It’s rumor no more: FUTURAMA IS COMING BACK!!!!!
20th Century Fox Television, the animation powerhouse that brought “Family Guy” back from the dead five years ago, has done it again: Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s brilliantly subversive animated sci-fi comedy “Futurama” will return to production on 26 new half-hour episodes more than six years after the series aired its last original episode.
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Oh man, oh baby, oh man oh man! I am so happy about this! Futurama is one of the greatest television shows ever, and if you disagree, you’re wrong. Written by math and science dorks, it lampoons science fiction at the same time it betrays its love for it. The Star Trek episode with Melllvar is hands-down one of the funniest things ever written, and if the one with Fry’s dog doesn’t choke you up you’re not human (not that there’s anything wrong with being from Omicron Persei 8).
Yay! So now it’s just the long, long wait until mid-2010 for the new episodes to be released. But you will wait. YOU WILL WAIT.
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ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD!
Tip o’ the cranium to BABloggee Svip.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
This is the best news ever! Woohoo!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Fantastic! Too bad we still have another year to wait, though
June 9th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hynotoad
Geeze, it was just three o’clock… what?
J/P=?
June 9th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
ALL HAIL HYPNO TOAD!
Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
I thought it would never happen, but I’m glad I was wrong!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Can’t wait!!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
[...] 2009 · No Comments After learning that we can fly if we just put our minds to it, now comes news that Futurama is back! Must have something to do with Fox realising that in order to get audience, [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Phil, I was just thinking about this earlier. How Wild Green Yonder potentially ended the series a pretty satisfying note, but how I hoped that it would come back.
And so I come to your blog just now, expecting to see something about Mercury, or Jenni McCarthy, and…
man.
WOOHOOOOOOOO
This has definitely made my night! I just want to hug somebody!
This is most certainly Good News, Everyone!
June 9th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Sir, you are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
To this day I can’t sing “♪ I’ll wait for you… ♪” without my wife tearing up a little bit.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I have to say the ending of the episode where lilla discovers her parents also chokes me up.
They really know how to hit that spot when they want to.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Great news, I hope.
The movies weren’t quite up to the standard of seasons 3 and 4, I hope the new season doesn’t go the way of Family Guy and stretch the premise far too thin. Admittedly Futurama is a far better premise with better writers and a whole universe (literally) of ideas to explore. So I’m excited for the release, but hope it doesn’t go the way of Family Guy or The Simpsons.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Futurama is awesome, glad to s-ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Now, if only the powers of television would also bring back Firefly. Man, I miss Mal and Jewel Staite.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Oh gods in heaven, yes!! This is great news! And now, mandatory death by snu snu.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Yay!
And as much as the episode with Fry’s dog chokes me up, I think the one with the seven-leaf clover and his brother gets to me even more…
June 9th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
CLAP… CLAP… CLAP… CLAP!
___
This is where I get all the worthwhile news!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Woo-Hoo!
A round Slurm for everyone is on me!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Good news, everyone!!!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Sweet Zombie Jesus!
Am I the only one that actually teared up at this news?! I’m so damn excited I can barely type.
This is going to be awesome! I can’t wait!
June 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Any mention of whether the original voice cast members are coming back? Leela just wouldn’t be Leela without Katey Sagal.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Bite my shiny metal ass, meat bag.
I love Bender!
June 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I believe huzzahs are in order!
June 9th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
*Chief Wiggum on his way out of the mayors office after the council of alphas takes control of Springfield*
“bunch of dorks…”
June 9th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Good news, everyone!
June 9th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I am cautiously optomistic, but I think we should all be prepared for it to suck royally. Rebooted TV shows can often be garbage the second time around.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Awesome news! My only regret… is that I have… bone-itis.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Fortunately, Benders Big Score lets me watch the episode about Fry’s dog without getting all sad.
I’ve still got to watch the last movie too actually…
June 9th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
“Let us cavort like the Greeks of old!
(lowers voice)
You know the ones I mean.”
June 9th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Actually, this show is coming to comedy central, those idiots at FOX canceled it. Comedy Central gave it new life. FOX is involved on some level but they shouldn’t receive credit for this.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
YEEEEESSSS!!!
All hail Hypnotoad indeed!
@ #7 Ibeechu :
And so I come to your blog just now, expecting to see something about Mercury, or Jenni McCarthy, and…
Mercury? I don’t recall the BA posting anything about the planet Mercury since the last MESSENGER fly-by earlier this year … Wouldn’t mind some more Mercury items here.
Actually, I’m starting to expect more Oprah Woo-frey posts here, been a lot of them lately. Mind you I’d much rather hear about other people and things. Lets hope Oprah has now “jumped the shark” and will fade into merited oblivion even for those silly enough to credit her with, well whatever credit she gets for presenting a popular day time TV show that spouts drivel.
