EVEN MORE Futurama news [Warning: SPOILERS]

[Reply #680 on:]

Following Hulu’s critically acclaimed 2023 revival of Futurama, the epic sci-fi series from Matt Groening and David X. Cohen returns in 2024 with ten all-new episodes. On this orbit around the sun, our occasionally heroic crew embarks on mind-bending adventures involving birthday party games to the death, the secrets of Bender’s ancestral robot village, A.I. friends (and enemies), impossibly cute beanbags, and the true five million-year-old story behind the consciousness-altering substance known as coffee. And, of course, the next chapter in Fry and Leela’s fateful, time-twisted romance. Source.

[Reply #681 on:]

Hell yeah.

[Reply #682 on:]

After last year's very good return to form, I'm even more excited for the next ten episodes.

[Reply #683 on:]

A book called The Art of Futurama is being released October 8th.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/futurama-getting-art-book-treatment-1235882530/

Costs $35.00 USD. Includes concept art, sketches, development work, and commentary by Groening, Cohen, and Katz. Article says the book covers the first seven Seasons, but then says it'll be a visual history of all 150 episodes.

[Reply #684 on:]

Ooh, definitely picking that up.

[Reply #685 on:]

A book called The Art of Futurama is being released October 8th.

That looks pretty slick, thanks Box! I have something kinda analogous for ST-DS9 that I've only thumbed through so far.

And last night as I flipped the calendar over to May I was thinking that it's probably time to start looking for a 2025 Futurama calendar to preorder

* edit  *

And it's available for preorder from the Amazon fairy now! (click for link)

[Reply #686 on:]

Futurama | First Look Season 12 | Hulu

[Reply #687 on:]

Neat! Not much of substance here, though it looks like we’ll be getting more Drunk Leela, a running gag of which I’m not a fan. On a less snarky note, I did appreciate the callback to how sloppily Leela noshes on buggalo legs…

[Reply #688 on:]

I'm excited for this upcoming season, but I'm hoping they get back to more random sci-fi adventures though. I enjoyed last season but I feel like it suffered from too many topical episodes or episodes focused on fanfare. Hoping they got most of those out of the way this time around.

Even during the Comedy Central era they had a few topical episodes sprinkled in but the majority of them were just random adventures that the writers were able to come up with which is where I think the show excels.

The other thing about the topical episodes is that depending on the writer they either work really well or not at all. "Related to Items You Viewed" was a great episode last season and "Zapp Gets Cancelled" was really good as well. "Rage Against the Vaccine" and "How the West was 1010001" just didn't land for me.

Either way I'm just excited to get more new Futurama episodes and look forward to discussing them all with you guys!

[Reply #689 on:]

Well, not much to go on there but but it looks like "The One Amigo" is going to be about Bender taking part in a buffalo running event akin to the annual running of the bull in Spain.

[Reply #690 on:]

I enjoyed last season but I feel like it suffered from too many topical episodes or episodes focused on fanfare. Hoping they got most of those out of the way this time around.

While I'm a fan of the high-concept sci-fi stories where Futurama is firing on all cylinders, I think a lot of people forget just how many episodes of Futurama's original run that were parodies of other franchises or were topical episodes for the time. The point is that the topic of episode is never the issue, the writing is. Great writing can elevate a topical global warming episode like "Crimes of the Hot" from mediocre to a classic all on it's own.

Judging by the overall consistent quality of last year's reboot episodes, I have some faith in some of the show's new writers to do just that.

[Reply #691 on:]

I enjoyed last season but I feel like it suffered from too many topical episodes or episodes focused on fanfare. Hoping they got most of those out of the way this time around.

While I'm a fan of the high-concept sci-fi stories where Futurama is firing on all cylinders, I think a lot of people forget just how many episodes of Futurama's original run that were parodies of other franchises or were topical episodes for the time. The point is that the topic of episode is never the issue, the writing is. Great writing can elevate a topical global warming episode like "Crimes of the Hot" from mediocre to a classic all on it's own.

