Cartoons And this is why I still love Futurama

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I have always admired the hell out of both Futurama itself and its beautifully nerdy, whimsical writing staff because they were cheeky and confident enough to sneak a weirdly awesome joke like this one into the final minutes of what was (at the time) the last episode they were ever going to produce:

Series finales are a big deal because whatever happens in those last 20–30 minutes, it's the last time it's ever going to happen. The stakes are impossibly high every single time because there are no do-overs once it's done, especially if the show was cancelled mid-run and whatever is left in the tank is only being allowed to exist because the staff is contractually obligated to fulfill an episode quota.

This creates a massive “no-win scenario.”

The writers are suddenly constrained to a tiny slice of runtime and expected to wrap up everything they had been slowly, carefully building over the years. Familiar faces need to pop up, but many won't get anything meaningful to do. Plotlines need to be resolved as quickly and as satisfyingly as possible — a massive oxymoron that almost never works.

It's hell. It's every creative mind's worst nightmare.

But damn if they weren't going to make sure you left this one smiling and with a song stuck in your head.

And that? That move to make you immediately nostalgic for a world that's dissolving as it happens while simultaneously making sure you are taking a piece of it with you is not even irony — it's why Futurama earned its keep every single time it was on. It's why it'd return one day, too. It's why we still love it and welcome it back despite it having been gone just as long as it was here.

 

[CSmith327]

Futurama is like one of my favorite series ever, but the new Hulu released seasons from recent years are just lame. It's like they forgot everything that made it great in the first place. The original seasons were so fresh that they literally set trends and generated memes from their jokes that are still widely used online today. I'm sure it probably even helped establish tropes that have been used by other series since then.

But in contrast the current seasons are just lame and lifeless. They have been just parodying ideas taking from recent online culture and events in the news and stuff almost in the vein of how South Park does (except they're nowhere near as good at doing that as South Park is) Instead of coming up with fresh ideas and doing things never done before like in the original series.

It's safe to say current Futurama has lost it's identity. To me that's very depressing and a shame since I love it so much. I've tried to watch the recent episodes and they're only very mildly entertaining at best and at worst mostly disappointing and boring. It's like how the original seasons of SpongeBob from the beginning to about season 6 or 7 were hilarious and actually funny but the change in style of humor and writing in later seasons made it just boring to watch unless you're an easily satisfied kid or something.

I dunno if you've seen the new episodes from Hulu yet, but I'd imagine you'll probably be pretty disappointed when you see how they sucked the life out of it. I've always liked the idea of Futurama coming back and being around for a long time, but if this is the quality it's gonna be then that's a total bummer. I hope the next season sees an improvement if they don't cancel it
edit: judging from you saying "It's why it'd return one day, too" I'll assume you didn't know there's been three new seasons already. A new season comes out not long from now in August. When you watch it don't go in expecting it to feel like the old episodes. You can watch it online for free on sites like wcostream.tv instead of paying for Hulu to watch it.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I dunno if you've seen the new episodes from Hulu yet, but I'd imagine you'll probably be pretty disappointed when you see how they sucked the life out of it.

Unfortunately, I have.

I lasted three episodes before throwing the towel because everything felt... Off.

I mean, yeah, Futurama is known for running on fumes when it restarts before finding its footing again and delivering gems like "The Late Phillip J Fry", but this one honestly came across as self-conscious, tackling issues that didn't need to tackled by this cast — those plotlines literally didn't gain anything by being around the Planet Express crew... And, if anything, it probably hurt them.

Just a soulless thing, man.

 

[CSmith327]

Yeah, it's so sad seeing a juggernaut like Futurama struggle like a gangster broke both it's legs. It seems like after the next season (which is season 14) from this year it might just be cancelled and not get renewed again. If they do manage to secure more seasons then they need to fire some people and change how they're approaching it. I don't want the last ever episodes of the series to be these awful soulless Hulu ones