“As Foretold by Nostradamus” If there was ever a Prime Time animated series created that should have been able to give “The Simpsons” a run for its money, it was “Futurama.” Of course, it would have been odd for the two to be in any kind of competition considering they were both the brainchildren of uber-genius Matt Groening. The problem was that while “The Simpsons” has enjoyed a highly successful and supported run on Fox, “Futurama” has languished in the ratings due to the network’s habit of pre-empting it for everything from stupid football games to anything that paid them just a little more money. In spite of this horrible mistreatment from Fox, “Futurama” gained a loyal following, just not a big enough one to keep the series from finally ending it’s run after five years. I count myself amongst those that shake our heads in sadness at its passing. “Futurama” was everything “The Simpsons” is in the way of quick satirical humor.

And though Homer and Company are still funny after all these years, I often found “Futurama” to be even funnier. So much for the power of marketing.

Two things have happened however, to make me a little happier as far as the fate of “Futurama” is concerned. One is the fact that Cartoon Network, in its infinite wisdom picked up re-runs of the show and was playing it as part of its Adult Swim series. It’s currently off the roster again, but will return later in the year, and there is even talk of creating new episodes. (Let’s all keep our collective fingers and claws crossed, shall we?)

The other thing that got me so psyched was that Fox Home Entertainment made the wise decision to go ahead and start releasing “Futurama” on DVD. Now, they’re not releasing them by season, but rather by volume, which is fine by me as long as they release them. The newest set to hit the market is Volume 2, and it includes 19 more episodes of the ill-fated series. And in the grand tradition of Fox DVDs, this set comes with an enormous amount of extras.

The most entertaining extra comes in the form of commentaries. There’s one for every single stinkin’ episode in the set. And I don’t know what’s more amazing, the fact that there are commentaries on every single stinkin’ episode, or the fact that everyone still has so much to say after so many commentaries. If you don’t laugh hard enough at the episodes themselves, you gotta listen to these tracks. About 1/10 of the time there’s some serious information about the show, the rest of the time it’s pretty much a mixed bag of hilarious comments and ragging on each other.

Those who are into the animation side of the coin will get a kick out of some of the animatics that are available on the discs, while fans of the series in general will enjoy some of the many deleted scenes. I would like to throw in a nod to the guys who came up with the packaging if I may. The outer box has the Professor and Bender standing by the window of the ship on the front, and Zoidberg and Hermes on the back. Each side has a clear plastic sheet for the window through which you can see the inner box, which has Fry suffocating while Amy puts on her lipstick on one side, and Leelah ‘walking’ Nibbler, who’s chasing the cat. It’s a really nice piece of work. The inner box slides out and each disc is housed in its own super-slim snapcase. Each of these snapcases, in turn, have a listing of the episodes as well as the opening ‘one-liner’ that the show had become famous for.

Each and every episode in the “Futurama: Volume 2” set is priceless, but I was most interested to see the inclusion of “Xmas Story.” The episode centers on the futuristic Santa Claus, who is now a murderous robot bent on destruction. The episode, to my knowledge, only aired once and was pulled because it was considered too violent. To make matters worse, the night it was supposed to air, my VCR decided to conk out, so I never got to see it. Well, thanks to this new DVD set, that travesty of justice has been corrected. It’s a hilarious episode that you need to see.

I’m really glad to see that “Futurama” will live on, at least on DVD. It is every bit funny as the “The Simpsons” and deserves a place amongst the best animated TV series ever.

Episodes:
I Second That Emotion
Brannigan, Begin Again,
A Head in the Polls
Xmas Story
Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?
The Lesser of Two Evils
Put Your Head on My Shoulders
Raging Bender
A Bicyclops Built For Two
A Clone of My Own
How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back
The Deep South
Bender Gets Made
Mother’s Day
The Problem with Popplers
Anthology of Interest I
War is the H-Word
The Honking
The Cryonic Woman

Starring (the voices of): Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr
Extras: Full Length Audio Commentary on all 19 Episodes, Animatics, Deleted Scenes, Concept Art Still Gallery, Alien Alphabet, International Clips, Sponsor Clips
Specifications: Full Frame, English, Spanish and French Dolby Surround
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 8/12/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Futurama - Volume 2 an A+.