Futurama hits the airwaves again tonight with two all new episodes that I couldn’t be happier with. This has consistently been the funniest show on the air since it started and now that we’re getting into Season 7, though it’s taken us much longer to get here than it should have, the writers have completely hit their stride and every episode delivers the sort of belly laughs I used to expect out of The Simpsons. But this show has always been much smarter and edgier than The Simpsons and the season 7 premiere bears that out.
The first episode of the premiere, The Bots and the Bees, sees Bender knocking up a Beverage Dispenser named Bev (played to hilarious perfection by Wanda Sykes). She bears the child and disappears, leaving Bender to raise the small bot on his own. The episode touches on problems with the lack of sex-ed in schools, custody disputes, deadbeat parents, and is packed front to back with laughs. Episodes starring Bender are usually my favorite and this one certainly didn’t suck.
It also includes a brilliant retelling of the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer story.
The second episode, A Farewell to Arms, is a play on the Mayan calendar fiasco, and the Earth is scheduled for destruction in the year 3012. They’re working to evacuate Earth on an ancient Martian spaceship (never mind the fact that everyone has their own ships and could leave at their leisure anyway). Insert Zapp Brannigan into the equation and you’ve got the makings for an episode that had me holding my sides from laughing too much.
The moral of the story here? If you love Futurama, these episodes aren’t going to disappoint you in any way. If the episodes remain this consistently good and they cancel this show again, I might need to do something horribly inappropriate in a blustering, Zapp Brannigan sort of way…
Both episodes air on Comedy Central tonight at 10pm. (Though I’d check your local listings for actual times…In Utah, 10pm everywhere else means midnight for us.)
If you need to catch up on Futurama, the first 6 seasons are on Netflix Instant, or you can snag them all on Amazon.
To promote the theatrical release of The Muppets, several movie parodies hit the internet. We saw Kermit and the gang pay homage to some of last year’s releases, including The Hangover 2 in “The Fuzzy Pack”, the Green Lantern and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (“>cleverly called The Pig with the Froggy Tattoo). They mocked the release of Twilight: Breaking Dawn with a set of posters featuring Bella Swine and WereRowlf. And now their latest victim is one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2012: The Hunger Games.
The clip extracts all the zany “violence” from The Muppets and combines it into one trailer loosely inspired by the arena battle of The Hunger Games. Pepe even counts down as in the original Hunger Games trailer (but without the benefit of having a deep and intimidating voice as his counterpart).
Just as the earlier trailers promoted the theatrical release of The Muppets, the latest installment promotes the DVD and Blu-Ray release, scheduled for March 20. The Wocka Wocka Value Pack includes the two aforementioned versions as well as a digital copy of the film and a download card for the film’s soundtrack, including the beloved classic “The Rainbow Connection” and the Academy Award-winning song “Man or Muppet.”
The usual gang of idiots over at MAD Magazine have come up with what I think is one of their funniest political spreads over.
Hitting newsstands next week will be a “Banana Republican” catalogue and Huffington Post readers get to see it first.
I wonder how the GOP all-stars feel about appearances in MAD Magazine. Do they think it’s an honor to be poked fun at by a magazine that’s been doing it for so long? Do they shrug it off, assuming that only morons and teenagers (and teenage morons) read it?
Or do they get upset that the media is taking yet another potshot at their clear lack of sensibility?
Can you imagine the kind of mind that would be upset by appearing in MAD Magazine? Personally, I’ll know I’ve made it if I make it into MAD.
From the folks at Collegehumor.com this is a hilarious send up of BSG as a 16 bit RPG. If you haven’t watched the full series this will spoil pretty much everything.
TVLine is reporting that Saturday Night Live has booked Daniel Radcliffe for his first hosting gig on the show. The episode will be on January 14th, 2012.
There is so much fertile material they can mine with his Harry Potter stardom alone. And Equus? Forget about it.
But Radcliffe has also proven himself quite adept at making fun of himself.
Take for instance his appearance on Ricky Gervais’s Extras, where he launched a condom at Diana Rigg:
This should be must-see television for nerds. And I’ve got a sneaking suspicion this might be the first live SNL I’ll watch in a long time.
At PAX Prime 2011, a D&D game was played like no other. This particular game boasted a geek ensemble cast of players who decided to play a D&D session live in front of many fans and cameras. You know you’re something when hundreds of people show up to watch you play D&D for nearly three hours and let me tell you, it’s worth it. They even have a couple of “bards” that perform little narrative tunes on guitar for them as they play. Follow Scott Kurtz, Wil Wheaton, Mike Krahulik, Jerry Holkins, and Chris Perkins as they travel to Newhamp Shire to receive a mysterious magical item from a family member that passed away…
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and it will only cost you a standard action…
Cast:
Jerry Holkins – Omin Dran
Scott Kurtz – Binwin Bronzebottom
Wil Wheaton – Aeofel “Al” Elhromane
Mike Krahulik – Jim Darkmagic
Chris Perkins – Dungeon Master
Videos and information received from www.wizards.com.
