EVEN MORE Futurama news [Warning: SPOILERS]

[Reply #520 on:]

Who's Nona di Spargement? FWIW the only results I get for the name are "non disparagement" clause legal articles. Reminds me of Alan Smithee.

[Reply #521 on:]

one or two absolute used diapers.

Would you mind giving an example or two of these diapers, and maybe what you don't like about them? I'd be interested to understand your thoughts.

From the last two seasons, YLL, TTT, and SMFP spring to mind as very much episodes that missed their mark.

[Reply #522 on:]

New episodes July 24!
https://screenrant.com/futurama-season-11-release-date-hulu/

[Reply #523 on:]

Linkety linkety link
https://youtu.be/RK-jHFUCEi8

[Reply #524 on:]

Ah, I’m glad to hear that the episodes will indeed be released on a weekly schedule, rather than dumped all at once—I’m not necessarily looking forward to these new episodes, but I’m morbidly curious about them and happy to indulge that morbid curiosity in a series of 10 half-hour increments over a period of several months.

[Reply #525 on:]

I have never seen a streaming service dump half the episodes on one day then drip release the rest weekly. Hulu/Disney is probably experimenting with Futurama to see what works best with a comedy series. Maybe it was a mistake to release seasons all at once this entire time? I'm also shocked that they're releasing all 20 episodes in the same broadcast/streaming season. I was hoping it was going to be ten episodes in the summer, ten over Christmas or winter, as to span out content and not keep fans waiting.

This also suggests new Futurama may have an overarching or seasonal plotline. The series is going to be amazing with that kind of consistency!

[Reply #526 on:]

I think you misread. Article said just the first ep will premiere July 24th, then the remaining of the ten Season 8A eps will air weekly.

Season synopsis:

"There will be "developments in the epic love story of Fry and Leela, the mysterious contents of Nibbler's litter box, the secret history of evil Robot Santa, and the whereabouts of Kif and Amy's tadpoles." There's also a "pandemic in town as the crew explores the future of vaccines, bitcoin, cancel culture, and streaming TV.""

https://www.ign.com/articles/futurama-season-11-hulu-revival-july-release-date

I expect/hope there's some form of a larger plot line, to take advantage of the streaming platform and give this revival a little more purpose for existing.

Animation looks about the same as the CC run. Guessing the Calculon returning/Hulu stuff will be the premiere.

[Reply #527 on:]

The writers for the first 10 episodes of Season 8.

https://directories.wga.org/project/1239816/futurama-2023-s8/

The impossible Stream - Patric M. Verrone
Children of a Lesser Bog - Eric Horsted
How the West Was 1010001 - Nona di Spargement
Parasites Regained - Maiya Williams
Related to Items You've Viewed - David A. Goodman
I Know What You Did Next Xmas - Ariel Ladensohn
Rage Against the Vaccine - Cody Ziglar
Zapp Gets Cancelled - Shirin Najafi
The Prince and the Product - Ari John Kaplan & Eric Kaplan
All the Way Down - David X. Cohen

A few new writers with pretty much no other TV credits. Hopefully the new blood is a positive thing for this Season. Happy to see Eric Kaplan back after his absence from the CC era, likewise for David A. Goodman.

I came back here because I was listening to a podcast with Cody Ziglar as a guest on it the other day and they dropped Futurama as one of his credits when introducing me and it made me think "Ooh, I wonder who else is actually writing the new episodes. Do we know yet?" For what it's worth, they also listed Solar Opposites as one of his credits and that isn't listed anywhere on the likes of IMDb yet either, so it seems like he's new in the whole adult animation world but already fairly well established.

Patric M. Verrone and Eric Horsted are welcome returning names. Their Futurama credits are fairly all over the shop in terms of quality but that means that we can probably expect the same sort of average standard of Futurama as before.

Nona di Spargement barely seems to exist if you Google her, which is interesting.

I actually quite like Maiya Williams' previous output so happy to see her return.

David A. Goodman is an interesting one. His only previous writing credit on the show is (the excellent) "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" but he was a co-executive producer on the series for all of season 4. He didn't come back for the Comedy Central years.

Ariel Ladensohn has a couple of Solar Opposites episodes under her belt.

Shirin Najafi seems to be a real up and comer with only comedy sketches and the like to show.

