Two more episodes to go and we put some more detailed description up for both Bender should not be allowed on TV and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings". The complete description of the series finale will be published by FOX on their site later this coming week but it sadly includes a bit too much information. So, here's a slightly defused version:

Fry, in an effort to win Leela's love, makes a deal with the Robot Devil to become a gifted musician. He has tried to take Holophoner lessons, but his teacher claimed he had "stupid fingers." Bender realizes that the Robot Devil is the only one to help. Fry makes a deal only to regret it immediately as it comes with a hefty price.

If people protest the detail cutting too much in the comments, I might add more using a spoiler box, though I really think you should go into this episode without too much pre-knowledge.

Thanks to Brian from The Futon Critic for supplying us with the descriptions over the past few weeks.

The new comic has been out for a few days now, so it's time to give it a fair review.

In this issue, Futurama writer Patric Verrone tells the story of the crew unleashing a handful of Professor Farnsworth's better to be forgotten inventions on Earth - in 7 ways.

Also, last time I told you to write them letters! Come on now, we don't want them to feel unappreciated, do we? Write to:

Bongo Comics Group
P.O. BOX 1963
Santa Monica, CA 90406-1963

and add "For consideration for publication. If you publish it, it's your property." They are pretty likely to publish any fan art they get, too.

Dum dum dum, email... I mean Multimedia:

• Framegrabs: You absolutely loved the wooden Bender? You can! Because you can check our framegrabs to check back your favorite moments of the episode.


• Sounds & Quotes: You can check out some classic lines and listen to them.

Well that's it for today.

Here we go again (next week again, and then again, but that'd be it). Time power up your steam engine and contribute.

1. Reviews: See what others thought about the episode and let them know, too! But: One cross each and try to actual tell what you liked/disliked.
   
2. Capsule: The reference document for this episode. Saw anything noteworthy, weird or wrong? Submit it!
   
3. Trivia: 8 questions to test how well your anti-ADD training worked.
   

Also: Your mother!

As a nice sign that the 4ACV DVDs are heading towards Europe at the end of this year / start of next year, the British content rating group published its first ratings for the extras. There will be:

1. about 14 minutes of deleted scenes
   
2. something called "pencil test" (probably a gallery)
   
3. 3D models of the PE ship (+mods), Nimbus, Nixon-bot and various others
   
4. the animatic for Obsoletely Fabulous
   
5. 2 easter eggs (highlight to read): a table read for The Devil's Hands and a Star Trek panel discussion

It's not really clear if we'll see some more being added over time, but the commentaries aren't yet up and we know that all 18 of them have been recorded in addition to one extra one for Emmy nominee "Jurassic Bark", focusing on the writing process. And there might be a small DVD-Data special. Not sure about the last one.

For the envious Americans: The Season 2 DVD set is about to be released (only 17 days now!), so go preoder it at 25% off at amazon.

It has come to my attention from TBS' website that these Futurama episodes are SAP enabled. Normally your TV remote will have a SAP button... Press it, and you can hear Fry talk Spanish like the mexican he isn't!
Mon 28th: I Second That Emotion
Tue 29th: Brannigan, Begin Again
Wed 30th: A Head in The Polls
Thu 31st: Xmas Story
Fri 01st: Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love?

In a long article with an even longer title of 'Futurama' May Be Ending, But Its Past Is Prelude to a Funny Future, Associated Press writer Frazier Moore lauds Futurama's track record and mourns its soon to happen demise:

A prediction: Viewers eons from now will give "Futurama" the credit it deserves today. [...]

Matt Groening's big "Simpsons" follow-up, "Futurama" has always been overshadowed by his brilliant first-born.

Who knows why? The verbal humor, sight gags, wicked cultural jabs and general irreverence that make "The Simpsons" great are found full-strength on "Futurama," as is spectacular voice talent [...]

What's more, "Futurama" took a bold step beyond "The Simpsons" [...] to take on the entire universe from a vantage point a thousand years away.

For a change, the author seems to know what he's talking about and even cites multiple episodes. Looks like there are fans among the AP staffers, too.

