A New Planet Express Crew Member...

[on:]

What would be your reaction to the writers adding a permanent new member to the PE crew? Obviously they'd have to be unique and fairly different to the others.

I am of course talking about the PE crew overall, not just Fry, Bender and Leela.

[Reply #1 on:]

I would rather like to see a reduced crew from time to time:
With everyone in the trio being able to fly the ship, none of them is desperately needed for a mission.

So, I would not mind seeing a (sub)plot with only 1-2 of them on board (or maybe other PE members joing for a temporary replacement).
The Futurama characters sometimes tend to stay a little too much among themselves, and supporting chars are often not much integrated as in the Simpsons. (The way those supporting chars are used is imhO also the one point where the Simpsons have a clear edge over Futurama).

[Reply #2 on:]

I know what you mean, but I mean in general, not on deliveries and stuff.

[Reply #3 on:]

I'd like to see the crew take on another robot. A good robot. Sort of a counterpoint to Bender's ineptitude, ineffectiveness, laziness, and willingness to kill everybody. But I feel it would probably only work for one episode.

[Reply #4 on:]

Much like 1-X.

[Reply #5 on:]

But not quite as capable of solving every problem single handed.

[Reply #6 on:]

I certainly would not mind adding a "permanent" member for a single episode, but to do so for the rest of the series would probably leave a bad taste in my mouth.

[Reply #7 on:]

Even if it was a chocolate-flavoured cast member?

[Reply #8 on:]

I had an idea for some members of the PE crew, but I think it's too late to add permanent members of the PE crew without earning them the hatred of fans.  They would work if they were sometimes there, sometimes not, like Scruffy, and gradually work their way up to main (but without them being a spotlight stealing squad).

[Reply #9 on:]

Yeah it would be nice to have a new member of PE.
They can sort of screw up every now and again to make something really bad happen  to New New York. 

[Reply #10 on:]

Even if it was a chocolate-flavoured cast member?

Cheap chocolate has a terrible aftertaste. Even some of the nicer stuff just isn't pleasant ten minutes after consumption.

Yeah it would be nice to have a new member of PE.
They can sort of screw up every now and again to make something really bad happen  to New New York. 

That sounds like the current crew...

[Reply #11 on:]

There are already a multitude of characters in the Futurama universe to draw from. So, in the unlikely event that a new PE crew-member were added, I'd say they'd probably go with another established character like Kif.

Personally I've always enjoyed the idea of a real-world person playing a fictionalised version of themselves in an ongoing role, like Adam West in Family Guy. It'd be cool to pull someone like that out of cryo-storage and have them join the cast. Someone random like Richard Dean Anderson or Samuel L. Jackson.

Stupid idea. I hate myself a little bit more now.

[Reply #12 on:]

Futurama has plenty of real people playing themselves, some recurring. I don't know that having a real person as a crew member would work out, but for a single episode, why not.

Kif and Zapp were crew members that one time. Pretty funny. If either was to become a member again, they'd have to do a lot of work to make sure it wasn't a rehash of Brannigan, Begin Again. But again, possible.

[Reply #13 on:]

What if one of Mom's sons finally grew the balls to run away? They could go to PE (Walt and Larry because they know the Professor is Igner's father, Igner because, well yeah, the Professor is his father) and end up working for them and maybe go against Mom.

Without going offtopic, that's something I'd really like to see, one of Mom's sons, if not all of them, rising up and striking back at her for once. She'd be pissed.

[Reply #14 on:]

Whenever you add a new crew member to any group it is a sign that the show might be tanking and looking to add some new flavor to try and spice up the show for non-regular viewers. Personally I think it's a bad idea. Mess with the dynamic and it's no longer Futurama, it's now the Futurama spinoff hour (well, half-hour). In Season 6B Scruffy has kinda taken on the role of a new crew member, even though he existed since Season One. And when he left from minor reoccurrence to almost being in every episode, I felt his character suffered. I like him in the background doing nothing of significance to the main plotline, but lately that has not been the case.

In real life after eleven years that the show has taken place, coworkers would switched jobs, new employees would have arrived. People would have been promoted and fired, etc. That is not the case with comedy television shows. In order to keep the funny, the dynamic must remain unchanged, no matter how far fetched it is. Like the last season of That 70s Show when two main characters left ...it was awful. Even if the replacement was mildly entertaining you didn't have thata character history off which to build. It is like starting anew, and I think it would be very difficult to integrate a new crew member like that into the cast and have it run smoothly.

Perhaps for an episode, like Silence of the Clamps and Brannigan Begin Again, they could do it. But like others have stated above, I find it not likely that one could be implemented on a permanent basis.