Going to guess Ari John Kaplan is Eric Kaplan's son and he pulled some strings to get him a writing gig. A bit weird. Groening pulled the same thing on Disenchantment.

I'm unsurprised but excited to see David X. Cohen in the mix. His writing credits tend to really hit for me.

I'm pretty surprised and genuinely a bit worried that Ken Keeler is apparently absent from this new run of episodes. I'd say he's the most important Futurama writer after David X. Cohen in terms of his voice and work shaping the series. He's also the go-to go for writing important episodes. Hopefully they've got him locked down to write the actual finale for this season that we're getting in the next batch, next year, and that means he's on the writing staff to help with the other episodes.

[Reply #528 on:]

11.1 The Impossible Stream
11.2 Rage Against The Vaccine
11.3 Zapp Gets Cancelled
11.4 The Prince And The Product
11.5 Related To Items You've Viewed
11.6 Children Of A Lesser Bog
11.7 How The West Was 1010001
11.8 I Know What You Did Last Xmas
11.9 Parasites Regained
11.10 All The Way Down

Pretty late to the party on this one and a lot of my predictions have already been more or less confirmed, but I'm guessing:

The Impossible Stream
A direct continuation of Meanwhile that's also going to spend a substantial amount of the runtime making Box Network-esque jokes about how they're streaming now.

Rage Against the Vaccine
Straightforward topical episode. There'll be a vaccine produced to protect against some comedic, new illness and some people will refuse to take it. Maybe it'll split the Planet Express Crew down the middle.

Zapp Gets Cancelled
Zapp already got cancelled in Brannigan Begin Again so this will be about him getting "cancelled", which means that he'll say something stupid and controversial and become massively successful with a fanbase of idiots backing him while he complains about not having a platform anymore even though he's more famous than ever. Leela will obviously be the one to oppose him.

The Prince And The Product
I can't imagine they're doing a Prince and the Pauper parody after basically doing it already in "The Prisoner of Benda" and arguably the Flexo episodes, too. Wouldn't be surprised if Flexo gets involved here, though.

Related To Items You've Viewed
I suspect this is going to be our anthology episode from this batch. They seem pretty intent on giving us an anthology episode once a year ever since the Comedy Central run started. It'll be weird alternate universe takes on Futurama or possibly Futurama parodies of other TV shows.

Children Of A Lesser Bog
Obviously a sequel to "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch".

How The West Was 1010001
That binary translates to "Q" so I'm thinking this is a western pastiche that's going to satirise Q-anon. They'll have to track their version of "Q" down as he hides out on The Moon. Maybe he's the Hydroponic Farmer. Maybe this will be where they slap the bitcoin stuff too. Who knows.

I Know What You Did Last Xmas
An Xmas, Robot Santa episode. Apparently it digs into the origins of Robot Santa which seems unneccessary.

Parasites Regained
Sounds like a straight-up sequel to Parasites Lost where Fry presumably decides to give himself those worms again. Interesting.

All The Way Down
I'm guessing they're finally going to travel to the sub-sewer and interact with the sub-mutants who live down there.

[Reply #529 on:]

More Futurama is always good I guess? Season 7 was pretty shaky though, but with enough time passed maybe the writers will have renewed energy and great ideas up in their sleeves. Disenchantment has been fairly weak though, so I’m hoping Futurama ends up being better than that. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

For what it's worth, Disenchantment is showrun by Josh Weinstein whereas David X. Cohen has always been showrunner of Futurama and he's returning for the new episodes. I think that guarantees a certain minimum quality that the show will hit and it's better than Disenchantment.

In the simplest terms, it means that all the scripts that get turned in are given a final rewrite by David X. Cohen (as opposed to Josh Weinstein on Disenchantment) and Cohen is seemingly much, much better at that despite Weinstein having some amazing past credits under his belt.

[Reply #530 on:]

Disenchantment's prospects for renewal were not favorable before, but following the announcement it looks abysmal. Any conversation about the most recent episodes are eclipsed by this news.

Bizarrely, Josh Weinstein says that they're working on the next season of Disenchantment and it should be out later this year. Bizarre because Netflix are yet to make any sort of announcement about a renewal, but if what Weinstein says is true, they must be deep into the animation stage at this point so it's too late for anyone to pull the plug.

