Futurama: The End?

So, for whatever reason, FOX lost faith in Futurama; after a few years of changing timeslots and poor promotion, the show got canceled. But then, after it became one of the most popular shows on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, FOX commissioned four new Futurama direct-to-DVD movies (isn't it weird how this and two other FOX shows were somehow revived [Firefly and Family Guy], and it is likely that another canceled-before-its-time FOX show, Arrested Development, is getting a second chance). So far, two have been released, and while they haven't been as good as the show was at its best, they have certainly been worthwhile.

The first, Bender's Big Score, told the complicated story of the crew discovering the secret of time travel. After discovering a tattoo on Fry's ass that holds the code for opening a time sphere, a group of greedy aliens exploit it to force Bender to go back in time and steal priceless artifacts. However, as usually happens with time travel, an elaborate time loop story is created, as Fry and Bender repeatedly go back in time, creating rather insane circumstances (some of which negate the carefully plotted backstory that was established in the series, but I'm nitpicking).

The other, The Beast With A Billion Backs, deals with the final twist of Big Score. After a rift in the space-time continuum is created due to the overuse of time travel, the world is confronted with an enormous monster who offers a kind of bizarre paradise.

Big Score was very much about reintroducing us to the world of Futurama; the writers tried to squeeze in nearly every recurring character into the two-hour span, which ultimately worked against the story. It was certainly nice to see everyone again, but many of the characters seemed out of place. Beast was much more of a normal episode of the show, in the sense that the story was tighter. However, both felt like a loosely told collection of four episodes as opposed to one story (the movies will eventually be broken down into four episodes each and broadcast on Comedy Central). This isn't the worst flaw ever, but subplots seem to come and go somewhat abruptly.

Still, these movies have been fun so far, and based on the trailer for the upcoming Bender's Game, the fun will keep on coming. Based on the events of Big Score, we will get a little closure on some of the overarching plot elements (though the events of Beast somewhat ignored the Fry/Leela development in Big Score). The final movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, is supposed to tie up all the loose ends, and based on a few things I've heard about it, it should be pretty great.

Hopefully, if everything works out, we may get a little more Futurama, but the producers have said that if Green Yonder is the last thing they do with the Futurama universe, they will be happy with the ending, and I'm guessing we will too.

Up next: Nostalgia...

Futurama: Life, the Universe, and Everything

With very few exceptions, every episode of Futurama is a self-contained story, some of which deal with "future issues", some of which are intended to be fun dalliances in a world where anything is technologically possible, and some forward the overall story of the series. Each category has its share of stellar episodes, and even the most bizarre purely fun episodes have some tie to the show's mythology, while the most serious of mythology episodes (I'm looking at you, "Jurassic Bark") are funny.

Episodes like "Fry and the Slurm Factory" and "Parasites Lost" exist almost solely as parodies of popular culture. If it isn't obvious from the name, "Slurm Factory" spoofs "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", except in this case, the Planet Express crew wins a factory tour of the galaxy's most popular soft drink. This episode was the first season finale, and throughout the first year (and proceeding throughout the series), there were plenty of references to the drink, and the episode effectively took a background aspect of Futurama and brought it to the forefront. And although the horrific twist at the end never gets mentioned again, I'm pretty sure that the only character who drinks Slurm after this episode is Fry, who will consume anything that tastes good, no matter the origin.

"Parasites Lost" is a Fantastic Voyage parody which uses the plot of the other characters creating miniature robotic versions of themselves (shrinking is too expensive; tiny atoms are out of the Professor's price range) to go into Fry's body to further the Fry/Leela non-relationship. "Parasites" also introduces the holophoner, which plays a major role in the final episode.

These episodes, along with the various other purely stand-alone stories, help build the world of the future by emphasizing background characters and elements. During their down time, the Planet Express crew enjoy watching the all-robot soap opera All My Circuits, starring the pompous Calculon, and The Scary Door, which is a rip-off of that twilighty show about that zone from the 20th century (Simpsons reference!). The characters go to eat at Elzar's restaurant, who is a sleazy Emeril Lagasse analogue, deal with invasions from the aliens of Omicron Persei VIII (they represent the villainous aliens from any invasion movie), and deal with the buffoonery of Captain Zapp Brannigan, a high-ranking military officer who is obsessed with Leela and has less sense than Fry.

There are a few episodes that deal with issues, such as "A Big Piece of Garbage", wherein all the trash from the 20th century comes back to haunt the people of the year 3000, or "Crimes of the Hot", dealing with global warming. Episodes like these make a point about how we do things in the 20th century, claiming that we are inefficient and short-sighted, then go on to show that human nature will never change, when the characters in the show act equally inefficiently and short-sighted. In "Garbage", we learn that in the future, waste disposal is near perfect, but when a giant ball of garbage that was launched into space at the beginning of the 21st century is on its way back to Earth, the only way to stop it is to build an even bigger ball of garbage to shoot at the returning one. Lines like, "Your 20th century garbage-making skills have saved us all" and "[The garbage ball] is a problem for the people living 1,000 years from now" show just how far Groening and co. expect we won't come in 1,000 years.

