David X. Cohen, co-creator of Futurama, was kind enough to talk to me about Bender's Big Score, being a math nerd and how to become a TV writer.
Nancy Basile: The biggest question is, if Bender's Big Score and the next three DVDs sell very well, will there be a Family Guy-like resurrection for Futurama?
David X. Cohen: We hope so. We have no exact figures, such as sell "x" DVDs and you're back. Just looking at it from a logical standpoint, I don't know why they wouldn't want to bring it back if they do really well. If it's making money, it makes sense. We're keeping our fingers crossed. And I can tell you my own secret wish. I tell everyone who will listen. That's how big of a secret it is. Is that these will do really well and [Fox] will say, hey, why don't you do an actual feature film for theaters? That would be my wish for our next incarnation. We've been alive in two forms now. So if we're reincarnated again, I want to be reincarnated as a feature film.
N.B.: Excellent!
David X. Cohen: If they'd like to have us back on TV, that's great, too, but in some respects, it would be a way to escalate it, keeping things building.
N.B.: The Simpsons Movie, were you very involved with that? Is that why the Futurama feature film is a wish of yours?
David X. Cohen: No, I was not involved in it at all because I was working on the four Futurama DVDs while they were working on that. There's a huge lead time on these things. We started talking about these Futurama DVDs back in 2005, believe it or not. And I've been doing that full time since March, 2006. Even that is very fast for an animated movie. It's been over a year and a half since we started work on this first one, and we're just getting it out now. So I was quite busy while they were working on The Simpsons Movie. That is another thing that gives me hope, however, and yes, obviously, any analogies that can be drawn I'm all for that. Like, hey, Fox, did you know The Simpsons Movie did half a billion dollars? And we would only have to make about one- tenth of that to do quite well. We're in the shadows and ready to go if they call us.
N.B.: I loved Bender's Big Score, by the way.
David X. Cohen: Thank you very much! That proves you are a big nerd.
N.B.: It was great.
David X. Cohen: You outed yourself.
N.B.: Hypnotoad was a special favorite of mine. [A full episode of Hypnotoad is one of the bonus features.]
David X. Cohen: Wow, you even watched Hypnotoad!
N.B.: I watched Hypnotoad. Whose idea was that?
David X. Cohen: You know, it was one of those things. I can't remember if it was one specific person's idea, but when the writers were sitting around, imagining what DVD extras we could do... We've always noticed the hardcore fans have always asked about Hypnotoad. We see that people have made their own Hypnotoad shirts and things. So we kind of picked up that this was a fan favorite, and we wanted to do something. And then we decided, once we were going to do something, to go all out. Obviously, if you've seen it...
N.B.: Yes, you did go all out.
David X. Cohen: The way I describe it when people ask, I say it's four minutes of solid entertainment, packed into a twenty-two minute program.
N.B.: The location shots are the entertainment, right?
David X. Cohen: Well, if you want to know the original thinking, we actually came close to doing this, we were considering disabling the fast forward button while watching it. We decided that would be too cruel and unethical. That only people doing it as a fraternity initiation would watch it. We gave people a little bit of a break.
N.B.: Then it really would be hypnotizing, I think. Is one of the writers a big Everybody Loves Raymond fan, or does someone really hate Everybody Loves Raymond?
David X. Cohen: I think it's just one of those things, that when Hypnotoad first appeared on the show, six years ago or whatever it was, we said, oh, if it's a really popular show in the future, we've gotta pick a really popular show now, and draw some obvious analogies so people will get the point. It now seems like a more specific thing, but at the time it was just, Everybody Loves Raymond is a very popular show, so use that. I can't claim it's more clever than that, but if you can come up with something more clever, and say that I said it, then do it. Be my guest.
N.B.: I'll ask you one more question because our time is almost up.
David X. Cohen: We can go a couple more minutes because, as I said, I've fallen behind. You get a couple of extra bonus minutes.
N.B.: I know that you have a physics background, do you have a consultant for a lot of the science stuff on Futurama, or does that all come from you?
