New things

[on:]

Dunno if this topic has already been posted cause I don't know what to search for, but what would be good for Futurama?  By this I mean new guests on the show, relocation of the crew to another place (New Jersey), them getting a new ship.  Although I understand that some things just cannot be toyed with in the show, there has to be some things that could be changed.

[Reply #1 on:]

Hmmm, it's an interesting idea Btb. If there was new episodes, what would I like to see happen that's new?

I would personally like them to keep doing what the show does best: Have the crew go on delivery missions to weird and funny locales and watch the madness unfold.

It's a great formula and I don't want to mess with it.

[Reply #2 on:]

I'M glad that futurama went off the air on top, i mean i want to see more episodes but i can still watch the simpsons

[Reply #3 on:]

But The Simpsons is a different show.

I agree with Nasty Pasty, I don't think they should change things, except maybe in the final episode.

[Reply #4 on:]

In I Robot when Bender and Fry were looking for a new apartment, New Jersey was completely, totally, and quickly dismissed from their search list. They'll never relocate there.
But it would be quite the funny episode if they were forced to. All the moaning and groaning that would ensue. Fan Fic anyone?

[Reply #5 on:]

I Robot was a Will Smith movie, not a Futurama episode, silly.

[Reply #6 on:]

D'oh!
You realize, of course, I meant I Roomate.
How ghastly stoopit of me!

[Reply #7 on:]

Yarr, 'tis a long walk of a short mizzenmast for ye, sez I.

[Reply #8 on:]

Cap'N's idea of them being forced to move somewhere is an interesting idea, though one that would have to be a one-off (meaning they'd have to go right back to where the started by the end).  I know certain story arcs progress on the show and certain things did change, but on the whole its never a good idea to fool with the formula too much, especcially if the change is unneccesary and doesn't add anything like some of the story arcs did.

[Reply #9 on:]

I found the simpsons has become too.. too... repetitive. Futurama was completely 'fresh', new gags, animation, millenium etc...

[Reply #10 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
Cap'N's idea of them being forced to move somewhere is an interesting idea, though one that would have to be a one-off (meaning they'd have to go right back to where the started by the end).

isn't that how every tv programme in the world ends?

[Reply #11 on:]

 

Originally posted by el sloucho:
 isn't that how every tv programme in the world ends?

Mostly yeah.  And for good reason.  Usually when shows make major changes (the family moves!  They have a baby!  Ted McGinley joins the cast!" ), its a sure sign that the show is in decline, and they're also usually accused of "jumping the shark" when they make these sort of changes.

Especcially with a sitcom/comedy, you don't want to make any major changes that change what people love about the show, especcially when they're just plain unneccesary (like moving the family/group somewhere else).

[Reply #12 on:]

true, i tried to think of a show to prove you wrong.

but then i remembered i have no memory.

then i forgot what i was trying to do.

is it bed time yet?  you're not my mummy

[Reply #13 on:]

I think it'd be interesting to have something new that'd last for a few eps, maybe 2-3, but then it'd go back to normal. I don't like my precious Futurama to be changed to much, like Nasty Pasty said, that formula they've had really works.

As for what exactly...hm. All of the stuff that comes to mind has already been done in some way, although only during 1 ep. I'm sure they'd be able to come up with *something*.

Another new thing I'd really like is having a 2-part episode, where the plot covers 2 eps. Ooh, suspense!

[Reply #14 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nasty Pasty:
Hmmm, it's an interesting idea Btb. If there was new episodes, what would I like to see happen that's new?

I would personally like them to keep doing what the show does best: Have the crew go on delivery missions to weird and funny locales and watch the madness unfold.

It's a great formula and I don't want to mess with it.

As they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Reply #15 on:]

Do things really need to be changed permanently in the show?

The scope of futurama means that they do loads of very weird stuff in every episode, and anything that's too twisted for regular episodes can get covered in an anthology of interest.

I'm filled with a sudden craving for new futurama now  .

Dammit! I wanna see AOI three!

[Reply #16 on:]

 

Originally posted by el sloucho:
but then i remembered i have no memory.

Whoa. Zen.

