<Professor Farnsworth>Good news, everyone!</Professor Farnsworth>
OK, so maybe the news is a little old, but c’mon. Futurama!
Let me be frank: I love this show. Love love love. I sometimes think I am Philip Frye, though marginally smarter, and possibly worse with women.
The bad news is I have to wait until 2008. But I can do that for 16 new episodes.
All hail Hypnotoad!
Update (Thursday night, March 22): So I’m checking the links coming into the blog, and what do I see, but this web page. And I’m thinking, hey, that’s cool: Wil Wheaton reads BA. And then I think, HOLY HALEAKALA, WIL WHEATON READS MY BLOG!
Tremble before me, for verily, I rock.
March 21st, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Futurama is my favorite show ever. It slightly edges out Mystery Science Theater 3000 on my favorites list.
It’s hilarious and has a lot of heart.
That and it’s obvious that writers have a skeptical-streak. Paraphrasing-
“We are looking for scientists…”
“I have a degree in homeopathy!”
“YOU HAVE A DEGREE IN NOTHING!”
That one cracks me up every time.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:04 pm
I’ve watched every episode of Futurama from #1-#72 about 5 times now and it never gets old. 16 more episodes? Must…make…room…on…TiVo….
This show definitely suffered the curse of the ever-changing time slot. I know I never watched it when it was on the air because it kept getting moved. Thank God it pulled a Family Guy and is finally getting some recognition. Hopefully they haven’t lost their touch through the years (although I heard they had a lot more episodes already planned before word of their cancellation came about).
March 21st, 2007 at 8:06 pm
And by “Thank God”, I mean “Thank you DVD sales for getting TV executives’ attention the only way possible. By putting money in their pockets.”
March 21st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Phil, Now please think you’re Mal Reynolds! Really I love that Futurama is coming back! (Not counting on it but hope Firefly is the next Fox show to get rebirthed)
March 21st, 2007 at 8:29 pm
My all-time favorite line from the show is from Professor Farnsworth: “Sweet Zombie Jesus!!”
March 21st, 2007 at 8:35 pm
My favorite geeks-only joke is during the first or second episode, with Bender drinking a forty ounce bottle of Olde Fortran 800.
March 21st, 2007 at 8:41 pm
All hail the Hypnotoad, indeed!
Best link ever. Thanks!
March 21st, 2007 at 8:43 pm
I just plain don’t get the show. I mean, it makes no sense… at all.
You have really highly advanced robots, with artificial intelligence which blows today’s technology away, but they are made of materials which are inferior to what we have today. Furthermore they can get drunk on alcohol.
And why does a spaceship which runs on nuclear fusion have a reactor core that looks like a circa-1800′s steam boiler?
How is it that an “Obsolete” robot consists of super-advanced technology, far beyond today’s but has a betamax or 8-track reader?
There’s no way you can make the case for the idea of a decline and rebirth of civilization, with some technology being lost, because, in many cases, the technology is present (in other devices) or it is paradoxical in it’s own application. It’s hard to believe that the 8-track could be reinvented as it was, that AI circuits of a highly advanced design could be developed but that no digital audio systems would be developed, despite the fact that they share similar, but less advanced technology.
Furthermore, how come there are heads kept alive in fluid? And while I can somewhat understand the potential that a head from someone who is currently alive could be kept alive, if the technology were developed in the future, but previous to their death, what of those who have already died long ago? Their head and brain has already decomposed!
I suppose you could say that they could somehow replicate the head, based on some sort of universe simulator or something, but then why not the whole body? And why are they in fluid?
March 21st, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Drbuzz0, it’s a comedy, dude. A comedy in that uses “World’s Fair Futuristic Technology” and old, campy Sci-Fi movies as a setting.
March 21st, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Phil, face it – you’re Professor Farnsworth in a younger day.
Drbuzz0, you’re absolutely right – you don’t get it, do you?
Favourite Futurama joke: the one about Uranus’ change of name (“It’s now called Urectum”)
March 21st, 2007 at 9:32 pm
I am Bender. Please insert girder.
