avajcovec points out a brief note on Collider.com that Comedy Central has ordered 13 new episodes of Futurama. Quoting: "Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that 'Futurama' production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward. This should be a welcome surprise to fans of the show who have already gone through the series' cancellation and resurrection as direct-to-DVD movies."
by Anonymous Coward
on Tuesday June 09 2009, @06:40AM (#28263699)
I wonder what would happen if a brain slug were to implant itself on hypnotoad, would it be like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, or thermite & ice? (that was a cool Mythbusters episode)
Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that 'Futurama' production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward.
Let's hope it's all the original cast. Wrong-sounding Muppets where no picnic, either (to paraphrase Family Guy).
Even if they do. You can get use to it. Unless you get uptight about some odd natural order of thing that are not natural or in order. Why does TV and Movies break their own cannon, well to keep the current story more entertaining. Oh no they changed actors, we for God sake try to pretend that this is the same person, and don't try to explain it in some odd way. Ill bet you will be much happier. And just enjoy the show and live the rest of your life.
Sounds unlikely they are going to change actors though.
All of the actors are still very much alive, and not to mention are still very interested in Futurama, so doubting the return of the actors is not very justified.
But even if they can't get an actor back, remember what the writers of The Simpsons did when Phil Hartman died? Yeah, they retired his characters, in his honour.
Billy West, for instance, who voices Fry, Farnsworth, among others, have since the release of Into the Wild Green Yonder (well, and b
Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that 'Futurama' production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward.
Let's hope it's all the original cast. Wrong-sounding Muppets where no picnic, either (to paraphrase Family Guy).
Of course, Meg Griffin has been voiced by three different actresses (not counting the ones used for singing), so it wouldn't necessarily be the kiss of death for the show.
Some of the best jokes in the show were only there because of the censors forcing re-writes. What do we get the moment they have some wiggle-room? Bender's Big Score. I may hate censorship, but these writers don't seem to work well without it.
I have a feeling that after a few days we will be able to cut and paste entire scripts from episodes from all the posts... Just a weird feeling...
P.S - Casting? Uhhhh, that's been done. Long time ago. If they change the voices, that would be a bit too much. They did not change the voices for the movie, why the hell start now?
If you get cancelled, voted back on petitions, re-released as direct-to-dvd and get back on TV you can stay no matter how crap most of your episodes are. I truly love Seth MacFarlane's shows but some of it is just: meh (and that's a gross overstatement). Even more so after they got back on the air. The Futurama movies were twice as long as they should have been. I would have liked 45min episodes much better.
Blackjack and Hookers or we are all doomed... DOOOOOOMED.
Admittedly, "The Beast with a Thousand Backs" or whatever it was called did more to creep me out than to amuse me. That being said, as a literary critic I can't agree with the assertion that a single second of any episode of "Family Guy" could be classified as "meh." For thousands of years comedy has not developed past Aristophanes -- indeed, fewer than a hundred years ago the great cultural historian Edith Hamilton compared the popular entertainment of the previous generation to his oeuvre. The cutaway
For thousands of years comedy has not developed past Aristophanes -- indeed, fewer than a hundred years ago the great cultural historian Edith Hamilton compared the popular entertainment of the previous generation to his oeuvre. The cutaway scenes in Family Guy represent the first departure from classical comedy I've ever been aware of. In my (professional) estimation Seth McFarlane is the single most important writer in the English language since the time Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Blake.
So there's that.
Oh so you haven't heard? I was under the impression that everybody had heard that latest news of a certain avian variety.
And just to break your stride... there are several episodes that are just un-funny. Just because you cut to something completely apeshit crazy during a sketch doesn't mean it's fun to watch or entertaining. Yes I go "what the fuck?", yeah I think "that was brilliant" but I don't laugh. If I see a joke and go "That was good" but no smile ever crosses my face... it's not that good. I've seen every episode of Family Guy and American Dad... high, drunk and completely sober. Some of them are just awfully bad. Painfully predictable and can't be saved by a two second cutaway to a giant chicken beating a guy. Then again... the entire last season of Simpsons didn't have more than a handful of good jokes in it. Maybe I'm getting a little overfed and/or spoiled.
As for the Futurama movies I thought most of the plot was too irrelevant and merely spooned in to stretch it out to 90 minutes format on all four occasions. Had they told two distinct stories per 90 minutes instead of shoe horning all of them into one I thought it would have been much more enjoyable but who am I to argue. Still love the movies.
