be cancelled so they stopped trying.

2. Whenever a show is cancelled, the writers and everyone involved go and find other jobs. If this is true, it means that new writers will need to be hired, and the style will likely change (eg. family guy).

3. Futurama was a great show in 22 minute chunks (the length of the average show minus ads), but will this mean it will make a good 2 hour movie? The southpark movie was too long imo at under 1:30 - it just seemed like a long, drawn-out episode. I am worried that the creators of futurama have gotten too used to the 20 minute plot.

4. If the futurama movie is indeed bad, it will dilute its legacy. On the bright side, if it's bad I can ignore it and no loss, but if it's good, I will be very happy.

The good things that may come from this:

1. high quality version of futurama! maybe even wide screen

2. If successful, it *may* bring the show back. Maybe even replace the crapfest that the Simpsons have become.

3. more bender :)

Re:great news... maybe

[Dominic_Mazzoni]

I've got to disagree with you about the South Park movie. I thought it was as good as the best South Park episodes, but the slightly slower pacing of the jokes and plot made it a lot more accessible to people who weren't already huge South Park fans.

Re:great news... maybe

[16K Ram Pack]

South Park movie?

It's one of the best conversions from small to big screen. I can't think of any better, and maybe the only other one I liked was The Addams Family.

Re:great news... maybe

[Jarlsberg]

If successful, it *may* bring the show back. Maybe even replace the crapfest that the Simpsons have become.

Simpsons and Futurama is not mutually exclusive. You don't like Simpsons, fine, but why would you deny people who like the Simpsons the show just because you don't like it? Other than that, I completely agree with your post. :)

Re:great news... maybe

[harlows_monkeys]

the show was starting to get bad around the end

Huh? Here are some episodes from the last season.

• Leela's Homeworld
• Less Than Hero
• Jurassic Bark
• The Why of Fry
• Where No Fan Has Gone Before
• The Sting
• The Farnsworth Parabox
• The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings

These are some of the best episodes of the whole series.

Re:great news... maybe

[cabazorro]

And let's not forget:

"I second that emotion"
(Bender gets a chip implanted to feel Leela's emotions)

and

"Love and Rocket"
(Bender falls in love with the planet express ship"

and

"Fry and the Slurm Factory"
(Fry wins a tour of the Slurm Soda Factory"

and if anyone doesn't agree they can bite
my shiny metal ass!

Re:great news... maybe

[delete]

the show was starting to get bad around the end

Have to seriously disagree. The last series of Futurama was consistently good - which made the decision to axe it even more incongruous. Watch the last episode, The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings, as a prime example of the show's potential.

On the other hand, I'm glad that the show didn't descend into a parody of itself like the Simpsons.

Re:great news... maybe

[Ed Avis]

I agree with the OP. The fourth season was noticeably worse than the previous three, as if all the good writers had suddenly left. As an example take the scene when Bender is pouring toxic waste into the sewers. This dialogue is from memory, but it goes something like

Leela: Bender, stop pouring that waste into the sewers.
Bender: Why not?
Leela: First, it'll piss off the mutants. Second, everything else that's wrong with what you're doing.

Thud. For me this ranks up there with 'do you know what happens to a toad that gets struck by lightning'. And the fourth season is full of jokes that fall flat like this. For most of the episodes I sat uncomfortably waiting for the funny bit to start. There were a couple of good episodes but on the whole I would rate the fourth season well behind the other three.

Re:great news... maybe

[AsnFkr]

The fourth season was noticeably worse than the previous three

Um. The last season was the fifth season, not the fourth. And the amazing part of it wasn't the jokes but the amazing character development and actually touching plots. Watch Jurassic Bark and tell me thats not about the sadest thing you've ever seen when that last sequence plays out with the music. Brilliant.

Re:great news... maybe

[pizen]

Favorite line from "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings"...

Bender: Although you'll have to metaphorically make a deal with the Devil. And by Devil I mean Robot Devil. And by metaphorically, I mean get your coat.

Re:great news... maybe

[aslate]

No, the last season was the fourth. There were four production seasons stretched to air over 5 airing seasons.

Re:great news... maybe

[Spad]

No, the last season was the Fourth - there were only ever 4 seasons of Futurama, but Fox in their infinite wisdom decided to show the 4th season in two parts and label the 2nd part as season 5.

