The Mighty Specu-les! Futurama Speculation II

[Reply #40 on:]

I'd be happy for Futurama to last over 20 seasons if it kept its quality up -I just doubt that it would.

It would surely get worse, perhaps boring, but it wouldn't IMO be as bad as the Simpsons is now. It's bad, really bad.

[Reply #41 on:]

The Simpsons is still a good show. It's just many many miles away from the fourth season or the current season of Futurama. I still follow Simpsons every week and it's still funny. The reason Futurama shouldn't last more than, say, ten seasons, is that the Futurama universe ages. Cubert would go into his 20s and Fry would get kids and all that... and now that they've shown the future they have something to go by, and can't just say that people age more slowly or something like that. That's the main reason, I don't think they'll pull that off.

[Reply #42 on:]

The Simpsons is still a good show. It's just many many miles away from the fourth season or the current season of Futurama. I still follow Simpsons every week and it's still funny. The reason Futurama shouldn't last more than, say, ten seasons, is that the Futurama universe ages. Cubert would go into his 20s and Fry would get kids and all that... and now that they've shown the future they have something to go by, and can't just say that people age more slowly or something like that. That's the main reason, I don't think they'll pull that off.

I'm sure that the writers would come up with some good excuse. Slow degeneration in Cubert's case, humans don't look as old, etc. Though there has been several episodes which the date has been revealed in, Futurama isn't IMO as dependent on modern culture as the Simpsons. And, I think that it may go on for a while, season 9-10. That's when the Simpsons went down in the quality department.

[Reply #43 on:]

I'd argue that the last season or so of The Simpsons has been better than it has been for the last few years. There is still some really odd, awful episodes. But mostly it's generally been much better than it was at one stage (Seasons 16-18 are among the most god awful of the series). They're mostly back to focusing on the characters, rather than "What wacky plot shall we have today?".

While I think Futurama has plenty, plenty of mileage left in it, I would absolutely hate to see it get to the point where the writers scrape the bottom of the barrel for plot ideas. I think you're right in that it could never be as bad, seeing as Futurama has always been very character driven. That being said, one of the most interesting things is that Futurama has always been contemporaneous, +1000 years, with the real world. It'll get to a point where they just can't do that anymore, and it would be very odd whatever way they handled such a situation.

[Reply #44 on:]

The Simpsons IS bad now. REALLY bad. It's just less really bad than about 2 years ago.

[Reply #45 on:]

I don't think Futurama will suffer from the same problems as The Simpsons simply because of the nature of science fiction.  They can parody, they can do commentary and spoof the vast glob of sci-fi stuff out there.  And they aren't limited to contemporary issues only.  If they "run out of ideas" its only because they got lazy, not because there isn't material out there.

[Reply #46 on:]

I don't think Futurama will suffer from the same problems as The Simpsons simply because of the nature of science fiction.  They can parody, they can do commentary and spoof the vast glob of sci-fi stuff out there.  And they aren't limited to contemporary issues only.  If they "run out of ideas" its only because they got lazy, not because there isn't material out there.

Exactly! If you limit the show to the present time and place and such, you will eventually reach a limit.

I gotta say, Springfield is one damn big town nowadays, they've got a burlesque house, an underground subway, many (REALLY many) residential areas, etc.

Futurama's not going to be that way.

[Reply #47 on:]

Just because it's sci-fi doesn't mean it can't run out of ideas. I personally found DS9 and Voyager getting stale (*says despite fear of being on nerdiest place ever*). They choose to limit themselves with the Dominion and Delta Quadrant storylines. Almost every episode in the last part of DS9 dealt with the war, and you constantly had the Voyager crew just trying to get home. If Futurama makes sure not to paint itself into a corner, it'll be just fine.

This means no Fry and Leela permanent relationship.

[Reply #48 on:]

What you say is true, especially about DS9 and Voyager getting stale, ick.  However, unlike Star Trek which is self contained all within its own universe and must adhere strictly to canon, Futurama enjoys a bit more freedom to parody other sci-fi.  This opens up nearly limitless avenues for plot ideas that may not be completely original, but are still ripe for the Futurama treatment.

[Reply #49 on:]

What you say is true, especially about DS9 and Voyager getting stale, ick.  However, unlike Star Trek which is self contained all within its own universe and must adhere strictly to canon, Futurama enjoys a bit more freedom to parody other sci-fi.  This opens up nearly limitless avenues for plot ideas that may not be completely original, but are still ripe for the Futurama treatment.

ALL HAIL THE ABILITY TO JOKE AROUND WITH STAR TREK.

OffTopic: And yeah, DS9 was "dramatic" as hell, VOY is my favorite of the two, but yeah, S7 of both series were pretty much "WAAAR! WE LOST THE "U.S.S. Blah"...", and all that..." while VOY was "Let's get home, right now. We cannot be much more of a family, we need to get home".

