'''Futurama''' is an
Emmy Award-winning
animated American sitcom created by
Matt Groening, who also created ''
The Simpsons'', and developed by Groening and
David X. Cohen for the
Fox network. The series follows the adventures of a former
New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, after he is accidentally
cryonically frozen at midnight,
January 1,
2000, and is revived one thousand years in the future.
In the United States, the series aired from
March 28,
1999 to
August 10,
2003 on
FOX, although its timeslot was regularly interrupted and pre-empted by sports events, and eventually went out of production. However,
Comedy Central has entered into an agreement with
20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the new movies as new episodes in an episodic format as of February 2008.
[ "Groening's Bargain to Yield Four Futurama Movies" ][ "Futurama" gets new life on Comedy Central Wallenstein, Andrew ] At
Comic-Con 2007 it was announced that ''Futurama'' will return on November 27th as a full-length DVD release called '', which will be followed by three additional films: '', ''
Bender's Game'' and ''
The Wild Green Yonder''. After their release, each film will be divided into four episodes and air on
Comedy Central.
[1]
__TOC__
Cast and characters
''Futurama'' is essentially a workplace sitcom whose plot typically revolves around the activities and adventures of the employees of the Planet Express delivery company.
[2] Episodes will invariably feature the central trio of Fry, Leela and Bender, and storylines centred on the other main characters are common.
★ '
Philip J. Fry' (
Billy West) — Philip J. Fry was a pizza delivery boy who was
cryonically frozen just after midnight on the early morning of New Year's Day,
January 1,
2000, reawakening on New Year's Eve, 2999. He gets a job at Planet Express, a company owned by his closest living relative, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, where he works as a delivery boy.
2
★ '
Turanga Leela' (
Katey Sagal) — Leela is the competent,
one-eyed captain of the
Planet Express Ship.
2 Abandoned at birth, she grew up in the
Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium believing herself to be an
alien from an unknown race. She later learns that she is a
mutant from the sewers.
[3]
★ '
Bender Bending Rodríguez' (
John DiMaggio) — Bender is a
foul-mouthed,
alcoholic,
cigar-
smoking,
kleptomaniacal,
misanthropic,
egocentric, ill-tempered
robot originally programmed to bend
girders for suicide booths. He is Fry's best friend and
roommate. He is the ship's chef (though his cooking is terrible) and primarily assists in delivering cargo from ship to planet.
★ '
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth' a.k.a. The Professor (
Billy West) — Born
April 9, 2841, Professor Hubert Farnsworth is Fry's distant nephew.
[4] Farnsworth founded Planet Express to fund his
mad scientist-esque experiments and inventions. He clones himself to create a successor,
Cubert Farnsworth.
★ '
Doctor John D. Zoidberg' (
Billy West) — Zoidberg is a
lobster-like alien from the planet
Decapod 10, and is the neurotic and self-conscious staff doctor of Planet Express. His knowledge of human anatomy and physiology is woefully inadequate. He is penniless and usually eats the garbage that he finds in a
dumpster outside Planet Express headquarters, or anything else he can scrounge.
★ '
Amy Wong' (
Lauren Tom) — Amy is an incredibly rich, spoiled, blunt and extremely accident-prone
intern at Planet Express. She is an engineering student at Mars University and heiress to half of
Mars. Born on Mars, she is ethnically
Chinese, prone to frequently cursing in
Cantonese, and using 31st century slang. Her parents are
Leo and Inez. Although initially portrayed as somewhat promiscuous, she eventually developed a relationship with
Kif Kroker.
★ '
Hermes Conrad' (
Phil LaMarr) — Hermes is the
Jamaican accountant of Planet Express. A
bureaucrat and proud of it, he is a stickler for regulation. Hermes is also a former champion in Olympic Limbo, a sport derived from the
popular dance and similar to the track event of
hurdling. He has a wife,
LaBarbara, and a 12-year old son,
Dwight.
''See also:
Recurring robot characters,
Recurring human characters,
Alien characters,
Futurama animals, and
Secondary characters''
Setting
''Futurama'' is set at the beginning of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. Various devices and architecture are similar to the
Populuxe design.