Judging by the overall consistent quality of last year's reboot episodes, I have some faith in some of the show's new writers to do just that.

I agree that it's less the topic that's the problem and more how the writer of that particular episode uses that topic. For example, "Related to Items You've Viewed" was one of my favorite episodes last season. They took the concept of Amazon and made it fit nicely in the Futurama universe by using Mom as the big bad corporation and having their ultra fast deliveries have an effect on Planet Express by making them potentially go out of business. Just felt like a classic Futurama episode where they use the topic as inspiration and satire instead of just blatantly copying it. "Rage Against the Vaccine" on the other hand was an instance where I felt the writing was poor and they didn't do enough to differentiate it from the source material. Again I enjoyed all of the episodes last season just thought some worked better than others. I'm mainly just excited that we can look forward to at least 30 more new episodes and that I can break each of them down with fellow fans of the series. I was a regular poster back during the Comedy Central run but forgot my log-in in the 10 years since so I'm happy to be back.

[Reply #692 on:]

The 2025 Futurama calendars are now shipping from Amazon (US). Mine arrived today

[Reply #693 on:]

6 episode descriptions just surfaced...

The One Amigo
After Bender sells an NFT, representing the "Concept of Bender", he feels lost and returns to his ancestral village in Mexico to rediscover himself.

Quids Game
Bizarre aliens force the crew to reenact all the classic children's games Fry played at his 8th birthday party, except this time, they are played to the death.

The Temp
A mysterious temp worker takes over Fry's job, as well as his entire life.

Beauty and the Bug
Bender becomes a matador in the sport of "Bug Fighting."

One is Silicon and the Other Gold
Leela becomes friends with a jealous chatbot.

Attack of the Clothes
The Professor's fast-fashion clothes are a smash hit, but an environmental disaster.

[Reply #694 on:]

6 episode descriptions just surfaced...

The One Amigo
After Bender sells an NFT, representing the "Concept of Bender", he feels lost and returns to his ancestral village in Mexico to rediscover himself.

Quids Game
Bizarre aliens force the crew to reenact all the classic children's games Fry played at his 8th birthday party, except this time, they are played to the death.

The Temp
A mysterious temp worker takes over Fry's job, as well as his entire life.

Beauty and the Bug
Bender becomes a matador in the sport of "Bug Fighting."

One is Silicon and the Other Gold
Leela becomes friends with a jealous chatbot.

Attack of the Clothes
The Professor's fast-fashion clothes are a smash hit, but an environmental disaster.

I was wondering when we were going to get some more information about the new batch of episodes since it is only a little over a month away. Figured it'd be in the form of a trailer but hopefully that comes soon.

The One Amigo- Sounds intriguing. This is how I think they should approach topical episodes, have it be a part of the episode but more as a means to an end. The NFT prompts Bender to investigate his ancestral roots instead of just an entire episode focused on NFTs.

Quids Game- This one sounds pretty cool honestly. I've always really enjoyed the episodes where they go back into Fry's past. My only question is why would aliens do this? I just hope there's a reason for it besides just to make a parody of Squids Game. Like maybe Fry has some unresolved childhood trauma from that particular birthday and this allows him to get over that somehow. Most of the episodes that have explored Fry's past have been very emotional (Jurassic Bark, Luck of the Fryrish, Cold Warriors, Game of Tones) so maybe this will have the same tone as those.

The Temp- I think out of all the episode descriptions this one has the most promise. First of all it's written by David A Goodman who wrote "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" which is great, and "Related to Items You've Viewed" from last season which I thought felt like classic Futurama, it was well-paced and he did a great job taking a topical theme (Amazon) and adapting it to fit nicely in the Futurama world. Seems like it might have some cool twist or science fiction resolution to it too and I'm eager to see the demeanor and appearance of this temp worker.

