Difference between revisions of "Reincarnation"
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== Plot == | == Plot == | ||
=== Act I: Colorama === | === Act I: Colorama === | ||
The first segment is animated in a black-and-white "Fleischer and Walter Lantz style". Professor Farnsworth discovers a comet made of Diamondium, the hardest substance in the universe, and sends the crew to gather diamond dust from the comet's tail to power a doomsday device. Fry sneaks onto the surface of the comet and finds a large gem, which he hopes to give to Leela as an engagement ring. Fry plants the Professor's doomsday device on the comet and brings Leela to the balcony of the Planet Express building, thinking the resulting explosion will dislodge the gem and send it flying to land on her finger. It instead splits the comet in half, with one half flying towards the sun and creating a rainbow, and the other half flying into the rainbow and creating an entirely new color. Leela marvels at the beautiful sight, depicted entirely in grayscale. Before Fry can propose to Leela, the comet crumbles to dust that falls onto the Planet Express building, crystallising and trapping Fry and Leela in a giant diamond. One billion years later, an alien proposes to his alien girlfriend with a ring containing the diamond in which Fry and Leela are trapped. | |||
=== Act II: Future Challenge 3000 === | === Act II: Future Challenge 3000 === | ||
The second segment is shown in the style of a low-resolution video game. Using the debris from the Diamondium comet from the previous segment, Professor Farnsworth creates a microscope lens powerful enough to find the smallest unit of matter, which is depicted as a single black pixel. The Professor forms a scientific equation explaining the mysteries of the universe from this single unit, only to become depressed upon realizing that there are no further scientific questions to answer. Fry cheers him up by saying that he has yet to solve why the laws of the universe are what they are and not something else, thus giving scientists a reason to keep looking for answers about the universe. | |||
=== Act III: Action Delivery Force === | === Act III: Action Delivery Force === | ||
The third and final segment is drawn in the style of anime. A race of gelatinous aliens who can only communicate through body language is angered by the destruction of the Diamondium comet, which they worship as a god, and attack Earth in retaliation. The Planet Express crew attempt to relay a message of peace, but cannot communicate with the aliens properly due to both the humans' and aliens' inability to understand the other's language. Doctor Zoidberg successfully persuades the aliens to leave by shedding his shell and performing an intricate dance universally symbolizing peace, which is depicted as Zoidberg merely standing still while the camera pans across his body. | |||
== Reception == | == Reception == | ||
Revision as of 00:48, 10 September 2011
| ← Previous | Navigation in production order | Next → |
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| Season 6 episode Broadcast season 8 episode | |||||
| Reincarnation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | 114 | ||||
| Production number | 6ACV26 | ||||
| Written by | Aaron Ehasz | ||||
| Directed by | Peter Avanzino | ||||
| Title caption | REINCARNATION | ||||
| First air date | 8 September, 2011 | ||||
| Broadcast number | S08E13 | ||||
| Special guest(s) | Stephen Hawking | ||||
| Additional | |||||
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| Season 6 | |||||
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"Reincarnation" is the one hundred and fourteenth episode of Futurama, the twenty-sixth and last of the sixth production season and the thirteenth and last of the eighth broadcast season. It aired 8 September, 2011 on Comedy Central. Futurama is reconceived in three alternate animation styles: classic black-and-white, old-school videogame, and Japanese anime.
Plot
Act I: Colorama
The first segment is animated in a black-and-white "Fleischer and Walter Lantz style". Professor Farnsworth discovers a comet made of Diamondium, the hardest substance in the universe, and sends the crew to gather diamond dust from the comet's tail to power a doomsday device. Fry sneaks onto the surface of the comet and finds a large gem, which he hopes to give to Leela as an engagement ring. Fry plants the Professor's doomsday device on the comet and brings Leela to the balcony of the Planet Express building, thinking the resulting explosion will dislodge the gem and send it flying to land on her finger. It instead splits the comet in half, with one half flying towards the sun and creating a rainbow, and the other half flying into the rainbow and creating an entirely new color. Leela marvels at the beautiful sight, depicted entirely in grayscale. Before Fry can propose to Leela, the comet crumbles to dust that falls onto the Planet Express building, crystallising and trapping Fry and Leela in a giant diamond. One billion years later, an alien proposes to his alien girlfriend with a ring containing the diamond in which Fry and Leela are trapped.