Re:great news... maybe

[spisska]

The fifth season was the last, not the fourth. And in my book some of the last season's episodes rank up there with the best of the Simpsons (and TV don't get much better than that).

Particularly "The Farnsworth Parabox" ("There's a woman for you -- always dyeing her hair instead of not looking in a box") and "Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" (the robot devil's song is an absolute classic).

"The Devil's Hands" showed an amazing depth of character and theme, which makes the ending that much more meaningful now, since it was the last episode.

As for my personal favorite, "Parasites Lost", that's up with the best of any show ever.

Those episodes in the last season really demonstrated what the writers and actors could grow Futurama into if they had been given the chance. Futurama is a show that was killed of before it had reached it's prime, and I think it's great that they're doing something to revive it. Tell me where I can pre-order if it helps the thing get made.

Re:great news... maybe

[Gothic_Walrus]

Futurama did have its highs and its lows in that last season.

Personally, though, I'm fine with that uneven quality, since the best episodes were nothing short of amazing. If I can have "Jurassic Bark" or "Devil's Hands," I can live with an occasional "Less Than Hero" or, heaven forbid, a "Bend Her."

Re:great news... maybe

[the web]

OMG my favourite, A Taste of Freedom.

Fry: Who are you old man?
Old Man Waterfall: Name's Old Man Waterfall, but folks just call me, Old Man.
Fry: I'll never remember that.

Re:great news... maybe

[Ed Avis]

There were four seasons made; apparently Fox messed them around and created a fifth season from parts of the third and fourth. 'Parasites Lost' is an episode from the third season, and I agree, it's a great episode.

There were good episodes in the fourth season, but too many bad ones (eg Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch) where the plot was thin and the humour seemed wooden.

Re:great news... maybe

[rm999]

The downfall of the Simpsons (imo) happened just as Futurama started. My theory? That Futurama took writers and Matt Groening's attenion away from the Simpsons. In an interview with Groening, he said that he put *all* his time into futurama and let the Simpsons be. This led to a huge change in the style of the Simpsons.

If futurama starts again, I would hope it would coincide with the end of the Simpsons. Unfortunately, Groening has signed on to at least season 20, but that should be the end.

Re:great news... maybe

[Jarlsberg]

You raise a valid point, but personally, I don't think the Simpsons has gotten much worse or much different these last few seasons, or since Futurama started anyway (and I *do* love Futurama :) ). There are a a few episodes I'd rather not see again (season 13 had a few stinkers), but there have been quite a few good ones as well, and more than a few sterling ones, especially in the later seasons (from 14 and onwards). And the Treehouse episodes are always great. IMHO, of course.

Re:great news... maybe

[PaladinX]

you know that last season was just episodes from the earlier seasons that were not shown due to the crappy timeslot right?

Re:great news... maybe

[evilviper]

List of some of the worst Futurama episodes ever:

Jurassic Bark

A Taste Of Freedom

The Sting

Bend Her

Obsoletely Fabulous (Robot 1-X)

Leela's Homeworld

Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch

Crimes of the Hot

The ones that were good weren't all that good, and the ones that were bad (the majority) were absolutely horrible.

Re:great news... maybe

[drsquare]

How can you have character development when the characters are one-dimensional and not interesting in any way? Programmes like that survive on the jokes. Fry must be the dullest protagonist in TV history. The only decent characters in Futurama were Bender and Zap Branigan. Everyone else could have been cut out.

Someone kill this conjured fad!

[DietCoke]

I prefer not to visualize the people writing these blogs, leaving just the written word to conjure the imagination. Adding video just seems like a lot of vanity overkill.

It also bugs me that suddenly there's a lot of articles out on this - I've seen 5-6 in the past couple of weeks.

Who suddenly decided that they were the "in" thing to do? Probably the same people that thought social networking sites were the next big thing.

Maybe they'll be big. But just like I avoid flash-based sites, I'll avoid video blogs, or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Confirmed at ComicCon

[Subgenius]

This was confirmed at Comic Con yesterday (Saturday) during the Simpsons panel with Matt G. Needless to say, the Futurama DVD got the largest applause of the session.

And /. is now a tv guide

[jurt1235]

Instead of reading articles online, you now have to watch a video to see if the announcement claim is really through, or if it is just a catchy title?

Now I need TiVo for the internet so I can fast forward??

So can you preorder this?

[Kazymyr]

If so, I'm first in line.

Re:So can you preorder this?