[Reply #531 on:]

So, I heard (or dreamt, but same thing, right?) that one of the new episodes was going to be about Fry and Leela meeting their daughter from the future.  I just want to remind everyone that I had that idea first, and if they do use that idea in an episode, they owe me royalties.  In fact, you all owe me royalties if you watch it.

David X. Cohen spoke about this in several post-cancellation interviews about Futurama back in the day, essentially talking about plots they never got round to. He said that they were going to encounter a character who was moving backwards through time (ala Tenet) only to later realise it was their daughter from the future but the writers simply couldn't wrap their heads around making sense of the thing (which makes sense if you've seen Tenet).

I wouldn't mind if they tried dusting off the idea for the new run, though it'd annoyingly be inherently tied to and seen as a parody of Tenet if they did it now.

[Reply #532 on:]

Now we have all the titles for season 12!

12.1 The One Amigo
12.2 Quids Game
12.3 The Temp
12.4 Beauty And The Bug
12.5 One Is Silicon and The Other Gold
12.6 Attack Of The Clothes
12.7 Planet Espresso
12.8 Cuteness Overlord
12.9 The Futurama Mystery Liberry
12.10 Otherwise

Harder to get a gauge on these ones, honestly, but my predictions...

The One Amigo
Something to do with Bender's Mexican heritage.

Quids Game
A straight up Squid Game parody. Most likely Mom will run some big series of games to determine a winner for some sort of prize.

The Temp
I think this will be as simple and straightforward as Planet Express hiring a new temp who causes problems somehow. The name might be more clever than that though -- it could involve time somehow.

Beauty and the Bug
It's got to be something to do with Amy and her prized buggalo.

One Is Silicon and the Other Gold
It's hard not to think about Bender from Universe A but I can't imagine they're doing anything with that (as hot as multiverses have become since "Parabox").

Attack of the Clothes
Something to do with Planet Express getting new uniforms yet again perhaps.

Planet Espresso
Planet Express succumbs to gig economy work delivering coffees and the like. Or maybe they just straight up open a coffee shop for reasons unknown.

Cuteness Overlord
Definitely something to do with the Nibblonians.

The Futurama Mystery Liberry
This sounds like this batch's anthology episode to me. I think we're returning to the library with the Big Brain from "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and he's going to transport us into three different classic novels, reimagined with the cast of Futurama. We're going to see something like The Great Gatsby, Treasure Island and The Hardy Boys with Fry, etc, playing the roles. Or maybe they'll all be mystery books given the title... in which case, Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes and something else.
This actually lends credit to the idea a lot of you have that these new episodes will be more serialised given that the previous episode sounds like it's going to be Nibblonian heavy and this one will have to involve The Brainspawn.

Otherwise
Sounds like it's following the same finale naming convention they used for "Overclockwise" and "Meanwhile". My money is on Ken Keeler returning to write this one despite being absent from the first batch of episodes. I have absolutely NO idea of what to expect here, though.

[Reply #533 on:]

Otherwise sounds like another time travel story. Or at the very least, taking a look into a future where something seemingly-minor was changed in the past.

A for-want-of-a-nail type story.

Ooh I could definitely see that. Some sort of It's a Wonderful Life thing where Fry messes things up with Leela by pissing around with time and then has to fix it.

[Reply #534 on:]

Sorry for all the back-to-back posts as I've been catching up. One last one with my thoughts about the revival that'll largely echo everything already said:

I actually love the Comedy Central run. Is it weaker than the Fox run? Yes, but only a tiny bit. It undoubtedly contains the show's worst episodes but it also contained many of the best. The show felt like it was cut down in its prime when it first got cancelled. The CC run allowed it to have a sense of closure. Season 7 is the only point that I'd say the show got significantly bad by Futurama's standards, and even that contained a handful of great episodes along with a finale so beautiful that it pretty much justified the entire thing.

I never expected Futurama to be revived again so this was a gigantic surprise for me and one that comes with mixed emotions. I love the show. I can't help but be thrilled that it's back even if, objectively, I think the show should probably have stayed dead this time round. Futurama felt like it still had more to say the last time it was revived. By the time they got to "Meanwhile", it felt like they'd said everything. All the big surprises planted from the early days and the show's emotional backbone (the Fry/Leela arc) are completely played out. There's not really anywhere to go -- at least not anywhere obvious. That means that this run is never going to compare to the earlier stuff for me because it just doesn't have that important bearing on the lore and the canon of the show.

