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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

No more Futurama

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13:13 / 13.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Solitaire Rose:
And at Sandy Eggo, everyone who works on Futurama said Fox doesn't get their show either, but keeps it on becuase they want Matt G. happy, and it makes money through foreign slaes and merchandise.

Think Again

Check out the above site for info on a petition/writing campaign to keep the show.

13:24 / 13.02.02

Fox doesn't "get" it?

No offense, I've watched it a few times. I love Matt G.'s "Life in Hell" strip. I love the Simpsons. I don't think Futurama is the least bit funny.

Well, scratch that: every once in a while there would be a good line...but after watching it two or three times I found it not worth the time. It should get canned.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:51 / 13.02.02

Have to say that I disagree. I watched the first 12-odd episodes or so over the weekend (flatmate got the first set of DVDs) and I thought it was great. The humour's different to The Simpsons, obviously. I think people comparing it to the bigger brother is a little unfair given that it's speculative comedy that can only use current affairs in a retro way, whereas The Simpsons can engage with issues more directly. I found it a little more satisfying that a lot of The Simpsons stuff I've seen, on occasion. Then again, maybe the quality dips after that initial burst. I don't know. But I wasn't tired of them after watching a stack in the row: if they'd been weaker, they wouldn't have stood up to that level of saturation, I guess. For me, anyway.

I dunno. I just think that saying it's not the least bit funny is a bit harsh. For my money, it's a damn sight better than an Akbar and Jeff show (love 'em as I do) would be.

The Sinister Haiku Bureau

16:50 / 13.02.02

Gutted. Now what am I going to spend my time downloading, unzipping and de-raring?
I actually heard rumours this would be coming around 6 months ago, there was a similar campaign to get fox to give futurama a halfway decent, halfway regular slot, as it's curent timing was keeping it's ratings down, and that there was a possibility that they'd use their own fucked up scheduling policy as an excuse to axe it...(or should that be ask it... )

And Rothkoid, no, I don't think the quality dips at all. Especially when you consider how lame the first few episodes of the simpsons were, and how much better it got as it developed (at least until the middle of it's lifespan...)

18:21 / 13.02.02

ok .. Invader Zim, Family Guy, Futurama..

any other brilliant animations up for the chop i should know about?

19:12 / 13.02.02

Please, God, save the "The Brak Show."

I don't know if this bit of animated genius has made it to the UK yet, but it's just about as direct a link to the madness as one can get these days....

The Sinister Haiku Bureau

19:25 / 13.02.02

I was kinda thinking... or indeed, actually thinking, if Solitaire's comment at the top is true, then it would be possible for groenig and co to just say 'fuck fox' and distribute it on the internet. then THEY'd get all the ad revenue, and merchandising revenue, and it'd be a major step forward for the whole online/video world. History-making, even.

Oh, and puh-lease, sign the petition. You too could hold your head up high with the intellectual luminaries responsible for the following quotes (in the comments section beside each person's entry):
quote:

Simpsons with a brain! keep it!

I NEED FUTURAMA TO LIVE

You all suck clown penis! First Family Guy... now this?! What's wrong with you people?!

Tell them I hate them.

it's very popular in Britain, and would be more popular still if you sold it to a mainstream broadcaster.

I AM BENDER PlEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAASE INSERT F U T U R A M A !!!

Don't Take My Bender Away!

and my personal favourite:

I love this show and I beat off to it!

[ 13-02-2002: Message edited by: Johnny Haiku ]

09:29 / 14.02.02

Who the hell is in charge of Fox? Whoever it is needs to buy a goddamn clue. First The Tick, then Family Guy, then weekday afternoon cartoons, and now this? I'm disgusted, they cancel the only decent programming they have and leave us with the likes of Malcom in the Middle, Titus, Grounded for Life, and the like. They may as well just put a monkey in charge of running the whole shebang since they're obviously not doing a good job on their own.

A

09:29 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Trijhaos:
Who the hell is in charge of Fox?

I believe it's beloved Australian billionaire media mogul/supervillain Rupert Murdoch, although i doubt he has much to do with the day -to-day runnings of things.

Still, he got to appear on the Simpsons...

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:29 / 14.02.02

He's not Australian anymore. Hasn't been since sometime in the '80s.

But yeah, he would have bugger-all to do with the running of Fox. Who have, coincidentally, just released their second quarter fiscal 2002 results. I wonder if the timing had anything to do with the axing of the show?

09:29 / 14.02.02

OK, I guess a better question would have been: Who's in charge of deciding what shows get the axe and which get to stay? Did FOX ever think maybe the time slot has something to do with its somewhat poor ratings? It comes on right after a big bunch of sweaty, overpaid men go running after each other and a ball. Usually this "sport" runs over and wonder of wonders, Futurama gets the short end of the stick and only part of the show is shown. We wouldn't want to miss any part of King of the Hill would we? Oh no, I'd just die if I missed the ever so funny antics of Hank Hill and his merry band of rednecks and rejects.