[ne0n]

can you preorder this?

usenet is already taking pre-orders, sadly

Re:So can you preorder this?

[Zentac]

No you wont be the first in line as you are waiting for someone else to find out if you can preorder it... that pretty much makes you lazy and thus slow

Re:So can you preorder this?

[Kazymyr]

Whadda ya know, I am lazy and slow.

Wooo?

[October_30th]

Wooo!

Is that the sound of air escaping from the folds of fat? ;)

But seriously, I wouldn't really mind if they made a directly-to-DVD series instead of a TV series. I would still buy it and I'd get it sooner.

Boondock Saints

[JNighthawk]

Boondock Saints was released straight to video/DVD.

Re:Boondock Saints

[16K Ram Pack]

There's always the odd exception.

The Last Seduction was originally a TV movie, and over here in the UK, The Man with Two Brains went straight to video.

When a movie is released as a "dvd premiere", 99% of the time, it will suck.

Re:Boondock Saints

[Kazzahdrane]

My friend, you have clearly not seen "The Return of Jafar", the quite excellent Disney straight-to-video sequel to Aladdin. The third one's not terrible either.

Re:Boondock Saints

[scabb]

I would definitely mod you up, should I have points ;)

I want to see the lion king sequels - apparently they're not terrible.

Re:Boondock Saints

[Calyth]

Merely the exception to prove the rule.
I don't recall anything that Disney's spewing out for the last 5 years is original in any way. With the exception of the Anime that they're merely marketing and slapping an American voice (some of them are horrible for the role, and not to mention the lines are pretty bad at times), all their stuff that I've recall seeing on TV are either bad sequels, or DVDs for old videos, or remakes.

What rating will it have?

[Sebby]

Which one? BB-65? L-7? HS? MV-2/5??

Re:What rating will it have?

[NeuroManson]

It doesn't matter, you'll still have to wait 60+ years to rent ultra-porn.

Bender Bending Rodriguez...

[nukethewhalesagain]

I'm happy about this. If it is no good (Family Guy: Live in Las Vegas) then I don't buy it and I can ignore the fact that it exists. If it is awesome, as it will probably be, then we get a new 2 hour fix of Futurama and the possibility of more.

Doubtful

[October_30th]

Bender: "Listen you fat internet nerd!"
Nerd: "Listening."
Bender: "Your company promotes wrong love! If you don't shut down right now, the only thing wired out of you will be your jaw!"
Nerd: "You can't shut us down! The internet is about the free exchange and sale of other people's ideas. We've done nothing wrong!"

Re:Kickass

[Bruj0]

Why cant Katey Sagal do it?

Re:Family Guy

[trekstar25]

Absolutely not - as much as I love both shows, you need a plot when you make a movie, something Family Guy, especially these days, can't manage.

However, Futurama is well known for having well constructed, and often very moving plots (see: Jurrassic Bark).

Re:WOOHOOO

[stuffisgood]

Hundreds of dollars???

You got ripped...Over here in Australia they were selling for around $30AU a set.

happy

[rupert0]

death by snu-snus to us all !

Re:happy

[roman_mir]

Be careful, your wish may come to be true and you may get what you want. In the form of a suppository.

or as prof F. would say:
-That is uncomfortable and humiliating! If only it could be administered in the form of a suppository.

Re:happy

[BRock97]

God knows, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised....

Great!

[hardcorehowe]

This is the best nanosecond of my life, no wait this one is, that one was slightly worse, so far so good on this one. Would have been good to see the series return to TV, but any new Futurama material is going to be gold.

I once got very drunk with bender ..

[torpor]

.. or at least, Joe DiMaggio, the Voice of Bender, in a loft-party in downtown Los Angeles ..

It was a great party. First of all, the cookies were .. delicious .. i helped myself to a whole stack of them. then, i turn around and hear Bender going 'bite my shiny metal ass', and i think "damn, cookies!?", when .. lo and behold .. there was Joe, doing his Bender for the chicks.

damn that was a great party.

Re:I once got very drunk with bender ..

[Hogwash McFly]

Maybe there was something 'special' in those cookies of his...

Re:I once got very drunk with bender ..

[Ubergrendle]

Joe DiMaggio is the legendary baseball player, "the Yankee Clipper", a 13 time all star and widely considered the most complete baseball player of all time.

John DiMaggio, on the other hand, is the talented one.

