Futurama is UNOVER! (Original Cast is back!)

[Qalbert]

I dreamed I got cast as the professor. Like literally had an actual dream about it, very weird.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Then they should have just left the show alone. Either do it right or don't do it at all.

They didn't know they couldn't do it right until they actually had started setting contracts up and, besides, execs aren't geeks. They don't hold shows like Futurama sacred, they see them as moneymakers.

In any case, we still have four great seasons. They aren't going to mess with that. So we don't get more greatness, oh well.

ps: be just as mad at the voice actors, they wanted significant raises that are far beyond what any of us are likely to ever make. They don't care either.

[Qalbert]

They didn't know they couldn't do it right until they actually had started setting contracts up and, besides, execs aren't geeks. They don't hold shows like Futurama sacred, they see them as moneymakers.

In any case, we still have four great seasons. They aren't going to mess with that. So we don't get more greatness, oh well.

ps: be just as mad at the voice actors, they wanted significant raises that are far beyond what any of us are likely to ever make. They don't care either.

to be fair that may be a standard for their work, idk. relative to me yes its fucking ludicrous, but compared to similar roles idk

[Maxxthepenguin]

to be fair that may be a standard for their work, idk. relative to me yes its fucking ludicrous, but compared to similar roles idk

But if they REALLY CARED about such an AWESOME SHOW they would have accepted a more reasonable contract!!!!

Futurama is, always has been, and in the forseeable future will continue to be a corporate product. It doesn't fit into the realities of our capitalist system so it gets thrown out... it's just how it works. They know how much fans are willing to put in and they know how little non-fans care. It just doesn't balance in the favor of the fans. Call me jaded, but I seriously don't think this matters that much.

(In any case, if the movies are any indication, we aren't going to have the greatness of the original seasons no matter what voice actors come back.)

[geno]

I think nostalgia and "old always > new" syndrome blind a lot of people to the quality of the movies. I'm not saying they were the best among the Futurama archive, but I'd say they certainly weren't far off from the average. There were 4 full seasons of Futurama, its unreasonable to expect the movies to be as good as the best episodes of those four seasons. And lets not forget, there certainly were some moments of wonderful writing in the films that rivaled even the better Futurama episodes. I think its a little soon to say the writers have lost their touch.

Also, who's to say what the VAs were asking for was unreasonable? You know what the Simpsons voice actors make? Last I heard, nearly 400K an episode. Now obviously that's a network show, so Fox can get away with a bigger budget, but its not like the Futurama voice actors are trying to milk more then they are worth (the figure mentioned here was 75K/ep I think?). The three stars at least, West, Sagal, and DiMaggio have all had pretty expansive television careers (West and Sagal in particular) and were a large part of what made Futurama what it was. They deserve everything they can get, they do a wonderful job (Billy West's talent is really top notch btw, he really managed to save the Zapp character with such grace after Phil Hartman's untimely death prevented him from taking the role).

I think you are a little jaded when it comes to the fans vs non-fans by the way. If the networks didn't care what the fans thought, Futurama would never be making its return in the first place. They would have had no reason to believe the show will do better this time if not for the diehards who helped make the show more prolific and cult-worthy after its cancellation than it ever was during its network run. Money and ratings are always the main goals for them of course, but I think you are a little too pessimistic and jaded if you think catering to the fans wants can never coincide with that.

[TummieGaruda]

My understanding is this:

Fox owns Futurama and Produces it. When it was canceled they owned the Syndication rights. Cartoon Network picked up the Syndication in a contract with Fox for 10 million dollars to Syndicate the show for 5 years ( 2003 - 2008 ). Midway thru the contract, Comedy Central obtained the syndication contract once Cartoon Networks contract expired in 2008. This purchase was the biggest purchase that Comedy Central has ever made in their entire history (No dollar amount was given)

I think that all of the money that Fox received for Syndication Rights over the 5 year period that Cartoon Network broadcasted the show allowed them to create the Direct to DVD movies.

Now, Comedy Central wanted to make new episodes so I believe they contacted Fox and Fox gave them a total cost of doing new episodes that Comedy Central thought was too high. So they had to cut a lot of stuff, going with a small writing staff and what not to meet an amount that Comedy Central felt was within their budget. Unfortunately, this meant cutting the amount for the Voice Actors down to $75,000 per episode which was lower than what they were expecting. Since they weren't able to agree on a price that made the VA's happy I guess they are going with a new cast.

