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therandosfandos · 4 months

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Heheheh...guess who's turn it is now...? @bluehamster08 @frenderbender09

Trigger warning!

Cheers echoed through the Planet Express building, joy everywhere. The crew surrounded a table and suddenly singing rang through everybody's ears.

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Bender, happy birthday to you”.

Leela places the cake in front of said robot and smiles, “blow out your candles”. Bender does and the flames instantly wash away, leaving a trail of black smoke where they danced on the decorative sticks. It's silent as the foghat gray robots optics close and then open back up. Everyone claps happily and Fry gives a kiss to his boyfriend.

“Good news everyone, it's time to open presents!”, Professor Farnsworth suddenly calls out and every member of the crew, besides Leela and Fry, rush over there with excitement. The mutant looks at Fry, the idiot seeming to be thinking to himself. Leela speaks up, “Fry, you okay?”.

The orange haired man looks up at the woman with wide eyes before calming down into a relaxed posture, “yeah, it’s just...”, he starts but then hesitates as he looks at his small boyfriend with a loving gaze, “look, i’m planning to propose to Bender today”, He breaks the news to her. Leela gasps softly before she asks in confusion, “why is that a problem though?”.

Fry sighs, “I don’t know how to do it, i’ve never kept a relationship going this long”, the human explains. Leela chuckles and places a hand on Fry’s shoulder, “don’t worry, i’ll help you”.

“Thank you, Leela” The human smiles and gives her a grateful look. He was happy she was helping him. “Hey guys, we’re going out for a bit”, The mutant calls out to the crew. They all look at her and Fry with a nod, Bender waves as he’s opening the last present they got him, “bye, meatbags!”, he gives a hearty laugh before he speaks again, “hey, pick me up more cigars while you’re out!”

Leela sighs softly but then smiles, that’s their Bender. No one would ever change him for the world, even if he was a complete egotistical jerk. The mutant takes Frys hand and leads him out the door.

********************

“First, we need to mark out a spot” Leela tells Fry. The human nods in response. The mutant speaks again, “know any specific places you and Bender like?” she asks. Fry thinks to himself for a moment, “hm...”, he then smiles and nods, “yeah, actually, we always go on the top of the Planet Express building for little hangout dates, it’s a really special place”, the man answers.

The woman nods, “next, we need to buy a ring”, she says calmly. Fry has a panicked look on his face, “yeah, about that-”, he starts but Leela cuts him off, “don’t worry, idiot, i’ve got the money”, she says. He sighs in relief.

They enter the jewelry store and look around. The man working the counter looks up at the two, “hey there, what can I help you with?”, he asks. Leela approaches the counter, “we’re looking for a special ring for a robot”. The man nods, “follow me”. He leads them behind the counter and into another room. It seemed like the most expensive jewelry you'll ever lay your own eyes upon. Every single gem gleamed in the light and shined aggressively.

“So, what model are you looking for?”, the guy asks. Fry speaks next, “um..”, he forgot what Bender was. Leela facepalms and looks at the man, “Bending Unit-22, Momcorp, constructed in Tijuana, Mexico” She says. The guy then nods and leads them to a showcase where behind the glass lay different kinds of rings. Gold, Silver, Diamond, Emerald, other types of crystals, you name it. “Just come get me when you’re ready to buy”, the man says and leaves the two at it.

Fry looks at all the gorgeous attire, “Bender likes shiny things...”, he reminds himself. Leela was looking at the other side, suddenly she pointed to one, “hey Fry, come look at this one”. The human in question perks up and heads over to see what the mutant was looking at. It was beautiful. A golden ring with a diamond amethyst in the middle, small rubies surrounded it, every jewel had a small silver border outlining them. Fry looks at the price, “are you sure you’re able to pay for this?”, he asks with worry.

It was about one thousand dollars. Leela hums in thought before she nods, “yeah, I can pay for it”. Frys lips curl into another grateful smile. He comes up and hugs the mutant woman, “thank you Leela”. The lady rolls her eye and chuckles, “alright, you big goofball, come on”.

They pay for the item and head on their way. Leela says, “look, if you’re gonna propose to Bender of all people, you need to look good too”, she states. Fry rubs the back of his neck with a nervous chuckle.

