SDCC 2010: ‘Futurama’ News And Updates With Groening And Cast

YBMW was invited to the press con for Matt Groening’s “Futurama” at SDCC this year and had the chance to meet Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, as well as the voice talents of the cast that include Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, and Maurice LaMarche.

Already self evident, “Futurama” has made a spectacular comeback with a brand new 26 episode season on Comedy Central.

The entire cast and crew found starting the show again felt normal and was not bothered by the hiatus. Most of all, they were grateful to all the fans who were determined to see “Futurama” return to air.

When asked if their return was more rewarding having been canceled Matt Groening replied, “I think it’s great being on Comedy Central, we get to do what we want to, in fact, we’ve received no censorship notice ever.”

Executive producer Cohen says that the new season has had solid ratings and reviews and believes they are some of the best stuff they’ve done as a result. Much in part due to their excellent writing staff that features members of the science community with Masters and PhD’s.

Being confronted on how they were encouraged to continue John DiMaggio and Groening commented on the many “Futurama” based tattoos they saw, especially during events such as Comic-Con. DiMaggio shared a story about getting a new tattoo and running into a man getting a Bender tattoo.

“Dude! I’m Bender!” DiMaggio tells him. In the end DiMaggio ended up signing the fan’s neck with a permanent autograph next to his new Bender tat.

Aside from the regular episodes, two episode specials are also expected to air which includes three mini stories instead of one.

“They usually violate all of the laws of the universe … that are even too crazy for Futurama.”

DiMaggio also lets slide that they hope to do another “Futurama” movie sometime in the near future.

When asked on how one can tell if they are just making a huge mistake versus a learning experience, Billy West responds, “Success never taught me a thing, it’s failure that taught me stuff.” He added, “I have no other skills in the world” as his reason for not allowing his own failure to stop him in his tracks.

Lauren Tom said that the voice of Inez Wong is inspired by her grandmother who consistently told her that she would “beat her to death.”

As the conference came to an end, the cast members were presented with a book and plaque from the Guinness Book of World Records for Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. They received an award for “The most critically acclaimed animated series currently on television is Futurama.” An award much deserving and a special treat for those who were there to witness the ceremony.

Lastly, the final 26th episode was just recently recorded and it will not finish airing until Summer 2011. It was also mentioned that the finale episode will coincidentally be the show’s 100th episode. It will tell the tale of Leela’s charge against anti-mutant discrimination as she leads her parents and the mutants living in the old city out from hiding. If that isn’t enough, it will also show the reincarnation of “Futurama” in three different animation styles.

With that said, here’s to Groening and Comedy Central’s “Futurama,” hope to see it return for more season to come!!

New episodes of “Futurama” air on Comedy Central every Thursdays at 10PM.