That said, I love the show for its simple comedy episodes too and there's no reason they can't do more of that perfectly effectively. "Radiorama" was great fun for instance.

I think the new run will most likely be solid entertainment. It'll sit alongside the likes of American Dad! and Solar Opposites and Bob's Burgers. In fact, it'll probably be better than those shows. I'll enjoy it. It might even squeeze one or two legitimately great episodes in the mix. It won't be up to the previous runs but whatever. I'm just going to enjoy the ride. The old stuff still exists and this is pretty much the last chance they ever have to make more episodes because, when it comes time for the next revival, members of the cast will probably have retired -- if they're even still alive. I might as well just take it for what it is and enjoy it.

[Reply #535 on:]

I'm pretty surprised and genuinely a bit worried that Ken Keeler is apparently absent from this new run of episodes. I'd say he's the most important Futurama writer after David X. Cohen in terms of his voice and work shaping the series. He's also the go-to go for writing important episodes. Hopefully they've got him locked down to write the actual finale for this season that we're getting in the next batch, next year, and that means he's on the writing staff to help with the other episodes.

Yeah, I had the same thought/concern about Ken Keeler’s conspicuous absence from those writing credits. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if he has no involvement with this revival—he seemed already to have one foot out the door with the Comedy Central run, as evidenced by his reluctance even to participate in some of the DVD commentaries in season seven, so it’s possible he’s just washed his hands of Futurama entirely. I hope that’s not the case, but I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if it is.

Oh, also, I’m 99% certain that “Nona di Spargement” is a pseudonym. It sort of sounds like “non-disparagement,” as in a non-disparagement clause. (Reminds me of how Jon Vitti was contractually obligated to write two clip shows for The Simpsons—I believe he notes in the commentary for one of them, either “Another Simpsons Clip Show” or “The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular,” that his participation was required “to keep us all from getting sued”—for which he was credited as “Pound Foolish.”) Hell, maybe it’s even a pen name for Ken Keeler.

[Reply #536 on:]

Hell, maybe it’s even a pen name for Ken Keeler.

Been lurking occasionally for news about the show and just popping in to say: yes, it is. There’s a Comic Con Panel from last year (you can find it on YouTube) with Patric Verrone, Cody Ziglar, and a few other people. They couldn’t really say anything about the episodes (except to confirm that the titles on IMDB are correct and the description for “Zapp Gets Cancelled” isn’t). But when they read the name of that episode Verrone mentioned that it’s a Keeler script. He also mentioned the return of Keeler I think on an AMA. He’s back.

Kaplan is the real surprise as he had said on Twitter and in a podcast interview that he had no involvement, however he did say in the interview that he’d be happy to do it if they asked him. Maybe someone from the show heard that and decided to reach out. (Also sounded like he hadn’t really kept up with the show since he last wrote for it - based on him not seeming to know or remember that Seymour’s fate was retconned - but I think that’s pretty normal in the biz.)

But yeah, Keeper’s there. The name is a pun, who knows why they did that. Could be a union/credits thing and perhaps it won’t even be permanent once the episode aired, but he is involved.

[Reply #537 on:]

It's such an obvious pun I can't believe I missed it. Like it's so obvious that it seems as though anyone watching it will pick up on it when it appears on screen.

I think it's going to be a joke relevant to the episode, itself. Like how every single member of the cast and crew were credited as John or Jane Smith in South Park's "Trapped in the Closet" episode.

Again, I think it's going to tie into the whole Q-anon angle I brought up before. The Q character is presumably someone using a pseudonym. I'm guessing either everyone in the episode will have a fake credit on screen or something like that.


Great to know Keeler's back though.

[Reply #538 on:]

Any word on Lou Morton coming back? Maybe the pseudonym is him.

Speaking personally, I think he's the best at writing funny episodes, so I'm hoping he's in there somewhere.

Edit: erg, I should have read the note about the Comic Con panel / authorship on the mystery episode more closely. I take it it's ~confirmed that Ken Keeler is Nona di Spargement?

Still, I hope Lou Morton is involved in some capacity, especially if that capacity is the writing of funny jokes.

Also worth mentioning, Nonchalanto was a name used in another Keeler script.