But as I've been saying, there is an over-arching story going on in Futurama. Or I guess I should say that there are a few over-arching stories. The one that comes up the most is Fry's romantic pursuit of Leela; although it appears fruitless for the first few years, by the series' end, it looks like the guy may actually have a shot (especially in light of the events of "The Farnsworth Parabox", which shows us what would have happened had an insignificant coin toss turned out differnetly). The other important stories involve Fry's accident and the effect of his absence on the world of the 20th century. Two episodes in the series, "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why of Fry" (which are supplemented by a hilarious, but disturbing event of "Roswell That Ends Well") shed light on the fact that Fry was helped into the cryogenic freezer, as opposed to falling in due to dumb luck. They also introduce us to the villainous race called the Brainspawn, and show that Leela's pet Nibbler is more than he appears to be.

The hapless Fry has an important role to play in the future, but his absence is certainly felt in the past. In "Jurassic Bark" and "Luck of the Fryish", flashbacks show the viewers the impact that Fry's mysterious disappearance had on his family and friends. Despite his initial sentiment upon waking up in 2999 expressing his happiness in never having to see his friends and family again (most likely thinking they would be just as happy not to see him), it turns out that he was sorely missed. "Bark" and "Fryish" are two of the most emotional episodes in the series. I don't want to ruin anything, but each one builds an idea in our minds that a certain thing will come to pass, only to have the final flashback pull the rug out from under our feet. The guy who introduced me to Futurama refuses to watch "Jurassic Bark" because the ending is too upsetting for him.

Up next: What the future holds...

Futurama: Don't Fight The Future

So after The Simpsons had earned FOX more money than they could count and transformed the channel into an actual competitor for NBC, ABC, and CBS, Matt Groening was given the chance to create another future classic (no pun intended) for the network. This time, we got Futurama, which told the story of Phillip Fry, a directionless delivery boy at the turn of the 21st century who, due to a freak accident (or was it?) at a cryogenics lab, wakes up on December 31st, 2999. At first glance, the world is a completely different place, but as Fry tries to get acclimated to his new world, he learns just how similar the past and future truly are.

The first two relationships that Fry develops in the new era are with Leela, a one-eyed humanoid with a fast fists and little humor, and Bender, a boorish alcohol chugging robot. These three make up the core group of the core cast (I know that sounds a little confusing); they are the characters featured on every single promotional item, and they make up the focus of many episodes. Other major characters include Prof. Farnsworth, Fry's great-great-great...great-great-great...-great-grand-nephew. The Professor is at least 150 years old, and he is beyond senile, and possibly diabolical. The Professor owns the spaceship the crew uses to make interplanetary deliveries (even in the future, Fry is still a delivery boy), and in episodes that do not involve deliveries, his crackpot inventions and half-baked schemes tend to forward the plot. Hermes Conrad is the Bureaucrat of the office (in the year 3000, Bureaucrat is a paid position, which, sadly, isn't too different from life today). Amy Wong is the airheaded intern whose only purpose is to serve as spare parts for the Professor. Finally, staff physician Dr. John Zoidberg is an anthropomorphic crustacean who speaks like a stereotypical Hasidic Jew.

Throughout the course of the series, the Planet Express crew deal with government inefficiency and corruption in their dealings with Earth President Richard Nixon's Head (20th century figures make appearances as preserved heads in jars, and Nixon exploited a loophole stating that noBODY may hold the office of presidency for more than two terms). They learn that "military intelligence" truly is an oxymoron when they encounter Zapp Brannigan, a Captain Kirk analogue who has received the full "stereotypical Shatner" treatment, and is willing to invade a planet that has no natural resources or strategic advantages, only because everything they believe in goes against what we believe in. The group watches a trashy soap opera featuring an over-acting robot, and racism still runs deep (only now, robots are the disenfranchised class).

I'm pretty sure that Matt Groening said something to the effect of The Simpsons is a fantasy show, while Futurama is real life. Though that sounds crazy if one were to look only at the surface of the two shows, with The Simpsons grounded in the present and Futurama being a crazy sci-fi, there was a much bigger plan at play in Futurama that told an overarching story and had a continuity that served to make an ongoing commentary of our world, as opposed to an episode-by-episode look at society.

Up next: Real life...

The List: #16 Futurama

#16
Number of Seasons: 4
Years Active: 1999 - 2003; 2007 - Present
Network: FOX; Cartoon Network

Matt Groening's second series never got as much credit from the network or viewers as his juggernaut The Simpsons, which is truly sad, since Futurama is every bit as clever as its predecessor. The show begins at the conclusion of 1999; Philip J. Fry is upset with his unsatisfactory life and is pessimistic that the new millennium will bring any changes. However, things change when he delivers a pizza to a prank location (is it really a prank?) and falls into a cryogenic tube, only to be frozen for 1000 years.

Fry wakes up to find a world that looks different, but has all of the same problems as the world of today. Space travel is mundane, robots are cynical citizens and aliens try to conquer Earth every now and then, but there is still a lower class, political corruption runs rampant (due to a technicality, Richard Nixon's preserved head becomes president again) and global warming remains an issue. Fry goes to work as an interplanetary delivery boy, where his boss is his 100+ year-old great-great-great...great-nephew, a senile wannabe mad scientist. The series follows the exploits of Fry, his nephew Prof. Farnsworth, one-eyed alien (?) Leela, alcoholic robot Bender, hilariously inept Dr. Zoidberg, valley girl intern Amy and bureaucrat (that's his official title) Hermes.

Futurama mixes low-brow comedy with high-brow themes and concepts (there are more math jokes than you can shake a stick at). This allows for the show to appeal to nearly everyone; people who watch the show for the slapstick will get just as much enjoyment as people who watch it for the undertones.

Up next: #15...