Customer Reviews

Futurama: Volume 1

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Obviously, with 'Futurama' being made by Matt Groening, the same creator of probably the most popular animated show in the world, 'The Simpsons', expectations were high for 'Futurama'. It had to be an instant hit, and I have to say it's not as popular as 'The Simpsons', but it is definitely worth watching, and the first season is definitely worth buying.

1. Space Pilot 3000
A 25-year-old pizza delivery boy named Fry spends New Year's Eve 1999 lamenting his lame existence. That night, he accidentally freezes himself in a cryogenics lab and awakens at the dawn of the year 3,000! With the past 1,000 years behind him, Fry decides to make a fresh start. He tracks down his great-great-great-great (etc.) nephew, Professor Farnsworth, and gets a job with his intergalactic delivery service. With the help of his two new friends, a beautiful one-eyed alien named Leela and a degenerate robot named Bender, Fry prepares for the ride of his life in this bizarre new millennium.

2. Episode Two: The Series Has Landed
When one of his first deliveries takes him to the moon, Fry can hardly contain his excitement. For the others, it's just a routine trip, but Fry is shocked to discover a giant lunar theme park! He convinces Leela to go exploring and search for the original moon-landing site, but their excursion soon becomes a matter of life or death! Meanwhile, Bender puts the moves on a moon-farmer's daughter and suffers the consequences!

3. I, Roommate
Everyone is sick of Fry so he has to get his own apartment. He decides to become Bender's roommate. The only catch is that Bender's apartment has a volume of 2 cubic meters. Fry convinces Bender to look for a better place, they get a new apartment, only that Bender's antenna interferes with the TV reception (a thousand years and televisions still use plain antenna? some things never change). Fry prefers to stay in his apartment instead of going back to Bender's, but Leela convinces him to. When Fry asks where to put his stuff, Bender suggests the closet, which is big enough for Fry to live.

4. Love's Labors Lost in Space
On a mission intended to save endangered animals on a collapsing planet, Leela and the crew run into legendary starship captain Zapp Brannigan. A self-proclaimed ladies man, Zapp sees Leela as a potential new conquest. When the captain refuses to aid the animal rescue, Leela and her crew try to leave Zapp's starship. But Zapp throws Fry and Bender in jail, and summons Leela to his "Lovenasium." They ultimately escape and arrive on the doomed planet, where Leela finally finds love - with a cute, and very useful, creature named Nibbler.

5. Fear of a Bot Planet
At Madison Cube Garden watching a blernsball game, Bender complains about the poor treatment of robots. They're only there to clean up, polish the balls or water the fields. They never get any respect. Later, Bender must deliver a package to a planet inhabited by murderous robots that kill humans on sight. He discovers a robotopia - a land where the robot is king! However, when Leela and Fry are captured, Bender must choose between protecting his celebrity status or saving his friends.

6. A Fishful of Dollars
A thousand years is a long time to save up money, and Fry's savings account has been racking up interest. When Fry discovers just how much - over 4 billion dollars - Fry goes a little overboard. After completely redecorating the apartment, splurging on expensive spa days and treating his friends to innumerable luxuries, Fry discovers the ultimate expense. Anchovies. This rare delicacy as been extinct for years, and Fry must battle the evil conglomerate known as Mom, plus Pamela Anderson Lee's head in a jar, to get them!

7. My Three Suns
The crew visits an arid planet in the Galaxy of Terror distinctive for it's three suns and liquid alien inhabitants. Fry, after delivering a package under the scorching heat, quenches his thirst with a bottle of cool blue liquid. Fry soon finds out he drank the planet's royal leader and is named the new emporer. Fry abuses his newfound power, even appointing Bender second in command, until the aliens retaliate and the real battle for power begins.

8. A Big Piece of Garbage
A big piece of garbage that was released a thousand years ago is now on the way to Earth to destroy it. After Fry, Leela and Bender fail on placing a bomb on it, the city has to build another big piece of garbage, yet that may be a problem since trash doesn't exist in year 3000.

9. Hell is Other Robots
Bender becomes addicted to electricity, so his sins make him go to robot hell. Since he is condemned to live there for eternity, it's up to Fry and Leela to save him from Beelzebot, the robot devil.

[note: This is a review of the entire series, not just season one]

Immensely satisfying in both style and substance, 'Futurama' is not only funnier and better written than 'The Simpsons', it also succeeds grandly in depicting a convincingly complex future setting - in fact one of the most balanced and believable ones in all of science fiction (neither a utopia nor a dystopia), filled to the brim with fantastic but faulty technology, humdrum pop culture items and hilarious products and commercials ("Arachno Spores - The Fatal Spores With the Funny Name", "Fishy Joe's Extreme Walrus Juice - Ride the Walrus").

