New Futurama Speculations 2.0 - (Hopefully) Making Dreams Come True

[Reply #200 on:]

Oh, I wasn't saying that the rebirth didn't refer to the characters (as well as the series, I suppose); I think that pretty much all of us are expecting that the characters' bodies (and possibly lives, if they are in fact "dead") will be remade in some way or another. One of the concerns (as at least FistfulOAwesome and I were seeing it earlier in the threads) is whether or not the crew being "reborn" in whatever way it turns out to be will make things different in some way, not necessarily changing the dynamic of the show since we'd expect things to be back to normal by the end, but just having some sort of longer-lasting implications for the characters in the future. Like Fistful was saying, it seems a bit too bold for the characters to have been brought back in such a disturbing way when there could have been a number of less jarring ways for the crew to get back to Earth after ITWGY.

I've had a few more thoughts about this stuff in the past couple days, and maybe this might revive this thread for a while.

I'd like to think that whatever the writers came up with is sort-of a one-time thing. I mean, if the solution to the crew's problem is too easy (like cloning would be), it gets rid of danger in the future. Sure, we know that there is no chance that the characters would ever actually be killed off (in any episode, not specifically this one), since then there wouldn't be a show. However, in our state of suspended disbelief, we always worry for the characters when they get in trouble. But if the writers didn't come up with a tough enough, possibly one-time solution to the characters deaths then what's to keep us worried in the future?

Also, I wonder what they're going to do about the crew's transport? I kind-of hope that the crew won't just be talking heads, and their being attached to their skeletons seems to limit their potential movement. If they were heads-in-jars they could easily have them moved around, but as heads-on-skeletons it seems like it'll be hard to justify them as anything other than static. I mean, it would take a lot of dramatic weight off if the dead crew is simply hoisted on the living crew's shoulders (i.e. treated as ragdolls). They can't just toss away their skeletons/heads with whatever they (the writers) came up with because that kinda shows a lack of respect for the characters (and more importantly fans' attachments to them). I really hope for some version of respect.

That also makes me think if the episode will be only set on Earth. Will the crew's corpses simply be lying in the background on Earth, or will they travel around on the P.E. Ship (assuming The Professor already rebuilt it) and be relegated to the cargo hold (if the solution is off-world)? Would Fry or The Professor even abandon their corpses?

More also, there are so many conflicting thoughts I have about how the Rebirth will be handled (of course, I'm not a writer, so I trust that they'll have far more of an imagination than I do). I have no idea how the writers are going to handle it. I thought about maybe they make it so somehow the crew regenerates their flesh, but then that takes away from the whole rebirth thing. Also, DXC mentioned that the actual rebirth will be kind-of disgusting and literal, and that would respectively might not be disgusting and it wouldn't be literal. I read some good suggestions about somehow implanting the crew into their parents and they would literally be born again, but then what to do about their heads and skeletons? I really don't want them to be callously tossed away, lest the crew becomes disposable (we could always make more).

It's so mildly frustrating to think about this episode. 8 months and 4 days seems so close/far away to find out. I'm still crossing my fingers for a great one.

Also, it would be a good idea if when they woke up, Leela didn't remember Fry. That would be a really good storyline.

Their memories being blanked out doesn't sound like such a bad idea.   So when all the 'dead' characters get re-birthed, they won't remember anything?   Sounds like a good storyline. 

How? I don't know what there is to gain from the crew having amnesia. It seems like we should just move on (by which I mean stop resetting).

[Reply #201 on:]

I thought about that. Fry didn't remember and he survived. So why should they remember? Perhaps that's the story for the episode. As long as they bring back their memories at the end, I agree. That would be a good storyline.

[Reply #202 on:]

I thought about that. Fry didn't remember and he survived. So why should they remember? Perhaps that's the story for the episode. As long as they bring back their memories at the end, I agree. That would be a good storyline.

Agreed. It would be quite nice having the first episode be about Fry trying to make Leela (and the rest?) remember what had happened, especially when it comes to Leela... and then a nice tender moment between Fry and Leela in the end, and we're set for a new beginning

[Reply #203 on:]

We've said before that Fry trying (or not trying) to make Leela remember her feelings for him would be an interesting point indeed, but I'm just not sure about total amnesia for the whole crew. It seems unnecessary...but it would be a rather cheap gimmick for introducing a new audience to the characters ("Okay, your name is Hermes Conrad, you're a Jamaican bureaucrat, you have a wife and son," etc.).

[Reply #204 on:]

BOOSH! That's exactly what I was trying to convey. I'm not so much against Leela having to remember her feelings for Fry, but I am against a total amnesia of the crew. It's really not necessary, since all it does is waste time that could be used on more interesting plot points rather than trying to come up with a second origin story for the P.E. Crew and new viewers (which honestly, there won't be that much. The show will have running on Comedy Central for a 2 and a half years by the S6 premier. Anybody who wants to watch it will already have some familiarity).

