Matt Groening created The Simpsons, an animated show that is still very popular. He created another animated show, Futurama, that began airing in 1999. I loved the show, but unfortunately FOX really didn't give the show much of a chance and kept changing when it was on before canceling it in 2002. The last of the new episodes aired in 2003. I was very happy when the seasons were released on DVD and picked them up. I recently watched Futurama - Volume 2.
Futurama was about Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery guy who ended up being cytogenetically frozen for 1,000 years. Fry spent much of the first season trying to adjust to the strange new world. Fry managed to track down Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, an old man who was actually one of Fry’s decedents. Professor Farnsworth ran an interplanetary delivery company called Planet Express where Fry ended up working. A one-eyed alien named Turanga Leela ended up working there as well as the pilot. Bender was a loud, sarcastic robot who technically was working for Planet Express even though he didn’t do much. Amy Wong, the daughter of wealthy parents from Mars, was an intern. Hermes Conrad was a bureaucrat who was handling the business for the most part. Dr. Zoidberg was some kind of alien lobster who was the staff doctor despite not knowing much about humans.
Several of the episodes had the crew making deliveries somewhere in the universe. For some of the episodes, the delivery was very important to the overall plot and other times they were just sort of background for other things going on. They did travel to many different interesting locations, including the lost city of Atlanta which was underwater. At least some of every episode was set in New New York where the main characters lived and the office of Planet Express was. The city had the same interesting futuristic look that was established in the first season.
For the second season, several episodes focused specifically on one of the main characters. Those episodes did share more about the characters and help to make them more developed. Dr. Zoidberg really wasn’t featured a lot in the first season and he did seem to stay mostly in the background of the second season. That wasn’t the case for the episode where everyone went with him back to his home planet for mating season. Amy received a bit more attention during Put Your Head on My Shoulders when she and Fry dated. A Bicyclops Built for Two focused on Leela and explored more about how she dealt with being the only one of her species. Hermes even received a decent amount of attention in How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back. Fry and Bender received more attention than any of the others since more of the plots were focused on them.
The episodes of the second season of Futurama continued to be very funny and entertaining. Fry had adapted a bit to living in the future, but he still faced things he had to adjust to that did add a good amount of humor. Fry hadn’t gotten any smarter, so he kept doing silly or even dumb things which I also found very funny. Certain things done for humor will probably be too silly for some viewers. The show continued to poke fun at science-fiction in general and gave futuristic twists to things like Santa Claus that were entertaining and made the episodes fun to watch. Bender still made a lot of comments and jokes that were more suggestive or adult in nature. Those things weren’t really explicit, but it was made clear what he was referring to. Some of the things Bender said or did might offend some viewers. Parents should check out the show before letting their children see it. There were a few relationships that popped up and did add some sexual situations to the episodes. Even though Fry showed interest in a few different women, by the end of the season he seemed to be interested in Leela.
The bright, vibrant colors used for the animation of Futurama helped to make the characters and settings come to life. The animation was similar in style to the animation used for The Simpsons. Also, like was done with The Simpsons, a few minor things were changed during the opening credits of each episode. Just as the opening credits began, a little bit of text would appear at the bottom of the screen. That text was different for every episode and frequently funny. At the end of the opening credits, the spaceship would crash into a large screen. The images on the screen before the spaceship hit it were different for each episode as well.
Fry and Bender received the most attention throughout the second season with Leela also being important to several episodes. Fry continued to annoy Leela with the things he did though they did get along well. Fry and Bender continued to enjoy sitting around watching television while drinking. Bender kept doing everything he could to avoid do any actual work. Leela still received strange reactions from some people because of only having one eye. She tried to be very professional which did annoy Fry and Bender when they were trying to goof off instead of work. I like all three of these characters. Bender’s duplicate, Flexor, turned up in one episode.
Professor Farnsworth still turned up at least briefly in every episode. For some, he was only around long enough to tell the crew where they were taking a delivery too. Other times he was around for the entire episode. There were times when he didn’t know what was going on despite the fact that he was very intelligent. Dr. Zoidberg continued to want to eat just about every time he was around. He did have a bit more to do throughout this season. Hermes usually stayed in his office shuffling papers and filling out numerous forms. Amy was around slightly more, though she still wasn’t a fully developed character. She mostly seemed to be a ditzy rich girl.
Zapp Brannigan and the alien Kif returned for a few episodes as well. Zapp continued to believe that he was the greatest starship captain and irresistible to every woman he met. He was probably the dumbest character on the show. Kif was more timid and tried to keep Zapp under control, which usually didn’t work. Kif was much more likable. Leela’s pet Nibbler, the little creature from another planet, returned as well. Some other robots and aliens as well as different heads in jars turned up in different episodes throughout the season. Katy Segal was the only regular cast member who only provided the voice for one character. The rest of the cast would at least do additional voices for different random characters while a few of them voiced several characters.
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
Futurama - Volume 2 is available as a DVD set. The four disc set contains nineteen episodes. Each disc has its own slim case. The back covers for each case had short plot summaries for the episodes and told what bonus features were that particular disc. The inside cover listed the episodes on the disc along with the chapter breaks. The artwork for the cover of each case looked like it was from one large picture that was split into four smaller pictures. Every episode had a commentary and most of them had a few deleted scenes. There were animatics for one episode, a storyboard for another episode, a concept art still gallery, sponsor clips, an alien alphabet, and international clips. There weren’t any kind of documentaries which did disappoint me since I tend to enjoy those.
Each DVD had a different animated menu that listed the episodes on the disc. There was no option to play all the episodes on the disc. After selecting a title, it was necessary to choose to either play the episode or go to the special features connected to the episode. I did find a few little hidden things on the menus for a few of the discs that didn’t amount to anything.
Episode List
I Second That Emotion Brannigan, Begin Again A Head in the Polls Xmas Story Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love? The Lesser of Two Evils Put Your Head on My Shoulders Raging Bender A Bicyclops Built for Two A Clone of My Own How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back The Deep South Bender Gets Made Mother’s Day The Problem With Popplers Anthology of Interest 1 War is the H-Word The Honking The Cryonic Woman
Futurama was a very entertaining animated show that was cancelled entirely too soon, just like the wonderful Firefly. The episodes have been very popular on Cartoon Network and the DVD sets have sold well. As of January of 2008, the show is no longer on Cartoon Network and has moved to Comedy Central. That did lead to some direct to DVD movies being made. The first, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, was released in November of 2007. I think another is due out sometime in 2008. Futurama - Volume 2 is a must own set for fans of the show. People who enjoy animated shows should give this one a chance.
The futuristic fun continues with Volume Two of "Futurama", the intergalactic animated hit from the far-out mind of "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groeni...More at HotMovieSale.com
The futuristic fun continues with Volume Two of Futurama, the intergalactic animated hit from the far-out mind of The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. ...More at Buy.com
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