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Futurama Returns
GrumpySimon writes "Good news everyone!
Straight from a one-eyed alien's mouth - 13 new episodes of Futurama have been confirmed by Katey Sagal on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show. All the original actors have signed up too."
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I love the smell of Slurm in the morning - it smells like ... walrus!
While I applaud it, I remember the resurrection of Ren & Stimpy and how it just wasn't quite the same anymore. The making of a popular series can often rest on the frenzy of creating the episodes and the chemistry of those at work on it. Add an interruption, time for other projects and influences, what will become of pulling the team back together? Will it be the same, or will it be like, "well, Bender saying, 'bite my shiny metal asee' doesn't totally suck, but it's just, you know, different now."
Other news in the It's About Time Department:
In other good news, finally on DVD, Yellowbeard! Arr! July 27 for USA & Canada or July 10 for UK No word yet on extras, like Group Madness, the documentary of making of the film.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
All thirteen episodes will come in a suppository!
Complete with New shinier, easily bitable metal ass.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Hip, hip, huzzah! Hip, hip, huzzah! Hip, ah screw it.
Sweet Zombie Jesus!!!!
They've been VERY naughty this year. Now they must be trying to make up before Xmas.
Ryan Fenton
Cuz the actors never get it wrong.
P.S. I feel like it's some futurama reference that my CAPTCHA was "breeder." Is Slashdot trying to say something about the human race?
I wonder if this will affect the 4 movies that are currently being planned. Ride the Walrus!
HYPNOTOAD LIVES!!!!
That's too bad. Sure, I'm sad it ended, but it DID end well. Go figure what'll happen now.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I know, that sounds sad, even for a geek, but what can I say: Futurama is my favorite show and if you don't like it, you can bite my shiny metal ass.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
I disagree.
-Richard M. Nixon's head
Phil Hartman was never in Futurama. He died in 1998. Futurama started in 1999.
I think the issue is exactly that they don't have to worry about what happened last week if the writers don't want to. That the characters don't have to age. I live in the real world. When I watch TV I don't want reality. I want something different. Something to tickle my imagination. And the surreal world of many cartoons is great for that. A show like Doctor Who doesn't appeal to me as much, because I would much rather pick up a book and supply a much cooler image of a sci-fi world in my own head.
That being said, Futurama isn't the best example to be picking on for nothing ever changing. The series did have an advancing plot and the important events of previous episodes did matter in future ones. Individual events didn't matter as much, but the evolution of the character's relationships to each other definitely progressed based on the events of the show. I also felt it was much better written then other popular cartoons and didn't rely as much on mind-numbing pop-culture references.
The problem is that everyone thinks they have a sense of humor, even when they don't.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Futurama does have order to it, and I can't think of any time where it just leave you right where you started with no explanation. Some examples of things that carry between episodes:
- Nibbler shows up and sticks around, the order of those episodes has some significance
- Leela's parents are discovered, then are characters on the show after that.
- Farnsworth's clone is created and is in future episodes.
Just to name a few.
typically everything that happens is straightened out by the end of the episode as needed. It's just not in the typical cartoon genre to have numerous-episode-arcs, because reruns are not often shown in order.
And PS, the "OMG PONIES! AND NEW FUTURAMA EPISODES!!" is *really* old news. I assume this number of episodes is really just the dvds that were mentioned months ago. It's been on adult swim bumps for awhile now.
Does this make me happy?
Is the space pope reptilian?
In Soviet Russia, backwards is everything.
Dude - It's just a cartoon.
Noone's really saying that Futurama is better than Dr Who, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable. Plot? No way. Funny? Absolutely! More importantly, it's just entertaining.
That's something I love about these kind of shows. You don't need to make the investment to watch them. I hate it that I can't watch a lot of "running plot" shows because I know I'm going to miss a bunch of them. With Futurama/Simpsons, I can just watch them if I'm free.
Humour is like colour; I can't explain to you WHY I like blue, I just do.
Even if you try to persuade me for hours that red is a much better colour, you won't be able to win me over.
In short, nods to classic bits of comedy coupled with a great sense of absurd and sprinklings of science make a cartoon I love to watch. I love the voice-work in Futurama too, great characterizations.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
It's funny simply becuase it is. I enjoy the more scientific humour of the show. Things like winning by a quantum difference (I know I'm misquoting this) being responded with things like: "No fair! You changed the result by measuring it" It adds a humour for the physicist in me. Regards, Alunduil
Someone please explain to me how this sort of thing is more popular than something with a real plot or something which is really funny?
You're missing something really obvious: different people have different tastes, and having different tastes than yours does not make somebody stupid or wrong. Just because you don't like these shows doesn't mean they are not "really funny".
