{{infobox television |show name

Futurama |image |caption The opening title card for ''Futurama'' |genre SitcomAnimationBlack comedyScience fiction |format Animated series |creator Matt Groening |developer Matt GroeningDavid X. Cohen |voices Billy WestKatey SagalJohn DiMaggioTress MacNeilleMaurice LaMarcheLauren TomPhil LaMarrDavid Herman |theme_music_composer Christopher Tyng |opentheme "Theme from Futurama" |composer Christopher Tyng |country United States |language English |num_seasons 6 |num_episodes 112 |executive_producer Matt GroeningDavid X. CohenKen Keeler Patric M. VerroneJosh WeinsteinEric HorstedMichael RoweDan Vebber |producer Lee SupercinskiClaudia KatzJason Grode |runtime 22 minutes |company The Curiosity Company20th Century Fox Television |distributor 20th Television |network Fox(1999–2003)Comedy Central(2008–present) |picture_format 480i (4:3 SDTV)(Seasons 1–4)1080i (16:9 HDTV)(Season 5–current) |audio_format Dolby Surround(Seasons 1-20)Dolby Digital 5.1(Season 5–current) |first_aired – |last_aired present |list_episodes List of Futurama episodes |related |website http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/futurama/index.jhtml }}

''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J. Fry, who, after being unwittingly cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the retro-futuristic 31st century. The series was envisioned by Groening in the 1990s while working on ''The Simpsons'', later bringing Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox.

In the United States, the series aired on Fox from March 28, 1999 to August 10, 2003 before ceasing production. ''Futurama'' was then aired in reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2007, until the network's contract expired. It was revived in 2007 as four straight-to-DVD films; the last of the four 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.

Comedy Central began airing ''Futurama'' on January 2, 2008, with new episodes starting on March 23, 2008. In June 2009, producing studio 20th Century Fox announced that Comedy Central had picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes, of which the first half began airing from June 24, 2010. The remaining thirteen episodes began airing on June 23, 2011. It was announced, in March 2011, that ''Futurama'' has been renewed for a seventh season, consisting of at least 26 episodes, scheduled to air in 2012 and 2013.

Throughout its run, ''Futurama'' has consistently received high critical acclaim, culminating in a Guinness World Record for "Current Most Critically Acclaimed Animated Series" in 2010. ''Futurama'' has also been nominated for 17 Annie Awards and 8 Emmy Awards, winning seven and three respectively. Futurama has also been nominated four times for a Writers Guild of America Award, winning two for the episodes "Godfellas" and "The Prisoner of Benda", and nominated for a Nebula Award. The show also received an Environmental Media Award for "The Problem With Popplers".

''Futurama''-related merchandise has also been released, including: a tie-in comic book series and video game, calendars, clothes, and figurines.

In July 2011, it was reported that the show has been picked up for syndication by both CW affiliates and WGN America. Broadcast of old episodes will begin in the fall of 2011.

Origins

Fox expressed a strong desire in the mid-1990s for Matt Groening to create a new series, and he began conceiving ''Futurama'' during this period. In 1996, 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 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 [his] grown-up life." During that first meeting, Fox ordered thirteen episodes. Immediately after, however, Fox feared the themes of show were not suitable for the network and Groening and Fox executives argued over whether the network would have any creative input into the show. With ''The Simpsons'' the network has no input. 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 the only way I do business.'" After negotiations, he 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 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".

Production

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.

Executive producers

Matt Groening and David X. Cohen have served as executive producers and show runners during the show's entire run, and also function as creative consultants. Ken Keeler became an executive producer for Season 4 and subsequent seasons.

Writing

The planning for each episode begins with a table meeting of writers, who discuss the plot ideas as a group. A single staff writer writes an outline and then produces a script. Once the first draft of a script is finished, the writers and executive producers call in the actors to do a table read. After this script reading, the writers collaborate to rewrite the script as a group before eventually sending it to the animation team. At this point the voice recording is also started and the script is out of the writers' hands.

Voice actors

''Futurama'' has eight main cast members. Billy West performs 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 given the role of Fry. Due to a casting change, West was called back to audition again and was promptly awarded 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 is based on Lou Jacobi and George Jessel. The character of Zapp Brannigan was originally created and intended to be performed by Phil Hartman. Hartman insisted on auditioning for the role, and "just nailed it" according to Matt Groening. Due to Hartman's death, West was subsequently given the role. West states that his version of Zapp Brannigan is an imitation of Hartman and also "modeled after a couple of big dumb announcers I knew."

