131-638: An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary starring Al Gore. An Inconvenient Truth may also refer to: An Inconvenient Truth An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former vice president of the United States Al Gore 's campaign to educate people about global warming . The film features a slide show that, by Gore's own estimate, he has presented over 1,000 times to audiences worldwide. The idea to document Gore's efforts came from producer Laurie David , who saw his presentation at
262-528: A carbon tax to encourage energy efficiency and diversify the choices of fuel better reflecting the true environmental costs of energy use ; it was partially implemented in 1993. He helped broker the 1997 Kyoto Protocol , an international treaty designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions . The treaty was not ratified in the United States after a 95 to 0 vote in the Senate . The primary objections stemmed from
393-474: A tie-in comic book series , video games, calendars, clothes, and action figures. In 2013, TV Guide ranked Futurama one of the top 60 Greatest TV Cartoons of All Time. Futurama is essentially a workplace sitcom, the plot of which revolves around the Planet Express interplanetary delivery company and its employees, a small group that largely fails to conform to future society. Episodes usually feature
524-589: A town hall meeting on global warming, which coincided with the opening of The Day After Tomorrow . Laurie David was so inspired by his slide show that she, with producer Lawrence Bender , met with Guggenheim to adapt the presentation into a film. Premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opening in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24, 2006, the film was a critical and commercial success, winning two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song . The film grossed $ 24 million in
655-432: A call, because he had an album out called The Rising . It had a great triple-entendre, because it was like the sea-level rising and the idea of people rising. So we got excited about that for a while." "There were also some really bad ones like Too Hot to Handle, " he added. "Maybe that's not right, but it was something with 'hot,' ya know? We had a lot of hot puns." Guggenheim said that he asked Gore why climate change
786-477: A classic cartoon clip. Several episodes begin with a cold opening before the opening sequence, although these scenes do not always correspond with the episode's plot. The opening sequence has been lampooned several times within the show, in episodes including " That's Lobstertainment! ", " The Problem with Popplers ", as " Future-roma " in " The Duh-Vinci Code " and as " Futurella " in " Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences ". "Decision 3012" and "The Problem with Popplers" are
917-471: A climate scientist writing on RealClimate , lauded the film's science as "remarkably up to date, with reference to some of the very latest research." Ted Scambos, lead scientist from the National Snow and Ice Data Center , said the film "does an excellent job of outlining the science behind global warming and the challenges society faces in the coming century because of it." One concern among scientists in
1048-528: A closet labeled P and NP respectively, referring to the possibility that P and NP-complete problem classes are distinct), electronics (an X-ray – or more accurately, an "F-ray" – of Bender's head reveals a 6502 microprocessor), and genetics (a mention of Bender's "robo- or R-NA"). The show often features subtle references to classic science fiction. These are most often to Star Trek – many soundbites are used in homage – but also include
1179-525: A coherent account of a complex topic that Americans desperately need to understand. The story is scientifically accurate and yet should be understandable to the public, a public that is less and less drawn to science." He added that with An Inconvenient Truth , "Al Gore may have done for global warming what Silent Spring did for pesticides. He will be attacked, but the public will have the information needed to distinguish our long-term well-being from short-term special interests." Futurama Futurama
1310-481: A complex relationship but that they 'fit'. Both of these statements are true," said Schmidt and Mann. "The complexity though is actually quite fascinating ... a full understanding of why CO 2 changes in precisely the pattern that it does during ice ages is elusive, but among the most plausible explanations is that increased received solar radiation in the southern hemisphere due to changes in Earth's orbital geometry warms
1441-471: A different voice. DiMaggio described Bender's voice as a combination of a sloppy drunk, Slim Pickens and a character his college friend created named "Charlie the sausage-lover". Phil LaMarr voices Hermes Conrad , his son Dwight, Ethan Bubblegum Tate, and Reverend Preacherbot. Lauren Tom voices Amy Wong , and Tress MacNeille voices Mom and various other characters. Maurice LaMarche voices Kif Kroker and several supporting characters. LaMarche won
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#17330855363661572-484: A distinctive opening sequence featuring minor gags. As the show begins, blue lights fill the screen and the Planet Express Ship flies across the screen with the title of the show being spelled out in its wake. Underneath the title is a joke caption such as "Painstakingly drawn before a live audience" or "When you see the robot: DRINK!" After flying through downtown New New York and past various recurring characters,
1703-574: A feel that contrasted very beautifully with the crisp hi-def HD that we shot. Every format was used to its best potential. Some of the footage of Katrina has this blown-out video, where the chroma is just blasted, and it looks real muddy, but that too has its own kind of powerful, impactful feeling." The film lays out the scientific consensus that global warming is real, potentially catastrophic, and human-caused . Gore presents specific data to support this, including: The Associated Press contacted more than 100 climate researchers and questioned them about
1834-566: A fifth broadcast season. According to Groening, Fox executives were not supporters of the show. Although Futurama was never officially cancelled, midway through the production of the fourth season, Fox decided to stop buying episodes of Futurama , letting it go out of production before the fall 2003 lineup. In 2003, Cartoon Network acquired syndication rights to Futurama and Family Guy , another animated show Fox had cancelled, for its Adult Swim block. Both shows proved to be successful immediately, leading to sister network TBS picking up
1965-633: A fifth season of the show. Since no new Futurama projects were in production at the time of release, the final movie release Into the Wild Green Yonder was designed to stand as the Futurama series finale. However, Groening had expressed a desire to continue the franchise in some form, including a theatrical film. In an interview with CNN , Groening said that "we have a great relationship with Comedy Central and we would love to do more episodes for them, but I don't know... We're having discussions and there
