EVEN MORE Futurama news [Warning: SPOILERS]

[Reply #120 on:]

I think that "The Cryonic Woman" is hands down the worst episode of the original run but, whilst I wouldn't call it better than 90% of what followed, it doesn't even come close to being the worst episode overall.

I think that "Attach of the Killer App" is my least favourite episode, but there are a lot of season 7 episodes that rival it for that title.

[Reply #121 on:]

It's funny...like I said, I wouldn't call TCW one of the better episodes of the original run, but I'd never thought anything was particularly terrible about it before reading about people's hatred of it on PEEL. There's a lot of stuff I really like about the episode, and I'd say the only part of it that's pretty weak is the 3rd act. It's definitely not my least favorite of the original run.

Though nothing bothers me quite as much as hearing people call The Honking one of the worst original run episodes. The Honking is fucking fantastic.

[Reply #122 on:]

The Cryonic Woman had a pretty good first act, at least. I'd still say A Leela of Her Own was the worst episode of the Fox run. It ruined the brilliant joke of Blernsball, on top of having a crappy storyline in general and being completely devoid of laughs.

[Reply #123 on:]

Ya, that episode isa notso goood.

I'd also put The Route Of All Evil on a list of worst (or at least most forgettable) original run episodes.

[Reply #124 on:]

I honestly don't think the original run has any episodes that are downright bad. At worse, it's got a few mediocre ones.

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that the line it was spawned from was legitimately funny in the episode. The same goes for the macro spawned from A Clockwork Origin.

At least neither of them are worse than the "Why Not Zoidberg?" meme, which isn't even a goddamn quote from the show!

[Reply #125 on:]

I agree, UnrealLegend. "The Cryonic Woman" is my least favourite of the original run, as I said, but it's still a solid 7/10.

I also agree that "The Honking" is great.

Further to that, I agree that "The Route of All Evil" and "A Leela of Her Own" are some of the weaker ones.

And for the hell of it, I agree with everything else too. Even the contradictory stuff.

[Reply #126 on:]

I honestly don't think the original run has any episodes that are downright bad. At worse, it's got a few mediocre ones.

I remember shitting on A Leela of Her Own frequently back when all we had were the Fox episodes, but I've softened on it since. I still consider it well below average for Futurama standards, but yeah, I'd take it over Attack of the Killer Ap or The Futurama Holiday Spectacular any day.

[Reply #127 on:]

It's funny...like I said, I wouldn't call TCW one of the better episodes of the original run, but I'd never thought anything was particularly terrible about it before reading about people's hatred of it on PEEL. There's a lot of stuff I really like about the episode, and I'd say the only part of it that's pretty weak is the 3rd act. It's definitely not my least favorite of the original run.

Yeah, I'd never guess in a million years people hated The Cryonic Woman so much. It currently sits right in the middle of my Futurama rankings. Then again, I had no idea how much people hated the Mike Scully seasons of The Simpsons, either.

[Reply #128 on:]

It is my personal opinion that The Cryonic Woman, while not a top-tier episode of the original run, is still better than 90% of the post-cancellation run and that you are crazy.

I might be crazy, but at least I'm pretty.

I can agree that it's better than some of the revived series. Perhaps 60%. But there were some real gems in there. TLPJF, for example. I have to give credit where credit is due, when they got it right they still got it really fucking right.

AOTKA spawned a horrendously overused image macro

Sure, but that doesn't change the fact that the line it was spawned from was legitimately funny in the episode. The same goes for the macro spawned from A Clockwork Origin.

They (the image macros) were both funny the first time I saw them used. That was the one time for either of them. Now they're part of the endless annoying background noise of the internet.

The Honking is fucking fantastic.

Meh. The Honking has some fantastic lines and some fantastic visual sequences, but overall I don't think it's a brilliant episode. It's not far above the main body of the revived run for me.

Looking back at some of my posts from the time that 6A was airing, I actually had good things to say about the revived run overall at that point - the decline was pretty gradual really, and I think that to say around 40% of the new episodes were roughly on par with the bulk of the original material is pretty accurate.