[Reply #539 on:]

I'm posting this right now because one, the laptop I'm using has a crap battery, and two, I have a feeling my cat is going to lay on my keyboard and I don't want to risk losing everything I have written so far. So, pardon the many edits.

I think you misread. Article said just the first ep will premiere July 24th, then the remaining of the ten Season 8A eps will air weekly.

This all ends with the announcement that the first episode of 10 will air on July 24. The remainder of this season's episodes will air weekly on Mondays.

Screenrant is composed of a bunch of amateur journalists. Other articles make it more clear that the episodes will drop one at a time every week starting with July 24th.

I think the crew deliberately chose that date to start. The seventh Monday is September 4th, the ten year anniversary of the premiere of "Meanwhile". Perhaps this will be addressed or referenced in whatever episode is scheduled for that day.

I expect/hope there's some form of a larger plot line, to take advantage of the streaming platform and give this revival a little more purpose for existing.

Me too, buddy. Futurama was destined to be a show of continuity. The series is going to excel with such freedom. You can tell the crew really wanted to reference things like having Kif and Amy and Leela's tadpoles attend the Rubok ceremony. Now they can heavily rely on references and past stories because now there's no excuse for a viewer to not have watched all 140 episodes available on Hulu.

I'm going to build on cyber_turnip's predictions because I looooove discussing Futurama.

The Impossible Stream is probably going to address the time stream and how Fry, Leela, and the Professor screwed up again. Johnny2Cellos beat me to talking about this prediction, but given how there's a 2023 calendar very clearly seen in one of the shots of the teaser suggests that the fact it will be July 2023 will be brought up in the episode. If there's any episode that's going to feature time travel hijinks, it's going to be in the first episode released in nearly ten years. We all know Futurama is going to address the ten-year moratorium and Hulu's order for more episodes in a literal way. I'm not a fan of the self-referential humor, but they're clearly making a point that the new episodes will be released on Hulu. However, I suspect the ten-year gap is going to be the topic of the entire episode and not some tasteless joke about grinding up people to a powder. What's probably going to happen is that when the Professor pushed the time button in the last pseudo-finale it's going to not go as the Professor intended (since when does one of the Professor's inventions work as intended) and will instead skip ahead to the year 2023. Well, either that or it'll take them out of time (that would be a good episode title). It will disregard the Professor's intentional effect of the repaired time button so Fry, Leela, and the Professor will not return to a time before the time freeze and their memories of the events that transpired in "Meanwhile". We know Fry and Leela's aging will be reversed as they're clearly looking like the status quo.

I would absolutely love it if Fry and Leela remembered their decades alone together roaming a paused Earth. If literally moving the stars and skipping past two timelines wasn't epic enough to certify Fry and Leela's status as a legendary couple (which arguably didn't because both were one-sided acts), spending an entire lifetime alone together all within a single moment is. It changes the entire dynamic of their relationship. They will pretty much be a married couple for the rest of the series. Only something really awful could split them up. I think we're all sick and tired of the stories of Fry wooing Leela or the two being so on-again-off-again so this will be a refreshing development for the series.

If my prediction is correct, Fry and Leela will literally be an old married couple stuck in their younger bodies. Gosh, that premise is ripe of so many storytelling possibilities. Fry will probably be wiser but will still occasionally have his lapses of stupidity and Leela may be more calm and patient.

Mystery is whether Fry and Leela are considered married in the year 2023. It's possible they signed a marriage license when they wed each other in "Meanwhile". There are two scenarios where filling out the document is important. In the event that time continued without them, the two likely recorded what happened to them on something in plain sight so their friends and Leela's family would know what happened to them (Fry's family is in the dark about everything). It's possible that the two maintained sanity by writing in a journal. With their recordings they would keep their marriage certificate to make their marriage more official. Of course, there is the question about whether the marriage is legitimate because they officiated their own union and arguably the event did not have a witness. However, these questions might be mitigated as Zapp Brannigan had the power to conduct his own marriage to Munda because he was a captain so Leela, as captain of the Planet Express ship, may possess such legal power as well and either the time-frozen guests of their wedding or the Professor may count as witnesses. The other scenario that Fry or Leela ever escape their timed-out existence they could point to the document to prove the validity of their marriage.

