Secrets of Futurama

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It was the Al-Qaeda!

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lmao

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can anybody relate to my feelings on any of the above?

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johnsonaj, we externally project on to the world what we want to see and who we are. The part of your post I could understand--I don't agree with. While I can imagine watching Futurama while high can be quite interesting, I see no hidden message of drug use, anti-drug warnings, or something nefarious like that. It is a comedy with great storytelling (most of the time) and thought-provoking sci-fi concepts.

Furthermore, I really hope you clear your head by doing something more productive than analyze TV and think of drugs. Your thoughts are rather disorganized and difficult to understand.

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....

You look way too deep in this silly cartoon.

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You're not looking deep enough or maybe have not experienced some of the things I have that would allow you to notice some of these things

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They had the characters before they had the voice actors for them, so I doubt the characters are based off of the voice actors.

Also that's one chunky hunk of text - it may not be an essay, but you still need to make it easy to read xD I read it anyway, and I found it to be an insightful analysis.

Also, don't be surprised if this topic gets moved to a different part of the forum.

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You're not looking deep enough or maybe have not experienced some of the things I have that would allow you to notice some of these things

You speak like it's a religion,  but it's definitely not. As a matter of fact, your connecting the wrong strings together. I have nothing against you thinking this; but it is completely irrational.

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Hey! Do I preach to you when you're lying stoned in the gutter? NO! So beat it!
 

Dr. Zoidberg seems to bring an extremely important underlying story to Futurama.  I would say that the jewish doctor is not very common, which could possibly be why it is funny and he is so unsuccessful.  But Dr. Zoidberg is actually very deep and uses self-depreciating humor very well.  It seems he is more of a psychiatrist than a surgeon.  The Jews are known for their contemplation of life and philosophy making this more likely.  Also, he is very compassionate and is extremely capable of feeling empathy.  He cares about his friends and expects nothing in return.

Alright, as a ex-believer in reformed Judaism and a celebrator of the Jewish culture, I can guarantee you that there is an abundant amount of Jewish Doctors out there.

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You look way too deep in this silly cartoon.

Futurama is not silly! Maybe in places...

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This is what you're doing...

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Yeah, but I doubt there is more depth to Bender's name than the obvious.  In fact, that is funny; that there is no depth.  If there was some sort of deeper meaning with his name, it would be unfunny and dare I say it cliché, and thus rather uncreative.

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Or is that the beauty of it.  That it is so obvious it becomes a hidden truth.  I used to play "I Spy" with my dad and would pick a really obvious object, such as the glasses he was wearing, and he would look past them and give up even though the answer was right ABOVE his nose.  Also, I would say creating a show that depicts the nuances of having any disorder in such a subtle way is far from cliche.

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Bender doesn't have any disorders that are subtle.  In fact, very little about his character is subtle.

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Yes, there is a lot of subtle humour on Futurama, but Bender is not the origin of the subtle jokes.  Zoidberg is a far better contender for the subtle jokes (especially social commentary), among others.

But lots of the 'observations' you made in your initial post is based on consequential circumstance than intended creation by the makers.  There is only so much a creator can be bothered to think of.

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I'm with Svip. Sometimes, a cheap gag can just be a cheap gag, they don't always have to have a ton of pragmatics.

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In the case of Bender's humor I think that is generally true, disregarding his desire to please his companions and hear "Bender's the greatest".  But not in terms of the show as a whole or the underlying messages.

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Subtlety isn't one of Bender's traits, though it is present in many other parts of the show.

I remember when Hermes' pot jokes used to be subtle. Those were the days.

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Your point makes no sense. Why don't you make  a cult about it and start dancing abounding a fire while chanting to the 17 great influential spirits who guided David and Matt to include drug messages in their cartoon.

Of course there's more to his character than a crazy alcoholic whore-mongling gambler. His soft side is part of a joke. It's funny that such a Bad-Ass Motherfucker can want to be a country singer. It's just as funny as Homer Simpson wanting to coach the Dallas Cowboys.

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Isnt there too much of a coincidence in their names?

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Well this is a ridiculously dumb thread...

