Matt Groening became known for creating the very popular animated series
The Simpsons. He eventually created another animated show,
Futurama, that debuted in 1999. It became another in a long list of shows cancelled before their time in 2002. The last of the new episodes aired in 2003. I watched the show when it was on originally and I seem to remember times when Fox bounced it around the schedule, so I wasn't always sure when it would be on. Like
Firefly, Fox really never gave
Futurama a chance to fully develop an audience. I was very happy when the seasons were released on DVD and I picked them up, starting with
Futurama - Volume One.
Futurama told the story of
Phillip J. Fry, a young man who was accidentally frozen on December 31, 1999. He woke up 1,000 years later to a very different world that he had to try to adapt to. The first episode set up the series and most of the returning main characters. Fry managed to become friends with
Turanga Leela, an alien with one eye, and a robot named
Bender. Fry had one living family member,
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, that ran an interplanetary delivery company called Planet Express. Professor Farnsworth decided to hire Fry, Leela, and Bender to work for Planet Express along with his few other employees.
Amy Wong, a member of the wealthy Wong family from Mars, was an intern.
Hermes Conrad managed the business for the Professor.
Dr. Zoidberg was some type of alien lobster that was the staff doctor even though he didn’t seem to know much about humans.
Many of the episodes during the first season of
Futurama featured delivery jobs that the group was sent on. That allowed for episodes to be set in some interesting locations on different planets, like the one that was inhabited by people hating robots. Several episodes took place completely in New New York where Planet Express was located. New New York was built over the ruins of Old New York. The city had a believable futuristic look with flying cars and these tube things that transported people instead of subways. I really liked all the futuristic type of things that were included in the show. The animation used very bright colors and was similar in style to what has been used in
The Simpsons.
I thought that every episode of
Futurama was very funny. Much of the humor came from Fry trying to adapt to life in the future. Some of the humor was also provided by the fact that Fry wasn’t the smartest character and tended to do some stupid things. It didn’t get old when that continued to happen because it worked. The episodes tended to poke fun at science-fiction movies and television shows in general. The show also did unique, futuristic takes on some famous movies like
Titanic and
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Those episodes were very entertaining. Some of the jokes and humor, usually from Bender, were more adult in nature. Those things were suggestive without being offensive. When the opening credits started, a little bit of text would show up at the bottom of the screen. The text was different for every episode, and several of things that were listed there did make me laugh because they were silly. At the end of the opening credits, there was a screen shown that the spaceship would crash into. The image on the screen was different for every episode as well.
Fry, Bender, and Leela were the three characters that received the most attention during the first episode of
Futurama. That continued through the rest of the first season, making them the most developed characters in the show. Fry was likable but did annoy others, especially Leela, with some of the things he did. He and Bender got along well since both of them liked to sit around watching tv or drinking beer. Bender was very abrasive most of the time and tried to do as little as possible around Planet Express. Leela only had one eye, which caused some people to have strange reactions to her. She tried to be professional and was very take charge most of the time. She did get irritated with Fry and Bender, especially if they were goofing off during a delivery.
Professor Farnsworth was around at least briefly in all the episodes of the first season even though he usually didn’t do much other than tell them where they had to make a delivery too. He rarely went with them on deliveries. He was very old and didn’t always know what was going on. Dr. Zoidberg tended to be looking for something to eat when he was around. He occasionally went on the deliveries and didn’t seem to do much when he did. He really wasn’t that developed of a character. Hermes mostly stayed in the office and shuffled papers. Amy didn’t have much to do in many episodes either. She did play a bigger part in a few of them, usually when her parents were around and bugging her about getting married and having a baby.
As the first season of
Futurama progressed, a few other characters were introduced that returned in more episodes. Zapp Brannigan was a starship captain that believed all women were crazy about him. He was very arrogant and liked to show off, which tended to end badly. Kif was an alien that worked for Zapp. He acted completely different from Zapp and was more likable. Nibbler was a little creature from another planet that Leela adopted as her pet. A few other characters, like robots or even a few aliens, turned up in a few episodes during the first season as well. All of the voices fit the characters very well. Katey Sagal was really the only person who only provided a voice for one character. Most of the others at least did some additional voices for background characters even if they didn’t voice other main characters. There were some different guest stars in a few episodes who usually appeared as heads in jars.
Voice Talent John Di Maggio - Bender/Additional Voices
Maurice LaMarche - Kif/Morbo/Calculon/Additional Voices
Phil LaMarr - Hermes Conrad/Additional Voices
Tress MacNeille - Linda the Newsanchor/Mom
Katey Sagal - Turanga Leela
Lauren Tom - Amy Wong/Additional Voices
Frank Welker - Nibbler/Animal Voices
Billy West - Philip J. Fry/Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth/Dr. Zoidberg/Zapp Brannigan/Leo Wong/President Nixon’s Head
DVD INFORMATION The
Futurama - Volume One DVD set contains the first thirteen episodes of the series on three DVDs. Each DVD is in its own slim case. On the inside cover of each case, the episodes were listed with the chapter breaks for each one. On the back of the cover, there was a short plot summary for each episode on that particular disc. There was an audio commentary for every episode in the set. There were a few other extras that included deleted scenes for a few episodes. On the third disc, there was a short featurette that shared some of what went into making the series. I did think it was very interesting.
An animated menu loaded up for each DVD, listing the episode titles. There wasn’t an option to play all the episodes one right after the other. After an episode was picked, it was then necessary to choose to either play the episode or go to the special features. Clicking on the special features would go to a menu that had the special features for every episode on the DVD, not just the one that had just been selected. On the different menus, when something was selected, a series of symbols would be briefly visible. The symbols were part of an alien language that had been created for the show.
Episode List Space Pilot 3000
The Series Has Landed
I, Roommate
Love’s Labours Lost in Space
Fear of a Bot Planet
A Fishful of Dollars
My Three Suns
A Big Piece of Garbage
Hell is Other Robots
A Flight to Remember
Mars University
When Aliens Attack
Fry & The Slurm Factory
Futurama was a very entertaining animated show that was cancelled entirely too soon.
Futurama - Volume One is a must own DVD set for fans of the show. People that enjoy animated shows should give it a chance.
Futurama Reviews
Futurama - Volume 2 ~
Futurama - Volume 3 ~
Futurama - Volume 4 ~
Futurama: Bender's Big Score ~
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs ~
Futurama: Bender's Game ~
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder ~
Simpsons Reviews
The Simpsons - The Complete First Season ~
The Simpsons - The Complete Second Season ~
The Simpsons - The Complete Third Season ~
The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season ~
The Simpsons - Season 5 ~
The Simpsons - Season 6 ~
The Simpsons - Season 7 ~
The Simpsons - Season 8 ~
The Simpsons - Season 9 ~
The Simpsons - Season 10 ~
The Simpsons - Season 11 ~
The Simpsons - Season 12 ~
The Simpsons Movie ~
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