David X. Cohen on the return of the sci-fi cartoon

After five years floating in the depressing realms of nothingness, Futurama has returned. Matt Groening’s follow-up to The Simpsons has relaunched on DVD with Bender’s Big Score, the first of four straight-to-DVD movies featuring Bender, Fry, Leela and friends. This is what Executive Producer David X. Cohen had to say in a Q & A about the raising the show from the dead, what to expect from the next three movies and a possible big screen adventure.

When did the decision first come to revive the series? It’s been quite a while since it was on air. 

It’s been a while, yes, but it also takes a while to get the animation up and running. We’ve actually been working for over two years now, believe it or not, on these new movies. Before that, there was close to a year of discussion. So the whole process probably started in 2005 and we’d only been off the air for two or three years at that point. But it took a while to convince Fox that it was a brilliant thing to do.

What was the thing that eventually kicked the new films into being?

We had lots of things we wanted to do still, but that was not the main driver. That doesn’t sway giant corporations. What swayed them, you won’t be surprised to hear, was money was still coming in from DVDs and re-runs on Cartoon Network, a cable channel in the US. They were airing it late at night, yet the audience was much larger than expected and holding up year after year. Everybody was really taken by surprised. That was the same thing that brought Family Guy back to life in America. We kind of followed in their footsteps.

Was Matt Groening particularly involved, because he was making The Simpsons Movie at the same time?

He was very involved. He overworked. He basically made Futurama his home base, if I can speak for him for a second. I think part of it is that we are the underdog. The Simpsons has been going for 20 years, where we’d had five. So this is still the more novel thing. I think he does devote a surprising amount of time to Futurama. He and I were talking about it frequently in those two or three years we were off air, about whether we might come back and what we could do. We were lobbying steadily about once every six months to Fox. Then one day, they called us up and said, ‘hey, we’ve got an idea. What about DVD movies?’ Good idea! But, yes, Matt was very involved from the beginning and he’s around all the time. 

How did you adjust to the feature length, because it’s very different writing a story for 90 minutes than it containing one in a 22-minute episode? 

It had its pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the nature of Futurama is that we were always doing these epic stories where at the very least the universe was at stake. Sometimes it was much more than that. So we were always doing epic, movie type plots in 22 minutes. That’s a little different from The Simpsons, because of the nature of science-fiction. So, in one respect it was a big relief to have more time to work with, because we were always cutting our scripts down to the bone to get them to TV length. On the other hand, we had no experience doing this and we just kind of plunged into it blindly. It took a little while to figure out how best to do it – also bearing in mind that later it would need to be broken into TV episodes. It was a good thing that we knew from the beginning that it would be broken down into TV episodes, which meant we could insert dramatic break points into the script. So, it was difficult, but could’ve been worse.

Is there more pressure now that the show has a following? 

In a good way, yes. When we were on the air, we were always a little disappointed with the promotion of the show. I may be understating that, but I still have to work with these people. We were on in the US at the same time as football. So if that was on, we’d get bumped. Nobody ever could find the show. Fox had a slogan that said ‘The fun begins at 8’. We were on at 7. Kind of a slap in the face. This time around, they really got behind the show. There was a complete change in attitude at Fox. They’ve been very supportive…actually, to digress a little, we went to Comic-Con in San Diego. We used to go every year and always got quite a good crowd. Then we were gone for 4-5 years and when we came back we thought we’d be in a small room in the corner. We ended up in a massive room that holds 4,500 people and it was full. They were turning away people at the door. That’s when we realised that people had really stuck with the show. I think people are more familiar with it now than they were when we were on air. That’s a relief.

What can we expect from the upcoming films? 

Well, the second one [The Beast With A Billion Backs] I can tell you a lot about because we’ve just handed that over. We’re actually working on the third now. The second does start where the third leaves off. Without giving anything away to anyone who hasn’t seen Bender’s Big Score, there’s a little twist at the end, which you might imagine we’d forget about. But we are going to deal with it. Just to give you a quick synopsis, it involves a planet-sized monster from another universe, played by David Cross, who – and I’m going to put this delicately – has relations with all the beings in our universe simultaneously. It’s a very strange sci-fi romance.

What’s the story on the third and fourth? 

Bender’s Game, the third, is our first foray into real hardcore fantasy, with dragons and mythical creatures and all those things. So we’ll get to see the fantasy versions of our characters on an epic adventure. It was kind of a surprise to us, when we were sitting around talking about this, that we hadn’t done this before. It seemed like material that overlaps somewhat heavily with the interests of our audience, so we were somewhat shocked to realise we’d not done it. So that’s the third, which we’re near the end of production on. The fourth one [Into The Wild Green Yonder] is us going out with a bang. That’s a really big sci-fi epic about a conflict that’s been going on for millions of years. And, of course, our crew gets caught in the middle. We face this dilemma that we faced once before, which is that we don’t know if we’re going to do any more Futurama ever again. So, we had to write that one very carefully and try to write it in a way that meant we would be satisfied emotionally if it was the last we saw of our guys, but also in a way that meant we can bring them back if we get the opportunity.