Global warming, inflexible
bureaucracy, and
substance abuse are a few of the subjects given a 31st century exaggeration in a world where the problems have become both more extreme and more common. In a jab at segregation, for example, the show depicts the human prejudice against
mutants as being so great that the latter have been forced to live underground in the sewers. The characters' home on Earth is the city of
New New York, built over the ruins of present-day New York City, referred to as "Old New York".
Numerous technological advances have been made by the 31st century. The ability to keep heads alive in jars was invented by
Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in "
A Big Piece of Garbage"), and has resulted in many political figures and celebrities being active; this became the writers' excuse to feature and poke fun at celebrities in the show. Curiously, several of the preserved heads shown are those of people who were already dead well before the advent of this technology, the most prominent example of this anomaly being
Richard Nixon, who died in 1994. The Internet, while being fully immersive and encompassing all senses and seeming to feature its own digital world (similar to
''Tron'' or
''The Matrix''), is slow and consists mostly of
pornography,
pop-up ads, and "filthy"
chat rooms, though some of it is edited to include educational material ostensibly for youth.
Television is a primary form of entertainment, though it is of a much
higher resolution. Robots powered by either alcohol or mineral oil are commonplace, and most have free will and emotions.
The wheel is obsolete, having been forgotten and replaced by hovering vehicles and transportation tubes; these are reminiscent of old-style
pneumatic tubes. At one point Fry builds a carriage employing wheels, albeit malformed and none of the other characters recognize the wheels - although Leela suggests that they would work better if they were round.
[5]
''Futurama's setting is a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing
continuity errors if they serve to further the gags.
[6] For example, while one episode stated global warming was canceled out by
nuclear winter, another episode was built on the premise of continuing global warming. The world of tomorrow is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today and to parody the science fiction genre.
Society and culture
Earth is depicted as being multicultural to the extent that there are a wide range of human, robot and extraterrestrial beings shown in the series who interact with the primary characters. In some ways the future is depicted as being more socially advanced than Fry's, and thus the audience's, reality. Other times, the future is shown to have many of the same types of problems, challenges, mistakes and prejudices of the past. Robots make up the largest "minority" in the series. They are often treated like second-class citizens
5, while a few are depicted as wealthy members of the upper-class. Most robots are self-aware and granted freedom and free-will. However at times of crisis robots may have their free-will removed (having their “patriotism circuits” activated) and forced to serve humans, or to serve in the military in times of war.
[7] Many robots live in apartments specially constructed for robots, with rooms the size of a typical coat closet and closets the size of typical rooms.
[8] Sewer Mutants are mutated humans who live in the sewers by law. They hold
urban legend status and are regarded as fictional by some members of the public.
Religion is still a prominent part of society although the dominant religions have shifted. A merger between the
major religious groups of the 20th century has resulted in the First Amalgamated Church,
[9] while
Vodou is now mainstream. New religions include
Oprahism,
Robotology, and the banned religion of
''Star Trek'' fandom. Religious figures in the series include
Father Changstein-El-Gamal,
Preacherbot, and passing references to
The Space Pope. While very few episodes focus exclusively on the religious changes in the ''Futurama'' universe they do cover a wide variety of subjects including predestination, prayer, the nature of salvation, and religious conversion.
9
Earthican flag, "Ol' Freebie"
Earth has a
unified government, headed by the
President of Earth (from season 2 onwards being
Richard Nixon's Head). Earth's capital is
Washington, D.C. and the flag of Earth is similar in design to the
flag of the United States, with planet Earth displayed in place of the fifty stars.
The ''Democratic Order Of Planets'' (
D.O.O.P.) is the fictional organization in the ''Futurama'' universe which has been compared to both the
United Nations and to the
United Federation of Planets of the ''
Star Trek'' universe.
[7] Numerous other
galaxies have been colonized or have made contact by the year 3000. Mars has been
terraformed, and is home to
Mars University.