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johnsonaj...I don't know how else to say this, but you are really coming across as condescending and arrogant. To say "Maybe if you went back and watched some of the earlier seasons of Futurama with a very open mind" and that people like Danny or SoldSnake or "inobservant" is rather insulting. Frankly, it's beginning to piss me off.

They don't have the same life experiences as you do, experiences that inform and color your perception of Futurama. And life in general. So what? Are their impressions and interpretations of the show inferior to yours, simply because you glean something that might not be immediately apparent? Or patterns and meaning not even intended by the animators, writers, or creators?

Bender's sly eye movements, shifty body language, overall selfish and devious behavior is part of his characterization. I don't know what "crackpot theory" you're referring to. Moreover, while I do see a lot of thought that went into the creation of the original run, and layers of meaning and nuances in newer episodes like TLPJF or "Mobius Dick," sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Most importantly, I really don't think it's nice to browbeat or denigrate people into your POV.

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Does Dr. Z remind anyone of Sean Maguire, the psychologist from Good Will Hunting?

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Hi johnsonaj!

Around these parts, we don't customarily make multiple consecutive posts in the same thread. If yours is the newest post in the thread, please consider using the edit button rather than generating a new post every time you think of something else to post.

Love, TMC.

 Bender spelled backwards is red neb, red nebulas are also bipolar nebulas.  His eye movement he is constantly looking at other people when they speak but trying not to make it obvious.  He is very concerned about what people think about him and want them to think that he does not while actually the only reason he makes jokes is so that he can make a good impression on his friends.  Also, for bipolar peole it is often difficult to change emotions if they realize they are wrong, it probably feels like they have to summon their strength to bend them.  In Bendless love episode when he realizes Angeline wants to go back to Flexo and it is up to Bender to save him, the bar is unbendable, for bender helping Flexo probably felt like an impossible task.  During one of the Futurama movies they introduce the characters and Bender is on a horse that has his front legs off the ground; he needs to get off his high horse.  Idk if the horse is white but he seems to have some of the characteristics of a cocaine addict.  It is common for former cocaine users to use alcohol and smoke cigars, like my father and a few of my friend’s fathers as well.

Leela seems to have multiple personality because of the conflicting personalities that she has.  At times she preaches of patience but she herself is unpatient hence coming across hypocritical.  Leela, Turanga- Hey Leela its your anger, marijuana.

Fry seems to have OCD just by the way he thinks about things.  One time he has a thought on the tip of his tongue and goes yup no yup no yup no… yup! It is very small but its as if he is searching for the emotion that accompanied the thought and once he gave up and relaxed it came to him.  In terms of making connections and analogies he is extremely smart, but in simple matters he is captain obvious because he goes through this complicated thought process to get a simple issue.  Do less man!.    Lets say his middle name is Jake… Fry, Philip jake- psychedelic drug user.

I think Amy is perceived as having add but is actually dyslexic because her way of learning and understanding is different from the people around her.   Amy Wong- aiming wrong direction

The professor seems to be slightly schizophrenic from past marijuana/lcd use in his hippie days.  Hence why he is the proffesser.  He has a lot of life experience being so old so he thinks that he understands most everything.  He gets embarrassed for people if they say something that he perceives as stupid and vice versa.  He is very sensitive to unrelated comments pertaining to himself.      

Hermes does not make it obvious that he smokes weed but loves that his companions know he does without having to tell them.  I used to think it was cool that I could go to school baked and not even my friends would know.  This feeling made me feel like an accomplished pot head but my work still suffered from it.  It seems Hermes likes to get high and hang out by himself. Idk why, but Conrad, Hermes- my comrads hurt me