2096-400: A film out of it, but I wanted to try," he said. In 2004 Gore enlisted Duarte Design to condense and update his material and add video and animation. Ted Boda described the tools that went into designing the project: "Gore's presentation was in fact using Apple's Keynote presentation software (the same software Steve Jobs presents from) and did so for a number of reasons. As a designer for
2227-508: A high level of trust from me that he convinced me. When Bender first saw Gore's visual presentation he had concerns about connection with viewers, citing a "need to find a personal way in." In the string of interviews with Gore that followed, Gore himself felt like they "were making Kill Al Vol. 3 ". Bender had other issues including a time frame that was "grueling" and needed to be done in "a very short period of time" despite many filming locations planned. These included many locations throughout
2358-473: A jar. Recurring guest stars included Tom Kenny , Dan Castellaneta (as the Robot Devil ), Dawnn Lewis , Nicole St. John, Al Gore , Phil Hendrie , Coolio and George Takei , among others. Bumper Robinson used to be a cast member of the series (who played Hermes' son Dwight ), but left the series after season 4 which caused Phil LaMarr to take over the role afterwards. John Goodman was meant to reprise
2489-704: A joke referring to the binary numeral system (Fry assures him, "there's no such thing as two"). The series developed a cult following partially due to the large number of in-jokes it contains, most of which are aimed at " nerds ". In commentary on the DVD releases, David X. Cohen points out and sometimes explains his "nerdiest joke[s]". These included mathematical jokes – such as " Loew's ℵ 0 {\displaystyle \aleph _{0}} -plex" ( aleph-null -plex) movie theater – as well as various forms of science humor – for example, Professor Farnsworth, at
2620-408: A long time and I feel as if I've failed to get the message across." Gore then begins his slide show on Global Warming; a comprehensive presentation replete with detailed graphs, flow charts and stark visuals. Gore shows off several photographs of the Earth taken from multiple space missions, as Earthrise and The Blue Marble . Gore notes that these photos dramatically transformed the way we see
2751-526: A movie is that when you're in the same room with a live person who's on stage speaking — even if it's me — there's an element of dramatic tension and human connection that keeps your attention. And in a movie, that element is just not present. He explained to me that you have to create that element on screen, by supplying a narrative thread that allows the audience to make a connection with one or more characters. He said, "You've got to be that character." So we talked about it, and as I say, by then he had earned such
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#17330855363662882-487: A much greater impact on public opinion and public awareness of global climate change than any scientific paper or report." The film opened in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24, 2006. On Memorial Day weekend, it grossed an average of $ 91,447 per theater, the highest of any movie that weekend and a record for a documentary, though it was only playing on four screens at the time. At the 2006 Sundance Film Festival,
3013-414: A political issue, so much as a moral one," describing the consequences he believes global warming will produce if the amount of human-generated greenhouse gases is not significantly reduced in the very near future. Gore also presents Antarctic ice coring data showing CO 2 levels higher now than in the past 650,000 years. The film includes segments intended to refute critics who say that global warming
3144-458: A racetrack, complains about the use of a quantum finish to decide the winner, exclaiming "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it", a reference to the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics . In the season six episode " Law and Oracle ", Fry and the robot peace officer URL track down a traffic violator who turns out to be Erwin Schrödinger , the 20th-century quantum physicist. On
3275-413: A strong desire in the mid-1990s for Matt Groening to create a new series after the success of his previous series, The Simpsons ; Groening began conceiving Futurama during this period. In 1995, he enlisted David X. Cohen , then a writer and producer for The Simpsons , to assist in developing the show. The two spent time researching science fiction books, television shows, and films. When they pitched
3406-409: A table meeting of writers, who discussed the plot ideas as a group. The writers are given index cards with plot points that they are required to use as the center of activity in each episode. A single staff writer wrote an outline and then produced a script. Once the first draft of a script was finished, the writers and executive producers called in the actors for a table read. After this script reading,
3537-399: A team, including producer Lawrence Bender and former president of eBay Jeffrey Skoll , who met with Gore about the possibility of making the slide show into a movie. It took some convincing. The slide show, she says, "was his baby, and he felt proprietary about it and it was hard for him to let go." David said the box office returns were not important to her, and that what was at stake was
3668-406: A university. What are the issues and what are the possible consequences of not doing anything about those changes? To me, it has tremendous value. It will reach people that scientists will never reach." John Nielsen-Gammon from Texas A&M University said the "main scientific argument presented in the movie is for the most part consistent with the weight of scientific evidence, but with some of
3799-446: A year and a half, if not two and a half," Guggenheim said. "We all felt like we were on a mission from God just to make it as fast as we could. We just felt like it was urgent. The clock was ticking, and people had to see it." The producers struggled to find an effective title for the film. "We had a lot of really bad titles," Guggenheim recalled. "One was The Rising . I remember Al talking about whether he should give Bruce Springsteen
3930-414: Is a backdrop, and the writers are not above committing continuity errors if they serve to further the gags. For example, while the pilot episode implies that the previous Planet Express crew was killed by a space wasp, the later episode " The Sting " is based on the crew having been killed by space bees instead. The "world of tomorrow" setting is used to highlight and lampoon issues of today and to parody
4061-569: Is a prominent part of society, although the dominant religions have evolved. A merging of the major religious groups of the 20th century has resulted in the First Amalgamated Church, while Voodoo is now mainstream. New religions include Oprahism , Robotology , and the banned religion of Star Trek fandom . Religious figures include Father Changstein-El-Gamal , the Robot Devil , Reverend Lionel Preacherbot , and passing references to
An Inconvenient Truth (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4192-403: Is also intellectually exhilarating, and, like any good piece of pedagogy, whets the appetite for further study." Bright Lights Film Journal critic Jayson Harsin declared the film's aesthetic qualities groundbreaking, as a new genre of slideshow film. NASA climatologist James Hansen described the film as powerful, complemented by detail in the book. Hansen said that "Gore has put together