You don't like them, and that's fine. Your tastes simply don't line up with the majority, and there's nothing wrong with that. Where it becomes wrong is when you become a condescending ass about it.
In a nutshell, shows like Simpsons, Family Guy, The Critic, and Futurama make me laugh, and greatly entertain me for their 30 minute duration. Okay, there's a dud episode every now and then, but for the most part they're really fun. And funny. There have been a few scenes from these that would just make me laugh a few days later when I would think about it, for instance.
The fact that it bothers you that Lisa's mental acuity isn't entirely consistent from one episode to the next sort of implies you're greatly outside the demographic they're looking for, in which case I'd suggest stick with the shows that really make you happy. I watch these shows for their comedic value, not for a consistent basis upon which to do a comparative literary analysis.
Similarly, there are shows that other people love that I can't stand at all (eg Everybody Loves Raymond). it's all your own personal tastes. Regarding not liking the Simpsons, my Mom cannot get into the Simpsons either. She's tried and either doesn't get the jokes or just doesn't think they're funny whatsoever.
That said, at the end of your post you mention other shows that are 'really funny'. Can you give an example? I'm not trolling you either, just curious what you find funny.
You apparently didn't watch much of Futurama, in that case. Time actually did advance over the course of the show, starting in 3000 and ending in 3004. Relationships between characters also changed over time.
As for why Futurama is popular.. you may not find it funny, but a lot of people do. I, for one, like that there's a lot of geek jokes in there. One that I can think of off the top of my head was that there were a pair of books in the background of one scene labeled P and NP.
We'll I'm sure they'll post a dupe to make up for it.
In Soviet America the banks rob you!
It's about time! I love Futurama but you can only watch that show so many hundreds of times.
Maybe its just me, but I don't get why there is always one guy who feels the need to ask questions like this, or alternatively state that he hates a particular obscure thing. Its not like anyone is trying to shove Futurama down someone's throat. It is like going to a Star Trek convention and standing around saying, "You know, I really don't understand the appeal of this show!" There are a ton of shows on TV that are not Futurama - why not go watch one of them instead of commenting here to the effect that you don't like Futurama?
Hell, there are a ton of other Slashdot articles you could be commenting on. Perhaps you could have found one that interested you. But no, you had to click on the Futurama article just so you could post a comment musing about the lack of appeal Futurama has for you.
It kind of reminds me of people who love Windows and hate the Macintosh. OK, your favorite computer platform has 90+ percent of the market, so why go seek out places online where Mac people congregate and try to rain on their parade? They have less than 5% of the market. Leave them alone. Hell, I've seen people go onto Atari ST forums and say ridiculous things to the effect that the Atari ST is long dead and ST enthusiasts should just move on and get a Windows PC. Was that you?
When you see a kid playing with a balloon, do you have an uncontrollable urge to go and stick a pin in it?
There are a lot of things that do not appeal to everyone. Sane people ignore them. Personally I have no interest in Chritianity. That doesn't mean I show up to church every Sunday and say, "You know, I just don't understand the appeal...could you explain it to me?" It would be gouche and idiotic to do so.
"Not trolling"? Bite my shiny metal ass!
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Perhaps I'll breed some kind of albino shouting gorilla...
flamebait...
My take was that it was consistant that Lisa was a little hippie shitdisturber. Maybe you watched an OLDER episode where they haven't yet developed that trait? Simpsons is popular because it's older than most of the audience. It came out in the late 80s. I was babysitting kids born in the 90s who liked the show even though their first memories of the show were probably from 1996 onward.
Futurama is funny because it's silly and creative. Family guy is funny because it's a bit more adult and off the wall. South park is funny because they're highly objective and use hyperbole.
That doesn't mean EVERY episode is comedy gold. But normally people tend to watch the series not just specific episodes which means watching the occasional shit-fill-the-season-out episode.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Ok that's indeed great news... the sad news is Futurama is still dependent on Comedy Central. Why do shows still need this kind of deals? Idealy this would happen: There is an official Futurama web-site, they say they want a new season, they need US $ X to produce it. They sell shares on their website or through ebay using a dutch auction in order to finance the project. Geeks buy them. They make the episodes. They realase them on the internet in a non DRM format and using bittorrent so they don't have to pay for bandwith. People pay a small amount of money to download the .torrent file. If they want to pirate it anyway nothing will stop them so why bother with protection.
Many people download that great show, the benefits are given to the shareholders.
Everyone is happy.