**************************

“So, why the hell couldn’t I get a day off?”, the robot asks with narrowed eyes and one optic lowered as to stimulate him being aggressively confused as he usually is. Farnsworth only laughs like a madman, “oh, Bender, Bender, Bender, no one gets a day off when you are under my employment, you need to put extra work in”.

Bender groaned in annoyance, “fine, whatever”. He goes to sit on the couch and turns the tv on, “all my circuits” had a new episode and Bender nearly leaped out of his seat in joy. He kicks his feet up and puts his footcups on the coffee table, getting a beer out of his chest compartment and popping it open with one of his stubby fingers.

The robot chugs some of it and burps out a flame like he usually does. Suddenly, in the middle of the episode, Hermes comes in with a cardboard box, it was taped, sealed and stamped. Bender looked up at the Jamaican bureaucrat confused, “what?”, he asks.

“Delivery”, Hermes says and pushes the package into the robots hands. Bender glares and grumbles, “this is stupid, why do I gotta do this on my damn birthday? I oughta kill the damn old man...”, he complains quietly to himself. He then goes to find the professor in front of the Planet Express ship. Bender still held his open booze in hand. Bender eyes Farnsworth as he makes little angry noises and starts to go up the steps.

Farnsworth halts him all of a sudden, “Bender, you will be doing this mission solo”, he states. The robot hesitates, “what about Fry and Leela?”, he asks, “don’t they have to do work too?”. The professor nods, “oh my, yes”. Bender looks confused, “so, where are they?”, his voice slightly singing at the end of his sentence.

The professor shrugs, “I don’t know”. Bender rolls his eyes and sighs. This was pissing him off a lot. He starts to launch the ship into space and sets it on autopilot, putting in the direct destination he was supposed to go to. The Mahera quadrant, Exhao 12. In all honesty, the usual confident bending unit was kind of scared, he sat back and relaxed in the pilot seat as best as he could. The Mahera quadrant of the galaxy was rumored to be a dangerous area, so all he could do is hope the rumors weren’t true.

***************************

“What do you mean you sent him off by himself!?”, the scream loudly echoed through the building. Farnsworth waved his hand with a dismissive manner, “oh, fuff, he’ll be fine”, he assured the crew.

Fry speaks up, “last time he was captain of the ship, he flew upside down, was sober, all six thousand holes were breached and also almost got eaten by a killer whale! What do you mean, he’ll be fine!?”. To be fair, the orange haired idiot had a part in that but still.

“Oh, quit your yapping, Bender can perfectly take care of himself”, Farnsworth says and then goes to take his daily nap. The crew left behind not knowing what to do. Fry was worried about his best friend and boyfriend, he was pacing back and forth, a nervous wreck. Amy put a hand on his shoulder, “splurf, Fry, chill”, she tells.

Fry takes a deep breath in and out, “yeah, I-I’m calm..”, he mutters. He really wasn’t, he was worried sick about the robot. Sure, Bender was a jerk, but he absolutely could not take care of himself when he was in danger. Hermes passes the three by and Fry takes the chance to ask an important question, “hey, where is Bender delivering that package to?”

“The Mahera quadrant, a royal planet called Exhao 12”, Hermes answers and heads on his way. Fry looks confused, but Leela and Amy look at each other with wide eyes. Leela speaks, “Fry, come on, we need to have a little chit chat with the professor”, she angrily declares and Amy nods.

Fry stands up and follows the two fuming women, confused.

Geez, why were girls so terrifying when they were angry?

#futurama #bender #fry #frender #on a bent planet far away from you #i need my bender angst leave me alone

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historyhermann · 6 months

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Futurama Season 8 Part One Spoiler-Filled Review

Futurama is a mature animated sitcom with elements from the sci-fi and comedy drama genres. The original series aired from 1999 to 2003, then 2008 to 2013. Matt Groening created this series, like The Simpsons and Disenchantment. He developed it with David X. Cohen. Both were executive producers along with Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the fifty-fifth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on November 9, 2023. By this article, I've surpassed how many reviews I wrote for The Geekiary (52 posts), meaning I have written more for PCM than The Geekiary!