Being a huge science fiction enthusiast, the many inside jokes contained in this show alone could keep me entertained for weeks. Every single bit of alien language and binary code means something hilarious, there's obscure math references such as the Alive-Null-Plex (a majority of the staff writers have advanced math degrees), there's nods to Clarke, Asimov, Lem, Sturgeon, Foster, Dziemianowicz, Orwell, Dick and many, many more. Not to mention 'Soylent Green', 'The Twilight Zone' (Bender's "To Serve Man" apron, 'The Scary Door'), 'Blade Runner'... the list is practically endless. To quote David X. Cohen: "[We're] the most overqualified writing staff on television."

Then there's Christopher Tyng's fantastic scores (especially `A Clone of My Own' and `Roswell that Ends Well' are superb), the too-good-for-TV computer animation, and some of the most memorable and hilarious characters ever, especially the deliciously evil, free-associating Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Zoidberg, a combination of a lobster, a vaudeville comedian, and Curly from The Three Stooges ("It's good cholesterol, but it spreads like bad cholesterol!").

Also, I cannot help but adore how darkly grim, in fact almost Dickensian, this series can become sometimes. This is possibly the only prime-time show that ever got away with completely degrading or vilifying its main characters (in `A Pharaoh to Remember' Bender works hundreds of slaves to death), as well as with destroying entire civilizations and killing millions of innocents. Then there's wonderfully offensive blasphemy (such as Zoidberg's impersonation of Jesus Christ), cannibalism, prostitution, incest - you name it. I love that stuff!

Some of the later episodes, such as the parallel universe tale 'The Farnsworth Parabox', are staggeringly intricate and well crafted, with absolutely mind-blowing results. This puts 'Star Trek' to shame, people.

Favorite episodes: `Love's Labour's Lost In Space', `Fry & the Slurm Factory', `A Head in the Polls', `Why Must I Be A Crustacean in Love?', `The Problem with Popplers', `Mother's Day', `A Taste Of Freedom', `Less Than Hero', `Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles' and `The Farnsworth Parabox.'

It must be said: 'Futurama' urinates from a great height over pretty much everything else there is. Brilliant stuff.

My son loves Futurama so I am starting to collect the Volumes for him. This product was in excellent condition and arrived on time.

Futurama was made by matt groening who also made the simpsons so it has to be funny and it did.the set contains 3 discs ,13 episodes ans deleted scenes ,and lots of laffs.the show is a cool prediction of the future even if it wont be the future you can imagine it being the future because nobody saw it.the first season introduce us to the gang of planet express ,a good begenning for the crew.highlights;the series has landed wich is real funny,i rommate one of my personnal fav of the show,hell is other robots when bender gets sent to hell,the titanic one is great and the special features are good with comentaries on every episode wich many fans like.lowlights;the lack of episodes is pretty much for every first seasons(simpsons 13,family guy 7..anyway there will be a futurama movie next year(good chances at least)the dvd is now prety chaep around 25 bucks so if you like futurama consider buying this set if you dont have it .a must for all fans of the show you cant go wrong with the show s first season.great stars for a great serie!

Futurama is a very creative series that shouldn't have been cancelled, in the following is an episode guide for the first season.

Space Pilot 3000- After being cryogenically frozen, Fry is transported to the year 3000 where he meets the cyclops Leela, the robot Bender, and gets a job at Planet Express. 5/5

The Series Has Landed- After delivering a package to the moon, Fry, Leela, Bender, and Amy visit an amusement park on the moon where Bender is chased by a farmer for romancing one of his daughters, and Fry and Leela find the original lunar landing site.4/5

I, Roommate- For being such a slob, Fry is forced to move in with Bender, but since Bender's house is too small, Fry and Bender move into a new house, but Fry eventually moves into Bender's closet. 5/5

Love's Labours Lost In Space- After being picked up by the legendary Zapp Braniggan, Leela realizes what a moron he is, but ends up sleeping with him. 3/5

Fear of A Bot Planet- After making a delivery to a planet ruled by human hating robots, Bender becomes their leader, forcing Fry and Leela to pretend their humans to to rescue Bender.5/5

A Fishful of Dollars- Fry becomes rich due to the money in his account that his been getting higher over the years, and uses it to buy a can of unopened anchovies, the only anchovies left in the galaxy. 5/5

My Three Suns- After delivering a package to a planet with three suns, Fry drinks the leader of the country, and becomes the new leader. 4/5

A Big Piece of Garbage- The Planet Express crew must destroy a big piece of garbage launched into space in the 20th century. 4/5

Hell Is Other Robots- Benders joins the Temple of Robotology, but after he sins, he is forced to go to robot hell.5/5

A Flight to Remember- The Planet Express crew is invited to go on a space cruise ship, where Fry alternately dates Leela and Amy, and Bender finds love. 2/5

Mars University- Fry goes to college to prove to the professor that he could flunk out, but his roommate is a super intelligent monkey. 5/5

When Aliens Attack- After Fry spills some beer on a transmitor in the 20th century, he knocks a show off the air, which the Omicronians thouroughly enjoy, so they threaten to destroy Earth until they see the show. 5/5

Fry & The Slurm Factory- Fry and the Planet Express crew win a free tour of a soft drink factory. 5/5

See this show now.