Do you think there will be more? 

Logically, I’d say they should already have called us up for more. The success level of Bender’s Big Score (in the US) is, I believe, far beyond what they were expecting. So they’ll make a lot of money. Assuming that’s the method of making decisions, they should have called us up. But they haven’t, so we’ve had no word yet. But I’m optimistic.

And are there ideas you’re sitting on if they do want more? 

Yes. Matt Groening’s always saying ‘Let’s do this’ and I have to tell him we’re done. 

Do you think there’s ever a chance of Futurama on the big screen, after the success of The Simpsons Movie? 

That’s our secret hope. And by secret, I mean that I’ve told everybody who’ll listen. We’ve done TV, we’d done these DVD movies, so it seems like a logical next step would be to go for a theatrical movie. I think that would be more liberating than the DVDs, in the sense that we could do the big epic stuff and not worry about it needing to be cut up later. We could just write it with a single intent from the beginning. The animation has always been bordering on theatrical quality, even though it’s not made for that purpose. I think we’d be ready to go as soon as we were given the go ahead.

Saint George is the patron saint of England. He's popularly identified with England and English ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry - but actually he wasn't English at all. Very little, if anything, is known about the real Saint George. Pope Gelasius said that George is one of the saints "whose names are rightly reverenced among us, but whose actions are known only to God."

Facts in brief

Born in Turkey (in Cappadocia)
Lived in 3rd century AD
His parents were Christian
Later lived in Palestine
Became a Roman soldier
Protested against Rome's persecution of Christians
Imprisoned and tortured, but stayed true to his faith
Beheaded at Lydda in Palestine
23rd April was named as Saint George's day in 1222

Patron saint


Saint George's flag 

He is patron saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, Germany and Greece; and of Moscow, Istanbul, Genoa and Venice (second to Saint Mark). He's also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy, plague and syphilis. In recent years he has been adopted as patron saint of Scouts.

Some people have campaigned for Saint Alban to be the patron saint of England instead of George. 

 Who was Saint George?

The story of Saint George is so wrapped in myth and legend that it's difficult to extract the historical facts of a real life. Some believe he never existed or that he's a Christianised version of an older pagan myth.

In the early centuries of Christianity, followers would write up fabulous accounts of the lives of their heroes. This enhanced George's reputation but left the details of his life very blurred. 

Early life 

What we believe to be the truth is that George was born in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey in the 3rd century; that his parents were Christians; and that when his father died, George's mother returned to her native Palestine, taking George with her. George became a soldier in the Roman army and rose to the rank of Tribune.

Persecution of Christians

George by Cosmè Tura in a 1474 altarpiece © 

The Emperor of the day, Diocletian (245-313 AD), began a campaign against Christians at the very beginning of the 4th century. In about 303 AD George is said to have objected to this persecution and resigned his military post in protest.

Torture and martyrdom
George tore up the Emperor's order against Christians. This infuriated Diocletian, and George was imprisoned and tortured - but he refused to deny his faith. Eventually he was dragged through the streets of Diospolis (now Lydda) in Palestine and beheaded. It's said that Diocletian's wife was so impressed by George's resilience that she became a Christian and that she too was executed for her faith.


Myths about Saint George
The image of George most familiar to us today, the saint dressed in a white tunic bedecked with a red cross, astride his stallion, and skewering a dragon as he rescues a fair maiden, depends more on a late medieval and Renaissance ideal of this miles Christi (knight of Christ) than on his legend in its earlier forms, in which the dragon and the maiden play no part and George's role is one of verbal jousting and violent suffering rather than knightly derring-do. 


The Martyrdom of St. George in the South English Legendary, ed. E. Gordon Whatley

Paulo Uccello's impression of the dragon, 1857 © 

The story of Saint George only achieved mass circulation when it was printed in 1483 by Caxton in a book called The Golden Legend. This was a translation of a book by Jacques de Voragine, a French bishop, which incorporated fantastic details of Saints' lives.

George and the Dragon 

This version of the dragon tale is from The Golden Legend.

S. George was a knight and born in Cappadocia. On a time he came in to the province of Libya, to a city which is said Silene. And by this city was a stagne or a pond like a sea, wherein was a dragon which envenomed all the country.   The Golden Legend
 
More fearful, fell and crueller was she
Than the deadly monster of Lerna was doubtless
Upon her wings and on her back on high
Were green rough scales like iron of hardness
If Hercules for all his hardiness
With bill or club had run this dragon to
He should forsooth have found enough to do.

adapted from Alexander Barclay, The lyfe of saynt George, 1515, a translation of Baptista Spagnuoli, Georgius, 1507, printed in The Life of St. George, ed William Nelson, Oxford University Press, 1960 

The people of the town had begun to feed the dragon two sheep every day to prevent it attacking them; when the sheep failed, they began to give it one sheep and one man. The king decreed that the human sacrifice should be chosen by lot. This continued until the king's daughter was selected. The king tried to bargain his way out of it, but the townspeople were adamant that she should be delivered to the dragon just as many of their children had been.

