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Futurama season 5

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Futurama Season 5'
Season 5
Futurama's four DVD movies
No. of episodes16
Release
Original networkComedy Central
Original releaseMarch 23, 2008 (2008-03-23) –
August 30, 2009 (2009-08-30)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 4
Next →
Season 6
List of episodes

Futurama's fifth production season (originally sixth broadcast season, later changed to broadcast season zero in syndication) began airing in March 2008 and concluded after 16 episodes on August 30, 2009. The episodes were TV versions and edits of the four DVD movies. This list is for the TV versions.

Production

Futurama was initially cancelled by Fox, in 2003, due to low ratings.[1][2] However, in late 2002, Cartoon Network acquired exclusive cable syndication rights to Futurama for a reported ten million dollars.[3] In January 2003,[3] the network began airing Futurama episodes as the centerpiece to the expansion of their Adult Swim cartoon block.[4] In October 2005, Comedy Central picked up the cable syndication rights to air Futurama's 72-episode run at the start of 2008, following the expiration of Cartoon Network's contract. It was cited as the largest and most expensive acquisition in the network's history. It is currently airing every night, followed by South Park.[5] A Comedy Central teaser trailer announced the return of Futurama March 23, 2008,[6] which was Bender's Big Score divided into four episodes followed by the other three movies. The series also airs in syndication in many countries around the world.

When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air Futurama reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. Negotiations were already underway with the possibility of creating two or three straight-to-DVD films. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four films would be produced.[7] On April 26, 2006, Groening noted in an interview that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies.[8] All the original voice actors participated. In February 2007, Groening explained the format of the new stories: "[The crew is] writing them as movies and then we're going to chop them up, reconfigure them, write new material and try to make them work as separate episodes."[9]

The first movie, Futurama: Bender's Big Score, was written by Ken Keeler and Cohen, and includes return appearances by the Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim, Robot Santa, the "God" space entity, Al Gore, and Zapp Brannigan.[10] It was animated in widescreen and was released on standard DVD on November 27, 2007, with a possible Blu-ray Disc release to follow.[11] A release on HD DVD was rumored but later officially denied. Futurama: Bender's Big Score was the first DVD release for which 20th Century Fox implemented measures intended to reduce the total carbon footprint of the production, manufacturing, and distribution processes. Where it was not possible to completely eliminate carbon output carbon offsets were used. They refer to the changed processes as "carbon neutral."[12]

The second movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs, was released on June 24, 2008. The third movie, Bender's Game was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc[13] on November 3, 2008 in the UK, November 4, 2008 in the USA, and December 10, 2008 in Australia. The fourth movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 23, 2009.[14]

Since no new Futurama projects were originally in production at the time, the movie Into the Wild Green Yonder was designed to stand as the Futurama series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.[15] In an interview with CNN, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know... We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me."[16]

On June 9, 2009, 20th Century Fox announced that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that will begin airing in mid-2010.[17][18][19] A smaller writing crew will return.[20]

Reception

IGN had mostly positive reviews on the 4 DVD movie releases of the season.[21][22][23][24]