Katey Sagal voices exclusively Leela, and is the only member of the main cast to voice one character. The role of Leela was originally assigned to Nicole Sullivan. Due to a casting change, Sagal was later given the role of Leela. In an interview in June 2010, Sagal remarked that she did not know that another person was to originally voice Leela until many years after the show first began; going on to state that she is still unaware who the original voice actor even is.

John DiMaggio performs 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 a different voice. DiMaggio describes Bender's voice as a combination of a sloppy drunk, Slim Pickens and a character his college friend created named "Charlie the sausage-lover".

Tress MacNeille voices Mom and various other characters. Maurice LaMarche voices Kif Kroker and several supporting characters. Lauren Tom voices Amy Wong, and Phil LaMarr voices Hermes Conrad. David Herman voices 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 is promoted to main cast and Tom, LaMarr and Herman to supporting cast in Season 5, and promoted again to main cast in Season 6.

Main cast members
Philip J. Fry	Philip Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Doctor Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, various	style="width:12.5%;"	style="width:12.5%;"	style="width:12.5%;"				style="width:12.5%;"

In addition to the main cast, Frank Welker, who voices Nibbler, Kath Soucie and Danny Jacobs voice 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 guests stars voice supporting characters, although many voice themselves; usually as their own head preserved in a jar. Recurring guest stars include Dawnn Lewis, Tom Kenny, Phil Hendrie, Dan Castellaneta, Coolio, Al Gore and Stephen Hawking, among others.

Animation

Rough Draft Studios animates ''Futurama''. The studio receives the completed script of an episode and storyboard it into over 100 drawings. They then create a pencil-drawn animatic with 1000 frames. Rough Draft's sister studio in South Korea renders the 30,000-frame finished episode.

In addition to traditional cartoon drawing, Rough Draft Studios often uses CGI for fast or complex shots, such as the movement of spaceships, explosions, nebula, and snow scenes. The opening sequence is entirely rendered in CGI. The CGI is rendered at 24 frames per second (as opposed to hand-drawn often done at 12 frames per second) and the lack of artifacts makes the animation appear very smooth and fluid. CGI characters look slightly different due to spatially "cheating" hand-drawn characters by drawing slightly out of proportion or off-perspective features to emphasize traits of the face or body, improving legibility of an expression. PowerAnimator is used to draw the comic-like CGI.

The series began high-definition production in Season 5, 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'' is completely reanimated in three different styles: the first segment of the episode features black-and-white Fleischer and Walter Lantz style animation, the second is drawn in the style of a low-resolution video game, and the final segment is in the style of Japanese anime.

Cancellation and revival

Groening and Cohen wanted ''Futurama'' to be shown at 8:30 on Sunday nights, 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 Sunday spot, but by mid-season the show was moved again, this time to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, its third position in under a year.

Even by the fourth season ''Futurama'' was still being aired erratically. This was parodied in the opening sequence of the last episode of Season 4 with a picture of Fry, Leela, and Bender captioned "See You On Some Other Channel." Due to being regularly pre-empted by sporting events, it became difficult to predict when new episodes would air. This erratic schedule resulted in Fox not airing several episodes that had been produced for seasons three and four, instead holding them over for a fifth broadcast season. Fox executives were also 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 2005, Comedy Central acquired the syndication rights to ''Futurama''. During the negotiations, Comedy Central 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 a new season.

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 as 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 is some enthusiasm but I can't tell if it's just me."

On June 9, 2009, 20th Century Fox 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 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. The dispute had stopped the original actors from appearing on the Futurama panel for Comic-Con 2009, to the disappointment of fans.

Near 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 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 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. The show has since been renewed for a seventh season, consisting of at least 26 episodes, scheduled to air in 2012 and 2013.