Now, do you think $75,000/episode is fair? I don't know what goes on in the process of doing VA's. I know that the Simpsons Voice Actors wanted $500,000 an episode for this past season and Fox wasn't going to pay them that much but they settled on something like $400,000 an episode.

At any rate, if I were Comedy Central and the original VA's weren't on board and wouldn't take a paycut then I wouldn't even let the show continue and just let it stay in syndication.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I think nostalgia and "old always > new" syndrome blind a lot of people to the quality of the movies. I'm not saying they were the best among the Futurama archive, but I'd say they certainly weren't far off from the average. There were 4 full seasons of Futurama, its unreasonable to expect the movies to be as good as the best episodes of those four seasons. And lets not forget, there certainly were some moments of wonderful writing in the films that rivaled even the better Futurama episodes. I think its a little soon to say the writers have lost their touch.

The movies were worse than the episodes, seriously. They all suffered from too many retreaded old characters (HEY REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THIS GUY?) and the new ones generally weren't great. Bender's Big Score's scammer aliens were pretty terrible, though the time travel plot was very good. Beast with a Billion Backs was a good concept but just wasn't well written. It felt stretched into its 90 minutes. Bender's Game was dreadful. Wild Green Yonder was decent, but forgettable. They all had problems with nonstop cameos of one note characters that seemed like they were there to please the fans, not make a better story to attract new ones.

Also, who's to say what the VAs were asking for was unreasonable? You know what the Simpsons voice actors make? Last I heard, nearly 400K an episode. Now obviously that's a network show, so Fox can get away with a bigger budget, but its not like the Futurama voice actors are trying to milk more then they are worth (the figure mentioned here was 75K/ep I think?). The three stars at least, West, Sagal, and DiMaggio have all had pretty expansive television careers (West and Sagal in particular) and were a large part of what made Futurama what it was. They deserve everything they can get, they do a wonderful job (Billy West's talent is really top notch btw, he really managed to save the Zapp character with such grace after Phil Hartman's untimely death prevented him from taking the role).

My sentence was sarcastic. The high salary they wanted was as unreasonable as the choice to cut costs, which is, not at all. My point is neither the actors nor fox really cares about what the fans want beyond producing a product they might watch for a low cost.

I think you are a little jaded when it comes to the fans vs non-fans by the way. If the networks didn't care what the fans thought, Futurama would never be making its return in the first place. They would have had no reason to believe the show will do better this time if not for the diehards who helped make the show more prolific and cult-worthy after its cancellation than it ever was during its network run. Money and ratings are always the main goals for them of course, but I think you are a little too pessimistic and jaded if you think catering to the fans wants can never coincide with that.

Doing what the fans want is simply not their motivation. If they can make money off of the fanaticism, they'll more than oblige, but they aren't going to lose money on fans' behalf.

Catering to the fans works out when they produce special editions that cost an extra 3 mil to make on a 100 mil movie and can sell it for 50% more. It doesn't work out when doing a full scale production that requires actors that require significantly large salaries. Catering to the fans can also work by trying to give the fans what they want at a cost that is more reasonable for the audience. That's what they're trying to do, and it turns out they can't do that without cutting the cast costs.

That all being said, it's possible that some of the cast might hear about this and come back to the show anyways. It's not a big time commitment and some actors may actually care enough about the show to want to do it again.

[Kaylia]

I liked the movie as much as any episodes. Some part were funny, other were just fun to watch.

You can hate them if you want, but don't speak for everyone.

[Maxxthepenguin]

When I express an opinion, I'm not claiming to speak for everyone, just myself.

[Kaylia]

When I express an opinion, I'm not claiming to speak for everyone, just myself.

I don't know man, that's not how to told us to write our opinion back in high school. You made some pretty general and broad statement above.

[Maxxthepenguin]

I don't know man, that's not how to told us to write our opinion back in high school. You made some pretty general and broad statement above.

I was taught in high school how to recognize opinion without constantly stating imo

[Qalbert]

I was taught in high school how to recognize opinion without constantly stating imo

UNPOSSIBLE!

