This Game is Fun on a Bun!
Originally conceived by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen in 1999 (for God's sake), Futurama was dropped by its home network Fox (which never knows a good thing when it has one), only to be picked back up a couple seasons later due to outraged fans. This did not last long. The network dropped it again shortly after its relaunch, and the show was later rescued by Comedy Central, almost 10 years after its original premiere. Some movies were made. Devoted fans ignored the fact that the show just wasn't as good as they remembered. The show was cancelled one last time in 2012. For good.
All this to say, Futurama isn't exactly The Simpsons. Stability is not a word it's familiar with. What did the fans see that the networks didn't? This week, we delve into this constantly beloved, very flawed, wonderful show the only way it would have us do so: by throwing a huge party.
All this to say, Futurama isn't exactly The Simpsons. Stability is not a word it's familiar with. What did the fans see that the networks didn't? This week, we delve into this constantly beloved, very flawed, wonderful show the only way it would have us do so: by throwing a huge party.
"Boozerama": The Rules
We decided to go with an alcoholic take on Fry's favorite futuristic soft drink, Slurm. You can find the recipe here. It tastes...about what you'd expect it to taste like.
And it's only about half as addictive
Easy Mode
1. Drink for Title Drops: That's the full title, "Futurama".
2. Drink for Daddy Issues. If a character mentions their issues with both parents, we'll count that.
3. Drink when they drink.
4. Drink when a character who is not a part of the main crew appears in more than one episode you watch that evening.
5. Drink when a character is presumed dead. The character must have a name.
6. Drink when the crew visits planets that aren't Earth.
7. Drink for a direct reference to 20th century media. Like if a character tells another to turn off that stupid Phish record.
8. Drink for nudity.
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink when a character has sex.
2. Drink when a character bursts into song.
3. Drink whenever Bender steals something.
4. Drink when a classic rock song is played. Yeah, it's the future, all our songs are "classic", but I'm mostly talking about 1960's-1980's.
5. Drink when Professor Farnsworth explains something scientific, or for general technobabble.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink for characters watching television, transmissions, or projections. Anything on a screen.
2. Drink for body modifications.
3. Drink for homage to 20th century events or people. Like if the characters go to see a band called "Fish". And all the band members are fish.
4. Drink for flashbacks.
5. Drink when Bender uses either of these phrases:
"Bite my shiny metal ass!" or
"I'm 40% (insert substance here)!"
1. Drink for Title Drops: That's the full title, "Futurama".
2. Drink for Daddy Issues. If a character mentions their issues with both parents, we'll count that.
3. Drink when they drink.
4. Drink when a character who is not a part of the main crew appears in more than one episode you watch that evening.
5. Drink when a character is presumed dead. The character must have a name.
6. Drink when the crew visits planets that aren't Earth.
7. Drink for a direct reference to 20th century media. Like if a character tells another to turn off that stupid Phish record.
8. Drink for nudity.
Medium Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink when a character has sex.
2. Drink when a character bursts into song.
3. Drink whenever Bender steals something.
4. Drink when a classic rock song is played. Yeah, it's the future, all our songs are "classic", but I'm mostly talking about 1960's-1980's.
5. Drink when Professor Farnsworth explains something scientific, or for general technobabble.
Hard Mode
All the above rules apply. Also...
1. Drink for characters watching television, transmissions, or projections. Anything on a screen.
2. Drink for body modifications.
3. Drink for homage to 20th century events or people. Like if the characters go to see a band called "Fish". And all the band members are fish.
4. Drink for flashbacks.
5. Drink when Bender uses either of these phrases:
"Bite my shiny metal ass!" or
"I'm 40% (insert substance here)!"
Unfortunately, Bender has an excess of catchphrases.
The Players
The players for tonight's game are:
Krissy Pappau: Turanga Leela (a girl can dream, right?) (Medium)
Dijan de Nero: Kif Kroaker (Easy)
Shirley Whiskas: Amy Wong (Medium)
Some Guy: Scruffy. The Janitor (Medium)
Big Moose: Nibbler (Medium)
Seb: President Nixon's Head (Hard)
Krissy Pappau: Turanga Leela (a girl can dream, right?) (Medium)
Dijan de Nero: Kif Kroaker (Easy)
Shirley Whiskas: Amy Wong (Medium)
Some Guy: Scruffy. The Janitor (Medium)
Big Moose: Nibbler (Medium)
Seb: President Nixon's Head (Hard)
An Established Universe
We began the night with two episodes from the first season: "A Flight to Remember" and "My Three Suns". We then watched two episodes from the newer seasons, then jumped right back into season 3 (which is the BEST season, let nobody tell you otherwise). This viewing order turned out to be very important; most of the people in the room had never seen the show before, and this way they were able to visit the show at all stages of its development to see what changed and what stayed the same.