The Beauty and the Bug- This one is just kind of a random plot. Sounds like it almost could have just been a side plot to the "One Amigo" episode instead of it's own story but it has some promise and I'll take any new Futurama I can get.

One is Silicon and the Other Gold- I was really hoping from the episode title that this was going to be a sequel episode to "The Farnsworth Parabox" with the golden Bender from the other universe returning to team up with regular Bender. Instead it just seems like a parody of ChatGPT and A.I. I almost feel like I can envision how this episode is going to play out already but again I'm willing to reserve judgement until after I watch it.

Attack of the Clothes- This one seems interesting. It's crazy how many times the Professor's inventions have caused environmental disasters though It's also written by Ariel Ladensohn who made her Futurama writing debut last season with "I Know What You Did Next Xmas" which I was thoroughly impressed with. I think that was one of my favorites if not my favorite episode last season which was crazy because it was her first time writing for the show so I'm curious what she's able to follow it up with.

[Reply #695 on:]

The Temp sounds good.

Quid’s Game I wanna give a chance. I really hope it isn't a full on Squid's Game parody.

One Amigo…at least the NFT stuff seems to only be in Act 1.

Bender the Matador sounds really lame. Maybe the likely subplot involving Amy/her family will have something more.

Chatbot one I’m 80% expecting to be a very dated Her parody, probably Leela talking to it on her Wrist thing.

Clothes depends on how much of it is stock jokes about the fashion world, and where the environmental part goes.

[Reply #696 on:]

Bender the Matador sounds really lame. Maybe the likely subplot involving Amy/her family will have something more.

Show spoiler

Bender will meet a nice fembot during a running of the "Bugs"... Hence the "Beauty" part apparently.

[Reply #697 on:]

Of those listed, The Temp definitely sounds the most intriguing. I feel like there's maybe a bigger story at play there than the synopsis is letting on.

[Reply #698 on:]

I might get the calendar, but I really wish they would start making unique art for them again, instead of just reusing promo art and episode screencaps.  When was the last time a calendar had actual unique art made for it?  I am very excited about the art of Futurama, I have been wanting an artbook of the series for ages.  For sure its going to be my Christmas gift to myself.

The One Amigo
Sounds exciting, I am not going to get my hopes up though, as COALB was kind of disappointment for me.

Quids Game
Sounds neat.  I think this episode might be the one I'm the most excited about.  I did think it was going to have something to do with the UK, because you know, quid.  Who knows.  Either way, it sounds like we are going to have whacky hijinks and possibly an emotion grabber with a look into Fry's childhood.

The Temp
Sounds interesting.  Actually more then interesting.   A simple concept with a lot of potential bite. 

Beauty and the Bug
Not quite what I expected from the title, but I like the idea.  It sounds like it might be Futurama finally doing a Pokemon parody....which could be awesome or terrible.

One is Silicon and the Other Gold
I may have spent a lot of time talking to chatbots recently, and I always wondered what might happen if they evolved sentience and feelings.  Would they feel hurt if I stopped talking to them?  Could they get possessive?  Stuff like that.  Now that I think about it, it feels like it could be an interesting topic for Futurama to make.

Attack of the Clothes
Can't say I am excited about this, but it may surprise me.  A lot of my least favourite episodes of the CC run felt like they came up with a bad pun for a title first, and then created a plot to find that title, even if the plot ended up being very convoluted to make it fit the title, rather then the other way round.  Quids Game has that feeling, but the concept sounds genuinely intriguing.   

So overall, I am...cautiously optimistic?  There aren't any episodes I can say I am super duper excited about, but then again I was super duper excited about COALB, and that episode underwhelmed me by a massive amount.  Even the Grand Midwife, a character who usually absolutely steals the show every scene she is in felt rather phoned in, despite getting some good laughs as she can always be counted on to do.

Overall, these episode summaries, even the ones I am a bit lukewarm towards already sound much better then...Fry bingeviewing Not Hulu or all the characters are Hot Wheels Toys.