[Reply #15 on:]

I like Danny's idea about one or two of Mom's sons joining PE and antagonizing Mom, but only if it's done for one episode, not as an ongoing deal.

[Reply #16 on:]

I like Danny's idea about one or two of Mom's sons joining PE and antagonizing Mom, but only if it's done for one episode, not as an ongoing deal.

Yeah of course, but I imagine it'd be one of those rushed endings where it cuts to Mom slapping them again and they're back to where they started...

[Reply #17 on:]

I like him in the background doing nothing of significance to the main plotline, but lately that has not been the case.

Agreed. The shifting dynamic is just uncomfortable since the show has progressed this far.

I am always up for more Mom. That sounds like a potentially fun episode.

[Reply #18 on:]

The way new people visit Planet Express for an episode like Lrrr and Clamps reminds me of when the townies stay at The Simpsons' place for an episode. It could potentially work sometimes so long as there is enough space given between the episodes...but personally I think they need more delivery episodes with weird sci fi planets. I mean, they couldn't have done all there is to do with science fiction that they would constantly be needing to add a rotating member to the crew personnel...

I do like the idea of Mom's sons joining them for an episode to have their "rebellion" period as do many teenagers, seeing as they act like young children of hers.

[Reply #19 on:]

They did add a new character to PE his name is Scruffy.

[Reply #20 on:]

They did add a new character to PE his name is Scruffy.

Are you trollin'?

[Reply #21 on:]

They did add a new character to PE his name is Scruffy.

Are you trollin'?

No....... Scruffy did join PE way after the start of the show (even though technically he's been there from the start, no one noticed him).

[Reply #22 on:]

The janitor, who's been there from the start, has joined the team. As... the janitor.

Who's in favour of having TheAnvil banned for life?

[Reply #23 on:]

What if they brought on a new captain for a episode or two. Make it where new regulations forced Leela to get a "CDL" but she couldn't pass (much like in America back in the 80's). So we get a character to compete with her for a little while.

[Reply #24 on:]

^^^ I suggested a few months ago they put a new Commander/Captain in charge to rival Zapp for an episode, voiced by Patrick Stewart. And Zapp would be jealous of the attention the new captain was receiving from Leela. It could work if done right, I think. What we don't need is another episode where Leela whines, this time because she's not in charge.

[Reply #25 on:]

Zapp versus a competant enemy commander would be a brilliant episode. Perhaps even a brilliant episode arc. Especially if he somehow trumps said competant commander through sheer dumbass luck in the end. As he stands victorious over the broken body of his foe, he would utter some appallingly mangled line of such brilliance that it would replace the one about "hit[ting] that bullseye" on the list of Best Things Zapp Has Ever Said.

If done as a single episode, it would be especially good, I think if the episode only involved the PX crew peripherally... have them appear for a few moments, have them contribute something, sure. But give Zapp his time to shine.

If done as an arc, split over multiple episodes, it would be nice to see the PX crew caring increasingly less about the whole thing, only to be utterly shocked when Zapp inevitably blows his opponent away and is triumphant.

The victory of stupidity over common sense might not be seen as something appropriate for TV though, and I doubt we'd be treated to the sight of Zapp meeting his enemy unarmed to call a truce and then pulling out a holdout raygun to callously shoot him in the chest. It seems a little too dark for animation that appeals to such a broad range of people.

Oh well. Back to the tank full of manatees for another idea.

[Reply #26 on:]

I have to agree with the idea of a competent commander.

[Reply #27 on:]

Personally, I think an episode with Fry as captain is needed to settle the "Neutopia" score (I am a bit of a "fairness" fanatic, which I openly admit )
I disliked Leela's behaviour regarding Fry's captainship in that episode:
Wether she liked it or not, after all the loyality and self-sacrifice Fry had shown, it would have been overdue for Leela to repay that favor. Means: Granting him every support as captain, up to "cleaning up a potential mess he made", the same way Fry did in "Bender gets made" (I see it from a writers point of view, where it doesn't really matter wether Leela refuses to clean up his mess or is not given an opportunity to do so).

Another potential Fry captainship would have been possible in early episodes (though that opportunity is gone now).

First, I do like logically, almost mathematically constructed character constellations. Early Fry and Leela were -at least in my perception- both extremes how to "Not run your life":
- Leela aquired certain professional skills, but rather concentrated on that. Her social life seemed to suffer (no one in the Kung Fu gym seemed to like her, not too many friends, relationsships did not last, if she could find someone at all. ).
- Fry cared little about aquiring skills, but -in early episodes- it was kinda implied he got in a certain way a better hand with people than Leela (found a best buddy quickly, not difficult to pick up girls in bars, etc..)