That's really what the RIAA really is affraid of. Artists now have a way to have vertical control, marketting, distribution etc. They claim to fight piracy but really want to make this come as late as they can. Once the artists realize they can actually make more money by short circuiting the distribution cartels
a) price will also fall for the consummer
b) more competition of works, more quality
\u262D = \u5350
and brannigans antics
One week Lisa will be super smart and a veggie and the next week suddenly she's as dumb as Bart and eating a pork chop. So WTF?
;)
It's less confusing if you watch the episodes in order.
It's funny because it's poisonous.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Spoilers, dude!!!!
Maybe it's just me but, I don't get why futurama is popular.
Because it's not about you.
"My God...it's full of trolls!"
Actually... I find the container labelled "Condensed Milt" much more interesting, and very disturbing.
Milt, for the non-biologists, is the sperm and seminal fluid of fish.
No unauthorized use. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.
First Family Guy, then Futurama. Where's Firefly?
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
My reply was in response to the GP's post suggesting Phil Hartman was one of the actors who worked on Futurama. He wasn't.
The character Zapp Branigan was written for him, but he died before they started production, so Billy West took the part instead and happen to play the character in a similar way to Phil Hartman's audition.
Okay, so all of the original actors have signed up. But what I'd like to know is if all of the original writers have signed up.
...DRM'ed. "Geeks don't want DRM, geeks want Futurama (just see @ the Internet) so we will release new episodes of Futurama to sell DRM to those bloody nerds..."
This is the only reason for Fox to start it again.
--
This is not a flamebait... this is bloody serious... Just wait'n'see.
Professor: Good news everyone. While Fox's quality programming is out of our reach, Comedy Control has decided to take us for some new episodes.
Fry: Don't you mean Comedy Central?
Leela: No, Comedy Control. Comedy was outlawed in the year 2045, during the Great War with the Neptutians. Comedy Control comes around and kills everyone involved with animated shows.
... I don't get it. Where's the usual downside following "Good news everyone!"? Do we have to go and wrest the episodes from giant killer bees, or something?
yadda-yadda, I'm too good for animation
perhaps its the big stick up your shiny metal ass?
Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
Quoth the Incompetent Robot Elders:
Silence!!!
Futurama does indeed have long-term plot elements, more so than most live action television shows (and at least comparable with Doctor Who and its Daleks and Cybermen). Generally the plot centers around Fry.
- Fry and the Brains (and the Nibblonians)
During the series it transpires that Fry is the only human being capable of resisting the psionic attacks of the Brains, a group of free-flying brain beings that want to take over/destroy the universe. Fry's brain waves are different from other peoples because Fry, as a result of events in the episode "Roswell that Ends Well", is his own grandfather.
In the first encounter with the Brains Fry is abducted by Nibbler, who is not only Leela's pet, but also an agent of the ancient and stupendously powerful Nibblonians (which explains why he was the only one of his kind on the planet where he was found). Nibbler explains Fry's abnormality and assists him in fending off the Brains' attack on earth. After Fry succeeds Nibbler wipes Fry's memory (everyone else was too stupefied by the Brains to remember what happened) and resumes his life as Leela's pet.
Later, in The Why of Fry, we learn that Fry was not frozen by accident. In fact Fry was brought into the future by Nibbler, whose much younger self was present on New Years' Eve '99, and who gave Fry the nudge that tipped him backwards into the cryogenic chamber. In this episode Fry is press ganged into service to destroy the Brains' ultimate project, a device that will acquire all knowledge in the universe and then destroy the universe to prevent its knowledge from becoming outdated.
Once Fry is inside the Mega-Brain and has activated the bomb with which he is to destroy it, the Brains reveal what Nibbler did to Fry and offer Fry a choice - he can stay there, blow up the Mega Brain and vanish along with it due to the failure of his escape scooter, or he can let the Mega Brain catapult him back in time to the space-time nexus centred on his own fall into the cryochamber.
Fry elects to travel back, and in fact initially prevents Nibbler from knocking him into the tube, until Nibbler persuades him that he should sacrifice himself and fulfill his predestined mission, because...
- Fry Loves Leela
Fry has an unrequited passion for Leela throughout most of the series. In a sense there is a lack of follow through here, because they do pull kind of a "will they/won't they?" thing, but Fry does succeed in communicating the depth of his feelings at times, and when he wins the devil's hands and uses them to make a holophoner opera in Leela's honour Leela realises that Fry has a depth of character and feeling that is concealed by his physical and social clumsiness.