That title may be biased since I'm a science fiction fan. The Simpsons is great. But Futurama tickles a funny bone in me that only a crazy, fantasy-based, anything-goes series can. Futurama takes a hilarious spin on the extreme evolution of modern society. The result is a show whose content and events seem unlikely yet convincingly plausible. It's all held together by interesting stories and competent visuals. There's very little to find fault here. Most important, the show is funny! Perhaps there's a generous portion of lowbrow humor that prevails through the series but I can forgive that. Futurama's overall quality more than makes up for it.

The use of subtle computer animation in many scenes is a surprising but welcome treat. It cleverly reflects the show's futuristic theme. If any cartoon should pioneer such an animation style it's this one.

My favorite episode in volume one: Fear Of A Bot Planet.

A few years ago, I first saw Futurama appear on FOX in 1999 or so. I was quite impressed with the awesome compter graphic visuals and the smooth silky animation. However, there is very LITTLE humor in the show itself. While Fry & Bender are one of my favorite characters (even though they're both complete morons), everything else also flows so nicely with the futuristic atmosphere that is so original (and sometimes even hilariously clever!) It's superbly entertaining and a fun program to watch, but compared to Matt Groening's original classic series, "The Simpsons", there just isn't enough laughs here! Don't get me wrong, it is a pretty good and refreshing show, but it's nowhere (repeat!) NOWHERE as good as "The Simpsons" or even "Family Guy". If you're a diehard Matt Groening fan though, I say go for it!

Now, I always enjoyed Matt Groening's work from his comics to his fab animated TV sitcoms.(Like "The Simpsons" for example!)
But now that "The Simpsons" are losing there cool after 17 years of production, I am begginning to grow an intrest in this awesome sci-fi bonanza. For example...

1. Unlike "The Simpsons", Futurama has an original storyline and not to mention a POINT!

2. Futurama has TRULLY innovative charathers such as Fry, Bender, Amy, Dr.Zoidberg and Leela to name a few.

3. The Simpsons at times can be same old, same old but Futurama stays original in ALL episodes.

4. We all still love The Simpsons and it's enjoyable antics but if you want even cleverer and funnier antics, Futurama is your sort of thing.

I STILL like "The Simpsons" and recommend it to anyone but "Futurama" is different, original and addictive and it does need more attention, don't you think? My favourite episodes of Season One are "Episode Two: The season has landed", "My Three Suns", "Hell is Other Robots", "When Aliens Attack" and "Fry and the Slurm factory" and the extras are the sort of extras that a DVD Boxset deserve to have.

I love Futurama and I think anyone who liked "The Simpsons" will do too so don't rent this, BUY IT! You'll love it. Hilarious Futuristic Fun!

I am taking a big chance here, but I can't resist expressing an honest opinion, if I think it will help someone else. I like 'Futurama' simply because I like most of the animated TV series that I've seen. I don't actually watch TV, but when people who DO watch start raving about a program, I will usually seek it out. I bought seasons 1 & 2 of 'Futurama' based simply on the glowing reviews here on Amazon.

It's mildly funny [but hardly "hilarious" as advertised in the Editorial Review and many of the customer reviews.] There are shades of the Simpsons in the characters of Fry and Amy [Let's just think of them as a less-motivated 'Bart' and a possibly less-intelligent, but richer, 'Lisa'...] That's not a problem for me. As a recently-converted Simpsons fan, I actually enjoy the similarities. I expected them, since the program is from the Matt Groening stable. I'm actually surprised that there aren't MORE direct rip-offs of the original hit.

Although I can live with it, I find the series is very 'derivative' [but I won't follow that with the usual, mild expletive, "cr*p"...]

Just a few examples:--Why 'Fry'? Wasn't the dood in 'Back to the Future' called Fly? [Here in Japan there's NO difference in the two names...] The bureaucrat character, Hermes, looks to be based on an amalgam of both Lister (with the dreadlocks) and the insufferable, officious hologram Rimmer, from the space-ship 'Red Dwarf'. Should I mention Zapp Brannigan, who is the fondest fantasy of the afore-mentioned Rimmer? The alcohol-imbibing robot, Bender, seems a poor substitute for the ever-urbane Martini-loving dog of 'Family Guy'. The feisty Leela seems to be strongly reminiscent of Princess Leia from 'Star Wars'...and so on and on...There's a very 'Jewish' lobster called 'Zoidberg', with a relative called 'Zoidfarb', the ubiquitous "ads" and female TV newscasters are, once again, straight from 'Red Dwarf' and 'Family Guy'...

I think this is the "American way" of making shows [both TV series and movies] and no-one would argue that 'the machine' is very successful. If you like your humor based on what has been funny and successful for the past 20 years or so, you WILL find this, perhaps, rather 'hilarious'. I find it just fairly clever and interesting. I'm not sorry I spent my money and I might consider the next season as well. If you want real laughs, though, look elsewhere.