Linguistics
There are two alternative alphabets that appear often in the background, usually in the forms of
graffiti, advertisements, or warning labels. Nearly all messages using alternative scripts translate directly into English. The first alphabet is comprised of abstract characters and is referred to as Alienese
3, a simple
substitution cipher from the
Latin alphabet.
[11] The second alphabet uses a more complex
modular addition code, where the "next letter is given by the summation of all previous letters plus the current letter."
[12] They often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages . Aside from these alphabets, most of the displayed wording on the show uses the Latin alphabet.
Additionally, several English expressions have evolved since the present day. For example, the word ''
Christmas'' has been replaced with ''
Xmas'' and the word '' with its archaic form of ''aks''. According to David X. Cohen it is a running joke in the series that the
French language is
extinct in the ''Futurama'' universe, much like
Latin is in the present.
[13]
Hallmarks
Opening sequence
Much like the
opening sequence in ''The Simpsons'' with its
chalkboard,
sax solo and
couch gags, ''Futurama'' has a distinctive opening sequence featuring minor gags. As the show begins, the word "Futurama" is displayed across the screen along with a humorous subtitle (such as "
As Seen On TV,", "Bender’s Humor by
Microsoft Joke™" or "You Can't Prove It Won't Happen".
[14] Later, after flying through down town
New New York and past various minor characters, the Planet Express Ship crashes into a large screen showing a short clip from a classic cartoon. These have included clips from ''
Looney Tunes'' shorts and even a ''Simpsons'' episode.
14
The ''Futurama'' theme song was written by
Christopher Tyng, and is based on the song "Psyché Rock" of
Pierre Henry and
Michel Colombier.
[15] Tyng discusses the instrumentation for the Futurama theme in the Season 2 DVD commentary for "The Problem With Popplers."
[16]
Recurring jokes and catch phrases
''Futurama's original spoof closing logo for
"30th Century Fox", the first time that Fox has ever allowed a TV show to change the name of the logo in the end or any part of a TV show.
Several recurring jokes are used throughout the series. The Professor always announces a dangerous mission or bad news with the phrase "Good news, everyone!" or a slight variation of the line. Bender will often tell someone to "Bite my shiny metal ass" or a variation depending on the current situation. The catchphrase itself is heavily parodied in the episode "
War is the H-Word". Whenever
Scruffy the janitor is shown, none of the other Planet Express employees seem to know who he is, despite his claims of being a long-time employee and his repeated appearances in the show. The word ''underpants'' is almost always used in lieu of the word ''underwear'' due to
Ken Keeler's belief it is 20%
funnier.
[17] Amy falls down or slips often throughout the series, and the same
soundbite of her scream is used each time.
[7] Whenever it is referenced, the state of
New Jersey is regarded as a terrible place, and in the episode "
I, Roommate", Fry rejects an apparently perfect apartment when it is revealed that it is "technically in New Jersey." The series has
owls replacing
rats and
pigeons as the
vermin plaguing New New York. The 20th Century Fox logo at the end of each broadcast is altered to read "30th Century Fox", as it is set in the 31st century. The producers stated that they created the logo themselves when Fox refused to produce a new logo for them, but later were compensated for the amount paid because Fox decided that they liked it.
[19] The logo was referenced in the episode "
That's Lobstertainment!", when a Los Angeles tour guide points out the movie studio in the shape of the logo; the studio's spotlights are used to blind pilots so FOX cameramen can film the resulting crashes.
Humor
Although the series utilized a wide range of styles of humor, including
self-deprecation,
black comedy,
off-color humor,
slapstick, and
surreal humor, its primary source of comedy was its
satirical depiction of everyday life in the future, and its
parodical comparisons of which to the present.
2 Matt Groening notes that from the show's conception, his goal was to take what was on the surface a goofy comedy and show that underneath were "legitimate literary science fiction concepts".
[20] The series contrasted "
low culture" and "
high culture" comedy; for example, Bender's
catchphrase is the insult "Bite my shiny metal
ass", while his most terrifying nightmare is a vision of an
Arabic numeral ''2'', a joke referencing the
binary numeral system.