- Leela and Her Parents
As someone else mentioned here, Leela's parent enter the series late in the piece and stick around. In fact I was surprised that nobody responded to the "straight from the alien's mouth" in the article by pointing out that Leela, as we discover when her parents emerge, is not an alien but a mutant, whose xenolinguist parents left her at an orphanage with a note in an invented alien script, so that she would be taken for an alien and avoid the apartheid-style restrictions places on mutants. This is a major shift for Leela both in the sense that earlier episodes made much of her search for her species and homeworld, and in that at least two episodes towards the end of the series are heavily concerned with her relationship with her newfound parents.
- Amy and Kif
Amy, the engineering student from Mars, and Kif, Zapp Brannigan's XO, fall in love early in the series and their developing romance is the subject of multiple episodes throughout subsequent seasons.
i'm sure there are other examples of long-term continuity that have slipped my mind, but really nobody could accuse Futurama of forgeting its past.
Dude, why would you want to stick a pin in a kid?
Stirring defence of Futurama and the Simpsons there. But I think you're pretty much wrong in everything you say. To respond to your three main points:
1. The characters in the Simpsons are surprisingly consistent; the clearly distinct characters and their traits are one of the shows great strengths. Lisa is BOTH intelligent AND a member of the archetypal working class family; these are not mutually exclusive, and the show is subtle enough to deal with this.
2. Futurama IS better than Dr Who whichever way you spin it (allowing for taste), and its PLOTS are amongst its great strengths. When you compare the Simpsons to Futurama, one thing that is very apparent is that Futurama has much more comprehensive, less formulaic, better written storylines. The episodes, and the series, feature an internal logic which is stronger than the Simpsons, or indeed almost any other comedy other than Seinfeld or Arrested Development.
In many cases the humour is directly derived from the strength of the plot. For example, Fry travels back in time and becomes his own grandfather. As a result, he is unique in the universe, and his uniqueness ties in to the whole Nibblonian vs Brains subplot. Similarly, Leela's origins story is tightly woven throughout the various episodes and across the series. I know for a fact that Groening, Cohen and co set out to write lengthy thematic arcs which in some cases spanned series 1-4 inclusive.
If you think it's a plot-less cartoon with jokes, you're not really watching it.
3. Well, this basically explains why you think what you think. I agree to the extent that each episode of Futurama is self-contained. However, they are also intricately linked with other episodes, and you miss a lot of important context and detail from some episodes if you treat them as a one-off 'adventure'.
Try watching Futurama, in order, from start to finish. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Read Pynchon.
Great. Good to see the Actors are on board. What about the writers though? I have to imagine the highly talented futurama writers found new homes that have been enjoying their talent for a while.
Holy crap! I can't believe it-- someone was actually watching Craig Ferguson!
On the other hand, having a sense of humor does not mean that you laugh at everything.
please not have jumped the shark please not have jumped the shark please not have jumped the shark
qntm.org
I'd have to say mostly - you can't compare Futurama to the Simpsons.
The second of the two jumped the shark a while ago - although it came back from the groaner pile a bit it never compared to Futurama which was just getting a decent groove when Fox pre-empted it into oblivion.
After Futurama came out - the Simpsons seemed just wholesale tame by comparrison and even in some of the comentator tracks on the DVDs you could see where Matt G.'s passion was going (or at least more of it). It's not just the geek factor - it's the ubber geek factor that made it great among other things. Plus not having to be tied down to earth led to a much broader swath of possiblities - continuity be damned. Or at least horribly twisted if one recalls brain-burners like the Farnsworth parallel universe boxes. That was a particularly fun episode.
I don't really know where I'm going with this so I'll just stop now.
I see...
Um... Promise me you aren't one of the writers on the new series.
If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
Good news on the surface but until it is confirmed the original writers have signed up I won't be keeping too many expectations of the new series.
The actors can be replaced, the writing team can not - not if you want to keep the same style of humour.
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
Ooooohhhh no. I fell for this one before...
"Let the feast of a thousand hams begin!"
-----
Sig Sauer
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Dude, why would you want to stick a pin in a kid?
;)
Spoken as someone who has never tried it. Geesh.
that's why I love the Slashdot 'Funny' mod. It always lets me know when to laugh at a joke, so I don't feel left out.
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
Mod parent up... or down. I need someone to tell me which.
"With rare exceptions people cannot use that picture to masturbate, therefore it is not the internet."
Professor: That's not good news. That's not good news at all!
You think maybe you could pickup Invader Zim on the way home? I've been craving some new episodes of that as well....
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
The last time
On that note, I would personally love for Futurama to return but I won't get my hopes up.
\
It was a plot device so that they could have guest stars playing themselves without resorting to overused time travel plots like some other serious Sci-Fi shows. It sucked most of the time, but cameos often do elsewhere. It certainally had it's moments with some people though.
