In the "Futurama" episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", the blustering misogynist Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) takes control of a space-bound restaurant and pilots it through dangerous areas of space, merely because it's more adventurous that way. Naturally, the restaurant is damaged during its voyage and crash lands on a distant, uncharted planet with the Planet Express crew. They discover on the uncharted planet a race of nine-foot-tall Amazon women clad in animal skin bikinis and carrying clubs. The Amazonians rarely see men on their planet and are not exactly sure what men are supposed to be good for.
This premise, of course, is cribbed from any number of pornographic male fantasies stretching back at least to the publication of H. Rider Haggard's "She" in 1886. There is a streak of colonialist fiction that dramatized faraway places (that is: far away from Western Europe) as Edenic locales where women wear...
This premise, of course, is cribbed from any number of pornographic male fantasies stretching back at least to the publication of H. Rider Haggard's "She" in 1886. There is a streak of colonialist fiction that dramatized faraway places (that is: far away from Western Europe) as Edenic locales where women wear...
- 4/21/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
SXSW 2024 is hurtling toward its conclusion, and the music portion of the festival entered the weekend with a bang on Friday. The loudest, busiest night so far this year featured tons of great sounds if you knew where to look, or even if you didn’t — in a year that’s been as much about unofficial shows as the ones on the schedule, serendipity was the rule. Here are the best things we saw on March 15.
Eliza McLamb Takes Us to the Dmv
Eliza McLamb already had fans present in the sweaty Shiner’s Saloon,...
Eliza McLamb Takes Us to the Dmv
Eliza McLamb already had fans present in the sweaty Shiner’s Saloon,...
- 3/16/2024
- by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Christian Hoard, Angie Martoccio and Simon Vozick-Levinson
- Rollingstone.com
When you're making a show that lasts over 25 years, there will inevitably be some material from early seasons that don't age as well as expected. Comedy is the quickest to age and the quickest to age poorly, they say, so we should probably go easy on older sitcoms when they can't fully escape being products of their time. While early "Futurama" has aged better than most sitcoms from 1999 — thanks to how most of the woes it satirizes are still around today, but worse — there are plenty of moments that the creators regret. Case in point: "In-a-Gadda-Da-Leela," the 2010 episode where Leela and Zapp find themselves alone, naked, in an unknown planet.
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
"That one didn't age well," co-creator David X. Cohen said in a 2023 interview. "But we failed to avoid it. I would say it's a better description than that we didn't avoid it." He doesn't clarify exactly what "it" is here,...
- 2/11/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Time is a tricky adversary in "Futurama." It's been 24 years since the show first debuted in 1999, but in the latest season, available on Hulu, the characters clearly haven't aged 24 years. But, unlike on "The Simpsons," the characters have aged at least a little bit. Bart Simpson has been 10 years old for 35 years. Fry and Leela (Billy West and Katey Sagal) seem to have grown together as a couple and both have matured ever so slightly, implying the passage of real time. In 24 years, they have aged maybe seven. Hilariously, the Professor (West) seems to have continued aging apace, remaining the doddering old fool he always was. The alcoholic robot Bender (John Dimaggio) hasn't really grown up, but he has changed over the years, remaining criminal but growing a sense of self-pity. Amy (Lauren Tom) has graduated from college, gotten married, and has three newt-like children with her invertebrate husband Kif (Maurice Lamarche).
Throughout the show,...
Throughout the show,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"Futurama" may be set in the 31st century, but a lot of its humor relies on the pop culture of the 20th and 21st. As early as episode 10, "A Flight to Remember" (the season 2 premiere going by broadcast order), "Futurama" was parodying contemporary movies: in this case, "Titanic," then the highest-grossing film of all time. The episode's title comes from another movie about the 1912 ship sinking, "A Night to Remember."
The Planet Express crew takes a vacation on the Titanic; this one is a spaceship rather than an ocean cruiser. On board, Bender romances the Countess de la Roca, a robot who looks suspiciously like Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet). Amy's parents are also on the cruise, while Zapp Brannigan is the ship's captain. So, both Amy and Leela rope Fry into pretending to be their respective boyfriend to get the elder Wongs and Zapp, respectively, off their backs (it...
