FUTURAMA IS BACK! ...err....again! - Page 5 - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Flacolaco · 07-22-2009, 10:13 PM

Unfortunately, I read that little comic con blurb a couple of weeks before the news of the labor dispute came out.

But I hope you're right.

Dirkadirkastan · 07-22-2009, 10:49 PM

Sounds like a bad April Fools joke.

Thespiralgoeson · 07-22-2009, 11:03 PM

Anyone who has a facebook account needs to join this group:

Quote:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...057&ref=search

They have a petition to fox, as well as the e-mail addresses of a couple of the people in charge.

Flacolaco · 07-22-2009, 11:20 PM

Quote:

•Step 1:
Write an email with,

Save the Voices of Futurama

in the subject line

•Step 2:
In the body of the email enter,

If the vocal cast of Futurama is changed, I will not watch the new episodes!

•Step 3:
Send this email to the following addresses: (These are new)

chris.alexander@fox.com

tracey.raab@fox.com

Excellent. They'll be hearing from me.

Thespiralgoeson · 07-23-2009, 02:07 PM

Good god, according to Phil La Marr, the futurama cast has been dis-invited to the Comic Con. Fox is truly shameless.

Flacolaco · 07-23-2009, 02:10 PM

They should just end it. They should not have a panel at comic con, and they should not make any more shows. They should just be done with it if that's what it's coming to.

Or how about this...if they want to hire other talented voice actors and create new characters to inhabit same universe with the same writers, maybe we can try that. But to cast new Fry's and Leela's and Benders....screw that. Screw fox.

Underdog · 07-23-2009, 02:17 PM

Flacolaco · 07-23-2009, 10:29 PM

http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/07/23...ns-about-sdcc/

Quote:

They ask, of course, “How uncomfortable will the Futurama panel be?” This is a great question, and something that has struck me as very odd. Granted, everyone everywhere pretty much assumes that the casting call Fox put out to replace the cast of the resurrected animated series is more or less a ploy to drive down the pay demands of the original actors–but after YEARS of every Simpsons interview and Fox panel being inundated with fans pleading for Futurama’s return, it seems like running this particular play–and then putting these people on a panel together at the biggest pop culture event this side of the fall TV upfronts–is just TERRIBLE planning on the studio’s part. Fox, ceding to years of fan demands, should have entered this panel as conquering heroes for resurrecting Futurama. Instead they’ll be the goat for messing with the formula–and the LA Times is right about one thing: There’s almost no chance that the pay/recasting issues won’t be the first question asked.

Well at least it sounds like Fox is going to get the proper amount of S thrown their way for this if they dare to show up at comic con this weekend.

Flacolaco · 07-31-2009, 04:05 PM

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/674841

Quote:

Los Angeles, Calif.–The Star has learned exclusively that the voice cast of Futurama has just signed a new contract with Fox after weeks of intense salary negotiations.

As late as last week, the network was threatening to replace the original voices of Matt Groening's cult-hit cartoon, to the point of actually announcing a casting call for voice actors to replace them.

The compromise agreement, with the studio paying more and the actors accepting less, comes after the announcement of a 26-episode pick-up here by Comedy Central. Futurama also airs internationally in syndication, has produced four bestselling straight-to-DVD movies (later cut into episodes) and an upcoming feature film.

woot. Fear not.

Dirkadirkastan · 07-31-2009, 04:47 PM

Did you just change the thread title for no reason?

Thespiralgoeson · 08-01-2009, 12:29 PM

Thank god for that!

Underdog · 08-01-2009, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson

Thank god for that!

"You're welcome!"

Flacolaco · 05-26-2010, 11:01 AM

Less than a month now...

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/25/fu...cohen-preview/

Quote:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: One cancellation and four direct-to-DVD movies later, you’re on the air again. That was some journey. How surprised are you to be back?
DAVID X. COHEN: I would say it’s just sinking in now. This journey started seven years ago with a call from Fox that we were off the air — which wasn’t a big difference from being on the air, actually, the way we were being shown sporadically at that time. So we packed our bags and went our separate ways and had no expectation of coming back in any form at that time. And it really took the high ratings [of reruns] on Adult Swim to plant any kind of a seed that there might be more life in this thing. And, gradually, the idea of the DVD movies filtered through to 20th Century Fox Television [which produces the show], and they called us up a few years after that idea was sent to them and we started our return to life that way. We did four DVD movies and our hopes started to rise because of what Family Guy had done. They had gone a similar route and come back to TV, so we kept our fingers crossed and waited for the results from those DVDs and evidently they did okay.… We’re grateful to be here and we were definitely saved by our fans’ enthusiasm.