[Reply #129 on:]

I want to stay this is Matt Greoning related and I think belongs here
Last night I was look at my Facebook too see several people posted that Sam Simon co creator of the Simpsons has died of cancer
I know this is Simpsons news but I feel a lot of people here are Simpsons fans and I think it belongs here

[Reply #130 on:]

I know this is Simpsons news but I feel a lot of people here are Simpsons fans and I think it belongs here

Rather than in the Simpsons thread, or the thread about dead famous people?

This is why we can't have nice things.

[Reply #131 on:]

Well if there was no Simpsons there maybe no futurama think about it
The Simpsons is what made Matt greoning now, even if you never watched the Simpsons you heard of it, basically no one I know has heard of futurama, or if they have don't know Matt greoning made it, which I think is a huge shame

Also in futurama news, the show will turn 16 on March 28th, hard to believe it's been here for 16 years

[Reply #132 on:]

Well if there was no Simpsons there maybe no futurama think about it

[Reply #133 on:]

Did you really just do that?

Very well.

[Reply #134 on:]

A lot of networks reject show maybe seeing the sucess the Simpsons had ten years prior to futurama starting made them want to greenlight the show

It's no secrete networks for some stupid reason dislike futurama

[Reply #135 on:]

Are we really having this conversation? Or course Fox greenlit Futurama based on Matt Greoning's involvement and the success of The Simpsons. You don't need half a brain to figure that out, so I'm going to assume you're trolling.

[Reply #136 on:]

I try to list one piece of need related to Matt Groening I never to start a war in the fourms
I'm a huge futurama fan and Matt Groening fan, as a fan of his work the death of one of con creators really struck me hard

Without getting into too much detail, I made a mistake posting the news which I DO apologize for, I'm autistic and not very good when it cones to defending myself, I would never mean to offend people  on a forum of a show that saved me from depression in a hard time of my life, and a show that I have dedicated so many countless hours too, and that some of my absolute best friends came from
Again I'm sorry for offending anyone I'm just asking if we can put it behind us and move on 

[Reply #137 on:]

I have to side with Kataang on this one. She just posted a simple piece of news. Any one of you could have simply pointed her to the proper thread with a link rather than responding with attacks.

Ease up, guys. Nobody's going to think you're unintelligent or bad forum members if you're amicable.

Reading these posts, I'm strongly reminded of the climax of I, Roommate where the wrong person in the situation apologized.

Now, moving on...

[Reply #138 on:]

Moovin' on!

[Reply #139 on:]

For the record, I didn't say anything about posting the news in here. It is true that there are more appropriate threads to be found on the forum for that news, but this is a "news" thread, obviously there's a tangential relation to Futurama, and i'ts not at all weird that someone not familiar with the entire board wouldn't know better.

I was mainly focused on the comments about Futurama possibly owing its existence to The Simpsons, which to me seemed so obvious that it came off as trolling. I definitely wasn't offended by anything you said, Kataang, and I don't have any actual issue with you. Obviously, I was pretty overly harsh in my response so...ya, I'm sorry.

[/desperateattempttosaveface]

[Reply #140 on:]

You know, every time I click this thread I'm expecting an announcement for another 8 seasons, 3 movies and an amusement park. Stop disappointing me.

[Reply #141 on:]

Now I know how to troll UrL.

[Reply #142 on:]

Are we really having this conversation? Or course Fox greenlit Futurama based on Matt Greoning's involvement and the success of The Simpsons. You don't need half a brain to figure that out, so I'm going to assume you're trolling.

I was.  sorry.

[Reply #143 on:]

I try to list one piece of need related to Matt Groening I never to start a war in the fourms
I'm a huge futurama fan and Matt Groening fan, as a fan of his work the death of one of con creators really struck me hard

Without getting into too much detail, I made a mistake posting the news which I DO apologize for, I'm autistic and not very good when it cones to defending myself, I would never mean to offend people  on a forum of a show that saved me from depression in a hard time of my life, and a show that I have dedicated so many countless hours too, and that some of my absolute best friends came from
Again I'm sorry for offending anyone I'm just asking if we can put it behind us and move on 

It's okay. You posted some news that is of interest to the Futurama community, which is not exactly a criminal offense. And now you know that there are threads devoted to such news. Unfortunately, some folks were not very polite in the way they informed you of that.

[Reply #144 on:]

Unfortunately, some folks were not very polite in the way they informed you of that.

This is why we can't have nice things?