We know that Leela is "the other" and is destined to mother Fry's offspring. However, we don't know if Fry and Leela proactively used birth control or there are fertility issues as a couple. Fry's line in "Meanwhile" doesn't support or oppose either reason why they didn't reproduce while alone together. We're probably going to find out why in one of the episodes this production season, probably "Children of a Lesser Bog". I think I had a point to make about this but now I don't remember and I'm too concerned about my laptop shutting down on me without saving this current edition of this post.

[Reply #540 on:]

I love your idea for the first episode continuing directly from Meanwhile. It would make a nice bridge between the CC and Hulu runs, like how Yonder connected to Rebirth, and would give a reason for Fry/Leela to stay married and mature as characters/a couple this Season.

I don’t know why I and everyone else I know immediately assumed the show would ignore it. Would be really nice if they addressed it, though I’m still kinda expecting it to just be about Calculon coming back/All My Circuits moving to Hulu/PE working for them/cheap meta jokes.

If something was planned for “the other” line, it would’ve happened in the CC run. Still, no reason they couldn’t try addressing that now. The Season is apparently supposed to be callback heavy, and I’m sure the writers are very aware of it by now from fans. Maybe they could combine that with Fry/Leela’s time traveling child somehow, make them the key to saving the world with the Nibblonians, or something.

[Reply #541 on:]

Rage Against the Vaccine
Straightforward topical episode. There'll be a vaccine produced to protect against some comedic, new illness and some people will refuse to take it. Maybe it'll split the Planet Express Crew down the middle.

Someone on Reddit suggested the possibility it could be a Robot Pandemic and it’s Bender who refuses to take the “Vaccine”. I’d be fine with either direction though, although the first one could end up like Cold Warriors.

[Reply #542 on:]

From the last two seasons, YLL, TTT, and SMFP spring to mind as very much episodes that missed their mark.

Yeah, I'm with you on those. I'd probably add 2D Black Top, too. The ET parody was always going to be a bit Marmite and I've never been a massive fan of the anthology episodes.

[Reply #543 on:]

On the vaccine episode, I wonder if they will turn it around and have the vaccine actually be a mind-control tracking device as part of one of Mom's evil plots. Then the hold-outs, who fell for the "conspiracy theory", save the day.

[Reply #544 on:]

I can't see them doing that because, intentionally or not, it would likely condone a mistrust of vaccines and the Futurama staff are both extremely liberal and extremely on-board with scientific consensus. Just look at "Leela and the Genestalk"'s handling of GM foods for instance.

Rage Against the Vaccine
Straightforward topical episode. There'll be a vaccine produced to protect against some comedic, new illness and some people will refuse to take it. Maybe it'll split the Planet Express Crew down the middle.

Someone on Reddit suggested the possibility it could be a Robot Pandemic and it’s Bender who refuses to take the “Vaccine”. I’d be fine with either direction though, although the first one could end up like Cold Warriors.

I don't know why you're saying this like it's a different idea to the one I put forward when it's basically the same exact thing, but just slightly more specific. Unless you're adamant that robots don't count as "people" in the Futurama universe.

That said, wouldn't a robot vaccine just be anti-virus software? I guess it's not beyond Futurama to do something like calling anti-virus a robot vaccine.

[Reply #545 on:]

Way too dark for Futurama, but as I recall, the virus that caused the running-zombie apocalypse in 28 Days Later was called the Rage Virus. Presumably those infected would rage against any attempt at vaccination... (though I suppose they couldn't be vaccinated if they were infected)

[Reply #546 on:]

I have always wanted a zombie episode...

But I think it's probably just a nice pun on Rage Against the Machine and nothing more.

[Reply #547 on:]

If something was planned for “the other” line, it would’ve happened in the CC run. Still, no reason they couldn’t try addressing that now.

Well, the new series finale is called OTHERwise...

[Reply #548 on:]

Great catch!