;)

Re:I once got very drunk with bender ..

[Rassleholic]

First of all, the cookies were .. delicious .. i helped myself to a whole stack of them. then, i turn around and hear Bender going 'bite my shiny metal ass', and i think "damn, cookies!?", when .. lo and behold .. there was Joe

If it was me, I would more likely be thinking "ZOMBIE!!!"

Re:I once got very drunk with bender ..

[raju1kabir]

The "most complete" baseball player of all time? His number of arms more closely approached 2 than that of any other player?

Re:WOOHOOO

[makomk]

You got ripped...Over here in Australia they were selling for around $30AU a set.

Which, at the current exchange rate, is equivalent to about $22 (USD) a set, or somewhere around £12 in UK terms. Not bad...

woohoo!

[slashdotnickname]

Can't wait to bt download it!

They would profit a lot more, though, if they resurrected the series. Re-runs already get high numbers on Adult Swim and, imo, could easily replace The Simpsons (which is way past its prime IMO). Although American Dad's spot might be free soon, it's too much like Family Guy in humor style without the "loveable loser" factor that Peter brings. Either way, Futurama could have a good run if they were to revive the series.

Re:woohoo!

[3waygeek]

Although American Dad's spot might be free soon

It's already free -- the last two Sundays have had FG reruns in the 9:30 ET slot.

Football

[nikconwell]

Evidently in the East Coast release of the DVD the first 20 minutes of the movie will be replaced by football.

Re:Football

[fafaforza]

In NYC, following the 20 minutes of Football, there will be an hour or "Fox 5 News At 10", and the actual Futurama movie will only play at 11PM.

Link...

[antdude]

I forgot the link.

Re:Family Guy

[Hogwash McFly]

Is September 27th good enough for you?

The bad news....

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

It's going to be live action.

Re:The bad news....

[geekoid]

Good news everyone! it's going be played by the cast of 'Friends'!...wait, that's not good news.

You all forget one thing...

[dalmiroy2k]

Family guy got cancelled on tv, after that they released the episodes in DVD and sold at least one millon copies!
The suits @ Fox got happy and resurrected the previous cancelled tv show that now it's on air.
The same thing may apply to Futurama if we are lucky!

Re:You all forget one thing...

[the web]

I don't know if that will happen. The original failure had on the surface everything to do with the ratings. The ratings on the other hand had everything to do with FOX's distain for Futurama. They didn't deliver what they wanted and FOX's promotional forces hit Futurama hard. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

"Don't miss Futurama, followed by Malcolm in The Middle, and then the Simpsons at eight tonight. Remember it all starts at 8:00pm"

But perhaps the execubots have decided otherwise this time around.

*rolls dice* "M0R3 FU7UR4M4"

Zonk and blogging stories

[The Hobo]

YAZBS (Yet Another Zonk Blogging Story)

The goggles! They do nothing!

[Digital Vomit]

Yeah, we knew the incorrect quotes were coming...

Bite my shiny metal butt!

When the Simpsons jumped the shark

[elrous0]

Probably around the time they actually had to start making fun of their own lame writing. Remember the eipsode where the monkey had to warn people that the plot made no sense, or the jockey one where comic book store guy actually had to break in and criticize the episode?

That's when you knew things were getting bad. When even your own writers are spitting on the show, time to retire it and hope everyone will forgive you for the last season.

-Eric

Re:When the Simpsons jumped the shark

[yasth]

"Had to"??? Eh they were poking fun at themselves. I assure that the fact that they were putting such things in means that they still were involved and caring. If a writter actually doesn't like a show, they don't say it is horrible, they at some point decide to be lazier and lazier.

I have noticed that a lot of people don't seem to get (or if they do get, don't like) that the simpsons mostly makes fun of the Simpsons anymore. Doesn't mean the monkeys don't care just means they are increasingly running out of culture that hasn't been mocked.

Futurama Quote

[CrazyTalk]

Seems like a good time to mention my favorite Futurama quote:

Prof. Farnsworth: Good Lord, that's over 150 atmospheres of pressure!
Fry: How may atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Prof. Fransworth: Well it's a spaceship. So anywhere between 0 and 1.

I have to wonder how many (non geeks) watching the show would get that...

Re:Futurama Quote

[Gadgetfreak]

I particularly loved that one myself. But that might also be due to the fact that I'm a geek that works on submarines.