Act II: Future Challenge 3000
The second segment is shown in the style of a low-resolution video game. Using the debris from the Diamondium comet from the previous segment, Professor Farnsworth creates a microscope lens powerful enough to find the smallest unit of matter, which is depicted as a single black pixel. The Professor forms a scientific equation explaining the mysteries of the universe from this single unit, only to become depressed upon realizing that there are no further scientific questions to answer. Fry cheers him up by saying that he has yet to solve why the laws of the universe are what they are and not something else, thus giving scientists a reason to keep looking for answers about the universe.
Act III: Action Delivery Force
The third and final segment is drawn in the style of anime. A race of gelatinous aliens who can only communicate through body language is angered by the destruction of the Diamondium comet, which they worship as a god, and attack Earth in retaliation. The Planet Express crew attempt to relay a message of peace, but cannot communicate with the aliens properly due to both the humans' and aliens' inability to understand the other's language. Doctor Zoidberg successfully persuades the aliens to leave by shedding his shell and performing an intricate dance universally symbolizing peace, which is depicted as Zoidberg merely standing still while the camera pans across his body.
Reception
"Reincarnation" aired 8 September 2011 on Comedy Central. Prior to its broadcast, a few previews had risen. Salon's Matt Zoller Seitz exclaimed that the episode was a must watch for Futurama fans and encouraged fans to 'set their DVRs now',[1] while IGN's Robert Canning gave it 8.5 (great).[2]
Reviews of the episode continued in a similar positive fashion, with The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen giving it an A rating, highlighting that the episode managed to '[pay] homage to trio of different styles without missing a beat or coming across as self-indulgent'.[3] Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic said the episode 'brought Futurama's season to a close in a wonderfully hilarious and original way' and gave it a rating of 4.5 out of 5.[4]
Production
The title was originally "Resurrection", but it was changed to "Reincarnation" in the process.[5]
The episode was for some time thought to be the 'series finale', but the announcement of the upcoming seventh production season proved otherwise. It is a segmented episode and non-canonical, as with the "Anthology of Interest" episodes and "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular".[6]
The production code was early on planned to be 6ACV25, making the episode the second-to-last,[6] but was in November 2010 changed to 6ACV26, making the episode the season finale.[7]
During June 2011, Countdown to Futurama released six items of promotional material for the episode: reused concept art of Bender in Fleischer style from The Beast with a Billion Backs on 10 June, concept art of Nibbler in Fleischer style on 11 June, concept art of Fry in anime style on 12 June, part of the storyboard from the anime segment showing a battle between a robot and a wizard on 13 June, concept art of Leela and Bender in anime style on 14 June, and a video clip featuring the crew in anime style on 21 June.
On 15 June, David X. Cohen announced in an interview that "Reincarnation" was one of his favourite episodes of the broadcast season. He also said that they had licensed actual existing music to fit the different sequences - jazz for the Fleischer one, actual anime scores for the anime one, and videogame music for the videogame one - and that the anime segment would be screened on the 2011 Comic-Con.[8]
On 21 July, another video clip featuring the crew in anime style was shown by Filmnut during an interview with Patric M. Verrone.[9]
On 16 August, AWN released a promotional picture for the episode from the Fleischer segment.[10]
According to Eric Rogers, the writers even considered claymation, but decided against due to time constraints and money.[11]
During September 2011, Countdown to Reincarnation released eleven items of promotional material for the episode: two promotional pictures from the videogame segment and two promotional pictures from the Fleischer segment on 2 September; one promotional picture from the anime segment, the Countdown to Futurama video clip, and part of the storyboard from the anime segment showing Bender and Fry dancing on 6 September; the AWN promotional picture and a video clip featuring the crew in Fleischer style on 7 September; and a concept-art set in Fleischer style and part of the storyboard from the Fleischer segment showing Amy, Fry, Leela, Zoidberg, Bender, and Hermes holding a vacuum hose on 8 September.
