Difference between revisions of "Futurama"

Revision as of 05:17, March 25, 2009

Futurama is an animated television show created by The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. The show is based primarily in the 31st century, following the lives of the workers of the package delivery company "Planet Express". There is a pseudo-futuristic theme to the show, that mixes science fiction with modern day culture. It is known for its excellent supporting characters, who often provide as much entertainment as the main characters; Morbo and Richard Nixon are just two examples.

Characters

• Phillip J. Fry or Fry is the show's main protagonist. In the first episode Fry finds himself cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve 1999, awakening on the same day 1000 years into the future. Fry is often portrayed as thoughtful but stupid, with little common sense and less than perfect social skills, working as Planet Express's "Delivery Boy". He has an ongoing crush for Leela, who is constantly turning him down.
• Turunga Leela or Leela is the cycloptic spaceship captain of Planet Express. Her origins are an ongoing theme of earlier episodes. Leela is shown as more responsible and ambitious than other members of her crew, and is skilled in martial arts.
• Bender Bending Rodriguez or Bender is a drinking, smoking, stealing, prostitute-hiring, generally amoral humanoid bending-robot. Bender generally is shown to have no regard for other people's feelings, but is often shown to actually care about the people he works with, particularly Fry.
• Professor Hubert Farnsworth or The Professor is Fry's only living relative. His role is as the senile and eccentric "mad inventor" owner of Planet Express. He seems to hold little or no value to the lives of his crew, and, being over 150 years old, has a very bad memory, and generally exhibits many of the stereotypes of old age. He has a self-cloned "son" named Cubert.
• Amy Wong is a Chinese intern at Planet Express. She is portrayed as cute but clumsy, and has very rich parents who own the entire "western hemisphere" of Mars.
• Dr. John Zoidberg is a lobster-like humanoid of the "Decapodian" race of aliens, who works at Planet Express as the company doctor. Even though his patients are all human, he shows very little knowledge of human anatomy. Zoidberg is regarded contemptuously by most of the other characters, and is shown to be very poor and often horribly lonely.
• Hermes Conrad is the Rastafarian accountant of Planet Express and an ex-Olympic limboer. He works for the "central bureaucracy" and has a wife and a son.

Minor Characters

• Morbo is an extraterrestrial news presenter working on earth. He often shows his contempt for humans and is frequently portrayed as violent and aggressive, with quotes such as 'Puny humans will be pleased to know that their pathetic race was today doomed to extinction' and '...and that's why the orphans of class 2-A are Morbo's 'vermin of the week'.
• The Hypno Toad is a toad with the ability to hypnotize those that look into its gaping eyes.

Seasons and films

Currently Futurama has four seasons, three straight-to-DVD films ("Bender's Big Score", "The Beast with a Billion Backs" and "Bender's Game"), and one more film in the pipeline. The show was canceled by Fox after the fourth season, but was brought back due to the success of the show in reruns on the Cartoon Network.

External Links

• IMDB website