Did you need more proof that Futurama is awesome? No? Here's some anyway!

[Gregness]

So, every so often a sci-fi show references legitimate science and math to give themselves a bit of background and legitimacy. It's a quantum finish! No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!

Anyway, they've managed to completely top themselves this time because they've now produced a legitimate mathematical theorem for the sole purpose of using it in the show. (http://gizmodo.com/5618502/futurama-writer-invented-a-new-math-theorem-just-to-use-in-the-show)

I hope that writer got a raise or something.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Check the date on the article. This, while totally awesome, is old news.

So... New season starts tonight!

[Seil]

If you read Cracked, there's an article where they describe the two languages Futurama has created for the show.

[Grimpond]

Mhm. awesome, but a little old!

[Archbio]

So, every so often a sci-fi show references legitimate science and math to give themselves a bit of background and legitimacy.

As the candy hearts poured into the fiery quasar, a wondrous thing happened, why not. They vaporized into a mystical love radiation that spread across the universe, destroying many, many planets, including two gangster planets and a cowboy world. But one planet was exactly the right distance to see the romantic rays but not be destroyed by them: Earth. So all over the world couples stood together in joy. And me, Zoidberg. And no one could have been happier unless it would have also been Valentine's Day. What? It was? Hooray.

...

[Marc v4.0]

Zoidberg knows not a thing about science

[Krylo]

Zoidberg IS science.

[RickZarber]

Check the date on the article. This, while totally awesome, is old news.

So... New season starts tonight!"I got your message and came as soon as I felt like it!"

...New Futurama tonight was glorious. Second episode was a little substandard, but the first had me in a fetal position from being traumatized and laughing at the same time.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Zoidberg knows not a thing about science

Damnit, Marc! He's a doctor not a buffoon!

[Aerozord]

he's a doctor only in the same sense a guy with pliers is a dentist

[The Sevenshot Kid]

he's a doctor only in the same sense a guy with pliers is a dentist

I thought that was all it took to be a dentist. That and a healthy amount of sadism.

[Seil]

http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215553014_RPDP4-L-2.jpg

Also, are any of the Futurama movies any good? I tried watching the... time travel.... thing one, but it just seemed like there was too much going on at once and it didn't really mesh.

[Archbio]

I can say with utmost confidence that Bender's Game is objectively a piece of garbage that has nothing in common with the series.

[RickZarber]

he's a doctor only in the same sense a guy with pliers is a dentistCome now! He's totally a doctor. It's just that his doctorate is in Art History.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I can say with utmost confidence that Bender's Game is objectively a piece of garbage that has nothing in common with the series.

I would agree with that. The time travel one though, was fucking glorious.

I'm still waiting to see the last season, wich wiki tells me is actually just the first half of this same season, for some reason. And it seems they're going to split season 7 into 2 as well, to keep the show running well in to 2013.

How... odd.

[Gregness]

I can say with utmost confidence that Bender's Game is objectively a piece of garbage that has nothing in common with the series.

See, Bender's Game was my second favorite of the four, after Bender's Big Score (that was the time travel one, right?).

Ah, the humblest of nature's creations: the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

[Lumenskir]

Second episode was a little substandard, but the first had me in a fetal position from being traumatized and laughing at the same time.
Kind of the opposite for me (although I'd say it was like substandard and then standard). I dunno, unless they're doing super-sexism (like the shapeshifter Al Bundy or Leela's orphanarium karate teacher*), or very limited casual sexism (like the sequence where the Amazonians walk the crew around), the writers are way to quick to inject rampant 'Now every guy is sexist and everybody acts like a stereotype, but it's funny because we know it's lame' humor.

*I mean, that guy made me want to act like a sexist jerk just so I could have more opportunities to use "I'll be in Boy Hell; Much nicer than Girl Hell!"

Also, I may have wanted them to spend more time making jokes about the gender swapping instead of how long they spent on the rock planet. As is, the gender swapping just seemed to be an excuse to pander to fans (first the "I wonder what the one-eyed cartoon character Leela would look like in various states of undress" mouthbreathers, then the "You have to read my fanfiction"-ers).
How... odd.
It's not the norm, but it isn't too far fetched. South Park runs on the same schedule, as well as a lot of USA shows (Burn Notice, White Collar, etc.) I think it's a way for the network to fill empty slots in fall and summer when they have lulls.

