Futurama! 26 New Episodes! Not Movies! Resurrected!

[Danny Stephenson]

A friend has just linked me to this:

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/06/its-official-futurama-returns.html

FOX finally got the hint…

Topic

[Moonlight]

I’m ranking Quids Game as better just because I wasn’t ready for it to be over like 3 minutes before it was like the week before.

[Moonlight]

I think I thought this one was solid but I’m waiting for someone to point out a major problem I didn’t notice on first watch.

Any excuse to listen to David Herman do one of his weasely character voices.

[Flap Jack]

Well you won’t hear it from me. Good concept, well executed. Easily the best episode of the 3 so far.

[Nick R]

“The Temp” is the best of the season so far. It has similarities to “Homer’s Enemy” in ways that seem close enough to be intentional (a character called Frank* who’s better at the main character’s job and jealous of his life).

* What is this, a Red Dwarf episode?

[Technopeasant]

Leaving him on the planet again is a bit mean (they could have ended up giving him a different dead end job or something), but yeah, otherwise might be my favorite of the Hulu era so far.

And at least they did not retcon that Fry was actually Frank the whole time since Amazonian Women in the Mood. Or did they?

In general it is kind of disorienting to refer directly to the passage of time, since Futurama kinda sorta not really still has a floating timeline.

[Flap Jack]

I think they just about got away with the meanness of abandoning Frank multiple times, because his forgettability (?) was essentially supernatural, so it wasn’t deliberate.

The floating timeline aspect is interesting, because mostly the show does fine with the implication that the timeline actually isn’t floating, and characters are aging exactly as they should be, in spite of not really appearing or behaving differently. The combination of the “people age more slowly in the future” implication (Farnsworth starts the show at 159) and the 10 year time jump from The Impossible Stream helps explain it. Children of a Lesser Bog even outright depended on it being 20 years since Season 3.

The place it falls down, of course, is that Cubert and Dwight are both somehow still kids.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I think they just about got away with the meanness of abandoning Frank multiple times, because his forgettability (?) was essentially supernatural, so it wasn’t deliberate.
The floating timeline aspect is interesting, because mostly the show does fine with the implication that the timeline actually isn’t floating, and characters are aging exactly as they should be, in spite of not really appearing or behaving differently. The combination of the “people age more slowly in the future” implication (Farnsworth starts the show at 159) and the 10 year time jump from The Impossible Stream helps explain it. Children of a Lesser Bog even outright depended on it being 20 years since Season 3.
The place it falls down, of course, is that Cubert and Dwight are both somehow still kids.

I didn’t know what thread I was in and everything in the first half of this comment could be read (as I did) as being in reference to Red Dwarf 

[Formica]

I saw an NFT at an art museum today.

[Jonathan Capps]

I saw an NFT at an art museum today.

My favourite Half Man Half Biscuit b-side.

[Technopeasant]

I think they just about got away with the meanness of abandoning Frank multiple times, because his forgettability (?) was essentially supernatural, so it wasn’t deliberate. 

Yeah, I was meaning the writers and not the crew, who really could not help it. At least it spared him getting spiced.

[Technopeasant]

As for this week’s episode, in my experience cattle get less intelligent in groups.

[Flap Jack]

Episodes have continued to be solid, but this week’s was the best of the season so far, in my book. (Weakest is still Quids Game.) Loved the focus on Farnsworth and Zoidberg.

– Kind of an unexpected ending. Fair to assume that will be completely ignored next week.

– Feels a bit strange to have just a 3 episode gap between 2 instances of “they go to a planet that is fully covered in a single type of garbage”.

– Fans of the Zoidberg/Marianne romance from the penultimate Comedy Central episode must be heartbroken by this one. Looks like that relationship went the way of Farnsworth’s paternal relationship to Igner – super important in one episode and then never acknowledged again.

[Moonlight]

I’m still waiting for them to finally explain what “She must be The Other” was all about.

[Flap Jack]

I trust that’ll happen around the same time that Snacky returns to Red Dwarf.

[Moonlight]

Red Dwarf: The Promised Snacky (2026)

[Dave]

Snack In The Red

[Dave]

Wait a minute, you’re just trying to turn this into another Idea For An Episode thread by stealth, aren’t you?

