On This Day....

[on:]

Inspired by This Day in MSTory at Satellite News, I've been working on a day-by-day calendar of events related to Futurama, with dates of actors' births, episode debuts, and special events.  I've filled up a good part of the year, but it's nowhere near finished.  The main problem is that I can't find many of the birthdates of the actors and staff, even that of David X. Cohen.

I know that relatively few people have worked on Futurama; most episodes of MST3K were literally full-length movies with huge casts and crews.  (MST3K also had more than twice as many episodes as Futurama.)  I also wanted to keep the dates specific to Futurama, and not list stuff like when people got married or won awards unrelated to the show.

I doubt anyone has a master list of animators' birthdays, but I was looking for a few dates that might be known, like the day Futurama was officially approved by Fox, or anything significant like that.

Anyway, here is what I've done so far.

[Reply #1 on:]

VERY nice! It's great to see such dedication.

[Reply #2 on:]

WOOOOTTT! Happy Birthday Bob Odenkirk!

*Edit* I'm a day early, but Happy Birthday anyway!

[Reply #3 on:]

That's awesome!

[Reply #4 on:]

How about adding the DVD release dates? Region 2 and Region 1 ones?

[Reply #5 on:]

Nice work! I think Marc has updated the section about actors in CGEF, if you haven't already looked. You could also include the launch dates of Futurama-specific websites, various Comic-Cons etc.

[Reply #6 on:]

I updated it with the dates of some award nominations.  Should I include the dates that awards were given but Futurama lost (like the recent Emmys)?  Or would that be depressing?

I thought about doing DVD release dates, but those can vary, even in the same region, I believe.  I'd either have a million dates or I'd leave someone out.  (The actual episode debut dates are more important, though they are pretty America-centric.)  I think the comics have different release dates as well.

I did check the actor list on CGEF, which is where I found DiMaggio's birthday (it isn't on the IMDb).

[Reply #7 on:]

I think David's is 7-14, but I don't have that confirmed nor do I remember where it came from.

[Reply #8 on:]

Now, is that the 14th of July, or the 7th of... oh, wait. Uhhhh, forget I said anything.

On a more related note: I think it would be worthwhile to have dates that Futurama didn't win major awards that it was nominated for, it is still an event worth recording.

[Reply #9 on:]

Wow, nice list, AJ.

Birthday dates from the Futurama calendars:

John DiMaggio is born in 1968.

David X Cohen is born July 13th 1966.

DeForest Kelley born January 20th 1920.

Eric Kaplan born February 23rd 1967.

Claudia Katz born April 19th 1966.

Rich Moore born May 10th 1963.

Lewis Morton born Decmeber 19th 1970.

These are a bit more dubious:

Ken Keeler (possibly) born December 3rd 1961. The calendar only mark this as a possible birthday, so it's a bit conjectural.

Oliver Messiaen born December 10th 1908. I only included him because he wrote the "Turangalila" symphony.

February 11th, 2002: The day the online community learned that Futurama had been put on hiatus.

[Reply #10 on:]

Okay, I've updated it again with award losses and new birthdays.  Claudia Katz was born on the same day as Nora Dunn, Rich Moore was born on the same day as Donovan, and David Cohen was born on the same day as Tom Kenny (which was also the day of the first broadcast of "Spanish Fry").

I don't want to list celebrities who appeared on the show unless they actually did their own voice, so people like DeForest Kelley, Richard Nixon, and Joan Rivers are out.  There would just be too many.

I'm not sure about historical dates like the birthday of Messiæn (I also thought of Philo Farnsworth's birthday and the opening of Futurama in 1939).  I just don't want to get too far away from the show.

   

Originally posted by Teral:
February 11th, 2002: The day the online community learned that Futurama had been put on hiatus.

Is that official?

[Reply #11 on:]

September 21st 1999 - Futurama first airs in the UK.

[Reply #12 on:]

 

Originally posted by Action Jacktion:
Is that official?

Decide for yourself.

[Reply #13 on:]

Wow, great job, your list is so useful to me, since I don't own any of the calendars!  Tell us when you do updates, so that I can keep downloading the newest versions as you make changes.

[Reply #14 on:]

   

Originally posted by El Zilcho:
Decide for yourself.

Well, that's when the animators found out, but the higher-ranking people may have learned earlier.  I'll wait and see if I can find anything more official.

Does anyone know the exact dates when "War is the H-Word," "A Tale of Two Santas," and "Less than Hero" were screened at the San Diego Comic-Con?  (I know the date from this year, and I don't believe they showed one in 1999, though I could be mistaken.)  I wanted to add them since they seem official.

[Reply #15 on:]

Nice list, but apparently nothing Futurama-related happened on my birthday. 

[Reply #16 on:]

You probably share a birthday with some animator or assistant director whose birthday I can't find.

By the way, I managed to find the Comic-Con dates without help, plus the date of Bari Kumar's Emmy win.  But they were mostly on the same dates as other events, so they didn't fill the calendar much.

