Futurama builds "The Six Million Dollar Mon"

In the latest installment of Comedy Central's Futurama, "The Six Million Dollar Mon," Hermes (Phil LaMarr) is disgraced after being rated the least valuable employee at Planet Express and fired, replaced by a machine. It doesn't matter that he is the one who does the firing to himself, it still hurts. Adding insult to injury, Hermes is almost mugged by crazy Roberto (David Herman). To cope with these events, Hermes begins getting robot implants, until there is nothing human left about him.

"The Six Million Dollar Mon" is, overall, a very good episode. It really focuses on the characters of Hermes and Zoidberg (Billy West), exploring their relationship, and their personalities. Futurama is at its strongest when it takes the time to work with what it already has, which are fully developed, complex characters. Adventures are nice, but character exploration is what makes good television great.

The episode uses these individuals and their quirks to be funny. When Zoidberg thinks Hermes's meanness towards him is Hermes's way of showing affection, it's sweet. When we learn that Hermes really does hate Zoidberg, it informs on the way their characters interact, and is tragically amusing. Zoidberg building the Hermes puppet continues this trend, simultaneous making us laugh at the visual gag, but also feel sorry for poor, pathetic Zoidberg, knowing this is his way of coping with not truly having any friends. Many people can relate to this.

Add to that, Professor Farnsworth (also West) acting as a mad scientist, and Scruffy (also Herman) refusing to fix anything that is not a boiler or a toilet, and there are some truly classic moments. Best of all is Bender (John DiMaggio) being fascinated with a machine that bends, and appearing jealous of Hermes's shiny metal ass, a trademark catchphrase of Bender's.

There are a couple of smart plot twists in "The Six Million Dollar Mon." Once Roberto is executed, and then Mecha Hermes wants a robot brain, it's fairly predictable what is going to happen. Still, it seems clever, even if it's a trope used in other fiction, because of the sincerity it is played with. Ditto for Zoidberg rebuilding Hermes piece by piece. One can see where the writers are going, but it's still fun to be taken along for the ride. It's the seamless way it all ties together that kicks the story a notch above the norm.

Plus, Futurama really delivers the references in this episode. From the title, a play on the television show of almost the same name, Hermes getting a Cylon eye, and seeing Helper's grave in the robot cemetery, "The Six Millon Dollar Mon" has goodies for geeks galore, whether one is a fan of The Venture Brothers or Battlestar Galactica. These are more than just cut scenes, a la Family Guy, but actually add to the value of the plot here.

That being said, it isn't a perfect episode. The sequence where LaBarbara's (Dawnn Lewis) curry drips through a number of different places, finally burning the Robot Devil (Dan Castellaneta), is a throwback to the other animated shows that lack the ingenuity and cleverness of Futurama. Worse, Leela (Katey Sagal) and Amy (Lauren Tom) invite a distracted Fry (West again) to shower with them in a cheap joke that is totally out of character for all involved.

Still, Futurama delivers more consistently than most, and remains a must-watch show, even after the many years of episodes that have come before this one. Catch Futurama Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.

Check out my new website, JeromeWetzel.com.  If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Article first published on TheTVKing

Futurama returns with "The Bots and the Bees" and "Farewell to Arms"

Futurama TM and © 2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Comedy Central's FUTURAMA returned with two new episodes last night to kick off the season. Having been resurrected for a couple of years now, the show has gotten back into the groove that made it so great before being cancelled by FOX. Both episodes that aired last night are funny, somewhat ignoring of continuity, and have a heartfelt arc. So, they are classic FUTURAMA.

The first half hour is called "The Bots and the Bees." Bender (John Di Maggio) doesn't take a shine to the new soda machine, Bev (Wanda Sykes), very quickly. But after she kills his night with two slutbots, they end up fighting, which turns into lovemaking. Shortly thereafter, Bev gives birth to a son, whom Bender names Ben. While Bender tries to abandon the lad, as is completely in character for him, Bev does so first, leaving Bender to be a single parent.

Bender seems like he usually gets the least amount of emotional development of any of the major characters because he is so callous and self-centered. But "The Bots and the Bees" takes the rare side trip of exposing Bender's soul. The mechanics of how the baby is made and grows might not make much sense in reality, but the feelings and attachment feels authentic, and that's far more important. Bender sacrifices everything to be a good dad, even allowing Ben's memories of his father to be wiped so that Ben can fulfill his dream of being a bender.

