Wait. How many seasons of Futurama have there been, anyway? That depends on whether you want to go by "broadcast" seasons - yearly runs of episodes - or "production" seasons - the chunks in which batches of episodes are ordered and commissioned. Some Wikipedia research has cleared everything up for me. This fifth "volume" (well played) of Futurama contains all thirteen episodes from the first thirteen episodes of the sixth "production" season of the show, or in other words, the seventh "broadcast" season. When the show first aired on Fox from 1999-2003, it did so in four "production" seasons but five out-of-order "broadcast" seasons. The four Futurama movies that came out in 2008 and 2009 were the fifth "production" season but the sixth "broadcast" season. (Which is still weird to me since they were movies, not TV seasons, but whatever.) The show was then picked up for 26 episodes by Comedy Central (a sixth production season) to be aired in two separate thirteen-episode broadcast seasons (the seventh and the eighth). Since then, an additional 26-episode order was placed, and now the show will run through at least seven production and ten broadcast seasons. Confusing? Yeah. Now I can appreciate that the DVD releases are all just called "volumes." So at any rate, let me stop boring you and actually talk about Futurama, and specifically this fifth volume of the show. It was a fantastic season (fuck it, that's just what I'm going to call these things from now on), perhaps the greatest Futurama season yet. As with all Futurama seasons, this one gave us a plentiful assortment of visual gags, groan-worthy puns, and clever punchlines. But it was also full of genuine heartfelt and emotional moments that you just don't get from most animated shows, or even most comedies these days. Combine these moving episodes with an assortment of lighthearted social commentaries on a wide variety of contemporary issues like iPhone obsession, gay marriage, The Da Vinci Code, and teaching evolution in schools, and you've really got yourself an entertaining and enjoyable series of episodes. Throw in some typical sci-fi fodder like time travel, body switching, and nanobots, and you've got yourself an excellent batch of episodes that could only be brought to you by Futurama. I'm very happy to have this show back on the air and pumped that there are at least thirty episodes left in its tank. Awesome.
I saw two episodes. One about nanobots. One about cats.
ReplyDeleteI still think the Simpsons is better.