By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
Futurama
Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder is the last of four DVD movies ordered as a reprieve of the cancelled Fox series. Producer David X. Cohen offers hope that there could be more adventures with Fry and Leila in our near future.
Futurama Future
"It certainly seems possible," Cohen said. "From what we know, they've sold quite well so far. I think with this economic downturn, Fox is probably keeping a close eye on how the fourth one sells right now, to see if people are still spending their $18 or whatever. I would say based on what I know, what reaction I've seen, I think there is a pretty good chance they would want to do more. But at the same time, I have not gotten that call from Fox even though I've been sitting here weeping by the phone with my hankies waiting for a call. It has not come in yet so I don't know. It's a genuine mystery to me and Matt Groening and all of us at the show, but we know they're thinking about it. they're definitely thinking about it and looking closely at a lot of facts and figures, probably how their other shows are doing and all those kind of things."
Airing the DVD movies in four parts each on Comedy Central has also offered another possible avenue. "It gives one more possible way to go. Before, during the period we were off of Fox, it seemed like well, we can do DVDs, Fox can pick us up again. Now there's the possibility that Comedy Central could pick us up. None of these things are things that are happening at the moment but there's one more ray of hope I guess I would say."
Cohen has already somewhat scripted a new Futurama, lest the call with an urgent deadline comes in. "I am raring to go. I was just talking to Matt the other day about an idea I have that I've been working out each morning successively in the shower at this weird hour of the day where I'm not thinking clearly and just the plate of Futurama characters enters my mind while I'm in this hazy state. I think I've mostly worked out what's going to happen if we do come back. I'm going to actually be kind of sad if I don't get to write it down now that it kind of exists in my head."
Green Yonder ends with an open end where the crew could go anywhere, yet Cohen puts some restrictions on that. "That's also the problem of Futurama. You say well, they can go to any planet or any universe and all these things are possible, but then the question is ah, but which one will be satisfying for our discerning fans. It's actually fairly difficult to work through the possibilities and come up with one where you're like ah, that's both satisfying and unexpected. When we get both of those things, then we've done our jobs properly. And I'm going to throw in funny. That needs to be obviously."
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