12:51 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by The Return Of Rothkoid:
He's not Australian anymore. Hasn't been since sometime in the '80s.

I now have this mental image of the entirety of Australia getting together and disowning him. "Sorry, you can no longer be Australian. Go find someo other nationality." Fun.

Also, Murdoch was the but of one of my favorite Simpson jokes. The PBS one where Murdoch is doing a fund raiser (ala PBS) to fund Fox. And suddenly gets a call for a large sum of money.

Murdoch: You just saved my company!

camera switches to Bart in the living room, on the phone.

Bart: Wouldn't be the first time.

First time I saw this it hit me just right. Classic.

13:17 / 14.02.02

Mainstream telly doesn't seem up to the job of keeping adult toons running, probably because they treat them as filler. I wonder, would there be any mileage in an adult cartoon network, something to cater for all the shows that can't be aired along with the excellent kiddies' Cartoon Network? A mix of adult animation and kiddies cartoons which are known to appeal to adults (Powerpuff Girls, Cow & Chicken etc) would ROCK, I reckon, with a slot for poncy 'art' stuff (Svjankmeyer, Film Board of Canada, Brothers Quay etc)

13:22 / 14.02.02

That won't happen yet. Not while people still insist on calling the Simpsons a 'kid's cartoon', and giving it awards in that category.
If Futurama goes, so does my fragile mental stability...

13:39 / 14.02.02

I bet, though, you could sell a "Family Cartoon Network" which showed nipper toons during the day, 'appeals to all the family' type stuff like the Simpsons & Futurama at tea time, and stuff with swearing and arses and death in the evening for mummy and daddy. (Not saying that such normative-enforcing carry-ons would be right and proper, just that you could sell it)

[ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: Saveloy ]

13:43 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by The Most Useless Man Alive:

ok .. Invader Zim, Family Guy, Futurama..

any other brilliant animations up for the chop i should know about?

Oh, man...I just have to say it...

I hated Invader Zim so much...

14:23 / 14.02.02

You didn't like Invader Zim? I thought it was an interesting change from the mindless drivel that Nickolodean usually shows.

15:20 / 14.02.02

Drivel? Have you seen Samurai Jack?!
I was amazed, its sort of like an arthouse cartoon but really well done and very cool.
The arts a lot like the Powderpuff girls but more stylized, lots of manga moments and it plays with the medium a lot more than most cartoons.
Damm must get someone to video this for me.

15:41 / 14.02.02

You've got your networks mixed up. Cartoon Network shows the lovely Samurai Jack and Powerpuff Girls. The only way they could make their network better is to do away with Scooby-Doo. Do we really need to see that damn show 30 times a day? Nickolodean, on the other hand, shows crap like Rocket Power, Hey Arnold!, and Rugrats all of which have no redeeming qualities at all.

[ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: Trijhaos ]

17:44 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Saveloy:
I bet, though, you could sell a "Family Cartoon Network" which showed nipper toons during the day, 'appeals to all the family' type stuff like the Simpsons & Futurama at tea time, and stuff with swearing and arses and death in the evening for mummy and daddy. (Not saying that such normative-enforcing carry-ons would be right and proper, just that you could sell it)

How does this differ from Cartoon Network? Prime time is given to the "family type stuff" and afterwords you've got Adult Swim which comes on around 11ish, I think.

It just sounds to me like what you're describing is an expanded form of the Cartoon Network. And given it's previous growth, I wouldn't be surprised to see the channel move in this direction. They've deffinetly started to realize that there are A LOT of adults watching them.

Oh, and I always marvel at the size of the Cult of Scooby. I think you'd be surprised how big that show is.

18:04 / 14.02.02

Adult Swim only pops up on Thursday and Sunday. Have you seen some of the stuff they're passing off as adult animation? "Baby Blues" is utter crap. I don't like the comic and surely don't want to see it animated. "Home Movies" is pretty funny and I like the unique animation or lack thereof. Sealab is damn funny and should be on 30 times a day instead of Scooby Doo. SpaceGhost is great. I've never seen Cowboy Bebop so I can't comment on it.

Can someone please tell me the appeal of Scooby Doo. Its the same damn thing over and over.

Fred: "Look Gang, yet another haunted house, lets split up so Daphne and I can have hot passionate sex".
Rest of the gang: "Ok Freddy"
<wandering through the mansion>
Scooby and Shaggy: "We're going to find the kitchen".
<Hijinks ensue>
Fred: "Ok Gang, lets unmask the villain"
<villain is unmasked, taken to jail,and everbody piles back into the van>

I really don't see the point in the show. I am not entertained by watching the same damn thing over and over.