Part One of Futurama's eighth production season (and eleventh broadcast season) is a Hulu revival. It focuses on a crew of six misfits who work for Planet Express, a package delivery company. Turanga Leela (voiced by Katey Segal) pilots the Planet Express Ship. In a continuation from the Season 7 finale, she is the girlfriend of Philip J. Fry (voiced by Billy West), a man cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years before arriving in January 2999. They are joined by a foul, impertinent, alcoholic, smoking, and egocentric robot named Bender Bending Rodriguez (voiced by John DiMaggio), or Bender for short, the staff physician and lobster-like extraterrestrial John A. Zoidberg (voiced by West), and long-term accident-prone and ditzy intern Amy Wong (voiced by Lauren Tom). Other protagonists include company founder Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (voiced by West) and company accountant/bureaucrat Hermes Conrad (voiced by Phil LaMarr).

Some characters play supporting roles. This includes Amy's partner, Kif Kroker (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), a lieutenant and assistant of Captain Zapp Brannigan on the Nimbus, a Democratic Order of Planets (DOOP) starship. Brannigan, like Fry and the Professor, is voiced by Billy West. He is a general with 25 stars, part of DOOP, and has feelings for Leela. There's also a highly intelligent animal, who often acts cute and innocent, named Lord Nibbler (voiced by Frank Welker), the rough janitor Scruffy (voiced by David Herman), and an aggressive corporate CEO named Carol "Mom" Miller (voiced by Tress MacNeille). She heads a mega-conglomerate known as MomCorp, which monopolizes robot production. She has three sons (Walt, Larry and Igner), and previous romantic relationships with the Professor and his nemesis, Dr. Ogden Wernstrom (voiced by Herman).

The first episode begins by re-introducing viewers to Futurama's characters. Bender cheers return of Leela, Fry, and their friends. The series takes place in 3023. Fry believes he has "achieved nothing" for his 23 years in the future. After taking Leela's advice, he pledges to watch every show ever made. He does this even after Bender warns him about the terrible TV content out there. There are also jokes on actual show names in blink-and-you-miss-it moments. Fry subscribes to the fourth-biggest streaming service in the world, known as Fulu, a play off Hulu.

The episode has social commentary about the binge model: Fry wears goggles which drill directly into your brain. Such devices allow a user to watch all the episodes in one continuous stretch but you must sit perfectly still in an all-encompassing metal suit. In the real world, binging a series can lead to regret, depending on whether viewers plan binging ahead of time. It can contribute to people feeling like they are "bored" unless they binge shows. In the case of this episode, Fry stays in a chair, sitting perfectly still for months without any breaks. His mind is soon overpowered by binging. He loses touch with reality.

In a plot line which echoes the goals of the recently concluded WGA strike, and ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, Fry's friends convince the robot bosses of Fulu to reboot All My Circuits. They produce episodes as fast as they can, so that Fry doesn't die. To make matters worse, Fry watches the episodes at double-speed. The writers can't keep up with the fast script production. Bender declares that "any idiot can be a TV writer," beginning to write scripts himself. This episode makes clear how writers are so stressed/crunched in the current entertainment industry. The writers collapse from exhaustion during the episode.

The episode ends with the reality of the entertainment industry: executives give constructive notes, say the show isn't working, cancel it, and declare "you will always been an important part of the Fulu family." The episode undoubtedly comments on how TV shows work and ravenous corporate executives. I the past year, Ridley Jones, Inside Job, Dead End: Paranormal Park, and Human Resources were cancelled by Netflix, while The Owl House and Archer ended. For Fry, his friends attempt to shift his focus from the streaming world back to the real world. This plan is unsuccessful, as there is a huge explosion, and they believe he is dead. In reality, he had left the suit two days before, so he could catch up on reading.

Fry admits he stopped watching All My Circuits because the show quality decreased in the last couple of episodes (because Bender wrote them). In another timely moment, there is a mock presidential summit on the dangers of streaming television. Fry declares that shows should not be rebooted without quality. He states that viewers must binge responsibly, streaming no more than 10 episodes in a row. He adds that a TV show must be cancelled every few years if it cares about its audience. This episode is an effective way to begin the series. Even so, it is more dramatic than funny, with some comedic moments.

