"What is comedy? Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke." - Steve Martin (Futurama)

Member Name: ILoveJackDaniels

Product:	Futurama
Date:	13/10/01 (790 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny, Still Original, Bender is Great!

Disadvantages: Sometimes too Simpsons-like

It is difficult to imagine, as a Simpsons fan, that Matt Groening could turn his hand to much else in the way of animated comedy. I always assumed that if he ever did produce another series of any sort that it would be full of the same scenarios, characters and humour as his most famous series. Having just finished its third series, however, it is clear that Futurama is not the Simpsons clone I had expected.

The series revolves around a group of characters based at the Planet Express delivery company. Fry, the main character, is an immature, unintelligent delivery boy who was frozen in time accidentally and found himself in the year 3000. He is accompanied by a colourful group, including Bender the robot (penchant for stealing wallets and letting everyone know he is great), Zoidberg the weird Lobster-like doctor (who loves squirting ink over everyone when under attack, making strange sounds and moaning about being so poor), Leila (a lonely cyclops who can't find a man no matter how hard she tries), Hermes (a rastafarian accountant and general beurocrat), Amy (a cute accident-prone Martian) and the Professor (gloomy, and insane - totally).

The program has just finished its third series, and is still hysterical. There is still a strong elemant of the slapstick humour that made the Simpsons popular, but whereas most of the Simpsons episodes' plots are based around the family, each episode of Futurama is based around the lives of a group of individuals. This might not sound like much of a difference, but it gives a much wider scope for episode plots and great jokes.

I would go into more depth about the gags, but I don't want to give anything away, and to be honest, you really have to watch them to find them hysterical. Bender's 'Gaydar' (Bender: "He's Gay". Amy: "Are you sure". Bender "Absolutely ... unless I'm getting interference from a gay weather baloon!"), Dr Zoidberg's med
ical practices ("Now open your mouth and let's have a look at that brain... No, not that mouth, the other one") and Fry's sheer stupidity ("But .... Bender ... need ... brain ... for ... smart making") are all hilarious, but the episodes are crammed with great humour.

There are slight downsides to this series. The humour is quite immature - but then that's the way I like it, though I appreciate that's not to everyone's tastes. The only other criticism I have, if any, is that there are a fair few moments that remind me of the Simpsons. Of course, that's going to be difficult for the creators to avoid, but sometimes it's a little too obvious.

Overall, I have to day that Futurama is currently one of my favourite cartoons (although it will never take the place of Pinky and the Brain at number one, of course), and if you haven't watched it yet you really have missed out. If you're a Simpsons fan, you'll love this even more, but anyone with a sense of humour should appreciate it. I can't wait for the next series - I think I'm suffering Bender-withdrawl!

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