The cable channel G4TV scheduled a Saturday 26th airing of their gamer.tv feature called "In the Futurama". In this, they'll be talking to the guys behind the PS2 & XBox Futurama Video Game, which is due to be released on August 15th in America and August 1st in Europe.
Problem is, the report airs at 2:30 AM ET in the morning, so you might want to set your VCR.

Recently, California fan Alexandra (Randi) wrote a school persuasive essay about the way FOX treats Futurama, and low and behold, she got an A+ on the report. I plan on sending this essay to some FOX executives and Futurama staffers soon, because I think the report is very well done, and could open the eyes of some blinded people at FOX. Here's a tid-bit of Espousing a Future for Futurama :

The humor, the plot twists, the characters! You can't believe a show like this has been on the air for years and you've never heard of it! As you stare blankly into the set, you become more and more engrossed by the second. Just before your eyes are allowed to view the exciting conclusion, static can be heard as wavy lines appear throughout the screen. You bang the television-no use-the show is gone and can't be brought back.

And here we go with our Bend Her multimedia update:

• Sounds & Quotes: 12 great lines from this episode to reread and relisten to.
  
• Frame Grabs: For those who missed a scene or just want to see one again.
  
• Trivia: So, you wiseguys think you know everything? Well test your knowledge with trivia!

And that's it for today

Thanks to CGEF readers Mary, Gaffey, Mike M., David F., David P., Brian and Kon, I'm now able to present a report on the 5th Futurama panel at San Diego Comic Con 2003. In addition to a general overview of who was there and what happened, you'll find 8 nice pictures, spoilers for "Bender Should not be Allowed on TV" which was screened for the audience and a summary of the Question & Answer session.

Also on the convention, the i-men creators Toynami announced that they'll produce a 10 figure Futurama set consisting out of Fry, Leela, Bender, Zoidberg, Farnsworth, Calculon, Belzebot, Roberto, Morbo and URL. These supposedly come in packs of two for roughly $10.

A new episode aired, so it's time you get your lazy asses down into that chair of yours and start submitting reviews and capsule entries! For further discussion, check out this PEEL thread.

The multimedia parts and trivia questions will be a bit late this week due to business on our side.

I got a first submission regarding the Sand Diego Comic Con:
David P. sent me a picture of Billy West singing "Walking on Sunshine" in Fry's voice and Bender voice John Dimaggio doing his trademark laugh.
The episode shown to the public was "Bender Should Not be Allowed on TV" which got a great reaction.
I still would like more accounts on everything to write a second hand report on it. Pictures, too. So, if you went there, mail me what you got. Audience or panelist, all are welcome.

Don't forget to watch the Futurama episode "Bend Her" at 7PM on FOX tonight. 3 more episodes to go after this one.

On an unrelated note: Anyone who went to SD Comic Con yesterday and saw the Futurama panel, we'd like to get a mind protocol/transcript and pictures to publish here. So get busy. Accounts by panelists are welcome, too
Our own crew got stuck in traffic and one hell of a line of admission.

This is basically the CN line-up for this week, with one added episode on Monday. But hey, it's free Futurama, so who cares? Enjoy your Futurama-fix at 2PM Eastern time on TBS The Super Station.
Mon 21st: Hell is Other Robots
Tue 22nd: A Flight To Remember
Wed 23rd: Mars University
Thu 24th: When Aliens Attack
Fri 25th: Fry and The Slurm Factory

these are the last episodes of Futurama that will air on Cartoon Network's Adlut-Swim line up until the end of Summer. So be sure to watch them to get nice final ratings for Futurama until CN starts showing them again.
Mon 21st: Flight To Remember
Tue 22nd: Mars University
Wed 23rd: When Aliens Attack
Thu 24th: Fry and The Slurm Factory

Last year, Futurama won the Emmy in its main category even after FOX forced the production to discontinue. Now, the 55th Annual Primetime Emmy nominations are in and Futurama again conquered one of the precious 5 slots allotted to the creative arts category of "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". The competition looks as follows:

• As Told By Ginger - And She Was Gone
• Kim Possible - Crush
• The Simpsons - Three Gays Of The Condo
• SpongeBob SquarePants - New Student Starfish/Clams

Futurama enters the race with the episode "Jurassic Bark" which stirred up quite some discussion and dissent among fans. The day after it aired we got a lot of hits from search terms like "Futurama Dog" as people who previously didn't get invovled into nerdy internet discussions joined in. Even by today, this episode is the most reviewed one on this site.

