So thanks to a new Ipod touch (and a 45 min commute by train), I’m watching all my old DVDs again. Today I started on my old Red Dwarf DVDs.
Is it just me or does Futurama owe a big debt to Red Dwarf. Let me see… a likeable but slobby “everyman” gets frozen and revived in the far future. Where he befriends a robot (who is a big fan of Robot soap operas). That seems somewhat familar somehow, ok its not a carbon copy, but I can’t beleive it a coincidence either.
Slobby “everymen” time-travelling is like a staple of the genre. And besides, at his core, Fry is just Bart Simpson all grown up.
I don’t think it’s so much that Futurama borrows from Red Dwarf as it is that they both borrow from the same sources. They’re both satires of sci-fi tropes, so it’s natural they’ll have a lot of similarities.
Of course, I’m sure Matt Groening was familiar with Red Dwarf - one of the great things about Futurama is that it was clear the writers had a deep knowledge, and love, of science fiction.
Frye always struck me as more of a grown-up version of Milhouse. As the series progressed, he got to be more of a grown-up Ralph Wiggums.
Actually, the idea of a not-especially-bright slacker getting caught up in a futuristic world he can barely comprehend reminds me more of “the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” than “Red Dwarf.” But then, I’ve only ever seen one episode of the latter series.
IMO there is alot more in common between Lister and Fry than just being a “regular everyman”. They are a really similar characters, far more so than Arthur Dent (though both shows clearly owe alot to Hitcher Hikers Guide).