Then did the king do array his daughter like as she should be wedded, and embraced her, kissed her and gave her his benediction, and after, led her to the place where the dragon was.  The Golden Legend 

George, who was passing, asked the lady what was happening. She told him about the dragon and begged him to leave before it appeared and killed him too. 


George fighting the dragon, by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502-1507 © 

Then said S. George: Fair daughter, doubt ye no thing hereof for I shall help thee in the name of Jesu Christ. She said: For God's sake, good knight, go your way, and abide not with me, for ye may not deliver me.

Thus as they spake together the dragon appeared and came running to them, and S. George was upon his horse, and drew out his sword and garnished him with the sign of the cross, and rode hardily against the dragon which came towards him, and smote him with his spear and hurt him sore and threw him to the ground. And after said to the maid: Deliver to me your girdle, and bind it about the neck of the dragon and be not afeard. When she had done so the dragon followed her as it had been a meek beast and debonair. The Golden Legend 

The princess led the defeated dragon into the city, causing much panic and alarm until George told the people not to be afraid: "Ne doubt ye no thing, without more, believe ye in God, Jesu Christ, and do ye to be baptized and I shall slay the dragon."

The king was baptised, followed by all his people, whereupon George killed the dragon and had it dragged out of the city (requiring four ox carts to do so) and its body thrown into the fields.

The king set up a church of Our Lady and Saint George. On the site there sprang up "a fountain of living water, which healeth sick people that drink thereof". 

Myths about his martyrdom

In the stories George is said to have been tortured in a number of gruesome and hideous ways. He was forced to swallow poison; crushed between two spiked wheels; boiled in a cauldron of molten lead. None of these attempts killed him and his wounds were healed in the night by Christ himself.

George was told his life would be spared if he would offer sacrifice to the Roman gods. The people assembled to see him do so but instead George prayed to the Christian God. Immediately, fire came down from heaven, an earthquake shook the ground, and priests, idols, and the temple buildings were destroyed. However, by this time it was God's will that St. George should die for his faith, and he was beheaded without further trouble.

Stories of this nature abounded about pagan and Christian figures in the early Middle Ages. People would have expected their heroes to have undergone such experiences and in an age when many things seemed mystical, few were sceptical about such stories.


His rise and fall
It's believed that Saint George was adopted in England because the story in the Golden Legend was similar to an Anglo-Saxon legend. Saint George was quickly incorporated into miracle plays adapted from pagan sources and is a prime figure in Spenser's famous epic poem The Fairie Queen.

George's popularity faded after the Reformation when religious beliefs changed. He also lost ground as gunpowder became the primary weapon of war and protection, making the lance and sword less significant. In 1778 Saint George's Day was demoted to a simple day of devotion for Catholics in England.

Saint George and England 
The earliest known British reference to Saint George occurs in an account by St. Adamnan, the 7th century Abbot of lona. He's believed to have heard the story from Arcuif, a French bishop who had travelled to Jerusalem and other holy places in Palestine. The saint is also mentioned in the writings of the Venerable Bede.

George's reputation grew with the returning crusaders. A miracle appearance, when it was claimed that he appeared to lead crusaders into battle, is recorded in stone over the south door of a church at Fordington in Dorset. This still exists and is the earliest known church in England to be dedicated to Saint George. The Council of Oxford in 1222 named 23rd April Saint George's Day.

Order of the Garter
When Edward III (1327-77) founded the Order of the Garter (c. 1348), the premier order of knighthood in England, he put it under Saint George's patronage. The magnificent St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle was built by Edward IV and Henry VII as the chapel of the order. The badge of the Order shows Saint George on horseback slaying the dragon.

From the 14th century Saint George was regarded as a special protector of the English. English soldiers were called to wear "a signe of Saint George" on chest and back. He became, in the popular imagination, English.

The flag of Saint George 

The flag of Saint George - a red cross on a white background - is incorporated into the Union Jack and recalled in the ensign of the Royal Navy.

Henry V 

In 1415 Archbishop Chicele promoted the feast of Saint George to principal status after Henry V's speech at the Battle of Agincourt invoking Saint George as England's patron saint. Many believed they saw him fighting on the English side.

The George Cross 

In 1940 King George VI inaugurated the George Cross for 'acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger'. The award is usually awarded to civilians. Saint George slaying the dragon is depicted on the silver cross.

In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church revised its Calendar of Saints and downgraded Saint George to its lowest status - commemoration - which means celebration of his feast is optional. He has not been, as some people believe, abolished.