Let me just say first of all that the fact they cancelled this show really sucks. Its time slot was unfair, and the fact that Fox TV axed it is really, really sad. This is truly the case when you look at all the wonderful episodes of the show that pop up on the recently released FUTURAMA, VOLUME 1 DVD set.

Matt Groening is the creative force behind this one, and he tried to get this show aired post-"Simpsons," but it was to no avail. It was sadly placed at a time spot where it could easily get pre-empted by sports programs or special news. The production halted around the fifth season, and all we got left are unused material and Cartoon Network reruns. Groening's experience with FUTURAMA and Fox Network was dubbed the worst of his adult life, and fortunately, the show became an instant cult hit. And besides, who in their right mind needs TV if you can watch your favorite shows with the DVD format? At least the 13 episodes here are immortalized in one stellar boxed set.

They are the first thirteen episodes of the show, which showed up in both first and second seasons. FUTURAMA is able to be enjoyed by many, but geeks will get perhaps the biggest thrill for this one, as there are many in-jokes and puzzles to be drawn and decoded (and I haven’t even started). But the characters in this show are just about as colorful and charming as the Simpsons brethren, and they are all the more reason to see this show. We get a lead character in the year 1999 named Phillip J. Fry, a hapless Pinucci's Pizza delivery boy who is celebrating new year’s eve lonely and sad. But a freak accident cryogenically freezes him for 1000 years and he wakes up in New New York (built from Old New York‘s ruins). He is a simple-minded, ignorant buffoon, but what he lacks in intelligence and timing, he makes up with for his imagination and childish charm.

But I will digress into the discussion of other characters in a moment, but I want to get started with the set-up of this review. It is kind of hard for me to talk about a DVD set which contains episodes of a TV show without reviewing the single episodes that make up the overall burrito. Add to that the muy caliente extra features, which here include audio commentary on EVERY EPISODE! There’s also outtakes from certain episodes, plus a few other bonuses spread across these three discs. So I will briefly review the episodes in a separate paragraph and provide a synopsis, with critiques on the commentaries, the one best joke of the episode, and the deleted scenes if appearing from the episode.

DISC ONE includes these episodes: Space Pilot 3000, The Series Has Landed, I, Roommate, and Love’s Labours Lost In Space. DISC TWO features Fear Of A Bot Planet, A Fishful Of Dollars, My Three Suns, A Big Piece Of Garbage, and Hell Is For Other Robots. Last of the pack is DISC THREE, which includes A Flight To Remember, Mars University, When Aliens Attack, and Fry & The Slurm Factory.

Space Pilot 3000
SYNOPSIS: At the end of 1999, Phillip J. Fry (voiced by Billy West) delivers a pizza to a cryogenics factory, but discovers it was a prank call. He sits down with a beer as the new year is heralded, but his chair falls back and he ends up in a chamber, freezing him for a 1000 years. He is welcomed by an attractive alien with one eye, Leela (Katey Segal), but she intends that he keep his duty as a delivery boy even if she has to implant the job into him. Fry panics and runs away, and wins the help of a depressed, liquor-swilling, kleptomaniac robot named Bender (John DiMaggio). Leela has a change of heart and decides to join forces with Fry and Bender. Together, they meet Fry's only living relative, a great-great-great-great, etc. nephew named Professor Hubert Farnsworth (Billy West), who assigns them all to be intergalactic delivery workers.
BEST JOKE: In the future, they developed a machine to help out all those suicide chumps after all.
OVERVIEW: Not a lot of funny jokes abound here, but a catchphrase is invented ("Bite my shiny metal a**!") and we get guest appearances from a three-eyed fish as well as the disembodied heads of Dick Clark and Leonard Nimoy. It also sets up the appearances of Bender, Leela and the Professor, even if a few other characters don’t show up till later. Easily the weakest of the series, but it serves its pilot duty well. It's also great to hear Katey Segal, John DiMaggio, and Billy West (a veteran of voice-over work all the way from "Ren & Stimpy") provide their respective voice work.
COMMENTARY TRACK: All 13 audio commentary tracks feature creator Matt Groening, writer/executive producer David X. Cohen (who gets the most comments out of anybody else in these 13 tracks), and supervising director Rich Moore. In addition on this track are John DiMaggio and supervising director Gregg Vanzo. They waste no time getting into the nerdy in-jokes, animated secrets, music work, logo designs and early elements. When they’re not getting information, it's just five guys watching their creation and getting a cheap thrill. But this is one of the best commentaries in the set.