"Is that a running gag? Heads in jars?" -Seb
Something I didn't notice before playing this game is just how COHESIVE the world of this show is. You can tell that Groening and his team. sat down and really plotted out how this world works, from the new technology they use to what old technology survived, and all before the show aired. Groening and Cohen both have math and science backgrounds so you can tell that not only do they know what they're talking about when they wax on quantum theory, they're having FUN doing it. They also have the good humor to admit when they're bending the laws of science to create an instrument that just seems awesome or silly (re: the Smelloscope).
More than the world's logic, though, the character logic is locked down early on. In "A Flight to Remember", we meet Hermes' wife LaBarbara and learn that Hermes used to be an Olympic level Limbo champion. We get the first whiff of real sexual tension between Fry and Leela, and the sense that it's there because the both of them are heartbreakingly lonely. We meet Amy's parents and learn that there's extreme pressure on her to get married, which she resists. And Kif and Amy meet after a "Titantic" level (heehee) disaster, have instant chemistry and share their first kiss.
These may all seem like small things, but they all get adequately explained in a 20 minute timeframe and are consistent throughout the series. The best episodes in the later seasons take what's established from the first fifty episodes and expand on them, pitting the characters against ideas or obstacles that they have inherent conflict with. When you think about how few details get lost during the course of ten seasons, you can't help but feel impressed.
Not to say that nothing changed. After all, Zoidberg gets to sleep in first class on the luxury cruise. For reference, he sleeps in a garbage can the rest of the time.
More than the world's logic, though, the character logic is locked down early on. In "A Flight to Remember", we meet Hermes' wife LaBarbara and learn that Hermes used to be an Olympic level Limbo champion. We get the first whiff of real sexual tension between Fry and Leela, and the sense that it's there because the both of them are heartbreakingly lonely. We meet Amy's parents and learn that there's extreme pressure on her to get married, which she resists. And Kif and Amy meet after a "Titantic" level (heehee) disaster, have instant chemistry and share their first kiss.
These may all seem like small things, but they all get adequately explained in a 20 minute timeframe and are consistent throughout the series. The best episodes in the later seasons take what's established from the first fifty episodes and expand on them, pitting the characters against ideas or obstacles that they have inherent conflict with. When you think about how few details get lost during the course of ten seasons, you can't help but feel impressed.
Not to say that nothing changed. After all, Zoidberg gets to sleep in first class on the luxury cruise. For reference, he sleeps in a garbage can the rest of the time.
"That's probably the only time Zoidberg is treated well." -Dijan de Nero
Seasons Change, Time Passes By
And then the second reboot happened.
It's not that the later seasons are all that bad. They're perfectly serviceable comedies. But they rely too much on the stupid stuff that kept the show on the air and not enough on what made the show special, and what made the fans love it so much.
It's not that the later seasons are all that bad. They're perfectly serviceable comedies. But they rely too much on the stupid stuff that kept the show on the air and not enough on what made the show special, and what made the fans love it so much.
No, no, that's the stupid stuff. Pay attention.
The change in tone is apparent even from the first episode of the reboot ("Rebirth"). We're introduced to some technology used to imbue a robotic frame with the personality of a real person. Which we've seen before, in episode 47, "I Dated A Robot". But in this episode, the plot's not used to say anything new about the technology, and is kind of going against the message it gave when it was used the first time, which was "a robot is no replacement for a human".
This is a minor offense, though. Later in the episode, Professor Farnsworth slyly explains how they were saved from destruction by black hole by sliding into a channel in space, a sort of a "Comedy Central" channel.
This is a minor offense, though. Later in the episode, Professor Farnsworth slyly explains how they were saved from destruction by black hole by sliding into a channel in space, a sort of a "Comedy Central" channel.