The Planet Express crew takes a vacation on the Titanic; this one is a spaceship rather than an ocean cruiser. On board, Bender romances the Countess de la Roca, a robot who looks suspiciously like Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet). Amy's parents are also on the cruise, while Zapp Brannigan is the ship's captain. So, both Amy and Leela rope Fry into pretending to be their respective boyfriend to get the elder Wongs and Zapp, respectively, off their backs (it...
- 12/10/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Even with a lascivious, rapacious character like Zapp Brannigan, things can be taken too far.
In Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's "Futurama," Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is the captain of an outsized warship called the Nimbus, and works for an organization called the Democratic Order of Planets, or Doop. Brannigan is a vain, idiotic blowhard who treats his crew like trash and clumsily flirts with any woman within spitting distance. He often touts his sexual prowess, even though he is notoriously bad at sex. He loves his thigh-revealing velour uniform, murders alien invaders without considering the consequences, and calls his quarters "the love-nasium." He can't pronounce the word "champagne" correctly. Zapp is a terrible person.
That, of course, is the joke. In interviews, actor Billy West has said that Zapp Brannigan is what would happen if actor William Shatner was in charge of the starship Enterprise rather than Captain Kirk,...
In Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's "Futurama," Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is the captain of an outsized warship called the Nimbus, and works for an organization called the Democratic Order of Planets, or Doop. Brannigan is a vain, idiotic blowhard who treats his crew like trash and clumsily flirts with any woman within spitting distance. He often touts his sexual prowess, even though he is notoriously bad at sex. He loves his thigh-revealing velour uniform, murders alien invaders without considering the consequences, and calls his quarters "the love-nasium." He can't pronounce the word "champagne" correctly. Zapp is a terrible person.
That, of course, is the joke. In interviews, actor Billy West has said that Zapp Brannigan is what would happen if actor William Shatner was in charge of the starship Enterprise rather than Captain Kirk,...
- 11/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
On several occasions, including during a 2020 video interview with Vanity Fair, prolific voice actor Billy West has explained his inspiration for the role of Zapp Brannigan, the sexist, egomaniacal, blowhard starship captain on "Futurama." He noted that Zapp is what would happen if actor William Shatner ran the U.S.S. Enterprise and not Captain Kirk. Shatner, West noted, was an odd man with a large ego ... just like Zapp Brannigan. Zapp gave West a chance to employ some juicy vocal histrionics.
West plays multiple roles on "Futurama," including the feckless delivery boy Philip J. Fry, the elderly coot Professor Farnsworth, the impoverished crustacean Dr. Zoidberg, and dozens of other smaller, incidental roles. West is one of the titans of his craft, and entire scenes can elapse with West having conversations with himself. Fry, West said, was modeled on his own voice at age 25, while Dr. Zoidberg was based partially...
West plays multiple roles on "Futurama," including the feckless delivery boy Philip J. Fry, the elderly coot Professor Farnsworth, the impoverished crustacean Dr. Zoidberg, and dozens of other smaller, incidental roles. West is one of the titans of his craft, and entire scenes can elapse with West having conversations with himself. Fry, West said, was modeled on his own voice at age 25, while Dr. Zoidberg was based partially...
- 10/8/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The eighth episode of the latest season of "Futurama" was called "Zapp Gets Canceled," and it finally put the show's most horrendous, inappropriate, and lascivious character, Zapp Brannigan (Billy West), on trial for his life of horrible behavior. He is emblazoned with a bright red "C" (for "canceled") and forced to attend a sensitivity training workshop. Zapp, as thick as two planks, doesn't quite absorb the training, feeling that his arrogant, crass, offensive, racist, misogynistic behavior is perfectly acceptable. Because "Futurama" is a pretty cynical show, Zapp is ultimately proven right. His brashness eventually proves to be useful in a crisis situation, and he is reinstated, un-canceled after all. I suppose the un-canceling of Zapp Brannigan is appropriate, coming from a show that, itself, has been un-canceled several times over.
The writers of "Futurama" are smart cookies, and series co-creator David X. Cohen has bragged in the past that his...
The writers of "Futurama" are smart cookies, and series co-creator David X. Cohen has bragged in the past that his...
- 10/7/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
As fun as those first few seasons of "Futurama" were, there was admittedly something kind of depressing about the way it handled some of its minor characters. For instance, Zoidberg was (and is) trapped in his perpetual role as a bad doctor that nobody in the crew takes seriously. The poor crustacean will always be treated with disdain by Farnsworth and Hermes, and only tolerated by Bender, Leela, and Fry. He'll never learn to be better at human medicine or improve himself in any significant way, because that's just the way this show is.
