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Futurama
An opening title for FuturamaThe opening title screen for Futurama
Created by	Matt Groening
Developed by	Matt Groening David X. Cohen
Starring	Billy West Katey Sagal John DiMaggio Phil LaMarr Lauren Tom Maurice LaMarche Tress MacNeille David Herman Frank Welker
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	72 (16 episodes and 4 movies in production) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Original release
Network	Fox (1999–2003) Comedy Central (2008—)
Release	March 28, 1999 – August 10, 2003; returning 2008

Futurama is an Emmy Award-winning American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) 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 cryonically frozen at midnight, December 31, 1999, and is revived one thousand years in the future.

The series aired from March 28, 1999 to August 10, 2003. Although Futurama was never officially cancelled, Fox decided not to renew for a fifth season and the program fell apart soon after. However, Matt Groening has revealed that after the successful revival of the Family Guy series, 20th Century Fox Television approached him to produce a direct to DVD Futurama movie. That one DVD turned into four and Comedy Central 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.

The name "Futurama" comes from an exhibit from the 1939 New York World's Fair of the same name. Designed by Norman Bel Geddes, the exhibit depicted what he imagined the world to look like in 1959.

Cast and characters

Template:Spoiler

• Philip J. Fry (Billy West) — Fry was cryonically frozen for one thousand years just after midnight on New Year's Day, 2000, reawakening on New Year's Eve, 2999. This makes him 1025 years old chronologically, yet physically he is merely 25. He got a job at Planet Express, a company owned by his closest living relative Professor Hubert Farnsworth, where he works as a delivery boy.

• Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal) — Leela is the competent, one-eyed captain of the Planet Express Ship. Abandoned at birth, she grew up in the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium believing herself to be an alien from an unknown race. She eventually learns from her parents that she is, in fact, a mutant. Her name is derived from the Turangalîla-Symphonie written in in the late 1940s by French composer Olivier Messiaen.

• Bender Bending Rodríguez (John DiMaggio) — Bender is a foul-mouthed, alcoholic, cigar-smoking, kleptomaniacal, human hating, egocentric, ill-tempered robot originally programmed to bend girders. He is Fry's best friend and roommate. He has a dislike of almost all humans and other beings (excluding Fry and—to a lesser extent—Leela). Bender sometimes works as the ship's cook, but is horrible at it. He primarily assists in delivering cargo from ship to planet. Bender was built on a production line in Tijuana, Mexico. He secretly wishes to be a folk singer which reveals itself on a few occasions when he becomes inadvertently attached to a magnet.

• Professor Hubert Farnsworth a.k.a. The Professor (Billy West) — Born April 9, 2838, Professor Hubert Farnsworth is Fry's distant nephew. Biologically, he is older than Fry; however, chronologically, Fry is by far the elder of the two. Farnsworth founded Planet Express to fund his mad scientist-esque experiments and inventions. He eventually clones himself from one of his own warts, resulting in the creation of Cubert Farnsworth.

• Doctor John Zoidberg (Billy West) — Zoidberg is a lobster-like alien from Decapod 10, and is the staff doctor (of questionable competence) of Planet Express. He speaks with an accent most commonly associated with native Yiddish speakers (in commentaries, Billy West has cited George Jessel and Lou Jacobi as inspirations for Zoidberg's voice), while being generally viewed with amusement and derision by his peers at 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 aging parents are obsessed with having a grandchild.

• 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 named Dwight.

Setting

Futurama's setting is first and foremost a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing continuity errors if they serve to further the gags. The world of tomorrow is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today, and to parody the science fiction genre.

Futurama is set at the beginning of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. 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 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 the resolution is much higher than modern day television. 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, to carry his friends because of a robot rebellion, and none of the other characters recognize the wheels - although Leela suggests that they would work better if they were round.

Galactic politics

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 looks similar to the flag of the United States, only with planet Earth displayed in place of the fifty stars. Citizens of Earth are referred to as Earthicans.

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. It includes Earth and many other worlds, though Earth sometimes acts unilaterally without the aid of other D.O.O.P. members. Omicron Persei VIII is frequently engaged in conflicts with the D.O.O.P.

Numerous other galaxies have been colonized or have made contact by the year 3000. Much of the Solar System now operates under the Earth government's sphere of influence. Mars has been terraformed, and is home to Mars University. The Western Hemisphere of Mars is owned by the Wong family.

Linguistics

There are two alien languages that appear often in the background. The first language (Alienese) is a simple substitution cipher from the Latin alphabet. The second (Beta Crypt III) uses a more complex modular addition code. They often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages. Aside from these languages, most of the displayed wording on the show is in English, and most of the alien species encountered speak English.