4323-477: Is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central , and then Hulu . The series follows Philip J. Fry , who is cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and revived on December 31, 2999. Fry finds work at the interplanetary delivery company Planet Express , working alongside the one-eyed mutant Leela and
4454-462: Is changing now (fossil fuel burning) is solid. We also know that CO 2 is a greenhouse gas, and that the carbon cycle feedback is positive (increasing temperatures lead to increasing CO 2 and CH 4 ), implying that future changes in CO 2 will be larger than we might anticipate." "Gore is careful not to state what the temperature/CO 2 scaling is," said Steig. "He is making a qualitative point, which
4585-815: Is edited to include educational material ostensibly for youth. Television is still a primary form of entertainment. Self-aware robots are a common sight, and are the main cause of global warming due to the exhaust from their alcohol-powered systems. The wheel is obsolete (no one but Fry even seems to recognize the design), having been forgotten and replaced by hover cars and a network of large, clear pneumatic transportation tubes . Environmentally, common animals still remain, alongside mutated, cross-bred (sometimes with humans) and extraterrestrial animals. Ironically, spotted owls are often shown to have replaced rats as common household pests. Although rats still exist, sometimes rats act like pigeons, though pigeons still exist, as well. Anchovies have been extinct for 800 years because of
4716-671: Is entirely accurate. The fact is that it would be difficult or impossible to explain past changes in temperature during the ice age cycles without CO 2 changes. In that sense, the ice core CO 2 -temperature correlation remains an appropriate demonstration of the influence of CO 2 on climate." Steig disputed Gore's statement that one can visibly see the effect that the United States Clean Air Act has had on ice cores in Antarctica. "One can neither see, nor even detect using sensitive chemical methods any evidence in Antarctica of
4847-474: Is from New Zealand and emailed me his work. There's JPEG stuff." Guggenheim said that while it would have been a lot easier to use one format, it would not have had the same impact. "Each format has its own feel and texture and touch. For the storytelling of what Gore's memory was like of growing up on the farm, some of this 8mm stuff that I shot is very impressionistic. And for some of his memories of his son's accident, these grainy black-and-white stills ... have
4978-463: Is given by the summation of all previous letters plus the current letter". The codes often provide additional jokes for fans dedicated enough to decode the messages. The third language sometimes used is Hebrew . Aside from these alphabets, most of the displayed wording on the show uses the Latin alphabet. The show predicts that several English expressions will have evolved by the year 3000. For example, in
5109-449: Is masterful". Groening and Cohen wanted Futurama to be shown at 8:30 pm on Sunday, following The Simpsons . The Fox network disagreed, opting instead to show two episodes in the Sunday night lineup before moving the show to a regular time slot on Tuesday. Beginning with its second broadcast season, Futurama was again placed in the 8:30 pm Sunday spot, but by mid-season the show
5240-528: Is occasionally remixed for use in specific episodes, including a version by the Beastie Boys used for the episode " Hell Is Other Robots ", in which they guest starred as their own heads for both a concert and as part of the Robot Devil's song. The original version of the theme also samples a drum break originating from "Amen, Brother" by American soul group The Winstons . The theme has been noted for its similarities to Pierre Henry 's 1967 Psyché Rock . It
5371-471: Is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me." Futurama left Adult Swim's lineup on December 31, 2007, following a week-long marathon of the entire series. Comedy Central began airing the show the next day, with season 5 making its broadcast debut on March 23, 2008. In June 2009, 20th Century Fox Television announced that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that began airing on June 24, 2010. The returning writing crew
An Inconvenient Truth (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
5502-717: Is unproven or that warming will be insignificant. For example, Gore cites the retreat of nearly all glaciers caused by melting over recent decades, showing nine cases, such as the Grinnel and Boulder Glaciers and Patagonia. He discusses the possibility of the collapse and melting of a major ice sheet in Greenland or in West Antarctica , either of which could raise global sea levels by approximately 20 feet (6m), flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million refugees. Melt water from Greenland, because of its lower salinity , could then halt
5633-586: The Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2011 for his performances as Lrrr and Orson Welles in the episode " Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences ". David Herman voiced Scruffy and various supporting characters. During seasons 1–4, LaMarche is billed as supporting cast and Tom, LaMarr and Herman billed as guest stars, despite appearing in most episodes. LaMarche was promoted to main cast and Tom, LaMarr and Herman to supporting cast in season 5, and promoted again to main cast in season 6. In addition to
5764-441: The greenhouse effect . Gore refers to his loss to George W. Bush in the 2000 United States presidential election as a "hard blow" yet one which subsequently "brought into clear focus, the mission [he] had been pursuing for all these years." Throughout the movie, Gore discusses the scientific consensus on global warming , as well as the present and future effects of global warming and stresses that global warming "is really not
5895-429: The robot Bender . The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons ; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox. Following its initial cancellation by Fox, Futurama began airing reruns on Cartoon Network 's Adult Swim programming block, which lasted from 2003 to 2007. It was revived in 2007 as four direct-to-video films,
6026-506: The Clean Air Act," he said, but did note that they are "clearly recorded in ice core records from Greenland." Despite these flaws, Steig said that the film got the fundamental science right and the minor factual errors did not undermine the main message of the film, adding " An Inconvenient Truth rests on a solid scientific foundation." Lonnie Thompson , Earth Science professor at Ohio State University , whose work on retreating glaciers
6157-465: The Decapodians. Earth still suffers the effects of greenhouse gases , although in one episode Leela states that its effects have been counteracted by nuclear winter . In another episode, the effects of global warming have been somewhat mitigated by the dropping of a giant ice cube into the ocean, and later by pushing Earth farther away from the sun, which also extended the year by one week. Religion
6288-448: The Earth, helping spark modern environmentalism . Following this, Gore shares anecdotes that inspired his interest in the issue, including his college education with early climate expert Roger Revelle at Harvard University , his sister's death from lung cancer and his young son's near-fatal car accident. Gore recalls a story from his grade-school years, where a fellow student asked his geography teacher about continental drift , whether
