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Updated 1:59pm ET on 30-October-2001 9:00am ET, 29-October-01
New Futurama Takes On SF David X. Cohen, executive producer of Fox's animated series Futurama, told SCI FI Wire that the show will feature several special episodes with SF tie-ins in its upcoming new season. "We actually have in one episode [Star Trek stars] William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei and Walter Koenig all guest-starring," Cohen said in an interview. "For me and most of the other writers on the show--probably all of them-- ... we're shaking with glee and excitement at the prospect of this episode." The episode is scheduled to run later in the season.
Cohen added that the Dec. 9 season premiere will involve time travel--a first for Futurama. "A disaster sends the Planet Express crew to 1947, where they crash-land in Roswell, N.M., and are taken to be a terrifying UFO by the locals," he said. "It's a period piece, which we've seldom done before. I think [the episode] is unbelievably great. We're just really, really happy with it."
Alien star Sigourney Weaver will appear in a Valentine's Day episode. "She plays the new personality software installed in the Planet Express ship, and Bender rapidly falls in love with it," Cohen said. "He has a whirlwind romance with the ship, which was a very big challenge for our animators, because one of the participants of the romance was about ten thousand times bigger than the other one."
Cohen also believes the long-awaited "X-Mas" episode will finally make it to the air. Last year, Fox deemed it "inappropriate" for 7 p.m. viewing and put it on the shelf. This year, Fox is planning on running it in a later timeslot.