It looks like it may have all been tactics after all. At least so far. While I'm thrilled that the majority of the Futurama voice actors have signed deals to reprise their roles, they're still missing two of the key talents. Can you really imagine Futurama with different voices for Fry, Zoidberg, Farnsworth and Bender? At the same time, I can't really see Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, Farnsworth) and John Di Maggio (Bender) walking away from this.Di Maggio is currently working on Penguins of Madagascar, but neither is working on anything as high profile as Futurama. I can't imagine they have any intention of truly walking away from a revival getting this much press. They were just trying to play hardball, and realized that 20th Century wasn't going to play.
I think it would have been fun if they'd recast the characters. They would have probably even addressed it right in the episodes, having them talk about how they all sound different and coming up with some ridiculous reason for it.
[UPDATE: - Since the composition of this post, all principal cast members have been signed.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-01-2009 @ 9:30AM
Galley said...
IGN is reporting that ALL of the cast has re-signed.
And now we're completely in the clear! We just got this word from 20th Century Fox: "Just wanted you to know that we now have deals with the entire Futurama voice cast to return: John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Billy West, Tress MacNeille and Katey Sagal."
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8-01-2009 @ 11:05AM
Leroy said...
It would not have been the least bit fun to have new voices regardless of the excuse they drummed up. It was the characters as inhabited by these wonderful actors, not the silly plots, that made the show so irresistible. Both sides knew this all along and the whole controversy was just for publicity.
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8-01-2009 @ 11:36AM
Aaron said...
I completely agree about this not being a "fun" move. Having them address a this in one throwaway joke would be a weak attempt to make up for ditching the whole cast.
I'm not sure if it was a publicity stunt, though, because who cared about this except people who were already going to watch the show? It didn't really grab the oblivious public's attention and gain new viewers.
8-01-2009 @ 1:10PM
Josh said...
I think it would have been fun if Jason Hughes was replaced.
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8-01-2009 @ 3:16PM
jpmeldrum said...
IFC news writer Matt Siger and First showing are reporting that everyone has signed on, and not just faulty reporting, they updated the posts with "and DiMaggio and West now, too!"
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8-01-2009 @ 6:16PM
RobynM said...
Topless Robot was quoting a report from the Toronto Star yesterday indicating that the entire cast had been signed, with no mention of any holdouts.
I'm sure compromises were made, but I'm betting the fan outcry of "No original cast, no viewers" helped soften Fox's hardline position at least a little bit.
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