Futurama (The Series) (1999)

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Futurama (The Series) (1999)
Starring: Billy West, Katey Sagal
Synopsis: The adventures of Fry, a regular guy who was accidently frozen in 2000 and wakes up in the year 3000. His new life includes befriending one-eyed aliens, a robot, and many other interesting folks. Created by Matt Groening.
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Genres: Animation, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, TV show



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Description:	Format:	Buy:
Futurama: Vol. One (3 DVD Set)	DVD
Futurama: Vol. Two (4 DVD Set)	DVD
Futurama: Vol. Three (4 DVD Set)	DVD
Futurama: Vol. Four (4 DVD Set)	DVD

DVD Review

Futurama: Vol. One (1999)(3 DVD Set)

When it comes to programming, the Fox network is downright schizophrenic. Its development department has been responsible for incubating some of broadcast television's most groundbreaking series, such as X-Files and 24. However, its executives are among the least accommodating, either nixing innovative programs like Harsh Realm and Action after only a few airings or assigning promising shows like Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Greg the Bunny time slots that guaranteed fatal ratings.

Sadly, the latter scenario befell the recently cancelled Futurama. This animated sci-fi comedy follows Fry (Billy West), a 20th-Century Pizza delivery boy who, after a Sleeper-style cryogenics accident, wakes up in the year 3000. After the culture shock wears off, he lands a job at an interplanetary delivery service run by Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (West again), a distant relative. Accompanied by an interspecies crew of miscreants—including man-size crustacean Dr. John Zoidberg (West again), monocular martial artist Leela (Married with Children's Katey Sagal), Jamaican limbo champion Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr), and kleptomaniac-alcoholic android Bender (John DiMaggio)—Fry flits around the very wacky fourth century encountering killer robots, giant soda-excreting slugs, and all manner of cosmic oddities.

Given Futurama's unabashedly geeky appeal, its only chance at landing a crossover audience was to be scheduled after co-creator Matt Groening's mega-hit, The Simpsons. Despite Groening's efforts to land the post-Simpsons slot (8:30pm Sundays), Fox execs plunked down Futurama at 7pm, where it was often bumped by football broadcasts. Given the choice between 60 Minutes and an obscure cartoon, all but hardcore fans ignored the show, leaving it to languish on prime time's periphery.

Considering the fact that it was doomed from the get-go, it's amazing that it took four years for Futurama to finally get the chop. Ironically, though, the axe fell only a few weeks before the show's first season was released on DVD. Containing 13 episodes on three discs, Futurama, Vo1. 1, has some beginner's jitters. While providing the necessary background information, "Space Pilot 3000" isn't especially funny. Things improve substantially in "Episode Two: The Series Has Landed," when the irascible Bender comes into his own; after he's kicked out of a Disneyland-like resort on the moon, the robot roue screams, "Fine! I'll start my own theme park—with hookers and blackjack!" From then on, the first season bounces between amusing ("I, Roommate," "My Three Suns") and gut-busting ("Love's Labors Lost in Space," "A Fishful of Dollars"). A bevy of hilarious new characters are introduced, with robot bartender iZac and womanizing William Shatner parody captain Zapp Brannigan (more West) standing out. Groening, co-creator David X. Cohen, and the show's writing staff, deliver some inspired story lines that parody popular culture items like Titanic and The Love Boat ("A Flight to Remember") while borrowing from more obscure science-fiction sources like Star Trek, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the underground comic book Nexus, to name a few.

Futurama, Vo1. 1 should also sate the appetites of those who love to feast on bonus features. The discs offer a collection of so-so deleted scenes and a decent making-of featurette. More interesting, though, are the script and storyboards, and an animatic version for "Space Pilot 3000" that shows how bare words and crude hand-drawn sketches form the basis for the series' sleek final product.

Further information on Futurama's creative processes can be gleaned from the commentary tracks that accompany each episode. Groening, Cohen, directors Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo, and John DiMaggio, who provides Bender's gravelly baritone, banter away about every aspect of the show, from the technical complexity of its computer-animated sequences (the credits sequence took weeks to complete) to the various in-jokes that dot each script (including the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory jokes that litter "Fry and the Slurm Factory"). The massively talented West, who provided the voices of both Ren and Stimpy, also chimes in on a few episodes, as do other cast members. All in all, Futurama, Vol. 1 has the most, er, animated commentary track since the Mr. Show DVD.

In the audio-visual department, Futurama, Vol. 1, both delights and disappoints. With only three or four episodes per disc, there's plenty of room for visual data, which makes for dazzling images. The computer-enhanced, 3-D panning animation looks crisper and clearer that it did on television; the DVD technician who decided to make use of the extra space deserves a medal. Conversely, the audio track is only a bland Dolby 2.0 stereo track (available in English, Spanish, and German—apparently the show's a Teutonic hit). It's a bit of a puzzler why The Simpsons gets the full Dolby 5.1 treatment, while Futurama's effects-heavy soundscape is left with only two channels to work with. Is this another example of Fox executives' disdain for the show? Futurama, Vol. 1 offers no answers. Perhaps Vol. 2, due out this September, will.

— TOR THORSEN