Why is it Op Woo gets “celebrity” renown and not the Futurama writers? I know which show I’d rather get my medical and scientific advice from*! I love that when they needed a star 1,000 l.y. away they actually went and found Omicron Persi.
——
* Slurping Slurm and munching Poplars as I type!
June 10th, 2009 at 12:09 am
I don’t recall the BA posting anything about the planet Mercury since the last MESSENGER fly-by earlier this year …
Hmmm … Okay I should’ve scrolled down further earlier and seen the “Mercury – Big picture Kuiper crater image” post the BA recently added here rather than typing that line first. That’ll learn me.
[/blushes.]
PS. Hey ‘Discover’ overlords – any chance of getting the “Recent Comments” sidebar thingy back? Not that I’d want that again at the expense of editing our posts, mind you, but it was kinda good to have.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:12 am
The Family Guy writers, in a fit of rage after hearing about this, kill three small children, and then ask each other, “hey do you remember that time we killed three small children?” and flash back to it in their minds.
Yup, that’s how we handle the news, feel free to check out our take on other news of the day here-
http://www.popsense.com/2009/06/mickey-rourke-in-iron-man-2-new.html
June 10th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Sometimes Futurama was great, I hope the writers improve their batting average. For me, one in three episodes was really funny. The rest, not so much (typed with Zoidberg’s voice in case it doesn’t come across in html).
June 10th, 2009 at 12:29 am
Sweet! I’d have given my lower horn for more Futurama episodes, and now it appears I won’t have to. Time to party like it’s 2999!
June 10th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Thank you Mr Plait! This is more exciting than my future child that my wife will deliver in mere months! *pregnant wife may or may not have been added for dramatic effect*
June 10th, 2009 at 1:06 am
After the train wreck that was the DVD-movies, am I alone in not WANTING Futurama back? It was a brilliant show but it had its run, if the movies make anything clear it’s that Groenig and company have lost the sense of the show and, worse, completely run out of ideas. I’m saddened at the idea of Futurama becoming another zombie franchise.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Morbo is pleased with this news. The destruction of the pathetic humans has been delayed until the new seasons are over!
June 10th, 2009 at 1:28 am
This is just about the best news I’ve had allALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD
June 10th, 2009 at 1:41 am
@ Alex: If you’re a fan of Futurama, you DEFINITELY need to watch the last movie…it really is fantastic…although I don’t think the end will have the same punch now that we know its not the last of futurama.
However, personally I couldn’t be glader. Though as above states they seem a little stretched for ideas, I still have complete confidence that Groening can pull it off
Honestly…although it comes to us with a face of simplicity and comedic value…Futurama is one of the few show’s I’ve ever seen tackle the complexities of concepts like existentialism, the future of our race…and no other show has done it with such finesse, humor and beauty. I love futurama
“Mr Horatio, they’re re-newing Futuruama! Do you think that-”
“I think………………
that’s f***ing awesome”
YYEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
June 10th, 2009 at 2:13 am
Oh man, that’s the best news I’ve had all day!
June 10th, 2009 at 2:26 am
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one to get choked up when the episode about Fry’s dog airs. When it comes on I try not to watch it.
All hail the hypnotoad.
All hail the hypnotoad.
All hail the hypnotoad.
All hail the hypnotoad.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Do we get PZ Meyers as the new improved Dr. Zoidberg?
One day I’ll find the time and money to acquire and watch previous episodes; I just wish I knew beforehand which bits of the series not to bother with.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:30 am
@BJN and Jeremy;
Agreed. There were some really great and funny moments on Futurama, but overall, it wasn’t all that. The show kind of got lost in itself and the gags lost speed after the characters were fully developed. The writers seemed to embrace them too much and I think Groening backed away from the project because he had other fish to fry.
Oh, I’ll watch the return of the show, but I’m not expecting much.
Sorry, Doc, that’s just the way I feel.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:59 am
[...] update of sorts: All hail Hypnotoad! Phil Plait has a sure [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 3:13 am
“Sorry…”
People on internet like different things shock; experts say universal consensus could be as unlikely as ever…
June 10th, 2009 at 3:33 am
[...] in your Future BA Blog: xxx [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Phil you’re doing it wro- ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:39 am
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Seriously, if this is some mid-june april foolin’ on your part, I will hunt you down and equip you with a brain slug.
best. news. ever.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:45 am
The next showing of “Where no Fan Has Gone Before” [the Star Trek episode with Melllvar] appears to be Friday, June 19th at 12:30 am [I believe that is EST] on Comedy Central.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:50 am
[OT]: Since there has been so much panepareidolia lately, here’s a loaf of bread that doesn’t require your imagination for interpretation:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8092921.stm
Oh yum – just what kitt3h wantz. Anyone who remembers the war years and the early post-war years may be overcome with a little nostalgia for a delicacy they probably haven’t tried in decades.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:54 am
[...] 10:54 am on June 10, 2009 Permalink | Reply Tags: tv (55) 26 new half-hour episodes of Futurama coming soon. Oh baby! § [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 6:17 am
I second the vote for bringing back Firefly. Please oh please oh please.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:25 am
I third the vote to bring back Firefly! I’m doing happy dances about Futurama!!!