The winner of this year will be announced on September 13th at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Last year, E! aired a 2 hour special. I don't yet know if they will do so again.
Ironically, FOX's strategy of death by installments makes Futurama eligible for another Emmy nomination next year.

The weekly edition of scifi.com awarded us with the title "Site of the Week" for July 14, 2003:

Fox may have failed to renew Futurama, but fans of Matt Groening's animated science-fiction comedy can still feed their insatiable desire for all things Bender & Co. by visiting Can't Get Enough Futurama. The site offers everything fans expect to find, and plenty that they don't.
-- Ken Newquist at scifi.com

Thanks to all the people around here who contributed over the years!

Psst. The Slurm can with playing cards is available at eMerchandise for just under $8 again. Their stocks never held for more than a day or two after us announcing this and ~ 40 were shipped yesterday already. Rix doesn't seem to produce nearly enough to meet the demand. I was lucky to find mine at a local store which also only had that one.
UPDATE: Out of stock in less than 5 hours.

With the 14th issue of the Futurama comics set to be released in about a week, we got some info on number 15 already:

Fry's dreams come true when he is offered the chance of a lifetime -- to play the part of his childhood comic book hero Space Boy in a big budget, special effects filled, motion picture extravaganza! But the life of a Hollywood star and superhero is not all its cracked up to be, and nothing can prepare him for the movie's surprise twist ending!

This one should be out in late September / early October.

On the calendar front, amazon changed the release date of the 2004 edition from August to July 29th. They don't have pictures of the cover or backside overview yet, but you can find them on our calendar page.
Preorders are available at 20% off.

OK, some hours earlier than mArc promised, here is the multimedia side of the new episode:

• Framegrabs: You think you spotted Fry's second horn? Well you can check our framegrabs to check back your favorite moments of the episode.


• Sounds & Quotes: Did you really enjoy the jokes of Bender this episode? You can check out some classic lines (thanks to edel).

Well that's it for today.

After one month of Futurama drought, Spanish Fry gets things up again!

• Episode Reviews: Tell others, us and yet others what you thought of today's episode. It's more interesting if you write more than 2 words though
  
• Episode Capsule: This document will hopefully become a nice guide to the episode, so add all the goofs, references and notable things you were able to find.
  
• Episode Trivia: Think you paid attention while watching? Try this.

The multimedia part will follow tomorrow. Now leave your horn alone and get to work!

Oh, and do we have a birthday child on the Futurama crew today by chance? Congrats!

With the San Diego Comic-Con only being days away (and one week away for the Futurama panel), I took it upon myself to write a Comic-Con Daily Planner for anyone who is going. There will be many Futurama related happenings at this year's Comic-Con, but I think this is definitely going to be the best part of the 'Con:

Calling all Futurama fans! Matt Groening is proud to present Comic-Con

A few notes on the remaining episodes:

The missing of 4ACV06 "Bender should not be allowed on TV" had many people including me wonder. The reason for this one to be postponed so much is that FOX aimed at using it as the series finale. Curiosity Company intervened to have the planned for semi-finale "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" go last instead. FOX promised to do so, but 4ACV06 still ended up second last (eg, not last).

Both 4ACV06 and tomorrow's 4ACV17 will have a special opening theme. You'll like it. Also, they have a bonus at the end during the credits. Sadly, FOX is known to cut these off. Still, don't switch off your TV before you are sure that FOX screwed it.

Thanks to DXC for clarifying these things.

First a reminder that there is an unaired Futurama episode on this Sunday at 7PM on FOX. Don't miss Fry's horn getting abducted.