Characters

''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 the central trio of Fry, Leela, and Bender, though storylines centered on the other main characters are common. ; Philip J. Fry (Billy West): Fry is a dim-witted, immature, slovenly, yet good-hearted pizza delivery boy who falls into a cryogenic pod, causing it to activate and freeze him just after midnight on January 1, 2000. He re-awakens on New Year's Eve, 2999, and gets a job as a cargo delivery boy at Planet Express, a company owned by his only living relative, Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth. Fry's love for Leela is a recurring theme throughout the series. ; Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal): Leela is the competent, one-eyed captain of the Planet Express Ship. Abandoned as a baby, she grew up in the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium believing herself to be an alien from another planet, but learns that she is actually a mutant from the sewers in the episode "Leela's Homeworld". Prior to becoming the ship's captain, Leela worked as a career assignment officer at the cryogenics lab where she first met Fry. She is Fry's primary love interest. Her name is a reference to the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen. ; Bender Bending Rodríguez (John DiMaggio): Bender is a foul-mouthed, heavy-drinking, cigar-smoking, kleptomaniacal, misanthropic, egocentric, ill-tempered robot manufactured by Mom's Friendly Robot Company. He was originally programmed to bend girders for suicide booths, and is later designated as assistant sales manager and cook, despite lacking a sense of taste. He is Fry's best friend and roommate. ; Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth (Billy West): Professor Hubert Farnsworth, also known simply as "the Professor," is Fry's distant nephew. Farnsworth founded Planet Express Inc. to fund his work as a mad scientist. Although he is depicted as a brilliant scientist and inventor, at more than one-hundred and sixty years old he is extremely prone to age-related forgetfulness and fits of temper. In the episode "A Clone of My Own," the Professor clones himself to produce a successor, Cubert Farnsworth, whom he treats like a son. ; Dr. John A. Zoidberg (Billy West): Zoidberg is a lobster-like alien from the planet Decapod 10, and the neurotic staff physician of Planet Express. Although he claims to be an expert on humans, his knowledge of human anatomy and physiology is woefully inaccurate. Zoidberg is homeless, penniless, and—despite being depicted as Professor Farnsworth's long-time friend—held in contempt by everyone on the crew, except Fry. ; Amy Wong (Lauren Tom): Amy is an incredibly rich, blunt, spoiled, ditzy, and accident-prone long-term intern at Planet Express. She is an engineering student at Mars University and heiress to the western hemisphere of Mars. Though born on Mars, she is ethnically Chinese and is prone to cursing in Cantonese and using 31st-century slang. Her parents are the wealthy ranchers Leo and Inez Wong. She is promiscuous in the beginning of the series and eventually enters a monogamous relationship with Kif Kroker. In the show's sixth season, she acquires her doctorate. ; Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr): Hermes is the Jamaican accountant of Planet Express. A 36th-level bureaucrat (promoted to level 34 during the series) and proud of it, he is a stickler for regulation and enamored of the tedium of paperwork and bureaucracy. Hermes is also a former champion in Olympic Limbo, a sport derived from the popular party activity. He gave up limbo after the 2980 Olympics when a young fan, imitating him, broke his back and died. Hermes has a wife, LaBarbara, and a 12-year-old son, Dwight. ; Zapp Brannigan (Billy West): Zapp Brannigan is the incompetent, extraordinarily vain captain of the DOOP starship ''Nimbus''. He is a satirical pastiche of Captain Kirk and William Shatner. Although Leela thoroughly detests him, Brannigan—a self-deluded lady's man—pursues her relentlessly, often at great personal risk. Brannigan was dishonorably dismissed from the DOOP in Brannigan Begin Again but was reinstated in the same episode. He was originally going to be voiced by Phil Hartman, but Hartman died before production could begin. ; Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche): Zapp Brannigan's 4th Lieutenant and long-suffering personal assistant, Kif is a member of the amphibious species that inhabits the planet Amphibios 9. Although extremely timid, he eventually works up the courage to date Amy. Kif is often shown sighing in disgust at the nonsensical rantings of his commanding officer. ; Mom (Tress MacNeille): Mom is the malevolent, foul-mouthed, cruel, and narcissistic owner of MomCorp, the thirtieth century's largest shipping and manufacturing company, with a monopoly on robots. In public, she maintains the image of a sweet, kindly old woman by speaking in stereotypically antiquated statements and wearing a mechanical fat suit. She occasionally launches insidious plans for world domination and corporate takeover. She has a romantic history with the Professor which left her bitter and resentful. She has three bumbling sons, Walt, Larry, and Igner (modeled after the Three Stooges), who do her bidding despite frequent abuse, and often infuriate her with their incompetence. In Bender's Game, it is revealed that Igner's father is Professor Farnsworth. ; Nibbler (Frank Welker): Nibbler is Leela's pet Nibblonian, whom she rescued from an imploding planet and adopted early in the series. Despite his deceptively cute exterior, Nibbler is actually a highly intelligent super-being whose race is responsible for maintaining order in the universe. He is revealed in "The Why of Fry" to have been directly responsible for Fry's cryogenic freezing. While the size of an average house cat, his race is capable of devouring much larger animals and excretes dark matter, which until ''Bender's Game'' is used as fuel for space cruisers in the series.

Setting

''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, referred to as "''Old'' New York." 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 the same treatment, like Los Angeles being depicted as a smog filled apocalyptic wasteland.