Episodes

See also: List of Futurama episodes
# # Title Directed by Written by Original air date Production
code 		Television
order
731"Bender's Big Score (Part 1)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		March 23, 20085ACV01S06E01
742"Bender's Big Score (Part 2)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		March 23, 20085ACV02S06E02
753"Bender's Big Score (Part 3)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		March 23, 20085ACV03S06E03
764"Bender's Big Score (Part 4)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		March 23, 20085ACV04S06E04
775"The Beast with a Billion Backs (Part 1)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Eric Kaplan
Story by: Eric Kaplan & David X. Cohen		October 19, 20085ACV05S06E05
786"The Beast with a Billion Backs (Part 2)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Eric Kaplan
Story by: Eric Kaplan & David X. Cohen		October 19, 20085ACV06S06E06
797"The Beast with a Billion Backs (Part 3)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Eric Kaplan
Story by: Eric Kaplan & David X. Cohen		October 19, 20085ACV07S06E07
808"The Beast with a Billion Backs (Part 4)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Eric Kaplan
Story by: Eric Kaplan & David X. Cohen		October 19, 20085ACV08S06E08
819"Bender's Game (Part 1)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Eric Horsted
Story by: Eric Horsted & David X. Cohen		April 26, 20095ACV09S06E09
8210"Bender's Game (Part 2)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Eric Horsted
Story by: Eric Horsted & David X. Cohen		April 26, 20095ACV10S06E10
8311"Bender's Game (Part 3)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: Michael Rowe & Eric Kaplan
Story by: Eric Horsted & David X. Cohen		April 26, 20095ACV11S06E11
8412"Bender's Game (Part 4)"Dwayne Carey-HillTeleplay by: David X. Cohen & Patric Verrone
Story by: Eric Horsted & David X. Cohen		April 26, 20095ACV12S06E12
8513"Into the Wild Green Yonder (Part 1)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		August 30, 20095ACV13S06E13
8614"Into the Wild Green Yonder (Part 2)"Peter AvanzinoKen KeelerAugust 30, 20095ACV14S06E14
8715"Into the Wild Green Yonder (Part 3)"Peter AvanzinoKen KeelerAugust 30, 20095ACV15S06E15
8816"Into the Wild Green Yonder (Part 4)"Peter AvanzinoTeleplay by: Ken Keeler
Story by: Ken Keeler & David X. Cohen		August 30, 20095ACV16S06E16

References

  1. ^ "Fox Says 'No' to 'Futurama'". Zap2it. February 12, 2002. Archived from the original on 2003-10-14. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite web}}: Text ",00.html" ignored (help); Text "1" ignored (help); Text "73838" ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Remeber Me after my Death!". Can't Get Enough Futurama. May 15, 2003. Retrieved 2008-06-03. [sic]
  3. ^ a b "Toon Net Gets 'Futurama'". Daily Variety. September 9, 2002. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
  4. ^ "Adult Swim". Cartoon Network Pressroom. Archived from the original on 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  5. ^ Dempsey, John (October 27, 2005). ""Futurama" in Comedy Central's future via big deal". Variety. Retrieved 2005-10-27.
  6. ^ "Silver screen Simpsons, Futurama facing finish?". BBC News. 2001-01-19. Archived from the original on 2003-04-19. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  7. ^ Katz, Claudia (2007-11-16). "Exclusive Interview: Claudia Katz on Futurama the Movie: Bender's Big Score" (Interview). Interviewed by Evan Jacobs. Retrieved 2008-06-03. {{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter |subjectlink= ignored (|subject-link= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Rabin, Nathan (2006-04-26). "Matt Groening". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  9. ^ "Rhymes with Raining". Crave Online. 2007-02-26. Retrieved 2007-03-25.
  10. ^ "Ain't It Cool News: "Ben Sinister Has Read The New FUTURAMA 'Movie'!!"". Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  11. ^ (April 5, 2008). Tales of Interest: The Simpsons and Futurama in high-definition. HDTVTotal.com.
  12. ^ ""Futurama" Feature Length Movie DVD Specs". 2007-11-14. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
  13. ^ Hornig, Andreas (2008-07-28). "Futurama's third direct-to-disc movie "Bender's Game" on Blu-ray". HDTVTotal.com. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  14. ^ "Into the Wild Green Yonder at Blu-ray.com". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
  15. ^ Wortham, Jenna (2008-11-04). "Futurama Animators Roll 20-Sided Die With Bender's Game". Wired.com. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
  16. ^ Leopold, Todd (2009-02-26). "Matt Groening looks to the future". CNN.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  17. ^ Ausiello, Michael (2009-06-09). "It's official: 'Futurama' is reborn!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
  18. ^ "'Futurama' Returns to Production with an initial order of 26 New Episodes to Premiere Mid 2010". Press Central Comedy Central Press Release. 2009-06-10. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
  19. ^ Goldman, Eric (2009-06-09). "Futurama Return Made Official". IGN. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  20. ^ Schneider, Michael (2009-06-09). "'Futurama' returns with new episodes". Variety. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  21. ^ http://dvd.ign.com/articles/836/836327p1.html
  22. ^ http://dvd.ign.com/articles/884/884698p1.html
  23. ^ http://bluray.ign.com/articles/927/927779p1.html
  24. ^ http://dvd.ign.com/articles/956/956729p1.html
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