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Inquisitor Hein
Liquid Emperor
 
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Hmmmm. I think a steampunk episode would make a great two parter.
Signed. Also, every Episode with some kind of "Epic" and/or background changing theme. ("The Why of Fry", "The Mutants are revolting")
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coldangel

DOOP Secretary

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Return of the BRAINSPAWN
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transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
 
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Yes, because robot prostitutes and high speed maglev train tunnels on the Atlantic Ocean floor are so old timey.
They're so last century. I don't think that outright parody is where Futurama's strengths lie. Parodies tend to work bet in Futurama as cameo jokes in the background. They certainly can't carry an episode. The Titanic parody only worked because there was so much other material in there as well, and there was no attempt made to be faithful to the events on board the Titanic, or the film. If there were to be an episode set on a train speeding through a transatlantic tunnel in need of repair, it might be better if the train was going to crash (the driver is horribly murdered maybe?) and the episode is about stopping the train safely (Farnsworth's latest all-but-useless gewgaw?) so they can arrive in London without dying. Then they've got to get back from London somehow. So (with Jack the Robot Ripper making a 30-second cameo perhaps) they end up needing the help of various British 19th-Century adventurer parody types to get back. They'll try a zeppelin, a pegasus-drawn stagecoach, and a steam-powered London Bus, but end up failing to get off the ground each time... until finally Leela reveals she's had the money to pay for a teleporter booth all along. They go home, and Bender reveals he's stolen the crown jewels. In addition, any transatlantic tunnel is unlikely to sit on the ocean floor. It's more likely to have a small positive bouyancy and be tethered in the middle of the sea by cables. Robot prostitutes are also a somewhat overplayed joke by now. I think that the major problem with the idea you've described is that it's too reliant on established ideas. Futurama works best when being somewhat original, and poking at established ideas only in passing. Alternative steampunk futures and rehashes of Jack the Ripper would definitely be far too derivative. It would not only be cheap, it would feel cheap. Be more creative. Don't limit your fanfic-in-progress or whatever it is to stuff that's already been imagined and re-imagined. Build it around new ideas, and make background jokes based on a million of the ideas that have gone before it, and it could turn out to be much more like Futurama.
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SpaceGoldfish fromWazn

Urban Legend
  
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« Reply #18 on: 12-21-2011 03:52 »
« Last Edit on: 12-21-2011 03:58 »
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No, I know about the tunnel not being on the ocean floor, (trust me, I watched the extreme engineering episode like five times, I wish that tunnel was real that badly) but I just say ocean floor to be snappy. Plus Futurama has shown plenty of breaks from science to tell a good joke, so having the tunnel actually be on the ocean floor wouldn't mind too much, though I think the tethered to the ocean floor thing would look better cinematically. (Having the tunnel be see through would provide excellent oppertunities for visual gags and treats, like the domes of ruined underwater cities that look suspiciously like Rapture, the remains of what looks like the Titanic but is actually the Queen Mary 2, kraken skeletons ect. Also it would be an extremely loose parody of Orient Express, having the basic elements: train, murder ect but would mostly tell its own story. It would be more of a parody of murder mysteries, hitchcock and film noir in general rather then just Agatha Christie and MotOE.
My other ideas for the episode: Since the tunnel has been rendered obsolete a considerably long time ago, its now trying to reinvent itself as a luxury trip along the ocean floor, similar to cruise liners replacing ocean liners when planes became the common transatlantic journey. The problem is, the funds are being scraped very thin and is more 10 20 from Victoria to Bromley South then Orient Express. In fact the funds don't even cover basic maintanance and safety on the tunnel, (which is further fuelled by embezzlement and corruption in the tunnel's owners) so... the crew do end up having to saving themselves from certain doom inbetween figuring out the murder mystery (which takes a back seat.)
I quite like the robot prostitutes, and actually have wanted to see more of them in Futurama. I think they would work better in the steampunk episode, mainly because I quite like the idea of drawing the steam robots. I have a few drawings knocking around of the Crushinator being built like an early steam locomotive (such as the Rocket, the Novelty, the Sans Pareil or Puffing Biilly.) As for being derivative, they're no more derivative then any of the other ideas we've seen in Futurama (which are often fairly basic ideas and archetypes when you boil them down, from parodies of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to time machines that can only go forward, to alien invasions to selling your soul to the devil to mechanical evolution to brain swapping devices, character becomes a cyborg, characters arrive in an Amazonian utopia of sexually aggressive female aliens out of a pulpy sci fi novel.) Most stories in Futurama are cliche'd and derivative. It's how they're told what sets them apart from every other brain swap or alien invasion story or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody.
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SpaceGoldfish fromWazn

Urban Legend
  
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« Reply #20 on: 12-21-2011 04:01 »
« Last Edit on: 12-21-2011 04:10 »
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Well what he means is that parodies that don't exclusively tie themselves to one subject work better then ones that do (for example, Titanic parodies plenty of things as well as Titanic 1997, disaster movies, other movies about the Titanic such as A Night to Remember, the Poisidon Adventure as well as the historical event itself. I enjoyed Where no Fan has Gone Before, but its not one of my favorites mainly because I'm not a Trekkie.)
What I am hoping to do with the London episode is because I really, really want to parody the contributions the UK has made to Sci Fi in general, such as the John Wydnam novels (Croydon is taken over by hive minded chavlings with blonde hair and monotone voices, Kew Gardens is a Triffid sanctuary) Dr Who (all the suicide booths look like Tardises), Blake's 7 (the Queen of England is Servalan in apperance and personality), HG Wells (the british army's tanks look like Tripods, and Eloi can be fed to Morlocks in petting zoos). That's just off the top of my head. And plus I really want to make as many goofy sci fi puns on tube stations. So far I've got Elephant and Deathstar and Oxford Circuit.
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transgender nerd under canada

DOOP Ubersecretary
 
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TNUK: Parodies have been all over this show, not just subtle. What the FUCK are you talking about?
I never said they hadn't. I said they're not the strength of the show and they don't tend to carry episodes well. Learn to fucking read, and you'll know what I'm talking about.  I enjoyed Where no Fan has Gone Before, but its not one of my favorites mainly because I'm not a Trekkie.
One of the rare examples where the parody elements of the show were absolutely critical to the plot and it still worked. Although I suppose it really wasn't that great if you're not a Star Trek fan.
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Tachyon

DOOP Secretary

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Has there been a Robot Chicken Futurama? Robot Chicken Star Wars had me nearly passing out with laughter.
Two-parter for Futurama? I'd like to see one, but no good concepts come to mind.
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Solid Gold Bender

Urban Legend
  
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« Reply #32 on: 02-07-2012 23:02 »
« Last Edit on: 02-07-2012 23:24 »
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I just finished reading this... EPIC! I'm getting that rush after you see an awesomely epic movie!  This was a great script! Edit: Right here. A link to a downloadable version is on the last page.
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Inquisitor Hein
Liquid Emperor
 
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Indeed. It felt a bit as if a whole story dealt with Marty McFlys journey to the past, until the moment Doc Brown revealed he must get his parents back together. Then Marty would walk out of the pic, returning seconds later and announcing "Okay, done. Everything is fine again". End credits roll.
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