Have we been watching the same Family Guy? Which episode are you referring to where there's a two-second clip of the chicken fight saga? I don't recall one less than a minute.
Family Guy's use of cut-away humor is the same tired old "Let's insert a random fantasy!" crap that's been going on in every prime-time |/FOX\| comedy, and to a large extent many comedies on other networks, since at least Ally McBeal. (Why was Arrested Development cancelled? the cut-away humor was done in flashback/callback form, rather than fantasy)
Funny things can happen in cut-away humor, but the cut-away itself is lame.
Family Guy's use of cut-away humor is the same tired old "Let's insert a random fantasy!" crap that's been going on in every prime-time |/FOX\| comedy, and to a large extent many comedies on other networks, since at least Ally McBeal. (Why was Arrested Development cancelled? the cut-away humor was done in flashback/callback form, rather than fantasy)
Funny things can happen in cut-away humor, but the cut-away itself is lame.
This was painfully obvious to me in the first few weeks of [adult swim] after the switch to Family Guy from Futurama. The cutaways have funny things in them, but the show as a whole is inferior to Futurama is so many ways. It's just so forced.
> In my (professional) estimation Seth McFarlane is the single most important > writer in the English language since the time Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Blake.
Well now we know. Seth MacFarlane is the hypnotoad.
They may have been "Direct-to-DVD", but I don't think it took them long to then go "and onwards to Sky TV as multi-part episodes". I know there aren't many Futurama episodes, but Sky seem to have played the "Direct to DVD" ones more than normal!
From the first film they seemed to get progressively worse, both in terms of story and in terms of jokes. I know they had fewer writers working on them but the jokes weren't as snappy the plots didn't flow properly (Benders Game was the worst for that) and they relied too much on references to previous jokes and stories, one of the worst things about post season 10 Simpsons was how insular the humour became.
If it was because they struggled to fill the running time than a new series could be brilliant. If it's because the current writers aren't a patch on the original team, it could go the family guy route of being stale almost immediately after it returned to screens.
A new season of the show could represent good news, assuming that the writers still have sufficient material not yet exhausted. The movies had a lot of potential but just seemed not to translate to movie length well. Part of the problem with having movie length episodes was that it constrained the writers to working with overarching plots. Less comedic punch, under utilized, diluted characters and greater reliance on cheap gimmicks. The show just works better in 23 minutes. On the downside, the last season
How many years has it been? By now, all the actors will be older and they won't look the part. It will be worse than Harry Potter or Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.
For homework, please write an essay comparing and contrasting Seth McFarlane with Seth Green; be sure to compare and contrast their respective television productions.
Extra credit may be available for extended treatises on Greg the Bunny.
Futurama Season 1, Episode 5 "Fear of a bot planet" is based on a short story by Stanisaw Lem. David X. Cohen, the head writer of Futurama, acknowledged that Stanisaw Lem is among his favorite Sci-Fi writers.
Translation, if you watch Futurama you likely setup elaborate courses with loops and death defying jumps for your prized matchbox cars.
If you watch Family Guy you probably just smashed the shit out of them between two cinder blocks and laughed about it for the rest of the day.
Now that you explain it that way, it seems so obvious: I just think it's funny because I enjoy watching it and it makes me laugh by respectfully parodying beloved memes. But since you don't get it, it must be objectively un-amusing, therefore I'm obviously just mired in cognitive dissonance.
Now that I think about it, I nearly busted a gut laughing at Galaxy Quest [wikipedia.org], so I guess by your measure that must suck harder than a Thai ladyboy trying to fund her final op.
Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
Good news everyone!
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:4, Funny)
Bite my shiny metal ass!
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:4, Funny)
NEWS DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
I am looking forwAll glory to the hypnotoad!
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
How i hate that hypnotoad meme, do you have nothiALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Dear G-d, No! (Score:4, Funny)
Just think of the horror... Everyone you meet in this cowboy universe is CowboyNeal!
Parent
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
This show is going downhill since season 3!
Parent
Slashdotted (Score:2, Informative)
Here's another link: http://tv.ign.com/articles/992/992321p1.html
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Here, put on this hat
Re:Obligatory... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
"Have you ever tried just turning off the TV (Score:5, Funny)
and hitting them?"
