Title Sequence Mini-Capsule

Main Title Sequence Mini-Capsule

Created by    : David X. Cohen and Matt Groening
Director      : Mike Smith
Animation by  : Rough Draft Studios, Inc.
Overseas
  Production  : Rough Draft Korea
Composer      : Christopher Tyng
Music Editor  : Scott Schirle
3D Director   : Scott Vanzo
Producer      : Geraldine Symon
3D Animation  : Conan Low
              : Eric Whited

============================================
= Additional tidbits =

Run time: ~28 seconds
============================================
= Synopsis =

      An explosion bursts into a spread of green laser lights that fan
 out across the sky.  The Planet Express transport ship zips across the
 screen, and in its wake spells out "Futurama" in a concave formation.
 The spaceship loops around off camera and flashes past the screen
 headed directly for the eye of the letter 'R'.
      The camera pulls us into the eye of the letter 'R' where we imme-
 diately see the New New York skyline.  The camera then follows the
 twists and turns of the Planet Express transport ship as it gives the
 viewer a tour of the busy skies of New New York.  The ship then leads
 the viewer to a large sky-vision screen broadcasting a b/w space
 cartoon.  The screen cuts away the cartoon to broadcast several pro-
 duction credits until the Planet Express ship crashed into it.
=======================================================
= Minutia =

 - After a blast of color, the viewer is reminded that Futurama is
 	 shown "IN COLOR".
 - The Statue of Liberty is holding a laser pistol.
 - Flying cars travel in lanes in the sky complete with hoovering
     traffic signals that rotate on an axis.
 - Monorails run through the city, above and below, on the same tracks.
 - The Big Apple Bank [BB] tower has a heli-port on top.
 - With the showing of the black/white [mighty mouse?] cartoon clip, the
     notice that Futurama is "IN COLOR" is only mostly correct.
 - A crane arm mounted on top of a building turns on a mast carrying a
     large crate.
 - David S. Cohen is now known as David X. Cohen.
===========================================================
= Still Frame Stuff =

 + Billboards/signs seen
   - Eat Bachelor Chow "Now with flavor" [with moving fork]
   - Mom's Old Fashioned Robot Oil
   - Girls, Girls, Aliens [arrow points down]
   - M-A-S-S-A-G-E [spelled vertically]
   - Mass Hypnosis Hour [on a giant tv screen]
   - Slurm
   - Flesh-o-Poid Dating Service
   - Sexatorium
   - sign with alien language
     -- first line has 2 symbols
     -- second line has 6 symbols
   - Bachelor Chow [pretty girl holding up a bowl of chow]
   - Def Con [___ ___ dead] [with a moving neon corpse]
   - Robot Musk [?]
   - a shifting billboard
     -- 1st) Mom's ____ ____ Company
     -- 2nd) Smart Sausages
     -- 3rd) a man advertising?

 + Flying vehicles seen
   - Planet Express delivery spaceship
   - convertible that looks like a 1950's Chevy
   - yellow taxis
   - yellow double-decker buses
   - Slurm delivery trucks
   - hot air balloon
   - blimps
   - police car
   - many misc. flying cars

 + Traveling through the New York Tube System
   - first tube seen
     - little boy
     - man with a helmet and clear face shield
     - short man with a hook instead of a right hand wearing headphones
     - Asian girl with a mid-drift shirt
     - man wearing a shirt/vest
     - woman with a full length dress
     - man with white hair
     - an alien similar to Kif
     - man with sunglasses and long gloves [to his elbows]
     - human cop
   - second tube seen
     - Dr. Zoidberg look-alike
     - man with a hat and thick glasses
     - man with a helmet
     - man wearing a uniform of some kind
     - man with a shirt and vest
     - short man with a hook instead of a right hand wearing headphones
     - teenager
   - third tube seen
     - man reading a newspaper [headline: ____ __ Fight in Mars ___]

 + Robots seen
   - driving a white/purple convertible
=======================================================
= References =

 + Purina Dog Chow and/or Cat Chow
   - Bachelor Chow is a parody
   - slogan "now with flavor"
   - is advertised piled in a bowl and even looks like pet food
 + The Fifth Element
   - flying cars traveling in lanes in the sky
   - the yellow taxis look similar to those in the movie
 + The Simpsons
   - a building looks like Troy McClure's house
========================================================
= Goofs & Nitpicks =

 - The Statue of Liberty is holding a laser pistol, but in [1AVC01]
     "Space Pilot 3000" the statue is holding a section of the tube
     system.
=======================================================
"Futurama" TM and � FOX and its  ===== First uploaded: 04-Apr-1999
related companies.  All rights   ===== Last revised  : 04-Apr-1999
reserved.  This document created ===== maintained by : Dave Sweatt
by the Futurama Chronicles.      ===== email:    

This document is available at the Futurama Chronicles http://futurama.simplenet.com/ Dave Sweatt [email]

[email] wrote:

The cartoon being shown is "Little Buck Cheeser," an MGM cartoon from 1937. (This information from animation historian Jerry Beck).

Dale G. Abersold [email] http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/7309

grumble. Some networks which *have* to get noticed, replace this with their own name. Global here replaces it with "ON GLOBAL" (something which they have done with The Simpsons for as long as I can remember.

	P.

This apparently will change each episode, much like the blackboard and couch gags on The Simpsons. For example, the second episode states that Futurama is "in Hypno-Vision". There may be other things that change each week, too.

Michael

I find this odd because there are only about 30-50 or so known cinema technologies along the lines of hypno-vision, Odorama, Tohoscope, Supermarionation. I remember reading a list once. Every studio had their version of technicolor and their version of cinemascope, but we're still not talking more than 50 names. I mean, several seasons down the road this could seriously cease to be funny.

In article , "Michael R. Flavin" wrote:

When they get tired of that, they could do

"In Your Living Room" "In The Future" "In Edible" "In Side and Out" "In Sane" "In a godda davida" (sp, I know...just had to...) "Ex Nihilo" (Doesn't fit the pattern, but it would get everyone running to the dictionary)

etc.

B

wrote in message news:7ebcq9$h2c$[email]...

not

could

couch

Futurama

too.

That's when they'll start making stuff up.

Pipian

In article , "Michael R. Flavin" wrote:

You are correct, it was impossible to see a pattern from a single episode. The title sequence variations are 1)the sub-title below "Futurama" at the beginning and 2)the b/w cartoon shown on the sky-vision screen at the end.

Whoever knows the title of the Porky Pig cartoon clip please post a reply or send me an email so I can add you and your contribution to the document.

Another area in the mini-capsule that is developing is the "seen traveling in a tube" list under the Freeze/Still Frame section. We are now beginning to see that many of those traveling in the tubes are characters that will appear on the show at some point. So far I have recognized Dr. Zoidberg, Amy Wong, Kif, and Hermes Conrad.

Can anyone yet identify the man with the hook for a hand? : http://futurama.simplenet.com/framegrabs/grab19.jpg here's Amy Wong and Hermes Conrad: http://futurama.simplenet.com/framegrabs/grab13.jpg here's Kif: http://futurama.simplenet.com/framegrabs/grab17.jpg

Instead of posting the mini-capsule update, here's its location: http://futurama.simplenet.com/episodes/title_sequence_capsule.txt

Dave Sweatt [email] Futurama Chronicles