"Science fiction for the most part operates on a New Age military motif," in Matt Groening's opinion. "If we can just follow orders from our benevolent captain then we can defeat the outside evil and everything will be great."

Get real. The Simpsons creator tells February's Wired magazine that he's "trying to do something a little different from Star Trek and Star Wars" in his new animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama, set for a spring debut on Fox. "I imagine a corporate, commercial, confusing world where the military is just as stupid as it is currently," he says.

"One of the fun things about doing science fiction is that it has this built-in responsive culture," Groening says. "We created a character named Cubert who will anticipate fan complaints about the show's inconsistencies, and then will address them within the show."

A sci-fi fan himself, Groening also understands the collector's mentality. Each of Wired's four February covers serves as a single panel in a sneak-preview Futurama comic strip. You can already hear the rustle of little protective Mylar bags.