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SAN DIEGO COMIC CON 2003 (Day
3)
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Back to A Big Piece
of Garbage Main Site
FUTURAMA 5.0 PANEL
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John DiMaggio Hams it up
for the Crowd
The big day at Comic Con as there was a flurry of activity revolving around
Futurama. First, even though it really wasn't a Futurama event, Vega Galleries
was holding a signing with Bruce Timm and voice talent from the animated
show Justice League. For those not familiar, Phil LaMarr (Hermes, Preacher-bot)
provides the voice of Green Lantern. The unfortunate thing is that because
of the bad traffic I got there too late to make this signing at 11am and
instead headed straight to the Futurama panel which started at 12 noon.
The event was much shorter this year and the number of participants have
shrunk down from last year but it was still a good time. Another unaired
episode was shown (amazing!) which was Bender Should Not Be Allowed on
TV. A title that was the catalyst of many Fox jokes. Following are heavy
spoilers of this episode:
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Futurama's Non-Existant
Fanbase on Display
BENDER SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON TV
The episode starts with another cool variant opening theme with John DiMaggio
and Billy West providing alot of riffing over the music. An interesting
note is that this is the same or very close to the opening theme used at
the beginning of last years episode Less Than Hero. What is odd is that
when that episode aired they changed the opening theme back to the original
format. Not sure if they will do the same with this episode but I certainly
hope they play it so that everyone can enjoy it. It is a very cool remix.
The beginning of the episode shows a montage of scenes from the show
within a show All My Circuits and of course features heavy stun points
with Calculon and the others. It all ends with Calculon's son bursting
in on he and Monique with some shocking news for Calculon but before he
can deliver his groundbreaking news he malfunctions and is unable to blurt
it out. All My Circuits is preempted with a fill-in show - the crowd favorite
- Everybody Loves the Hypno-Toad which consists of the camera focused in
on the Hypno-Toad. Meanwhile, back at the All My Circuits set Sal and the
others try and fix Calculon's son but are unable to do so. Figuring the
robot is unfixable the network decides to hold open auditions for a replacement.
Bender, loving the show and Calculon, decides to try out.
Bender auditions with a host of other boy robots and as each actor tries
out he yells out that they suck and they should hire Bender. Finally, Bender
gets his shot and thanks to his gusto for his own abilities is chosen as
the next star of All My Circuits. Things quickly are skewed as the first
day of shooting Bender starts improvising dialogue and changing the script
to suit his own ways. Soon he is stealing, smoking, drinking and generally
being a bad influence to all those who are watching the show but in so
doing has become an international star and the network executives all agree.
So much so that Dwight, Cubert and Tinny Tim all begin emulating Bender.
They go out and steal all of his belongings from his apartment and then
hold a wild birthday bash for Cubert who is suddenly popular due to his
stealing and shenanigans.
Outraged at their kids behavious Farnsworth and Hermes start up a parental
group against Bender and his ways called Fathers Against Robots on Television
or F.A.R.T. Bender is against the organization at first figuring that what
he is doing isn't so bad but when he learns that the great birthday bash
Cubert and Dwight are throwing is decorated with his personal belongings
he vows to get himself kicked off of All My Circuits. With the other members
of F.A.R.T they storm the studio of All My Circuits.
The executives force Bender to continue on with the show by gunpoint
but when he pulls the old switcher-oo (not an aroooo) on them he is left
with all the guns and takes matters into his own hands. A deep, well thought
out speach follows and soon Bender is off the air for good.
This episode features alternate end credits which is very cool plus
a return of the Hypno-Toad.
Great episode that is sure to become an instant classic. Another one
of those quick episodes where the jokes are flying fast and furious and
will need to be watched over and over to get the stuff you missed the first
couple of times around. The network executives could have been any executives
but I am sure they were aimed at a particular group particularly for their
penchant of programming reality based shows. It was nice seeing Dwight
and Cubert back again and this time joined by Tinny Tim. Farnsworth and
Hermes really didn't have that same fatherly bond they shared back in The
Route of All Evil which was a welcome treat for me. That just doesn't work
in my opinion.