Re:"Have you ever tried just turning off the TV (Score:5, Funny)
Oh great! A lesson in history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
which lead directly to Jon Stewart's Daily Show and the awsome spin off, the Colbert Report.
In all, it was a good move.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Brought to you by: (Score:4, Insightful)
Good news (Score:2, Funny)
Good news, everyone! The site is already not loading.
Casting (Score:4, Interesting)
Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that 'Futurama' production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward.
Let's hope it's all the original cast. Wrong-sounding Muppets where no picnic, either (to paraphrase Family Guy).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Even if they do. You can get use to it. Unless you get uptight about some odd natural order of thing that are not natural or in order. Why does TV and Movies break their own cannon, well to keep the current story more entertaining. Oh no they changed actors, we for God sake try to pretend that this is the same person, and don't try to explain it in some odd way. Ill bet you will be much happier. And just enjoy the show and live the rest of your life.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Sounds unlikely they are going to change actors though.
All of the actors are still very much alive, and not to mention are still very interested in Futurama, so doubting the return of the actors is not very justified.
But even if they can't get an actor back, remember what the writers of The Simpsons did when Phil Hartman died? Yeah, they retired his characters, in his honour.
Billy West, for instance, who voices Fry, Farnsworth, among others, have since the release of Into the Wild Green Yonder (well, and b
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Though still technically a rumor at this point, word is that 'Futurama' production offices have already opened and that casting is about to move forward.
Let's hope it's all the original cast. Wrong-sounding Muppets where no picnic, either (to paraphrase Family Guy).
Of course, Meg Griffin has been voiced by three different actresses (not counting the ones used for singing), so it wouldn't necessarily be the kiss of death for the show.
Re:Casting (Score:5, Funny)
Amy could probably be replaced and the rastafarian guy, but most of the others cannot
But don't replace Amy's voice with Hermes', because that would be weird.
Parent
Absolutely wonderful (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Absolutely wonderful (Score:5, Interesting)
Some of the best jokes in the show were only there because of the censors forcing re-writes. What do we get the moment they have some wiggle-room? Bender's Big Score. I may hate censorship, but these writers don't seem to work well without it.
Parent
Cut and Paste (Score:3, Insightful)
I have a feeling that after a few days we will be able to cut and paste entire scripts from episodes from all the posts... Just a weird feeling...
P.S - Casting? Uhhhh, that's been done. Long time ago. If they change the voices, that would be a bit too much. They did not change the voices for the movie, why the hell start now?
Let's hope the Family Guy effect holds true (Score:2)
Blackjack and Hookers or we are all doomed
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Admittedly, "The Beast with a Thousand Backs" or whatever it was called did more to creep me out than to amuse me. That being said, as a literary critic I can't agree with the assertion that a single second of any episode of "Family Guy" could be classified as "meh." For thousands of years comedy has not developed past Aristophanes -- indeed, fewer than a hundred years ago the great cultural historian Edith Hamilton compared the popular entertainment of the previous generation to his oeuvre. The cutaway
Re:Let's hope the Family Guy effect holds true (Score:5, Insightful)
For thousands of years comedy has not developed past Aristophanes -- indeed, fewer than a hundred years ago the great cultural historian Edith Hamilton compared the popular entertainment of the previous generation to his oeuvre. The cutaway scenes in Family Guy represent the first departure from classical comedy I've ever been aware of. In my (professional) estimation Seth McFarlane is the single most important writer in the English language since the time Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Blake.
So there's that.
Oh so you haven't heard? I was under the impression that everybody had heard that latest news of a certain avian variety.
... there are several episodes that are just un-funny. Just because you cut to something completely apeshit crazy during a sketch doesn't mean it's fun to watch or entertaining. Yes I go "what the fuck?", yeah I think "that was brilliant" but I don't laugh. If I see a joke and go "That was good" but no smile ever crosses my face ... it's not that good. I've seen every episode of Family Guy and American Dad ... high, drunk and completely sober. Some of them are just awfully bad. Painfully predictable and can't be saved by a two second cutaway to a giant chicken beating a guy. Then again ... the entire last season of Simpsons didn't have more than a handful of good jokes in it. Maybe I'm getting a little overfed and/or spoiled.