I'm not holding my breath. Series 4 and 5 of Family Guy suffered by having different writers etc and it just wasn't the same show. For example, Stewie has lost his "kill lois, take over the world" zeal which for me was one of the highlights of the show. I expect the same sorts of disappointment with Futurama, but the talent is there to surprise us if they put their heads together.
As long as they don't try too hard like Family Guy is doing. I have to say, Family Guy these days is boring as anything. First three seasons were mint, but what they're coming out with now is total crap. Previously it was edgy, but funny. Now they just go for offensive for the sake of offensive. The plots are horrible, and just aren't trying.
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
Most shows have some kind of continuity and Futurama does. Sure they'll be a bit random and break rules at times (take that Bender is made of 40% of Zinc, 40% of Titanium and 40% of Dolomite- 120% for those of you who are reading this early in the morning), but in general unlike the Simpsons, the show progresses. The characters age, have different birthdays, refer to events in the past. You'll also notice the love between Fry and Leela developing. Take the later episodes like 'The Sting' where Fry takes a giant bee for Leela, and the many loving things they do that continues to bring them closer, as well as the same thing on the Amy side.
PS: best episode ever: Jurassic Bark.... poor Seymour the dog.
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
And now for the unresolved plot lines of Futurama, all of which I am hoping to see picked up in the new series:
-Fry loves Leela
The most obvious over-arching story during the series was Fry's adoration of Leela and Leela's continuous indifference to Fry. Obviously this IS something which is meant to work out with a happy ending. Episodes such as "Parasites Lost", "The Farnsworth Parabox", "Time Keeps On Slippin'" and the series finale, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" make this pretty clear.
The question is how they'll eventually get together. Leela keeps rejecting Fry because he doesn't have a lot to offer. He's a dumb, dropout delivery-geek - she's a smart, attractive spaceship pilot. Alternate/previous Frys have managed to get close to Leela with romantic gestures: a diamond scrunchie, a holophonor serenade, a love message written in stars. There's another key point, and that's Leela's oft-mentioned but never-seen ex, Sean. In "Devil's Hands", she describes Sean as pasty, unambitious individual whose redeeming feature was his skill as a jazz saxophonist. So it seems like creativity, specifically musical creativity, is the key. The problem is, even though he works hard at it, Fry doesn't even have musical skill. Not as far as his hands are concerned, at any rate. Nor can he sing. Or draw. And he won't artificially enhance his skills if this distorts his personality - "Parasites Lost" makes this clear.
The solution? Either Fry will come up with some other amazing romantic gesture, or he'll find a musical instrument he CAN play well. Or perhaps he'll find some other, more successful creative outlet.
-Fry is the single most important person in the universe
This arc was intended to occur from the very beginning of Futurama's production. "Space Pilot 3000", act three of "Anthology Of Interest", "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid", "Roswell That Ends Well" and "The Why Of Fry" are the relevant episodes. Thanks to his being his own grandfather, Fry is the only person in history to lack the delta brainwave, making him the only person able to fight the evil brainspawn on behalf of the Nibblonians. Fry has twice defeated the brains, but as Nibbler wiped his memory of the events of "The Why Of Fry", he doesn't remember the second time and possibly not the first either.
At the end of said episode, Fry remarks, "If you ever need a saviour again, just ask." Nibbler replies, "Oh, we will. We will." Presumably Fry will need to fight the brains at least once more. And obviously it must be the brains that he fights: against any other foe, Fry is all but useless.
Earlier in that same episode, Fry mentions Leela and Nibbler remarks, "Ah. She must be the other. You must not give up on her..." and promises to help Fry make things work with her. This suggests not only that Leela has some critical part to play in saving the universe next time around, but also that much more hangs on Fry and Leela getting together than just Fry's happiness. These two arcs are obviously strongly linked together.
Side note: while "Anthology Of Interest" is mostly non-canon, the spacetime warp which tears open as a result of Fry failing to be frozen is very important. During "The Why Of Fry" the enormous brain explains: "There is a nexus point between universes at the space-time where you entered the cryogenic tube." Here's why: if Fry fails to enter the tube, he fails to go to the future. If he does that, he isn't present at the supernova and doesn't go back in time, where he doesn't sleep with his grandmother, meaning Yancy Fry is never born and so Fry himself is never born either. The result is a paradox which, as seen in the "Anthology Of Interest" story, destroys the whole universe.
How Fry and Leela's fates are linked, and what shape the next (final?) brainspawn threat will take, remains to be seen.
-Morbo
Newsmonster Morbo is an extremely poorly-disguised spy for his (unnamed) home planet. His race is plotting to take over the Earth. Will they ever do it? Will
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