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Nixorbo

UberMod
DOOP Secretary

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Anybody who has listened to the commentaries on the season 2(?) dvds knows that it's neither a utopia or a dystopia.
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M5438

Liquid Emperor
 
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Originally posted by Nixorbo: Anybody who has listened to the commentaries on the season 2(?) dvds knows that it's neither a utopia or a dystopia. It was the commentary on 1AVC01 Nix.  The Futurama universe is just as fucked up as the real present. That's why we can relate to it.
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Bushmeister

Professor

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I remember watching a documentary about Futurama (the C4 premiere night) in which Matt said that it was not wholely either but that he had taken elements from both to form a rounded world.
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Nixorbo

UberMod
DOOP Secretary

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Originally posted by M5438: It was the commentary on 1AVC01 Nix. Yes well, not everyone can be as big a nerd as you, dear. Also, short-term memory's for chumps.
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| I have a thousand years of power. "NOOOOO HE WAS MY BROTHER!" and then got tired and slept.   "He has the special talent, though, of being able to help people and make them feel utterly stupid all at the same time. ... In short, he's a great moderator, but a terrible human being." -SlackJawedMoron |
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canned eggs

Space Pope
   
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Smitty and URL don't seem to be very hardass.
Mostly dystopian futures are meant to point up negative aspects the author sees in the present. there's probably some amount of this in Futurama, but it's largely there intermittently, for the purpose of satire. Like Fear of a Bot Planet, or whenever the Central Bureaucracy shows up.
But I think one part of the overall theme of the future as depicted in the show that is fairly dystopian in this particular sense is the alienation of the future Earth. I mean, the characters are a guy whose entire family and life were destroyed a thousand years ago, a one-eyed freak who starts out believing she's the only one in the universe of her species, a robot that runs away from his job, which is the only thing he was programmed for... Everyone is somehow alienated from the rest of the world around them. Look at the Cryonic Woman. This is a theme of most sci-fi after the 50's; man's alienation in a technological society. It's meant to be an allegory for the present. But the cool thing about Futurama is that unlike most of the other sci-fi, it ultimately draws positive conclusions, because it's about the power of these characters to help each other.
So, short answer, no, I don't think it's dystopian. But it's clearly not utopian, either. I think the message is that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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| canned eggs: all rights reserved, all wrongs reversed. |
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VoVat

Bending Unit
  
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Society has become a lot more accepting to the point where humans, robots and aliens walk the land whilst barely batting an eyelid Not mutants, though. And prejudice certainly still exists, as seen in the Professor's reaction to the Signoids. And who can forget poverty? So contagious, even robots can get it. There seem to be quite a few poor and/or homeless people for a society that apparently guarantees everyone a job.
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Mouse On Venus

Liquid Emperor
 
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Originally posted by VoVat: Not mutants, though. And prejudice certainly still exists, as seen in the Professor's reaction to the Signoids. That's true, but there doesn't seem to be much racism within the human race anymore. Still a fair bit of sexism, though.
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Beamer

DOOP Secretary

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I guess the good part about it is that you can leave Earth, but then again - most of the other planets are shit too.  Like the creators said, it's neither a utopia or a dystopia. The universe portrayed in Futurama seems to have just as many good elements (great inventions, space travel, etc.) as it does bad elements (bad inventions, career chips, people are still morons, etc.) so it's very hard to reach a conclusion.
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