How do you follow an act like the Simpsons? I mean, the show that redefined animated comedy, opened "cartoons" up to adults and even forced some new words into the dictionary (D'oh!), surely becoming the most popular animated show of all time? So when Fox approached creator Matt Groening in the mid-nineties for a new show to bolster up sliding ratings for the later seasons of the Simpsons, he had to think hard about it. No point in doing a Seth MacFarlane, taking your main show and simply transposing all the characters, with the tiniest of amendments and tweaks (look, Stan IS Joe, all right? He's the same guy and nobody is going to tell me otherwise!) and calling it a new show. So this show would have to be completely different, and yet retain the quirky, off-kilter sense of humour that Groening and the Simpsons had become famous for.
Step one then in disassociating it, or at least distinguishing it from the flagship show: set it in the future. A thousand years, in fact. Step two: no family. Well, other than the workmates, who kind of fucntion as a generic family, the same way people who work too much and spend too much time with their colleagues see them as their family. But no lazy, craxy father. No well-meaning mother. No mad, uncontrollable kids. And definitely, no dog. Or cat. Meh, maybe a lobster.
Futurama concerns the exploits of Philip J Fry, (who for several seasons was known only as Fry) a delivery boy who gets accidentally trapped in a cryogenic chamber and ends up being thawed out a thousand years later. Only seconds have passed for him, but the world he has known is gone forever. Earth is a far different place. Trying to find his way in this futuristic world, he looks up his only relative, his great-great-great-something-grandnephew, who is running a delivery company, and joins the crew. Here he meets the strange characters who work for his nephew, the hundred-odd-year-old Professor Hubert Farnsworth, and tries to adjust to the new world he is basically now trapped in.
Futurama successfully melds science-fiction tropes with comedy and also with PCRs (Pop Culture References, for those of you not reading my "Supernatural" writeups) that give the show a sharp, witty and knowing feel. Much of the technology is, as you would expect, not explained, but most of it sounds if not feasible at least possible. Fry then embarks upon many adventures, some of the space type, some more close to home, but always hilarious. Well, almost always.
Having been cancelled in its fifth season and then renewed, Futurama is not above taking sidelong pot-shots at Fox, who quickly realised there was a bigger market for the show than they had thought, based on DVD sales (sound familiar? They never learn), and at one point in an episode the network executives are portrayed as cold but stupid robots. Take that, Fox! Futurama has so far run for eight seasons, but news came through recently that Fox have again cancelled it. Whether it comes back again from the dead is open to question, though you would certainly expect at the least some straight-to-DVD movies, as happened after the original cancellation.
CAST AND CHARACTERS
Philip J. Fry, voiced by Billy West
Fry is a pizza delivery boy from the twentieth century, who on delivering a pizza to Applied Cryogenics on New Year's Eve 1999 falls into a cryo tube and is preserved in suspended animation for a thousand years. On emerging he realises (slowly) what has happened and tries his best to build a new life for himself in the future. Sadly, as a pizza boy he was a failure and that failure has carried through with him to the future. Coming in at the lowest level in Planet Express, the cargo company owned by his only descendant, he is basically a delivery boy again, and not great at his job. He soon falls for Leela, the one-eyed alien girl, but she is not interested in him. He also befriends Bender, the antisocial robot on the crew, and the two become comrades in arms, though Bender treats Fry most of the time more like a pet.
Turrange Leela (usually just Leela), voiced by Katey Sagal
A cyclopean alien with purple hair, Leela is the pilot and captain of the Planet Express Ship, and Fry falls instantly in love with her. His love, however, is not reciprocated, as he is basically a slob and Leela wants better for herself. They do form a friendship though, which progresses to a kind of relationship. Leela is the smart one on the crew, always ready with a sharp retort to Fry, or Bender's reluctance to do their jobs, and dedicated to her own position.
Bender Bending Rodriguez (usually just Bender), voiced by John DiMaggio
Fry meets Bender when the robot is trying to use a suicide booth, but the boy from the past convinces the robot there is something to live for, and they both gain employment at Planet Express, though truth to tell Bender does as little work as possible. Like all robots, Bender runs on alcohol, with the result that he drinks a lot, and also smokes cigars. He has contempt for just about everyone and everything, human alien or robot, and is also an inveterate thief. He enjoys living life on the edge, and is always one for the ladies.
Professor Hubert Farnsworth, voiced by Billy West
One hundred and sixty years old, Professor Farnsworth makes Mister Burns look like a callow teenager, and is Fry's only living relative. He runs the Planet Express Company to fund his increasingly eccentric experiments, and is happy to provide Fry and Bender with jobs, as he is not exactly inundated with applications for the positions, Planet Express servicing some of the more dangerous sectors of space.
Doctor John A. Zoidberg (usually just Zoidberg), voiced by Billy West
A lobster-like alien, Zoidberg is a doctor but knows little about humans, or indeed anything. He is always short of food, due to being poor, and despite being Farnsworth's best friend is treated like dirt, not just by him but by everyone. He is the staff physician at Planet Express, probably because he works for fish heads and whatever scraps the professor tosses to him.
Hermes Conrad, voiced by Phil Lamarr
Hermes is the accountant of the company. A strict bureaucrat, he likes nothing more than a full in-tray and a big rubber stamp. Jamaican by descent, he does not take part in the deliveries but audits everything, trying to save money and cut corners anywhere he can. If he could ration the crew's oxygen, or cut it out altogether as an "unnecessary expense", he would.
Amy Wong, voiced by Lauren Tom
An intern at the company, Amy's parents are the richest people on Mars. They basically own the planet. Amy is gaining work experience at Planet Express, and does much to show Fry what's cool and in here in the thirtieth century.
As with most other shows, there are other characters, some of whom become semi-regular, some just popping in and out, and as these are introduced I'll talk about them. But for now, this is the main character list.
And so, if for some weird reason you haven't seen this amazing series, lock the bar and make sure it's securely in place before the ride begins, as the management will not be held responsible for patrons ejected from the cars and catapulted into space during the ride.
Welcome to the world of tomorrow!