The series developed a
cult following partially due to the large number of
in-jokes, most of which were aimed at "
nerds".
In
commentary on the
DVD releases, David X. Cohen points out and sometimes explains his "nerdiest joke[s]."
[21] These jokes included
mathematical jokes, such as "Loew's
-plex" (
aleph-null-plex) movie theater,
as well as various forms of
science humor. For example, Professor Farnsworth complains that judges of a
quantum finish "''changed the outcome by measuring it''", a reference to the
observer effect in
quantum mechanics.
[7] Over its run, the series passed references to
quantum chromodynamics (the appearance of
Strong Force brand
glue[7]),
computer science and
electronics (two large books in a closet labeled
''P'' and ''NP'' respectively
[7]), and
genetics (a mention of Bender's "
robo-, or ''R''NA"
[7]). The show often featured subtle references to classic
science fiction, most often ''Star Trek'' - many soundbites are used in the series as
homage - but also others, such as the reference to the origin of the word ''
robot'' made in the existence of a robot-dominated planet named
Chapek 9.
[7]
Production
Matt Groening began thinking of ''Futurama'' in the mid-1990s. In 1997, he enlisted the help of David Cohen, then a ''Simpsons'' writer and producer, to assist in developing the show. The two then spent time researching science fiction books, television shows, and films of the past. By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines. During that first meeting, Fox ordered thirteen episodes. Shortly after, however, Groening and Fox executives argued over whether the network would have any creative input into the show.
[27] With ''The Simpsons'' the network has no input.
[28] Groening explains, "When they tried to give me notes on Futurama, I just said: 'No, we're going to do this just the way we did Simpsons.' And they said, 'Well, we don't do business that way anymore.' And I said, 'Oh, well, that's the only way I do business.'"
[29] After negotiations, he got the same independence with ''Futurama''.
Production process
It takes six to nine months to make an episode of ''Futurama''.
[30]37 This long production time means many episodes are worked on simultaneously.
[31]
Each episode begins with the writers discussing the story in a group. Then a single staff writer writes an outline and then a script. Once the first draft is finished, the writers and executive producers get together with the actors to do a table read.
27 After this script reading, the writers rewrite the script as a group before eventually sending it to animation.
[32] At this point the voice recording is also started and the script is out of the writers' hands.
37
The animation in ''Futurama'' is done by ''
Rough Draft Studios'', which Groening insisted be used. Rough Draft receives the completed script and the first thing they do is
storyboard it into over 100 drawings. Then they create a pencil-drawn
animatic with 1000 frames. From there, Rough Draft's sister studio in Korea puts together the 30,000-frame finished episode. The show is also sometimes animated overseas by
Tokyo Movie Shinsha.
27
Computer generated explosion in Futurama.
CGI
In addition to traditional cartoon drawing, Rough Draft Studios also uses
CGI for the fast or complex shots such as during the movement of spaceships, explosions, nebulae, and snow scenes. Most of the opening credits are rendered in CGI. The CGI is rendered at 24 fps (opposed to hand-drawn at 12 fps) and the lack of artifacts makes the animation appear very smooth and fluid. CGI characters look slightly different due to spatially "cheating" hand-drawn characters by drawing slightly out of proportion or off-perspective features to emphasize traits of the face or body, improving legibility of an expression.
PowerAnimator is used to draw the comic-like CGI.
[33]
Broadcast
When it came to deciding when the show would air Groening and Cohen wanted ''Futurama'' to be shown at 8:30 Sunday nights, following ''The Simpsons''. The network disagreed, opting instead to show two episodes in the Sunday night lineup before moving the show to its regular time slot on Tuesday.
[34] Beginning its second broadcast season ''Futurama'' was again placed in the 8:30 Sunday spot
[35], but by mid-season the show was moved again. This time ''Futurama'' began airing in the 7 p.m. Sunday timeslot, its third position in under a year's time.
[36]
Due to the 7 p.m. Sunday timeslot the show was often preempted by sports and usually had a later than average season premiere. It also allowed the writers and animators to get ahead of the broadcast schedule so that episodes intended for one season were not aired until the following season. By the beginning of the fourth broadcast season all the episodes to be aired that season had already been completed and writers were working at least a year in advance.