Genius.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Drbuzz0,
The idea is that the show isn’t trying to show you what the year 3000+ is really going to be like. It is comedy as Joshua pointed out. Do you not get the original series of Star Trek because, amongst other things, they used a mechanical odometer to show what year they were in (Don’t remember the episode but I’m sure there are lots that do!)? Does the Simpsons trouble you because the characters only have 3 fingers and a thumb on each hand and weird yellow skin?
Can’t wait for it in whatever format it finally arrives as.
March 21st, 2007 at 10:16 pm
My opinion is that the show is partly satirizing our over-optimistic predictions of the future. It’s called ‘Futurama’ which should be a clue as to the tone they’re striking.
March 21st, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Ahhh, every episode gets better and better each time you watch it.
I have all 4 DVD collections, and yet I still watch both episodes on Adult Swim as often as I can. What makes Futurama so great is the fact that they make fun of everybody, and they never dumb-down the jokes. Like the horse race in Luck of the Fryish – They used an electron microscope to determine the winner “by a quantum finish,” and the Professor yells out, “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!” If you don’t get it, too bad, cause they’re not going to explain it!
They take things that are funny from almost every science fiction media out there, plus make up some great humor of their own.
Are there any Doctor Who fans out there? Did you know there was an assistant to the Tom Baker Doctor named Leela?!? She was some kind of barbarian chick, and she had a funny metal thing on her wrist. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
B-)
March 21st, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Does anyone else think the BA looks like the young Prof. Farnsworth from that one episode?
I’ve seen every episode many times and it never gets old.
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:53 am
At last. We are currently seeing repeats of the old series on New Zealand television and I cannot wait to see some new episides. The sooner they are made the better.
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 am
This has been in the good news section of my brain for a while, and makes me happy. Although there is a history of later shows in series like this being a bit forced, Futurama’s held up pretty well.
To continue the trend, the best line to my mind, while sinking in the ocean:
How many atmospheres can this ship withstand?
Well, it’s a spaceship – so I’d say anywhere between zero and one.
and Joshua C: It’s “baloney”
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:21 am
Don’t forget that President Truman gets a dig in at the Moon Landing hoax people in the “Roswell that Ends Well” episode (“Area 51? That’s where we’re faking the moon landings” “We’d better go for real…invent NASA and tell them to get off their fannies!” [or something like that])…
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:30 am
Moon hoaxers and their ilk can bite my shiny metal ass!
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:30 am
Did you know, one of the “bonus” episodes on the upcoming DVD releases may be a whole 22 minute segment title “Everybody Loves Hypnotoad”! The interview with David X. Cohen is as follows (if interested):
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/magazine/toyfare/002710592.cfm
BA, thanks for the Hypnotoad link. I sent it to my wife, and told her to take a break and look at the website. Her response, “I need to put that as my screen saver”. Yep, everyone loves Hypnotoad!
There are soooo many great quotes, so I will leave with my favorite (“one of”)….
Lrrr: “Mmm, this jerked chicken is good. I think I’ll have Fry’s lower horn jerked.”
Bender: “It’s used to it! Woooo!”
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:59 am
Several of my favorite lines are from Bender, in the early episode where Fry and Bender become roommates.
Fry: Where’s the bathroom?
Bender: The whatroom?
Fry: The bathroom.
Bender: The bathwhat?
Fry: The bathroom!
Bender: The whatwhat?
Fry: Never mind.
Bender, after being asked to move out of his old apartment into a new one with Fry:
I dunno – I’ve got a lot of great memories about that place.
*pushes button on his side*
And now they’re gone!
When in their new apartment, an irate woman in adjacent apartment claims that something she has (I forget what) is picking up Bender’s thoughts:
Woman: Listen to this!
Broadcast in what is obviously Bender’s voice: Boy, that woman sure is fat!
Bender, dismissively: Those could be anyone’s thoughts, fatass.
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:21 am
“We’re whalers on the moon,
We carry a harpoon,
But there ain’t no whales
So we tell tall tales
And we sing our whaling tune.”
Best lines are from Zap Brannigan:
“You remind me of a young me. Not very much younger, mind you. Maybe even a little bit older.”
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:23 am
Best quote..hands down.
Farnsworth: “This is Dark Matter….One Pound of which, weighs One Million Pounds”
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 am
The line that sticks with me incessantly is:
You watched it! You can’t unwatch it!