[Moonlight]

Idea for an Episode is in danger of growing stale. I’m taking it to strange new places.

[Flap Jack]

[Technopeasant]

Feels a bit strange to have just a 3 episode gap between 2 instances of “they go to a planet that is fully covered in a single type of garbage”.

Also the second time in Futurama that Earth was doomed by garbage falling from the sky. I found the portal setup a bit too predictable honestly.

I quite enjoyed the chatbot one though, especially Fry actually taking his book club seriously. A number of good oneliners.

The coffee one was a bit too similar to other historical revisions like the da Vinci and cat episodes from the Comedy Central run.

[cwickham]

So… they actually did an entire episode of their science-fiction sitcom in the style of Nancy Drew and Tintin, huh

[Moonlight]

Still better than the anthology from last year.

[Technopeasant]

In all seriousness, this season in general has been an improvement.

[Moonlight]

I’m really hoping the season finale is just genuinely great without any giant caveats. “All the Way Down” was so close to being really good but I didn’t think it was very funny. But it had a really strong sci-fi premise and good character stuff going. I just want that AND it to be hilarious.

I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this on the thread before, but to me the perfect Futurama episode is “The Sting”. It feels precision-engineered to appeal to me.

[Ridley]

Oh, to be in the script read for that voice actor gag.

[Moonlight]

I’m not sure quite how I feel about this episode.

[Technopeasant]

[Ridley]

I enjoyed a lot of it until the fake out. Sure, the ship was always coming back but I’d rather that was the only part rolled back.

[Moonlight]

I’m really annoyed that they married Fry and Leela again and made it not count. I’d have to rewatch to really articulate my other thoughts but that felt so cheap it soured my opinion on the whole episode.

They’d better just be married next season.

[Flap Jack]

I really enjoyed the finale. It may have even been the overall funniest episode of the season, and the character work felt spot on too. However, this is the second season finale in a row to reveal that the characters we’ve been following weren’t the ‘real’ versions, and I am pretty much tired of that now (whether it’s better or worse that All the Way Down implied the entire show wasn’t real, I’m not sure). For this reason I’m glad it wasn’t the genuine series finale it was written to be.

Although at least we don’t have to contend with whether Fry, Leela and Bender are mass murderers for taking down the Nimbus (which usually has more people than just Zapp and Kif on it).

Also, the way Farnsworth had to exposition dump at the end even though everyone around him already knew what happened was pretty weak. Plus I could have done with an explanation for them repairing the ship that wasn’t just “turns out it’s more resilient than we thought!” but that’s small potatoes.

I agree with you Moonlight – Freela needs to just tie the knot already. I don’t mind them being engaged at the beginning of Season 13/10 instead of married – as it would be a missed opportunity not to do a proper wedding episode – but they need to firm up a date, not just let “they’re engaged” be a background detail that they never follow up on.

Speaking of series finales that aren’t really series finales, apparently long lost sister show The Simpsons aired one of its own, a mere day earlier??? What are the odds that one show’s season finale would line up with the other’s season premiere like that? It seems to be generating some good buzz too. I might check it out… in October 2025 when it actually comes to Disney+. Unless Sky still show new Simpsons episodes in the UK? The internet has completely failed to answer me on that point, other than to confirm that they aren’t showing any in the next week.

[cwickham]

https://simpsonsarchive.com/upcoming/uk.html

(New season usually starts on January in Sky, despite the recent announcement that some episodes will be exclusive to Disney+, episodes aired on FOX should be business as usual for the time being)

[Flap Jack]

Ah, great, thank you! I did think as I typed the question “I bet cwickham would know about this… “.

I overlooked Simpsons Archive when I was searching because I assumed it was just… an archive and not a news source. I’ve visited it before too, but it was so long ago they hadn’t changed their name yet. Plus its design is so retro I’m surprised it’s still being updated (although I notice the Weblinks page is pretty out of date).

Honestly it’s pretty wild that it’s [CURRENT YEAR], and there are still many US TV shows where the fastest they can get to the UK is 3-4 months later.

