bite my shiny metal ass.
Posted by antisocialhero on 12 August 2007
FUTURAMA, ladies and germs, was such a wonderful show. It is the brainchild of the man that also brought you THE SIMPSONS, and while both shows share the hallmarks of being animated sitcoms geared towards both adults and children, it is in my opinion that FUTURAMA has more of a smartness factor attached to it. And despite only having had four seasons, FUTURAMA managed to build up tons of mythology and also retained quite a bit of continuity for a couple of the major storylines.
The gist behind the show is pretty basic: a New York pizza delivery boy named Philip Fry is accidentally (oh really?) cryonically frozen at midnight, 01 January 2000. He awakens exactly one thousand years later in the future, and is thereafter thrown into the wackiness. It doesn’t take long for him to hunt down his closest living relative, who is a mad scientist running a express delivery service. After realising that the future is where he belongs, Philip settles down working for his great-great-great-etc. nephew and that is where the mayhem really begins. The show is generally a workplace-geared sitcom as many of the situations and plots that arise in most episodes are linked to the jobs that Philip and company do. But the universe of FUTURAMA is extremely vast and very rich in characters. Humans, robots, aliens; and that is just the tip of the iceberg. As I stated above, there are several storylines that continue forward and therefore time does progress in the show. You get to see all the characters develop over time. And speaking of characters — the supporting characters in FUTURAMA are off-the-wall incredible.
Many argue that FUTURAMA isn’t as laugh-out-funny as THE SIMPSONS were in their prime. I will agree to that, but only because the action in FUTURAMA is fast and furious. There are tons of inside jokes that build up over episodes, and the level of humour I feel is more satirical than anything. Still, you will find yourself chuckling and giggling a whole lot during any episode, combined with at least one guffaw-out-loud moment. FUTURAMA also manages to pack an emotional wallop in certain episodes, two of which will certainly make you either almost tear up or well and truly bawl out hysterically. It’s really an amazing feat for an animated show to invoke such varied feelings.
As said, this criminally under-appreciated gem only had four seasons because of the inability of the network it was on to offer it a stable timeslot. FUTURAMA has been off the air for some years now… but IT RETURNS THIS YEAR! Technically. There are four direct-to-DVD movies in development right now, the first of which will be released this November. After all the movies come out, each movie will be chopped and spliced into four episodes (added with some new material) and all of that will combine to form a fifth season of sorts. This is certainly great news for everyone who’s a fan of the show, and it represents the end of a long wait for more FUTURAMA goodness.
The reason I’m pimping such a masterful and accomplished show? Once again, I have not found that many people down here that have followed the show, much less heard of it. And that is completely appalling. A massive farce. So, once again I demand everyone that could be bored with THE SIMPSONS (which also rocks but admittedly not as grand as it once was) or FAMILY GUY (which is generally shite and funny once or twice per season) to get immersed in the bizarre and wacky world of FUTURAMA. I guarantee you, this magical animated adventure will rock your bloody socks off. Once again, if you need more information, you know what to do.
You all better hurry up and get updated with the world of tomorrow, TODAY. Ha!