Like "The Simpsons," creator Matt Groening originally designed "Futurama" as a show where things largely reset to normal at the end of each episode; just like Bart Simpson has been trapped in the fourth grade for the past 34 years, doomed to be strangled by his father and beat up by the local bullies for all of eternity,...
Like "The Simpsons," creator Matt Groening originally designed "Futurama" as a show where things largely reset to normal at the end of each episode; just like Bart Simpson has been trapped in the fourth grade for the past 34 years, doomed to be strangled by his father and beat up by the local bullies for all of eternity,...
- 9/11/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
Of all the rude, crass, self-absorbed, ridiculous, inappropriate criminals on "Futurama" -- that is to say, most of the characters on the show -- none is more worthy of censure than Captain Zapp Brannigan (Billy West). Zapp works for Doop, an organization similar to the Federation from "Star Trek," but far more trigger-happy and willing to engage in resource theft. Zapp commands a massive warship called the Nimbus, although the craft is not half as big as Zapp's ego. Zapp is narcissistic, over-sexualized, vain, crude, uncaring, obsessed with velour, and endlessly abusive to his first officer Kif (Maurice Lamarche) whom he uses as a towel in the show's latest episode. West once said in an interview with Vanity Fair that Zapp Brannigan was what might have happened if William Shatner, the actor, was in charge of the starship Enterprise instead of Captain Kirk.
In the series' newest episode, "Zapp Gets Canceled,...
In the series' newest episode, "Zapp Gets Canceled,...
- 9/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
In a 2020 video interview with Vanity Fair, voice actor Billy West explained some of his creative decisions surrounding his multiple "Futurama" characters. For the blowhard Captain Zapp Brannigan, West imagined William Shatner, as if he -- the actor, not Captain Kirk -- were in charge of the Starship Enterprise. Zapp is a creature of pure ego and vanity, which is how West sees Shatner.
On "Futurama," however, Zapp Brannigan is more in line with a widespread popular interpretation of Captain Kirk. Kirk is often called a ladies' man and an incautious cowboy. Zapp wasn't a ladies' man, but he was a pathetic lothario who too often sexually propositioned Leela (Katey Sagal). He referred to his bedroom as "the love-nasium," and was obsessed with wearing velour clothing. Zapp also wasn't merely incautious, but blitheringly incompetent as the commander of the Doop starship Nimbus. "It's an emergency, sir!" an underling would yell.
On "Futurama," however, Zapp Brannigan is more in line with a widespread popular interpretation of Captain Kirk. Kirk is often called a ladies' man and an incautious cowboy. Zapp wasn't a ladies' man, but he was a pathetic lothario who too often sexually propositioned Leela (Katey Sagal). He referred to his bedroom as "the love-nasium," and was obsessed with wearing velour clothing. Zapp also wasn't merely incautious, but blitheringly incompetent as the commander of the Doop starship Nimbus. "It's an emergency, sir!" an underling would yell.
- 9/11/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
This new "Futurama" season has been anything but shy about satirizing hot topics in 2020s culture. The latest one? "Cancelation," or powerful people being ostracized/held accountable for misuses of authority. The episode's title is the blunt: "Zapp Gets Canceled."
Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is a starship captain in the Democratic Order of Planets (Doop). Befitting the "Star Trek" parody, the pitch for his character is, "What if William Shatner was captain of the USS Enterprise?" On top of being a glory hog, Zapp is lecherous, misogynistic, bloodthirsty, incompetent, pretentious, and abusive to his subordinates (West has noticed similarities between Zapp and a certain other blond narcissist).
If any character on "Futurama" was going to be canceled, then no one is more deserving of it than Zapp. In this episode, his mistreated second-in-command Kif Kroker (Maurice Lamarche) grows a backbone and gets Zapp court-martialed. Thus, he loses his captaincy while attending sensitivity training.
Zapp Brannigan (Billy West) is a starship captain in the Democratic Order of Planets (Doop). Befitting the "Star Trek" parody, the pitch for his character is, "What if William Shatner was captain of the USS Enterprise?" On top of being a glory hog, Zapp is lecherous, misogynistic, bloodthirsty, incompetent, pretentious, and abusive to his subordinates (West has noticed similarities between Zapp and a certain other blond narcissist).