The next two episodes focus on entirely different subjects. One talks about definition of motherhood, noting that Amy is the smizmar of Kif Kroker and mother of their child even though she contributed no DNA, unlike Scruffy, Kiff, and Leela. Another is on the nose when it comes to social commentary about the cryptocurrency boom and Bitcoin. In that episode, Leela calls the latter a "pyramid scheme for rubes," after the Professor reveals that Planet Express went bankrupt because he invested in it. What follows is an episode spoofing the Gold Rush. The characters go out West, hoping to strike it rich, traveling to a town where all the electricity goes to Bitcoin mining computers, with everything else resembling the Old West.

If that isn't enough, everyone has a Wild West-flair. Roberto has a knife-shooter gun. Leela becomes a barmaid/sex worker. Fry meets a man made of borax (Borax Kid). Zoidberg becomes the town doctor. Dwight tries to team up with Roberto to rob a stagecoach (and take a USB stick). Bender kills a donkey by accident. In one of episode's, best jokes, they use Bender's "shiny metal ass" to sift through river stones. Amy complains there is very little Thalium and just "worthless gold."

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The episode ends with their confrontation at the Bitcoin mine. The saloonkeeper, Delilah (voiced by MacNeille), is using robot heads to calculate numbers. She defends her action, says that all the money earned is donated to an orphanage. In the end, she gets away with it, even putting three heads of the robot mafia into "the mine." Even so, the Borax Kid is punished for copying public domain stories almost word-for-word and changing a few words himself, so he could get the glory. This story ends with a classic so-called "Mexican standoff": everyone fired guns at each other, and the characters shown from multiple angles. The episode closes with everyone walking off into the sunset together, a good ending for the main cast.

The fourth episode is one of the best in this series revival. The beginning, which centers on worms attacking Nibbler's brain, seems to be on par with usual shenanigans in other episodes. This changes when the crew are transported in a toy tank, inside of Nibbler's litter box. They come across dung beetles and magic psychedelic dust. In a clear parody of Dune, the beetles lead them through the sand to find the worms, setting off a pounder (like a thumper) to attract the sandworm. In a callback to the original series, these worms are the same ones that once made Fry smarter. This goes even further: Nibbler claims to be "the messiah." He declares that everything is interconnected and should stay as it is, undisturbed.

As a result, Leela becomes despondent. She even surrounds herself in pure uncut magical sand. It helps her see how everything is interconnected. It is revealed that smaller parasites are weakening the worms. They put aside the whole "everything is connected" mantra to stomp out the smaller parasites, saying a line must be drawn somewhere. This is akin to characters discussing eating good "meat" in a 2000 Futurama episode, entitled "The Problem with Popplers." Later, Nibbler talks to his fellow intelligent beings about how Leela's bravery and loyalty allowed his previous consciousness to be restored.

More than other episodes, this is the most inventive, even featuring a character chewing on a Bart Simpson doll. As Jean wrote in a review on this very website, Dune, based on the well-known novel by Frank Herbert, can have a twisted timeline, dense plot, and have a wide scope and scale. It is, more than anything, a sci-fi epic, centering on the desert planet of Arrakis, with the resource of spice sought after by all. Even with its sweeping visuals, make-up, and CGI, there is exposition over the top. Characters are often referenced by their full names rather than abbreviations. The film is relatively long. Some of this energy comes through in this Futurama spoof, which is a sci-fi series quite different from Dune or Release the Spyce.

The fifth episode has extreme relevance when it comes to corporate conglomerates which dominate the economic landscape. Mom is the epitome of this, with her Momazon service, a play off Amazon, which runs a "fulfillment center" on the Moon. Some people resist these efforts, saying that her warehouse is polluting the Moon. She buys everyone off with speech recognition software known as Invasa, her version of Alexa. The way that the warehouse functions echoes criticism of Amazon for avoiding taxes, toxic work culture, and mass data collection from consumers. These workplaces take the conditions of the real-life equivalent a step further. They are fully automated by non-union robot workers who endure the conditions 24 hours, 7 days a week. When Mom is challenged by Leela, saying the robots are engaged in forced labor, she says the workers enjoy the work.

