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David X. Cohen Interviewed on New Futurama 240

eldavojohn writes "Toyfare has a short but exclusive interview with co-creator of Futurama David X. Cohen. There's a lot of information about how they plan to continue the series. He also reveals they're halfway through writing the new season and just starting animation. When asked about his favorite minor character of the show, Cohen responded 'Hypnotoad. By the way, we are looking into producing a full 22-minute episode of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad for the DVD release. I am serious.'"
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David X. Cohen Interviewed on New Futurama

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  • Hypnotoad (Score:5, Funny)

    by epsilon720 ( 307234 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:04PM (#17244030)
    All glory to the hypnotoad!


    CLAP


    CLAP


    (Would have been more dramatic in all caps, but the filted doesn't like it.)

  • by ZeroExistenZ ( 721849 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:07PM (#17244076)

    For those who don't know it yet, if you view the raw headers of slashdot, you'll find Futurama quotes.

    I'm so excited Futurama is back that I hardly can contain myself!

  • of course (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:10PM (#17244144)
    the hypnotoad is everyones favorite minor character

    all hail the hypnotoad
  • Seymour the Dog! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Calmiche ( 531074 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:10PM (#17244148)
    (Quote) We will also be shedding light on several lingering questions from the original run, including ... Seymour the dog. (/Quote)

    Oh Man, oh man, oh man! Jurassic Bark, the episode featuring Seymour the dog, has to be one of the best written pieces of television I've ever seen, as well as one of the saddest. Look, I'm a grown man, and every time I see that episode, I cry. Anything that can do that is good television.

    Oh, yah. If you can't tell, I'm REALLY excited about the return of Futurama.
    • by 0racle ( 667029 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:12PM (#17244180)
      Ya I hate that episode, and by hate I mean I don't like feeling depressed for hours after it.

      You son of a bitch, why did you even have to bring it up.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by msuzio ( 3104 )
        I agree. That episode makes me cry, everytime. Anyone who has owned a dog knows how much it sucks that they are loyal to the end, but can't stick around long enough to share all the time they want with us. I know my dog would wait for me too...

        Oh man, now my keyboard is all wet. :-(

        *shakes fist* Damn you, David X. Cohen!!!
        • by thc69 ( 98798 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @06:27PM (#17246522) Homepage Journal
          Try owning dachshunds. That'll fix that problem.

          They live long, but you wish they wouldn't. Well, _I_ wish they wouldn't.

          The damnfool idiots need surgeries all the time, produce twice their body volume (that's twelve times their body weight) in feces daily (most of which they do indoors; these days they have their own room with a doggy door and a sheet of rubber under a scrap carpet), and never shut up. Oh, and they smell awful (must be from rolling around in shit). For awhile, in their own room, they were quiet, but lately they've taken to fighting with eachother...

          My wife got them before we were married. I wish she had gotten a hypnotoad instead. ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.
      • by sg3000 ( 87992 ) *
        > Ya I hate that episode, and by hate I mean I don't like feeling depressed for hours after it.

        Agreed.

        I always assumed that Fry's dog was a metaphor for the way Fox treated Futurama as a show. It was *always* on hiatus or being pre-empted, and yet Groening didn't try to take his enterprise to another network.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by DaveM753 ( 844913 )
      Yeah, they pulled a fast one on many of us with that episode. I mean, here we are, watching one of the funniest TV shows ever, and they spring that tear-jerker, heart-warming ending on us. Gads! See...just thinking about it and I'm about to start bawling again. :'(
      • Re:Seymour the Dog! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by defile ( 1059 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:22PM (#17244374) Homepage Journal
        Yeah, they pulled a fast one on many of us with that episode. I mean, here we are, watching one of the funniest TV shows ever, and they spring that tear-jerker, heart-warming ending on us. Gads! See...just thinking about it and I'm about to start bawling again. :'(

        When I watch Futurama, it's usually on late at night and sometimes I pass out near the end. Every time I've watched the episode with Fry's dog, I've passed out right at the ending and woken up to a everyone else in the room crying. Happened three times now.

        I don't think I ever want to see the ending.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by NFNNMIDATA ( 449069 )
        Every time that music gets to me and I start to tear up, I remember that the dog's name is Seymour Butts and I start laughing instead.
    • Re:Seymour the Dog! (Score:5, Informative)

      by tdc_vga ( 787793 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:28PM (#17244506)
      For those of you who don't know the episode is based on Hachiko [wikipedia.org] the famous Japanese Dog who returned to the Shibuya train station in Tokyo for 11 years in an attempt to greet his dead master. So I don't know if I'd say it was the best writing ever, but a nice adaption from reality and a damn fine episode.