I get the feeling that this might have been my fault. Just possibly. A little. Maybe. I'm not going to apologise though, since it's easier just to pretend I think it's Josh's fault instead, and he's unlikely to stick up for himself now that he's had to back down once already.

* totalnerduk glares at Josh and mutters "jackass" to himself. Although at precisely whom the word is directed will forever remain unclear.

You know, every time I click this thread I'm expecting an announcement for another 8 seasons, 3 movies and an amusement park. Stop disappointing me.

Actually, there was talk of more Futurama movies being a possibility not too long ago. I dunno if they were thinking direct-to-DVD again or a theatrical release, but it seems like every time a Futurama cast member or Matt/David say something that relates to it, there's usually something hinting at their desire to do more with the franchise and bow out in grand style.

Your hopes for an amusement park are probably unrealistic. I'd settle for Futurama Lego, personally.

[Reply #145 on:]

There was talk of more movies but it all seemed to stem from some little blog post written by god-know's-who on a less than reputable platform that seemed to misinterpret comments made by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen into something much more tangible.

That said, I think if the show does ever make some form of comeback, it'll be in the form of a straight-to-video movie.

[Reply #146 on:]

Well, given that Futurama's current run has been as follows:

* 5 seasons that are actually 4 seasons.
* 4 movies that are actually 1 season.
* 4 seasons that are actually 2 seasons.

I think the next logical step is 2 seasons that are actually 50 toddlers wearing a giant trenchcoat.

[Reply #147 on:]

I know all movies are consisted of a total of 16 episodes (4 for each movie) but to be honest of futurama did make a movie comeback I would want it in theaters
I've read multiple interviews and they mention this in the Zapp Dingbat commentary that the show looks great on a big screen, the people that work on the show view it on a theater sized screen

Matt Groening and everyone else on the crew is more than willing to put it on the big screen

[Reply #148 on:]

They should announce another Simpsons movie and market it even harder than they did the first movie. But when moviegoers arrive at the theater, the theater will actually play a new Futurama movie.

And then those 50 toddlers in a giant trenchcoat will beat up anybody that attempts to demand a refund.

I think that's the most solvent financial plan for a Futurama theatrical spectacular.

[Reply #149 on:]

Looks like Reddit is fully convinced that Futurama is headed for revival on Netflix because of the voice actors mentioning interest in working on the show again, should the chance arise.

Now we wait until someone posts a link to whoever said something about a potential movie.

[Reply #150 on:]

If only the voice actors are interested in continuing the series, then I think Futurama will be revived on SoundCloud instead.

You read it here first!

[Reply #151 on:]

The voice actors openly said they are still interested in continuing

[Reply #152 on:]

Looks like Reddit is fully convinced that Futurama is headed for revival on Netflix because of the voice actors mentioning interest in working on the show again, should the chance arise.

Now we wait until someone posts a link to whoever said something about a potential movie.

Assuming they can obtain the rights (and the writers), does Netflix have the capabilities/budget to do the kind of animation Futurama requires?

Netflix would offer an interesting new venue for the show, especially with how it's grown over the years. I could see the show reaching a lot of viewers with Netflix, especially since a show like Futurama is likely to appeal to a relatively tech-savvy viewership.

[Reply #153 on:]

Of course the voice actors are interested in continuing, why wouldn't they be? They deliver their lines into a microphone and get paid. I'm not trying to downplay what they do, obviously their talent is what makes the show so enjoyable. But the amount of effort they have to put in is somewhat incomparable to the effort that comes from the writers, animators, and producers. So the voice actors' interest in continuing the show doesn't really mean jack.

[Reply #154 on:]

Not to mention that the voice-actors are in pretty much no position to do anything about getting the show back on the air, anyway.

I think Netflix probably could afford to produce Futurama, now. They're putting a lot of money into making quality original content but I'm not convinced that Futurama's return would justify the expense for them. I get the impression that most fans of the show just watch it passively when they can. I still speak to people who have no idea it was cancelled... the first time. I constantly speak to people who say they love the show and are aware that it's ended but haven't got round to watching the finale yet. Sadly, I'm not sure new episodes on Netflix would be worth drastically more to them than simply paying to stream what episodes already exist.