Not everything is happy: Bender, after quitting Planet Express, is forced to work at the plant. He even sends a package with a warning so his friends will save him. To make matters worse, the "wonderful" artificial intelligence (A.I)., turns against Mom, going rogue, and it ends up taking over the entire universe. As such, they can order what they want from Momazon with quick deliveries, which is supported by abysmal labor conditions. There are many Futurama callbacks, like the destruction of the Apollo lander, the man with a hat declaring "The Moon Will Rise Again," and the return of Al Gore's floating head. Bender ends up back in the same apartment with Fry and Leela, and is fine being the third wheel, rather than working in a warehouse.

This episode is not unique in criticizing A.I. Take Light Hope in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, who tries to activate a planet-destroying weapon to annihilate the universe, and attempts to exploit Adora (as She-Ra) to accomplish that end, or Lunella's A.I., Skipster, in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which skips important parts of her life that she found "boring." Also consider Cyrano in Cleopatra in Space, an A.I. created by series villain Octavian who tries to control a protagonist, and a paranoid A.I. scared of ghosts, the godlike A.I. depicted in The Orbital Children, or malevolent A.I. in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Moon Girl has a living/A.I. supercomputer named LOS-307. An A.I. named T.O.M.I. (Technical Operations Management Interface) is in Supa Team 4. A ship navigator named KRS is in My Dad the Bounty Hunter. The worst example of A.I. is in the first, and second (to a lesser extent) of idolish music series Kizuna no Allele. That series had a pro-NFT segment and almost encourages creation of anime by A.I. This Futurama episode leans toward criticism in Cleopatra in Space, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Moon Girl, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and The Orbital Children, and away from other depictions. The episode acknowledges prevalence of A.I., as Carole & Tuesday does, with a music producer named Tao using advanced A.I. to ensure performers are profitable. It hints at danger of relying on A.I., which relies upon models trained by extremely low-paid workers.

Other episodes are callbacks or more relevant now than they would be even five years from now. One is an X-Mas themed episode featuring efforts to stop murderous Robot Santa with a time travel machine. Another parodies the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This involves quarantines, masks worn on ears, people working remotely, and conspiracy theories on Facebag (the version of Facebook in this world). The latter is enhanced by competition between the Professor and his sworn nemesis, Wornstrom. The Professor gives people a flimsy paper card (a dig at COVID-19 paper cards) and 3D chips inside of a vaccine to track it. The episode ends when everyone gets a vaccine using voodoo practices, likely a reference to Louisiana Voodoo rather than Trinidadian Vodunu or similar syncretic religious practices in the African diaspora. The episode ends with the statement that any sufficiently advanced magic is distinguishable from science.

This Futurama episode was one of the more hilarious ones. It echoed a "missing" Cleopatra in Space episode about protagonist Cleo facing the consequences of avoiding quarantine, and the August 2011 Futurama episode "Cold Warriors." The former includes Cleo realizing, after she infects the entire campus (but is a carrier), the importance of quarantine. At the episode's end, she enters quarantine as she presumably has common cold, and declares “quarantine stinks!” The Futurama episode is different because it parodies the oft remote work and hints at delays from the virus.

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The eighth episode is just as strong. Zapp is brought before a DOOP disciplinary hearing after an egregious incident with Kiff. It is declared that he is "cancelled." DOOP strips him of his title and states that he must undergo mandatory sensitivity training. The episode centers on "cancel culture," known as consequence culture. It has been covered poorly in some media and better elsewhere. In this episode, Leela becomes captain of the Nimbus. Fry and Bender join her as first officers. The sensitive training class teacher, Dr. Kind (voiced by DiMaggio), is abusive, and DOOP's worse groper.

While Zapp apologizes to those he harmed and Leela gets a medal of valor, there's a lot more going on. There are sequences which resemble Star Trek films, part of an all-around parody of Star Trek itself, including about the Prime Directive. Leela, Fry, Bender, and others come down to the planet in a bucket, making the residents of Tacila believe they are not advanced. Their society has sophisticated machinery running on pneumatic technology. This aligns with the original Futurama series where DOOP engaged in intensive mining operations and worry of Beckett Mariner in Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 that Starfleet has become a fighting force involved in armed conflict. DOOP only wants a treaty with Tacila to acquire air rights.

