James Harvey
03-02-2002, 02:10 PM
www.zap2it.com:
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "Futurama" could be called a "gift to animators."
Creator Matt Groening told audience members that he always wanted to do a science fiction series Thursday night (Feb. 28) during the 19th annual William S. Paley Television Festival, because he wanted to work with a genre that would "show off" animators' talents. In contrast to having them draw the "dumpy yellow people" on his other creation, "The Simpsons."
Having premiered in 1999, the animated comedy is in danger of meeting its end at the end of this season. Sure, FOX has enough episodes in the can to air the series until the end of 2003, but whether the people who work on the show will still have jobs is a question that remains up in the air.
"We're in the process of firing our agents," jokes Rich Moore aabout the writers' current activities on the series.
Sadly, it may not be a joke. The show's animators have already been let go, and Groening worries that he might not be able to get them back if FOX does decide to order more episodes. He says that their work on "Futurama" has helped make them desirable to film studios, who may hire them on multiple-year projects.
Despite it all, "we're hopeful" that FOX will remain committed to the series, he says.
In the meantime, fans of the series have something to look forward to. Co-creator David X. Cohen promises to address a number of the show's hidden secrets in the episodes that are still slated to air. For example, the Feb. 17 episode revealed that Leela is a mutant, not an alien as previously thought.
Fans in the know, however, might have noticed this a while ago, thanks to a little hint planted in a previous episode. Leela's parents, who gave her up for adoption years before, had followed her life from not too afar the entire time. In the episode "I Second that Emotion" from the second season they can be spotted in a group photo.
These little details all point to how complete Cohen and Groening's vision is for "Futurama." In coming up with a pitch for FOX, Groening says that they had fleshed out the idea so much that the network was impressed, leading it to order 13 episodes of the series an hour into the meeting.
"We pitched so many ideas that there are characters that still haven't made it onto the show yet," adds Cohen.
If FOX doesn't order more episodes, Groening says he is interested in making a film version, although no studio has jumped on board yet.
Comments?
"Futurama's" season finale will air Sunday, May 5, with a special episode featuring the cast of the original "Star Trek."
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "Futurama" could be called a "gift to animators."
Creator Matt Groening told audience members that he always wanted to do a science fiction series Thursday night (Feb. 28) during the 19th annual William S. Paley Television Festival, because he wanted to work with a genre that would "show off" animators' talents. In contrast to having them draw the "dumpy yellow people" on his other creation, "The Simpsons."
Having premiered in 1999, the animated comedy is in danger of meeting its end at the end of this season. Sure, FOX has enough episodes in the can to air the series until the end of 2003, but whether the people who work on the show will still have jobs is a question that remains up in the air.
"We're in the process of firing our agents," jokes Rich Moore aabout the writers' current activities on the series.
Sadly, it may not be a joke. The show's animators have already been let go, and Groening worries that he might not be able to get them back if FOX does decide to order more episodes. He says that their work on "Futurama" has helped make them desirable to film studios, who may hire them on multiple-year projects.
Despite it all, "we're hopeful" that FOX will remain committed to the series, he says.
In the meantime, fans of the series have something to look forward to. Co-creator David X. Cohen promises to address a number of the show's hidden secrets in the episodes that are still slated to air. For example, the Feb. 17 episode revealed that Leela is a mutant, not an alien as previously thought.
Fans in the know, however, might have noticed this a while ago, thanks to a little hint planted in a previous episode. Leela's parents, who gave her up for adoption years before, had followed her life from not too afar the entire time. In the episode "I Second that Emotion" from the second season they can be spotted in a group photo.
These little details all point to how complete Cohen and Groening's vision is for "Futurama." In coming up with a pitch for FOX, Groening says that they had fleshed out the idea so much that the network was impressed, leading it to order 13 episodes of the series an hour into the meeting.
"We pitched so many ideas that there are characters that still haven't made it onto the show yet," adds Cohen.
If FOX doesn't order more episodes, Groening says he is interested in making a film version, although no studio has jumped on board yet.
Comments?
"Futurama's" season finale will air Sunday, May 5, with a special episode featuring the cast of the original "Star Trek."