And just to break your stride
As for the Futurama movies I thought most of the plot was too irrelevant and merely spooned in to stretch it out to 90 minutes format on all four occasions. Had they told two distinct stories per 90 minutes instead of shoe horning all of them into one I thought it would have been much more enjoyable but who am I to argue. Still love the movies.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Let's hope the Family Guy effect holds true (Score:5, Insightful)
Family Guy's use of cut-away humor is the same tired old "Let's insert a random fantasy!" crap that's been going on in every prime-time |/FOX\| comedy, and to a large extent many comedies on other networks, since at least Ally McBeal. (Why was Arrested Development cancelled? the cut-away humor was done in flashback/callback form, rather than fantasy)
Funny things can happen in cut-away humor, but the cut-away itself is lame.
Parent
Re:Let's hope the Family Guy effect holds true (Score:5, Insightful)
Family Guy's use of cut-away humor is the same tired old "Let's insert a random fantasy!" crap that's been going on in every prime-time |/FOX\| comedy, and to a large extent many comedies on other networks, since at least Ally McBeal. (Why was Arrested Development cancelled? the cut-away humor was done in flashback/callback form, rather than fantasy)
Funny things can happen in cut-away humor, but the cut-away itself is lame.
This was painfully obvious to me in the first few weeks of [adult swim] after the switch to Family Guy from Futurama. The cutaways have funny things in them, but the show as a whole is inferior to Futurama is so many ways. It's just so forced.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
> In my (professional) estimation Seth McFarlane is the single most important
> writer in the English language since the time Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Blake.
Well now we know. Seth MacFarlane is the hypnotoad.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The cutaway scenes in Family Guy represent the first departure from classical comedy I've ever been aware of.
They did the exact same thing in Parker Lewis Can't Lose. I'm no scholar, but I'd find it hard to believe that's the first time it's been done.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, well he wasn't expecting it.
Direct-to-DVD "movies" (Score:3, Informative)
They may have been "Direct-to-DVD", but I don't think it took them long to then go "and onwards to Sky TV as multi-part episodes". I know there aren't many Futurama episodes, but Sky seem to have played the "Direct to DVD" ones more than normal!
Into the Wild Green Yonder (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder if it will continue from where Into the Wild Green Yonder [wikipedia.org] left off.
The movies didn't work (Score:5, Insightful)
From the first film they seemed to get progressively worse, both in terms of story and in terms of jokes. I know they had fewer writers working on them but the jokes weren't as snappy the plots didn't flow properly (Benders Game was the worst for that) and they relied too much on references to previous jokes and stories, one of the worst things about post season 10 Simpsons was how insular the humour became.
If it was because they struggled to fill the running time than a new series could be brilliant. If it's because the current writers aren't a patch on the original team, it could go the family guy route of being stale almost immediately after it returned to screens.
Re:The movies didn't work (Score:4, Interesting)
it could go the family guy route of being stale almost immediately after it returned to screens.
I'll agree that Family Guy was a shadow of its former self, once it returned from cancellation.
It took some time, but the show *has* returned to something like it's former levels of comedy though.
Parent
Good News (possibly) (Score:2, Insightful)
For fuck sake... (Score:4, Insightful)
Too late (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't believe you equate Robot Chicken (or any of seth macfarlane's work) with Futurama
They're both goofy but robot chicken is a sequence of short attention span non-sequiteurs ditto w/ family guy.
Futurama has tonnes of very intelligent and subversive themes, and actual plots.
Re:Who gives a fsck... (Score:5, Informative)
For homework, please write an essay comparing and contrasting Seth McFarlane with Seth Green; be sure to compare and contrast their respective television productions.
Extra credit may be available for extended treatises on Greg the Bunny.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Futurama Season 1, Episode 5 "Fear of a bot planet" is based on a short story by Stanisaw Lem. David X. Cohen, the head writer of Futurama, acknowledged that Stanisaw Lem is among his favorite Sci-Fi writers.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Actually it's Stanislaw Lem. He's Polish (like me) and we don't use the letter v .
There! You did it right there!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If you watch Family Guy you probably just smashed the shit out of them between two cinder blocks and laughed about it for the rest of the day.
Funny? Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I hope it's funny! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now that you explain it that way, it seems so obvious: I just think it's funny because I enjoy watching it and it makes me laugh by respectfully parodying beloved memes. But since you don't get it, it must be objectively un-amusing, therefore I'm obviously just mired in cognitive dissonance.
Now that I think about it, I nearly busted a gut laughing at Galaxy Quest [wikipedia.org], so I guess by your measure that must suck harder than a Thai ladyboy trying to fund her final op.
Parent