Dr. Zoidberg seems to bring an extremely important underlying story to Futurama.  I would say that the jewish doctor is not very common, which could possibly be why it is funny and he is so unsuccessful.  But Dr. Zoidberg is actually very deep and uses self-depreciating humor very well.  It seems he is more of a psychiatrist than a surgeon.  The Jews are known for their contemplation of life and philosophy making this more likely.  Also, he is very compassionate and is extremely capable of feeling empathy.  He cares about his friends and expects nothing in return.
Why does this bring an underlying story to Futurama you may ask.  It seems that many of these qualities could be drug induced.  Is Planet Express an actual delivery company, or are these characters in drug rehab who decided to make a show as a way to cope?  With the show taking place so far in the future who knows how easy this would be for them  The point is I believe Matt and David are warning us of the dangers of drug use.  While they have their benefits and have made some characters such as Fry very creative and able to think in a different way,  these ways of thinking that were found through drug use have their negative affects on the brain.  Also, drug use can be a shortcut to finding answers that one does not fully understand, hence Leela’s conflicting emotions and hypocrisy.  As a 20 year old borderline schizo who has just recently quit abusing and using marijuana, alcohol and roxicodone for 3 years, my paranoia and passion for analyzing television and peoples emotions has made me see this show in a very deep way.   With or without drug use, we all have our problems/”disorders”.  Our gifts are a curse.  These problems can be our strengths on the other hand.  Am I just crazy or are the creators and writers of this show just that good that they can portray all these messages in such an amazingly subtle way?  They do not have the show change course to make a point rather their intended jokes and morals are spontaneous and extremely natural.  Its almost as if they write the show word by word and do not look forward into the show to make a joke or point earlier in it, an unbelievably difficult thing to do.  They are not only amazing at this, but in a different league than any other writer in Hollywood to the point that if all viewers understood his messages he could be fucking Heyzues Vistos.  But that is why he is so good at it.  Because straight telling somebody something about themselves does not always go well when dealing with complex issues.  People realize things by themselves when they are ready to handle the issue.  These writers have great respect and spread the message that none of us should feel pressure to change or bad about ourselves for not realizing that they were doing something wrong.  Rather be happy with who you are and know that if you tried to live your life in a good way that is all that matters.  One of their messages seems to be that we should not make change a big deal rather accept it as part of life and then when we realize that we fucked something up we don’t have to feel bad about, simply try to do it better next time.  Life is too short to look back and regret not doing something also it is pointless and just slows the process of self-improvement.  Live for the futur-ama.

Just thought this possible concept needed to get out there.

Most Schizophrenics smoke. But we're not declaring that every character we've ever seen smoking (Bender, Fry, Kif, Petunia, Sal, Chain Smoker, and more) is a schizo. Most of your original post does exactly that, though. You're looking at character names and other random things and making associations, which is fine and dandy, but making a thread entitled "secrets of Futurama" and stating those associations as facts is why people are reacting negatively.

Many of the things you're talking about have established explanations, such as character names.

Fry was originally set to be named Curtis, but was renamed Philip to honour Phil Hartman, a voice actor who had played several roles on The Simpsons over the years. Hartman was originally set to play Zapp Brannigan on Futurama, but died only shortly before Futurama's beginning.

In the case of Leela,

The character, voiced by Katey Sagal, is named for the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen.

The Professy is named for famed inventor Philo Farnsworth. Fry's mental hiccups and difficulties are explained within the show, and his "special" brain is in fact an integral plot point in a series-long story arc.

As far as the idea that the main characters exhibit behaviors and characteristics common to people with various disorders, that may very well be true. But one must differentiate between that observation and deciding that the character actually has a mental disorder. Smoking does not automatically make a character a schizophrenic. Drinking alcohol does not automatically make a character an alcoholic (Though Bender is used more than once to act as one, with his non-boozing spells). Becoming angry does not mean the character has deep-seated anger issues. Getting sad does not mean the character has depression. Zoidberg fertilizing the wongs' caviar does not mean he has sitophilia.

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I guess the real secret is why didn't Zoidberg die after fertilizing the caviar? Perhaps we've been watching an undead Zoidberg all this time and never realized it. Seems like off-the-wall theories are okay in this thread.

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Maybe Zoidberg fertilizing the caviar counts as, ahem, self pleasure, since it's been established Zoidberg can masturbate and still be tickety-boo.

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Just a quick tip: there's an edit button on the corner of your posts. Double posting is typically frowned upon here.
Edit: looks like TMC beat me to it.

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From the looks of it URL, it doesn't seem like you're frowning upon it here.