I would have liked an episode where Fry is made captain for some reason, which Leela dislikes. He has not her skills, her knowledge regarding ships, but she has to find out that he somehow has a better hand with people, and the crew likes Fry quite better than her.
When everything is put back to normal by the end of that episode, Leela has learned a lesson about those social skills. (I would not count BBA as such a lesson learned, for that episode was imhO again the "Let's everyone act like complete morons, so that Leela looks better, because...well...erm...she's great, you know?". I know, though, that not everyone else will share my point of view regarding that matter)

[Reply #28 on:]

I think the new crew member could kind of get on the other crews nerves by being much more better then them (Being stupider than Fry, being a more experienced space pilot compared to Leela, being more flexible and can bend better than Bender)

[Reply #29 on:]

We're getting a new crew member next season- a soda machine. I think it was either in the animatic or my dream that her name was revealed to be Jenna. She will have a kid with Bender.

[Reply #30 on:]

The janitor, who's been there from the start, has joined the team. As... the janitor.

Who's in favour of having TheAnvil banned for life?

He's part of PE, he's gone with them on missions, hence why he was going through the wormhole with the rest of the crew. It was a great way to introduce a new character to the crew.

[Reply #31 on:]

We're getting a new crew member next season- a soda machine. I think it was either in the animatic or my dream that her name was revealed to be Jenna. She will have a kid with Bender.

I think she's only going to be in 7ACV01...

[Reply #32 on:]

We're getting a new crew member next season- a soda machine. I think it was either in the animatic or my dream that her name was revealed to be Jenna. She will have a kid with Bender.

I think she's only going to be in 7ACV01...

Very likely, BUT IT STILL COUNTS!!!!!

[Reply #33 on:]

permanent new member

No it doesn't.

[Reply #34 on:]

I wouldn't mind seeing a new member of the crew. Maybe some sort of chef (I know Bender sometimes cooks but they don't have a real chef) It could be some sort of alien that creates strange meals for the gang (He could be used to replace Scruffy since he's now apparently 'one of the members')

[Reply #35 on:]

The premise of a permanent new crew member is not good, Danny. It messes with the integrity and structure of the show. That's why we are all talking about one or two-episode appearances and glossing over your original suggestion

[Reply #36 on:]

What if one of Mom's sons finally grew the balls to run away? They could go to PE (Walt and Larry because they know the Professor is Igner's father, Igner because, well yeah, the Professor is his father) and end up working for them and maybe go against Mom.

Without going offtopic, that's something I'd really like to see, one of Mom's sons, if not all of them, rising up and striking back at her for once. She'd be pissed.

I agree with you on that one, maybe the professor can created something to increase his I.Q. or figure out why Ignor is so dumb and fix the problem and have Ignor join the PE crew and fight against mom or have him work as a double agent type deal giving away moms secrets and ideas.

[Reply #37 on:]

It's Igner.

[Reply #38 on:]

Ben Rodriguez could make a cool crew member, if he's not an annoying prick.

Zapp versus a competant enemy commander would be a brilliant episode. Perhaps even a brilliant episode arc. Especially if he somehow trumps said competant commander through sheer dumbass luck in the end. As he stands victorious over the broken body of his foe, he would utter some appallingly mangled line of such brilliance that it would replace the one about "hit[ting] that bullseye" on the list of Best Things Zapp Has Ever Said.

If done as a single episode, it would be especially good, I think if the episode only involved the PX crew peripherally... have them appear for a few moments, have them contribute something, sure. But give Zapp his time to shine.

If done as an arc, split over multiple episodes, it would be nice to see the PX crew caring increasingly less about the whole thing, only to be utterly shocked when Zapp inevitably blows his opponent away and is triumphant.

The victory of stupidity over common sense might not be seen as something appropriate for TV though, and I doubt we'd be treated to the sight of Zapp meeting his enemy unarmed to call a truce and then pulling out a holdout raygun to callously shoot him in the chest. It seems a little too dark for animation that appeals to such a broad range of people.

Oh well. Back to the tank full of manatees for another idea.

And I agree TnUK, this sounds like a brilliant episode. I can just imagine all the dumb moves Zapp will take to try to restore his former glory.

[Reply #39 on:]

No. We don't need another crew member.

But I think it would be funny if the Professor made a brief reference to Katrina and Xanthor.

Imagine if they ended up as regular characters like Scruffy...