TVSquad

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?).

Quite contrary to the stereotype associated with my nationality, I'm not a big fan of anime. That two year phase came and went while I was still in elementary school, thanks very much. Nowadays, I find the "anime look" a little boring, so when an artist actually does something fun and exciting with it, I sit up and take notice. I also love it when people re-interpret cartoons in different artistic styles (for example, the realistic sketches of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny on South Park a few months ago)

So, when I found this artist's group shots of The Simpsons' and Futurama's ensembles, I was pretty amazed. Each character looks totally different, but it's still easy to tell who's who (a most important element in good fan-art). I think it's fantastic, but, I must admit, I'm a little disturbed by Lisa's striking resemblance to the characters of Dragon Ball. It must be a hair thing.

[via Neatorama]