The Series Has Landed
SYNOPSIS: Planet Express makes a delivery to Luna Park, an amusement park on the moon, where Amy accidentally loses the keys to the ship inside one of those machines where you grab a toy with the mechanical claw. In the meantime, a dissatisfied Fry takes Leela on a joyride across the actual Moon, in search of the actual landing site. And when Bender gets kicked out of the park, he makes it with an oxygen farmer’s daughter (called the Crushinator), which puts him, Fry and Leela in deep trouble.
BEST JOKE: Bender gets kicked out of the park after trying to steal the keys from the machine: "I’ll start my own theme park, with blackjack and hookers! In fact, forget the theme park!"
OVERVIEW: Bender comes into his own with this episode, and gets a lot of the best jokes in the episode. The opening scene involving a commercial for Planet Express is also quite funny, and we are introduced to three more colorful characters: hard-working Jamaican briefer Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr), ditzy China girl Amy Wong (Lauren Tom), and half-human/half-lobster Dr. Zoidberg (Billy West). Now that the plot has been kicked into gear by the pilot, the goofy comedy and outrageous wit can go in by warp speed.
DELETED SCENES: A few more gopher jokes, and an extended ending when the hulking Crushinator robot tells her farmer father she’s been uploaded, if you know what I mean.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, DiMaggio, Ken Keeler (writer), Peter Avanzino (director). History is made with the first deliberate loud belch on a DVD audio track, and we also get comments about the new characters, the casting of Bender, and the tweaking of day/night logics in the year 3000. It can be dead at times, but I was patient.

I, Roommate
SYNOPSIS: Fry is becoming a nuisance, an intergalactic slob who is forced out of the Planet Express headquarters along with Bender, who becomes his roommate. Together, they look for a pad, yet Bender prefers small spaces, forcing them to get an actual human apartment building with closet for Bender to sleep in. However, Bender’s antennae interferes into the satellite TV reception, and Fry is forced to kick Bender out, leaving him depressed, abandoned...and sober!
BEST JOKE: We get our first glimpse of Bender’s hatred for humans, in a funny scene where he and Fry share a closet together as new roommates.
OVERVIEW: Pretty amusing and funny, with references to THE ODD COUPLE and amusing scenes where Fry is biting the head off the Professor’s antique mummy remains, confusing it for beef jerky, which leads to a great line: "This is an outrage! I was going to eat that mummy!" We also get more of Bender, which is hardly a fault, because he is so charming even if he is a hopeless robot devoted to sinning and cheating. You don’t have to know a lot about sci-fi to enjoy this, and it’s refreshing.
DELETED SCENES: Fry uses up all the hot water in the Emergency Burn Relief Shower, much to the dismay of the injured Amy. And Bender and Fry plan the home-welcoming party in a brief scene ("Of all the friends I’ve had, you’re my first," Bender tells Fry).
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, Gregg Vanzo, Billy West, Brett Haaland (director) and Eric Horsted (writer). A lot of people crammed together for one 22-minute session, but it seems to work. They talk about how they tried to make this accessible, and they also get into the appearance of the robo-soap opera "All My Circuits," a certain geek reference, the ODD COUPLE jokes, and character continuity shifts. But I really enjoyed Billy West as an informer and overall speaker on this track (he swings a couple great vocal riffs), and, needless to say, he kicks some life into later commentaries. I recommend this track for him.