[Kaylia]

I was taught in high school how to recognize opinion without constantly stating imo

Don't worry about me, I was able to tell this much. I'm not absolutely convince that you do though.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Don't worry about me, I was able to tell this much. I'm not absolutely convince that you do though.

Here's how this works. I post a basic statement of opinion (movies r sux). Somebody else posts a dissenting opinion (movies r gud). I post my opinion disagreeing with his opinion (movies r sux cuz stuff) with a few details of why. Then he posts describing his opinion more. Then I say "oh I didn't see it that way before", "oh I disagree", "oh your standards are hilariously low", or "oh u sux".

And that's how discussions about opinion work. Comprends?

[Kaylia]

Here's how this works. I post a basic statement of opinion (movies r sux). Somebody else posts a dissenting opinion (movies r gud). I post my opinion disagreeing with his opinion (movies r sux cuz stuff) with a few details of why. Then he posts describing his opinion more. Then I say "oh I didn't see it that way before", "oh I disagree", "oh your standards are hilariously low", or "oh u sux".

And that's how discussions about opinion work. Comprends?

Do you enjoy reading online review from site like <Redacted> or <Redacted>? I hope you do, because that's what your opinion sound like. I could argue, but what's the point, everything in your original was incredibly arbitrary and vague. If I did, it would eventually lead to a pointless "yes/no" argument.

Anyway, why not simplify your post to "I didn't like the movie" if you know it's an opinion, it's not like you brought factual information or made good point.

The movies were worse than the episodes, seriously. They all suffered from too many retreaded old characters (HEY REMEMBER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THIS GUY?) and the new ones generally weren't great. Bender's Big Score's scammer aliens were pretty terrible, though the time travel plot was very good. Beast with a Billion Backs was a good concept but just wasn't well written. It felt stretched into its 90 minutes. Bender's Game was dreadful. Wild Green Yonder was decent, but forgettable. They all had problems with nonstop cameos of one note characters that seemed like they were there to please the fans, not make a better story to attract new ones.

Rethreaded old characters? So what? It's not like the majority of the movie were built on these 5 sec cameo. Beside, is it really a bad thing to bring back every characters once on a final "episode" (or rather, 4 final movie) ?

[geno]

Regarding the salary thing, I had a feeling you were being sarcastic, but I don't doubt some people felt that way so I posted that anyways. Anyways, who knows, I'm not really qualified to say what they deserve to make. I have no idea what similarly situated voice actors would get, and my only point of reference is the Simpsons' salary. Maybe they were asking for too much. But even if they were, pulling this kind of sleezy negotiating tactic to get them to give in is pretty fucked up.

On to the movie debate! I will give you that few of the new characters really stood out that well for me, but its unfair to say there weren't some good ones. I didn't much care for the scammers either, as well as Colleen, but Yevo was alright though, and the crazy people from Wild Green Yonder were great. I wouldn't exactly say thats much better or worse than the introduction of side characters throughout the series, some were meh, and some were great.

I feel like you are judging the movies by comparing your least favorite elements from them with the greatest scenes from the series, which will of course always end up a let down. The show had its low points (not too low mind you! [maybe even higher!]) and the movie had its great scenes as well. As far as I'm concerned, the writing staff have already shown me, even if in piecemeal fashion, that they still have what it takes to produce some great Futurama episodes. Their plot in Bender's Big Score was fantastic, there were plenty of fantastic one liners that didn't depart from the original show's style, and they didn't let the characters' motivations and faults change much if at all. All of the elements were there, the movie format just didn't really show the material off the same way the 30-minute episodes did.

On the 'retreading' issue, with the writers treating the movies as their last real hurrah, it was of course inevitable that there would be some cameo overload. I still think you are overplaying how bad it was though. Throughout the vast majority of the movies it was hardly present, and when it was, they were generally tastefully done. It obviously was different from the regular seasons, but I think its fair to allow it considering the circumstances.


I'm not going to argue with you on Fox's motivations though. I'm a bit more optimistic than you, but honestly, not that much (especially knowing its Fox). I've lost a lot of hope when it comes to TV over the years and Network Decay would undoubtedly be a major reason why.