Numerous technological advances have been made between the present day and the 31st century. The ability to keep heads alive in jars was invented by Ron Popeil (who has a guest cameo in "A Big Piece of Garbage"), which has resulted in many historical figures and current celebrities being present, including Groening himself; this became the writers' device to feature and poke fun at contemporary celebrities in the show. Curiously, 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 frequent Earth president Richard Nixon, who died in 1994. 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 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 thanks to 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. Owls are often shown to have replaced rats as common household pests. Although rats still exist, sometimes rats act like pigeons. Pigeons still exist, as well. Pine trees, anchovies and poodles have been extinct for 800 years. 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.

''Futurama'''s setting 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 the science fiction genre.

Themes

Earth is depicted as being multicultural to the extent that a wide range of human, robot, and extraterrestrial beings interact with the primary characters. In some ways the future is depicted as being more socially advanced than Fry's, and therefore the audience's, reality. However, it is often shown to have many of the same types of problems, challenges, mistakes, and prejudices as the present.

Robots make up the largest "minority". Most robots are self-aware and have been granted freedom and self-determination, but while a few are depicted as wealthy members of the upper class, they are often treated as second-class citizens. Likewise, robot–human relationships (termed "robosexual") are stigmatized, and robot–human marriages are initially depicted as illegal, similar to present-day taboos surrounding homosexuality. Sewer mutants are mutated humans who must live in the sewers by law. They are initially depicted as holding urban legend status and regarded as fictional by most members of the public. This was contradicted by later episodes that depict Earth society as having enforced laws regarding mutants. However, since the conclusion of Season Six, mutants have been granted full status as citizens and are therefore (at least in theory) granted the same rights to surface use as normal humans.

Religion is still 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 Preacherbot, and passing references to the Space Pope, who appears to be a large crocodile-like creature. 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.

Earth has a unified government headed by the President of Earth. Richard Nixon's head is elected to the position in Season Two, and holds the office in subsequent episodes. Earth's capital is Washington, D.C., and the flag of Earth is similar in design to the flag of the United States, with the western hemisphere displayed in place of the fifty stars. Fond patriotism still exists in some former countries, such as Jamaica. ''Futurama'''s canon material is set mostly on formerly American soil, and other parts of the world are rarely shown. Citizens of Earth are referred to as "Earthicans," and English is shown to be the primary language of almost every sentient species.

The ''Democratic Order of Planets'' (D.O.O.P.) is an organization in the ''Futurama'' universe that has been compared to both the United Nations and the United Federation of Planets of the ''Star Trek'' universe. Numerous other galaxies have been colonized or have made contact by the year 3000. Mars has been terraformed and is home to Mars University, Mars Vegas, and tribes similar to Native Americans, though they departed upon learning that the "worthless bead" they traded their land for (the Martian surface) was actually a giant diamond worth a fortune, deciding to buy another planet and act like it is sacred.

A derivative of baseball, called blernsball, is still played, and the New New York Mets, a laughingstock of the league, still play in Shea Stadium (which was demolished in 2009 in real life). A "New New York Yankees" team also exists.

Due to the fact that the world of Fry's time was destroyed (revealed in Bender's Big Score to have been caused by Bender himself), much of the knowledge of Earth history before then was lost. In the 31st century, facts gathered on Earth history by archeologists is portrayed as being grossly inaccurate. For example, in "The Lesser of Two Evils", the theme park "Past-O-Rama" presents an Earth history in which 20th-century car factories had assembly lines in which cars were not assembled by giant robotic welding arms, but by robots dressed as neanderthals slamming clubs onto car chassis and going "ooga-booga" over and over again like stereotypical caveman portrayals. Another example comes from "The Series Has Landed", in which knowledge of the Moon Landing has been lost for centuries. As a result, archeologists came to the conclusion that the idea to go to the moon came from the infamous quote from ''The Honeymooners'', and that the moonlanding was performed by whalers on a ship made of wood who were greeted by gophers.

Hallmarks

Opening sequence

Much like the opening sequence in ''The Simpsons'' with its chalkboard, sax solo, and couch gags, ''Futurama'' has 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 in Front of a Live Audience" or "When you see the robot: DRINK!" After flying through downtown New New York and past various recurring characters, the Planet Express ship crashes into a large screen showing a short clip from a classic cartoon. These have included clips from ''Looney Tunes'' shorts, cartoons produced by Max Fleischer, a short of ''The Simpsons'' from a Tracey Ullman episode, and the show's own opening sequence in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings". Most episodes in Season 6 use a significantly shortened opening sequence, omitting the brief clip of a classic cartoon. 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".

Series director Scott Vanzo has remarked on 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.

''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 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 seqence; as the Planet Express ship enters a wormhole, it converts into a pattern of lights similar to the lights that appear in the opening sequence.