[Moonlight]

Oh, so that’s where SNPP went.

[Technopeasant]

Oh, so that’s where SNPP went.

Almost exactly what Stephen Mark Flynn wondered in July.

[Technopeasant]

Finally got around to watching the finale. The opening with the ship’s wires crossed was reminiscent of Bodyswap wasn’t it?

Continuing to do the deep cuts to season one like the lengths of wires gag is a choice, a bit like how the Dave era revived Cat’s original catisms.

Also, not only a Warren Zevon song at the end, but a relatively obscure one like Mutineer? Nice.

[cwickham]

Titles and writers for next run (all 10 episodes drop 15th September)

1. “Destroy Tall Monsters” by David X. Cohen

2. “The World is Hot Enough” by Maiya Williams

3. “Fifty Shades of Green” by Ariel Ladensohn

4. “The Numberland Gap” by Ken Walsh

5. “Scared Screenless” by Bill Odenkirk

6. “Wicked Human” by Eric Horsted

7. “Murderoni” by Cody Ziglar

8. “Crap Splatter” by Shirin Najafi

9. “The Trouble with Truffles” by David A. Goodman

10. “The White Hole” by Patric M. Verrone (I know what you’re all thinking, but I suspect it’s a parody of The White Lotus)

(Ken Keeler still appears to be an executive producer but this is the first production season without an ep written by him)

[Ben Saunders]

Somehow they just keep making more Futurama

[Flap Jack]

Not sure how I feel about the whole season dropping at once, but I’m looking forward to it!

He may not be writing an episode this time around, but I bet Ken Keeler will be back for the last episode of Season 11/14, otherwise it would break the tradition of possible or actual series finales being written by him.

[Technopeasant]

 “The World is Hot Enough”

As a Canadian I am honourbound to point out that was the title of the first Chilly Beach movie. Thieves.

[Moonlight]

I’m really hoping they raise the quality level on this next batch because the average quality of the first batch was fairly poor compared to anything before. Even ignoring the FOX episodes. The episodes I liked were mostly just OK, and the episodes I didn’t like were easily the worst ever produced.

Still trying to figure out what the fuck The Prince and the Product was.

[Nick R]

[Technopeasant]

I’m really hoping they raise the quality level on this next batch because the average quality of the first batch was fairly poor compared to anything before.

The second season was a genuine improvement, so I am fairly confident. They managed the first non-shit anthology episode since the Fox era.

[Unrumble]

[Flap Jack]

If I’d ever seen King of the Hill or cared about it then I’d agree the new season of that was more interesting for sure. Maybe I’ll check it out if the time jump turns out to be 1000 years.

[Moonlight]

They managed the first non-shit anthology episode since the Fox era.

I liked most of Reincarnation, although the third segment was very much the work of writers who hadn’t watched an anime since Robotech and it felt like an incredibly dated parody even for the time.

You’re right though, I actually enjoyed that episode.

[Technopeasant]

I get what they were going for with Reincarnation, I just didn’t find it that enjoyable to watch.

[Cardinal_Hordriss]

I don’t know why but I never got into Futurama… other than Easter Egg spotting it just didn’t make me laugh… or smile come to that.

Now Reboot… they knew how to do sci-fi Easter Eggs and tell a story.

[Ace Austin]

I’m just watching the 3rd revival for the first time (series 8/11). Never bothered that much to buy Disney+ but now it’s on ITVX under “A Taste Of Disney+” for free i thought i’d give it a go. It’s quite good but near the brilliance of the Fox or Comedy Central stuff. 

[Moonlight]

I’m not trying to entirely discount it but it really does feel to me like the show is now in its “Zombie Simpsons” era in a way that it never quite got to in the Comedy Central seasons. It feels wrong to me that there are new episodes of Futurama and some of them I don’t want to watch a second time.

[Flap Jack]

I’m not really a fan of the term, but to me you can only really go “Zombie” after having so many years of being automatically renewed that you become complacent. In terms of quality I’d equate Hulurama to the Scully or early Jean eras rather than the full “Zombie Simpsons” era of the late teens and 20s seasons. The fruit may not be fresh, but it’s still got the juice.

[Author]

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