[Reply #17 on:]

Hurrah, I share the same birthday as Nichelle Nichols! Anyway - great work, Action Jacktion. It should be awesome when it's fully finished. I'd contribute a date, but the only one I know is the Australian release date of the (region 4) Season 3 DVD.

[Reply #18 on:]

8 July - BORN 1970: Beck, who voiced himself in "Bendin’ in the Wind."
Heh, he has the same birthday as me.
Great work! It's nice to see someone that dedicated.

[Reply #19 on:]

Stupid Feb 9th.

Ah well cool list!

[Reply #20 on:]

Does anyone know when Futurama first aired in Perth....? I'm pretty sure it was November/December 1999 but I dunno the date....I'm normally pretty good with dates but I guess back then I didn't know how much impact this one would have....
and it was a Thursday....!

[Reply #21 on:]

Ooooh..it's a realistic type of calendar.  Ok...
I was hoping to see stuff like
Dec. 24
(3000)
Fry and Leela chased by Santa Clause.
(3001)
Bender takes the role of Santa.

Dec. 31
(1999)
Fry falls into Freezer tube
(2999)
Leela, Fry, Bender and the Professor all meet.

You get the idea...there are also the dates to Roswell That End Well and I'm sure there are others...

[Reply #22 on:]

That's already been done, though it hasn't been updated in a while (and it's hard to account for continuity errors):

http://www.gotfuturama.com/Information/ListsReferences/timeline2.dhtml

[Reply #23 on:]

I thought I'd reactivate this to show how it's progressed.  I've added a lot since the last time I posted, but still I've filled less than half the year.  Any suggestions?

[Reply #24 on:]

You could put in the DVD release dates from around the world.

The only ones I know are for Australia:
Season 1 - 14 May 2003
Season 2 - 14 May 2003
Season 3 - 24 Sep 2003
Season 4 - 18 Feb 2004 (not long to go   !)

Edit: I done some resaerch on Amazon sites and found out more release dates:

USA
--------------------------------------
Volume 1 - 25 March 2003
Volume 2 - 12 August 2003
Volume 3 - 9 March 2004
Volume 4 - ???

UK
--------------------------------------
Season 1 - 28 January 2002
Season 2 - 11 November 2002
Season 3 - 2 June 2003
Season 4 - 24 November 2003

Germany
--------------------------------------
Season 1 - 7 February 2002
Season 2 - 7 November 2002
Season 3 - 6 September 2003
Season 4 - 24 November 2003

France
--------------------------------------
Season 1 - 29 May 2002
Season 2 - 16 October 2002
Season 3 - 25 November 2003
Saeson 4 - ???

[Reply #25 on:]

I clicked on the link on the original post and received an error message.

[Reply #26 on:]

 

Originally posted by El Zilcho:
 

Originally posted by Action Jacktion:
Is that official?

Decide for yourself.

Reading that topic is both sad and infuriating. It renews the anger I had from the Futurama cancellisation.

[Reply #27 on:]

 

Originally posted by Unknown:
I clicked on the link on the original post and received an error message.

I don't know if anyone else has had a problem, but I think that site can be a bit cranky.  Try again.

And I thought about DVD release dates, but no matter how many I did, I'd probably leave someone out, like the Italians, and you know how they can be....

[Reply #28 on:]

How could you forget this date?
February 15, 1954: the birthdate of Matt Groening, our lord and mastah!

[Reply #29 on:]

Err... I didn't forget it.

[Reply #30 on:]

Oh great, now I look like an idiot. I scrolled past your link, OK? [runs out of room crying]

[Reply #31 on:]

I like this a lot, nothing on old July 3rd though for my birthday 

[Reply #32 on:]

I think you've got a brocken link or something?

[Reply #33 on:]

It works every now and then.  Try again later.  It might work.

[Reply #34 on:]

Okay, the place where I had the file has gone funny, so I changed the location.  You shouldn't have trouble now.

[Reply #35 on:]

good work ole chap.

[Reply #36 on:]

whoo! raging bender debuted on my b'day!

[Reply #37 on:]

 

Originally posted by Birdbot:
You could put in the DVD release dates from around the world.

Minor correction: there is no German season 4 box set yet.

Oh yeah, and my b'day will hereafter be known as the day Amazon Women in the Mood did not win an Emmy although it was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program.   

[Reply #38 on:]

I've read that Futurama might have won an award at the Cologne Conference in Germany in 2000.  Anyone have any knowledge about that?  I can't find anything.

I've updated the list a bit, adding the award won by "The Cyber House Rules," which actually is not the one mentioned by David Cohen in the DVD commentary; apparently Futurama didn't win that one (perhaps Cohen was distracted by those random Paul Lynde impersonations they kept doing).

I also found that way back in 1999, Futurama was nominated for a People's Choice Award for best new show.  Also nominated was UPN's classic Shasta McNasty, which critics saw as a sign of the apocalypse.  They both lost to something called Stark Raving Mad, which was actually canceled after one season.