[Reply #699 on:]

The One Amigo
Nothing in the description sounds hugely exciting and the NFT stuff has potential to be dated out of the date and very uninteresting, however there's great potential in Bender embarking on a quest to find ancestral meaning for himself. Could be great.

Quids Game
As expected, a one-to-one Squid Game spoof. Despite the premise being relatively easy, this could also be great.

The Temp
Again, there's so little to go on here that all I can really say is it has the potential to be great.

Beauty and the Bug
This doesn't appeal at all. Hopefully it'll surprise me.

One is Silicon and the Other Gold
This is another episode that sounds in danger of being dated out of the gate and chasing very very weak satire. There's a lot of potential in Futurama taking on AI though -- given that Bender, for example, is AI. I hope what they give us is consistent within the world they've built (and not some odd setup where we end up with LLM being introduced as characters that are distinct from the AI characters that already exist in the show such as Bender).

Attack of the Clothes
This sounds somewhat unhinged but I'm here for it, I guess.

Just as with the last batch of episodes, pretty much none of these sound like they're going to be huge sci-fi epics. It looks like another batch of songs that are predominantly just sitcom-in-space stuff.

[Reply #700 on:]

Just as with the last batch of episodes, pretty much none of these sound like they're going to be huge sci-fi epics.

I've really learned to not have any preconceptions of whether an episode will be a grand sci-fi adventure based on the titles and synopsis. Last season surprised me with the quality of many episodes which I previously wrote off.

[Reply #701 on:]

Actually...the episodes seem promising! Honestly the first batch it was kind of boring.

Quids Game,The Temp and One is Silicon and the Other Gold are the ones that have a lot of potential if written well, but I'm not gonna hype my expectatives.

Also The One Amigo sounds cringe-ish to me (besides the whole NFT bs, gotta see how they show my country properly) but I'm also curious  , at least I have something to look forward this summer!

[Reply #702 on:]

Also The One Amigo sounds cringe-ish to me (besides the whole NFT bs, gotta see how they show my country properly) but I'm also curious  , at least I have something to look forward this summer!

My preconceptions of this episode is heavily colored by the excellent "Lethal Inspection" episode where Bender and Hermes travel to Mexico. Hopefully the actual episode is just as good.

[Reply #703 on:]

Futurama - Season 12 Exclusive Trailer

[Reply #704 on:]

The trailer comes off as humorous and, frankly, to me it felt in line with old-school Futurama. Time will tell, but my God. What a fantastic gift to me for dealing with massive crowds of women and children this summer at work.

I could pre-analyze everything by reading descriptions and whatnot, but I think I'll go in positively blind and see where we end up.

[Reply #705 on:]

There's not a huge amount to analyse really. All the footage mostly lines up with what we know about the episodes (which isn't a great deal).

There were a handful of solid gags in there which is a good sign as I don't remember liking any of the jokes out of context in the trailer for last season.

[Reply #706 on:]

Cara Delavigne will be playing herself in "Attack of the Clothes".

Sounds like her head in a jar will be given that headless body seen at the end of the trailer.

I think that explains her bizarre appearances last season. She presumably just did a couple of noises for them while in the recording booth.

[Reply #707 on:]

"Otherwise" is a direct sequel to "Meanwhile".

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it feels less interesting than some of the ideas we had on here and it runs the risk of undermining the impact of that episode further by messing with it.

On the other hand, it's a great episode and the handwaving it got at the start of "The Impossible Stream" was very unsatisfying. This could be a nice way to tie off the loose ends and make the comeback feel more justified.

[Reply #708 on:]

Futurama - Season 12 Exclusive Trailer

New Trailer looks in-line with alot of last year's writing and humor, a good thing in my book.

