Cartoon Network gives "Futurama" a second chance

By: Adnan Virk

Posted: 1/21/03

In the television sea of cop shows, law dramas, reality TV and sitcoms, every once in a while a true gem of brilliance gets overlooked by the viewing public.

One of these gems is the wonderfully witty animated opus, Futurama, born from the twisted mind of Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons.

Futurama, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program last year, never caught on with the general public like The Simpsons did.

From day one, the show was hampered by a bitter behind the scenes tussle between Groening and FOX executives, who besieged him with notes, memos, and "creative suggestions."

All this fighting led to the show being moved (or "buried" as Groening insists) to a death-slot of seven p.m. on Sunday nights, where it was constantly pre-empted by football games. Fans were lucky if they got a single new episode per month.

With FOX officially canceling the show last year, the end result was 72 wickedly clever episodes that unfortunately went pretty much unnoticed by the general public.

But no more. This delightful series is getting a second chance to entice viewers five nights a week on the Cartoon Network, as a part of their Adult Swim lineup, a late-night block of animation for older audiences.

Just last week, the network began airing episodes every Sunday through Thursday at 11 p.m., the perfect time to watch and unwind after a hard day of school and work.

In case you're worried about diving into this unique series blindly, here's a little primer to get you started.

Futurama is all about the outcasts, the fish out of water. There are plenty of characters, but the show mainly focuses on the trio of Fry, Bender and Leela.

Fry, the main character, is a loser pizza delivery boy from the 20th century who accidentally gets frozen and wakes up in the year 3000, where ships whiz by to different planets in the blink of an eye, Earth is ruled by Richard Nixon's head, and the news is co-anchored by a growling green alien named Morbo.

By far the funniest character is Bender, a cursing, alcoholic, stealing, loud-mouthed, self-centered robot who constantly invites others to "kiss my shiny metal ass."

Rounding out the three is the tough, smart, and sarcastic one-eyed cyclops Leela, voiced to nagging perfection by Katie Segal, otherwise known as Peggy from Married With Children.

Other characters include Professor Farnsworth, a 160 year old mad scientist who happens to be Fry's great nephew, Zap Brannigan, a brilliantly stupid narcissistic starship captain, and a walking crab named Dr. Zoidberg, as well as many others.

Most animated shows are only worth a damn when the gags are funny, but Futurama's characters are always endearing, whether we're seeing a Bender-Fry buddy plot, Fry's dim-witted attempts to win Leela's heart, or any number of other situations.

Want to know more? Well, here are a few memorable episodes to keep an eye out for while watching the episodes on Cartoon Network.

"A Big Piece of Garbage" is an absurdly funny early classic that mocks Armageddon, as our motley gang of idiots has to save Earth from a giant ball of garbage.

In "When Aliens Attack," well, aliens attack, but the highlight is the writers working out some frustration towards the network by spending the last half of the episode mercilessly ripping into FOX's Ally McBeal.

Fry and Bender join the military to get a discount on chewing gum in "War is the H-Word" and end up in the middle of an intergalactic war in a subtle yet near perfect satire of the Vietnam War.

In "Luck of the Fryish," the show throws everyone a curveball by dropping the jokes and producing a semi-serious episode about Fry and his brother with a genuinely touching ending that damn near brought me to tears.

I could go on and on, as there are dozens of classic half-hours that many of you probably haven't even heard of, but you get the point.

Futurama is easily the best animated show to come around in the past ten years, often even surpassing its parent series with its subtle satirical jabs and ridiculously brilliant humor.

Here's your chance to take a ride into the future and see what you've been missing.