The ''Futurama'' theme was created by Christopher Tyng. The theme is played on the tubular bells but 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. The theme also samples a drum break originating from "Amen, Brother" by American soul group The Winstons; however, the drum break is replaced in Season 6. A remixed rendition of the theme is used in Season 5, which features altered instruments and a lower pitch. Season 6 also uses this remix, but it has been reduced again in pitch and tempo.

Language

thumb|220px|Alien Language 1 and its equivalent [[Latin alphabet|Latin characters]] There are three alternative alphabets that appear often in 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 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.

Several English expressions have evolved since the present day. For example, 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.

Humor

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 the present. Matt 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'', a joke referencing 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 $\backslash aleph\_0$-plex" (aleph-null-plex) movie theater, — as well as various forms of science humor — for example, Professor Farnsworth, at a racetrack, complains about the use of a quantum finish to decide the winner "No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it," a reference to the observer effect in 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 the front seat of the car is a box, and when questioned about the contents, Schrödinger replies "A cat, some poison, and a Caesium atom." Fry asks if the cat is alive or dead, and Schrodinger answers "It's a superposition of both states until you open the box and collapse the wave function." 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 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 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 pastiche of ''The Twilight Zone''.

Journalist/critic Frank Lovece in ''Newsday'' contrasted 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 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 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".

Reception, legacy and achievements

Success

''Futurama'''s 7:00 p.m. Sunday timeslot caused the show to often be pre-empted by sports and usually have a later than average season premiere. It also allowed the writers and animators to get ahead of the broadcast schedule so that episodes intended for one season were not aired until the following season. By the beginning of the fourth broadcast season, all the episodes to be aired that season had already been completed and writers were working at least a year in advance.

When ''Futurama'' debuted in the Fox Sunday night line-up at 8:30 p.m. between ''The Simpsons'' and ''The X-Files'' on March 28, 1999, it managed 19 million viewers. Tying for 11th overall in that week's Nielsen ratings. The following week, airing at the same time, ''Futurama'' drew 14.2 million viewers. The third episode, the first airing on Tuesday, drew 8.85 million viewers. Though its ratings were well below ''The Simpsons'', the first season of ''Futurama'' rated higher than competing animated series: ''King of the Hill'', ''Family Guy'', ''Dilbert'', ''South Park'', and ''The PJs''.

When ''Futurama'' was effectively canceled in 2003, it had averaged 6.4 million viewers for the first half of its fourth broadcast season.

In late 2002, Cartoon Network acquired exclusive cable syndication rights to ''Futurama'' for a reported ten million dollars. In January 2003, the network began airing ''Futurama'' episodes as the centerpiece to the expansion of their Adult Swim cartoon block. In October 2005, Comedy Central picked up the cable syndication rights to air ''Futurama''s 72-episode run at the start of 2008, following the expiration of Cartoon Network's contract. It was cited as the largest and most expensive acquisition in the network's history. It is currently airing every night, followed by ''South Park''. A Comedy Central teaser trailer announced the return of ''Futurama'' March 23, 2008, which was ''Bender's Big Score'' divided into four episodes followed by the other three movies. The series also airs in syndication in many countries around the world.

On June 24, 2010, the season six premiere, "Rebirth", drew 2.92 million viewers in the 10 p.m. timeslot, on Comedy Central. The second episode of the sixth season, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", aired at 10:30 p.m., immediately following the season premiere. "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" drew 2.78 million viewers. This was the series' premiere on the network, with original episodes—the fifth season had previously aired on the network, but it had originally been released in the form of the four direct-to-video films.

Awards

{| style="width: 100%" ! style="text-align: left" | Wins ! style="text-align: left" colspan="2" | Nominations |- | style="vertical-align:top; width:33%; font-size:x-small;" | Annie Awards:

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production

* 2000–''Brian Sheesley'' for episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?"

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Production

* 2001–''John DiMaggio'' as Bender for episode "Bendless Love"

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production

2001–''Ron Weiner'' for episode "Luck of the Fryish"

Outstanding Directing in an Animated Television Production

* 2003–''Rich Moore'' for episode "Roswell That Ends Well"

Best Home Entertainment Production

* 2008–''Bender's Big Score''

* 2009–''The Beast with a Billion Backs''

* 2010–''Into the Wild Green Yonder''

Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation

* 2000–''Bari Kumar'' (color stylist) for episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two"

* 2001–''Rodney Clouden'' (storyboard artist) for episode "Parasites Lost"

Outstanding Animated Program

* 2002–"Roswell That Ends Well"

Environmental Media Awards:

Comedy–TV Episodic

* 2000–"The Problem with Popplers"

Writers Guild of America Award:

Animation

* 2003–''Ken Keeler'' for episode "Godfellas"