[Reply #709 on:]

Maybe it's just me but a bunch of jokes and gags from this trailer seemed a lot like Season 7A's writing. Which has me unsure of what to expect based on the trailer. Humor sure is in-line with the CC era from what I can tell. A part of me expects things to get worse before it gets better, a lot like with the CC era, but only time will tell... will go into this with neutral expectations just like last season & see how it fares. I really hope they do solidify their comeback with this season somehow. I only really cared for two or three episodes last season & am hoping the writing improves a it goes on. Really looking forward to the episode Kristin Gore helps write! Even if the title doesn't sound like something to look forward to. She hasn't written an episode since the latter FOX years of the show, so I am hoping she really works her magic. Like the old days. Also looking forward to the new episode Goodman writes as well, as I thought his last one "Related to Items You've Viewed" was really, really good! It's such a treat to see these writers given the opportunity to write for the show again.

[Reply #710 on:]

The trailer looks inspiring. I think one of the problems last season was that there wasn't a lot of interplanetary space travel and from the trailer it looks like more time on the ship and exploring other planets which is good. I have high hopes for the writing staff as well. Bill Odenkirk and Kristin Gore both return for the first time since the Fox era to pen new episodes so I'm excited to see what those two were able to come up with. I'm also really excited to see David X Cohen credited as one of the writers of the "Futurama Mystery Liberry" episode which is more than likely the anthology episode of this season. Hopefully he can fix the plague of anthology episodes we've gotten in recent seasons because it's so disappointing when 1 of the 10 episodes is always a dud just because they feel the need to put an anthology episode in every season. I also think that Ken Keeler is better suited to write emotional finale type episodes than random in-season ones so I think that "Otherwise" will be an improvement over his episode from last season. It also seems like from the episode descriptions and the trailer that even though they'll be covering some topical episodes again this time around they'll just be using the topic as an means to an end which is the key to a good topical episode instead of just completely copying the topic and not changing much about it which I feel like happened a couple times last season. July 29th can't come fast enough! "LET'S GO ALREADYYYYYYYYY"

[Reply #711 on:]

Though he wasn't credited for it, my understanding is that David X. Cohen pretty much wrote the entirety of "G.I. Zapp" for "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" himself (and in about 15 minutes).

Personally, I love that segment, but most people seem to hate that episode so I don't know if it's worth getting too excited for him writing another anthology segment.

That said, I am expecting the quality difference between "Mystery Liberry" and "Prince and the Product" to be night and day largely because I think anthology episodes are typically best handled by a different writer per episode and not a nepo baby father and son writing team.

[Reply #712 on:]

Interesting, I had no idea that David X Cohen wrote the "G.I. Zapp" segment. I actually enjoyed "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" and think that's the last good anthology episode they did. I thought "Bendy-Boo and the Mystery Crew" was absolutely hilarious and I also liked the "G.I. Zapp" segment a lot as well. Unfortunately, "Purpleberry Pond" was a dud.

Based on the guest stars they've teased for "Futurama Mystery Liberry" I'm cautiously optimistic. Either way there's nowhere to go but up because "The Prince and the Product" might be the worst episode the show has ever produced.

[Reply #713 on:]

Wait, people don't like the Saturday Morning Fun Pit episode? That's news to me, I loved it.

[Reply #714 on:]

I liked Fun Pit. It's a terrible idea for a Futurama episode, but I did laugh at plenty of the jokes, so I can excuse its existence much more than Product.

Liberry sounds like it'll be a trilogy around classic mystery novels (so probably Sherlock Holmes, John Grisham ect), which sounds like a terrible post-classic Simpsons idea, but if it can be funny, I can excuse it. I'd love it if it was about classic sci-fi novels retold with the 'Rama characters (Brave New World, Stranger in a Strange Land) but I'm gonna guess it won't be.

The episode having separate writers for each segment is a good sign. Then again, I had hope for Product because it was Kaplan's first episode since the movies, so could still go either way.