[37]
Ratings
When ''Futurama'' debuted in the
Fox Sunday night line-up at 8:30 p.m. between ''The Simpsons'' and ''
The X-Files'' on
March 28,
1999 it managed 19 million viewers, tying for 11th overall in that week's
Nielsen Ratings.
[38] The following week, airing at the same time, ''Futurama'' drew 14.2 million viewers. The show was then moved to Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ''Futurama's first episode airing on Tuesday drew 8.85 million viewers.
[39] Though its ratings were well below ''The Simpsons'', Futurama's first season rated higher than competing animated series: ''
King of the Hill'', ''
Family Guy'', ''
Dilbert'', ''
South Park'' and ''
The PJs''.
[40]
When ''Futurama'' was effectively canceled in 2003 it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season.
[41]
Show status
FOX executives reportedly did not like the show and by the fourth season, ''Futurama'' was being aired erratically.
[42] Its time slot was regularly pre-empted by sports events, making it difficult to predict when new episodes would air. FOX also had not aired several episodes that had been produced for seasons three and four. Although ''Futurama'' was never officially canceled, midway through the production of the fourth season, Fox decided to let it go out of production and told the writers and animators to look for new jobs.
[43] Fox's decision to stop buying episodes of ''Futurama'' led Rough Draft Studios, the animation producers, to fire its animators.
[44] ''Futurama'' was not included in Fox's fall 2003 lineup.
[45]
In January 2003,
Cartoon Network began airing ''Futurama'' episodes as the centerpiece to the expansion of their
Adult Swim cartoon block.
[46] In October 2005,
Comedy Central picked up the exclusive cable syndication rights to air ''Futurama's 72-episode run at the start of 2008, following the expiration of Cartoon Network's contract. It was cited as the largest and most expensive acquisition in the network's history.
[ "Futurama" in Comedy Central's future via big deal Dempsey, John ]
Future and DVD movies
After the successful revival of the ''
Family Guy'' series,
20th Century Fox Television approached ''Futurama'' co-creator Matt Groening to produce a
direct-to-DVD ''Futurama'' movie. On
April 26,
2006, Groening noted in an interview that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies.
[47] On
June 22,
2006, Comedy Central announced that at least 13 new episodes were to be produced. Comedy Central also confirmed that
Billy West,
Katey Sagal, and
John DiMaggio would return for the new episodes, with a 2008 debut planned.
The first movie, '' is written by
Ken Keeler and Cohen, and will include return appearances by the
Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim,
Morbo,
Robot Santa,
the "God" space entity,
Al Gore, and
Zapp Brannigan.
[48] In an appearance on ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', Al Gore confirmed that he would appear as his disembodied head. Cohen has said that Gore would be involved in a storyline which will "show what really determined the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election".
[49]
In February 2007, Groening clarified speculation as to whether ''Futurama'' had been revived in episodic or feature-film form, saying "[The crew is] writing them as movies and then we're going to chop them up, reconfigure them, write new material and try to make them work as separate episodes."
[50] According to
Rich Moore the titles of the other three movies are ''Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs'', ''Futurama: Bender's Game'', and ''Futurama: The Wild Green Yonder''.
[51]
A 5-minute trailer was shown at the 2007
Comic-Con International convention in
San Diego on
July 28,
2007, to an audience of more than 4,000.
[52] All original voice actors still take part in the series, and it will be in widescreen format when released on
DVD. After the trailer was shown the panel, including Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, and Matt Groening, answered questions from the audience. It was revealed that they are working on 4 DVDs which will later be split into 16 episodes that will air on
Comedy Central.
[1]
'' will be released on DVD November 27th, 2007. It has been animated in widescreen and will be released on both normal and
high-definition DVD.
[1]
References to Futurama in popular culture
''Futurama'' is referenced numerous times in Groening's first series ''The Simpsons''.
Squeaky Voiced Teen is once seen attempting suicide, jumping off a cliff screaming "Why did they cancel ''Futurama''?".
