DEFINITELY the last Futurama News Thread ever...maybe... [Warning: SPOILERS]

[Reply #720 on:]

A cameo is different though.

We're talking about a crossover here, meaning a significant portion of the episode's viewers will be fans of Futurama. And if they're turning the characters yellow then they're making an unnecessary change that basically pushes half the viewers aside.

[Reply #721 on:]

If we're going purely by proper crossovers, the only previous one that The Simpsons has done (unless you count "The Springfield Files" and "24 Minutes") is "A Star is Burns", where Jay Sherman was adapted into a Matt Groening drawing style, complete with colouring him yellow.

Obviously, the Futurama cast are already in Matt Groening's style. I still think it's pretty likely that they'll be yellowed up, though I hope they aren't. It would just ask weird questions otherwise. I mean, it's not as simple as "in the future, everyone turns pink", which they could get around with a quick joke explaining things. It's clearly established through scenes set in the past, time-travel and several other things that people weren't yellow in the past in the world of Futurama.

[Reply #722 on:]

Unless they're doing some lazy "it was all a dream" cop-out that explains it all, I have a feeling that the only way to truly enjoy this crossover will be switching off the nerdy part of our brains that wants to go on a long tirade about how the two shows could not possibly be set in the same universe.

(Actually, the "dream" cop-out could work if it all turns out to be Fry's dream... Makes sense given that he does long for the past sometimes and would likely have a nostalgic obsession with The Simpsons)

[Reply #723 on:]

Futurama characters' skin tone confirmed to be normal:

[Reply #724 on:]

Is it possible the "time travel" in the crossover will also be explained to be some sort of inter-dimensional travel as well?

[Reply #725 on:]

That's what I was thinking, Josh, but it makes no sense. How could a change in The Simpsons's universe's timeline effect the timeline in an alternate universe?

[Reply #726 on:]

Thank god for that.

And yeah, I don't think it could possibly be inter-dimensional, sadly, given that the whole thing is caused by the contents of a time-capsule that Bart et al bury. It wouldn't really make any sense.

[Reply #727 on:]

This is good news.

Personally, I'm not gonna bother trying to justify how this episode could be possible between the two universes because even if it ends up being really good I'll likely stick my thumbs in my ears and consider it non-canon.

[Reply #728 on:]

I highly doubt that any hardcore Futurama fan is going to consider it canon, regardless of David X. Cohen's statement.

[Reply #729 on:]

The preview picture is awesome... the official synopsis... sounds just plain awful.

Even some average Joe Schmos I've told are confused b/c they thought the shows existed in opposite universes.. b/c of the skin color stuff mostly.

Why not interdimensional travel??

Time travel... that's just lazy.. if true.

Leave it to Al Jean to wreck Futurama too, lol.

[Reply #730 on:]

Leave it to Al Jean to wreck Futurama too, lol.

The only thing he's done to annoy me in regards to Futurama is when he said the crossover will be the "proper" send-off to the show. What?! What way better to remember Futurama than pairing it with Matt Groening's other show (which is larger & definitely more successful, let's face it) and messing with its in-universe logic.

[Reply #731 on:]

To be fair, the Futurama-Simpsons relationship has never been an important part of the shows in-universe-logic. All references were small side-gags the appropriate episodes could easily have done without (Bender eating a Bart Simpson doll's short was anything but significant for the ABPOG plot, lrrreconcilable ndndifferences could have used anyone else but Groening as comic con guest, etc.... ).

There are many ways the writers can mess up with a shows continuity, but keeping the show consistent in regards to unimportant, little side-gags is imhO not really a necessity.

[Reply #732 on:]

In this case however, the relationship between the Futurama and The Simpsons universes will be an integral plot point.

[Reply #733 on:]

Imagine if the character interacted like  they've known each other for years. That'd be odd and a little bit scary.

[Reply #734 on:]

How so, FakeHero?

[Reply #735 on:]

You mean like Bender saying "Oh my God, The Simpsons? When are you guys going to make a second movie?" and Homer saying "I thought you guys were cancelled?" and Bart saying "Remember that time in the future when me and Homer throw you out of a moving car?"?

[Reply #736 on:]

You mean like Bender saying "Oh my God, The Simpsons? When are you guys going to make a second movie?" and Homer saying "I thought you guys were cancelled?" and Bart saying "Remember that time in the future when me and Homer throw you out of a moving car?"?

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of them not really acknowledging the idea of two different universes and just playing along like it's the 40th Simpsons/Futurama crossover episode.

Although the fact that The Simpsons is canonically a fictional show in the world of Futurama (and vice-versa, I believe?) is gonna be tough to explain.

