Not too long after the release of “Into the Wild Green Yonder,” we got the confirmation we had been hoping for: Comedy Central was ponying up the dough for two brand new seasons of Futurama. The direct-to-DVD movies were a wonderful treat, but this was the real shit: the show was coming back for realsies! Seven years after the series ended its FOX run, we would finally be able to tune in to new episodes again. Now that we’re a decade removed from these revival seasons, it seems like the common consensus on the Comedy Central years are relatively mixed. Some fans thought the show was as good as ever, while some feel that even at their best, they just failed to live up to the quality of the original four seasons. As for me, I honestly think the show remained very strong in seasons 6 and 7. Sure, parts of the show felt “different,” but no revival is ever going to feel exactly the same as it once was. But this new show wasn’t a shambling corpse like its seemingly immortal zombie sister show, it came back with renewed life, and in its 52-episode run, the majority of them are quite good, if not excellent, with more than a handful of episodes I would consider to be all-timers. Of the first 13 new episodes, “The Late Philip J. Fry” is the clear standout, a very affecting story wrapped up in a silly time travel story, but I decided to highlight the episode before it, “Lethal Inspection,” which has an emotional core of its own, but as the payoff to a fun buddy adventure between two very unlikely buddies: Bender and Hermes, a pair who shared very little dialogue in the show’s original run.
Following a ridiculous opening set piece of the Planet Express crew participating in a “Sith War” re-enactment (it’s wild to think Futurama ended its run before the Star Wars prequel trilogy was over), Bender brags to the sore and tired crew about his mighty stamina and invincibility as a robot. We’ve certainly seen him take loads of abuse in the original series, so it’s no surprise that Bender is basically impossible to kill, as he explains he can always download himself to a new body via a back-up unit (“Then how come you always scream so much when you’re in danger?” “I never said I wasn’t a drama queen.”) One thing these revival seasons executed really well as delving into the main characters more, exploring different parts of their personalities, their histories, and in the case of Bender, his very existence as a robot. We’d later see him questioning his capacity for free will (“Free Will Hunting,”) as well as his “death” and new life as a ghost (“Ghost in the Machines,”) a wonderfully ridiculous episode that ends with Bender meeting Robot God and beating him up in order to get reincarnated. Back to this episode, Bender is horrified to learn he was actually built without a back-up drive, so if he does die, then he really dies, whenever that may be (“How much time does he have, Professor?” “Between a minute, and a million years.” “Well, at least you can plan accordingly.”)
Bender quickly turns to anger at one target: “Inspector #5,” the person that gave him the okay upon being built. Though he revered him mere minutes ago, now he’d like nothing more than to track him down and beat him senseless. But the only way to find an inspector is a fellow bureaucrat, so Bender is forced to align with Hermes (“8.5 seconds ago, you said you hated me!” “Time heals all wounds!”) Like I said earlier, these two really haven’t had much shared screen time, so it’s pretty novel seeing them bounce off each other. Hermes really only had one episode to himself in the FOX run, and two minor subplots about his limboing past, so it’s great to see him back in action. He’s as anal-retentive as ever, taking Bender to his cubicle at the Central Bureaucracy (for “weekend getaways”) to help track down Inspector #5. He’s an entertaining straight man to Bender’s typical quips and outbursts. After the first act, we exclusively follow the two, and it almost feels like a mini-road trip comedy with them. They’re displeased with each other at the start, then begin to soften in their travels, or specifically in this case, running from Mom’s kill-bots on a high-speed train, only thwarting them by limboing under a low bridge for eight hours. It’s always sweet when the normally acidic Bender is actually nice to anybody, so seeing him embrace Hermes is really nice to see.