Love’s Labours Lost In Space
SYNOPSIS: The team agrees to a rescue mission to Vergon 6, in order to help protect endangered species. It is there when they encounter the insanely hungry, yet adorable alien critter Nibbler. And they also cross paths with arrogant space captain Zapp Brannigan (West), who is in awe of the lonely Leela, and sets his oafish romantic charms on her. Guess who ends up getting lucky with the self-proclaimed ladies’ man of the universe?
BEST JOKE: Fry is so out of touch with the modern world, that he digs the "retro" style of bodily rings, which nearly causes him to get his butt kicked.
OVERVIEW: A fairly funny episode, mostly because it introduces the ignoramus Zapp Branngian as well as his faithful alien partner, Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche), as well as the seemingly innocent Nibbler. But there’s also about a dozen other tiny jokes that worked for me as well, including the retro bar and constant swipes about Leela’s high standards for love. For best results, watch this with a glass of cham-paggin.
DELETED SCENE: Bender resets a killbot who Zapp Brannigan programmed to play nice.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Cohen, Moore, DiMaggio, Scott Vanzo (director of computer graphics), Brian Kelley (writer), and Brian Sheesley (director). There are too many times when the track gets dead, and yet there are great anecdotes concerning the new characters and the stories about Frank Welker (voice of Nibbler) and Phil Hartman (originally intended to do the voice of Zapp Brannigan). So-so.

Fear Of A Bot Planet
SYNOPSIS: Bender is insulted by some derogative anti-robot comments at a "blernsball" game, and reluctantly agrees to make a delivery to Chapek 9 with Fry and Leela. But Chapek 9 is a place where humans are killed on sight, and Bender is captured as a human sympathizer. Fry and Leela have to roam the planet incognito to find him, and when they do, he’s become a noble anti-human activist and celebrity. But does he still have a soft spot for his old friends?
BEST JOKE: There is a 3D motion picture where a robotic couple making out in the woods are besieged by a monstrous human (or robot with a human mask).
OVERVIEW: Pop culture references are aplenty, and Bender remains the most likeable character on the show, even if he proudly proclaims "death to humans!" in one scene. There’s plenty of dopey mechanical humor throughout, and a couple of inspired moments as when Fry and Leela go on trial against a computer that goes through system errors, as well as use of the Macintosh start-up sting as a fanfare. Clever and hilarious.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Cohen, Moore, DiMaggio, G. Vanzo. A lively commentary track which includes information on how those animated clips get on in the opening titles, the many Apple Macintosh sound bytes and references, the influence Chapek, and even a couple of the original titles for the show. And Matt was also scared of robots too, one time in his life.

A Fishful Of Dollars
SYNOPSIS: For 1000 years, Fry’s checking account has been increasing, now up to the sum of $4.3 billion. Fry is able to live back in his 20th century world of Sir Mix-A-Lot and "Sanford And Son," but he pushes his friends away as a result. And after buying the only remaining anchovies in the world, he catches the attention of conniving robot oil manufacturer Mom (voiced by series regular Tress MacNeille), who, somewhat believing Fry is an intelligent human being, sends her three stooge sons to bleed Fry dry and force him to sell anchovies.
BEST JOKE: Pamela Anderson, with her animated, disembodied head in a jar, cameos on this and proclaims she won the Oscar for "Baywatch: The Movie" during Fry’s 1000-year sleep.
OVERVIEW: Technology of two centuries are skewered with style, and the character of the foul-mouthed, rotten Mom is a definite laugh. Also funny is the reasoning as to why anchovies became extinct, as well as the joke involving Bender and the monocle he puts on whenever he says "Maybe you don’t realize how rich Fry really is!" And the Pamela Anderson cameo is relatively funny as well. Here’s to the power of the anchovy, even if I still refuse to eat it.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, DiMaggio, G. Vanzo, Patric Verona (director). The comments are on and off here, and the main things brought up are the use of future currency, the Mom character, the pre-credit joke, and, of course, anchovies. Another mild disappointment as a commentary.