Additionally, several English expressions have evolved since the present day. For example, the word Christmas has been replaced with Xmas, and ask has become an archaic pronunciation of aks (homophonous with axe). According to multiple episodes (and the season one DVD commentary) French is a dead language in the Futurama universe, much like Latin is in the present.

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. 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". The series contrasted "high culture" and "low 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." These jokes included mathematical jokes, such as "Loew's ${\displaystyle \aleph _{0}}$-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. Over its run, the series passed references to quantum chromodynamics (the appearance of Strong Force brand glue), computer science (two large books in a closet labeled P and NP respectively), and genetics (a mention of Bender's "robo-, or RNA"). 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.

Production

Matt Groening began thinking of Futurama in the mid-90s. 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. With The Simpsons the network has no input . 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'". After negotiations, he got the same independence with Futurama.

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 . Beginning its second broadcast season Futurama was again placed in the 8:30 Sunday spot, but by mid-season the show was moved again. This time Futurama began airing in the 7pm Sunday timeslot, its third position in under a year's time.

The 20th Century Fox logo at the end of each broadcast is altered for this series to read "30th Century Fox", as it is based in the 31st century. In the DVD commentary for the first season, the producers stated that they created the logo themselves when Fox refused to produce a new logo for them.

Ratings

When Futurama debuted in the Fox Sunday night line-up at 8:30 pm 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. The following week, airing at the same time, Futurama drew 14.2 million viewers. The show was then moved to Tuesdays at 8:30 pm. Futurama's first episode airing on Tuesday drew 8.85 million viewers. 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.

When Futurama was effectively cancelled in 2002 it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season.

Production process

It takes six months to make an episode of Futurama. This long production time means many episodes are worked on at once .

Writing

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. After this script reading, the writers rewrite the script as a group before eventually sending it to animation.

Animation

The animation in Futurama is done by Rough Draft Studios, who 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 cartoon with 1000 frames. From there, Rough Draft's sister studio in Korea puts together the 30,000-frame finished episode.

Show status

Mid-way through the production of the fourth season of Futurama, FOX decided to let Futurama go out of production and told the writers and animators to look for new jobs. A Fox spokeswoman told website Zap2it that "Fox has decided not to order more episodes at this time, but we may do so in the future." Fox's decision to stop buying episodes of Futurama led Rough Draft Studios, the animation producers, to fire its animators. According to Ain't It Cool News, FOX did not like the show and had started giving it a secondary status, running it and dropping it sporadically. They also did not show several episodes between seasons 3 and 4.

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 Adult Swim's current deal. It was cited as the largest and most expensive acquisition in the network's history.

Future and DVD movies

Template:Future film On April 26, 2006, The A.V. Club published an interview with Futurama co-creator Matt Groening, in which he discussed plans to create four straight-to-DVD movies. Groening noted that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies.

On June 22, 2006, Comedy Central announced that at least 13 new episodes were to be produced, to air with the reruns in 2008. Comedy Central also confirmed that Billy West, Katey Sagal, and John DiMaggio would return for the new episodes, with a 2008 debut planned; however, an unofficial fan site reports that the new Comedy Central episodes would consist of the straight-to-DVD movies, each split into 4 episodes (making 16 new episodes) rather than additional new material. According to an interview with David X. Cohen, the Futurama team are around half way through writing the new season, and Rough Draft Studios have just started animating. The new season will be set two years after the events of the last season, and will re-visit Fry and Leela's relationship and unanswered questions about Nibbler, dark matter and Seymour the dog.

The first movie, currently under the working title Futurama: Bender's Big Score, is in production. The film is written by Ken Keeler and David X. Cohen, and will include return appearances by the Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim, Morbo, Robot Santa, the "God" space entity, Al Gore, and Zapp Brannigan. In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Al Gore confirmed that he would appear in the movie, playing his disembodied head. David X. Cohen later confirmed that he would also appear in the new season, and would be involved in a storyline which will show "what really determined the outcome of the 2000 Presidential election".

In January 2007, Futurama creator Matt Groening clarified speculation as to whether Futurama had been revived in episodic or feature-film form, telling the website rottentomatoes.com "We're 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."

Awards

DVD releases

Full season releases

Note: The box sets in Region 2 and 4 are marketed as "Season" rather than "Volume".

Note: The box sets represent the original lineup of the series, before FOX changed the order of the episodes. FOX split the series up into five seasons, while originally four were planned. The episodes airing as season five were made up of episodes originally from seasons three and four that weren't aired during the FOX run.

"Best of" collection

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. The comic is the only part of the Futurama franchise which is still being published to date. While originally published only in the US, a UK and Australian version of the series is also available. 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. 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.