The two end up in Tijuana, and though they initially plan to take in the sights as newly formed chums, Bender realizes he could possibly get answers in the factory he was built. This leads them to find Inspector #5’s old residence, but this proves fruitless as well. Hermes tries to talk Bender down from his frenzy (“Okay, Bender, you’re mortal. And okay, Inspector #5 screwed up. But that just makes the time you’ve got left all the more precious.”) Bender proceeds to impotently punch the wall until he slumps the floor in a despondent heap. Even rarer than Bender being kind to anyone is seeing him truly emotional, with this scene being really effective at portraying this rampant egomaniac being at his lowest for once. The robot who felt he was too great to ever die actually has to come to terms to the fact that he will one day. Hermes manages to comfort him, and Bender is thankful, giving him the greatest gift one could receive: putting him on the “do-not-kill” humans list. As we reach the end of the episode, we get our final reveal as Hermes discreetly burns some papers he stowed away. Turns out he was Inspector #5, a former employee of Mom’s who just couldn’t bear to toss a defective baby Bender in the dumpster, giving him an approval anyway and tendering his resignation. Hermes’ pleas to Bender to make peace with his newly learned mortality, and his desire to help him in the first place, retroactively become about him initially covering his own tracks, but then his own sort of penance, trying to guide Bender towards his personal acceptance as best he can. It’s a very sweet button to put on the episode, paired with a lovely song, which actually was discovered by David X. Cohen from a record given to him for his new daughter, which makes it even more adorable.
Hermes would get another moment in the sun next season in “The Six Million Dollar Mon,” where he repeatedly gets robotic upgrades in his desire to become more efficient, in a very true-to-character story for him. The rest of the Planet Express crew would get their own highlighted episodes, expanding on the universe put into place in the original series, fleshing out our cast more. After the show seemingly forgot Amy was first introduced as a graduate student in the second episode, we see her finally getting her phD, but not before saving the planet from some nasty intergalactic felines. We learn about the Professor and Zoidberg’s shared history, explaining why the hell the Professor keeps such an incompetent doctor on his payroll to begin with. Hell, even a minor character like Calculon got his own episode, where we see him put his own enormous ego aside to actually be a true actor for once. The resurrected series wasn’t content to just sit on its laurels, it was actively trying to do new things with its characters, and most of those were successful in my opinion. This first run of new episodes in 2010 got things rolling right away, showing not only was the show back, but it was firing on all cylinders. For the most part, anyway.
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I never thought of the Comedy Central era as an exploration of the nuances between Futurama’s cast and setting, but now that I think about it it absolutely is. Mostly.
I remember feeling like Futurama’s world stopped expanding after the FOX run. In those initial seasons it felt like the topic of the week always had a shot at coming back and becoming a consistent part of the series’ 30th century backdrop. Stuff like the crew adopting Nibbler as a pet, President Nixon being elected, or even just the introduction of new recurring characters like Lrrr or Roberto kept New New York feeling dynamic and fresh. And that’s without any of the big stuff, like the reveal of Leela’s parents or Fry’s grand destiny.
On Comedy Central the dynamic shifted. It’s something that I think happens to a lot of revivals: on a fundamental level, the show starts referencing itself. I don’t mean they make more meta-jokes, rather that new Futurama now has old Futurama to look back on. It’s a follow-up to a completed body of work, consciously or not. And as a follow-up, new Futurama seems to care more about old Futurama’s characters and concepts than any of its own. So now it feels like there’s a clearer divide between the existing “status quo world” old Futurama left us with and the episodic premises of the week new Futurama tosses off, explores for half an hour, and never mentions again.
I found that divide disappointing – it feels less like a “believable” sci-fi setting and more like an artificial TV show – but even though we’re stuck with the same characters and situations now, Comedy Central Futurama does keep exploring what that means. Lethal Inspection is a great example of that spirit.
I think that’s why Futurama avoids becoming a zombie like modern Simpsons. It never ran out of natural things to do with its premise. FOX never gave it that chance.
I get what you’re talking about. I appreciate the CC years digging into the show’s established characters and world more, but the show did kind of stop expanding. I’m struggling to think of any new recurring character they introduced in that time… the only one I can think of Dr. Banjo, who made two appearances, and I wouldn’t consider him a great character. Even new changes like Leela’s parents being allowed on the surface didn’t really lead to anything, they continued to live in the sewers. But it’s not like the series was constantly evolving its world with tons of fresh faces past its first season, so I’m fine with the CC years, and hopefully the Hulu reboot, if they continue to play about with sci-fi concepts and good character work.
I can think of a few introduced in the DVD movies that come back (Number 9 man, Dr. Cahill). Introduced in Seasons 6/7, uh….the Borax Kid? There are a few Fox introduced characters that appeared more in the CC eps than the OG run (Ben Beeler, Randy).
Of the CC characters, I hope Marianne returns in the Hulu era. A lot of people loved that episode for giving Zoidberg a happy ending, it’d be great to see that relationship continue.
“Stop. Mom called off the attack. Although I don’t see how it’s her…”
“SOMEONE SAID HOWITZER!?!?!”