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:10 am
Prof. Farnsworth: Dear Lord, that’s over one hundred-fifty atmospheres of pressure!
Fry: How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?
Prof. Farnsworth: Well, it’s a spaceship, so I’d say anywhere between zero and one.
All glory to the hypnotoad!
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:17 am
Though they (Futurama and The Simpsons) come from the same stable, I have a distinct aversion to the latter, but consider Futurama to be must-watch-material. I like its poking fun at the old Sci-fi series and movies. You have to admit they come up with those hilarous one-liners, but they would not be there if the stimulus hadn’t provided the opportunity.
So I guess it is a “win-win” situation.
One thing I would really like to see though, is that the one-eyed chick have an eye graft. It troubles me to have to accept that beings of the future, whether alien or our descendants, do not have our attributes – Stereoscopic vision particularly. I mean, how does she walk down the street, and avoid lamp-posts?
Ivan.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:20 am
Yep, the show is a geek’s paradise for sure — frequent math, physics, and sci-fi jokes. I think some large percentage of the writers have degrees from MIT. It’s hard to pick a favorite moment, but anything involving Zapp Brannigan is unfailingly hilarious.
Leela: You know, Zapp, once I thought you were a big pompous buffoon. Then I realized that inside you were just a pitiful child. But now I realize that outside that child is a big pompous buffoon!
Zapp: And which one rocked your world?
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:24 am
Loved the show. Have a cat named Fry. Will be great to see new episodes.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:25 am
Oops, misplaced HTML tag. D’oh!
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:27 am
[...] Bad Astronomy is reporting that 16 new episodes of Futurama will be released in 2008. I like going through the comments on that post; so many quotes, so many memories. [...]
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:50 am
The good news is that the new episodes will be extra high resolution, better than reality in fact.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
I have to agree with SomeGuy
When I heard this line-
“Like the horse race in Luck of the Fryish – They used an electron microscope to determine the winner “by a quantum finish,†and the Professor yells out, “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!â€
I knew that I was where I belonged.
Though I have a great fondness for Nichelle Nicholl’s line after the universe is destroyed-
“Eternity with nerds – it’s the Pasadena Star Trek convention all over again.”
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:26 am
“Whoa…that hippie’s really kicking in…I’m like…flying”
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:44 am
Zap: “If we hit this bulls-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.”
or
“[This restaurant] is built like a steakhouse, but handles like a bistro!”
Brilliant.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
Joshua C, Mark Hansen, drbuzz0′s post is comedy, dude. It’s the fine art of being a good ‘straight man’.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:53 am
I don’t have a reference handy, but if memory serves the human brain
can build a more-than-adequate alternative to stereoscopic vision
based on head movement. (The normal separation between human eyes
doesn’t provide stereoscopic vision much beyond 10 feet or so anyway.)
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:16 am
aiabx: actually, the part of that scene that really cracks me up is when, after Gary Gygax proposes playing D&D for the next quadrillion years, Al Gore says proudly, “I’m a 10th-level vice president!”
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:26 am
I actually enjoy the commentary tracks on the DVDs more than the standard track. Most of the writing staff have their PhD in either Math or Computer Science, and they are all uber-geeks.
Very cool interview with David X. Cohen here:
http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu/~sjg/futurama/dxcinterview.html
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
Can’t wait to see it! I just wish he would take a chance on a new marketing idea, other than the old ‘Straight to DVD’ Though, I’m glad he is bypassing the networks.
I am betting that if he sold some sort of embedded logo in the picture to a sponsor, and then offered the shows as free downloads, he would make more $, with happier viewers….
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
so, is there any bad astronomy in futurama?
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
“so, is there any bad astronomy in futurama?”
The smell-o-scope?
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:23 am
Theoretically the smell-o-scope is possible, some form of spectroscopy may be able to determine chemical composition and then the information can be fed to an smell synthesising mechanism. So it may not be bad astronomy so much as it is a completely useless waste of money.;)
I’m not sure, but the edge of the universe is probably bad astronomy. I’m fairly certain there is no cowboy universe. Then again, how can we be sure?
March 22nd, 2007 at 11:54 am
“One thing I would really like to see though, is that the one-eyed chick have an eye graft.”
