Godspeed Planet Express

Futurama is my favorite TV show.  I have watched every single episode at least half a dozen times.  Yet, I would gladly choose to watch any episode again (though I have to be in the right mode That’s Lobstertainment).   No other show has ever captured my attention in this manner, with only South Park presenting any real competition.  I carry a few episodes on my iPod at all time, ready whenever I need a few laughs and entertainment.

This kind of dedicated loyalty to a single series is not uncommon.  My brother Matt had Arrested Development.  Luke had M.A.S.H.  Liz and Katie are both obsessed with Friends.  My best friend Aaron holds Seinfeld above all others.  My brother-in-law Mike loves Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Futurama originally aired on Fox from March 28, 1999 to August 10, 2003, spanning four seasons.  The show had a wonderful mix of animation style, humor, and science fiction.  It took the best of the Simpsons, and kicked it up a notch and added a smoking, beer drinking robot.  It was the best thing Fox had created in a while.  Then Fox killed it, and we thought it was gone forever.

Then something amazing happened.  Cartoon Network picked up the series in syndication, and the four seasons were released on DVD.  These twin forces exposed the show to a great diversity of new viewers.  Everything night, the “mature” Adult Swim lineup would start off with Futurama and its brother-in-cancellation Family Guy, just in time to capture that vital college viewership.

Due to this new popularity, Comedy Central stepped up to not only continue running the original episodes, but to commission four direct-to-DVD movies, that would be made into episodes for a fifth season.  The first, Bender’s Big Score, was an amazing return to the magic of the original series.  While not amazingly spectacular, The Beast with a Billion Backs was still enjoyable and the excellent humor came out strong in Bender’s Game.

The last movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, was released this week.  It is a crazy, humorous, over-the-top plot, full of ridiculous events that stretch believability.  And it is exactly the kind of story that I have come to expect, and love, of Futurama.  And as the movie wrapped up, I realized that series creator Matt Groening was thinking something I had been afraid to think of: that this might be the last Futurama we ever get.

And he ended it perfectly.  The door is open for more epic adventures should the chance arise.  But unlike with the series, he included a conclusion to the one storyline we all wanted to see.  He even hung a lampshade on it, with the characters mentioning how they probably waiting too long to say it.  But it was beautifully done, and I watched with satisfaction.

So as our heroes flew off into the night,  I remembered another famous science fiction captain’s final instructions to his crew: “Second star to the right, and straight on ’till morning.”  Just as it was the last adventure for that caption and his crew, so may it be for this one.  But if this is the last Futurama that we get, so be it.  It was an amazing ride and I thank Matt Groening and his excellent staff for it.  I never expected us to get all we did from it. I wish you godspeed Planet Express.  Godspeed.