6419-456: The Planet Express ship crashes through a large screen showing a short clip from a classic cartoon. These have included clips from Quasi at the Quackadero , Looney Tunes shorts, cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios , a short of The Simpsons from a Tracey Ullman episode, the show's own opening sequence in " The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings " or a scene from
6550-471: The Space Pope, who appears to be a large crocodile-like creature. Several major holidays have robots associated with them, including the murderous Robot Santa and Kwanzaa-bot. While very few episodes focus exclusively on religion within the Futurama universe, they do cover a wide variety of subjects including predestination, prayer, the nature of salvation, and religious conversion. Futurama ' s setting
6681-460: The US (from 1982 to the present). It grossed nearly $ 26 million in foreign countries, the highest being France, where it grossed $ 5 million. According to Gore, " Tipper and I are devoting 100 percent of the profits from the book and the movie to a new bipartisan educational campaign to further spread the message about global warming." Paramount Classics committed 5% of their domestic theatrical gross from
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#17330855363666812-402: The US and $ 26 million in other countries’ box offices , becoming the eleventh highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States. Since the film's release, An Inconvenient Truth has been credited for raising international public awareness of global warming and reenergizing the environmental movement . The documentary has also been included in science curricula in schools around
6943-466: The US and around the world. At the time of the film, Gore estimated he had shown the presentation more than one thousand times. Producer Laurie David saw Gore's slide show in New York City at a global warming town-hall meeting after the May 27, 2004 premiere of The Day After Tomorrow . Gore was one of several panelists and he showed a ten-minute version of his slide show. I had never seen it before, and I
7074-491: The United States and also included China. "It was a lot of travel in a very short period of time. And they had to get this thing edited and cut starting in January, and ready to screen in May. That's like a seriously tight schedule. So the logistics of pulling it off with a low budget were really difficult, and if there's one person who gets credit, it's Leslie Chilcott, because she really pulled it together." "Most of my movies take
7205-651: The University of Miami. Gavin Schmidt , climate modeler for NASA, thought Gore appropriately addressed the issue. "Gore talked about 2005 and 2004 being very strong seasons, and if you weren't paying attention, you could be left with the impression that there was a direct cause and effect, but he was very careful to not say there's a direct correlation," Schmidt said. "There is a difference between saying 'we are confident that they will increase' and 'we are confident that they have increased due to this effect,'" added Steig. "Never in
7336-493: The [vocal artist] Billy West characters. I see it. The bottom line is, the producers are trying to make sure the shows are completely different entities. In an interview with Diego Molano, creator of Victor and Valentino , in April 2019, he said that he found Futurama "incredibly influential", calling the humor smart but "not alienating ". He added that it makes him "feel smart" and adding that Groening's "sense of comedic timing
7467-506: The animation being done by Rough Draft Studios . The studio would receive the completed script of an episode and create a storyboard consisting of more than 100 drawings. It would then produce a pencil-drawn animatic with 1,000 frames. Rough Draft's sister studio in South Korea would render the 30,000-frame finished episode. In addition to traditional cartoon drawing, Rough Draft Studios often used CGI for fast or complex shots, such as
7598-459: The background of episodes, usually in the forms of graffiti , advertisements, or warning labels. Nearly all messages using alternative scripts transliterate directly into English. The first alphabet consists of abstract characters and is referred to as Alienese, a simple substitution cipher from the Latin alphabet . The second alphabet uses a more complex modular addition code, where the "next letter
7729-477: The central trio of Fry, Leela, and Bender, though occasional storylines center on the other main characters. Futurama is set in New New York at the turn of the 31st century, in a time filled with technological wonders. The city of New New York has been built over the ruins of present-day New York City, which has become a catacomb-like space that acts as New New York's sewer, referred to as "Old New York". Parts of
7860-405: The close of each episode, the 30th Century Fox Television logo is displayed. While it is the same logo as that of 20th Century Fox, it is modified to fit the show's futuristic setting. Syndicated episodes use a 30th Television closing logo instead of the 20th Television one, while episodes from Season 8 onward use a 30th Television Animation logo. Initially, Fox did not want this logo to be used on
7991-498: The coastlines of South America and Africa might fit together; in response, the teacher called the concept the "most ridiculous thing [he'd] ever heard." Gore ties this conclusion to the assumption that "the Earth is so big, we can't possibly have any lasting, harmful impact on the Earth's environment." For comic effect, Gore uses a clip from the Futurama episode " Crimes of the Hot " to describe
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#17330855363668122-541: The currents that keep northern Europe warm and quickly trigger dramatic local cooling there. It also contains various short animated projections of what could happen to different animals more vulnerable to global warming. The documentary ends with Gore arguing that if appropriate actions are taken soon, the effects of global warming can be successfully reversed by releasing less CO 2 and planting more vegetation to consume existing CO 2 . Gore calls upon his viewers to learn how they can help him in these efforts. Gore closes
8253-401: The difficulty of animating the sequence. It took four to five weeks to fully animate the sequence, and it consists of over 80 levels of 3D animation composited together. It takes approximately one hour to render a single frame, and each second of the sequence consists of around 30 frames. The Futurama theme was created by Christopher Tyng . The theme is played on the tubular bells but
8384-569: The end of a message from Maurice LaMarche sent to members of the "Save the Voices of Futurama" group on Facebook, LaMarche announced that the original cast would be returning for the new episodes. The Toronto Star confirmed, announcing on their website that the original cast of Futurama signed contracts with Fox to return for 26 more episodes. Similarly, an email sent to fans from Cohen and Groening reported that West, Sagal, DiMaggio, LaMarche, MacNeille, Tom, LaMarr, and Herman would all be returning for
