General Futurama Discussion - A New Thread

[Reply #320 on:]

Claudia Catz did say that the topical stuff will be continued next year. They do refuse to parody sci-fi in favor of topical themes purposely. A big mistake IMO.

Yeah, because why would they want to put sci-fi in a sci-fi cartoon? 

[Reply #321 on:]

Claudia Catz did say that the topical stuff will be continued next year. They do refuse to parody sci-fi in favor of topical themes purposely. A big mistake IMO.

Yeah, because why would they want to put sci-fi in a sci-fi cartoon? 

From what I understand after reading TV Tropes, when the show was greenlit, Groening, Cohen and the rest of the team wanted to do primarily satire, while FOX was kinda forcing them to do cartoony space opera. After revivals, the team must feel to be "free of shackles" so to speak. I can get that but it logically makes some alienating on the side of the fans who liked the original style. 

[Reply #322 on:]

Claudia Catz did say that the topical stuff will be continued next year. They do refuse to parody sci-fi in favor of topical themes purposely. A big mistake IMO.

Yeah, because why would they want to put sci-fi in a sci-fi cartoon? 

From what I understand after reading TV Tropes, when the show was greenlit, Groening, Cohen and the rest of the team wanted to do primarily satire, while FOX was kinda forcing them to do cartoony space opera. After revivals, the team must feel to be "free of shackles" so to speak. I can get that but it logically makes some alienating on the side of the fans who liked the original style. 

Satire is not really the issue though. The Momazon episode was a decent satire corporations taking everything over. Amazon Women in the Mood was a satire of gender stereotypes. I Dated A Robot was a good satire about downloading music. Rage Against the Vaccine was not a good satire. All the jokes were just stuff like, "Look the monkey podcast host is spreading misinformation just like Joe Rogan!" They were just stating what happened without putting any kind of original spin on it or adding anything new. If you don't have anything new to say, why say anything at all? I could read Wikipedia if I just wanted a play by play of the Covid-19 pandemic.

[Reply #323 on:]

Claudia Catz did say that the topical stuff will be continued next year. They do refuse to parody sci-fi in favor of topical themes purposely. A big mistake IMO.

Yeah, because why would they want to put sci-fi in a sci-fi cartoon? 

From what I understand after reading TV Tropes, when the show was greenlit, Groening, Cohen and the rest of the team wanted to do primarily satire, while FOX was kinda forcing them to do cartoony space opera. After revivals, the team must feel to be "free of shackles" so to speak. I can get that but it logically makes some alienating on the side of the fans who liked the original style. 

Satire is not really the issue though. The Momazon episode was a decent satire corporations taking everything over. Amazon Women in the Mood was a satire of gender stereotypes. I Dated A Robot was a good satire about downloading music. Rage Against the Vaccine was not a good satire. All the jokes were just stuff like, "Look the monkey podcast host is spreading misinformation just like Joe Rogan!" They were just stating what happened without putting any kind of original spin on it or adding anything new. If you don't have anything new to say, why say anything at all? I could read Wikipedia if I just wanted a play by play of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I agree, the writing needs to be sharper in general.

[Reply #324 on:]

I agree with you guys. The science fiction elements are what make the show unique. I don't know why they wouldn't take advantage of that. Satire is fine if it's well done but "Fulu" and "Mapple" aren't exactly Jonathan Swift level material, y'know?

[Reply #325 on:]

Mapple was The Simpsons.

It was a low point even by their standards.

[Reply #326 on:]

I have said this before, but one of the worst things the Simpsons (and later Futurama) started doing was they would "parody" something by changing one or two letters or so and then make the most painfully obvious, done to death jokes about it, usually while kissing its ass as well.   

Good thing we already have Malibu Stacey or we'd be having jokes about Narbie or Marbie dolls.

[Reply #327 on:]

From what I understand after reading TV Tropes, when the show was greenlit, Groening, Cohen and the rest of the team wanted to do primarily satire, while FOX was kinda forcing them to do cartoony space opera.

Space opera is a perfect vehicle for good satire, and Sci-fi is a fertile soil for parody - it's like they were handed a golden opportunity but were upset that they weren't allowed to make something crappy instead, and fans fell in love with Futurama because it was accidentally good. Only to be let down horribly once Groening and Cohen finally got what they wanted.

At this point, I think Groening and Cohen are essentially the same thing as George Lucas; in possession of great artistic ideas that they can't help but ruin if they're not surrounded by people who slap their fingers every time they reach for the macaroni, glue, and glitter.

[Reply #328 on:]

From what I understand after reading TV Tropes, when the show was greenlit, Groening, Cohen and the rest of the team wanted to do primarily satire, while FOX was kinda forcing them to do cartoony space opera.

Space opera is a perfect vehicle for good satire, and Sci-fi is a fertile soil for parody - it's like they were handed a golden opportunity but were upset that they weren't allowed to make something crappy instead, and fans fell in love with Futurama because it was accidentally good. Only to be let down horribly once Groening and Cohen finally got what they wanted.

At this point, I think Groening and Cohen are essentially the same thing as George Lucas; in possession of great artistic ideas that they can't help but ruin if they're not surrounded by people who slap their fingers every time they reach for the macaroni, glue, and glitter.

Yes, I remeber how shortly after "In -A-Gaddda-Da-Leela"aired, somebody mentioned George Lucas, concluding "Sometimes limitation is a good thing".

[Reply #329 on:]

I'm sorry to hurt people's feels but this last season was the worst season of Futurama. I'm not going to bother watching any more of the Hulu seasons. That being said here a Futurama panel at Megacon 2024: https://youtu.be/aY8HkViIqdE

[Reply #330 on:]

So, apparently Thursday was the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Futurama.  I guess we all forgot.  Typical.

Anyway, here's a list of 25 quotes from the first episode that some writer from Cracked thought were funny for some reason.

[Reply #331 on:]

Before clicking that link I thought to myself, "Isn't 25 quotes effectively the entire goddamn script?" and honestly it kind of was.

Anyway, happy (belated) 25th birthday to Futurama. It's now as dumb old as Fry!