On 3 September, Entertainment Weekly released a video clip from the Fleischer segment.[12]
On 7 September, the Fleischer segment, the video game segment and the Anime segment were revealed to be named 'Colorama', 'Future Challenge 3000' and 'Action Delivery Force', respectively.[1]
Image gallery
Reused concept art of Bender from The Beast with a Billion Backs.
Concept art of Nibbler in Fleischer style.
Concept art of Fry in anime style.
Page 96 of the storyboard.
Concept art of Bender and Leela in anime style.
A screenshot from the Countdown to Futurama video clip.
A screenshot from the Filmnut video clip.
- Crew in Fleisher style.jpg
The first promotional picture.
The second promotional picture.
The third promotional picture.
The fourth promotional picture.
The fifth promotional picture.
A screenshot from the Entertainment Weekly video clip.
The sixth promotional picture.
Page 319 of the storyboard.
A screenshot from the Countdown to Reincarnation video clip.
The first concept art of the concept-art set in Fleischer style.
Page 188 of the storyboard.
Additional Info
Trivia
- This episode is among the few one-word titled media.
- This episode is also among the Futurama media featuring its title within the story.
- This episode marks the second time that Futurama pays tribute to Max Fleischer. The first part of The Beast with a Billion Backs, which also had some Walt Disney influences, marked the first.
- This is one of four episodes of broadcast season 8 to be broadcast in production order. The other three are "Fry Am the Egg Man", "Cold Warriors", and "Overclockwise".
- All three segments feature a joke on the limitations of their respective mediums. Colorama invents a color in a black and white world, Future Challenge 3000 describes perfect resolution in a low resolution world, and Action Delivery Force shows a highly complex dance too fast to be seen in a low frame rate world.
- The high scores of the day reported on by Morbo and Linda are:
- The recycled location shot in the "Action Delivery Force" segment is Kinkaku-ji.
Continuity
- The concept of owls as pests is revisited.
- Diamondium reappears, another TBWABB element.
Allusions
- The idea of three stories revolving around the diamondium comet bears some resemblance to the "Meteor Shower Trilogy" of South Park (consists of "Cat Orgy", "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub" and "Jewbilee"), where a meteor shower provided the backdrop for three separate stories.
Colorama
- Farnsworth says, "Movietone News, everyone!" A reference to a newsreel series of the same name from the 1920's.
- Nibbler crawls on the widow's walk dressed like Swee'Pea from Popeye.
- Hermes says that the comet is lit up like a "smooth, refreshing Chesterfield". Chesterfield was one of the biggest brands of cigarettes in the United States during the early 20th century.
- In addition, the reference to Chesterfield is a spoof of the once-prevalent product placement and sponsorship by tobacco companies in television, radio, and film.
- Amy says "You're boopin' my Betty." This is a reference to the famous Fleischer creation Betty Boop.
- At one point, to get stronger muscles, Fry swallows mushroom jelly from a can. This is a reference to how Popeye the sailor used spinach to make himself stronger.
- At the end, Bender busts out of the screen and says, "Ba-lap-ba-lap-ba-lap-That's all you get, jerks!", a parody of Porky Pig ending Looney Tunes cartoons by bursting out of a drum and saying, "Th-Th-Th-That's all, folks!"
Future Challenge 3000
- When Farnsworth analyzes the log, he makes references to the lyrics of "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea".
- When Hermes tells everyone to get back to work, the crew digs underneath the Planet Express building. This is a reference to the arcade game Dig Dug.
- Farnsworth jumps over a barrel, another Donkey Kong reference.
- The aliens from the video game Galaxian, which was designed to compete with Space Invaders appear in the news report.
- The scene in the bar is a reference to the 1983 arcade game Tapper (also known as Root Beer Tapper).
- The Atari arcade game Tempest can be seen when Farnsworth zooms in on the log.