Now that Futurama is on cable, will the tone of the show be any different?
We’re definitely not going way outside of the lines of what we’ve done before. My main priority is to make it feel like this is the same Futurama, and if you’re a Futurama fan you’re going to like these episodes. That said, I think there are a couple of episodes where we do push that edge a little bit, thanks to our being on Comedy Central — nothing that couldn’t have run the first time, but perhaps the quantity of borderline material is a little higher. For example, we have an episode that was Matt Groening’s brainchild, with Zap Brannigan and Leela getting stranded on a Garden of Eden planet. Matt wanted to do a story based on this science-fiction trope where man and woman land on a planet and at the end of the episode you realize that they’re Adam and Eve and they’re going to recreate society. But he wanted to do that at the starting point of the episode, so we have Zap and Leela stranded on this beautiful Garden of Eden planet and they’re naked and wearing fig leaves immediately. It’s a little more cartoon flesh than we would have shown in the old days.

During a contract negotiation impasse last year, there was a possibility that the voice actors were going to be recast. How close did that come to actually happening?
Matt Groening and I tried to stay clear of that as much as possible, since we have to try to make both sides happy in that equation. We have a contract with [the studio] on one hand to make these episodes, and on the other hand, I think our cast is the best voice cast you’re going to find, and I would have been very upset if we had to do the show without them. We just said to everybody involved, “Please, you guys make a deal.” It went right up to the edge as The Simpsons has done a couple of times with Fox beginning the process of recasting the show, but nobody else was actually hired. I think it was ultimately just business — both sides are trying to make the best deal and that causes it to come to a climax. Just to reassure everybody, every single cast member is back. We did not lose a single voice.

What can we expect from this season? Last time we saw the gang in Into the Wild Green Yonder, Fry and Leela were engaged in a kiss as the ship headed into a wormhole….
Matt and I decided to make sure people knew right away that this was Futurama in its classic half-hour form. We wanted to quickly establish in the first episode that the characters are back from their DVD adventures. Fry and Leela return relatively quickly. Very quickly we get back to the Planet Express headquarters in New New York City — and the only slight hitch is that everybody is dead.

That’s quite a little hitch.
One of the few images that we’ve released so far is all of their skeletons hanging over the stem cell vat. [Laughs] In Futurama, that’s a minor stumbling block…. That episode is entitled “Rebirth.” We’ll get to see the Professor’s birthing machine and all the glory of artificial rebirth. It’s both a literal and figurative rebirth of the series. Fry and Leela’s relationship has a very bizarre science-fiction twist to it.

Are they going to pursue a relationship?
We don’t want to get into a rut where they’re having a baby and moving away to the suburbs. That would mess up the show to some degree. Without giving too much away, to have their relationship be on-again, off-again is a little more exciting for the ongoing drama of the series.

Can you tease some other story lines?
One thing that was beneficial to being off the air for a while was that society generated a few story lines for us. We’re going to see our versions of Twitter and iPhones in the future, as Fry posts embarrassing videos of Leela online. The difference is, in our version of the iPhone, the iPhone is implanted in your eye. It’s a tiny hovering screen in front of you and it’s even more annoying than the real iPhone. One of my favorite episodes of the year is one where Bender tries to pass a ballot initiative called Proposition Infinity to legalize robosexual marriage, which is the marriage between a robot and a human. It’s taboo and illegal in the future, and there’s going to be a very shocking romance between Bender and one of our female characters. [In another episode], the Professor invents a time machine that only goes forward in time. Once they start going, there is no hope of return. And the initial goal is to just go a minute forward into the future and test it out, but the Professor trips and they’re immediately 1,000 years in the future with nowhere to go but forward. So they spend the episode going further and further through all future history trying to find the technology for a backward time machine.

Guest voices?
Katee Sackhoff is playing a visitor to Comic-Con who has a fetish for aliens. She threw herself into the role in an impressive fashion. In our 100th episode special, Mark Mothersbaugh and Devo campaign for mutant rights — Leela’s parents are second-class, mutant citizens who live underground in the sewers. The members of Devo have mutated over the years, and Mark Mothersbaugh helps out in their campaign for equality. Craig Ferguson has the most remarkable guest role of the year: He is playing a talking part of Leela’s body. We discover that Leela has a little more to her being a mutant than we knew about. Chris Elliott is playing a very persnickety space probe that goes around censoring things that it thinks are indecent, and he finds nudity both interesting and offensive. George Takei will be back. I’m proud to announce that Al Gore will be rejoining us in our environmental-themed holiday episode [airing next season]. He will help explain the future versions of Christmas, Robanukah, and Kwanza, along with Coolio, a natural pairing. Patton Oswalt will appear in next season, playing a character called Unattractive Giant Monster. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the first appearance by David X. Cohen, in the Comic-Con episode. The heads of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen will appear on a panel of writers for the new show that Matt Groening has created in the Year 3010.

Speaking of heads in jars, will Nixon be back?
Nixon will be back. We have a whole head-related episode. It’s discovered that you get a “head trip” if you lick one of the heads in the jars. So Fry licks George Washington’s head and it sends them off on a Revolutionary War adventure. That’s a plot line you wouldn’t see on most sitcoms.

Is that the most bizarre moment of this season?

Actually, I can think of at least one even more bizarre moment. It’s a love scene between Dr. Zoidberg and Professor Farnsworth…. Of course, it is quite touching in context. And arousing.

sike · 05-26-2010, 11:02 PM

keep this updated, flac...even if just for me.

