Movie(s) of my week: The "Futurama" oeuvre
Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 12:01AM 
My kids and I have been watching and rewatching this quartet of “Futurama” movies as we waited for the resumption of my favorite TV series on Comedy Central. To me, “Futurama” is much better than “The Simpsons” and beats the crap out of “Family Guy,” which has gone way downhill lately (while “The Simpsons” is still great). “Futurama” is, of course, made by the same guys who do “The Simpsons.” I just like the characters so much better and think the writing is just a bit sharper and more bitingly political. I especially love how “Futurama” can basically have anybody from history on in the form of a preserved “head.”
Of the characters, I like Bender least (too crass) and perhaps Dr. Zoidberg and Farnsworth the best in terms of good lines. Fry is pretty good, but generally plays the neutral center. I love the women especially (Amy Wong and Turanga Leela), and will confess a deep thing for the one-eyed pilot, in part because she’s hot as all get out and in part because I love Katey Sagal’s voice (going all the way back to her back-up singing days with Bette Midler).
This is how much I love Futurama: my trick for relearning how to fall asleep after my years of sinus infections consists of watching episodes over and over again on my iPod til I doze off. I am therefore the world’s leading expert on the first 5-10 minutes of each episode of the entire series.
I have the entire 72 episodes from 1999 through 2003 (the last 16 comprise the four movies released from 2007 to 2009) on my iPod and plot to get the new episodes on as well. My maven-son Kevin turned me on to “Futurama” (and “Lost” and . . . ), so it’s a passion we share.
Naturally, we are in hog heaven with the resumption of the series.
The movies are all great, but I like the last one the best.
Reader Comments (2)
“Futurama”, OK: my fav is "Cowboy bebop" The music is exceptional, and
the female lead is delicious, .and I can never tell where the plot line is going.
G
Futurama is pretty fine but a bit main stream for me. Have you looked at Aqua Teen, Squidbillies or indeed any of the Adult Swim stuff?
It's wicked and probably not for children but Adult Swim has provided great cartoon madness since I guess Space Ghost in he 90s.