[7] Bender has also had numerous cameos,
[7][7] the most notable in
an episode named in reference to ''Futurama''.
[58] Fry has also appeared in ''The Simpsons'', during a
couch gag.
[7]
In ''
An Inconvenient Truth'',
Al Gore uses a scene from the episode "
Crimes Of The Hot" during his initial explanation of
global warming.
[60] The ''Futurama'' cast and crew also made an animated faux-trailer for the movie titled ''A Terrifying Message From Al Gore'' featuring Gore and Bender. Al Gore is a recurring guest star in Futurama, and he had said that Futurama is his favorite show.
In an episode of ''
The PJs'', Fry's face can be seen on a
milk carton as a missing person, referencing Fry's disappearance by being cryonically frozen. This was an act of reciprocation for an advertisement of ''The PJs'' etched into a manhole cover in the ''Futurama'' episode "
I Second That Emotion".
[61]
The Planet Express Ship appears in the
Dark Horse Comics miniseries ''Outer Orbit'', and the theme from ''Futurama'' was heard in the background of a scene on the moon in ''
The Adventures of Pluto Nash''. Also, in
Alan Moore's "
Top Ten" (issue 11), a discolored Fry, Leela, and Bender can be seen in the background of one of the frames.
[62]
During the premiere skit in ''
Family Guy's '', a reporter on the red carpet asks
Stewie Griffin if Fox has any plans to bring back ''Futurama''. ''Family Guy'' and ''Futurama'' were both animated series on Fox which were canceled and subsequently aired on
Adult Swim; at the time of release ''Family Guy'' was scheduled to return but ''Futurama'' was not.
Awards
| 'Wins'[63] | 'Nominations' |
|---|
'Annie Awards:'
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2000 — ''Brian Sheesley'' for episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?"
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2001 — ''John Di Maggio'' as Bender for episode "Bendless Love"
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2001 — ''Ron Weiner'' for episode "Luck of the Fryrish"[64]
★ Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2003 — ''Rich Moore'' for episode "Roswell That Ends Well"'Emmy Awards:'
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation
★
★ 2000 — ''Bari Kumar'' (color stylist) for episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two"
★
★ 2001 — ''Rodney Clouden'' (storyboard artist) for episode "Parasites Lost"
★ Outstanding Animated Program
★
★ 2002 — "Roswell That Ends Well"'Environmental Media Awards:'
★ Comedy — TV Episodic
★
★ 2000 — "The Problem with Popplers"'Writers Guild of America Award:'
★ Animation
★
★ 2003 — ''Ken Keeler'' for episode "Godfellas". | 'Annie Awards:'
★ Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Program
★
★ 1999 — Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 1999 — ''Ken Keeler'' for episode "The Series Has Landed"
★ Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Program
★
★ 2000 — Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''
★ Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2000 — ''Susie Dietter'' for episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two".
★ Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Production
★
★ 2001 — Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''
★ Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2003 — Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''
★ Outstanding Music in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2004 — ''Ken Keeler'' for episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"
★ Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production
★
★ 2004 — ''Patric Verrone'' for episode "The Sting". | 'Emmy Awards:'
★ Outstanding Animated Program
★
★ 1999 — "A Big Piece of Garbage"
★
★ 2001 — "Amazon Women in the Mood"
★
★ 2003 — "Jurassic Bark"
★
★ 2004 — "The Sting"
★ Outstanding Music and Lyrics
★
★ 2004 — The song "I Want My Hands Back" for episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"'Nebula Award:'
★ Best Script
★
★ 2004 — ''David A. Goodman'' for episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"'Writers Guild of America Award:'
★ Animation
★
★ 2004 — ''Patric Verrone'' for episode "The Sting" |
DVD releases
Full season releases
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | Additional Features |
|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|
| | 13 | March 25 2003 | January 28 2002 | November 27 2002 | This three disc boxset includes the 13 episodes from production season 1. Bonus features include commentary on every episode, Animatics for "Space Pilot 3000", Deleted scenes, Script/storyboard for "Space Pilot 3000", Featurette, Interactive still gallery (stills & video) and easter eggs. |
| | 19 | August 12 2003 | November 11 2002 | May 13 2003 | This four disc boxset includes the 19 episodes from production season 2. Bonus features include commentary on every episode, deleted scenes, easter eggs, still gallery/concept art, alien alphabet. |
| | 22 | March 9 2004 | June 2 2003 | September 24 2003 | This four disc boxset includes the 22 episodes from production season 3. Bonus features include commentary on every episode, deleted scenes, animatics, still gallery/character art, 3D models from rough draft sequences, easter eggs. |
| | 18 | August 24 2004 | November 24 2003 | November 24 2003 | This four disc boxset includes the 18 episodes from production season 4. Bonus features include commentary on every episode, deleted scenes from 16 episodes, storyboard, character art and "How To Draw" galleries, animatics, 3-D Models, pencil tests, easter eggs. |
:'''Note:''' ''The box sets in Region 2 and 4 are marketed as "Season" rather than "Volume".''