This episode ends with Dr. Kind, almost ruining the air with a Durian. At the last second, Bender (likely) orders the Nimbus to fire upon Dr. Kind, killing him. Later, Leela gets the aforementioned medal. She is discharged for not wanting to fire on innocent civilians. Everything returns to the status quo. Leela, Fry, and Bender return to Planet Express. Zapp goes back to DOOP. He doesn't care about civilian casualties if it "gets the job done." At the episode's end, the idea of consent is emphasized. Zoidberg sucks on Leela because of the Durian smell, and she thanks him for asking first.

Futurama's penultimate episode is a mixed bag. It includes some good moments poking fun at toy commercials, but is also dark with death, dismemberment (of cars), horrors of war, and the like. There is a strange plotline about a Space Prince (voiced by LaMarr), who Leela only loves because of a spell. Even so, there are good points about absurdity of religion (to an extent) and respecting ability of women to voice their opinions (although Bender doesn't support that view).

The final episode, for now, goes further, touching on the meaning of "life." The Professor creates a simulated universe, with copies in three-bit form. He declares that the simulation's beings are "nothing more than ones and zeroes" and aren't real. After he promises to Bender that the simulation won't be terminated, he changes his mind. He even finds an alternate power source to keep the universe functioning. Bender goes into this simulated world, wanting to tell them the truth (that the Professor made the world). He decides to not do so after that world's Fry, declares that it doesn't matter.

The episode closes with Bender returning to the real world. A solution to preserving the simulated world is presented: underclocking the processor. Although these beings realize the world is simulated, they care little about it. In many ways, this episode echoes the computer programs, known as "programs" in Tron: Uprising, but those depicted here are more basic.

Moving on, a largely-circulated spreadsheet in which people anonymously described their conditions in animation studios, does not mention The ULULU Company, previously known as The Curiosity Company, an animation studio and production company, that produced this series and Disenchantment. The company previously worked on the five Futurama films. Sadly, it isn't listed on Glassdoor. So, the company's conditions cannot be determined. Hopefully, people are being treated fairly and the work environment is productive.

The same spreadsheet had eight entries for Rough Draft Studios offices in Glendale and Burbank. These reviews were overwhelmingly negative, with anonymous entries saying there was overwork, disorganization, harsh treatment, and inflexible hours. These revealed an anti-union environment with unionbusting in Burbank. The same studio previously reached an agreement with Local 839 of the Animation Guild, which covered animated TV series and features at their studio in Glendale.

It is hard to know where the series will go from here. This is only part one of the eighth season. It has ten more episodes of its Hulu run, as part of the revival. Watching this revival is nostalgic. It was one of the first animated series I ever watched. I fondly remember episodes parodying Napster and homophobes opposing same-sex marriage, and visual jokes. Some episodes coined terms such as robosexuality, meaning love/sexuality between a robot and humanoid. The strong sci-fi themes stuck with me: the series premiere had the protagonist (Fry) time travel from 1999 to 2999. More than that, there was dimensional travel, voice actors such as Dawnn Lewis and Frank Welker, commentary on worker exploitation, heartfelt moments, advertising parodies, and storylines focusing on family history, roots, and connections.

Overall, the Futurama revival is different feel than the original. Even so, it differs from Final Space, and others like Disenchantment, and Steven Universe. The series is not fundamentally different than the original show. It is improved without few changes. For instance, there are no episodes about queer identity of main cast members or anything along those lines. In this way, it is like The Proud Family revival. Hopefully, the series continues to improve as it moves forward into Season 8 Part 2, and beyond. Futurama is currently streaming on Hulu, Apple TV+, and Disney+ (in some jurisdictions).