After the episode the floor was opened up for a quick Q/A
session with the audience. The transcript and more pics for this event
will follow in a few days.
SIGNINGS
Next up were seperate signings with Matt Groening, John DiMaggio, Maurice
LaMarche and Billy West. Unfortunately I missed out on the Groening signing
as this year his annual signing was held in the autograph area and not
the Bongo booth To get into the event you had to show up at the Bongo booth
and get a special Bart Buck (not sure why they were Bart Bucks and not
Wing Wangs) which let you into the event. It was a madhouse at the Bongo
booth as everyone who is anyone showed up to get the certificates. Many
of us left empty handed and I am sorry to say I was one of them. Matt,
though made it up to alot of people by signing plenty of Futurama prints
for sale at their booth and so I was able to walk away with at least his
autograph and a great souvenir. For those who have the 2002 calendar the
poster they were selling was the poster included with that calendar commemorating
the episode Love's Labours Lost in Space. Nice item that I can't wait to
get framed and up on my wall.
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Some People Call Him Kif,
L'rrr, Morbo, Don-Bot or Walt
Some People Call Him Maurice
I must admit that I didn't mind missing the Groening signing as the day
was shaping up to be jam packed what with all the signings scheduled for
that day. After missing out on the Bart Bucks I headed over to the ACME
Animation Studio booth which was concurrently running a Maurice LaMarche
signing by way of Cartoon Network and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Maurice was nice enough to sign both my Kif production drawing as well
as pose for a picture with me.
We had some time to kill so we stopped to sit down and rest awhile
before the next signing which was John DiMaggio. While waiting in the eating
area lo and behold who should walk by on his way to the signing but the
man behind the shiny metal ass himself - John DiMaggio. He was busy checking
his cel phone or something as he walked by but as he did my wife called
out to him - Hey John, we love your work. To which he quickly shouted back
- Thanks! Which I am sure was just a stock answer he gives to convention
geeks like me but then when he looked over to see who said it he actually
recognized us! He said, hey I
remember you guys from last year and thanks again for the compliment.
We all laughed and I said we shall see you in a bit at your signing. John
is a great guy and a little thing like him remembering me from over a year
ago really goes to show how nice and in touch he is in with fans.
This might have been my lucky day as soon after we ran into John, Patric
Verrone swantered by the Toynami booth (right across from where we were
sitting) to check out the prototypes for the Futurama I-Men figures. I
stopped him, introduced myself to him and let him know I appreciated his
work on the show and was very happy to see his commitment to keeping the
concept of Futurama alive by contributing stories to the comics. I let
him know I really liked the stories and was glad that he plans to make
this an ongoing relationship. He genuinely seemed appreciative and thanked
me for my comments and said so long as Bongo wants him he is willing to
contribute stories not only for Futurama but the Simpsons as well. Check
his writing credits on the show which include I
Second That Emotion, A
Clone of My Own, The
Problem With Popplers and That's
Lobstertainment among others.
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You Know John, Of All The
Friends I've Had, You're The First
 The last signing of the day was Billy West so we got in line early so
that we could get that done and enjoy a little bit more of the show in
a non-Futurama way before calling it a day and leaving. Unfortunately,
Billy never showed up to his scheduled time even though he was at the convention
and who earlier not only appeared at the Futurama panel but at a voice
actors panel as well. Many calls were put into both he and his agent looking
for the elusive Mr. West but no calls were answered or returned. We came
back on Sunday and asked what had happened and if they ever heard back
from Billy West and the excuse they got was that Billy's wife had been
in an accident and needed him to come and pick her up so that she could
get a rental car. Sounded a little shady to me and I am glad that everything
was alright with him but it was disappointing waiting in line and for him
to pull a no-show with no explaination. ACME, who again sponsored this
event, made a nice gesture to all those in attendance who waited patiently
for Billy to show. Again, a hearty thank you to ACME for the support of
the Futurama community and for putting on these events.
| After that dissapointment we headed
back to the Bongo Comics booth to see if this would be the day we finally
one something but again we were shut out. Many people attended these events
every day and believe it or not I don't recall seeing the same faces at
each raffle so with this show I am sure Bongo reached out to many fans. |
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