- When Bender punches Fry, he resembles the wire-framed boxer from the original arcade version of Punch-Out!!
- When Farnsworth sadly walks back to Planet Express references the Super Mario series. Warp pipes appear, as well as clouds ripped from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Action Delivery Force
- Fry, at one point, puts on a helmet similar to one worn by Speed Racer.
- The space robot Zagtar looks similar to the title character from Voltron.
- The main themes from Voltron and Gatchaman are featured.
- Music during the space battle is "Alien Attack" from Robotech.
- The "Curious Pussycat" brand is a reference to the "Hello Kitty" line of merchandise.
Characters
- Amy
- Bender
- Debut: Bernilla
- Bubblegum (cameo)
- Calculon (cameo)
- Cubert
- Curious Pussycat (cameo)
- Professor Farnsworth
- Fry
- The Galactic Entity
- Hattie
- Hermes
- Debut: Prince Hiroshi (cameo)
- Igner (cameo)
- LaBarbara (cameo)
- Larry (cameo)
- Leela
- Debut: Leela's finger
- Linda
- Monique (cameo)
- Morbo
- Nibbler (cameo)
- Nine (cameo)
- Petunia (cameo)
- Mayor Poopenmeyer (cameo)
- Roberto (cameo)
- Sal (cameo)
- Scruffy
- Slurms MacKenzie (cameo)
- Debut: Sparky
- Stephen Hawking's head
- The Transition Announcer
- Walt (cameo)
- Wernstrom (cameo)
- Debut: Zagtar (cameo)
- Zoidberg
References
- ^ a b Seitz, Matt Zoller (07 September 2011). "The "Reincarnation" of "Futurama"". Salon. Retrieved on 09 September 2011.
- ^ Canning, Robert (08 September 2011). "Futurama: "Reincarnation" Review". IGN. Retrieved on 08 September 2011.
- ^ Handlen, Zack (08 September 2011). ""Reincarnation"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved on 09 September 2011.
- ^ McHatton, Nick (09 September 2011). "Futurama Seaon Finale Review: "Reincarnation"". TV Fanatic. Retrieved on 09 September 2011.
- ^ Cortez, Carl (01 September 2010). "Exclusive Interview: 'Futurama' Co-Creator David X. Cohen Blows out the 100th Episode Candle and Talks about the Season Six Finale". iF Magazine. Retrieved on 01 September 2010.
- ^ a b "So that’s one three-parter, and the other will be a really mind-blowing one, which will either be the very last, or second to last episode we broadcast – probably the very last. It’ll be most likely presented as a special that’s kind of outside the timeline of the series, again being an abstract episode like the 'Anthologies of Interest,' where we will see the Futurama characters in three different animation styles. Futurama itself will be reincarnated in three different styles." — Cohen, David
Zalben, Alex (22 June 2010). "Exclusive: Futurama Creator Spills on Special Last, Last Episode!". UGO. Retrieved on 22 June 2010. - ^ 'Futurama' Producer David X. Cohen Talks Holiday Special
- ^ "'I also have to mention our season finale this year, which is scheduled for the beginning of September. It’s called “Reincarnation” and asks the question what if our show was reincarnated in different animation styles. So the first one is a classic black-and-white cartoon, then we have Futurama as an early ’90s video-game pixilation animation, and the third section is done in Japanese anime style. We will screen the anime portion at Comic-Con this year. Our supervising director, Peter Avanznio, did an amazing job of redesigning our whole world in three distinctive styles for just one episode. We even used jazz for the black-and-white section, licensed actual videogame music and anime scores for the episode." — Cohen, David X.
Cohen, David X. (16 June 2024). Cohen Spills the Beans on Futurama's New Season. Retrieved on 16 June 2011. - ^ Futurama Writer/Co-Executive Producer Patric Verrone Filmnut Episode 505
- ^ Back to the Futurama
- ^ "cyber_turnip" (18 August 2011). "Topic: Futurama News during the 2011 Futurama run" Page 11. (PEEL.) Retrieved on 18 August 2011.
- ^ 'Futurama' goes Roaring '20s retro in finale -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO