Futurama’s Bittersweet Tone Made It A Tough Series To Write
By Joshua Meyer/Dec. 5, 2022 7:07 am EST
On “Futurama,” the cigar-chomping robot, Bender, voiced by John DiMaggio, is known for his sparkling catchphrase, “Bite my shiny metal ass.” It’s a variation on his five most frequently used words, which are actually (in descending order) “bite,” “my,” “shiny,” “daffodil,” “ass.” The point is, Bender has attitude, and the same could be said for the brand of irreverent humor “Futurama” employs. This was, after all, the first TV show Matt Groening created after “The Simpsons.” Yet even as Groening built off the success of that show, he was working with a writers’ room that included multiple PhDs and master’s degree holders.
One of the writers in that room was Eric Kaplan, who penned the bittersweet, fan-favorite episode “Jurassic Bark,” in which series protagonist Philip J. Fry (Billy West) tries to resurrect his beloved dog from fossilization. It’s just one example of a “Futurama” episode that tugs at the heartstrings as much as it makes the viewer laugh. Fry’s whole predicament from episode 1 has been that of a pizza delivery guy who awakens in the year 2999 after accidentally landing himself in a cryogenic freezing tube in 1999. Everyone he ever knew or cared about is long gone, which leaves him and newfound friends like Bender primed for some pathos with their animated comedy. Speaking to the What’s In My Head Podcast, Kaplan revealed that “committing to the tone was the hardest part” of writing “Futurama.” “I think in many ways, like, there’s structure and then there’s tone,” he said. “And structure is a very analytical thing, and it’s pretty easy to discuss. And tone is equally important, maybe more important, because very often what we come away with from a piece of art, like from a dream, is a feeling of emotion, the vibe of it.”
One of the writers in that room was Eric Kaplan, who penned the bittersweet, fan-favorite episode “Jurassic Bark,” in which series protagonist Philip J. Fry (Billy West) tries to resurrect his beloved dog from fossilization. It’s just one example of a “Futurama” episode that tugs at the heartstrings as much as it makes the viewer laugh. Fry’s whole predicament from episode 1 has been that of a pizza delivery guy who awakens in the year 2999 after accidentally landing himself in a cryogenic freezing tube in 1999. Everyone he ever knew or cared about is long gone, which leaves him and newfound friends like Bender primed for some pathos with their animated comedy.
Speaking to the What’s In My Head Podcast, Kaplan revealed that “committing to the tone was the hardest part” of writing “Futurama.” “I think in many ways, like, there’s structure and then there’s tone,” he said. “And structure is a very analytical thing, and it’s pretty easy to discuss. And tone is equally important, maybe more important, because very often what we come away with from a piece of art, like from a dream, is a feeling of emotion, the vibe of it.”
