It has been nearly seven years since the final episode aired, but “Futurama” is back and better than ever.
Beginning June 24 with two new episodes, the Groening show will end its hiatus and move to Comedy Central for a fifth season – or sixth, depending on how you look at it.
Having seen the first episodes of the new season, I can say the humorous duo of Matt Groening and David X. Cohen is as sharp as ever, and the animation is crisper and cleaner than it was on Fox.
The new season seamlessly picks up right where “Into the Wild Green Yonder” left off, and it does not take long for the writers to humorously explain away that movie’s ending through the professor’s hilarious brand of pseudoscience.
The writing and pacing of the new episodes is just as stellar as the best of the show’s old run. It’s quick and punchy, but it still finds time to throw in all the nerdy wordplay and Fry moments that made me love the show in the first place. By the time the two episodes I had the privilege of watching came to an end, I almost put the disc into my season-three box set.
The original voice cast is back as well, and, thanks to all those straight-to-DVD movies they made in that seven-year stretch, they are spot on. Hearing Billy West voice a conversation among Phillip J. Fry, Zapp Brannigan and the Professor without missing a beat made it seem like the show never left.
The road to renewal was not easy though.
Since the show was canceled in 2003, it has lived on through four straight-to-DVD movies and syndication on Comedy Central and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. By the time strong DVD sales and decent ratings in syndication caught Comedy Central’s attention, it was difficult to get all the voice talent to commit to a comeback. At one point, Fox announced it was going to replace the entire cast.
Thankfully, that never happened. The final product is pretty much the same “Futurama” that was unjustly canceled in 2003, and given the opportunity I would not change a thing about it.
Be sure to catch the new episodes when they start on Comedy Central June 24 at 10 p.m.