This brings us to the following confirmed schedule:

Sun 13th: Spanish Fry.

Sun 20th: Bend Her

Sun 27th: Obsoletely Fabulous

On the latter one I can reveal a bit more now (UPDATED: Now with corrections directly from the horse's mouth):

When Fry, Bender and the Planet Express gang attend Roboticon 3003 - the world's largest robot trade show - the Professor purchases the new "Robot 1-X", which threatens to render Bender obsolete. Feeling inadequate, Bender returns to MomCorp for an upgrade, but becomes terrified that the procedure will erase his robo-humanity. In desperation, he escapes from the factory and becomes a castaway on a tropical island that seems uninhabited... or is it? Violence ensues.

So, it is infact not a sequal to "Bend Her", but a separate episode about a separate Bender upgrade.

After that we are expecting the final two episodes to air on Sunday the 3rd and 10th of August respectively.

I find it sad that these episodes are sort of over-lapping CN's line-up, but I suppose it's not that big of a deal. Enjoy these three season one episodes on TBS The Super Station airing at 2PM Eastern Time.
Mon 14th: Fear Of a Bot Planet
Tue 15th: A Fishful of Dollars
Wed 16th: Super Movie: While you were sleeping
Thu 17th: My Three Suns
Wed 16th: A Big Piece of Garbage

I said last week that it would be the second to last week of Futurama on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, but for some reason I was wrong... And in actuality, this is the second to last week of Futurama on CN. So, I dunno how I messed that one up.
Mon 14th: A Fishful of Dollars
Tue 15th: My Three Suns
Wed 16th: A Big Piece of Garbage
Thu 17th: Hell is Other Robots

The IGN Film Force section is on its path through a 5 part interview installment with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim senior vice president Mike Lazzo. The first few parts steered around the whole Futurama/Family Guy topic, but now it's getting interesting:

[On Futurama on FOX]

LAZZO: [...] But, you know, they're still airing Futuramas.

IGNFF: Technically...

LAZZO: Technically. Exactly. I was shocked

According to a report by the Daily Express (national newspaper of East Malaysia), the Futurama episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" was deemed unsuited for the Malaysian public by the Film Censorship Board. No reasoning was readily avaiable for this February ruling and frankly, I wouldn't know what's worse about this episode than others.

Known for a strong censoring regime regarding sex, swearing and violence, board chairman Shaari Mohamad Noor once commented the rationale of the institution as "to instil good morals and values in our people, we have to stop importing films that are not appropriate for our country."

So, be careful with buying Season 1 VCDs and DVDs over there. Possession, distribution and sale of banned titles in any form in Malaysia is punishable by a maximum 30,000 ringgit fine and three years in jail.

The top 100 telecasts on Cartoon Network for the month of May are in and Futurama continues to score quite well, though not as good as in April. With a 2.1/4 rating each, it captured ranks 6, 9 and 10 among the ten most viewed CN programs throughout May. Thanks to lfv for mapping these to the episodes:

#06 - "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" - 2.1/4

#09 - "Parasites Lost" - 2.1/4

#10 - "Amazon Women in the Mood" - 2.1/4

#17 - "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" - 2.1/4

#24 - "The Luck of the Fryrish" - 2.0/4

#31 - "The Honking" - 2.0/4

#36 - "Bender Gets Made" - 2.0/4

#39 - "Raging Bender" - 2.0/4

#50 - "The Cryonic Woman" - 1.9/4

#55 - "War is the H-Word" - 1.9/4

#66 - "A Clone of My Own" - 1.9/4

#68 - "A Bicyclops Built For Two" - 1.9/4

#76 - "Bendless Love" - 1.8/3

#95 - "Anthology of Interest I" 1.8/3

#100 - "Mothers' Day" - 1.8/3

Number 1 and 3 were runs of the Powerpuff Movie. Contrary to prior predictions, Family Guy did not manage to outrun Futurama that month. Its best performance landed it on rank 22.