* 2011–''Ken Keeler'' for episode "The Prisoner of Benda"

| style="vertical-align:top; width:34%; font-size:x-small;" | Annie Awards:

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Program

* 1999–Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Writing in an Animated Television Production

* 1999–''Ken Keeler'' for episode "The Series Has Landed"

Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Program

* 2000–Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television Production

* 2000–''Susie Dietter'' for episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two"

Outstanding Achievement in a Primetime or Late Night Animated Television Production

* 2001–Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production

* 2003–Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

Outstanding Music in an Animated Television Production

* 2004–''Ken Keeler'' for episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"

Outstanding Writing in an Animated Television Production

* 2004–''Patric Verrone'' for episode "The Sting"

2011–''Michael Rowe''; Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

Best Animated Television Production

* 2011–''Futurama. ''The Curiosity Company'' in association with ''20th Century Fox Television''

| style="vertical-align:top; width:33%; font-size:x-small;" | Emmy Awards:

Outstanding Animated Program

* 1999–"A Big Piece of Garbage"

* 2001–"Amazon Women in the Mood"

* 2003–"Jurassic Bark"

* 2004–"The Sting"

* 2011–"The Late Philip J. Fry"

Outstanding Voice-Over Performance

* 2011–Maurice LaMarche, ''as Lrrr & Orson Welles'' for episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences"

Outstanding Music and Lyrics

* 2004–The song "I Want My Hands Back" for episode "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"

Nebula Award:

Best Script

* 2004–''David A. Goodman'' for episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"

Writers Guild of America Award:

Animation

* 2004–''Patric Verrone'' for episode "The Sting"

* 2011–''Patric Verrone'' for episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences"

|}

Other honors

In January 2009, IGN named ''Futurama'' as the 8th best in the "Top 100 Animated TV Series".

At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International, Guinness World Records presented ''Futurama'' with the record for "Current Most Critically-Acclaimed Animated Series".

Other media

Comic books

First started in November 2000, ''Futurama Comics'' is a comic book series published by Bongo Comics based in the ''Futurama'' universe. While originally published only in the US, a UK, German and Australian version of the series is also available. In addition, three issues were published in Norway. Other than a different running order and presentation, the stories are the same in all versions. While the comics focus on the same characters in the ''Futurama'' fictional universe, the comics may not be canonical as the events portrayed within them do not necessarily have any effect upon the continuity of the show.

Like the TV series, each comic (except US comic #20) has a caption at the top of the cover. For example: "Made In The USA! (Printed in Canada)." Some of the UK and Australian comics have different captions on the top of their comics (for example, the Australian version of #20 says "A 21st Century Comic Book" across the cover, while the US version does not have a caption on that issue). All series contain a letters page, artwork from readers, and previews of other upcoming Bongo comics.

Films

When Comedy Central began negotiating for the rights to air ''Futurama'' reruns, Fox suggested that there was a possibility of also creating new episodes. Negotiations were already underway with the possibility of creating two or three straight-to-DVD films. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four films would be produced. On April 26, 2006, Groening noted in an interview that co-creator David X. Cohen and numerous writers from the original series would be returning to work on the movies. All the original voice actors participated. In February 2007, Groening explained the format of the new stories: "[The crew is] writing them as movies and then we're going to chop them up, reconfigure them, write new material and try to make them work as separate episodes."

The first movie, ''Futurama: Bender's Big Score'', was written by Ken Keeler and Cohen, and includes return appearances by the Nibblonians, Seymour, Barbados Slim, Robot Santa, the "God" space entity, Al Gore, and Zapp Brannigan. It was animated in widescreen and was released on standard DVD on November 27, 2007, with a possible Blu-ray Disc release to follow. A release on HD DVD was rumored but later officially denied. ''Futurama: Bender's Big Score'' was the first DVD release for which 20th Century Fox implemented measures intended to reduce the total carbon footprint of the production, manufacturing, and distribution processes. Where it was not possible to completely eliminate carbon, output carbon offsets were used, thus making the complete process carbon neutral.

The second movie, ''The Beast with a Billion Backs'', was released on June 24, 2008. The third movie, ''Bender's Game'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 3, 2008 in the UK, November 4, 2008 in the USA, and December 10, 2008 in Australia. The fourth movie, ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'', was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 23, 2009.

Video game

On September 15, 2000, ''Unique Development Studios'' acquired the license to develop a ''Futurama'' video game for consoles and handheld systems. Fox Interactive signed on to publish the game. Sierra Entertainment later became the game's publisher, and it was released on August 14, 2003. Versions are available for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, both of which use cel-shading technology; however, the game was subsequently canceled on the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance in North America and Europe.

