TVSquad

According to Trademork.com, Twentieth Century Fox has trademarked the word "Slurm". For those who are unaware, Slurm is the highly addictive beverage used in Futurama that comes out of a giant worm's butt.

The exact trademark relates to "carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks; fruit drinks; fruit juices; mineral and aerated water; bottled drinking water; energy drinks; syrups and powders for making soft drinks and other beverages, namely soft drinks, fruit drinks and tea; coffee-flavored soft drinks; Ramune (Japanese soda pops); powders used in the preparation of isotonic sports drinks and sports beverages".

Apparently, someone created a comic book in which the cast of Futurama meets the cast of The Simpsons. As a fan of both, let me say that it would be pretty cool to see on television.

It's not outside the realm of possibility for the two universes to collide since both products are owned by Fox, much as having the Flintstones meet the Jetsons (both owned by Hanna-Barbera). Matt Groening does own the creative rights to Futurama, whatever that means.

However, since they're now on two separate channels (The Simpsons is on Fox and Futurama will be on Comedy Central), it seems less likely that the two universes would come together on television. Maybe if both were still on Fox, but not now.

I do think it's funny having Morbo filming next to Kent Brockman. And having Flanders running from the Robot Devil. Or having Miss Crabapple flirting with Zap Brannigan. Hell, it's all funny.

[via Digg]

What are you going to do? The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and even new shows like Pushing Daisies and Chuck are either out of fresh episodes or quickly running out. Well, you don't need to spend the "strike season" curled up in the corner of your bedroom crying through a pile of TV Guides, remembering the good old days when you didn't already know what was going to happen this week on House.

Television is alive and well, and even growing ... just somewhere else. Want to know what happened to Jack Bauer before Season One of 24? How about Buffy and the Scooby Gang after the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? More and more shows are expanding their horizons by telling prequels, sequels and even in-between-quels in comic books, or graphic novels.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

• 60 Minutes - Here Come The Millenials
• Futurama - Bender's Big Score
• Happy Days - Season 3 and Seasons 1-3 set
• The Land Before Time - Good Times and Good Friends
• Laverne & Shirley - Season 3
• The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - Complete Series
• Mork & Mindy - Season 3
• Naruto - Vol. 18
• The O.C. - Complete Series
• Power Rangers - Operation Overdrive: Vol. 3, Blue Sapphire

It's time for us to give away some stuff ... again! One of today's giveaways is for five copies of Futurama: Bender's Big Score on DVD, which is available in stores on November 27. All you've got to do is submit a comment below before 5PM Eastern, November 23, and mention your favorite Bender moment from the series. We'll randomly choose five winners to receive the DVDs!

Some other details:

• To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating your favorite Bender moment from Futurama.
• The comment must be left before November 23, 2007 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
  
• Five winners will receive a copy of Futurama: Bender's Big Score on DVD (valued at $29.98).
  

Click here for complete Official Rules.

Futurama is back, and the future looks a whole lot brighter. Cliché, but true.

When I first heard that Family Guy was returning to the airwaves, I was wondering if/when other cancelled Fox animated shows would similarly rise from the dead. Then I heard Futurama was returning to Comedy Central (with a brief stop on DVD beforehand). Futurama can best be described as The Simpsons for sci-fi/fantasy fans (which makes sense consider that Matt Groening created both and uses the same animation style for both). I then thanked the gods of comedy for returning this gem.

The plan for Futurama is to release four direct-to-DVD movies which would make up a complete season of 16 half-hour episodes. "Bender's Big Score" is the first release and consists of the first four episodes (although I hear the individual episodes will contain extra footage not in the DVD release when they are eventually broadcast. How's that for a reversal of precedent?).

CollegeHumor.com has a preview up for the new direct-to-DVD Futurama movie Bender's Big Score. It looks like the gang at Planet Express are back.

As someone who owns all four existing seasons of Futurama on DVD, I'm looking forward to this. I always enjoyed Futurama more than, say, Family Guy and if Family Guy can be saved from cancellation, can't other, better cartoons also be saved? Apparently so!

Watching the preview, I enjoy the joke about Fox cancelling the show in the beginning, but I also realize I saw a similar joke on Family Guy when it returned from cancellation. But that was a few years ago now. Surely the statute of limitations for repitition of a joke has passed. The video is after the jump.

Futurama is back, and now we know in what form. The show will return on November 27th as a full-length high-def film sold on DVD. It will be followed by three additional films, and each film will be divided into four episodes each to be aired on Comedy Central. So, that's 4 DVD movies or 16 new episodes depending on how you look at it.

"C-SPAN After Dark": The Democrats and the Republicans had a lovely little sleepover to discuss Bush's Iraq policy and gossip about boys. I laughed a little too loudly at Jon's remarks about the Democrat's sad-looking "Let Us Vote" signs because, well, I guess I'm a sucker for font jokes. I'm pathetic like that.

