Photo illustration by Slate. Screengrab from Futurama episode “A Head in the Polls.”More on.Futurama, the animated comedy set in the 31 st century, is packed with background gags, in-jokes, meandering subplots, and bizarre but (usually) lovable characters—be they humans, animals, aliens, robots, mutants, monsters, or heads in jars. It’s a massive, rich universe to immerse yourself in: There are thousands of entries in the, and one plotline was so complex that a show writer to resolve it.
Futurama Season show reviews & Metacritic score: Futurama follows the comic exploits of Fry, a pizza delivery boy, who was accidentally cryogenically frozen in 1999, and awakens in the year 3000, finding much.
But what makes Futurama remarkable is that it doesn’t feel like work to watch it. Despite the effort the creators went through to create a cosmos vast in scope, there’s no pretentious or forbiddingly highbrow references that you need to study to truly understand it, no lore to memorize. It’s clever, winking, and self-aware, but never overbearing. Futurama takes place in a future where interplanetary civilizations mingle, humans inhabit worlds with aliens and robots, and everything contains some sort of cultural reference to Earth history.
The primary story centers around Philip J. Fry, a human who was cryogenically frozen in 1999 and emerges in 2999. His new, better life in the glamorous, techno-fantastic future finds him working for a delivery company named Planet Express run by his distant descendant, the absent-minded but brilliant professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, and living with an avaricious, kleptomaniac robot named Bender, who is literally fueled by alcohol. His co-workers and new friends at the company include one-eyed captain Turanga Leela (whom Fry crushes on quickly), spoiled engineering intern Amy Wong, hardheaded accountant and former limbo champion Hermes Conrad, the medically incompetent alien Dr. Zoidberg, and janitor Scruffy. Together, this idiosyncratic crew journeys to bizarre planets and often finds itself somehow responsible for the fate of the universe, even when its members are far from the ones who should be.
Thanks for signing up! You can at any time.This massive intergalactic saga was the brainchild of Matt Groening, the famed The Simpsons creator whose still-iconic venture made the network so much bank that the suits asked him to repeat the magic with yet another show.
Groening enlisted fellow Simpsons writer-producer David X. Cohen, and the two, belching out a mishmash of ideas that would coalesce into Futurama. Despite attracting an enthusiastic fan base early on—helped along by the and leading to the still in use today—the show soon became a classic example of an ambitious, creative enterprise sabotaged by TV execs who just wanted another hit.Fox took a while to settle on, and the ratings, while high for an animated show at first,. Futurama aired in an erratic fashion: first on Fox from 1999–2003, then as a series of four direct-to-video movies in 2007, and finally a few more seasons on Comedy Central from 2010–13. The show had multiple “series finales,” but it seems safe to assume that—save for an audio-only reunion episode in 2017 and rumors following of the rights— Futurama is likely finished, especially with Groening having turned to other projects like. That’s fine, because the 140 episodes already in existence are a satisfying text all their own, hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure.
CancellationOn April 22nd, 2013, Comedy Central announced that Futurama will not be renewed for another season after the airing of the series finale episode on September 4th, 2013. The news of the show's cancellation promptly spread through the entertainment news circuit and was met by varying reactions from the fans and bloggers, with many expressing doubt that this will be the end of the franchise, while others interpreted it as a sound decision in consideration of the declining viewership. Fan reactions were similarly divided on, where people shared their opinions through dozens of Futurama-themed image macros, most notably the series.ReceptionDespite its 7pm (EST) Sunday timeslot on Fox, Futurama became quite popular from its beginnings. Futurama received a lot of praise from critics and viewers alike. Futurama has won 7 Annie Awards and 3 Emmy Awards and was given the title of 'Current Most Critically Acclaimed Animated Series' in the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records. Online PresenceLike other popular animated TV shows, Futurama has gained a large fan following online over the years.
Futurama's main fanbase consists of self-described nerds, most likely due to the many math, physics and computer science jokes. In fact, many of the people who work on the show have PhD degrees in the aforementioned fields.
Futurama also includes a lot of and jokes and references. FandomOne of the oldest fan communities The Leela Zone was created by Mark LeWald and launched on July 27th, 1999. Dedicated entirely to the character of Leela, the site was regularly updated for six months before going on an indefinite hiatus in January 2000. The site reopened under the new administrator Leandro Pardini on April 1st, 2000, after merging with another fan site called There's Something About Futurama. In the following years, The Leela Zone continued to grow into a general destination for Futurama fans and eventually changed its name to the Futurama Madhouse in August 2004. Other notable Futurama fan communities include the portal news site Can't Get Enough Futurama, the message board community Futurama Fan Forum and the wiki-style reference site Infosphere among many others.In addition to online fan sites, Futurama has spawned an extensive collection of illustrations, and unofficial merchandises.
As of June 2012, the digital artist community hosts more than 25,000 Futurama-themed artworks as well as a fan group with 1,120 members, the fanfiction writers' community Fanfiction.net hosts more than 440 stories that are based on the canon and Reddit yields more than 13,000 Futurama-related search results and is home to the dedicated /r/futurama subreddit.Related Memes Not Sure If X'Not sure if X' is an style featuring Fry with squinting eyes, which originated from an, derivative. The top line reads “Not sure if X”, with “or just Y” as the bottom line, and is used to represent an internal monologue.
The most popular example of the meme is probably 'Not sure if trolling, or just stupid'.Hypnotoadis a toad-like alien character from the show, notable for its mind-control. Its manipulation usually involves mentioning the Hypnotoad somewhere in a sentence, by abruptly saying 'ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD'. This is a popular doing on threads, comments and forums, by saying it whenever the Hypnotoad is mentioned. Hypnotoad is voiced by a turbine engine played backwards, which explains it's weird sounds. Hypnotoad first appeared in the episode 'The Day the Earth Stood Stupid'.I Don't Want To Live On This Planet Anymoreis a used originally by the character Professor Farnsworth in A Clockwork Origin.
It is used to show disgust or disappointment with other people or things. The particular image is commonly used in a 2-panel comic, showing news stories and popular culture media subjects at the top, to be followed by Professor Farnsworth saying the line at the bottom.Shut Up And Take My Moneyis a line originally said by Fry in Attack of the Killer App.
It is commonly used on threads and image boards as a reply to certain ideas, implying that the poster likes the idea so much, he's willing to purchase it right at the moment.X Is Bad And You Should Feel Badis a used in combination with an image of Dr. It is used to describe the posters disagreement to the subject it's directed to. Although its possibilities are wide, it is most commonly directed towards a thread or a person's particular tastes. The picture from the meme, is from the episode 'The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings', when Fry gets his hands switch back from the Robot Devil's, to his own. When he starts playing again, Zoidberg makes that hilarious remark.Why Not Zoidberg?is a catchphrase from the character Dr.
Zoidberg, who actually has said it in many episodes. It is used as a reply to questions and problems, suggesting Zoidberg as the answer. The catchphrase is most commonly used as an style image macro, showing the question or problem at the top, usually followed by 'Why Not Zoidberg?' At the bottom.X Does Not Work That Wayis a snowclone used originally by the newscaster character Morbo. It was originated from the episode “Crimes of the Hot” when Morbo says the comedic line 'WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!'
To his co-anchor, Linda, when she implies that a bunch of turtles will cool off because they are near a bunch of windmills. It is commonly used as a reply to statements, expressing anger or exasperation with it. Also used as an style image macro, placing the subject revolving around the statement at the top, usually followed by 'Do Not/Does not Work That Way'.Search InterestInsights show a large spike in searches for Futurama during July 2010, just after Comedy Central aired the first episode of Futurama's seventh season, Rebirth.