      Cheers,
          TdC_VgA
    • "Professor! Lava! HOT!"

    • by Kostya ( 1146 )

      Look, I'm a grown man, and every time I see that episode, I cry. Anything that can do that is good television.

      Oh, yah. If you can't tell, I'm REALLY excited about the return of Futurama.

      Amen. It's worse if you own dogs and they are laying at your feet when you watch it. Hell, I'm choking up even thinking about it.

      • That episode still chokes me up...actually, I watched it once on TV and never again. That track on my DVD has never been played.
        • by sg3000 ( 87992 ) *
          > That episode still chokes me up...actually, I watched it once on TV and never again. That track on my DVD has never been played.

          I watched it once on the DVD, but only to listening to the director's commentary track. I wanted to hear if they could provide some justification for the episode. No such luck. They started off mentioning that the episode generated the most hate mail they had received, and then they carefully avoided the plot during the rest of the commentary.

    • by dpille ( 547949 )
      It says this part of The Hustle implores the gods to grant a favour. Usually a Trans-AM.

      Nuff said about the best pieces of television ever.
    • It's an ok episode, not funny enough for my liking.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Itsacon ( 967006 )

      My favourite tearjerker has always been `Luck of the Fryrish', but maybe that's because I don't have a dog, and I do have a brother...

      It is ranking no. 2 though...

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by jandrese ( 485 )
        Don't forget the one where (spoiler alert)Leela discovers who her parents are(end of spoiler). I ended up picking up the Pizzacato 5 CD based on that ending alone.
  • If we can just get him to handle elections... Oh wait, thats why we have
    Diebold machines.
  • About the "X"... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bones3D_mac ( 324952 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:14PM (#17244218)
    For those of you who never watchd the full set of commentaries on the Futurama DVDs, there's an interesting story behind the "X" in David X. Cohen's name.

    Back in the late 90's, he attempted to register his real name, "David S. Cohen", with the writer's guild. However, they already had a David S. Cohen registered with them. Due to the rules of the writer's guild, all names registered with them must be unique to avoid confusion. So, David decided to change his name over to David X. Cohen for identification purposes.

    So what's the meaning of the "X" in the name? Not a damned thing! It was chosen entirely because it was weird enough to be easily recognizable.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:14PM (#17244228)
    He has got nothing on the brain slugs. I'm sure once you try one, you'll see how much better than hypnotoads they are. Email me and I will send you a complementary brain slug of your own. Brain slugs also make the perfect x-mas gift. Axe me nice and I will send you a whole gross.
  • by Vaibhav_Locke ( 1010373 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:30PM (#17244528)
    that I feel like I was mauled by Jesus
  • Nerdgasm! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @04:32PM (#17244576) Homepage Journal
    One down, two to go!

    (frell you if my sig can't let you guess what I mean)
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by KillerBob ( 217953 )
      How the hell does this get modded troll? Not trolling at all. :(

      And I agree with you. I'd have a hard time breathing if either of the other shows you're referencing were to make it back to the air. Sadly, I don't think that the one in your .sig will get done, since they killed off two of my favourite characters in the movie. I still think that Jaynestown was the best episode. ;)

      As for Farscape... well, they could. I dunno... it'd be really cool if they did, though. Dying in each others' arms would be hard t
  • .... To do the new Star Trek animated series. It would likely be better than anything that the guys that are currently responsible for the series could come up with.
    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Or we could just watch the Futurama episodes in which Zap Branigan, et al., appear and pretend they constitute the new Star Trek animated series, and it would still probably be better...
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Babbster ( 107076 )
        My weird Futurama reaction: Every time I watch an episode with Zap in it, I get misty thinking about how that character should have been voiced by Phil Hartman...
        • That character was originally written for Phil Hartman. . .

          (It's been 19 seconds since you hit 'reply'.)
  • My favorite thing is that I made up 3 t-shirts after reading the wired article that pre-viewed the show. The best was a pic of Bender and the caption..." When you're built for DC, AC is like really clean acid." Then they made a show about bender abusing electricity and I nearly pooped myself.