Not only that, but I've made it known that I want it to take some effort on Fry/The Professor/Bender?'s part to revive the rest of the crew, and an amnesia of the entire crew might not be given any real development if it was only sagged to one act. Sure, they could give that two acts, but I think the much more interesting rebirth idea deserves the development over the fairly unoriginal amnesia. If the crew forgets about how they died (or that they even did) rather than complete amnesia, fine. I'm sure Fry/The Professor/Bender? could gloss over it (tell them they were unconscious) or try to convince them they aren't mere copies or freaks of some sort (that's a pretty Hard Science-Fictiony thing to do (actually, I prefer this idea over amnesia)), and it would allow some F/L stuff, since that's kind-of going to be a focus of the episode (I'm not saying Fry isn't distraught about all their deaths, but it's obvious Leela's death will be the one he feels the most). Still, I'd rather that the rebirth is the focus over some silly amnesia storyline that's been done to to death on other series' and would take the focus away from the not done-to-death rebirth story.

[Reply #205 on:]

Here's the thought.......

What if Leela, Bender, Scruffy, Kiff, Amy, Hermes, and LaBarbra are supposed to come back to life the same way Fry did in Bender's Big Score? 

[Reply #206 on:]

*Cocks head to side, says confusingly*What?

Fry didn't come back to life in BBS. Hell, unless you count Lars, he didn't even die. The closest he came to coming back to life was when they had his funeral and he showed up, but that doesn't count since he didn't die but instead refroze himself (even if accidentally). There isn't a single part of that that would be considered him actually coming back to life, and even if there was, how does that relate to the skeletal remains of the crew in Rebirth and their planned resurrection?

Dude, buy higher-quality stuff. Whatever you're using now is messing with your brain, the bad way.

[Reply #207 on:]

Always watch what you say or Fistful will get you!

[Reply #208 on:]

Huh. I guess the reason why I'm not focused on speculation about the direction of the Fry/Leela relationship in the upcoming seasons is because the writers managed to captivate me (and millions of others) throughout the original run and the two movies that even address it. I trust that whatever the writers come up with will continue to entertain, whether Fry and Leela eventually become an item or not.

I do, however, have a few burning questions that would make good plots for more comedic episodes, for example:

Who is richer/more ruthless, Mom or the Wongs?
Will anyone ever replace Richard Nixon as President of Earth?
Since the company that Mom now owns created Robot Santa, why isn't she being held accounable?
Whatever happened to Leela/Kif/Amy's tadpole children (especially the one with the one eye)?

Those're just a few ideas that I could see becoming episodes.

[Reply #209 on:]

Well the tadpoles stay in the swamp for twenty years so you won't be hearing from them anytime soon.

[Reply #210 on:]

Huh. I guess the reason why I'm not focused on speculation about the direction of the Fry/Leela relationship in the upcoming seasons is because the writers managed to captivate me (and millions of others) throughout the original run and the two movies that even address it. I trust that whatever the writers come up with will continue to entertain, whether Fry and Leela eventually become an item or not.

I do, however, have a few burning questions that would make good plots for more comedic episodes, for example:

Who is richer/more ruthless, Mom or the Wongs?
Will anyone ever replace Richard Nixon as President of Earth?
Since the company that Mom now owns created Robot Santa, why isn't she being held accounable?
Whatever happened to Leela/Kif/Amy's tadpole children (especially the one with the one eye)?

Those're just a few ideas that I could see becoming episodes.

Yeah, what's their excuse for Nixon being president nine years in a row? Did he buy another new body and re-elect?

[Reply #211 on:]

Perhaps a presidential term in the 31st century is longer than in the 21st...

[Reply #212 on:]

I can't imagine a world where Nixon isn't president.
Obama's head in a jar wouldn't be as funny.

[Reply #213 on:]

I still like SO's old idea. Zombie Obama.

"CHAAAAANGE!"

[Reply #214 on:]

I'm so sick of heads in jars. They need to find a new way of having celebrity guest appearances. Mind uploading is a good sci-fi concept, and the 'internet' cyberspace was underused in the series, so there could be celebrity personalities stored online.

[Reply #215 on:]

yeah... they... they already did that.

[Reply #216 on:]

Once. Sort of.

[Reply #217 on:]

I really don't understand how this head in a jar thing works. I know the show takes place in the future AND it's a cartoon..but how do they get a head from a celebrity that was once dead? Like Richard Nixon for example

[Reply #218 on:]

show takes place in the future AND it's a cartoon

[Reply #219 on:]

Cloning, I would imagine.
At some point these people have been cloned.

[Reply #220 on:]

Or brought back from the dead.