Episode 40: The Cyber House Rules
At an orphanarium reunion, Leela runs into an old classmate, Adelai, that is now a plastic surgeon, and he gives her an operation to give her the appearance of two eyes. Leela revels in her newfound ordinariness and starts dating Adelai.
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Oh my god. And here I’ve just been sustaining myself by thrilling out any time I hear Billy West do voicework (such as on the national geographic Really Wild Animals dvd).
Regarding Futurama’s infeasibility at times, with the water-wheel robots and so on – Omicron Persei really is 1000 (to 1600) ly away. They went and tracked down a star to fit the story, holy moly.
That, and several episodes moved me to tears. Yeah yeah yeah, Jurassic Bark is a well-established Saddest Thing, but I found the Sting to be really potent and moving and OKAY MORE FUTURAMA PLEASE.
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Offtopic (kinda)
CNN joined the insanity:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/tech/2007/03/22/tuchman.ufo.phoenix.lights.ktvk
March 22nd, 2007 at 3:40 pm
That’s good. I always had a hard time catching episodes because (omnipotent, omnipresent, omnigagable) football interupted all the episodes on the east coast. I’m still angry about it. I think football ultimately led to its demise, what a waste. Football should have a set time like soccer, or start it earlier…it ALWAYS seems to run over its time zone. I’d like to change their pigskin to dark matter and watch them all get sucked in (except the bench warmers.) If you can’t tell I hate football and televised sports in general.
That’s one sure thing about television, it is always easier to recycle an old idea than to come up with a new one!
March 22nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
“and fry you have that brain thing”
“I ALREADY DID!”
second only to South Park.
This is like getting a family member back from the dead :.-)
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Zap on how he won a famous battle: “I knew the Kilbots had a pre-programmed kill limit, so I merely sent in wave after wave of my own men until they reached that limit” (or something like that)
Hyptnotoad: “Clap….. Clap….. Clap…..”
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Following matt’s Zap quote above: “And my men would gladly do it again for me. Isn’t that right, men?”
LOOOOOONG pause as we look out over the vast hall filled with Zap’s men, followed by one of them shouting from the distance: “You suck!”
March 22nd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Have bowl of Admiral Crunch or Archduke Chocula while you wait Phil!
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:27 pm
How about some caffienated bacon? Or baconated grapefruit?
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Flipping through the channels, I just came across the episode where Leela and Fry are in the Apollo 11 lunar lander and there’s a label on the inside “This Lunar Lander returned to the Moon by Historical Sticklers”. Hee-Haw! Classic!
March 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 am
everyone loves hypnotoad!
> the Professor yells out, “No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!â€
the first time i watched this episode and heard this, i spewed my drink. my partner next to me goes, ‘what?’
i love having a bit of science geek in me. also i’m very glad wil linked to this blog – great stuff! and of course much fun reading these comments.
March 23rd, 2007 at 5:14 pm
“[This restaurant] is built like a steakhouse, but handles like a bistro!â€
Zap: Gravity, you win again!!!!!
March 24th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Before watching the new shows be sure to visit the Brain Slug planet and walk around without a hat.
-Brain Slug Ministry of Tourism-
March 26th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Excellent news! Great show. Thanks for letting me know!
——————-
Best SF show ever : Babylon-5
Best SFcomedy : Futurama & Red Dwarf (tie)
Best non-SF comedy * : Life of Brian
—-
* If you leave out theBrian gettingabductedby aliens bit You lucky, lucky Bustards …
September 5th, 2007 at 10:53 am
Zap Brannigan : “Don’t worry – when I’m in charge every missions’ a suicide mission! * ”
[Or something close to that.]
The one where Omicron Persei 8 invades and Bender’s patrotism chip is activated & Hubble is blown up by ‘The Planet Express Ship’ &, oh yeah, President McNeal gets vaporised (where are aliens who vapourise Presidents when you need ‘em?!
.. ) all because of Fry spilling a coke and thus knocking off air the ‘Sexy Single Lawyer’ TV show which the Omicron Persei Eightans will be watching in the year 3000 … 
——–
* Sadly the current “Hereditary President” Dubya the Dumb seems to have adopted this as his real-life motto … Why hasn’t he been impeached yet folks???