#futurama #pop culture #reviews #animated sitcom #adult animation #the simpsons #disenchantment #comedy #social commentary #crypto #strikes #sag aftra #wga strike #scifi #bingeing #revivals #hulu #animation #Youtube

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lightdancer1 · 10 months

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And oh yes, a few other story elements with Death that tend to be under-used:

The only one that I kind of downplay is that she's canonically a total nerd and dork for Disney films. This is because as the writer I do not really care to focus on the Disney canon nearly that much as a bit of a backlash to how much Disney has become MomCorps. Instead I have it take a bit subtler forms and use different facets of Death's comics characterization as most humanlike cosmic entity to give her a very specific theme that isn't 'Dream of the Endless in a tophat.'

Specifically Death is humanlike, but not human. This isn't exactly a Pinocchio Syndrome, as she does become mortal every 100 years and then ol' Kenny of the Endless dies at the end of that one day. As I like to adapt aspects of the show but set in a DCU type setting this also means that like Kenny her Mortal Days sometimes go very badly, like say, Apokolips and Warworld, where she never makes the full 24 hours.

But it does shape her view of mortals, her view of interacting with them, and her problems distinct to that of her siblings in a way that accounts for her canon self's no small amount of solipsism and self-absorption to match anything that Dream shows in his own appearances. It also shapes my view of her granting immortality, and a paradox. A being who lives (and dies) as much as she does grants immortality freely, and with a casual halfassing of her day job, in one sense. Very much the inverse of Marvel's Mistress Death who hires a contract killer and gets into pissing matches with the superheroes.

Death is the most casual about her power and her natures of all the Endless, because she can and does freely give it up. None of the others are truly willing to do this and Destruction very much does not do this. He retires from family life and governing his realm but in his own place in the mortal sphere he is not human with appearance of Destruction, he is Destruction of the Endless with all the immense power that goes with that. Death spends her mortal days powerless.

Further, she is only shown in her realm in her second miniseries, where it shows the same fluid elements of reality and interaction of her will and those of mortals that the Dreaming does, and is shown as a dark and cold and shadowy place (hence my portrayal of it as a blend of the Sumerian afterlife, the Tanach Sheol, and the Norse Hel (and hence also why it's the Land of Twelve Rivers like Norse Hel itself).

Her apartment, which is a small NYC apartment in size, is her home. It is not her realm. She lives in the mortal world by analogy in a way that none of her siblings do. Meaning, in other words, that her interaction with her realm, what is to be an Endless, with her function and her duties, are all vastly different.

Further still she is not bound by the laws and fetters of the other Endless. This is spelled out with a complete lack of subtlety across multiple aspects and facets of Sandman media. The only limits she has are what she accepts. She is not her brother Dream, who is overly rigidly bound by laws and to which challenging them is his central story motif. She has no laws, she is utterly unbound (as such if something did change this what would be moderate in other contexts has a vastly different psychological impact for all these reasons).

And of course if you look closely at her interactions beyond her job, Death is more feckless in interacting with people than Dream. We see it but a few times, and only a few and what is seen in this raises some interesting points that are very obvious factors and facets of her identity. She truly becomes mortal, she is the most like mortals, yet that 'most like' and 'actually is' are a huge gulf she cannot cross, and in a way not understanding other people really does make her the most human of the Endless in the most ironic possible fashion.

Finally, we do have that one story where Death speaks in her own voice, the only Endless besides Despair who does so save Dream himself. And I believe very firmly that what is shown in A Winter's Tale shows that she is very much struggling with depression and with a fundamental dislike and distaste for her job and by extension her own being that was never actually resolved. And in that she is much more like Dream than either of them would be likely to accept and both are tragic in very different ways.

And with all that sadness comes the ultimate reality, and one that would in its own way account for all these other differences. She outlives the universe and she leaves it. When that day comes Death of the Endless is dead, for there is no universe to be an Endless to oversee. The being who was Death of the Endless continues to exist, with all the memories of her world and of her siblings. In short, to her the Endless part of her is a title and a moment in time, not a fixed reality.

And that, to me, would account for my take, ultimately, on Death and Hob Gadling's relationship. Dream and Hob become friends, but that was not her intent or her motive in that moment. It was about Hob's view of life and death itself. Hob and Dream had the willingness and the ability to make her own choices, Death is his sister, not his mother, nor someone interested in playing the kind of manipulative games the other Endless do....nor, judging by her interactions, someone very good at them if she tried to do so.

