From The TV IV

Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–) is Matt Groening's first animated series since the creation of The Simpsons in 1989. The series follows Philip J. Fry, a loser pizza boy from the 20th century who accidentally freezes himself in a cryogenic tube. He wakes up a thousand years later and starts life again as a delivery boy in the year 3000.

Although the series doesn't follow a long-term plot, the series revolves Fry and the rest of the crew of Planet Express, a delivery company which offers interplanetary package delivery. Along with delivery boy Fry are Turanga Leela (pilot), Bender (all purpose bending robot), Professor Farnsworth (owner and eccentric inventor), Amy Wong (intern), Dr. Zoidberg (doctor) and Hermes Conrad (bureaucrat). Some plot devices used throughout the show's duration include Fry's relationship with Leela, Leela's history as an orphan, and Fry's attempts to reconnect with his lost past.

Contents 1 Production History 1.1 DVD Movies and Season Six 2 Cast 3 Seasons 4 Direct-to-Video Films 5 In-Depth 6 DVD and Blu-ray Releases 6.1 DVD 6.2 Blu-ray 7 External Sites

[edit] Production History

Futurama helped revitalize FOX's animated line-up, along with its contemporary Family Guy. The series was met with critical praise and a fanatical fan base because of its deeply layered storylines and occasionally esoteric sci-fi humor.

Futurama's ever increasing critical acclaim didn't transfer to positive feelings among FOX executives, who thwarted the show at every turn. Episode airings were delayed, the airtimes were often changed randomly with little or not notice and ultimately it was scheduled for the Sunday night "death slot," the 30 minutes of television which is most often preempted for football and baseball overrun.

The show was ultimately cancelled in 2002, though the final episode wasn't aired until late 2003. Although there were four production seasons, there were so many episodes that had been preempted by sports that they were dumped into a fifth broadcast season. Even then, many of those episodes were left unaired, particularly on the East Coast where live sports continued to preempt the series. It was left in limbo until Adult Swim picked the show up for reruns. These reruns proved to be massively successful for the network, often breaking the 1 million viewer barrier. Despite this success, the network was outbid by Comedy Central, which purchased the broadcast rights for all 72 produced episodes.

[edit] DVD Movies and Season Six

In late 2005, after the very successful return of Family Guy to FOX, 20th Century Fox contacted Groening and asked him about whether or not he would be willing to resurrect Futurama as well on four direct-to-DVD movies. This was not so much announced, however, as it was a series of vague rumors which were confirmed by Billy West, who became notorious for jumping the gun before the details were announced. So far three of the four movies have aired on Comedy Central with no plans for the fourth (Bender's Game) to air.

On June 9, 2009 Twentieth Television announced that they were going into production on a full new season of 26 episodes to begin airing on Comedy Central in mid-2010 with a possible first airing on a broadcast network. This will make it only the second cancelled series in the history of television (after Family Guy) to go back into full production due to the strength of DVD sales and cable repeats.

It was initially assumed that the entire cast would reprise their roles, but the budget for the series was slashed dramatically and contract negotiations broke down between the cast and the network. In July 2009, call sheets for all of the major characters began to surface and eventually 20th Century Fox admitted that they were actively recasting the series with less expensive actors. The characters mentioned on the call sheet are those played by Billy West (Fry, Prof. Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan), John DiMaggio (Bender), Katey Sagal (Leela), Tress MacNeille (Mom) and Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker).

In a statement made to the press, the network said: "We love the 'Futurama' voice performers and absolutely wanted to use them, but unfortunately, we could not meet their salary demands. While replacing these talented actors will be difficult, the show must go on. We are confident that we will find terrific new performers to give voice to Matt and David's brilliantly subversive characters." The announcement came nearly a week before a panel featuring many of the Futurama cast members was scheduled to run during the San Diego Comic Con. The panel was originally meant to be a sketch where FOX executives would determine whether or not the series would be given a new season live, but due to the breakdown, the cast boycotted the panel and Groening was forced to go on without the planned sketch or the cast. He also would not answer questions about casting.

On July 31, it was announced that the original cast and the network had reached a compromise and that they would be returning to the series. The situation played out similarly to when the voice actors for The Simpsons striked over a pay increase in 2004.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Character	Duration
Main Cast
Billy West	Philip J. Fry	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
	Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
	Dr. Zoidberg	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
	Zapp Brannigan	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
Katey Sagal	Turanga Leela	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
John Di Maggio	Bender	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
	Elzar	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
Tress MacNeille	Mom	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
	Hattie	1	2	3	4	5	M	6
Supporting/Recurring Cast
Maurice LaMarche	Lt. Kif Kroker	1	2	3	4	5	M
	Morbo	1	2	3	4	5	M
	Lrrr	1	2	3	4	5	M
Phil LaMarr	Hermes Conrad	1	2	3	4	5	M
Lauren Tom	Amy Wong	1	2	3	4	5	M
Frank Welker	Nibbler	1	2	3	4	5	M
David Herman	Prof. Ogden Wernstrom	1	2	3	4	5	M

[edit] Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	#
FOX
Season One	March 28, 1999	May 18, 1999	9
Season Two	September 26, 1999	May 21, 2000	20
Season Three	November 5, 2000	May 13, 2001	15
Season Four	December 9, 2001	April 21, 2002	12
Season Five	November 10, 2002	August 10, 2003	16
Comedy Central
Season Six	Mid-2010	—	26

[edit] Direct-to-Video Films

Title	Release Date	TV premiere (Comedy Central)
Bender's Big Score	November 27, 2007	March 23, 2008
The Beast with a Billion Backs	June 24, 2008	October 19, 2008
Bender's Game	November 4, 2008	April 26, 2009
Into the Wild Green Yonder	February 24, 2009	August 30, 2009

[edit] In-Depth

• At a Glance: Additional information about the series
• Characters: A listing of characters in the series

[edit] DVD and Blu-ray Releases

[edit] DVD

Title	Release Date	#
Episode Collections - Collections
The Complete Collection 1999-2009	July 22, 2009 (Comic-Con) October 13, 2009 (General)	19	purchase
Episode Collections - Chronological
Volume 1	March 25, 2003	3	purchase
Volume 2	August 12, 2003	4	purchase
Volume 3	March 9, 2004	4	purchase
Volume 4	August 24, 2004	4	purchase
Episode Collections - Themed
Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection	August 23, 2005	1	purchase
Direct-To-Video
Bender's Big Score	November 27, 2007	1	purchase
The Beast with a Billion Backs	June 24, 2008	1	purchase
Bender's Game	November 4, 2008	1	purchase
Into the Wild Green Yonder	February 24, 2009	1	purchase

[edit] Blu-ray

Title	Release Date	#
Direct-To-Video
Bender's Game	November 4, 2008	1	purchase
Into the Wild Green Yonder	February 24, 2009	1	purchase

[edit] External Sites

• Can't Get Enough Futurama: Futurama News
• PEEL - The Futurama Message Board
• Futurama at the Internet Movie Database
• Futurama Episodes, TV Listings, News, Photos and More at TVGuide.com