[Reply #50 on:]

My point was that getting a series into a locked routine pattern is bad for creativity, even if it is an infinite sci-fi universe. I'm saying that if Futurama wants to make sure it doesn't go stale like The Simpsons has that it must continue to develop the plot and not make something permanent. This means no definite and continuous Fry and Leela relationship until the very end. The Simpsons wasn't stale in the late 90s? Why? They killed off characters and changed backstories! Lost originally was going to open the first episode with Jack dying. You have to keep your audience guessing and not expecting things.

[Reply #51 on:]

I agree with you there.  I think that Fry and Leela are destined to be together in the end, perhaps by some higher power guiding events maybe?  However, for sake of the show their relationship must be ups and downs to keep it interesting.  I thought the writers handled it pretty well this last half-season, and I am excited to see where they go with it in the next half.  Like it or not, the F&L ship is one of the key themes running throughout the show, especially after that damn tease in TWOF about Leela being "The Other."  If they don't address that by the end of the series I am gonna pull my hair out!

[Reply #52 on:]

I'm still waiting for a Futurama character to die. Not sure who though.

[Reply #53 on:]

I'm still waiting for a Futurama character to die. Not sure who though.

In all seriousness, and in wake of the subject...  Tasha Yar!
Umm... No, Larry...

Dunno... (Seriousness defined, ey..?)

[Reply #54 on:]

Fry has died (or at least, the audience was supposed to think he was dead) like a dozen times by this point.  He's become the Daniel Jackson of Futurama.

[Reply #55 on:]

I meant die for real though. Not necessarily an important character, more of a Moaning Lisa kind of thing.

[Reply #56 on:]

Headless Body of Agnew

[Reply #57 on:]

^Hey, that's right.  Cheney is VP now, right?  I wasn't sure if that "counted" since it was the Holiday episode.

I think it's less about the setting and more about the characters.  The Simpsons, along with every long-running sitcom ever, eventually went stale because they exhausted what could be done with the characters and their relationships* to each other.  Plot ideas always persist, but there was nothing left to say or explore about the characters that hadn't already been said 100 times before.

I don't think Futurama's at that point yet.  I think they've probably hit that middle period where there's maybe a bit less to say about the relationship between, say, Fry and Bender, or what have you, but where there's still plenty to explore between characters who's relationships to each other are rarely touched upon (Amy/Bender, Bender/Hermes, Amy/Nibbler, etc), so they've got plenty of life left in it.

*No, I don't just mean romantic relationships, sickos.

[Reply #58 on:]

Does anyone have the DVD yet?  If so, is it worth the $21.99?

[Reply #59 on:]

I really long for the DVD, but the worldwide release has yet to be announced...

[Reply #60 on:]

I got the notice yesterday that the DVD sets were being mailed to my house and to another PEELer who lives in another country, but not the filthy one.  You know which one I'm speaking about.

[Reply #61 on:]

if anyone has the dvd's yet, i'd be interested in hearing how the bonus features are.

[Reply #62 on:]

Oh, for God's sake.

You don't think there could be anything about it in the Futurama Volume 5 Thread, do you?

[Reply #63 on:]

lol @ me going to the PE stockroom.

atheismo, get off your high horse.

[Reply #64 on:]

Yeah, as if you'd look for any Futurama DVD information in the section dedicated to Futurama merchandise including DVDs.

[Reply #65 on:]

Yeah, as if you'd look for any Futurama DVD information in the section dedicated to Futurama merchandise including DVDs.

why so serious? if you'll notice, kind sir, i did make a post there.

[Reply #66 on:]

Seeing the upcoming episodes list, I'm most curious about "Ghost in the Machines", "Overclockwise", and "Futurama Reincarnation".

Not too keen on "Yo Leela Leela", but that's mainly because of the episode title...let's see though.

[Reply #67 on:]

All I gotta say is that there better not be any more time travel. I am so over that.

[Reply #68 on:]

I think they'll wait quite a while until using time travel again, if they ever do it. The reasons of usage in both BBS and tLPJF seemed to be that they found an extraordinary idea, not that they sat down and said "so... time travel?"

In other words: If there is more time travel, it is extraordinary.

[Reply #69 on:]

The title "Yo Leela Leela" makes me think of "A Leela of Her Own" for some reason, which is not a good thing. I'm hoping it's just my weird brain warping the titles though.

[Reply #70 on:]

I don't know why it made me think Yo Yo Ma cuz that has nothing to do with this lol.

It sounds like a mutant heavy episode. No offense, but quit it with the mutants and her parents already. That subject's been explored more than enough. Time to move on. Get back to the fun New New York scenes. That's what I've been missing with the new season. Just them passing by on the streets, talking to regular citizens like Mayor Poopenmeyer. Do an episode that involves him again, I like that guy.

[Reply #71 on:]

Yes you can't just throw time travel in at this point...the idea behind it has to be profound.

[Reply #72 on:]

Well, he appeared in two this season...he actually plays a fairly big role in "Mutants are Revolting" too!

