Futurama
Futurama was an animated cartoon series, created by Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), set 1000 years in the future in New New York City.
Futurama was first introduced on the Fox Network in 1999, and was set in the year 3000. Characters on the show include Phillip J. Fry ("Fry"), who was cryogenically frozen just before New Year, 2000, and thawed out in time to usher in the year 3000; Turanga Leela ("Leela"), a one-eyed alien woman who works with Fry at the Planet Express Delivery Service; Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Fry's great-great-...-great grand-nephew who runs Planet Express; Bender Bending Rodriguez ("Bender"), a foul-mouthed, hard drinking robot ("bite my shiny metal ass"), built in America's heartland of Mexico; Hermie (Hermes Conrad), a Jamaican bureaucrat with a flair for filing; Dr. Zoidberg, a lobster-like alien who provides spurious medical advice for the crew; intern Amy Wong, heir to an unbelievable fortune; and many side characters who have been introduced.
Actors lending their voices to the series include Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phill LaMar, and Tress MacNeille.
In 2001, during the show's third season, it was quietly announced that Fox Television was canceling production of the series. While Futurama is currently in its fifth season, there were actually only four production seasons. Due to numerous preemptions and other schedule shuffles, Fox had enough new episodes backlogged for another full year of shows. These delays account for the difference in actual season number and production season number. The fate of new Futurama episodes remains somewhat uncertain, but Fox has been showing episodes sporadically as of 2003 (its fifth season). Cartoon Network is currently showing old episodes in syndication.
(With reference to seasons, it should be noted that Fox's broadcast seasons do not correspond to the show's 'production seasons' which form the basis for the DVD and video sets.)
In Britain the series was picked up by Sky One shortly after its US premiere, and Channel 4 later acquired terrestrial broadcast rights.
In the USA (DVD Region 1), The first season of Futurama was released on DVD on March 25, 2003. The second season DVD is tentatively scheduled for release on September 2, 2003.
In Europe (DVD Region 2), The first and second seasons were both released in 2002, and the third season was released on June 2, 2003.
Unique Development Studios is working on a Futurama video game.