My Three Suns
SYNOPSIS: The group make a delivery to the planet Trisol in the forbidden zone, where there are three suns that rise one after another. This proves exhausting to Fry, who finally delivers the package to a seemingly abandoned kingdom, where only a water bottle on a throne remains. Thirsty Fry drinks the liquid inside, and is then seized by angry soldiers of water, who take him in as a king. Fry then gets all the power he wants, and that causes a rift between him and Leela. But when the past emperor reappears through the stomach of Fry, the soldiers attempt to capture Fry and kill him, forcing him to rely on and apologize to Leela.
BEST JOKE: Bender becomes the chef for one fleeing moment, and damn near kills Dr. Zoidberg in the process.
OVERVIEW: Not a definite candidate for funniest episode of this set, but the story is quite a laugh: Fry drinks the liquid emperor and becomes a king, and in the process defies the help of Leela, who is aware of an assassination plot. There’s also some neat scenes involving Amy and one of the liquid people, as well as the rising of Bender as a cook. Amusing, but not a laugh riot.
DELETED SCENE: Fry uses a hose to disintegrate a couple of soldiers, who then cross the path of a clogged drain, which Bender unclogs and then demands $150 for.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Cohen, Moore, West, G. Vanzo, Stewart Burns (writer). Cohen talks about why his middle initial is "X," and the story is highly detailed from its origins to its modern conception, but West provides the most details of the commentary, as he talks about how he got together the elements that make up his voice for Dr. Zoidberg. The energy on this commentary is stronger and more focused than before, so I liked it a lot.

A Big Piece Of Garbage
SYNOPSIS: Farnsworth is upstaged and humiliated at the Academy of Inventors’ annual symposium by arch-nemesis Wernstrom (Dave Herman), and finds solace in a previous invention, the Smell-o-scope, which allows you to smell the planet. Fry catches a whiff of some nasty funk, and the team discover a giant ball of garbage is colliding towards Earth. When Wernstrom leaves New New York for dead, it’s up to Fry, Leela, Bender and the Professor to save the world from 21st century litter by fighting fire with fire.
BEST JOKE: In 2620, they changed the name of Uranus to end that cosmic stupid joke, and there’s a ridiculously funny reference to "The Simpsons" as well.
OVERVIEW: In addition to those jokes I mentioned above, I also got a kick out of the Professor’s hopeless shortcomings and character development, the use of alien newscaster Morbo, the fish with the mechanical body, and the blatant, hilarious jabs at ARMAGEDDON, which results in a conclusion where New New York is threatened by flying hamburgers and pizza slices. Riotously funny and a definite keeper out of this set.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, DiMaggio, Lewis Morton (writer), Susan Dietter (director). They get into a lot of discussion on this one, which ranges from simple commentary to talk about the title jokes, the Ron Popeil cameo, the 2D/3D animation, and the intent for pro-environmental issues in the stories. Another commentary that’s thankfully more alive than dead.

Hell Is For Other Robots
SYNOPSIS: After a Beastie Boys concert, Bender ends up trying out illegal electrical highs due to peer pressure. This gets him hooked, and he’s constantly abusing electricity at the pad (or “jacking on”) and raising up the bill. The last straw comes when Bender damn near kills Fry and Leela by steering the ship in the path of an electrical current on a delivery. He is forced into changing, and Bender becomes baptized and joins the Temple Of Robotology. When this begins to annoy his friends, they bring him back to his sinful ways, and is eventually captured and taken to Robot Hell, where Fry and Leela have to rescue him from the torture of the Robot Devil.
BEST JOKE: Bender is in the bathroom getting a fix, and Leela knocks on the door: "Are you jacking on in there?" A panicked Bender screams in reply: "NO! DON’T COME IN!" That’s a real hilarious one.
OVERVIEW: Chalk this up as another appealing episode. We get a couple of stellar cameos in the forms of Beastie Boys members Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz, as well as Dan Castellaneta ("I am not Homer!") as the Robot Devil. The musical number in Hell is a real howler, and Bender emerges as a hilarious, irreverent lead character once again. Good stuff.
DELETED SCENE: An alternate ending line where we learn when Robot Hell freezes over.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Cohen, Moore, DiMaggio, G. Vanzo, Eric Kaplan (writer). They talk about the involvement of both the Beastie Boys and Castallaneta, the ideas where the drug references stem from, as well as a little bit of comments on Robot Hell itself. Not as exuberant as I hoped, but still a somewhat interesting listen after you watch the actual episode.