June 10th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I loved that star trek episode too! Welshiiiiii…..
BTW, I would love to see Firefly come back, but the female leads are getting old. The clock is ticking and they’re only getting older!
June 10th, 2009 at 6:29 am
I’ll go get my Brown Coat, just in case…
June 10th, 2009 at 6:48 am
…better writers and
a whole universetwo whole universes(literally) of ideas to…Fixed it for ya, Kel
June 10th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Yea! I’ve been praying to almighty Atheismo for this ever since those asinine morons at the Box Network canceled them! Thank BA for letting us know!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Good news everyo- ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:21 am
We’ve failed to uphold Brannigan’s Law, however I did make it with a hot alien babe, and in the end is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars? Phil, I’m asking you a question!
(Now bring back MST3K and I’ll be a happy boy!)
June 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Mmmmmmmm! Slurm!
They should come up with a PZ-head-in-a-jar/Zoidberg episode…
June 10th, 2009 at 8:06 am
[...] Sweet gorilla of Manila! Futurama is really coming back! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine "Oh man, oh baby, oh man oh man! I am so happy about this! Futurama is one of the greatest television shows ever, and if you disagree, you’re wrong. Written by math and science dorks, it lampoons science fiction at the same time it betrays its love for it." Yeah for Futurama. (tags: television humor fox) [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Oh, snap!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:27 am
To all those poo-pooing the movies, I think, fundamentally, the problem is, like the Simpson’s, Futurama just doesn’t work in a feature-length format. When limited to 20 minutes, the writers are forced to keep the scripts nice and tight (I mean, let’s face it, the movies had their fair share of filler moments and misplaced gags).
As such, I’m keeping my hopes up… and crossing my fingers that it doesn’t go the way of The Simpsons (seasons 9 and on of the Simpsons are much like the Matrix sequels in my mind… in that I refuse to admit they ever happened).
June 10th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Comedy central, I love you,,,
To all the other brown coats out there, have Y’All noticed, the Firefly actors are mostly otherwise occupied and I for one prefer a new story, with new great actors. Firefly was excellent because it extrapolated a reasonable future. What I’d like Joss to do is extrapolate a solar system wide, wild west, anarchy vs authority civilization, in which Earth is the richest customer of Sol system energy and resources, but everybody living/working in space is trying to make their own little colony and get rich,,,I’d include meds for eliminating bone/muscle deterioration, so people could survive indefinitely in free fall on/in small, inhabited rocks, big spinning colonies with their authoritarian rulers(and the chance to zing them). That would eliminate one of my biggest gripes with space opera, the FTL tech. I think it was Asimov who pointed out that governing a multi solar system civilization, even with FTL, was ridiculous. Even successfully doing that in a single sol sys, w/o FTL would be unlikely. Inclusion of some of the potential launch tech we’re trying to develop today, such as mag launchers, laser launchers, Space tethers and elevators and some craft powered by Polywell fusion(or some variation thereof) could be so much fun .
Well, I hope Joss reads your bLog, Phil,,,
GAry 7
June 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hooray! Now everything will be perfect forever!
June 10th, 2009 at 9:27 am
“To all those poo-pooing the movies, I think, fundamentally, the problem is, like the Simpson’s, Futurama just doesn’t work in a feature-length format. When limited to 20 minutes, the writers are forced to keep the scripts nice and tight (I mean, let’s face it, the movies had their fair share of filler moments and misplaced gags).”
This. I’m sure they could screw the new series up, but short episodes are just a much better format for this sort of thing so there’s every reason to believe they’ll be better than the movies. And as for the original series itself, I though it just got better and better as it went along.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:51 am
60. Old Muley Says:
(Now bring back MST3K and I’ll be a happy boy!)
You familiar with the Cinematic Titanic (Joel, Mary Joe, Trace, J. Elvis, etc.) and Rifftrax (Mike, Kevin, Bill and sometimes ‘guest riffers’), or the four episode Film Crew (see Rifftrax)?
Plus, the videos are now Shout!Factory, instead of Rhino.
(There are also ‘independents’ available via Rifftrax)
Mistie:
J/P=?
June 10th, 2009 at 10:05 am
*toasts to the news with a can of Slurm*
June 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I concur.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] Posted in Most deserving of a category, science by themartins666 on June 10, 2009 All hail! no comments yet « [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 10:56 am
“Agreed. There were some really great and funny moments on Futurama, but overall, it wasn’t all that. The show kind of got lost in itself and the gags lost speed after the characters were fully developed.”