[Reply #549 on:]

Trailer dropped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWmtcYvhj68
-Fry's line at the beginning of the trailer doesn't match up with his mouth animation, so it's probably an edit for the trailer. Sounds like Leela's "our new home" is in response to Fry's line and it's for when Fry and Leela return to Robot Arms Apartment and Leela finally moves in.
-There's multiple beds in the apartment. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Bender listed the place on Airbnb for extra cash.
-The Professor announces that "[they] seemed to have survived a massive disruption in the flow of time". I'd imagine this will be in the first act of "The Impossible Stream".
-A little disappointed they didn't age up Dwight or have costume changes for Amy. The teaser never showed Amy nor Hermes, so it was a possibility.
-I don't know if I like the reverse time machine returning with the ability to go both ways through time now.
-In the background where Bender ties up Robot Santa in Xmas lights, there's a bunch of stockings on the mantle. Notably, there's a spot on the right side with thirteen tiny stockings. It's hard to read the text, but it looks like they're labeled "Kroker's Dozen".
-What is it with Fry and Bender's apartment and squished cabbage?
-Poor mutants are getting blamed for Explovid. Were they forced down in the sewers again?
-Burrow, burro!

[Reply #550 on:]

You mean like a permanent costume change for Amy? Because she's shown off in a western outfit at one point.

Anyway, a lot of our predictions seem fairly accurate but the biggest development from this trailer for me is that "I Know What You Did Next Xmas" sees the return of the forwards-only time machine from "The Late Philip J. Fry". Except that it now seems to have been kitted out to run in reverse.

I'm guessing The Professor reversed the tech in it so that it can only go backwards to prevent an accident like getting trapped in the future from ever happening again. I then think some characters are going to use it to travel back in time from Xmas to the previous year's Xmas in order to prevent something bad from happening, and they'll have to keep going back again and again and again -- all while being chased by Robot Santa. It actually sounds like a parody of the movie Timecrimes -- but I think that movie is probably wayyy too obscure for Futurama to parody like this.

[Reply #551 on:]

I am a little bit worried about the show's longevity given that about half of this first batch of episodes seem to be direct sequel episodes as opposed to new ideas. And the remaining half seem to all be direct 1-to-1 parodies of current events.

The Impossible Stream - direct sequel to Meanwhile
Children of a Lesser Bog - direct sequel to Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch
How the West Was 1010001 - crypto satire
Parasites Regained - direct sequel to Parasites Lost
Related to Items You've Viewed - Amazon satire
I Know What You Did Next Xmas - direct sequel to The Late Philip J. Fry
Rage Against the Vaccine - COVID satire
Zapp Gets Cancelled - cancel culture satire
The Prince and the Product - ???
All the Way Down - if my theory is correct, direct sequel to I Second That Emotion

[Reply #552 on:]

Eh, as I'm rewatching the series I'm finding that even in the original run there were plenty of sequel-ish episodes: SP3K and "The Cryonic Woman," "A Flight to Remember" and "Amazon Women in the Mood," "Xmas Story" and "A Tale of Two Santas," "The Lesser of Two Evils" and "Bendless Love," "Parasites Lost" and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings," "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why of Fry" (and obviously the two AOI episodes). I think episodes that serve as callbacks to/extensions of prior storylines actually contribute positively to the series' larger continuity and worldbuilding, so they don't bother me much.

And, to be fair, it's reasonable at least for the new season premiere to be a direct sequel to the prior season finale. I'm sure I'll be faulting these new episodes left and right (suffice it to say I was not particularly impressed by that new trailer), but this is something I'm willing to let slide because it doesn't seem so unusual to me.

[Reply #553 on:]

I agree with Gorky's sentiment on "sequel" episodes. I love lore and continuity and pretty much welcome all the obscure references. Unfortunately, I don't think "Parasites Regained" will have the depth of its predecessor and explore wormed Fry again.

[Reply #554 on:]

A “sequel” episode is fine if it has something to say, and isn’t just cashing in on nostalgia. “Parasites Regained” made me hesitant pretty much just because of the title, which put to my mind the many (mostly bad) sequel eps to classic eps long running shows like The Simpsons and SpongeBob have done their last few years (“Parasites Lost” also just doesn’t seem like an episode a natural sequel could be made from).

The Dune and Nibbler stuff from the trailer gave me more hope the episode will have a good reason for bringing back the parasites. I think its just ingrained now to be worried about any revival being too nostalgia reliant or reference heavy in its own memes/jokes/icons, as so many other long running/revival series in the last decade have done just that. Season 7 went a little that direction with the Fry meme refs and some of the one off characters and locals it brought back, but never to the degree other shows have gone since.

