FUTURAMA producer on the show's rebirth

In an interview with Wired, Futurama producer David X Cohen discussed the show's resurrection on Comedy Central. The article has me geeked out and worried in equal measure. (Click the image at left to buy Futurama Vol. 1 on DVD.)

First, the worrisome stuff. Apparently the budget was cut quite a bit from the old Fox days, resulting in a trimmed writing staff and a faster turnaround time for episodes. Given that a couple of the recent DVD movies weren't exactly laugh riots, fewer writers working faster doesn't sound like a good thing. Also, the article says that Matt Groening is considering a Star Trek-like reboot. It's likely he just means they'll throw in some "alternate universe" BS to tweak a few things, but I'm just re-booted out at this point. I liked the show fine as it was and the prospect of a Futurama 2.0 sounds grim.

But some of the changes Cohen mentions sound promising. He said the show will move away from the epic stories of the DVD movies and focus more on the characters.

"The DVD movies, due to their long nature, had to put the universe on the line," he said. "It’s something you have to have in 90 minutes of sci-fi animation, along with slower pacing and more music. But now we can get back to Bender saying mean, funny things."

Cohen also offered some more specifics on upcoming stories.

"I keep thinking of the insidious possibilities of the iPhone, which I use every five seconds of the day. How you can track anyone anywhere, or market your taco stand to people standing 4 feet away. Or the sinister possibilities of Twitter, and so forth. Cellphones were the size of bricks when we first went on the air, so we made jokes about tiny cellphones. Now, they’re everywhere (...) We’re already working on one involving a shocking sexual relationship. We like to both shock and inform our viewers in equal measure."


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