Merchandise

While relatively uncommon, several action and tin figurines of various characters and items from the show have been made and are being sold by various hobby/online stores. When the show was initially licensed, plans were made with Rocket USA to produce wind-up, walking tin figurines of both Bender and Nibbler with packaging artwork done by the original artists for the series. The Bender toy included a cigar and bottle of "Olde Fortran Malt Liquor" and featured moving eyes, antenna, and a functioning compartment door; it received an "A" rating from Sci Fi Weekly. A can of Slurm cola actually contains a deck of cards featuring the Planet Express crew as the face cards. A two-deck pack of cards was also released.

I-Men released five two-packs of high figures: Fry and Calculon; Zoidberg and Morbo; Professor Farnsworth and URL; Robot Devil and Bender; Leela and Roberto. Each figure comes with a corresponding collectable coin that can also double as a figure stand.

The collectible releases include a set of bendable action figures, including Lieutenant Kif Kroker, Turanga Leela, and Bender. There have also been a few figures released by Moore Action Collectibles, including Fry, Turanga Leela, Bender, and the Planet Express ship. In late 2006, Rocket USA brought out a limited edition "super" heavyweight die-cast Bender. Another special edition Bender figure was released at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) in 2006; the figure was called "Glorious Golden Bender."

Toynami is currently producing new ''Futurama'' figures. The first series of the Toynami figures is separated into 3 waves: wave one, released in September 2007, featured Fry and Zoidberg; wave two, released in January 2008, consisted of Leela and Zapp (Who comes with Richard Nixon's head-in-a-jar); the third wave, released in June 2008, includes Bender and Kif. Each figure comes with a build-a-figure piece to assemble the Robot Devil. The second series of Toynami figures includes Captain Yesterday (A Fry variant from "Less Than Hero") and Nudar in the first wave. The second wave includes Super-King (Bender from "Less Than Hero") and Calculon, and the third wave includes Clobberella (Leela from "Less Than Hero") and Amy Wong. The figures in series 2 include pieces to build Robot Santa. The third, and current, series of the Toynami line includes Professor Farnsworth (who comes with Nibbler), and Hermes. Wave 2 was released in February 2010 and includes Chef Bender and Mom, who comes with a removable fat-suit. Series 3 figures come with pieces to build Roberto. Series 9 will include URL and Wooden Bender (from "Obsoletely Fabulous") And Series 10 will include Clamps and Joey Mousepad Then Series 11 consists of The Donbot and Flexo That wave will not have a specific Build A Bot character, planned Morbo. All figures feature multiple points of articulation and character-specific accessories.

In August 2009 Kidrobot released 3 inch vinyl mini figurines of some of the cast. These are sold in "blind" box form and each comes with an accessory. Probability of receiving each of the characters is printed on the side, with two special mystery characters having unknown probabilities.

See also

''Life in Hell''

''The Simpsons''

Notes

External links

The Infosphere — a ''Futurama'' wiki.

The Futurama Wiki at Wikia.

Category:1999 American television series debuts Category:2003 American television series endings Category:1990s American animated television series Category:2000s American animated television series Category:2010s American animated television series Category:American science fiction television series Category:Animated sitcoms Category:Comedy Central cartoons Category:Comedy Central shows Category:English-language television series Category:Fox network shows Category:Futurama Category:Satirical television programmes Category:Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Television series by Fox Television Studios Category:Television shows set in New York City Category:Time travel television series Category:Comic science fiction Category:Television series revived after cancellation

af:Futurama ar:فيوتشوراما (مسلسل) bn:ফিউচারামা be:Футурама be-x-old:Футурама bs:Futurama bg:Футурама ca:Futurama cs:Futurama da:Futurama de:Futurama et:Futurama el:Futurama es:Futurama (serie de televisión) eo:Futurama eu:Futurama fa:فیوچراما fr:Futurama ga:Futurama gv:Futurama gl:Futurama ko:퓨처라마 hr:Futurama id:Futurama is:Fjarlæg framtíð it:Futurama he:פיוצ'רמה ka:ფუტურამა la:Futurama lv:Futurāma lb:Futurama lt:Futurama lmo:Futurama hu:Futurama mk:Футурама ms:Futurama nah:Futurama nl:Futurama (serie) ja:フューチュラマ (アニメ) no:Futurama nn:Futurama uz:Futurama pl:Futurama pt:Futurama ro:Futurama ru:Футурама sq:Futurama simple:Futurama sk:Futurama sl:Futurama sr:Футурама fi:Futurama sv:Futurama tr:Futurama uk:Футурама zh:乃出個未來

''Space Pilot'' is a shoot 'em up based on aircraft combat for the Commodore 64, released in 1984 by Kingsoft (there was also an arcade version done by Konami). The game takes place in the sky, which scrolls freely in eight directions, without any restrictions or obstacles whatsoever. The player controls a fighter airplane, which is capable of flying in any direction. The enemies also take the form of various aircraft, and fly in various directions. On each level, the player's task is to destroy a certain number of enemy aircraft, after which a "boss" enemy appears. Destroying this enemy advances the game onto the next level.

