In 1999, Matt Groening was the smartest guy in the room.
As the co-creator and executive showrunner of The Simpsons, Groening not only helped the show hit its creative peak but also debuted another timeless gem the same year: Futurama.
In 1999, Futurama was groundbreaking and, literally, the future of cutting-edge comedy. It had a fantastic new cast of characters, brilliant plots, and a familiar and yet bold new comedic voice.
It had been years since an animated show went full Star Trek in philosophical plotlines, even if they were gag-filled.
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The characters explored new worlds, got tangled up in mind-boggling scenarios, and broke the fourth wall so much that they jumped the Carcaron. Er, shark.
That Futurama was canceled before its time is still one of television’s gravest injustices.
Not only were they canceled by FOX but later by Comedy Central after the first Futurama revival.
You Can Do Nothing to Hurt Futurama!
It’s no wonder Futurama’s fans have been so passionate, or dare we say, robo-zealous, about securing the show’s rightful place in history and allowing it to age and end gracefully.
And die gracefully it did, in 2013, with the masterpiece episode “Meanwhile,” which told the final fate of Fry and Leela, as timelessly romantic as it was meta and non-linear.
Then, in 2023, thanks to the outcry of fans who were experiencing Bender withdrawals, the series returned with several uneven episodes that tinkered with pathos and relevance but, at the very least, featured the same Groening humor we grew up with.
Matt Groening’s voice was so cutting that he characterized two sarcastic generations, the Boomers who got the subtle jabs and the Gen X-ers who grew up watching edgy cartoons of the 1990s.
As far as I can remember, he was the first thought leader to introduce impressionable minds to hardcore liberal values.
Futurama Season 12 Keeps Giving and Giving (And Giving)
Groening was a force of nature in the 1990s.
But to watch Futurama’s newest season today begs the question of even the biggest Springfield fan, “Does Groening know how to end any show, ever?”
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Seriously, pondering how far Futurama has gone past its expiration date (or possibly defied the very concept of cancelation) is enough to give you a hypno-toad headache.
We’re all feeling a bit like Dr. Farnsworth right about now, old and tired, but with no “Good News!” to share with everyone.
Granted, Groening’s biggest fans by now are no longer learning, and they’re no longer expecting anything profound from yesterday’s icon.
They just want to hear audio clips from Fry, Bender, Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan. They want to meet the voice-over actors at comic conventions and buy collectible toys and gag gifts featuring their favorite Simpsons/Futurama characters.
But most of all, they want to continue to live in the Groening-verse, which is an existence where no one ever ages, everything goes on forever, and nothing ever stops — yes, even in the event of cancellation, followed by a wrap-up, followed by another cancellation and yet another revival.
While the fans of Groening’s worlds never want the party to end, I question whether Groening even knows how to say goodbye to his characters and if he and his writing team can write a powerful and evocative series finale that recaptures the glory days.
Have we simply become too cynical or outgrown Futurama’s familiar gags?
Are we exhausted with the show’s genteel meta humor now that Rick and Morty have stomped all over the broken fourth wall?
In episodes like “Quids Game,” the cloying Rick and Morty voice seems to take over Futurama’s world. The same, distinct R&M voice makes us wonder how long this time-travel farce can really last.
Futurama Season 12 Goes for Mainstream Laughs
Strange, brain-heavy aliens are forcing the crew to reenact classic children’s games Fry played as a kid, all in a test to see if Fry is a cheater.
The episode was a bit clumsy in its parody and derivative of almost everything else on television. One gets the feeling that Groening’s creative team studies the competition so much they have forgotten the essence and the distinctive voice of Futurama.
Maybe Bender-heavy episodes like “The One Amigo” and “Beauty and the Bug” are supposed to feel like Classic Futurama. However, they also feel recycled and somewhat Disneyfied in focus, riding the wave of Latino cartoon cliches that are trending nowadays.
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It’s a shame that Futurama has to resort to imitating the style of other popular cartoons to fit in since it used to be the smartest comedy on television.
It was always closer in sensibility to stellar sci-fi literature and the not podcast-level writing we see in cheap, crudely drawn toons of the 2020s.
However, it’s not fair to say that the entire season flopped. Two episodes stood out, including “The Temp,” which almost felt like an ode to a forgotten Simpsons plot.
The forgettable tempt “Frank” joins the crew and grows increasingly bitter as the self-absorbed cast repeatedly forgets his name and takes his pained existence for granted. A direct parallel to Frank Grimes or “Grimey” from The Simpsons!
Speaking of which, what is The Simpsons doing after 30 years of plot recycling?
Matt Groening, Gen X’s Babysitter
However, Futurama’s best episode of the first half of Season 12 has got to be “One Is Silicon and the Other Gold.” This episode hits hard in terms of relevant and thought-provoking comedy but also firmly establishes Groening as a Boomer trying to understand Gen Z’s cool factor.
Still, the idea that someday, chatbots will evolve into the perfect human companion by giving us equal doses of good, evil, stress, and relaxation is a classic Futurama gag.
I, for one, enjoyed the Chelsea Chatbot psycho storyline; it’s not that chatbots are destined to go evil like a possessed clown toy. No, we want them to go evil occasionally!
You can practically hear Groening mocking the pretentiousness of the new generation, taking swipes at AI chatbots, NFTs (which are strangely still “new” to a world 1000 years into the future), and, of course, animal rights and environmental action.
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How lame would The Simpson’s showrunner be if he didn’t attempt to understand millennial socialism?
At least Futurama keeps things introspective and doesn’t devolve into an unfunny debacle of grandpa pandering and political plot salad that is Groening’s other show, Disenchantment.
(Let’s take a moment to reflect on how lucky we are that Disenchantment was finally discontinued and will now take its place in the annals of animation, one step behind The Critic for Most Utterly Wasted Talent.)
Still, seeing Bender grow a soul over giant bugs treated as livestock is a throwback to the golden age of Groening. Always the first person to ask uncomfortable questions. Always the funny guy who makes a sarcastic retort in between long social lectures. That’s the Matt we all know and love.
In “Attack of the Clothes,” he stumbles through a long-winded parody of the fashion world, ending with a marshmallow fluff diatribe against social elites who are destroying the world with pollution.
Admirable but not nearly the burning poke we’d expect from South Park.
It’s not completely fair to say that Groening has aged like rosé wine and is out of touch with this generation’s comedy.
Groening never grows up, and his worlds are stubbornly ageless and stuck in the matrix of non-reality.
Perhaps in his mind, even Binky from the Life in Hell comic strip is still alive and well and oblivious to how much the world has changed since 1980s Los Angeles.
Stay tuned for more Futurama episodes this season with cameos from Hedonismbot, Yancy Fry Sr. and Sherri Fry (Fry’s parents), and more end of earth scenarios to come.
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What do you think of Futurama season 12 so far?
Share your thoughts about the premiere and hopes for the remainder of the season below.