With the 55th Primetime Emmy nominations being announced on the 17th of this month, networks & production companies are busy printing "for your consideration" ads. While I didn't see one specifically for Futurama (anyone?), FOX put out a combined front page ad on The Daily Variety of June 5th which includes Futurama among 15 other shows. The irony is that it touts the FOX-logo as a "Proof of Quality" when half the shows on display are either cancelled or went through severe remodelling. Now, I liked some of these shows (eg, Futurama), but why'd they cancel quality?
Anyway... A second Emmy for Futuarma in the 'Outstanding Animated Program (<1 h)' category after winning it last year seems hard to imagine. Still, lets hope for some nominations.

I have been away for a while, and now I'm back so I decided to go through my pile of fan art. I'm sorry for the long wait times. Check out several new submissions from various submitters and Otis P Jivefunk. I must also ask you in the future to include if you want your email address published with your art and that you only send art to fanart@gotfuturama.com, if you want to ask questions feel free to contact me or the fan art email.

Starting this Monday and continuing throughout the summer, Futurama (followed by Family Guy) will air at 2PM on TBS. As of now, both shows will be shown in production order.
Mon 07th: Space Pilot 3000
Tue 08th: The Series Has Landed
Wed 09th: I, Roommate
Thu 10th: Pre-empted by baseball
Fri 11th: Loves Labours Lost in Space

This is the second to last week of Futurama on The Adult Swim line-up, so give it some extra nice ratings and watch these four episodes. These four episodes are very good too! By the way, we expect CN to air more Futurama later on, this is just a break.
Mon 07th: A Big Piece of Garbage
Tue 08th: Hell is Other Robots
Wed 09th: A Flight To Remember
Thu 10th: Mars University

Well, with only 13 days away, we're finally getting some more detailed official information about Futurama being at Comic-Con in San Diego California on the 19th of this month. This is from their website:

Matt Groening, a Comic-Con special guest, sits down with some of his voice cast and crew members of both Futurama and The Simpsons, from 12:00-2:00 p.m.

It's still uncertain if this is going to be a 100% Futurama discussion or joined with a Simpsons discussion, they might have said "Simpsons" because so many producers and writers work on both shows. Also unclear is whether or not they will show an unaired Futurama episode, though I'm still leaning towards a "yes" judging from past cons. I'm hoping to get more information on this on Monday.

After announcing the new episode "Spanish Fry" for the 13th a few days ago, I now got the long drescription for "Bend Her":

Bender faces his greatest challenge when he tricks his way into the 3004 Earth Olympian and wins several events, but he must endure the final and most revealing test to receive his medals. When Bender has a date with a major robot celebrity, Calculon, he sees this as an opportunity to be wined and dined like never before. When Bender realizes there's an inequity of feelings, he enlists Fry's and Leela's help to stage a "soap opera death".

This fourth last episode is now officially scheduled to air on Sunday, July 20 at 7PM on FOX.

Update: The episode guide now has a picture from this episode with female Bender ("Coilette") and Calculon in a spa.

Annoyed with CN removing Futurama from its schedule for the rest of the summer after July 24th? Well, here's something to compensate it: TBS Superstation (another AOL-TW channel) just announced that they will pick up both Futurama and Family Guy for weekday summer reruns.

"FUTURAMA and THE FAMILY GUY have proven to be stellar hits among adults 18-34 for the late-night Cartoon Network Adult Swim crowd, and we are confident they will prove to be equally popular during the afternoons on TBS Superstation."

Starting next Monday (the 7th) Futurama will replace 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' at 2PM and be followed up by Family Guy at 2:30PM ET. Their schedule page does not yet reflect that change though.

We've been holding back news on the Season 4 DVD set (Europe) release date lacking credible sources. Now FOX HE has spoken and touts with November 17th. This is of course subject to change. The set will include the final 18 episodes of the Futurama cycle together with commentary for each of them and hopefully some neat extras. The set is again done as contract work by the same people who did a great job on Season 1 to 3 and executive producer Cohen is said to be helping with some of the things for a first time.