If you don’t develop the characters your show become stale, like the Simpsons did a long time ago and like Family Guy did in episode three or so. Both shows are still funny quite often, but they’re not good shows.
“The writers seemed to embrace them too much and I think Groening backed away from the project because he had other fish to fry.”
Good. To get a sense of Matt Groening’s sense of humor, watch the Tracy Ullman Show version of the Simpsons, where he didn’t have a giant staff of clever writers working on it. Go read Life is Hell.
If anyone is the reason for Futurama being as good as it is, I’d say it’s David X. Cohen and Billy West/Maurice LaMarche’s voice.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:12 am
THHHHHHHHANK YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU (for posting this)
June 10th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Of course we will wait.
That is why it is called “Futurama”.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I think the best episode of all, the one I love to watch, over and over and over… is “The Farnsworth Paradox” where the Prof. accidentally creates a cardboard box with an alternate universe in it… and they, in turn, have a cardboard box with OUR universe in it… By the episode’s end, they’ve thrown more high concepts at you than a philosophy class sponsored by Cheech and Chong.
“Take that, causality!”
June 10th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hey, good news. Futurama rocks, even/especially if my wife rolls her eyes when I play it (on the computer, of course).
Besides, I always hoped to see a tub of “I Can’t Believe It’s Butter!” on the table at some point during the show. Maybe I’ll live to see that now.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
[...] news, everyone! Whoop whoop whoop! Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy just posted the best entertainment news I’ve heard in months: Futurama is coming [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I always hated the dog. Guess that makes me not human.
[spoofing Wrath of Khan]
“Damn you Phil Plait!”
June 10th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I LOVE Futurama! I watch the episodes over and over again without getting tired of them. I always keep wishing there’d be more. I hope they continue some of the story lines in the old ones (like what Nibbler meant in “The Why of Fry” when he said Leela was “the other”). I think the writers should watch their old episodes again; there’s so much good stuff, even if they just build on the material they’ve used. I’m so happy they’re coming back.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
All of human history has lead up this moment.
ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD
June 10th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
[...] [h/t to Phil!] [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Speaking of the last DVD movie. Has anyone ever figured out the secret message in the coordinates of the Violet dwarf star? They make a reference to it in the commentary and it’s also mentioned on the wikipedia page. They are 167.84, -58.03, mark 948. I looked em up on a star chart, but didn’t see anything especially obvious and I have no idea what 948 is about. Ooh. I just had a thought. I should look in the bible. Mark 9-48. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, or knows, post it. All glory, yadda yadda…
June 10th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Bingo
9:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
i’m coming back baby, everyone knows its my show so you can alllll kiss my shiny metal ass, hehe
June 10th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
YEEEHAWWW! Futurama rocks, I am so psyched to see some new episodes not that I ever get sick of the reruns.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Space Pope be praised!
June 10th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Whoohoo!
Please, please, please don’t turn it into the over-flogged dead horse that Family Guy became after its own resurrection.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Awsome!
My fave Futurama ep would have the the ‘Sting’ one with Leela dreaming of the death of Fry.
But there’ve been so many others too ….
June 11th, 2009 at 4:59 am
ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD
Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap
When I first saw that I laughed so hard, the sound it made coming through my surround sound with the huge speakers buzzed everywhere!
June 11th, 2009 at 5:37 am
Anyone who isn’t excited about this must be a filthy neutral!
June 11th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I’ll skip the rhetoric and just say I’m delighted that one of my favorite TV shows is coming back.
June 11th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
OT:
Phil, you’ve been suggested as ‘science consultant’ in the comments about a SyFy (heard about the name change?) miniseries: Impact (guess what it’s about). Ironically, the title of the article is: Natasha Henstridge says this real science is behind ABC’s disaster mini Impact
Read at: http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/natasha-henstridge-says-t.php
Brown dwarf, hidden in a meteor shower?
J/P=?
June 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Good News Everyone,
All Original cast members included!
“I’m Back Baby”
-Bender Bending Rodriguez
June 15th, 2009 at 11:08 am
That’s fantastic. I’ve loved Futurama since I was a kid, the episode with Fry’s Dog and the Clover are some of the most saddest things I’ve ever seen. Oh, and hey Phil, your website is fantasti-ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
All glory to the Hypno Toad!!!
Best news ever!!!!
July 17th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
[...] the form of four not-totally-sucky straight-to-DVD movies, and last month Fox confirmed the show is returning to television six years after it was cancelled. Absolutely unkillable. Unless, of course, you’re one of the [...]
September 10th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
ewwwwww, this horrible show is going to be coming back? ugh.