The sixth season of ''
Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
'' originally aired on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
from June 24, 2010, to September 8, 2011, and consisted of 26 episodes. The
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
marks the change of networks from
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
to Comedy Central.
The first 13 episodes (known as Season 6-A
) aired during 2010, and the remaining 13 episodes (known as Season 6-B
) aired during 2011. This makes the episode "
The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" the mid-season finale, despite airing almost twelve weeks after ''Futurama''
100th episode. The final episode of the season, "
Reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
", aired on September 8, 2011 as a three-segment
non-canonical
The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical example ...
special after the official season finale.
The first 13 episodes of the season have been released on a box set called ''Futurama: Volume 5'', on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
. It was released in the United States and Canada, on December 21, 2010, and on UK DVD on boxing day 2011.
The remaining 13 episodes are available on a box set called ''Futurama: Volume 6'', which was released in the United States and Canada on December 20, 2011.
Both volumes have all episodes ordered in production order as was the case with Volumes 1–4.
Production
With the future of the series uncertain at the time of production, the final of the four film releases ''
Into the Wild Green Yonder
''Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder'' is a 2009 American direct-to-video adult animated science fiction comedy- adventure film based on the animated series '' Futurama'', and the fourth and final of the direct-to-DVD films that make up the show' ...
'' was designed to stand as the final episode of the ''Futurama'' series. However, both
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
and
David X. Cohen had expressed a desire to continue the franchise in some form, including as a theatrical film.
In an interview with
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know... We're having discussions and there is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me."
On June 9, 2009,
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
announced that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that began airing on June 24, 2010.
Due to budget concessions, the number of returning writing staff had to be reduced.
Initial voice actor contract talks resulted in a dispute, with 20th Century Fox reportedly refusing to meet the cast's demands for $75,000 per episode.
The claim was strenuously denied by members of the cast, and on July 17, 2009 Fox announced that auditions would be held to recast the characters.
Groening and Cohen had no part in the discussions, with the former stating "we hope that Fox and the actors can come to an agreement as soon as possible."
It was speculated by some in the media that this was merely a ploy in order to get the cast to agree to Fox's offer, citing a similar situation with the cast of ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' as a previous example.
The dispute resulted in the voice cast being unable to attend the ''Futurama'' booth at
Comic Con 2009. However, a deal was struck and on July 31, 2009, it was announced that the full original voice cast would be returning.
Groening, Cohen and the cast expressed extreme optimism for the return of ''Futurama'', with
Katey Sagal
Catherine Louise "Katey" Sagal (; born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Peggy Bundy on '' Married... with Children'' (1987–1997), Leela on ''Futurama'' (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023), Cate Henne ...
and
Phil LaMarr
Phillip LaMarr (born January 24, 1967) is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. LaMarr was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV''. His voice acting roles in animated series include J ...
claiming that the new season's episodes are "hysterical" and "the best yet".
Commenting on the revival, Groening revealed that several plots for the upcoming episodes had actually been devised during or even before the original run of the series.
Groening has also explained that he had been inspired by
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
' ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'' film, and had even considered
rebooting ''Futurama'', before opting for a "
rebirth
Rebirth may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Film
* ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film
* ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film
* ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth
* ''The Re ...
".
"
Overclockwise" was originally written to serve as an open-ended series finale, much in the way that the
season 4 Season 4 may refer to:
* "Season 4" (''30 Rock'' episode), an episode of ''30 Rock''
See also
*
* Season One (disambiguation)
* Season 2 (disambiguation) Season 2 may refer to:
* ''Season 2'' (Infinite album)
* '' 2econd Season''
See also
*
...
episode "
The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
"The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" is the eighteenth and final episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series ''Futurama'', and the finale of the original run. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United St ...
" and the film ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'' were produced, in case the show did not get renewed.
It was eventually announced on March 24, 2011, that the show was renewed by Comedy Central for a seventh production season.
Episodes
Comedy Central chose to air the second half of this season out of the intended production order. This list is depicted in production order as this is the order used in Volume 6 and intended by the producers.
Home releases
References
External links
*
Season 6
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
on the Infosphere.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Futurama (Season 6)
Futurama lists
2010 American television seasons
2011 American television seasons
Futurama seasons
Split television seasons