8515-502: The episode. Most episodes in Season 6 and Season 7 use an abridged opening sequence, omitting the brief clip of a classic cartoon. " Rebirth ", " That Darn Katz! ", " Benderama ", " Yo Leela Leela ", " Decision 3012 ", " Forty Percent Leadbelly ", " T.: The Terrestrial ", " Leela and the Genestalk ", and " Stench and Stenchability " have been the only episodes since " Spanish Fry " to feature
8646-479: The episodes " Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV " and " Spanish Fry ". As the series began high-definition production in 2007 with the four direct-to-DVD movies and season 6 on Comedy Central, the opening sequence was updated to match, and a slightly slower and revamped remix of the theme song, which replaced the Amen break with a higher-fidelity drum recording and was previously used in the Futurama video game , replaced
8777-406: The exemptions the treaty gave to China and India, whose industrial base and carbon footprint have grown rapidly, and fears that the exemptions would lead to further trade imbalances and offshoring arrangement with those countries. Gore also supported the funding of the controversial, and much-delayed satellite called Triana , which would have provided an image of the Earth 24 hours a day, over
8908-442: The face or body, improving legibility of an expression. PowerAnimator and Maya were used to draw the comic-like CGI whilst Toonz was used for digital ink and paint and compositing. The series began high-definition production in season 6 , with Bender's Big Score . The opening sequence was re-rendered and scaled to adapt to the show's transition to 16:9 widescreen format. For the final episode of season 6 , Futurama
9039-409: The film "horrifying, enthralling and [having] the potential, I believe, to actually change public policy and begin a process which could save the Earth". New York Magazine critic David Edelstein called the film "One of the most realistic documentaries I've ever seen—and, dry as it is, one of the most devastating in its implications." The New Yorker 's David Remnick added that while it
9170-501: The film by saying: Each one of us is a cause of global warming, but each one of us can make choices to change that with the things we buy, the electricity we use, the cars we drive; we can make choices to bring our individual carbon emissions to zero. The solutions are in our hands, we just have to have the determination to make it happen. We have everything that we need to reduce carbon emissions, everything but political will. But in America,
9301-424: The film to form a new bipartisan climate action group, Alliance for Climate Protection , dedicated to awareness and grassroots organizing. The film received a positive reaction from film critics and audiences. It has a 93% rating at Rotten Tomatoes , based on 166 reviews, and an average rating of 7.74/10. The website's critical consensus states, "This candid, powerful and informative documentary illuminates some of
9432-454: The film version uses a Keynote presentation , which Gore refers to as "the slide show ". The vice president opens the film by greeting an audience with his well-known line about his campaign in 2000 : "I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America." He is shown using his laptop to edit his presentation, and pondering the difficulty he has had in awakening public concern: "I've been trying to tell this story for
9563-491: The film was the connection between hurricanes and global warming , which at the time was contentious in the scientific community. Gore cited five recent scientific studies to support his view. "I thought the use of imagery from Hurricane Katrina was inappropriate and unnecessary in this regard, as there are plenty of disturbing impacts associated with global warming for which there is much greater scientific consensus," said Brian Soden, professor of meteorology and oceanography at
9694-545: The film's veracity. All 19 climate scientists who had seen the movie or had read the homonymous book said that Gore accurately conveyed the science, with few errors. William H. Schlesinger , dean of the Nicholas School of Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University , said "[Gore] got all the important material and got it right." Robert Corell , chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment ,
9825-461: The first half airing in 2012 and the second in 2013. An audio-only episode featuring the original cast members was released in 2017 as an episode of The Nerdist Podcast . On February 9, 2022, Hulu revived the series with a 20-episode order, which premiered on July 24, 2023. In November 2023, the show was renewed by Hulu for two more broadcast seasons, which will air through 2026. Futurama received critical acclaim throughout its run and
9956-628: The first scientists to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Later, when Gore was in Congress, he initiated the first congressional hearing on the subject in 1981. Gore's 1992 book, Earth in the Balance , dealing with a number of environmental topics, reached the New York Times bestseller list . As Vice President during the Clinton Administration , Gore pushed for the implementation of
10087-648: The front seat of the car is a box, and when questioned about the contents, Schrödinger replies "A cat, some poison, and a cesium atom". Fry asks if the cat is alive or dead, and Schrödinger answers "It's a superposition of both states until you open the box and collapse the wave function." When Fry opens the box, the cat jumps out and attacks him. The run is a reference to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment of quantum mechanics. The series makes passing references to quantum chromodynamics (the appearance of Strong Force -brand glue), computer science (two separate books in
10218-541: The humor tradition of Groening's two series, finding that The Simpsons echoes the strains of American-Irish vaudeville humor – the beer-soaked, sneaking-in-late-while-the-wife's-asleep comedy of Harrigan and Hart , McNulty and Murray, the Four Cohans (which, yes, included George M. ) and countless others: knockabout yet sentimental, and ultimately about the bonds of blood family. Futurama , conversely, stems from Jewish-American humor, and not just in
10349-511: The internet and would have acted as a barometer measuring the process of global warming. During his 2000 presidential campaign , Gore ran, in part, on a pledge to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Following his defeat in the 2000 presidential election by George W. Bush , Gore returned his focus to the topic. He edited and adapted a slide show he had compiled years earlier, and began featuring the slide show in presentations on global warming across
10480-408: The last of which was released in early 2009. Comedy Central entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the films as 16 new, half-hour episodes, constituting a fifth season. In June 2009, Comedy Central picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes, which began airing in 2010 and 2011. The show was renewed for a seventh season , with
10611-525: The lights that appear in the opening sequence. All four movies' end credits utilized an edited version from the full-length remix of the theme instead of the original end credits theme, and an even shorter edit was introduced in season 6. Another update of the opening sequence in season 8 for Hulu added more visual gags, and the end credits theme was replaced again with an edit of the 2012 digital download release version, which added an extra layer of beats. There are three alternative alphabets that appear often in