"Yeah, this is a little too meta for me already." -Some Guy
The patterns established in this episode sadden me. Consistently, especially within the first season of rebooting, the writers turn to take inspiration from what's happening in our timeline, then seeing how their technology would better solve the issue. They don't say anything interesting about gay marriage, or the 2012 presidential election, or stem cell research. They just call back to these issues, retool our issues to suit the 30th centuries needs and solve things through clumsy hijinks. Commentary has never been Futurama's strong suit. Why try to make it so now after it's been saved from extinction? Occasionally the later episodes will strike gold, by focusing on their characters and how they interact with their world instead of forcing plot onto them. But these hits are few and far between.
And then, there's something I really don't want to talk about. But I will.
And then, there's something I really don't want to talk about. But I will.
The Green Coat
While we were watching "My Three Suns", we saw Leela sporting a big green jacket. She generally wears this jacket while piloting the Planet Express Ship or while off duty.
Here we see Leela relaxing in the Planet Express office kitchen.
"We don't see her wear that jacket much in the later seasons," Shirley remarked.
That's weird. That jacket's basically part of her captain's uniform. Bender even wears it for an episode when he takes over for her as the ship's pilot. Why would she stop wearing it?
Probably because underneath the jacket, she usually looks like this.
That's weird. That jacket's basically part of her captain's uniform. Bender even wears it for an episode when he takes over for her as the ship's pilot. Why would she stop wearing it?
Probably because underneath the jacket, she usually looks like this.
Here we see Leela posing for the Planet Express Calendar.
Or, as the internet has translated it...
Here we see one of the tamer pieces of Leela fanart the internet had to offer me.
Oh boy...
In earlier episodes, Leela's much more developed. She shares a parallel story to Fry; orphaned as a small child, she desperately wants to find her family, who she believes to be aliens from a distant star. She studied martial arts, among other things, in order to assert herself in a society that was freaked out by her single eye, and won captaincy of the Planet Express Ship (honestly, she's overqualified for the job). She struggles with loneliness, cut off from anyone who looks like her and too assertive and strange-looking to date any of the men she finds attractive.
I like this Leela. I like her because she has flaws. I like her because she's shallow, and short-tempered and stubborn. I like that the story saw fit to include a character who is desperately trying to make her way through life while staving off cynicism and bitterness. I like how much she WANTS to like Fry, but can never be okay with how immature and aimless he is. She seems real.
As the seasons go on, her character starts to fall apart a bit. The more Leela starts to come into the foreground as Fry's main love interest, the less the story cares about her established personality. When I see Leela happily agree to stand around and be ogled by truck stop men in "40 Percent Leadbelly", I am struck by how the Leela from eight seasons previous would actively avoid being objectified that way.
This isn't a rant about treatment of female characters in media, not totally at least. This is a rant about consistency. The company intern Amy Wong is constantly objectified by the show and its viewers, but she's set up from the beginning of the show to be, as Shirley puts it, "the sorority girl". She's young and pretty and not much else, and that's fine because her character still gets a fair amount to do. Leela's set up to be a realistic woman, and her casual sexualization over the course of the series irks me. It's why I never quite bought it when she and Fry eventually started dating. The show had put so much stock in Fry's unrequited love that when Leela finally gave in, it felt more like a bone being thrown to the fans instead of something she chose for herself.
In earlier episodes, Leela's much more developed. She shares a parallel story to Fry; orphaned as a small child, she desperately wants to find her family, who she believes to be aliens from a distant star. She studied martial arts, among other things, in order to assert herself in a society that was freaked out by her single eye, and won captaincy of the Planet Express Ship (honestly, she's overqualified for the job). She struggles with loneliness, cut off from anyone who looks like her and too assertive and strange-looking to date any of the men she finds attractive.
I like this Leela. I like her because she has flaws. I like her because she's shallow, and short-tempered and stubborn. I like that the story saw fit to include a character who is desperately trying to make her way through life while staving off cynicism and bitterness. I like how much she WANTS to like Fry, but can never be okay with how immature and aimless he is. She seems real.
As the seasons go on, her character starts to fall apart a bit. The more Leela starts to come into the foreground as Fry's main love interest, the less the story cares about her established personality. When I see Leela happily agree to stand around and be ogled by truck stop men in "40 Percent Leadbelly", I am struck by how the Leela from eight seasons previous would actively avoid being objectified that way.
