The Futurama of Physics 150
MasaMuneCyrus writes "I was surprised to notice an article about Futurama in my latest American Physical Society news. Titled, 'Profiles in Versatility: The Futurama of Physics with David X. Cohen,' Cohen talks a little bit about his life and his love for physics, and he goes on to describe how he regularly injects graduate-level physics jokes into the script of Futurama. He also talks a little bit about the upcoming season of Futurama: 'In the 10th episode of the upcoming season, tentatively entitled "The Prisoner of Benda," a theorem based on group theory was specifically written (and proven!) by staffer/PhD mathematician Ken Keeler to explain a plot twist.'"
Hey, how about you concentrate on the *comedy*? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:that was impressive (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:3, Insightful)
So, lemme get this straight: You have to design to be an Engineer?
I better go inform all those Doctorates in my department they're not Engineers...
Re:Futurama's still on? (Score:5, Insightful)
They cancelled it. Internet community cried out it never had a chance with its programming and how it was the next evolution of the simpsons (they were getting old, and futurama connected with the upcoming technological revolutions), so after a few years (7 or so) they brought out movies of Futurama on DVD only to test the success and keep it alive resulting in 4 Futurama movies.
The DVD success has given them enough momentum to restart the series; first new episode will be aired the 24th this month if I recall this alright.
So, to me it's not that strange to see Futurama more in the media again and get it more weight at relaunch by showing the intelligence in it in science magazines and other media to draw in attention of people who would enjoy the humor alike.
I for one, am rejoicing! 10 years ago I enjoyed this series and devoured it, but maybe the world wasn't ready for it yet.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:1, Insightful)
So, lemme get this straight: You have to design to be an Engineer?
I better go inform all those Doctorates in my department they're not Engineers...
That'd be a dickish thing to do, but you wouldn't be wrong.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:3, Insightful)
I disagree. Quite a few episodes have Scotty or Geordi finding a novel solution to a problem, and Scotty did invent the equations of teleporting onto a ship at warp. Sure, their day to day jobs are about fixing and maintaining, but they do show themselves as creative engineers when the time comes for it.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:4, Insightful)
And you want to call LaForge a technician? Ouch.
Re:Cohen Should Abstain from Any Regret (Score:4, Insightful)
Because running into a critical design flaw that can only be fixed by a designer while a thousand light years from the nearest designer sucks? It's the same reason a space shuttle designer has flown on every mission.
Re:Futurama's still on? (Score:2, Insightful)
They cancelled it. Internet community cried out it never had a chance with its programming and how it was the next evolution of the simpsons (they were getting old, and futurama connected with the upcoming technological revolutions)
Eh... I think you're overstating it. Futurama isn't- and I doubt was ever meant to be- "serious" sci-fi. It's basically a parody of mid-to-late twentieth century science fiction and its cliches.
It also relies heavily on the "take an aspect of present-day society and parody it by doing an absurdly high-tech/futuristic version of it" humour.
I don't think it was ever intended to be a remotely serious idea of what the future was like, which is why saying "futurama connected with the upcoming technological revolutions" is a bit OTT. Futurama isn't really about the future, except in a very humorous way. It's about the present and the past shows we grew up with.
Sure, it certainly includes some genuine geek humour that not everyone will get. This likely endears it to the later group, but it still doesn't make it serious sci-fi- and that isn't a criticism, because I don't think it was ever meant to be.
As for The Simpsons, I think you're mistaken in assuming that Futurama is its natural successor. For all its humour, Futurama is still more limited by its premise than The Simpsons' deceptively basic setup- which in fact is what made the latter so successful. It's also a more niche-appeal show, and always will be.