John Oliver reviewed the all-night political play and successfully killed me by calling Barack Obama "the Moor" ("Alluring... Dangerously forbidden... And played out"). Oliver looked like he was about to crack as well. The rating system of five "bullets to the back of Lincoln's head" was also funny, in an awful sort of way.

Via Boing Boing comes this lengthy essay from Michael Schmitz that looks at Human Computer Interaction in both movies and television. Some of the technology explored in this essay comes from shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Futurama, Star Trek: Enterprise, and an old German series called Raumschiff Orion.

Schmitz's essay looks at the technology used in these series and compares them to similar technology in the real world. The essay is a bit heavy, but I think sci fi nerds will appreciate it. All true science fiction is grounded somewhat in real science, and this essay delves into that world quite extensively and shows how often modern technology began as a fictional concept before we were finally able to catch up and make it a reality. For example, the "Wil Wheaton" in the picture on the right is now a real person. I know, it's spooky.

Matt Groening's getting around these days. Last month he spoke with TV Squad's Joel Keller, and recently he met with the folks at Crave recently to talk about The Simpsons TV show and upcoming movie.

A few gems from the interview:

• The movie will not be about Bart losing his virginity. Someone once asked one of the writers what the movie would be about, and he joked that this was the plot. It's not. Some folks don't seem to know a joke when it sleeps with them.
• When asked straight out whether the movie will reveal what state Springfield is in, Groening replies "Yes. We actually have a really good joke about that. Remember, I said joke." I'm going to take that as a no.
• Thanks to all the pop culture references thrown into The Simpsons over the years, Groening's kids (and millions of others) have seen movies like Casablanca later in life and said to themselves "Oh, that's just like that Simpsons episode!"
  

[via Cinematical]

The deviantARTist known as Space Coyote recently received copius praise and accolades for her anime-renditions of characters from The Simpsons and Futurama. Now, it seems her drawings have also captured the attention of both Bongo Comics and 20th Century Fox. According to a message on her deviantART page, Space Coyote has been hired to draw for a one-off Simpsons comic in manga style for Bongo Comics. She further writes that 20th Century Fox has also contacted her about doing work, possibly for the newly-resurrected Futurama.

She also writes on her Live Journal that the details are still being hammered out, but needless to say, this is a great example of a relatively unknown artist getting some decent exposure through this crazy thing called the Web. She has also worked on the Web comic Saturnalia since 2002, which is also worth checking out.

[via Digg]

I don't know about you, but I am very picky about which television series I own on DVD. I don't often want to sit down and watch old episodes of shows unless they truly are spectacular and worthy of multiple watchings. For me, that means Firefly and Arrested Development are must-owns. But, I've also included some others on this list that have some great extras for the fans who would like a little bit more:

The Office Season two of The Office on DVD is quite good. While the season was spectacular, it's the extras that make the purchase necessary. It includes deleted scenes (some of which are hilarious and some are pretty obvious why they were deleted) and a gag reel, which is always essential for a quality DVD-watching experience. Plus, it includes all the extras that the cast did, such as their fake PSAs and NBC.com webisodes. And, there's swag: a Dunder-Mifflin folder, pad of paper, pen and post-its.There are also different versions depending on whether you buy it from Best Buy, Target, or Amazon. Cost: $25.

David X. Cohen spilled a few beans recently to Toyfare Magazine about the upcoming new Futurama season that'll be both direct to DVD, and appearing on Comedy Central. Right now it's like the chicken and egg, and nobody knows which will come first, but I know that one way or another, I'll be watching. Here's a couple of tidbits:

• The entire original cast is returning
• You'll find out some of Nibbler's secrets
• Al Gore is back

What more can you ask for? Except of course, for them to hurry up and finish it. How long does someone have to wait for some new Futurama goodness? Apparently at least a year longer. The new Futurama won't be ready until 2008, meaning that five years will have passed since a new episode has been seen. Five years! Still, I suppose it's a small price to pay. How many shows come back from the dead after that long? Does this mean I shouldn't give up hope on Gilligan's Island?

[Thanks, Justin and Jeff]

One of our regular readers, Mack Swift, sent us an interesting tip yesterday:

As he was cruising through IMDb, he found this listing for the much anticipated direct-to-DVD Futurama movie. According to the listing, the movie is going to be called Futurama: Bender's Big Score, and is tentatively coming out around Christmas 2007. Here's what the listing says the plot is going to be: "Planet Express sees a hostile takeover and Bender falls into the hands of criminals where he is used to fulfill their schemes." The movie is in post-production , with voice recording completed.

Now, all this information comes with the caveat that IMDb, while good, always has changing information. So take what I just gave you with whatever appropriate skepticism that you apply to IMDb stuff. But, if this is correct, it'll be a nice way for fans to get their Futurama fix before the show starts new episodes on Comedy Central in 2008.