[Reply #155 on:]

No, that makes sense. I think the same goes for most episodic comedies - the majority of viewers, despite enjoying the series, would just be catching an episode here and there, and wouldn't be following it to the same extent as us. Hell, I love Futurama, and even then, it was rarely ever "must-see viewing" for me. A lot of animated comedies these days have a much higher emphasis on serialisation than what we're used to, thanks to the precedent set by The Simpsons (ie. Archer, BoJack Horseman, the latest season of South Park), but Futurama largely abandoned its running mythology upon its return, with a handful of exceptions. And, while the show is damn fun to marathon, it still lacks the hooks that would generally draw most people back in for long periods of binge watching - something that's only become more popular with the increased popularity of online streaming services, such as the aforementioned Netflix.

Long story short, it's just not where the medium is heading these days, and that's not exactly helping Futurama's chances at all. Even most people here - on a forum FULL of hardcore fans - have responded to the discussion of a potential revival with apathy and ambivalence.

[Reply #156 on:]

Long story short, it's just not where the medium is heading these days, and that's not exactly helping Futurama's chances at all. Even most people here - on a forum FULL of hardcore fans - have responded to the discussion of a potential revival with apathy and ambivalence.

To be fair, one-off comedies do still have their fair place in popularity; but they're definitely dying off. Less and less shows seem to have the 'here's a funny thing, possibly based off of other funny things' format, in trade for the 'here's a story, with funny things' format that early seasons of Futurama, along with some scattered episodes afterwards, cemented. The second run, in general, had far more of the first format than the original run did (though both did fall into this category in some way), which probably wasn't entirely for the best.

On the topic of the fan's general disregard or dislike of a revival, I think it all comes down to whether or not new Futurama would be able to step up their game; the seasons we got on CC were ridiculously hit-and-miss, sometimes with one of the all-time best episodes preceding one of the all-time worst. A fresh take on things, new writers, new inspiration, something to that effect, would really help.

[Reply #157 on:]

I think what would help the most would be getting the writers, et al to commit to the show in a larger capacity than they were able to in the second run. This would only be possible with a larger budget, a year-to-year production schedule, and a high probability of being renewed for additional seasons.

After the first series ended, they all moved on to other jobs and some of them started families. With the new series, the budget was reduced, so some staff writers from the first run were only hired as contract writers on the second run. (This also means that the core writing staff that met regularly in the writers' room was smaller.) Furthermore, the every-other-year production schedule prevented many from committing fully to the show since it wasn't full-time, year-round work; it was a temporary job with no guarantee of continuing, so they had to commit to other things in order to make a salary.

A larger budget would have helped reduce the quantity and suckiness of the poor episodes in the second run by easing the effects of the aforementioned phenomena, but, as others said, Futurama doesn't pull in enough viewers to justify that.

[Reply #158 on:]

I feel like another straight-to-video movie would be the most likely way for the show to return, but even that seems unlikely. I feel that the fact that there's already four Futurama straight-to-video movies would somewhat water down the impact of them releasing a new one - not to mention further confusion with people not realising that the new movie is a new movie.

I would love for the show to get the theatrical feature film treatment it so deserves but it's not going to happen and I'm not really interested in bringing it back. As people have said the last few seasons suffered from reduced budget, writing staff, etc and, further to that, I feel like the story has been told now. One of the reasons I (and, I imagine many others) were so distraught at the show's cancellation the first time around was that there was so much left to tell. Fry and Leela were still pretty firmly in "will they? won't they?" territory among other things. This time, though, the show feels done. Fry and Leela have their perfect ending and it feels like every bit of mythology originally planned from the start of the series has now been explored. The last season felt largely like the writers were trying to come up with filler concepts to extend the show's life and now that there's 140 episodes in the bag, I don't feel like we need any of that. "Meanwhile" really is the perfect finale, so I only want the show back if it's for a one-off celebration in the format of a "movie" - something that would only serve to compliment the finale rather than replace it with a new one - kind of like "Simpsorama", except better.

[Reply #159 on:]

I would love for the show to get the theatrical feature film treatment it so deserves but it's not going to happen and I'm not really interested in bringing it back.

As far as I can see, it's the one option MG/DXC haven't actually explored, and it's something that they've expressed enthusiasm for the idea of. Therefore... it's a possibility.

Not a huge possibility, but slim hope is better than none. Even if said hope is hair-thin right now.