[Seil]

But when it comes to unnecessarily complicated yet stealthy animated Easter eggs, you have to tip your hat to Futurama. In many episodes, you can see random icons appearing in the background -- like some sort of alien language -- such as the graffiti you see here:

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/4/3/0/59430.jpg?v=1http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/4/2/9/59429.jpg?v=1


Guess what? These are all fully translatable. There are actually two alien languages in the show: The first one is exactly like our alphabet only with different symbols, but the second one is a more complex code where the letters have numerical value and the "next letter is given by the summation of all previous letters plus the current letter."

If you're surprised that the writers of a comedy show would go through the effort of creating new language just to use it for some background jokes, that's not even the nerdiest/most pointless thing they've done. Futurama writers also invented a new math theorem.

In a recent episode, all the characters switch bodies using a body-switching machine, but then it turns out the machine can't switch the same two people more than once. In order to figure out a way to get all 10 or so characters back into their original bodies, one of the writers created a new math formula, and it actually works. They even showed the full formula in the episode, in case you don't believe them:

http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/4/3/1/59431.jpg?v=1


They made FIVE movies?

[BloodyMage]

I thought it was only four.

[Flarecobra]

http://www.thewrap.com/tv/column-post/pressures-futurama-picked-two-more-seasons-29393

Figured I'd bring this back with this bit of news. Futurama confirmed for two more seasons.

[synkr0nized]

Also, are any of the Futurama movies any good? I tried watching the... time travel.... thing one, but it just seemed like there was too much going on at once and it didn't really mesh.

No. They are pretty lousy.

[Magus]

I like the new Futurama shows. Robot Mafia was pretty funny. It seems fairly entertaining. Kind of liking Ugly Americans slightly more right now, though, second season is pretty crazy. But they're both good.

[RickZarber]

@synk: Oh come on. The movies were mediocre, but this past season and the current ones have reached heights close to the first run in its prime, and has at least hit a fair average.

Did you watch "The Silence of the Clamps" from two weeks ago? If so, how could you watch that and think that new Futurama is no good?

[Magus]

I believe that was the Robot Mafia one I was referring to, right? Hilarious.

[RickZarber]

I guess so. Robot mafia's been on the show several times though, so I thought it best to be precise.

[Aerozord]

I just had to say, not feeling this weeks episode. It was just so, bleh and predictable. I think this is the only time I have not enjoyed an episode

[Nique]

My take on Futurama - The first 4 seasons were excellent. It's early cancellation was tragic almost on par with Firefly's. The '5th season' of feature length stories average out to be really good - 'Bender's Big Score' was impressive (although it ruined a certain episode for some fans who, in my opinion, shouldn't fret over continuity in a show like this), 'Beast With a Billion Backs' had lots of good and quotable moments but was overall kind of weird and hard to get through, same for 'Bender's Game'. 'Into The Wild Green Yonder' is my personal favorite to watch as it's almost as good as 'Bender's Big Score' but with tons of antics from Leo Wong.

The actual 5th (6th? Not sure how the season is broken up on Comedy Central) season has been very hit and miss. A couple episodes are among the best in the entire show (Watch 'The Late Phillip J. Fry' if you don't believe me) while at least half of the episodes have been either unfunny or completely contrary, even insulting, to the spirit of the original show (Benderama was a good concept that turned out to be a horrible episode, and the only part of 'Silence of the Clamps' I could enjoy was "John F***ing Zoidberg!"). I guess I was more accustomed to the understated railing against censors with clever innuendo and also math jokes and there's often now oddly frequent cartoon nudity and predicable immature humor.

[Magus]

Possibly working with censorship limits brought out their creative side, now that they have no real humor limits they can fall back on predictable fare to create a laugh. I mean, now they can have bleeped swear words, pretty sure they weren't allowed to even have those on FOX, so they'd probably make up a funny word that was inherently funny or for its satirical factor (as you said, making fun of censorship by doing censorship), or do a different joke. Now they can just do "haha, Zoidberg said the f-word angrily" jokes.

[Sithdarth]

Just as an aside did anyone else notice Fry pulling a Rain Man counting the holographic dung beetles that came out of that branch? I'm pretty sure he asked "What's with the (some number I can't remember) dung beetles?" and at the time it seemed about right. It seems that something far subtler might be going on in the background at the moment.

[Magus]

I noticed that but thought it was related to some joke that was upcoming or in retrospect one I had missed. Now, though, I am unsure.

...it was seventeen dung beetles, by the way (am I also Rain Man?!)

[Nique]

Just watched the latest episode - Yeah, not too impressed. But I plan on re-watching this season later to see if I feel differently.