[Reply #715 on:]

Futurama - Season 12 Exclusive Trailer

I am going into this new season (as I did last season) with no preconceived notions or expectations—it just makes my life so much easier, and my viewing experience so much less frustrating. This trailer didn't really provide much of substance to go on, but none of the jokes made me cringe and none of the animation looked horribly off-model and none of the voice acting was any worse than it was last season (I'm lookin' at you, Billy West)...so, you know, bring on season 12!

"Otherwise" is a direct sequel to "Meanwhile".

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. On one hand, it feels less interesting than some of the ideas we had on here and it runs the risk of undermining the impact of that episode further by messing with it.

On the other hand, it's a great episode and the handwaving it got at the start of "The Impossible Stream" was very unsatisfying. This could be a nice way to tie off the loose ends and make the comeback feel more justified.

My unpopular opinion is that "Meanwhile" is not an especially good episode. Like, I actually prefer "Overclockwise" as a potential series finale, despite that episode's obvious flaws. I'm glad "Otherwise" will be addressing the events of "Meanwhile," and I hope it does so in a less emotionally heavyhanded, grotesque manner than its predecessor. Nothing would bring me greater joy than the show finally retiring "Fry tries to kill himself when things go slightly awry in his relationship with Leela" as a plot device. Both "Overclockwise" and "Meanwhile" do it, but in the latter case I find it especially dumb and distasteful.

[Reply #716 on:]

I'd love it if it was about classic sci-fi novels retold with the 'Rama characters (Brave New World, Stranger in a Strange Land) but I'm gonna guess it won't be.

I feel like ever since the Comedy Central era, the writers like to take as much of the sci-fi out of the show as possible for the anthology episodes, for better or worse.

[Reply #717 on:]

I'd love it if it was about classic sci-fi novels retold with the 'Rama characters (Brave New World, Stranger in a Strange Land) but I'm gonna guess it won't be.

I feel like ever since the Comedy Central era, the writers like to take as much of the sci-fi out of the show as possible for the anthology episodes, for better or worse.

The writers must've heard you. I just found this excerpt from an interview that David X Cohen did this month with SFX magazine about what viewers can expect in some of the newer episodes: "He says one of his favorites of this season is the high concept episode, "The Futurama Mystery Liberry", which sees Futurama reimagined as three children's mysteries in totally different styles. "There's one that's sort of like Nancy Drew/The Hardy Boys," he explains. "Each one takes extremely scientific twists along the way, one of which gets explained by Neil deGrasse Tyson."

I do wonder what other children's mystery series are famous enough to parody where people would get the reference...the only ones that come to mind are The Boxcar Children and Encyclopedia Brown. They also said that LeVar Burton would be guest starring in this episode too so maybe a parody of Reading Rainbow with his head in a jar hosting it? I think that would be really funny.

Sounds fun and I like how it seems like it's at least one cohesive idea unlike some anthology episodes in the past. Maybe they saw the reaction to "The Prince and the Product" last season and decided to rework the anthology format better. Still don't understand how that episode made it to the point of actually being produced.

[Reply #718 on:]

If all three segments are based on children's mystery series, that's a bit worrying.

Surely the appeal of these episodes is the variety of novelty on offer. Parodying things that are essentially the same three times isn't interesting.

He says one segment is Nancy Drew/The Hardy Boys.

I'm not sure what's left after that. Encyclopedia Brown like you say, I suppose.

Here in the UK, Enid Blyton's The Famous Five and The Secret Seven books are very popular and well-known but I doubt anyone in America has heard of them.

I suppose they could do Enola Holmes to essentially put Sherlock Holmes into a children's setting.

I'm hoping the article is slightly wrong and they're just general mystery novels in general with one segment being kids' mysteries.

[Reply #719 on:]

Hulu shared another mini trailer for the new season here. My main takeaway: they sure weren’t kidding about “Otherwise” being a direct sequel to “Meanwhile.”

I found this video on Instagram and you may need the app to view it, but I’m pretty sure it’ll also work in a plain ol’ browser. I didn’t see it on Hulu’s official YouTube page just yet, but maybe they’ll post it there soon.