20:12 / 14.02.02

Yeah, I really fucking hate Scooby Doo as well. I'm also highly upset about this whole cancellation of some of the only good shows that are on. Also, I think this thread would be better off called "No Future(rama)" but that's just me. [/threadrot]

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

01:15 / 18.02.02

Thank God about the other person who doesn't think Invader Zim is funny. I was taping it for someone, and as I watched it, I wondered why this show was considered so "brilliant" by people. It struck me as a lot of stuff trying very hard to be strange, but succeeding in just being odd...not funny.

The stuff on Aintitcool.com is bits and peices of the truth...the show will be back next season, it's just that FOX has 22 episodes saved up, so they just aren't ordering any for next year. The show isn't dead...but it is coughing up blood.

gentleman loser

14:59 / 18.02.02

Hakim Bey and Solitaire Rose, why exactly did you not like Invader Zim? I don't know anyone personally who doesn't love it, but my friends and I are pretty damn twisted!

Sorry to go off topic. I'm just curious.

[ 18-02-2002: Message edited by: gentleman loser ]

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

15:26 / 18.02.02

1) The silly name rule. If a movie or TV show resorts to silly names, unless it's by Groucho Marx, there will not be much humor in the show at all.

2) Gross for the sake of being gross: The episode with Zim taking people's organs and stuffing them in himself to be "more human" was a perfect example of this. Gross CAN be funny, but this just wasn't.

3) Beating a joke to death. In the pilot it was funny for the first 5 minutes that Zim was a screw up and they didn'twant to do anything with him...and then they made another joke about it...and again, and again and again.

4) The show LOOKED bad. It's one thing to have disign so that things look off-kilter (like the Gary Panter Pee Wee Herman stuff) but this show just looked sloppy.

5) They couldn't decide who they were writing for. The stuff aimed at older kids (9 - 12) didn't mix well with the asides put in for adults. This can be done very well in shows like the first 5 seasons of The Simpsons or even The Muppets when Jim Henson was involved, but here it was poorly done and came off as jarring.

6) Throwing a bunch of weird stuff intot eh mix isn't always funny. Sometimes it comes off as weird for the sake of weirdness.

7) (and most infuriating) Good ideas and jokes were just trampled over by the need to be "Ever so shocking". The Pizza ploace episode is a great example...there were some good bits about how those pizza and video game places can rot your mind, but instead we get fat joke after fat joke.

In a lot of ways, I think getting some people on the show with more experience in putting together stories would have helped a LOT. Sometimes an editor is a good thing.

But, like figure skating, it's all subjective. Other people find King of the Hill hilarious, and I have yet to even grin at an episode, yet I laugh myself sick when I watch "Let's Bowl."

15:27 / 18.02.02

quote:I love Matt G.'s "Life in Hell" strip. I love the Simpsons. I don't think Futurama is the least bit funny.

Echo Hakim Bey, loudly. Whatever happened to Akbar and Jeff? Wasn't so taken with the rabbit, though.

Futurama is a bit funny and no doubt suffers in comparison with the back catalogue but it could and should be a lot funnier from the enchanted Groening pen.

Can it be true that the word "Bender" is not slang for "camp homosexual man" in the States?

Brigade du jour

00:29 / 24.04.05

I suppose so. Nobody seemed to pick up on Judd Nelson's character in The Breakfast Club being called Bender, either. Indeed, he's meant to be the 'cool' one.

Oh my god, I just put the word cool in inverted commas. Like a Daily Mail journalist.

Anyway, I like Futurama. I think it's full of funny lines, and it makes me giggle like the mental infant I am. Interestingly though, I enjoy it a lot more than The Simpsons, but that's probably because I've seen the same thirty or so Simpsons episodes on BBC2 at 6pm so many goddamn motherfucking times that I'm sick of the bastard show. And it's not even its fault.

20:11 / 24.04.05

Three years and two months... is that the record for the longest gap in response on Barbelith?

Brigade du jour

21:37 / 24.04.05

I'll tell you in September 2008.

07:29 / 02.01.06

speaking of a family guy style resurrection, look! a movie... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471711/

Our Lady Has Left the Building

15:20 / 02.01.06

All being well this'll be like the Simpsons movie, forever in Development Hell and never coming out because there would be no point.

15:56 / 02.01.06

Is money not the point?

Keith, like a scientist

16:36 / 22.01.06

Billy West (Fry) says 4 Futurama movies have been greenlit

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

15:42 / 23.01.06

This is soopa cool news!

/goes off to find old Futurama poster to put up somewhere.

17:28 / 23.06.06

Yay Yay! Another series in the pipeline!!! I can't wait to hear Professor again, along with the rest of the crazy gang... Has made my day this has.

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