A Flight To Remember
SYNOPSIS: The Professor books the crew on a luxury cruise courtesy of the intergalactic spaceship Titanic. Leela runs into Zapp Brannigan, who keeps his lustful eye on her to the point where she fakes a relationship with Fry to drive Zapp away. But when Amy’s parents come along for the ride and ask their daughter if she has a boyfriend, she chooses Fry too, inspiring some jealousy in Leela as well as hidden feelings of love. Love is in the air for Bender, though, when he steals the heart (and tries to steal the necklace) of the Countess De La Roca. Meanwhile, Captain Zapp tries to cause some action by steering the ship through an asteroid field and straight into a black hole.
BEST JOKE: A montage that spoofs the memorable love scenes from TITANIC.
OVERVIEW: The obvious references are TITANIC and "The Love Boat," and both are skewered with flair and biting humor. The romance between Bender and the Countess is destined for tragedy, but the pay-off is hilarious, and I dug the love triangle between Fry, Leela, Zapp and Amy. Also of worth is the subplot involving Hermes being a former limbo champion, and a hilarious Zapp Brannigan christening of the Titanic.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, Horsted, DiMaggio, Scott Vanzo, Peter Avanzino. The same problem persists in this one: lack of energy and occasional dead spots, but they still dig up the dirt on the schedule conflicts, the TITANIC/"Love Boat"-related jokes, and the basic overall formula. I’d like to just say here that these commentaries seem to pale in comparison to those on those DVD boxed sets of "The Simpsons" and yet contain some of the same flaws. I’m not giving it an overall non-recommendation, but there are stones left unturned.

Mars University
SYNOPSIS: Farnsworth must deliver a crate to Mars University, which contains a super-intelligent monkey named Guenter, who will be living the high life on campus. Unfortunately, he’s bunking with Fry, who’s destined to become a certified college drop-out. Jealousy brews within Fry, and he drives Guenter back to his primitive ways, and it none too pleases the Professor nor Leela. Bender, on the other hand, returns to his old fraternity, Epsilon Rho Rho, to discover it’s a geek show! It’s up to Bender to make Robot House cool once again.
BEST JOKE: A poke at the classic ladder peeking shot from ANIMAL HOUSE, which involves robots.
OVERVIEW: There is plenty to laugh at here, from the swipes at all those classic 80’s college films (as well as ANIMAL HOUSE) and the hilarious jokes involving Fry’s former position as a Coney Island College failure and the Professor’s warped-out personality. But the good laughs are few and far between, so it fails consistency, although I appreciated everything great it gave me.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, West, Burns, Haaland, G. Vanzo. First, there’s an error with "wheel continuity" cleared up, and then the group jokingly refer to what their references are. The topics then range from Guenter, to Billy West, to "Simpsons" comparisons, and some gag alterations. I liked the energy of this track, and it was another one of the best tracks on this boxed set.