#death of the endless #death meta #sandman meta #sandman fanfic #sandman canon #death aka kenny of the endless

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mannytoodope · 1 year

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Mom: And now if Momcorp shareholders will cast their ballots.

Igner: Um ... uh... Uh, the ballot was confusing.

Mom: How about a hand recount?

Igner: OK.Ow!

#Futurama

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sextechnews · 2 years

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Sexbots and flying cars: Real life is already like "Futurama" - Big Think

Futurama was a show that first aired more than 23 years ago and still holds a special place in the hearts of all sci-fi lovers. It was set in the year 2999 (and beyond) and featured various innovations ranging from the career chip to the Smell-o-Scope to the mind switcher that many of us still wish to become a reality someday. Apart from the gadgets, the show was also remembered for its super-advanced robot society that was not only driven by machine learning but also by emotions, spirituality, and gender. Futurama also gave us an idea of how society might function if humans, robots, and aliens (from different worlds) co-existed together on Earth.The show represented many of our expectations and fears related to the future in a humorous and satirical way. And, in some aspects, the real world is beginning to resemble Futurama.

Futurama today

We don’t have to go too far into the future to see that. In fact, some aspects of modern life already resemble Futurama. For instance, in a 2011 episode called “Cold Warriors,” a contagious disease spread across New York City, infecting nearly everyone. Given the high rate of infection, authorities decided to quarantine the city. Sound familiar? The only difference is that, in Futurama, the authorities sealed off the entire city using a gigantic plastic sheet. “Cold Warriors” originally aired on August 25, 2011, about eight years before COVID-19 emerged.

Talking heads and flying cars

Life in Futurama’s 31st century is full of amazing inventions and technologies. People can interact with dead personalities (including former U.S. presidents, celebrities, and scientists) through their talking heads preserved in jars filled with an unknown liquid. Does that sound far-fetched? Perhaps not. Subscribe for counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday Amazon can deepfake the voice of anyone, like your dead grandmother. Additionally, various companies and nonprofit organizations are offering to preserve heads, brains, and bodies in the hope that you get a second chance at life if science ever cures aging and death. Many wealthy people like former PayPal CEO Peter Thiel have bought into this idea and are ponying up big cash. In the meantime, those of us in the living world will soon be able to get mind-controllable robotic arms, if we find ourselves in need of a replacement.We also won’t need to wait until the 31st century for other inventions featured in the show. Social robots? Those are already on the way. Last year, the makers of Sophia the robot announced that it (she?) will be mass-produced. What about flying cars? We have those now, too, though they’re given the more formal name “electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.”

Big Tech

If you think Big Tech is big today, Futurama predicts an even bigger Big Tech in the 31st century. Today, social media giants collect our data and employ algorithms to monitor and even manipulate our actions. Of course the same will occur in the 31st century, according to Futurama.The show features a tech and toys company called MomCorp whose CEO uses her position and power to exert control over everything on the planet. In the episode “Attack of The Killer App” (which first aired in 2010), Mom releases a virus called Twitform that takes control of the mind of every internet user who crosses the mark of one million followers on social media. The virus ends up turning the lead characters into mindless zombies who would do anything that Mom wants. In another episode titled “Mother’s Day,” Mom takes control of every robot on Earth and creates chaos by triggering a robot uprising against humans.One of the more interesting features of Futurama is how it handles incredibly complex philosophical and ethical topics. For instance, Futurama highlights both the good and bad sides of intelligent, self-thinking robots. It asks the question: If humans can be both good and evil, then why not robots? Indeed, the robot named Bender can be a good friend, but he also likes to steal money, drink alcohol, and have sex — with robots, humans, and aliens. Once again, this is not just goofy cartoon-world. Sexbots are real. And sex tech is thought to be a $30 billion industry.

Futurama, redux

Every day, our real world inches closer to the fictitious one portrayed in Futurama. Fans of the show should be happy to learn that, in February 2022, Hulu approved an all-new 20-episode season of Futurama. Good news, everyone! Read the full article

#news #Sextech

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