    Best quote ever in the show was" I get it the engines don't move the ship around the universe they move the universe around the ship." Thanks to that concept I have finished my FTL ship and have been vacationing on a sm
  • I have a suggestion for an opening tagline on one of the new episodes:

    "Now with 20% more synergy!"

    Anyone else have a suggestion?

    • "Now with blackjack and hookers."

      "11001110101111000011" (reference to how robots pray)

      "More addictive than Slurm(tm)!"

      "Thank you, Mr. Murdoch, we promise to play nice now."
  • Everyone knows the Dnyarri [wikipedia.org] came first! These Futurewhatsis people, they're just stealing the Dnyarri's thunder! Yeah!

    Except, uh, Dnyarri don't take over people's minds with hypnotism or frighteningly powerful telepathy or anything. Nope! Of course not. That's absurd.
  • They're a buncha muncha cruncha human!

    Futurama is my favourite show of all time. There are a few that come close, but even after watching every episode about 10 times, I will still watch a Futurama re-run over a new episode of something else I like if they are on at the same time. I can't get enough. Maybe it's a medical condition [slashdot.org].

    Just out of interest, what is everyone's favourite character (main or side character, it doesn't matter). I think mine would have to be Dr Zoidberg. Every time he scuttles of
    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by spike1 ( 675478 )
      There're too many good characters to pick one favourite... But one of the best lesser charactrers has to be...

      Lurr of omicron persei 8.

      Woaaaaa... I think there was something funny in that hippy...

  • My favorite episodes are the Fry-heavy episodes. Especially Parasites Lost and The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings. The top 2 on my favorite list.

    My least favorite are Leela and especially Dr. Zoidberg-heavy episodes. A Taste of Freedom, That's Lobstertainment!, Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love?, all on my worst-of-the-worst stinkers list.
    • My top 2 would be Parasites Lost and Luck of the Fryish. When bender offers to 'go get his kit' when Fry suggests a spot of grave robbing, I crack up every time.
    • by geekoid ( 135745 )
      "300 Big Bucks" is the best.

      "The loot, the loot, the loot is on fire!" - Nixon's head.

  • God i might be blind in one eye and poke myself in the other with the remote on the night that futurama comes back on tv. I vote they get their butts into gear, bring out the whips and shackles, get them to work asap! hopefully by the time it comes out, people will still enjoy it :D im sure i will, but i want a 2007 release... say jan 1st? come on guys who is with me!
  • by Dorceon ( 928997 ) on Thursday December 14, 2006 @05:13PM (#17245292)
    Great Zombie Jesus, how can you submit a news story about new Futurama and not use Prof. Farnsworth's catch phrase?
    • by Babbster ( 107076 ) <aaronbabb@NOspaM.gmail.com> on Thursday December 14, 2006 @05:34PM (#17245708) Homepage
      It would be inappropriate since news about new Futurama episodes is actually good. Now, if the story was about said episodes being cancelled, THEN "Good news everyone!" works just fine. :)
      • by Dorceon ( 928997 )
        He has used it to give actual good news before. For example:
        Farnsworth A: Good news, everyone! We've consulted the scriptures, and it turns out nobody is evil!
        Farnsworth 1: Yes, the bible is the real good news.
        • As a geek, I would contend that any deviations from standard "good news" usage in that episode should be ignored due to the possibility that NONE of the alternate realities shown were truly the Futurama Prime reality. ;-)

          Oh my, yes.
          • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

            by Dorceon ( 928997 )
            Okay, how about this one?
            Farnsworth: Good news, everyone! We were supposed to make a delivery to the planet Tweenis 12, but it's been completely destroyed.
            Leela: What's good about that?
            Farnsworth: They paid in advance.
    • Good news, everyone! Futurama's coming back!
    • I would... but I am already in my pajamas.
  • Berkeley (Score:4, Funny)

    by Frisky070802 ( 591229 ) * on Thursday December 14, 2006 @05:48PM (#17245934) Journal
    And to think, David, you gave up a PhD in Computer Science from UC Berkeley for the obscurity of a career writing silly cartoons. Have you no ambition? :)
  • ...I wonder how long it took Mr. David X. Cohen to write *that* episode :)
  • by AbRASiON ( 589899 ) * on Thursday December 14, 2006 @10:58PM (#17249430) Journal
    I emailed him once after finding his address out there on the net.
    He responded politely and promptly - was pretty cool too, I also found his commentary on the Futurama DVD's to be excellent.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

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