Flacolaco · 05-26-2010, 11:36 PM

I'll try. News has been pretty hard to come by so far. This piece is actually pretty ripe with little nuggets.

Just by reading all these ideas you can already get a sense that the show is returning to it's one and done quick hitting 22 minutes of goodness, IMO.

sike · 05-26-2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Just by reading all these ideas you can already get a sense that the show is returning to it's one and done quick hitting 22 minutes of goodness, IMO.

Was it just me or was David Cohen was almost apologizing for the lack of punch the DVD Movies had? He definitely wants the fans to know they are getting back to their roots.

Flacolaco · 06-08-2010, 11:49 AM

Here:

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/t...n-to-futurama/

They're doing little sneak peek images and whatnot every (week) day

sike · 06-08-2010, 05:16 PM

can't wait...it is easily one of my favorite cartoons of all time.

sike · 06-23-2010, 04:46 PM

tomorrow night, comedy central.

Flacolaco · 06-23-2010, 09:54 PM

Yup. Two episodes tomorrow.

The wife and I are pretty pumped.

Flacolaco · 06-25-2010, 10:04 AM

"Fire all weapons and open a hailing frequency for my victory yodel."

I find it difficult to critique those two episodes. There's something odd about watching new Futurama air live, and in HD. After seeing the original episodes a thousand times a piece, they feel so ingrained as "classic" in my head that it's weird to be adding new ones

This is a long way of saying that I am skeptical of the new episodes, but enjoyed them. I liked the obvious Star Trek I parody in the second episode last night.

More Zoidberg.

u2sarajevo · 06-25-2010, 10:18 AM

I loved them both... but thought the first one was better overall.

I thought for sure they would come up with some device to have Fry chase Leela again... and that seemed to be the case but I was wrong.

But Leela and Zapp? gross.... although his shameful crying when explaining the how when busted was hilarious.

I was wondering if Bender was just going to have to dance/party all season.... that was funny.

Flacolaco · 06-25-2010, 10:40 AM

Apparently they're going to air 12 episodes through the beginning of Septemeber, and then stop...for some reason. They're producing 26 episodes, but the remaining 14 will be saved for "a different run", is all I can find out. I have no idea if that means next summer, or in the spring, or what.

I guess it's too early to start complaining, eh?

V-Giny....giggle.

u2sarajevo · 06-25-2010, 11:52 AM

Oh no doubt... that 2nd episode displays the freedom they have now with the storyline, not being on an air-broadcasted network anymore.

Thespiralgoeson · 06-26-2010, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by u2sarajevo

I loved them both... but thought the first one was better overall.

I thought for sure they would come up with some device to have Fry chase Leela again... and that seemed to be the case but I was wrong.

But Leela and Zapp? gross.... although his shameful crying when explaining the how when busted was hilarious.

I was wondering if Bender was just going to have to dance/party all season.... that was funny.

It's funny you say that, because I actually felt the exact opposite. I couldn't stand the first episode, but thought the second was okay.

One of the problems I think both episodes had was sort of the same problem the movies had. It seems like the writers were trying too hard to make "big" stories- like end of the world, bringing people back from the dead stories. I think they felt like they had to come out with a bang and make everything as outrageous and over-the-top as they could. Hopefully as the show progresses the stories will get a little more laid-back and focus more on the characters just being themselves instead of trying to cram in bizarre plot devices and strained sexual jokes. (Seriously, Bender was barely in either episode, and although Fry and Leela are apparently a couple now, the two of them hardly had a single scene together.)

Either way, I'm ecstatic that the show is back, and there were enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep me optimistic about the episodes being better than the movies (Farnsworth's Chamber of Understanding made me laugh harder than I've laughed in a very long time.)

sike · 06-28-2010, 08:12 PM

Really enjoyed both episodes...

Flacolaco · 08-01-2010, 12:35 AM

Anyone who thinks new Futurama can't live up to old Futurama can watch this last episode (with the time machine) and suck it. That was an instant classic.

Underdog · 08-01-2010, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Anyone who thinks new Futurama can't live up to old Futurama can watch this last episode (with the time machine) and suck it. That was an instant classic.

Suck it, indeed...

I was a bit worried about Futurama's mediocrity with the movies, but they've definitely returned to form with the 30-minute episodes!

bobbyfg7 · 08-05-2010, 10:49 AM

Last week's episode was genius. Gives me high hopes for tonight’s episode. But did anyone else get a "Fry saves the world from the Brains" vibe from the previews? Surely they're not recycling plots already.

Flacolaco · 08-22-2010, 12:55 AM

Ok so, the time machine episode was instant classic...

The episode with the cats was pretty much horrible.

The episode this week with the brain switcher...back to classic. Great episode.

They're churning out some good stuff, the just need a little consistency.

Flacolaco · 06-24-2011, 12:56 AM

Two more solid entries tonight. It's back!!! Again...again again..I mean...again, again, again.

Good news is that this half season thing should run through summer of 2014. A pretty crazy journey for a show that was under-appreciated and canceled a couple of times already...like 10 years ago.