Futurama

[Daikun]

Anyway, the final episode ever airs next week. Is anyone tuning in for the big sendoff?

[gunswordfist]

Might as well.

[gunswordfist]

Thoughts on the final episode?

[Nel_Annette]

I liked it! Very touching, the infinite loop falling was pretty funny, and I liked the callbacks to the moon episode.

Though that last third did kind of rob the supporting cast of a final send-off, I guess. But whatevs.

[gunswordfist]

Yeah, I was thinking about that. It started become clear that it was going to be all Leela and Fry from there on.

[gunswordfist]

lmao @ bender tap dancing on a little girl's corpse.

[gunswordfist]

i am loving anime futurama.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I've been re-watching this series in bits and pieces. One thing that I noticed was that in the very first episode when Fry falls into the cryogenic chamber, you can actually see Nibbler's shadow next to his chair tipping over. I never noticed that before, but upon some research, it turns out that it was planned that Nibbler was the one to send Fry into the future, years before that plot point was actually revealed on the show. All this time I always thought that it was just a clever retcon, but it was actually planned, which surprised me. Then again, it probably shouldn't have surprised me too much since I do know that Leela's origin story was also planned out ahead of time. In the first episode featuring the crew running into the Sewer Mutants, you can actually see Leela's parents among the crowd (once again, years before this was actually revealed on the show).

[Spark Of Spirit]

The commentary for the episode (which was before the episode in question was made or aired) hinted at it and even told you where to look for a "surprise". Futurama was extremely well planned from conception. Those first four seasons are still pretty top notch.

[gunswordfist]

I've been re-watching this series in bits and pieces. One thing that I noticed was that in the very first episode when Fry falls into the cryogenic chamber, you can actually see Nibbler's shadow next to his chair tipping over. I never noticed that before, but upon some research, it turns out that it was planned that Nibbler was the one to send Fry into the future, years before that plot point was actually revealed on the show. All this time I always thought that it was just a clever retcon, but it was actually planned, which surprised me. Then again, it probably shouldn't have surprised me too much since I do know that Leela's origin story was also planned out ahead of time. In the first episode featuring the crew running into the Sewer Mutants, you can actually see Leela's parents among the crowd (once again, years before this was actually revealed on the show).

Is this April Fool's?...except for the last part. Whoa, I had no clue.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Futurama the audio drama is out.

[Daikun]

Syfy has picked up the show.

[Daikun]

The show has been revived again. It's getting 20 episodes on Hulu.

John DiMaggio will not be returning, however.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I wouldn't rule him out just yet. There was a big conflict over whether the cast would return before the Comedy Central seasons too. It's not unusual for an absent actor to have his roles played by someone else in a table read either, I wouldn't put too much weight on that. I would be surprised if he doesn't come back in the end, honestly.

As for whether Futurama needs to return...not really? The show miraculously had two great endings in both the FOX and Comedy Central eras, I don't know how they can top "I want to hear how it ends" or "What do you say? Want to go around again?" I don't doubt they could make some funny episodes. I rewatched the entire show last year, and I think people are too harsh on the CC era - there are some bad eps, but most are pretty good and some are among the best in the series like "The Late Phillip J Fry" and "Prisoner of Benda". Yeah, there were some shitty eps like "Neutopia," which may be the worst episode... but the FOX era also had equally awful eps like "Bend Her," which is easily the second-worst tbh. I don't think there needs to be more Futurama, but I don't think it's classic era was so untouchable that I'm aghast at the idea of making more. But with as satisfying an ending as it has - twice - I have mixed feelings with them messing around with a good thing in trying to come up with more stories with these characters or trying to come up with another ending that can somehow top the previous ones.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I wouldn't mind more Futurama as long as the old writers are still around or they're able to successfully foster new talent. Even the worst Futurama episodes at least have a handful of funny jokes. The CC era kinda reminds me of the Scully era of The Simpsons, in that regard.

I think my gripes with the CC era were because it started out in 2010, it lost the Fox era's inherent charm of Fry seeing future versions of things he was familiar with back in 1999. So when it came back on Comedy Central, then it made jokes about iPhones and Obama. Or because of how long it takes to produce an episode, making jokes about subjects that were already passe at the time like the creationism vs evolution argument or Yo Gabba Gabba. And like Simpsons, the show was going through that problem where characters mostly going around in circles because the status quo got in the way, and only D-listers like Calculon or Roberto were able to change throughout the CC seasons.

That, and while it dodged the issue more than most CC cartoons, Futurama still suffered from the same problem every animated series on that channel goes through where it tries to be South Park but doesn't understand how or why South Park works (for a recent example of this phenomenon: look at Fairview). So you've got all these gags that try to be transgressive but ultimately come off as crudely one-note.