This isn't a rant about treatment of female characters in media, not totally at least. This is a rant about consistency. The company intern Amy Wong is constantly objectified by the show and its viewers, but she's set up from the beginning of the show to be, as Shirley puts it, "the sorority girl". She's young and pretty and not much else, and that's fine because her character still gets a fair amount to do. Leela's set up to be a realistic woman, and her casual sexualization over the course of the series irks me. It's why I never quite bought it when she and Fry eventually started dating. The show had put so much stock in Fry's unrequited love that when Leela finally gave in, it felt more like a bone being thrown to the fans instead of something she chose for herself.
I'd also like to point out that most of Amy's sexy pictures on the internet are taken from the show, while Leela's sexy pictures are fan-made.
Parasites Lost
I got to show all my friends my favorite episode in the series: "Parasites Lost". The plot focuses on Fry, who after eating a truck stop tuna salad sandwich has found himself infested with worms. The crew decides to go inside Fry's body and kill the parasites, but Leela discovers that the worms have made Fry more articulate, more muscular and all-around more of a catch. She sabotages the mission and keeps the new and improved Fry for himself.
After wooing Leela by playing her a beautiful sonata on an instrument called the "holophoner", Fry catches on to the fact that Leela might be more into what the worms made him than who he truly is, so he goes inside himself to defeat the worms and discover whether or not Leela will still love him afterwards.
After wooing Leela by playing her a beautiful sonata on an instrument called the "holophoner", Fry catches on to the fact that Leela might be more into what the worms made him than who he truly is, so he goes inside himself to defeat the worms and discover whether or not Leela will still love him afterwards.
A pretty epic swordfight ensues.
Turns out she won't. Fry reverts back to his bumbling self and Leela leaves his apartment disappointed. Fry gives up on Leela as a lost cause...and we almost believe him...until we see him play the holophoner one more time, cementing his determination to become a better man.
This episode is Futurama at its best. There's a plot that's constantly moving forward, the characters all act according to their needs and desires, and most importantly, it's not afraid to break your heart. Futurama proved that an episodic animated series could make you examine human relationships, ponder the nature of failure, sort out our own relationships to unattainable idols. There are a few later season episodes that reach this level of pathos ("The Late Philip J Fry" is a good example), but they're buried by dozens of episodes that are all about the gags. I want to see the show where the hero doesn't get the girl and it's nobody's fault and everyone's always a little bit sad. There aren't enough shows like that, and now there's one less.
This episode is Futurama at its best. There's a plot that's constantly moving forward, the characters all act according to their needs and desires, and most importantly, it's not afraid to break your heart. Futurama proved that an episodic animated series could make you examine human relationships, ponder the nature of failure, sort out our own relationships to unattainable idols. There are a few later season episodes that reach this level of pathos ("The Late Philip J Fry" is a good example), but they're buried by dozens of episodes that are all about the gags. I want to see the show where the hero doesn't get the girl and it's nobody's fault and everyone's always a little bit sad. There aren't enough shows like that, and now there's one less.
"Leela likes Fry, she just likes Perfect Fry." "Then she doesn't like Fry." -Shirley Whiskas and Big Moose
The Results
The current game works much better on the later episodes than the earlier ones. That being said, if you watch a good mixture of the two, that's really your best option. Here are some rules that didn't make the cut.
Drink when Amy falls down or cries
This is more of an early season thing with Amy. They tried to set her up as a klutz and pretend that was her personality...but if it doesn't work in romantic comedies, it won't work on this show.
Drink for gender-bending or opposite sex disguises
This happens more than you'd think, and it's a little off-putting sometimes. In a thousand years, basic gender roles haven't changed one iota. Chew on that for a bit.
Drink whenever a Planet Express Crew Member goes on a date
Drink when Amy falls down or cries
This is more of an early season thing with Amy. They tried to set her up as a klutz and pretend that was her personality...but if it doesn't work in romantic comedies, it won't work on this show.
Drink for gender-bending or opposite sex disguises
This happens more than you'd think, and it's a little off-putting sometimes. In a thousand years, basic gender roles haven't changed one iota. Chew on that for a bit.
Drink whenever a Planet Express Crew Member goes on a date
Drink twice if they go on dates with eachother
You know what we haven't done in a while? An action movie. Let's do some more of those. Next time on For Your Inebriation...
It's heist movie time.
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For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). All "Futurama" footage and images are owned by 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central.
For Your Inebriation is written by Krissy Pappau (Hollis Beck). All "Futurama" footage and images are owned by 20th Century Fox and Comedy Central.
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