10742-410: The main cast, Frank Welker voiced Nibbler and Kath Soucie voiced Cubert and several supporting and minor characters. Like The Simpsons , many episodes of Futurama feature guest voices from a wide range of professions, including actors, entertainers, bands, musicians, and scientists. Many guest-stars voiced supporting characters, although many voiced themselves, usually as their own head preserved in
10873-486: The main points needing updating, correction, or qualification." Nielsen-Gammon thought the film neglected information gained from computer models, and instead relied entirely on past and current observational evidence, "perhaps because such information would be difficult for a lay audience to grasp, believe, or connect with emotionally." Steven Quiring, a climatologist from Texas A&M University, added that "whether scientists like it or not, An Inconvenient Truth has had
11004-546: The movement of spaceships , explosions, nebulae , large crowds, and snow scenes. The opening sequence was entirely rendered in CGI. The CGI was rendered at 24 frames per second (as opposed to hand-drawn often done at 12 frames per second) and the lack of artifacts made the animation appear very smooth and fluid. CGI characters looked slightly different due to spatially "cheating" hand-drawn characters by drawing slightly out of proportion or off-perspective features to emphasize traits of
11135-469: The movie does he say: 'This particular event is caused by global warming.'" Gore's use of long ice core records of CO 2 and temperature (from oxygen isotope measurements) in Antarctic ice cores to illustrate the correlation between the two drew some scrutiny; Schmidt, Steig and Michael E. Mann back up Gore's data. "Gore stated that the greenhouse gas levels and temperature changes over ice age signals had
11266-419: The movie received three standing ovations . It was also screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was the opening night film at the 27th Durban International Film Festival on June 14, 2006. An Inconvenient Truth was the most popular documentary at the 2006 Brisbane International Film Festival . The film has grossed over $ 24 million in the US, making it the eleventh-highest-grossing documentary in
11397-568: The myths surrounding its dual subjects: global warming and Al Gore". At Metacritic , which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 75, based on 32 reviews. Film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper gave the film "two thumbs up". Ebert said, "In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to," calling
11528-463: The network would have any creative input into the show. With The Simpsons , the network has no input. Fox was particularly disturbed by the concept of suicide booths , Doctor Zoidberg , and Bender 's anti-social behavior. Groening explains, "When they tried to give me notes on Futurama , I just said: 'No, we're going to do this just the way we did Simpsons .' And they said, 'Well, we don't do business that way anymore.' And I said, 'Oh, well, that's
11659-558: The obvious archetype of Dr. Zoidberg. From vaudeville to the Catskills to Woody Allen , it's that distinctly rueful humor built to ward away everything from despair to petty annoyance – the 'You gotta do what you gotta do' philosophy that helps the Futurama characters cope in a mega-corporate world where the little guy is essentially powerless. Animation maven Jerry Beck concurred: I'm Jewish, and I know what you're saying. Fry has that [type of humor], Dr. Zoidberg, all
11790-518: The only episodes that directly tie into the opening, with Bender deliberately crashing the ship after seeing an advertisement for free beer in "Decision 3012", while in "The Problem with Popplers", Leela crashes through it during an ad for Popplers, with Fry saying "That's the second billboard you've crashed through this week!". " Viva Mars Vegas " features a unique handmade variant of the opening, using cardboard, plastic, and model ships guided by strings and rods. Series director Scott Vanzo has remarked on
11921-429: The only way I do business.'" The episode " I, Roommate " was produced to address Fox's concerns, with the script written to their specifications. Fox strongly disliked the episode, but after negotiations, Groening received the same independence with Futurama . The name Futurama comes from a pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair . Designed by Norman Bel Geddes , the Futurama pavilion depicted how he imagined
12052-411: The original theme. Bender's Big Score has an extended opening sequence, introducing each of the main characters. In The Beast with a Billion Backs and Bender's Game the ship passes through the screen's glass and temporarily becomes part of the environment depicted therein—a pastiche of Disney 's Steamboat Willie and Yellow Submarine respectively—before crashing through the screen glass on
12183-419: The planet, saying "none of us are going to make a dime." David and Bender later met with director Davis Guggenheim, to have him direct the film adaptation of his slide show. Guggenheim, who was skeptical at first, later saw the presentation for himself, stating that he was "blown away," and "left after an hour and a half thinking that global warming [was] the most important issue ... I had no idea how you'd make
12314-408: The present. Groening notes that, from the show's conception, his goal was to make what was, on the surface, a goofy comedy that would have underlying "legitimate literary science fiction concepts". The series contrasted " low culture " and " high culture " comedy; for example, Bender's catchphrase is the insult "Bite my shiny metal ass" while his most terrifying nightmare is a vision of the number 2,
12445-418: The presentation, Keynote was the first choice to help create such an engaging presentation." Initially reluctant of the film adaptation, Gore said after he and the crew were into the production of the movie, the director, Guggenheim, earned his trust. I had seen enough to gain a tremendous respect for his skill and sensitivity. And he said that one of the huge differences between a live stage performance and
12576-485: The reference to the origin of the word robot made in the name of the robot-dominated planet Chapek 9, and the black rectangular monolith labeled "Out of Order" in orbit around Jupiter (a reference to Arthur C. Clarke 's Space Odyssey series ). Bender and Fry sometimes watch a television show called The Scary Door , a humorous parody of The Twilight Zone . Journalist/critic Frank Lovece in Newsday contrasted
12707-483: The revival. Cohen told Newsday in August 2009 that the reported 26-episode order means "[i]t will be up to 26. I can't guarantee it will be 26. But I think there's a pretty good chance it'll be exactly 26. Fox has been a little bit cagey about it, even internally. But nobody's too concerned. We're plunging ahead". Two episodes were in the process of being voice-recorded at that time, with an additional "six scripts ... in
12838-425: The role in future episodes. Following Coolio's death in 2022, David X. Cohen has revealed on TMZ that he recorded new dialogue for Kwanzaabot before his death in an upcoming episode, scheduled to be released in 2023. Futurama is produced by The Curiosity Company and 20th Television Animation (which was previously credited as 30th Century Fox Television and is now credited as 30th Television Animation) with