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. Sierra Entertainment later became the game's publisher, and it was released on August 14, 2003. The game was subsequently cancelled on the GameCube and Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe.

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?". Bender has also had numerous cameos, the most notable in an episode named in reference to Futurama. Fry appears in a couch gag in The Simpsons.
• During the premiere skit in Family Guy's Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, 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 cancelled; at the time of release Family Guy was scheduled to return but Futurama was not.
• The Planet Express Ship appears in the Dark Horse Comics miniseries Outer Orbit.
• In the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, the theme song from Futurama is heard in the background in a scene on the moon.

References

1. "Can't Get Enough Futurama — "Remeber Me after my Death!" (sic)". Retrieved 2006-06-12.
2. ""Groening's Bargain to Yield Four Futurama Movies"". Reuters. Jan 28 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (June 22 2006). ""Futurama" gets new life on Comedy Central". Reuters. Retrieved 2006-10-08. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Mother's Day". Futurama. Season 2. Episode 14. 2000-05-14. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
5. ^ "Leela's Homeworld". Futurama. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
6. "Omniglot". Retrieved 2006-06-13.
7. "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid". Futurama. Audio Commentary 11 minutes in. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
8. ^ 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.
9. Keller, Joel (January 31, 2007). Matt Groening talks about Futurama's comeback. TV Squad. Retrieved February 1, 2007.
10. "Raging Bender". Futurama. Season 2. Episode 8. 2000-02-27. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
11. "The Luck of the Fryish". Futurama. Season 3. Episode 4. 2001-03-11. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
12. "The 30% Iron Chef". Futurama. Season 3. Episode 22. 2002-04-14. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
13. "Put Your Head on My Shoulders". Futurama. Season 2. Episode 7. 2000-02-13. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
14. "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles". Futurama. Season 4. Episode 9. 2003-03-30. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
15. "Fear of a Bot Planet". Futurama. Season 1. Episode 5. 1999-04-20. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
16. ^ Needham, Alex (October 1999). "Nice Planet...We'll Take It!". Retrieved 2007-03-18.
17. Snierson, Dan (1999-03-26). "Space Case". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
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19. Duncan, Andrew (1999-09-24). "Matt Groening Interview with Radio Times". Radio Times. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
20. Villanueva, Annabelle (September–October 1999). "Fall TV Preview: Tricks and Treats". Cinescape. Retrieved 2007-03-18.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
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22. Bauder, David (1999-04-01). "New animated show `Futurama' may be a score for Fox". The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
23. "Groening's Gripe". April 1999. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
24. Sterngold, James (1999-07-22). "Futurama: Bringing an Alien and a Robot to TV Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
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26. Saunders, Dusty (1999-03-25). "Fox's far-out Futurama looks like a hit". Denver Rocky Mountain News. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
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30. "Zap2it — "FOX Says 'No' to 'Futurama'"". Retrieved 2006-06-14.
31. "Ain't It Cool News — "UPDATE UPDATED!! FUTURAMA Thing of the Past?? Or What??"". Retrieved 2006-06-14.
32. Dempsey, John (October 27 2005). ""Futurama" in Comedy Central's future via big deal". Variety. Retrieved 2005-10-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
33. "Matt Groening". Retrieved 2006-06-14.
34. "www.gotfuturama.com". Retrieved 2006-11-06.
35. "www.wizarduniverse.com". Retrieved 2006-12-14.
36. "Ain't It Cool News: "Ben Sinister Has Read The New FUTURAMA 'Movie'!!"". Retrieved 2006-09-18.
37. ^ "Awards for "Futurama" (1999)". Retrieved 2006-06-12.
38. 29th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners
39. "Futurama SDCC Exclusive and Toy news". Retrieved 2006-09-05.
40. "Futurama Finds a Developer". Retrieved 2006-07-25.
41. "Sierra to bring Futurama game to the US". Retrieved 2006-07-25.
42. "Futurama Info — Futurama Information — Futurama Release Date". Retrieved 2006-07-25.
43. "Fraudcast News". The Simpsons. Season 15. Episode 22. 2004-05-23. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
44. *"Missionary: Impossible". The Simpsons. Season 11. Episode 15. 2000-02-20. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
    *"Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade". The Simpsons. Season 14. Episode 4. 2002-11-17. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
45. Bender has speaking lines in the episode "Future-Drama". The Simpsons. Season 16. Episode 15. 2005-04-17. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
46. "HOMЯ". The Simpsons. Season 12. Episode 9. 2001-01-07. Fox Network. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)

External links

• Futurama at IMDb
• Template:Dmoz

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• Animated sitcoms
• Fox network shows
• Shows on Adult Swim
• Futurama
• Teletoon shows