It's sad that Ben will probably not return to the show again. In its infancy, FUTURAMA added new recurring characters frequently, and brought them back repeatedly. Since the re-launch, no one notable has joined the cast, making it seem like Ben is probably destined to be a one-shot player. This is too bad because there are plenty of stories that could still be mined from Bender's fatherly role, and it would be fun to see Ben interact with the other Planet Express employees' children. If the plan is, indeed, to abandon Ben as surely as Bev does in the episode, would the creative team please reconsider?

Even in the funniest FUTURAMA stories, the level of depth exposed in the characters raises the series a notch above most of its peers. Other animated shows might touch on the heart, but only FUTURAMA embraces it so completely, developing dynamic, fully realized characters. Yes, this episode is very funny, with lots of laughs, especially during Fry's (Billy West) B story, where he drinks so much Slurm that he turns bright green, so much so that he becomes a sort of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. But that isn't all there is to it. It's this combination of humor and emotion that makes FUTURAMA so great.

It must also be said that the opening of "The Bots and the Bees," with the Planetary Express symbol instantly bringing the crew back together, even when some of them are battling for their lives against a giant space spider, works beautifully. FUTURAMA likes to go big in season openings, and this one certainly brings the fans back in cleverly, delivering a great bit immediately.

The second half hour, "Farewell to Arms," is even better than the first. Fry finds some ancient Martian writings under New New York, which Amy (Lauren Tom) is asked to translate. She says that the world will end because of some solar flares. Electronics stop working, so mankind cannot flee the planet in their spaceships. However, near the writing there is a stone rocket ship that can save 30,000 people. A computerized selection process occurs, and certain people are chosen, a varied sampling from which to continue the human race. Upon arriving on Mars, the "survivors" discover that the prophecy actually foretells the destruction of the red planet, not Earth.

Yes, the 2012 story is an obvious target, and changing Mayan to Martian in 3012 in a thinly veiled parallel isn't exactly brilliant, nor does it feel original. Yet, "Farewell to Arms" works because FUTURAMA so fully commits to the conceit. It's almost a commentary on the craziness of the 2012, with several characters making comments about how silly prophecies are. In this, it works very well. While many outlets of pop culture have tackled the 2012 story in a number of ways, FUTURAMA has top writers who deliver a high quality episode.

Like "The Bots and the Bees," soul is at the center of "Farewell to Arms." This episode returns to the Fry and Lee relationship, which is routinely ignored for long stretches of time. Fry keeps making romantic gestures, but in keeping with his character, they always go wrong. Fry gives up his seat to Mars to save Leela, who is not one of the chosen, and then Mars is almost destroyed. It's so bad that Leela almost doesn't let Fry try to save her from Mars, which happens to pass extremely close to New New York, and when she finally does, they both end up with their arms torn off, hence the title of this installment.

Plus, Leela being grossed out about grabbing her own severed arm, which isn't bleeding and somehow must not hurt, is amusing in the context.

When will FUTURAMA just let Fry and Leela be a couple? The effort has been put in, and the DVD-released movies while the series was off-air took the time to make any relationship between them feel earned. "Farewell to Arms" reminds us of the love between them, which makes the episodes where this chemistry is absent seem a bit off. More follow up to this would be greatly appreciated.

FUTURAMA is funny about continuity, in that sometimes it is abandoned all together, while other times past events matter very much to the present. Let's hope Mars' new position, as a close moon to Earth, becomes permanent. After all, this heralds a fantastic Amy episode, as her parents live on Mars, should FUTURAMA pursue this path.

FUTURAMA airs new episodes Wednesdays at 10 PM ET on Comedy Central.

Futurama - "Neutopia; Benderama"

     It's hard to know which season Comedy Central's Futurama is currently on, since different sources disagree, what with the cancellation and straight to DVD movies that followed. But the latest batch of new episodes began this Thursday with two episode, "Neutopia" and "Benderama." The first finds the Planet Express crew opening an airline. After crashing during the very first flight, a mysterious creature takes away everyone's genitals to increase cooperation and harmony. The second concerns Bender (John DiMaggio) using the Professor's (Billy West) new machine to make smaller and smaller copies of himself, eventually threatening the Earth. But an overflow of Benders may just come in handy when a very ugly giant (guest star Patton Oswalt, United States of Tara) attacks.