Rob “Yakko Warner” Paulsen Sings, Entertains, and Enlightens
Remember that zany cartoon about the Warner Brothers and the Warner sister? (she was the cute one). Not only do I remember it, but I still think Animaniacs is one of the greatest cartoons ever created. I even quote it on a regular basis and occasionally sing “Yakko’s World” for my friends (whether they want me to or not.)
Since I’m such a fan of the show, you can easily imagine my delight when I recently had the opportunity to meet Rob Paulsen at his Rob Paulsen Live seminar in Atlanta, Georgia. You may not know his name or his face, but you certainly know his voice. From Animaniacs, he is Yakko Warner, Pinky, and Dr. Scratch ‘n’ Sniff. He is also Carl Wheezer from the Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Raphael from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, and a myriad of other characters, including some from G.I. Joe and the Snorks. A much more comprehensive list can be found at his IMDB page here.
Mr. Paulsen’s career has spanned nearly 30 years, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet him. When I arrived at the seminar, he walked right up to me and introduced himself, and he was extremely friendly and down-to-earth. He greeted everyone as they entered and referred to them by name when they asked questions. By splitting his seminar into two sessions, he was able to keep the groups small, and the result was a more intimate gathering with an open discussion and a very relaxed atmosphere. He explained that his goal was to have a more interactive event rather than merely standing in front of the room and talking.
Mr. Paulsen began the event by recounting some of his history and how he got into voice acting. He grew up in Michigan and initially dreamed of becoming a hockey player. When he realized that hockey wasn’t in the cards, At the age of nineteen, he moved to Los Angeles to join a theater company. He lived there for about a year before moving back to Michigan and joining a rock and roll cover band. After about two years of singing, he moved back to California and returned to acting. He found a gig on a cable access show and signed with an agent. Commercial work followed, as well as appearances on MacGyver and St. Elsewhere.
When the voice acting jobs became more and more numerous (to the point that they conflicted with acting auditions), he made a decision to focus solely on voice acting. He was hired for Haji on Johnny Quest and had roles on Transformers, Smurfs, Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck, Talespin . . . the list goes on and on.
A highlight in his career came when he won a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” for Pinky in Pinky and the Brain. He spoke of how he forgot to think Maurice LaMarche (the voice of The Brain) in his speech and had to call him afterwards, and how the one and only Mr. Rogers congratulated him personally after his win. He also added that Andrea Romano, the casting director of Animaniacs, has so many Emmys that she “dresses them in Barbie clothes.” (I wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not).
Below is some video of him saying some of Pinky’s best lines:
Without a doubt, the best moment came when I asked Mr. Paulsen how long it took him to learn the song “Yakko’s World,” in which Yakko Warner sings the names of the countries while pointing at them on a map. He answered with some history of the song, saying that songwriter Randy Rogel was helping his child with geography and realized there was a song to be found there. Mr. Paulsen received the song, had a week to rehearse it, and it only took two takes (and they used the first one). He then asked if we’d like for him to perform it.
Here is the result:
One of his latest projects is to voice Donatello for the upcoming Nickelodeon version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The new version of the four turtles named after Renaissance artists will debut next year, and it will be CGI. Sean Astin and Jason Biggs are also turtles (Raphael and Leonardo, respectively.) Actor Greg Cipes takes on the role of Michaelangelo (the party dude!).
If you have the opportunity, I urge you to attend a Rob Paulsen Live seminar. Go if you’re a fan, if you want to know more about the voice acting business, or if you just want to be entertained. He was funny, genuine, and ever so willing to answer any questions. And, everyone who attends has the opportunity to speak with Mr. Paulsen one on one and receive a signed picture.
He will be in Dallas on September 17th, and tickets can be purchased at his website.
PODCAST: Laser Brain Episode 23: “Spread the Beef”
In this episode, the Laser Brain crew perform the first episode of their new radio-theater project, ‘Dream Detectives’. They delve into the origins of Rory’s sleep rumors, leprechaun sitings, the next up and coming Christian Mall Pop sensations, and they start writing the best damn Big Shiny Robot ads imaginable.
It goes without saying you need to listen to this episode, just like all the rest, right now!
Many things in the DC universe are changing this September when they relaunch their entire line. One such thing is that Barbara Gordon will regain the use of her legs and become Batgirl once more in the new series penned by Gail Simone. DC has gone on record to say that in the relaunch The Killing Joke still happened and a paralyzed Barbara did still operate as the master hacker Oracle. This has sparked lots debate between fans as to whether this is a good or bad idea. In the meantime the web-comic Gutters has come up with this delightful little jab at the Batgirl continuity. This is one of those things that I shouldn’t laugh at, but thought it was damned hilarious! So I pose the quetion to you, “Does laughing at this make you a bad person?” Decide for yourself…