12969-416: The role of Robot Santa after " Xmas Story " in future episodes but was unable to reprise the role due to scheduling problems. As a result, John DiMaggio took over that role starting with " A Tale of Two Santas ". In that same episode, Dan Castellaneta was unable to reprise the Robot Devil due to his work on The Simpsons . Maurice LaMarche took over that role for that episode only as Castellaneta did reprise
13100-450: The role. West claims that the voice of Fry is deliberately modeled on his own, so as to make it difficult for another person to replicate the voice. Doctor Zoidberg's voice was based on Lou Jacobi and George Jessel . The character of Zapp Brannigan was originally created for and intended to be performed by Phil Hartman . Hartman insisted on auditioning for the role, and "just nailed it" according to Groening. Due to Hartman's death, West
13231-479: The same treatment; Los Angeles, for example, is depicted as a smog-filled apocalyptic wasteland. Numerous technological advances have been made between the present day and the 31st century. The Head Museum, which keeps a collection of heads alive in jars thanks to technology invented by Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in " A Big Piece of Garbage "), has resulted in many historical figures and current celebrities being present, including Groening himself; this became
13362-485: The science-fiction genre. This list follows the season box sets, which feature the episodes in the original production season order, ignoring the order of broadcast. The Hulu revival has alternatively been titled the eighth and ninth seasons (production), and the eleventh and twelfth seasons (broadcast). The tenth and eleventh production seasons will also be considered as Futurama 's thirteenth and fourteenth broadcast seasons. The television network Fox expressed
13493-452: The series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines; Groening claimed they had gone "overboard" in their discussions. Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of my grown-up life". Fox ordered thirteen episodes. Immediately after, however, Fox feared the themes of the show were not suitable for the network and Groening and Fox executives argued over whether
13624-469: The sewers are inhabited by mutants . Various devices and architecture are similar to the Populuxe style. Global warming , inflexible bureaucracy , and substance abuse are a few of the subjects given a 31st-century exaggeration in a world where the problems have become both more extreme and more common. Just as New York has become a more extreme version of itself in the future, other Earth locations are given
13755-482: The show later in 2003. The run on Adult Swim revived interest in both series, and when Family Guy found success in direct-to-DVD productions, Futurama ' s producers decided to try the same. In 2005, Comedy Central entered negotiations to take over the syndication rights, during which they discussed the possibility of producing new episodes. In 2006, it was announced that four straight-to-DVD films would be produced, and later split into 16 episodes comprising
13886-516: The show the word Christmas has been replaced with Xmas (pronounced " ex -mas"), and the word ask with aks (pronounced axe ). According to David X. Cohen, it is a running joke that the French language is extinct in the Futurama universe (though the culture remains alive), much like Latin is in the present. In the French dubbing of the show, German is used as the extinct language instead. At
14017-438: The show, but when creator Matt Groening purchased the rights to the logo, the network had a change of heart and allowed the altered version to be aired. Although the series uses a wide range of styles of humor, including self-deprecation , black comedy , off-color humor , slapstick , and surreal humor , its primary source of comedy is its satirical depiction of everyday life in the future and its parodical comparisons to
14148-445: The southern ocean, releasing CO 2 into the atmosphere, which then leads to further warming through an enhanced greenhouse effect. Gore's terse explanation does not delve into such complexities, but the crux of his point—that the observed long-term relationship between CO 2 and temperature in Antarctica supports our understanding of the warming impact of increased CO 2 concentrations—is correct. Moreover, our knowledge of why CO 2
14279-403: The stuff on the farm I just shot myself on 8mm film . We used four Sony F950 HDCAMs for the presentation. We shot three different kinds of prosumer HD, both 30 and 24. There's MiniDV, there's 3200 black-and-white stills, there's digital stills, some of them emailed on the day they were taken from as far off as Greenland. There was three or four different types of animation. One of the animators
14410-451: The voices of Philip J. Fry , Professor Farnsworth , Doctor Zoidberg , Zapp Brannigan , and many other incidental characters. West auditioned for "just about every part", landing the roles of the Professor and Doctor Zoidberg. Although West read for Fry, his friend Charlie Schlatter was initially given the role. Due to a casting change, West was called back to audition again and was given
14541-426: The way out. In Into the Wild Green Yonder , a completely different opening sequence involves a trip through a futuristic version of Las Vegas located on Mars. The theme tune is sung by Seth MacFarlane and is different from the standard theme tune. The end of the film incorporates a unique variation of the opening sequence; as the Planet Express Ship enters a wormhole, it converts into a pattern of lights similar to
14672-456: The will to act is a renewable resource. During the film's end credits, several calls to action pop up on screen suggesting to viewers things at home they can do to combat global warming, including "recycle", "speak up in your community", "try to buy a hybrid vehicle " and "encourage everyone you know to watch this movie." Gore became interested in global warming when he took a course at Harvard University with Professor Roger Revelle , one of
14803-552: The works, ranging in scale from 'it's a crazy idea that someone's grandmother thought of' to 'it's all on paper'. When Futurama aired June 24, 2010, on Comedy Central, it helped the network to its highest-rated night in 2010 and its highest-rated Thursday primetime in the network's history. In March 2011, it was announced that Futurama had been renewed for a seventh season, consisting of at least 26 episodes, scheduled to air in 2012 and 2013. The first episode of season 7 premiered June 20, 2012, on Comedy Central. In July 2011, it
14934-414: The world would look in 1959. Many other titles were considered for the series, including Aloha, Mars! and Doomsville , which Groening notes were "resoundly rejected, by everyone concerned with it". It takes approximately six to nine months to produce an episode of Futurama . The long production time results in several episodes being worked on simultaneously. The planning for each episode began with
15065-520: The world, which has spurred some controversy. A sequel to the film, titled An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power , was released on July 28, 2017. An Inconvenient Truth presents in film form an illustrated talk on climate by Al Gore, aimed at alerting the public to an increasing "planetary emergency" due to global warming , and shows re-enacted incidents from his life story which influenced his concerns about environmental issues. He began making these presentations in 1989 with flip chart illustrations;