     These two episodes, while funny, are disappointing. Unlike The Simpsons, also created by Matt Groening, Futurama sometimes does some things that are part of larger arcs, and continuity is often respected. Not only are there no scenes pointing at Amy (Lauren Tom) and Kif (Mauriche LaMarche) being together or not, but events happen in the first that are gone by the second. For instance, there is no mention in "Benderama" of Planet Express being an airline, nor is there any indication that it stopped being one at the end of "Neutopia." Also at the end of that episode, when everyone is restored to their proper sexes, Scruffy (David Herman) is not, but he's back to being a boy in the next episode. "Benderama" nearly destroys the world, and leaves open a disastrous possibility that there are still many Bender copies around, but that will likely not be followed up on. 

     Futuama is not perfect, nor has it ever been. But it used to respect the things that happened before on the show, and having changes stick is a refreshing departure from other, less creative animated series. To have the show devolve into a standard story of the week format with no connecting threads is beyond disappointing. It's an insult to those diehard fans who called for its return to television years after cancellation.

     Neither "Benderama" or "Neutopia" are particularly bad episodes. Both have plenty of funny lines and situations, and much of what happens is perfectly in line with what Futurama is about. But those big twists that suddenly drop make it an inferior show than it used to be, and possibly signal a decline. Last season, the first new year back, danced back and forth between the two formats. Clearly, a decision has been made, and it's the wrong one.

     I will continue watching Futurama, at least for now, but Mr. Groening, please fix this show! It used to be better and could be again. Futurama airs Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET.

Good news everyone! Futurama has returned!

    In 2003, after five seasons on the air (released in four DVD volumes; Wikipedia wrongly lists the four volumes as four seasons), Fox canceled Futurama.  Like so many bad decisions the network has made (canceling the amazingly awesome Firefly and Dollhouse and renewing the terrible Human Target spring to mind), this one was unacceptable.  However, luckily, the story doesn't end there.  In the last three years, four straight to DVD movies of the Futurama crew have been released.  And then Comedy Central asked for more episodes.  Last night, the culmination of that effort was gloriously realized when the first new Futurama episodes in nearly seven years premiered: "Rebirth" and "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela".


     Producers and creators Matt Groenig (The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen are back at the helm.  The voice cast, including Billy West (The Ren and Stimpy Show), Katey Sagal (Sons of Anarchy, Married With Children), John DiMaggio (Kim Possible), Tress MacNeille (The Simpsons), Maurice LaMarche (Pinky and the Brain), Phil LaMarr (MADtv, Samurai Jack), David Herman (Office Space, MADtv), and Lauren Tom (King of the Hill, Man in Trees),  has returned.  There were disputes over salary, and talk of recasting, but it all was worked out in time.  If it hadn't been, it may have killed the new episodes before they even got started.  The setting, the animation, it's all like it never left.  Fans of the show should not notice anything different.


     Plot wise, the first episode picks up right where the final movie left off: with the ship and all the main characters being sucked into a wormhole.  This was intended as a series finale, just in case nothing else was ordered, but the writers were able to transition it seamlessly into the new plot.  Unfortunately, the ship crashes almost immediately and almost everyone dies.  Luckily, the Professor has murdered a few adults and harvested their stem cells, so he is able to bring everyone back.  Someone explain to me how stem cells regrew Bender, a robot?  Not only that, but due to a comedy of errors, a Robot Fry and Robot Leela are created.  And there were the obligatory puns, acknowledging their new network.

     Loyal viewers know that Fry's love for Leela was always an unresolved plot, winding through each episode, and taking center stage in a couple of the movies.  The fourth movie had them together, and the new episodes thankfully continue that thread, rather than setting them back.  My sincere hope is that the two remain a couple, and I think it likely.  Although only the first of last night's two new episodes developed their relationship, in the second one they kissed goodbye as she left for a dangerous mission.  Futurama is the rare cartoon that allows it's characters lasting growth, and it's part of what makes it so special.  That aspect should be nurtured.


     Twenty six new episodes have been ordered.  If it's rebirth is like Family Guy's, we can look forward to even longer run than the original series, although since it has been resurrected for cable, that may be wishful thinking.  However, I know of no other show that was off the air for as long as Futurama was and then brought back, so this whole situation sprang from wishful thinking.  It gives you real hope to see that anything is possible.

     Futurama will be airing Thursday nights at 10pm on Comedy Central.