When Aliens Attack
SYNOPSIS: The gang decides to take a Labor Day vacation to Monument Beach, when aliens invade and start blowing stuff up. They escape to headquarters, until Zapp Brannigan leads an outer-space draft and the Planet Express crew blow up the mother ship...but another one surfaces in its place (they really blew the Hubble Telescope up). They head back home, where aliens keep asking for McNeal, until they show a picture of this character that rings bells to Fry: it’s Jenny McNeal, the promiscuous, self-empowered "Single Female Lawyer" from an old TV show. The aliens live 1000 light years away, and had just been watching the season finale of the said show, until Fry’s 1000 year-ago accident causes the show to go off the air. They want to see it, or else. It’s up to Fry and the gang to develop a phony ending to the show.
BEST JOKE: An invasion on Monument Beach that outdoes the carnage on the White House from INDEPENDENCE DAY.
OVERVIEW: The story packs on plenty of witty swings at INDEPENDENCE DAY, STAR WARS, and "Ally McBeal" and contains a hilarious opening beach party. And when the band recreate "Single Female Lawyer," it was goofy, fun times. Chuckles flow like a waterfall with this one.
DELETED SCENE: Additional dialogue in the car ride to the beach, about the legend of the man-eating killer whales.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Cohen, Moore, DiMaggio, Scott Vanzo, Keeler, Sheesley. I will say that one of these commentators went to college with Calista Flockhart, and thus the stage is set for an entertaining session which pokes fun at all the various influences and the theory of light speed.

Fry & The Slurm Factory
SYNOPSIS: Fry discovers the winning golden bottle cap in a can of the highly addictive soft drink Slurm. The Planet Express team head off to Planet Slurm to collect their reward: a party with the legendary Slurms McKenzie (voiced by Dave Herman) and VIP tour of the Slurm Factory courtesy of the mysterious Glermo (voice of Billy West). Aside from the Grunka Lunkas and the secret ingredient of Slurm, all Fry can think about is Slurm, so he leans over the boat for a taste of Slurm and falls in, and is joined by Leela and Bender. Together, they stumble onto the atrocious secret about Slurm, but can they escape once they find out?
BEST JOKE: The Grunka Lunkas break into a musical number, which angers Glermo to the point where he says "you just used up your bathroom breaks!"
OVERVIEW: A wildly funny riff on WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, as well as a reference to SOYLENT GREEN. Dave Herman and Billy West do superb voiceover work throughout this episode, and look out for the second guest appearance by Pamela Anderson in this one. Another really great episode.
COMMENTARY TRACK: Groening, Moore, Cohen, DiMaggio, Morton, Ron Hughart (director). They get into the Wonka references, the hidden messages/references, censorship issues, and a couple other things as well. And Matt Groening doesn’t truly care for pop culture, as he actually hasn’t seen WILLY WONKA at all. At least I thought this was a fitting conclusion to this boxed set of "Futurama."

Well, there you have them, the overall episode critique. As for picture and sound quality of each, I will do a less branched version of those details. Picture quality was fresh in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, with vibrant, sunny colors and rich black details, and the 3-D animation is clearer than anything you can see on TV. No defects detected here, the only problems lie in the animation, and they are stellar transfers to say the least. However, the audio quality isn’t in Dolby Digital 5.1, but instead Dolby 2.0 surround, which applies to the English, French and Spanish language tracks. The rear channels were used only most of the time, but overall strengths lie in the clarity of the speech and the music, which includes the sweet theme song and the many stings of sound throughout. It’s kind of sad not getting 5.1 tracks, because the audio shows as much promise as the video.

Aside from the extras I talked about before, there are also a few more to be found. DVD ONE contains extras that pertain to the pilot episode, which includes an Animatic that strips the episode to simply black-and-white animation and dialogue, with hardly any music or effects, as well as the original Script for that episode as well as Storyboards. These extras present a neat early view at the show’s beginnings. If you can, look for Easter Eggs on this and the other DVDs, and you‘ll find a couple interesting things.

And DVD THREE contains an Image Gallery of 63 slides that show character developments and differences, plus sketches of the animated set pieces. Last on the menu is a brief 4:50 Featurette which contains quick interviews with the creators as well as production footage and other fun moments behind-the-sketches. Add to that packaging which beats the hell out of those fold-out doohickeys: each of the three discs are in handy, slim cases placed into a slipcase which is fitted into a cover design a la the front box of those "Simpsons" boxed sets.

Grab your blackjack and hookers, sit back with a can of Slurm, and laugh yourself silly with FUTURAMA, VOLUME ONE. That is my final recommendation.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12