[Reply #737 on:]

They will most certainly act like strangers meeting for the first time.

[Reply #738 on:]

Yeah, I'd be amazed if they didn't have a fair bit of "Oh my god, a robot! Oh my god, a cyclops!" dialogue, probably followed by a joke about how The Simpsons are yellow.

[Reply #739 on:]

If they really plan on making The Simpsons universe exist in the past of the Futurama universe, they're probably best off not attempting to make any reference to the color difference whatsoever. As in, act like the characters don't even notice or realize it, potentially implying that we the audience see them as different colors, but the characters themselves don't. A weird concept for sure, but to me that's much better than them attempting to make some joke about how people in the past were yellow when we already know that in the Futurama universe that's not at all the case.

In any case, it's easy to say this isn't Futurama canon because it's not an actual episode of Futurama. These same problems with color will exist in the Simpsons/Family Guy crossover as well, but nobody will consider that Simpsons canon because it's actually an episode of Family Guy. And also because nobody cares about Simpsons canon anymore.

[Reply #740 on:]

Yeah, I'd be amazed if they didn't have a fair bit of "Oh my god, a robot! Oh my god, a cyclops!" dialogue, probably followed by a joke about how The Simpsons are yellow.

In Leelas case, the old "Pair of sunglases and be done with it" strategy could also be revived.

[Reply #741 on:]

Glad to see the skin colors of the Futurama gang won't change. They'll probably pass that difference off with a joke, anyways.

Did anyone else see the interview with Yeardley Smith on Nukethefridge.com? If some didn't, she pretty much said that (some of) the main focus of the crossover episode will be on - almost predictably - Bender and Homer's relationship (and similarities).

Like I said, I'm not all that surprised. Bender's the icon of Futurama, and Homer's (more or less) the icon of the Simpsons. I wonder how much attention the other Futurama characters will get?

As for continuity, I'd assume that it will be ignored. Simpsons doesn't have much of a fluent canon anyways, and Futurama has had plenty of non-canon episodes that this can be among. But, for the sake of nerdiness, I guess I'd only count it as Futurama canon if it doesn't blatantly contradict or confuse anything.

As a side note, 'It Just Won't Stay Dead!' has become more and more true as time passes, hasn't it?  

[Reply #742 on:]

But, for the sake of nerdiness, I guess I'd only count it as Futurama canon if it doesn't blatantly contradict or confuse anything.

Transcript of DVD Commentary of Mars University

Rich Moore: Homer and Bart in the background there.

Gregg Vanzo: I think that there is some rule that The Simpsons should never be on the show except as objects.

Matt Groening: Well, the idea is that this -- The Simpsons are fictitious characters.

Gregg Vanzo: Right right.

Matt Groening: And Futurama's real.

Perhaps this isn't a blatant contradiction, but I'd say it contradicts High Lord Groening's logic of how the two shows connect.

[Reply #743 on:]

The Simpsons destroyed that rule (on multiple occasions, I might add) over a decade ago, though.





There was also a couch gag featuring Fry (though granted, the couch gags could hardly be described as canon), and Matt Groening even guest starred in a Simpsons episode as himself, where he was known specifically as the creator of Futurama.

I much prefer the "Futurama is real, The Simpsons is a tv show" rule, for the record, but it's far too late at this point to still buy into it.

[Reply #744 on:]

Blah! Blah! Blah! I can't hear you!!!!

* Scrappy covers his ears with his palms, closes his eyes, shakes his head, and repeatedly chants the above text.

[Reply #745 on:]

The Simpsons destroyed that rule (on multiple occasions, I might add) over a decade ago, though.

This picture is from a scene where Bart fantasises that he's watching TV in class because TV has been taken away or something like that. That's why Pikachu is also there. So, it doesn't contradict the rule, at all - it's pro the rule if anything.

The second image is from an episode set in the future. Those episodes are of questionable canon. I'm pretty sure that episode is just a simulated prediction of the future created by Professor Frink's machine, though it was largely confirmed to be accurate through its continuity with "Holidays of Future Passed".

[Reply #746 on:]

and Matt Groening even guest starred in a Simpsons episode as himself, where he was known specifically as the creator of Futurama.

Don't forget he also appeared in Futurama as himself, where Bender asks him about a second Simpsons movie.

[Reply #747 on:]

"That '90s Show" also starts with Homer saying something like "A struggling Matt Groening created Futurama".

And there's an episode where someone shouts "I can't believe they cancelled Futurama" before committing suicide.

And I think Martin wore a Futurama T-shirt or something at a comic-book convention; possibly in "Mayored to the Mob".

[Reply #748 on:]

"That '90s Show" took place in the '80s?

[Reply #749 on:]

...No?