:'''Note:''' ''Each of the box sets represent one of the four production seasons of the series. However, Fox spread out the series over 5 television seasons, often airing the series out of production order. Of note: after the production of Futurama was originally canceled, Fox aired the 16 previously unaired episodes, all from production seasons three and four, as a "season 5", running sporadically between November 2002 and August 2003. The box sets restore the episodes to production order.''
Compilation release
Movie releases
| DVD Name | Release dates | Additional Features |
|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|
| | November 27 2007 | TBA | TBA | Contains an all new feature length direct-to-DVD movie. Bonus features include complete commentary, full-length episode of ''Everybody Loves Hypno-Toad'', Futurama math lecture, and promo for ''An Inconvenient Truth'' starring Bender and Al Gore. [65] |
''Futurama'' in other media
Comic books
First started in November 2000, ''Futurama Comics'' is a comic book series published by
Bongo Comics based in the ''Futurama'' universe.
[66] While originally published only in the US, a UK and Australian version of the series is also available.
[67] Other than a different running order and presentation, the stories are the same in all versions.
Much like the TV series, each comic has a caption at the top of the cover. For example: "Made In The USA! (Printed in Canada)". Some of the UK and Australian comics have different captions on the top of their comics (for example, the Australian version of #20 says "A 21st Century Comic Book" across the cover, while the US version does not have a caption on that issue). All series contain a letters page, artwork from readers and previews of other Bongo Comics coming up.
The ''Futurama'' comics may not be
canonical ''per se'', and while they do draw from the ''Futurama'' universe, the events portrayed within them do not necessarily have any effect upon the continuity of the show.
Toys and figurines
While relatively uncommon, several action and tin figurines of various characters and items from the show have been made and are being sold by various hobby/online stores. When the show was initially licensed plans were made with
Rocket USA to produce wind-up, walking tin figurines of both Bender and Nibbler with packaging artwork done by the original artists for the series.
[68] The Bender toys included a cigar and bottle of "Olde Fortran Malt Liquor" and featured moving eyes, antenna and a functioning compartment door; it received an "A" rating from
Sci Fi Weekly.
[69] The collectible releases include a set of bendable action figures, including Lieutenant
Kif Kroker, Turanga Leela, and Bender. There have also been a few figures released by Moore Action Collectibles, including Fry, Turanga Leela, Bender, and the Planet Express Ship. Lastly, in late 2006, Rocket USA brought out a limited edition 'super' heavyweight die cast Bender. Another special edition Bender figure was released at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) in 2006. The figure was called "Glorious Golden Bender".
Toynami has recently announced new ''Futurama'' figures which are currently to be released in 2007.
[70] The first series of the Toynami figues will be separated into 3 "waves". Each figure will also come with pieces to assemble the Robot Devil.
Video game
Main articles: Futurama (video game)
On
September 15 2000, ''Unique Development Studios'' acquired the license to develop a Futurama video game for the next generation consoles and handheld systems.
Fox Interactive signed on to publish the game.
[71] Sierra Entertainment later became the game's publisher, and it was released on
August 14,
2003.