I didn't really realize until looking up his Infosphere page that he actually doesn't appear all that often to begin with; his average is roughly two episodes per season, which has already happened now.  I was kind of surprised to realize that since I always thought of him as a more important character than that.

[Reply #73 on:]

No offense, but quit it with the mutants and her parents already. That subject's been explored more than enough. Time to move on. Get back to the fun New New York scenes. That's what I've been missing with the new season. Just them passing by on the streets, talking to regular citizens like Mayor Poopenmeyer.

While I don't necessarily share your affection for Mayor Poopenmeyer, I do agree that the Big Event episodes have been done a lot already this season. I'm sick of everything the crew does somehow affecting the rest of the planet. Give me something more--dare I say it?--sitcom-y, something almost mundane. I miss episodes like "The Cyberhouse Rules", just character-driven stuff that's both grounded emotionally and plot-wise. I think the only episode this season that really accomplished that was "Lethal Inspection", which is partly why I loved it so much.

[Reply #74 on:]

The New New York episodes I miss would be like A Fishful of Dollars or A Big Piece of Garbage. I loved those episodes. They were funny, very scenic (you got to see the parts of the city that characters are exposed to but viewers aren't necessarily exposed to), and Garbage took on a powerful issue in a lighthearted way. Those episodes are classic Futurama and are why I fell in love with the series.

In contrast, the episodes now, for the most part, have to take on either 1. a "serious" worldly issue or 2. have some sort of deeper meaning to them, evoking a strong emotional response from the audience. This is not a bad thing, you need these heavier episodes to elicit a strong bond between the viewer and the character, however when it is overdone it just does not work. That's why I LOVED Lrrrenconcilable Differences while I noticed most everyone else did not. It was funny, pointless, and very amusing to watch. It was an episode I could watch (and did) five times in a row, as opposed to say, the Late Philip J. Fry, which I love as well, but not for that reason. That is one that leaves me emotionally drained inside because of how heavy the storyline is between Fry and Leela and them being in right place, but wrong time. It's funny, but not so much I could watch it five times in a row without writing an emo blog.

So yes, I hope there are more NNY scenic episodes in the near future. 

[Reply #75 on:]

I totally agree with futurefreak, and I think that's why I loved Lrrrenconcilable Differences too. It had a more old skool Futurama vibe for sure, and it was just fun to watch like old Futurama...

[Reply #76 on:]

agreed, fellas. i'd love to see some episodes this half season that aren't nearly as heavy as most were last season.

also, i said it before and ill say it again. the neutral planet needs another mention.

[Reply #77 on:]

It has been getting a bit much with the way the P.E. Crew embeds itself into so many major Earthican issues. It's been edging on the line of believability that they can be involved in so many important things and not be among some of the most famous people on the planet, if not the universe. I'd be great to get back to some episodes where we just focus on the crew and some hilarious problem they got themselves into that basically only affects them (like the 2nd and 3rd acts of "A Clockwork Origin" or (for a NNY example) "The Cyberhouse Rules").

On a related note, I'd love to see more "Star Trek" episodes. Looking at the show as a whole, there is a criminally small number of episodes where the crew interacts (for the running time) with a weird unknown people or meet some weird thing in space (always a favorite type of Trek episode for me). It seems the writers have spent most of the time fleshing out the characters through interactions in mundane ways (at home) or through big events (universe/Earth saving, Time Travel) that they seem to have forgotten to show us how they interact in strange, "of the week" situations. I'd love to see that become a bigger focus in seasons onward (so I'm quite excited for Mobius Dick and Neutopia, since their synopsises point them to being the kind of stories I'm asking for).

[Reply #78 on:]

To be fair, the Professor is a celebrity of sorts.

[Reply #79 on:]

There were actually a few episodes, like "Attack of the Killer App," this season that felt pretty sitcommy to me (not in a bad way)...even episodes that involved some sort of huge crisis or adventure tended to utilize a lot of sitcom tropes.  It's just done in a different way.

And hell, even the big "crisis" ones usually have involved primarily just the crew and not really the whole earth/universe....even "Late Philip J. Fry."  I think "Katz" and the Lrrr episode are the main exceptions.  Of course it's amusing how many of them there are in the context of the whole series, but that's just something I sort of accept after a while with television I guess.  And it was true as early as, what, the garbage ball?  How did they not stay famous after that?

I think I agree with Fistful that I'd like to see more adventures in other places, as long as there's usually some sort of conflict or issue between the characters to ground it in some way.  But I don't really want to see too many purposely "mundane" episodes.  I mean, I like "Cyber House Rules" and "I, Roommate" well enough, but they don't really stick out to me in the context of the series, and I feel like they don't really utilize the universe of the show enough.  One thing I like about Futurama is that it can do these mundane conflicts, but do it within the context of a big sci-fi adventure (e.g. an episode about time skipping around randomly is at heart about Fry's feelings for Leela and her rejection of them, or an episode about Bender becoming a god to a bunch of people is largely really about his friendship with the rest of the crew).  I feel like that potential is sort of wasted sometimes when the show does something purposely mundane.