[Maxxthepenguin]

Do you enjoy reading online review from site like <Redacted> or <Redacted>? I hope you do, because that's what your opinion sound like. I could argue, but what's the point, everything in your original was incredibly arbitrary and vague. If I did, it would eventually lead to a pointless "yes/no" argument.

Anyway, why not simplify your post to "I didn't like the movie" if you know it's an opinion, it's not like you brought factual information or made good point.

Because I like having discussions.

Rethreaded old characters? So what? It's not like the majority of the movie were built on these 5 sec cameo. Beside, is it really a bad thing to bring back every characters once on a final "episode" (or rather, 4 final movie) ?

To me, nothing shouts "HEY FANS, LOVE ME PLEASE" then trotting out old characters that were great in their respective episodes but out of place where they're being shown. It just wasn't well written. I'm not somebody that ever idolized Futurama, but I always appreciated it for being quality without pandering to its audience. I felt like adding character cameos for the sake of cameos is pandering in a Family Guy type way.

Regarding the salary thing, I had a feeling you were being sarcastic, but I don't doubt some people felt that way so I posted that anyways. Anyways, who knows, I'm not really qualified to say what they deserve to make. I have no idea what similarly situated voice actors would get, and my only point of reference is the Simpsons' salary. Maybe they were asking for too much. But even if they were, pulling this kind of sleezy negotiating tactic to get them to give in is pretty fucked up.

The simpsons is a institution that had an enormous impact on our culture. It's also been iconic to the Fox TV brand. It gets a bit more leeway because of this.

On to the movie debate! I will give you that few of the new characters really stood out that well for me, but its unfair to say there weren't some good ones. I didn't much care for the scammers either, as well as Colleen, but Yevo was alright though, and the crazy people from Wild Green Yonder were great. I wouldn't exactly say thats much better or worse than the introduction of side characters throughout the series, some were meh, and some were great.

Ok, Yeevo was pretty decent and the crazies were fun. The thing is, I enjoyed pretty much every side character that Futurama had come up with before, at least in the initial episodes they appeared in.

I feel like you are judging the movies by comparing your least favorite elements from them with the greatest scenes from the series, which will of course always end up a let down. The show had its low points (not too low mind you! [maybe even higher!]) and the movie had its great scenes as well. As far as I'm concerned, the writing staff have already shown me, even if in piecemeal fashion, that they still have what it takes to produce some great Futurama episodes. Their plot in Bender's Big Score was fantastic, there were plenty of fantastic one liners that didn't depart from the original show's style, and they didn't let the characters' motivations and faults change much if at all. All of the elements were there, the movie format just didn't really show the material off the same way the 30-minute episodes did.

No episodes were as bad as Bender's Game. Now, it is very possible that the format screwed them over (making the movies exactly 88 minutes that has to be logically split into four episodes is a pretty tough job) but it's hard to know.

On the 'retreading' issue, with the writers treating the movies as their last real hurrah, it was of course inevitable that there would be some cameo overload. I still think you are overplaying how bad it was though. Throughout the vast majority of the movies it was hardly present, and when it was, they were generally tastefully done. It obviously was different from the regular seasons, but I think its fair to allow it considering the circumstances.

When I want a last hurrah with a show, or anything really, I want it to remind me of why I liked it in the first place. Parading characters for five second cameos seems like the laziest and most pandering way to do it and I hate being pandered to.

I'm not going to argue with you on Fox's motivations though. I'm a bit more optimistic than you, but honestly, not that much (especially knowing its Fox). I've lost a lot of hope when it comes to TV over the years and Network Decay would undoubtedly be a major reason why.

I really can't imagine any network doing any better than Fox is doing with Futurama because there is no other major network that would have given Futurama a shot to begin with. Fox doesn't care beyond the bottom line, but they do take risks with this kind of show that others don't.

[Katlan]

I don't think bender is pleased...

http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/v...DSCF0007-1.jpg

[Valkrish]

An update to that article says it gets worse. Smaller staff and shorter production time.

The universe as we know it is
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ooooooomed.jpg
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!

You know, when i saw this picture i thought...

"Oh hey, what if they already knew this was coming and made this as a troll move"

You know, characters from an alternate universe as them (!)

~~~

[Enygma55]

The Universe is saved !!!

Original Voice Actors strike a deal !

TheStar.com | entertainment | Futurama cast members ink new deal with Fox