Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60654 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-04-12
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 15

Customer Reviews

Excellent collection
The show Futurama is superbly funny and in most cases, extremely tasteful as well. I have unending praise for the show and with the unfortunately limited number of seasons that were produced, they never had a bad one. I heartily recommend this set, which represents the entire collection of Futurama episodes. You will not regret watching them over and over. They're worth every penny.

Hazaa!!
From the brain of Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons," and David X. Cohen (who also did time on "The Simpsons"), comes "Futurama." Making it's debut in January of 1999 and capping off in the spring of 2003, the show was consistent from beginning to end. Unlike it's infamous big-brother in "The Simpsons," "Futurama" had it's feet firmly on the ground from the start; from the animation to the character development, it seems as though everything that occurs throughout the four-season course of the series was planned from the beginning (and as you'll find out, in some instances, it's the truth). Unfortunately, despite it's abundance in both intelligence and heart, it met an untimely end. Much like "Family Guy," which arrived at the same time, this show has thankfully found it's audience on DVD, and is also facing a resurrection in the near future. But for now, these four seasons are all we have.

"Futurama" begins with the story of Philip J. Fry (Billy West), a lowly pizza-delivery boy in the 20th Century who is more than down on his luck. His job stinks, his girlfriend may or may not be cheating on him, and he apparently finds himself victim to phony pizza orders very often. However, his life changes on New Years 2000, when a delivery to I.C. Weiner lands him at a cryogenic lab. Due to a freak accident, he is trapped inside one of the cryo-chambers, where he remains for the next 1,000 years, only to awake to the bizarre inhabiatants of the year 3000, such as a one-eyed cyclops named Turanga Leela (Kathy Segal), and an alcoholic robot (John Di Maggio) who goes by the name Bender, not just for his hobby, but his job as well. Not too long after getting to know each other, the three come into contact with Professor Farnsworth, Fry's great, great, great, etc. nephew, and all earn jobs at his intergalactic delivery service, Planet Express. Throughout the series, the Planet Express crew, which also includes an asian Martian by the name of Amy, a sad-sack doctor-lobster named Dr. Zoidberg, and the rasta-bureaucrat, Hermes, travel throughout the galaxy, visiting bizarre planets and encountering weird creatures and getting themselves into plenty of tight situations.

What makes Futurama a notch above the competition, is that not only is it consistently funny, but if you are a sci-fi geek, there are thousands or references imbedded into each episode that go over the heads of most viewers (me). Despite the complexity and context of much of the humor, it never detracts from the overall experience. In other words, even if the extent of your sci-fi knowledge is limited to "Star Wars," you'll still more than likely dig the show. Likewise, there is a major human element to the show that many other animated series such as "South Park" and "Family Guy" fail to bring to the table. Episodes such as "The Sting," "Parasites Lost," and "The Devil's Hand Are Idle Playthings" (the series finale) expand on Fry and Leela's growing relationship and give the series a sort of timeline and a sense of realism. Episodes about Bender, arguably the most interesting character, are in abundance as well. Episodes such as "Godfellas," "The 30% Iron Chef," "Bendin' In The Wind," and "Bend-Her" are dedicated mainly to Bender B. Rodriguez and bring out some of the funniest moments of the series. Possibly the most emotional episodes, such as "Jurassic Bark" and "Leela's Homeworld" balance the equation, with episodes focused on Fry and Leela, respectively, and help build the characters beyond what most other animated series would bother doing. Overall, I can't say there is an episode worth missing. Sure, not every one is a winner, and if you aren't a Star Trek fan and can get through "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" more than once, you are a better person than me. From the first episode to the last, there is a certain continuity lacking in most other series, and I guarantee, by the time you reach the end, you will wanna start all over again from the beginning. As for the DVD's, they are definitely worth owning. Perfect picture quality and sound, combined with commentary on each and every episode from Groening, Cohen and various cast and crew members, make this a must for anyone who loves this show. Plus, there are deleted scenes galor and plenty of interesting animatics as well. It may be a huge blow to your wallet, but if you happened to surf over to this page just out of curiousity, it's probably best you just bare down and purchase each and every season of "Futurama." Personally, I bought each set as they were released, and I've seen all the episodes, countless times, but I can still pop in a disc on any given day and am still entertained. "Futurama" was, and still is, a cut above the rest.

On par with Simpsons, Family Guy, etc.
Right off the bat, I want to mention that Futurama often runs on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, so you can catch a lot of episodes there. But if you want to watch the entire series from start to finish and get some of the commentary, I highly recommend picking up all four sets, especially since prices have started to come down on each of the 4 seasons.

I personally think Futurama is funnier than the Simpsons or at least as funny as the Simpsons were in their prime. The problem for Futurama is that many of its jokes are random and are infused with a basic layer of science/math humor, which is not altogether surprising given its science fiction setting. Like the initial run of Family Guy, I think viewers did not buy into the randomness and certain inside-joke feel of Futurama. But the more you watch and pay attention to the episodes, the better you'll pick up on the nuances.

In any case, the characters are flat out ridiculous and hilarious, Bender and Professor Farnsworth being my personal favorites. I suspect that each character represents a portion of Matt Groening's own personality as they are all wildly different from each other. Fry's basically your Homer-type for Futurama but I think Bender steals every episode with his wise-cracking.

Again, if you don't pay attention, you might miss the nuances behind each joke. A lot of things might not even make sense, so I definitely think this series is not for everyone. But if you like a little sci-fi humor born out of the same mold as the Simpsons, with some of the same randomness inherent to Family Guy, then check this out. Whenever I'm having one of those bad or boring days, popping in Futurama and watching a few episodes quickly fixes the problem.