Futurama

About

Futurama is an animated TV series based around the main protagonist Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from the 20th century who was cryogenically frozen for 1000 years, and his adventures in the future. The show was created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Besides Fry, the main cast includes Turanga Leela, Bender Bending Rodríguez, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Hermes Conrad, Doctor John A. Zoidberg and Amy Wong, with a secondary cast of Zapp Brannigan, Kif Kroker, Nibbler and Scruffy.

History

Futurama first aired in 1999, and stayed on Fox until 2003, when it was expunged from television until 2007 when four direct-to-DVD films were released and aired on Comedy Central as the sixth season. Comedy Central has aired seasons 7 through 9 from 2010 to 2012, and season 10 is scheduled. The series takes place on Earth in the 31st century. The show has spawned several memes (which will be listed below), most of which are based around the main character of Futurama, Philip J. Fry.

Cancellation

On April 22nd, 2013, Comedy Central announced that Futurama will not be renewed for another season after the airing of the series finale episode on September 4th, 2013. The news of the show's cancellation promptly spread through the entertainment news circuit and was met by varying reactions from the fans and bloggers, with many^[14][15][17] expressing doubt that this will be the end of the franchise, while others^[16] interpreted it as a sound decision in consideration of the declining viewership. Fan reactions were similarly divided on Reddit^[18], where people shared their opinions through dozens of Futurama-themed image macros, most notably the Not Sure If X series.

2023 Reboot

On February 9th, 2022, Hulu announced that Futurama was getting rebooted for a 20-episode season, set to debut in 2023. While this initially pleased fans, they were quick to notice that John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, was not attached to the project. It appears that DiMaggio felt lowballed by Hulu's offer to return to the show, and Hulu sent out casting calls for replacement actors prior to their announcement. The controversy caused #Bendergate to trend, as voice actors and fans voiced their support for DiMaggio.

Reception

Despite its 7pm (EST) Sunday timeslot on Fox, Futurama became quite popular from its beginnings. Futurama received a lot of praise from critics and viewers alike. Futurama has won 7 Annie Awards and 3 Emmy Awards and was given the title of "Current Most Critically Acclaimed Animated Series" in the 2010 Guinness Book of World Records.^[1]

Online Presence

Like other popular animated TV shows, Futurama has gained a large fan following online over the years. Futurama's main fanbase consists of self-described nerds, most likely due to the many math, physics and computer science jokes. In fact, many of the people who work on the show have PhD degrees in the aforementioned fields. Futurama also includes a lot of Star Trek and Twilight Zone jokes and references.^[2]

Fandom

One of the oldest fan communities The Leela Zone^[5] was created by Mark LeWald and launched on July 27th, 1999. Dedicated entirely to the character of Leela, the site was regularly updated for six months before going on an indefinite hiatus in January 2000. The site reopened under the new administrator Leandro Pardini on April 1st, 2000, after merging with another fan site called There's Something About Futurama. In the following years, The Leela Zone continued to grow into a general destination for Futurama fans and eventually changed its name to the Futurama Madhouse in August 2004. Other notable Futurama fan communities include the portal news site Can't Get Enough Futurama^[3], the message board community Futurama Fan Forum^[4] and the wiki-style reference site Infosphere^[2] among many others.

In addition to online fan sites, Futurama has spawned an extensive collection of fan art illustrations, fan fiction and unofficial merchandises. As of June 2012, the digital artist community DeviantART^[12] hosts more than 25,000 Futurama-themed artworks as well as a fan group^[13] with 1,120 members, the fanfiction writers' community Fanfiction.net^[6] hosts more than 440 stories that are based on the canon and Reddit^[10] yields more than 13,000 Futurama-related search results and is home to the dedicated /r/futurama subreddit.^[11]

Related Memes

Not Sure If X

"Not sure if X" is an Advice-Animal style image macro featuring Fry with squinting eyes, which originated from an, "I See What You Did There" derivative. The top line reads “Not sure if X”, with “or just Y” as the bottom line, and is used to represent an internal monologue. The most popular example of the meme is probably "Not sure if trolling, or just stupid".

Hypnotoad

"Hypnotoad" is a toad-like alien character from the show, notable for its mind-control. Its manipulation usually involves mentioning the Hypnotoad somewhere in a sentence, by abruptly saying "ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD". This is a popular doing on threads, comments and forums, by saying it whenever the Hypnotoad is mentioned. Hypnotoad is voiced by a turbine engine played backwards, which explains it's weird sounds. Hypnotoad first appeared in the episode "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid".

I Don't Want To Live On This Planet Anymore

"I Don't Want To Live On This Planet Anymore" is a catchphrase used originally by the character Professor Farnsworth in A Clockwork Origin. It is used to show disgust or disappointment with other people or things. The particular image is commonly used in a 2-panel comic, showing news stories and popular culture media subjects at the top, to be followed by Professor Farnsworth saying the line at the bottom.

Shut Up And Take My Money

"Shut Up And Take My Money" is a line originally said by Fry in Attack of the Killer App. It is commonly used on threads and image boards as a reply to certain ideas, implying that the poster likes the idea so much, he's willing to purchase it right at the moment.

X Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad

"X Is Bad And You Should Feel Bad" is a snowclone used in combination with an image of Dr. Zoidberg. It is used to describe the posters disagreement to the subject it's directed to. Although its possibilities are wide, it is most commonly directed towards a thread or a person's particular tastes. The picture from the meme, is from the episode "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", when Fry gets his hands switch back from the Robot Devil's, to his own. When he starts playing again, Zoidberg makes that hilarious remark.

Why Not Zoidberg?

"Why Not Zoidberg?" is a catchphrase from the character Dr. Zoidberg, who actually has said it in many episodes. It is used as a reply to questions and problems, suggesting Zoidberg as the answer. The catchphrase is most commonly used as an Advice-Animal style image macro, showing the question or problem at the top, usually followed by "Why Not Zoidberg?" at the bottom.

X Does Not Work That Way

"X Does Not Work That Way" is a snowclone used originally by the newscaster character Morbo. It was originated from the episode “Crimes of the Hot” when Morbo says the comedic line 'WINDMILLS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!" to his co-anchor, Linda, when she implies that a bunch of turtles will cool off because they are near a bunch of windmills. It is commonly used as a reply to statements, expressing anger or exasperation with it. Also used as an Advice-Animal style image macro, placing the subject revolving around the statement at the top, usually followed by "Do Not/Does not Work That Way".

Search Interest

Google Insights show a large spike in searches for Futurama during July 2010, just after Comedy Central aired the first episode of Futurama's seventh season, Rebirth.

External References