[Reply #17 on:]

One night, while I was dreaming, I got the idea of one of the crew members, probably Fry, being separated from the rest of the gang for an entire season. I don't know how, just Fry being marooned somewhere and finding his way home while the rest of the gang tried to find him. Like Bender in Godfellas, but for 22 episodes, with them all reuniting at the end. You could have episodes with just Fry, episodes with the rest of the gang only, episodes that intercut between the two. There could be ones that functioned as "normal" Futurama episodes (after all, of the top of my head, Kif Gets Knocked Up..., Bender Should Not..., Crimes of the Hot and Obsoletely Fabulous wouldn't really be hurt by Fry's complete absence), and episodes that advanced the story arc. You could have Fry off with the Nibblonians, with Nibbler being the one link between the characters.

I don't know why, but I find the idea intriguing. There's a lot of storytelling possiblilties from taking well established characters and separating them. Look at Lord of the Rings, and also, I remember that there was another cartoon that I watched on and off when I was a lad that did just that (it involved some characters on a lifeboat, there may have been weird monsters with glowing eyes, it's on the tip of my tongue, help me out here). Whatever, as long as it wasn't done in a "Jumped the Shark" way, I think it could be good. 

[Reply #18 on:]

Interesting concept.....but still one I'd prefer to see on another show.

One of the charms of a show like Futurama is that you can watch most of the episodes in random order and they would still all mostly make sense.  Even in the Fry/Nibbler episodes, they went out of their way to make it so that the revelations wouldn't affect later episodes.  Nibbler goes back into "hiding" and no one else is able to remember his true identity

Having a character make a journey back over one episode could work, but the problem with doing it over an extended period of time is that someone who dips "in and out" of the show or happens to see them in totally random order would be confused if Fry or someone else was gone or a long periods of time or during certain episodes for no apparent reason.  And it splits all the episodes into "eras" (IE people would refer to the section of the show "When Fry was missing" ), which wouldn't be a totally good thing with a show like that.  Not to mention there's just the issue that it changes the dynamic of the show quite a bit, including the humor (so much of the humor just comes from characters talking to each other, which is harder to do when one of the characters is completely missing or stuck somewhere else).

In terms of tv comedies, I think ideas like that work best with shows that are very experimental and haven't already established (as Futurama did early on) that episodes almost always end the way the began and that most of the episodes are seperate from each other.  "South Park" took a risk by having one of its main characters be "dead" for an entire season actually, but people already knew to expect weird things like that on that show.

[Reply #19 on:]

Having Fry by himself for a whole season would get boring. Obsoletely Fabulous had Bender away from the crew for an entire act and while it worked as an act i can't imagine that stretched over 22 episodes without getting lame.

[Reply #20 on:]

A mysterious pink-haired girl who claims to be Fry's cousin, and is searching for the ginzuishou seven-leaf clover.

[Reply #21 on:]

Have you ever wondered where the bending unit "shape" came from? i mean where did they get the long arms, barrel chest and those fingers? then there is the head. does anyone know where it came from?

[Reply #22 on:]

That's kind of off topic.  But honestly its kind of standard robot design, kind of retro 1950s sci-fi-ish with a modernish twist.  Can't describe it any better.  The Planet Express ship is the same way.

[Reply #23 on:]

A hoard of golden marmosets swarm the city and have to be lured into the lava under the planet express building with a crop of silver potatoes! Bring back the silver potatoes and I would like to see golden marmosets!


Guess what episode I'm watching? Go on I dare ya!

[Reply #24 on:]

i'd like to see one where fry gets stung by a giant wasp but actually it wasn't him that got stung and then...

oh no wait.  that's been done.

they've done the past episode, why not a shot of what happens in the future?

[Reply #25 on:]

Well, permanent changes to smaller things could be cool, like an extension to PE, or a new ship, y'know, something like that wouldn't affect the storyline, but would just be kinda...neat. For a tiny change of pace. As for temporary changes, with Futurama, it could be an "anything goes" kinda thing. As long as they handled it well. (No one majorly out of character, etc...) But, all in all, it's hard to imagine Futurama any other way.

 

Originally posted by Sm@ Cpt. Libido:
Guess what episode I'm watching? Go on I dare ya!

..."The Honking." There. Just had to get that off my chest. (Also, my friend watched that episode recently in Spanish class.)