15196-504: The writers collaborated to rewrite the script as a group before sending it to the animation team. At this point the voice recording was also started and the script was out of the writers' hands. The writing staff held three Ph.D.s , seven master's degrees , and cumulatively had more than 50 years at Harvard University . Series writer Patric M. Verrone stated, "we were easily the most overeducated cartoon writers in history". Futurama had eight main cast members. Billy West performed
15327-613: The writers' device to feature and poke fun at contemporary celebrities in the show. Several of the preserved heads shown are those of people who were already dead well before the advent of this technology; one of the most prominent examples of this anomaly is former U.S. president Richard Nixon , who died in 1994 and appears in numerous episodes. The Internet, while being fully immersive and encompassing all senses—even featuring its own digital world (similar to Tron or The Matrix )—is slow and largely consists of pornography, pop-up ads , and "filthy" (or Filthy Filthy) chat rooms . Some of it
15458-454: Was "not the most entertaining film of the year ... it might be the most important" and a "brilliantly lucid, often riveting attempt to warn Americans off our hellbent path to global suicide." The New York Times reviewer A. O. Scott thought the film was "edited crisply enough to keep it from feeling like 90 minutes of C-SPAN and shaped to give Mr. Gore's argument a real sense of drama," and "as unsettling as it can be," Scott continued, "it
15589-511: Was "so hard for people to grasp," to which Gore replied, "Because it's an inconvenient truth, ya know." "[...] In the back of my head, I go, that's the title of our movie," Guggenheim said. Initially, the title was not a popular choice. Gore recalled saying "Nah, I don't think so" but Guggenheim "defended it vigorously against other titles." "People thought it was hard to say, people thought it wasn't fun, it wasn't sexy," Guggenheim remembered. "Days before we went to Sundance and had to decide, there
15720-534: Was a large group of people who did not like the title." The majority of the movie shows Gore delivering his lecture to an audience at a relatively small theater in Los Angeles. Gore's presentation was delivered on a 70-foot (21 m) digital screen that Bender commissioned specifically for the movie. While the bulk of the film was shot on 4:4:4 HDCAM , according to director Guggenheim, a vast array of different film formats were used: "There's 35mm and 16mm . A lot of
15851-459: Was also impressed. "I sat there and I'm amazed at how thorough and accurate. After the presentation I said, 'Al, I'm absolutely blown away. There's a lot of details you could get wrong.'...I could find no error." Michael Shermer , scientific author and founder of The Skeptics Society , wrote in Scientific American that Gore's slide show "shocked me out of my doubting stance." Eric Steig,
15982-475: Was completely reanimated in three different styles: the first segment of the episode features black-and-white Fleischer - and Walter Lantz -style animation, the second was drawn in the style of a low-resolution video game, and the final segment was in the style of Japanese anime . Much like the opening sequence in The Simpsons with its chalkboard gags , Lisa’s sax solo , and couch gags , Futurama has
16113-460: Was featured in the film, was pleased with how his research was presented. "It's so hard given the breadth of this topic to be factually correct, and make sure you don't lose your audience," Thompson said. "As scientists, we publish our papers in Science and Nature , but very few people read those. Here's another way to get this message out. To me, it's an excellent overview for an introductory class at
16244-459: Was floored. As soon as the evening's program concluded, I asked him to let me present his full briefing to leaders and friends in New York and Los Angeles. I would do all the organizing if he would commit to the dates. Gore's presentation was the most powerful and clear explanation of global warming I had ever seen. And it became my mission to get everyone I knew to see it too. Inspired, David assembled
16375-461: Was given the role. West states that his version of Zapp Brannigan was an imitation of Hartman and also "modeled after a couple of big dumb announcers I knew". Katey Sagal voiced Leela , and is the only member of the main cast to voice only one character. The role of Leela was originally assigned to Nicole Sullivan . In an interview in June 2010, Sagal remarked that she did not know that another person
16506-471: Was moved again, this time to 7:00 pm on Sunday, its third position in less than a year. Even by the fourth season, Futurama was being aired erratically. Because the show was regularly pre-empted by sporting events, it became difficult to predict when new episodes would air. The erratic schedule resulted in Fox not airing several episodes that had been produced for seasons three and four, instead holding them for
16637-422: Was nominated for 17 Annie Awards , winning nine of them, and 12 Emmy Awards , winning six. It was nominated four times for a Writers Guild of America Award , winning for the episodes " Godfellas " and " The Prisoner of Benda ". It was nominated for a Nebula Award and received Environmental Media Awards for the episodes " The Problem with Popplers " and " The Futurama Holiday Spectacular ". Merchandise includes
16768-404: Was originally intended for the Futurama theme to be remixed in every episode. This was first trialled in the opening sequence for " Mars University ", however it was realized upon broadcast that the sound did not transmit well through most television sets and the idea was subsequently abandoned. Despite this, beatbox renditions of the theme performed by Billy West and John DiMaggio are used for
16899-506: Was reported that the show had been picked up for syndication by both local affiliates and WGN America . Broadcast of old episodes began in September 2011. On September 19, 2011, WGN America began re-running Futurama , carrying it until 2014. Futurama doubled its viewership in syndication in 2012. Due to the uncertain future of the series, there have been four designated series finales . " The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings ", Into
17030-412: Was smaller than the original crew. It was originally announced that main voice actors West, DiMaggio, and Sagal would return as well, but on July 17, 2009, it was announced that a casting notice was posted to replace the entire cast when 20th Century Fox Television would not meet their salary demands. The situation was later resolved, and the entire original voice-cast returned for the new episodes. Near
17161-458: Was to originally voice Leela until many years after the show first began. John DiMaggio performed the voice of the robot Bender Bending Rodríguez and other, more minor, characters. Bender was the most difficult character to cast, as the show's creators had not decided what a robot should sound like. DiMaggio originally auditioned for the role of Professor Farnsworth, using the voice he uses to perform Bender, and also auditioned for Bender using
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