(And for once, my sig is on topic)

Re:Futurama Quote

[Sylver Dragon]

That was one of ther best things about the series, and possibly one of the reasons it didn't have (Fox's idea of) mainstream appeal. Many of the jokes would go way over the head of many people. That said, my fiancee still liked the show, even though she isn't a geek, and missed many of those little cracks.

THANKY YOU, GOD!

[Progman3K]

I absolutely LOVE Futurama.
I bought the DVD set, even after downloading all the episodes.
Please, please please bring it back!

Who did this transcript?

[frenchgates]

Are we sure the video blogger made that many IQ-lowering grammatical errors or did the transcriber add them as style points?

Finishing your thought...

[Karl Cocknozzle]

Screw you guys, I'm going to do my own futurama movie, with Blackjack! And Hookers!

...In fact, forget about the Blackjack and the movie!

Oblig Quote

[MrCopilot]

Holy Flurking Schnit!

Re:Kickass

[Rassleholic]

Eric Clapton?

Re:You know

[aklix]

You fucktard, remove the damn pnote

ÿØÿà..JFIF.....d.d..ÿì..Ducky.......P..ÿî..Adobe.d À

Unknown characters(squars) are replaced with . so I could paste it.

DVD Sales Rock!

[ImaLamer]

The reason they are doing this is because DVD's sell out pretty quick when it comes to FOX's dumped animation shows. Family Guy DVD's are like the top selling/fastest selling DVD's of all time (or something like that).

People can't get enough of their favorite shows on DVD and I can't wait for this one to be released. Of course, my favorite tag line from Futurama was on the last episode:

See you on some other channel

What is WRONG with you nerds?

[Chris Tucker]

None of you are asking the most important question of all about a Futurama movie:

Are we going to see Amy naked?

And not that lame "from behind so all we see is her butt" style nudity, either!

Give us full frontal naked Amy!

And naked Leela!

But no naked Hermes or Farnsworth.

Or Zap. Definitely no naked Zap.

That would be bad.

Jurassic Bark

[rarose]

That episode still gets me all teary eyed.

Damn you Futurama writers!

Sad, Touching and Tragic

[rarose]

I don't think I've ever had a cartoon, nor any TV show for that matter, get me teary eyed the way Jurassic Bark did; judging from the reactions around the country alot of people were just like me. I think a lot of people were upset at *themselves* and not by the show itself, because they don't expect to get worked up by a cartoon.

It's an amazing credit to the writers that they were able to get a *huge* percentage of their audience to become emotionally entangled into a cartoon about a pet rock and a delivery boy 1000 years in the future.

If you look at the plot development they were really *really* good at developing the dogs character and his relationship to Fry in an incredibly short amount of screen time.

And the ending really shows what a good person Fry is (and what a great dog seymour was). Fry puts his loyalty to what he perceives to be his dog's desires before his own selfish interest and decides not to bring his dog back. And the dog, unbeknownst to Fry, had put his loyalty to Fry before his own life. The ending with both of them suffering because each chose loyalty over selfish interest is very tragic and also very moving.

Who among us wouldn't want a companion that cared so much about us? And who among us wouldn't hope that we could be so selfless about someone we cared so much about?

Re:die! die! die Futurama!

[silverbax]

And yet amazingly still so much better than Family Guy...

*SPOILER*

[Shajenko42]

*SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER* Well, he did go back in time where he could have prevented himself from falling into the chamber (preventing him from saving the universe, though).

Now...

[FuturePastNow]

if they could put it in the form of a suppository!

Re:You know

[strider44]

did you read the description? The original image was created in Paint and it was converted to JPG as well as some blurring applied as I understand it using Photoshop. I'd be *extremely* impressed anyway if it was made in photoshop - you can't easily make something like that in photoshop.

BTW, it's most definitely not mine!

Jurassic Bark commentary

[edgarde]

I watched it on DVD only to listen to the directors' commentary, but it wasn't very enlightening. They made one comment in the beginning about how much people hated the episode, but then they were careful to not talk about the plot, but to focus on the technical aspects of the episode.

The DVD had two commentaries for that episode. The 2nd was a "writers commentary" and probably had a bit more of what you wanted (tho much time is wasted discussing conditions in the Writers' Room and whatnot).

BTW, Jurassic Bark it is my favorite episode. People who protest how depressing it was seem like wimps to me.

Re:Kickass

[Rico_Suave]

"Leela"