Futurama
Original run (1999-2003)
Second run (2008-2013)
Current run (2023-present)
Before I even begin discussing the show. I gotta mention the confusing seasons set up. The first five seasons were fine. Seasons 6 and 7 started throwing an huge monkey wrench. These seasons were aired in two sets. Which ended up happening for Disenchantment on Netflix funny enough.
Another animated sitcom show by Matt Groening. This led to which do you consider for how many seasons Futurama has? Let me explain do we go by how many seasons aired on television or do we go by how many actual seasons it has? If we went by how many seasons aired on TV, it's technically thirteen seasons.
But officially it recently had Season 10 on Hulu. All because two particular seasons aired in halves. Both Seasons 8 and 9 aired episodes like normal. Despite being streamed on Hulu and Disney+ on a few bundle deals. Season 10 flat out dropped the entire season in one shot.
Actual review section
Futurama is a spiritual successor to The Simpsons. They crossed over a few times including an full crossover episode on The Simpsons. Since then, it confirmed along with Disenchantment takes place in the same shared universe. Which is ambitious by itself.
The show centers on an space delivery company. They often find themselves in many rather unique situations. It reminds me of The Flash (CW show) in that regard. I would be lying to say this show been consistent it haven't. I would say most of the seasons are great though.
We had a former pizza delivery boy frozen in an machine for an thousand years. Literately just the first episode no less. He has a best friend, an robot named Bender. Bender always been my favorite Futurama character. You could view this as the modern take of The Jetsons.
Considering both had an famous red haired man among the most cast. Not to mention, an famous robot character that's close to them. Both shows are an unique perceptive about the future. I would say that's right on the money. Some of the logic really goes over your heads.
I am still feeling that with the most recent season finale episode. To a degree I actually consider an funnier show than The Simpsons. The Simpsons is filled with creativity in it's own right. But Futurama truly embodies the concept. You just never know what you're getting with the show.
This is exactly why I dislike Season 5 the most. The show works best when each episode within an season presents different situations. This particular season was virtually four movies. Two versions the original movie versions or the later broken into four episodes each versions?
Basically four major storylines across an entire season. This also led to two additional seasons. Thankfully Seasons 6 and 7 was like most of them. Maybe I prefer having more of a variety within the story telling. Futurama works best with that set up in mind.
Futurama always been a somewhat witty comedy show. Similar to The Big Bang Theory in that regard. At the same time, always been way more ambitious with it's concepts. In a lot of ways Futurama made the future rather exciting. But in other ways, I really hope some of those doesn't end up happening.
You know people get so into these futuristic concepts. They become desperate to make em an reality. Futurama always had such deep lore in things. Some of the more recent ones caught me very off guard. I do enjoy the What If machine episodes.
Virtually Futurama's answer to The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror episodes. Some of the characters asks questions. This AI recreates exactly what would happen. I wasn't crazy for episodes that just change things though. I will give credit to a particular season finale episode.
Meanwhile is not only one of the finest Futurama episodes. But also one of the greatest animated sitcom season finales I ever seen!!! This particular episode was a huge surprise among it's entire second run. It was a surprisingly decent well written episode.
At the same time, they left the door open for possible newer seasons. For anyone that haven't seen this Futurama episode wow is all I gotta say to you. I actually felt Futurama may actually be the greatest thing Matt Groening ever created!!! Even as a huge Simpsons fan, I can't argue ways Futurama is better in.
The Simpsons may shown you the world. But Futurama went bigger than that by showing off the universe and beyond. The main characters are so rememberable as well. An handful of times, they dive into the multiverse. Thankfully this was before more franchises started doing a lot of related shows. To the point, they aren't doing well right now.
You get to learn a lot about everything. None of that ever comes off being boring either. Sometimes it's surprisingly funny at times. They also done several variations of concepts that effects time. Some of the main cast are ridiculously older than you would possibly imagine. Time is among the weirder topics of the show.
Of course, we can't forget such moments as Fry indirectly gotten his grandfather killed in the past. Then he slept with his grandma effectively becoming his own grandfather yes I'm not making this up. You could argue this is a more serious show than The Simpsons. But a couple episodes simply comes off being funnier in comparison.
Stuff like that is purely up to debate honestly. There's some rather impressive animation as well. The intro barely changes much with a classic theme song. You can tell they took some stuff from The Simpsons. Then they went the full distance with them. I been really wanting to review this show for a long time
I gotta talk about Bender, he often steals the show. I will attempt my best possible explanation of Bender's character. Imagine a much lesser human and more selfish Homer Simpson. Bender is an robot originally designed to bend things a huge surprise right? His full name is among the longest in history of anything Matt Groening ever created I'm very serious!!!
What I love so much about the character is in many situations. A lot of us easily could've done stuff he's done to a degree. I'm not implying we're all secretly bad people either. I just meant he comes off as that negative voice in our heads. Bender virtually does whatever he wants. For the most part without a single care in his systems.
He also ends up being one of the more interesting members of the crew. People remembered the times Homer used to say D'oh on a daily basis. For Bender, "Bite my shiny metal ass!!!" Wow such an catchphrase for an animated Sitcom character. He ends up being the most neutral character of the show. At times puts him at odds with the crew.
Like Homer, he drinks liquor to a degree. A major difference is robots must drink it or they get rusty. Which actually was showcased in a particular episode. Suddenly an character that drinks any form of liquor like this being more dangerous. There was some fans worried for the third run of the show. When his original voice actor wasn't confirmed to come back at the time.
They ended up bending to the fans to get his original voice actor back on the show see what I did there? Fry always reminded me of Bart that's more kind hearted and a bit more brave. Also because he often wears a red coat while having spiky hair. Leela is virtually this show's answer to Lisa. But a way more awesome female character in comparison.
A lot of the crew reminds me of several classic Simpsons characters. I love they just go for such out there ideas. I felt two of the three runs were quite funny. The current, third run felt like the original run of the show. It's safe to say this out doing Beavis & Butt-Head respectively. Futurama always been ahead of it's time lol you knew that was coming.
This show felt like the perfect showcase to the future. I know such an statement could easily spark controversiality. In my defense, Futurama really reinvented the wheel on that. Futurama quickly differ itself from The Simpsons. Futurama always been possibly the craziest of Groening's animated trinity. I know eventually Disenchantment will get it's own review.
Futurama is heavily centered around an futuristic New York City. They called it New New York they do explain it in an episode. I always welcome they go to other planets on the show. Every time a new planet shows up. You instantly know what we knew about to change fast. This is exactly why I always praised Futurama for a long time.
Even during it's original run this show had such a major impact on people including myself. Right now I really can't compare anything to this!!! Futurama is possibly one of the most unique shows I ever gotten into. I can't wait for Season 14 in the near future. I felt Futurama has potential for some truly amazing stories left in it.
No comments:
Post a Comment