[Reply #750 on:]

This picture is from a scene where Bart fantasises that he's watching TV in class because TV has been taken away or something like that. That's why Pikachu is also there. So, it doesn't contradict the rule, at all - it's pro the rule if anything.

In its original context, though, it acknowledges that Futurama is a tv show within The Simpsons universe, so yes, it does contradict Groening's original "Futurama = Real, Simpsons = Tv show in the Futurama universe" rule.

[Reply #751 on:]

Could it just be there's some link or portal or something between two alternate universes, one where Futurama is real, and has a TV show called the Simpsons, and one where the opposite is true?

Or would that just be a cop out/stupid explanation?

[Reply #752 on:]

Or would that just be a cop out/stupid explanation?

Stupid explanation, because it means the plot of the crossover would make no sense. We know that Bart causes something bad to happen in the future, which makes Bender travel back in time; the shows' universes have to be set in the same universe for this to make sense.

[Reply #753 on:]

I'm still holding out hope that this is just the pretense we're given at the start of the episode and it is somehow properly explained at the end. But I highly doubt it.

[Reply #754 on:]

This picture is from a scene where Bart fantasises that he's watching TV in class because TV has been taken away or something like that. That's why Pikachu is also there. So, it doesn't contradict the rule, at all - it's pro the rule if anything.

In its original context, though, it acknowledges that Futurama is a tv show within The Simpsons universe, so yes, it does contradict Groening's original "Futurama = Real, Simpsons = Tv show in the Futurama universe" rule.

Sorry, I thought you were saying that Futurama existed within The Simpsons' universe as their future. I think Matt Groening's comments about Futurama being "real" only referred to in the Futurama universe. In the The Simpsons universe, The Simpsons is real and Futurama is a show. Matt said Futurama was real because he was on a Futurama commentary talking about Futurama.

[Reply #755 on:]

I've always thought that he meant Futurama is "real" as it's basically our world in 3000, whereas Simpsons is only similiar/based on reality but with yellow skin colour and such.


As far as I'm concerned about Simpsorama in general: Futurama characters don't have yellow skin and they'll be on same timeline is going to be acceptable only if it's non-canon with Simpsons (and it's non-canon with Futurama regardless). While it doesn't matter much anyway, I'll be most fine with it being just a non-canon cross-over show.

[Reply #756 on:]

Really, the whole "How do the realities connect?" question will probably only be answered by headcanons. Since it's an episode that will more than likely be non-canon for both shows anyway, the whole continuity thing can be thrown out the window. Besides, for all we know, the episode could be a What-If Machine presentation, or something like that.

Also, I agree also with what Inquisitor Hein said above; the only times Futurama or the Simpsons have referenced each other were in unimportant jokes, so their validity might not be permanently set in stone( like how apparently the Professor is Catholic, according to "Fry am the EggMan.").

[Reply #757 on:]

It's a mindless crossover to grab ratings.. lets not think so deeply about it.
Obviously were nerds... so were gonna analyze this... but in reality it's just for ratings and shouldn't be thought about too long.
Same goes for the awful FG/Simpsons lameover, it's just a ratings grab where two shows come together (that shouldn't) to draw big ratings numbers.

I read Fox expects huge numbers for the FG crossover on Sunday, and a bump of an extra 1-2 million viewers for the Simpsons the night of the Futurama crossover.

All I know is that if a big football game airs on November 9th on Fox, I hope it doesn't run long, but... football always bumps Sunday night Fox ratings.
They'll need more crossovers just to fill episode slots with ideas, lol!

It's really a good business decision, I know quite a few people who say they'll watch both Simpsons crossovers in September and November, and these are people who normally don't watch the shows new.

Almost everyone I know watches reruns, Netflix, and dvd's to catch up and never the original broadcasts of cartoons in general.
We'll probably see more crossovers in the Simpsons future once the ratings are reported.
It leaked out (by of course a comment by Al Jean) that Fox has every intention of doing 30 seasons of the Simpsons as long as the ratings stay good enough.

[Reply #758 on:]

Tweet from Can't Get Enough Futurama:

Great time @sciencemuseum last night. We were also treated to an exclusive clip of Bender &Homer playing 'tether boy' from the crossover ep.

There was a presentation last night at the Science Museum in London with David X. Cohen, Al Jean and Simon Singh where they talked about the book The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets, written by Singh.

[Reply #759 on:]

Great time @sciencemuseum last night. We were also treated to an exclusive clip of Bender &Homer playing 'tether boy' from the crossover ep.

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I assume that's supposed to say tether ball?

It's cool that they've shown more of the episode. Now we just have to wait for an attendee to upload the clip to Youtube...