[72] Versions are available for the
PS2 and
Xbox, both of which use
cel-shading technology, however, the game was subsequently canceled on the
Nintendo GameCube and
Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe.
[73]
References
1. Comic-Con: The 'Futurama' is Clear'
2. Cook, Lucius (April 26, 2004). Hey Sexy Mama, Wanna Kill All Humans?: Looking Backwards at Futurama, The Greatest SF Show You've Never Seen. ''Locus Online''. Retrieved on January 27, 2007.
3.
4.
5.
6. Verrone, Patric M (2003), DVD commentary for "The Sting", ''Futurama''. Original airdate June 1, 2003. No. 12, Season 4. 20th Century Fox.
7.
8.
9. The Gospel According to the Simpsons. Bigger and possibly even Better! edition, , Mark, Pinsky, , ,
10.
11. Omniglot
12.
13.
14. 'Flickr Slideshow'
15. 'Futurama Has Teen Spirit'
16. 'Psyché Rock'
17.
18.
19. Audio commentary 23 minutes in
20. Keller, Joel (January 31, 2007). Matt Groening talks about Futurama's comeback. TV Squad. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
21.
22.
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24.
25.
26.
27. Nice Planet...We'll Take It! Alex Needham
28. Space Case Dan Snierson
29. Groening Bites the Hand that Feeds
30. Fox's far-out Futurama looks like a hit Dusty Saunders
31. Online Chat with Matt Groening
32. David X Cohen interview with GotFuturama.com
33. Scott Vanzo of Rough Draft Studios e-mail response
34. Matt Groening Interview with Radio Times Andrew Duncan
35. Fall TV Preview: Tricks and Treats Annabelle Villanueva
36. Futurama Shock Adam Winer
37. "David X. Cohen boards the Planet Express to find meaning in Futurama"
38. New animated show `Futurama' may be a score for Fox David Bauder
39. Groening's Gripe
40. Futurama: Bringing an Alien and a Robot to TV Life James Sterngold
41. Fox puts 'Futurama' order on hold
42. UPDATE UPDATED!! FUTURAMA Thing of the Past?? Or What??
43. Silver screen Simpsons, Futurama facing finish?
44. FOX Says 'No' to 'Futurama'
45. Remeber Me after my Death!
46. Adult Swim
47. Matt Groening
48. Ain't It Cool News: "Ben Sinister Has Read The New FUTURAMA 'Movie'!!"
49. www.wizarduniverse.com
50. Rhymes with Raining
51. Vo, Alex (July 30 2007). Comic-Con Premieres New Futurama Footage; Plus, We Interview Futurama's Rich Moore. ''Rotten Tomatoes''. Retrieved on August 1 2007
52. Good News Everyone! 'Futurama' Film Footage
53. Comic-Con: The 'Futurama' is Clear'
54. Comic-Con: The 'Futurama' is Clear'
55.
56.
57.
58. Bender has speaking lines in the episode
59.
60. YOU GO, GORE
61. "They reciprocated, actually, by putting Fry on the side of a milk carton in ''The PJs'' as a lost person."
62. Notes to Top Ten #11 Nevins, Jess
63. Awards for "Futurama" (1999)
64. 29th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners
65. Futurama: Bender's Big Score. ''FoxStore.com''. Retrieved on August 6 2007.
66. Groening lanches 'Futurama Comics'
67. Press release (2002-09-25) Do you want Fry with that? ''Titan Publishing''. Retrieved from gotfuturama on 2007-03-04
68. Pushing Tin: Space Toys With Golden-Age Style Janulewicz, Tom
69. Bender: Matt Groening's Futurama inspires a nostalgia for the inventive toys of future past Huxter, Sean
70. Futurama SDCC Exclusive and Toy news
71. Futurama Finds a Developer
72. Sierra to bring Futurama game to the US
73. Futurama Info — Futurama Information — Futurama Release Date
External links
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''Futurama'' opening gags at
Flickr
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''Futurama'' title captions at ''The Infosphere''.
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''Futurama'' Revival at
Simpsons Zip
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