If any character on "Futurama" was going to be canceled, then no one is more deserving of it than Zapp. In this episode, his mistreated second-in-command Kif Kroker (Maurice Lamarche) grows a backbone and gets Zapp court-martialed. Thus, he loses his captaincy while attending sensitivity training.
- 9/11/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
Although those early seasons of "Futurama" were probably its strongest overall, one of the show's flaws was the way that minor characters didn't receive enough focus. The first two seasons were very much the Fry, Bender, and Leela show; Professor Farnsworth got plenty of attention too, but the other members of the crew were frequently kept on the sidelines. Amy was mostly there to obliviously make comments that Leela finds insulting, Kif was there to be target of Zapp's abuse, and Hermes was just the casually cold bureaucrat who was great at the limbo.
All of these characters were fleshed out a lot over the series; it wasn't necessarily because the show shifted its focus more towards them, but because after 140 episodes or so, those bits of time we got with them started to add up. It also helps that each season tends to give these minor characters one or two spotlight episodes,...
All of these characters were fleshed out a lot over the series; it wasn't necessarily because the show shifted its focus more towards them, but because after 140 episodes or so, those bits of time we got with them started to add up. It also helps that each season tends to give these minor characters one or two spotlight episodes,...
- 9/4/2023
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
"Futurama" is a show that has had several different lives throughout its existence, which now extends for close to 25 years. One thing the beloved animated series has never had though? A spin-off. But it wasn't for a lack of discussing such a thing, and it turns out a spin-off series came close to happening at one point. While it never came to pass, fan-favorite characters Zapp Brannigan and his trusty pal Kif were talked about as possible subjects for just such a thing.
Speaking with Chris Hardwick on the "Futurama" series final post-show, voice actor Maurice Lamarche, who voices Kif, as well as executive producer David X. Cohen discussed this spin-off series that never came to be. When asked hypothetically by Hardwick which characters they would like to see get a spin-off, Lamarche responded with, "Didn't we come close to a Zapp and Kif spin-off in real life?" Cohen then...
Speaking with Chris Hardwick on the "Futurama" series final post-show, voice actor Maurice Lamarche, who voices Kif, as well as executive producer David X. Cohen discussed this spin-off series that never came to be. When asked hypothetically by Hardwick which characters they would like to see get a spin-off, Lamarche responded with, "Didn't we come close to a Zapp and Kif spin-off in real life?" Cohen then...
- 8/28/2023
- by Ryan Scott
- Slash Film
Soul and R&b legend Charlie Wilson delivered a delightful, career-spanning set in the latest installment of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series.
Wilson, a host of musicians, and a cadre of backup vocalists squeezed into the NPR offices for the performance, which opened an apt fitting introduction: “Charlie, Last Name Wilson,” the beatific title-track from Wilson’s 2005 album. After that, Wilson dipped into his deep catalog of classics and performed “Computer Love,” the 1986 single he made with Dayton funk greats Zapp and singer Shirley Murdock.
After that, Wilson performed...
Wilson, a host of musicians, and a cadre of backup vocalists squeezed into the NPR offices for the performance, which opened an apt fitting introduction: “Charlie, Last Name Wilson,” the beatific title-track from Wilson’s 2005 album. After that, Wilson dipped into his deep catalog of classics and performed “Computer Love,” the 1986 single he made with Dayton funk greats Zapp and singer Shirley Murdock.
After that, Wilson performed...
- 6/5/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
"Futurama" is a loving send-up of science fiction, "Star Trek" very much included. The series' parodies of "Trek" got pretty bald, such as the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," which features the Planet Express crew teaming up with the original "Star Trek" cast to fight the alien Trekkie Melllvar. However, the most endemic "Star Trek" parody in "Futurama" is the recurring characters Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker. The premise behind Zapp is simple and hilarious: what if William Shatner was captain of the Enterprise instead of James T. Kirk?
Kif, his alien second-in-command, is, in turn, a loose parody of Spock,...
The post Futurama's Kif Started Off A Lot More Like Star Trek's Spock appeared first on /Film.
Kif, his alien second-in-command, is, in turn, a loose parody of Spock,...
The post Futurama's Kif Started Off A Lot More Like Star Trek's Spock appeared first on /Film.
- 8/9/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
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