The thing that really killed Futurama was the time slot.
Groening complained from the beginning that 7:00 was too early to allow for much adult humor, and putting it on the same night as Simpsons was just a waste. Why not bring in the adult humor comic viewer a second night? Fox has a lot of absolutely vacant week nights.
Plus, putting it on at 7:00 eastern got it bumped repeatedly during football season.
The last episode was incredible.
The word appeared spelled out in this episode. Fry attempted to perform from a book called “My First Holophoner,” which features that wonderful hit, The Grumpy Snail.
One thing Tuckerfan forgot in his synopsis: as part of the Robot Devil’s ridiculous plan, he gave Bender an airhorn in exchange for his ass. Bender ended up deafening Leela, which really makes it hard to hear music. R.D., however, was willing to exchange a pair of robotic ears for her hand…IN MARRIAGE!
Best gag not yet mentioned: Donkey Beethoven.
Futurama is not dead!!!
It lives on in comic-book form. The Futurama comic book is written in part by staff writers on the show and, although early issues were somewhat inconsistent, now that the book has hit its stride, reading it is very much like watching an episode of the show. The most recent issue, #14 (with Fry, Leela and Amy trapped in a sea of Benders) is not only an absolute gas but is also an amazing feat of story construction.
Bongo Comics (the publisher of the Futurama comic as well as the consistently excellent “Simpsons Comics”) has said that despite the cancellation of the show, Futurama will live on in the comic as long as people keep buying it. Go buy a copy right now – your local Borders probably carries it, as well as various drug stores and supermarkets near you, not to mention your local comic-book retailer. It’s well worth the $2.50.
–Cliffy
The fuck? I had no idea that that was the last episode!!! I even turned to Mr. Bunny last night to exclaim, “You know, it seems like they’re playing Futurama regularly every Sunday night again and they’ve been really good lately, we should start taping them again!”
shakes fist at sky WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!
At least I got to see it. Another fellow here at work who loves Futurama as much as myself didn’t even watch it last night. I love Hedoism-bot! “But I’m not done vomiting yet! A-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
There was yet a third hint in the episode where Earth was invaded by the Harlem Globetrotters. The Professor created mutant genetically engineered monsters who could play basketball to beat the Globetrotters. Unfortunately, in doing so, he accidentally let loose these particles that caused time to jump forward. During the course of the episode, Fry did something to get Leela to marry (and then divorce) him. Unfortunately, because of the time leaps, he doesn’t find out what it was until the end of the episode, by which point, it’s too late. What he did can be found in the spoiler box.
To try to stop the time particles, the Professor decided to move the stars in the area the particles were coming from, to create a gravitational “wall” that would stop them from getting to earth. Fry is in charge of moving the stars, and he moves them so they spell out, “I love you, Leela”. Unfortunately the plan doesn’t work, and the Professor then decides to create a black hole, deciding that will create enough gravity. After they’ve planted the black hole generator, Fry sees the stars, and realizes what he did, but before he can show Leela, the generator turns on and all the stars get sucked in the black hole.
BTW how did Leela hear the Robot Devil when they made the deal for new ears in exchange for her hand in marriage? I assume it’s just a slip-up, because as far as I know he doesn’t have any real supernatural powers (as evidenced by his dash out of the theater).
I FEEL MUCH BETTER NOW. I BOUGHT A BRAIN SLUG HAT. NOW I AM HAPPY AGAIN. HAPPY. OH, SO HAPPY. IF YOU GIVE ME YOUR MAIL ADDRESS, I CAN SEND YOU A HAT AND YOU CAN BE HAPPY TOO. I WON"T EVEN CHARGE YOU FOR THE HATS. OR THE EXTRA SHIPPING. NOTE-THESE HATS ARE FRAGILE. THE BOXES MUST BE KEPT IN A COOL, DRY PLACE DURING DELIVERY. THE BOX MUST HAVE VENTILLATION HOLES AND BE KEPT RIGHT SIDE UP AT ALL TIMES. FORGET THE COMIC. THESE HATS ARE THE KEY TO HAPPINESS.
This was really funny. he grabbed Calculon’s pointy had sticks and stuck them in Leela’s ears. 
This wasn’t the only ep with fry using a holophoner is it? I seem to remember another in which he uses it for a good bit of the episode.
Yep - it was the episode in which Fry was infested with tapeworms. 
That was a really good episode. I love the whole opera thing. And Bender’s “irony” scene.
Goodbye Futurama,
Goodbye
Goodbye
:crying smiley:
Leela’s hearing was fairly inconsistant throughout that last act, unfortunately.
However, I’m happy that Futurama went out on one of the best episodes they’ve ever done. Fry’s opera suddenly becoming something rather similar to a classical opera (I can’t recall an opera that’s a direct parallel but then I’m not a big opera buff) was brilliant. And I loved Bender’s line:
“But to do it you’ll have to make a metaphorical deal with the devil. And by devil I mean the Robot Devil. And by metaphorical I mean get your coat.”
Oh and that wheel was a riot. I slow-mo’ed my Tivo through the spin just to see all the robots from the series come up and it seemed so obvious that they were leading up to Bender only to have that switch. Brilliant episode and a nice ending for the series.
Leela made the deal with Robot Devil before he shoved Calculons antennae in her ears so she should not have been able to hear him to make the deal in the first place.
Unless she read his lips…or mouth display grid…or something…
[sub]repeat to myself “It’s just a show, I should really just relax.”[/sub]
The Robot Devil was making hand gestures and such, though the fact that Leela understood him was just more off-the-wall typical Futurama ridiculousness.
But bandit, he does that after the deal is struck. There is no way Leela could have heard the offer to begin with.
Leela didn’t hear the offer – which is exactly what the Robot Devil was counting on. She thought she’d figured it out from the R.D.'s pantomime (as did the audience), but he tricked her (and us).
–Cliffy
They had some fun with the “Leela not hearing the Devil” stuff. Like her line “Whatever you just said, the answer is ‘hell no!’” I don’t have the episode in front of me, but she knows the Robot Devil and seemed to piece together his offer by herself. Didn’t bother me.
Brain Slug hat, nothin’. Everyone knows the key to happiness is a hypnotoad.
Nah… That show has been going downhill since season 3.