The rest of the references so far I have no problem with. “Meanwhile” being directly acknowledged in the premiere makes sense. Same with “Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch” having its “in 20 years our children will return” line actually being fulfilled 20 years later. The Xmas ep looks to be its own thing, just a little weird atm seeing the time machine from TLPJF being reused for it.

I’m more worried about the present day satire eps than the show getting too reference heavy. The crypto western ep kinda interests me actually. The Mom/Amazon, Mutants/Covid-19, and Zapp/#cancelled eps not so much.

Animation still looks about the same as the CC era. All of Billy West’s voices sounded a little too hoarse/deep. Leela too. The choppy editing/bad sound mixing in the trailer definitely isn’t helping them. Maybe they’ll get better as the run goes, I remember some of the voices sounding weird in “Rebirth” also.

I’m glad it doesn’t look like we’re getting a trilogy episode in this first half, just “Futurama Mystery Liberry” for next year. The less of those the better.

[Reply #555 on:]

^I made the same note of Billy West’s characters sounding a little rough. The guy’s north of 70 years old, so it’s not surprising that his voice is showing its age, but it does kind of bum me out in an existential sort of way. (I think Sagal’s vocal wear was a bit less noticeable, but definitely still there.)

On a related note, I’ll admit that I did get a bit of a kick out of that final scene in the trailer with Fry and Leela making out. The sort of affectionate-but-crotchety patter of their relationship, best exemplified by “Fry and Leela’s Big Fling,” always amuses me.

[Reply #556 on:]

Official Poster



From the creator of "The Simpsons" eh? Well now I have to check this out.

[Reply #557 on:]

I'm super curious as to how they'll explain and move past the time loop from Meanwhile, and I hope the episodes are very conceptual and sci-fi. I see a lot of people saying the topical stories and jokes don't seem great, and I partially agree, but I've got faith in the team. I'm most curious to see how the show feels different after such a long absence - the longest Futurama break in its history, right?

[Reply #558 on:]

Eh, as I'm rewatching the series I'm finding that even in the original run there were plenty of sequel-ish episodes: SP3K and "The Cryonic Woman," "A Flight to Remember" and "Amazon Women in the Mood," "Xmas Story" and "A Tale of Two Santas," "The Lesser of Two Evils" and "Bendless Love," "Parasites Lost" and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings," "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why of Fry" (and obviously the two AOI episodes). I think episodes that serve as callbacks to/extensions of prior storylines actually contribute positively to the series' larger continuity and worldbuilding, so they don't bother me much.

And, to be fair, it's reasonable at least for the new season premiere to be a direct sequel to the prior season finale. I'm sure I'll be faulting these new episodes left and right (suffice it to say I was not particularly impressed by that new trailer), but this is something I'm willing to let slide because it doesn't seem so unusual to me.

I like a good sequel episode as much as the next guy. It just seems to be 50% of the new batch which is WAY higher than the older instances of them and I'm a bit concerned about Futurama cannibalising itself and just turning into wall-to-wall callbacks and references with no where else to go. It's probably an unfounded concern and, realistically, how many new seasons of the show do we even think we're going to get this time round? I think production season 9 is very realistic but I can't see much beyond that... I've learned to never get my hopes up for Futurama being a smash hit over the past 20 years.

Really, what I find most exciting about this revival is the idea that a theatrical Futurama movie is now very much back on the table. The cinema landscape is very different to where it used to be and such a thing actually seems like a pretty realistic option to me now. If Bob's Burgers got one, why not Futurama?

[Reply #559 on:]

The new trailer currently has 10 million views on YouTube.

I’m betting the first batch of episodes will get pretty high ratings, enough to get a Season 9 renewal. I’m thinking about what happened with the Animaniacs reboot. Its first Season was one of the most streamed series, I think just below The Mandalorian, and got the series a renewal. But then the very next Season, ratings/interest for it tanked, and the show was cancelled.

Curious how ratings/interest will go with it being released weekly instead of all at once, how many fans/new viewers will stick around all 10 eps, if even a single bad/mediocre episode destroys its views. I think it’ll do better with it being a streaming series, than when it was on Comedy Central, a basic cable network not as easily accessible/advertised.

A theatrical movie to close out the franchise I still welcome. Bobs Burgers has a weirdly big fanbase and lasted a decade on air. Futurama does have a dedicated fanbase, but we’ll just have to see how well those numbers translate to Hulu viewership.