There are five levels, set in various years: 1916, 1940, 1970, 1984 and 2001. On the first, second, and fourth levels, the enemies are various types of airplanes. On the third level they are helicopters and on the fifth level they are UFOs.

A sequel, ''Space Pilot II'', was released in 1985. ''Space Pilot II'' is a direct continuation of the previous game, with only the settings of the levels changed. The sequel abandons the historical setting and instead uses a futuristic science fiction scenario.

Category:Commodore 64 games Category:Shoot 'em ups Category:Video games developed in the People's Republic of China

name	Kool Savas
background	solo_singer
birth name	Savaş Yurderi
alias	King Kool Savas (KKS), Juks, Jux, Essah
born	Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
origin	Turkey
genre	German hip hop
label	Essah Entertainment
associated acts	M.O.R., Azad, Samy Deluxe, Lumidee, 40 Glocc, Ying Yang Twins
website	Official website
notable instruments	}}

Savas Yurderi (born 10 February 1975) also known as Kool Savas (or as well King Kool Savas) , is a German rapper and hip hop artist. Savas is mostly referred to as "King of Rap" or "King of German Rap".

"Savaş" is the Turkish word for "war".

Biography

Born in Aachen, Germany to a German mother and a Turkish father, Savas' family moved back to Turkey when he was one year old. His father, who is from Çorum, Turkey, was arrested because of his political posture against the government in Turkey, and as a result of his father's arrest, his mother was forced to return to Aachen with Savas. By 1987, his father was released and the entire family was reunited and relocated to Berlin. It was in Berlin where Savas first came across Hip Hop music.

Savas lived with his girlfriend, Melbeatz, in Berlin for an extended amount of time. As a result, the majority of Savas' beats were produced by her. Although Savas and his girlfriend are no longer together, they remain close friends.

Although Savas is popularly called a "Berlin rapper," he resides in Heidelberg. He is also a vegetarian.

Career

2000: Early career

Savas started his rap career with the EP ''Warum rappst du'', containing rather provocative lyrics in songs such as "L.M.S.", "Schwule Rapper" and "Pimplegionär". He first started under the name Juks and rapped mostly in English. He became successful through the groups Masters of Rap and Westberlin Maskulin.

In 2001, he and all of M.O.R. left former label Put Da Needle To Da Records, because of personal and artistic differences. They released a diss track against the former label head Peter Sreckovic titled "Track gegen Peter", where Savas gave reason for his exit.

Beginning in 2002, he founded his own label, Optik Records, where he released his first solo album titled ''Der beste Tag meines Lebens'', for which he won a Comet award. Kool Savas worked together with several domestic and foreign musicians including Azad, Samy Deluxe, Kurupt, 40 Glocc, Dem Franchize Boyz, Lumidee, RZA, Moses Pelham, J-Luv, Bligg, Jadakiss, Royce da 5'9", Xavier Naidoo, Mobb Deep, Ying Yang Twins and Illmatic.

With his record label, Savas tried to build up other artists. He discovered Eko Fresh and signed many upcoming artists: DJ Nicon, Melbeatz, Ercandize, Caput, Amar, Sinan and Moe Mitchell.

Since early 2005 Savas supported the efforts of his younger brother Sinan, his cousin Dimi and his brother-in-law Igor in their blooming rap careers.

In 2005, he released "Die John Bello Story", which was Label-Mixtape. It was the most successful mixtape in Europe. In the same year he made a collaboration with Azad. The result was the album "One". The hit single "All 4 One" entered P4 in the charts.

In 2006, Savas released the label sampler "Optik Takeover".

In 2007, his second solo album came out. "Tot oder Lebendig" (eng. "Dead or Alive") was also a very successful album.

In 2008, Savas dropped "Die John Bello Story 2". Again it was the most successful mixtape in Europe, although he claimed that, rather than a mixtape, it was an album. He then went on to release an updated version labeled the "Brainwash edition".

In 2009, he released the "Was hat S.A.V da vor"-EP with the Hip Hop Magazine "Juice".

On March 12, 2010, Savas released "Die John Bello Story 3". The album featured fellow rappers Azad, Curse, Olli Banjo, Ercandize, Moe Mitchell, Amar, Franky Kubrick, Kaas, Mo Trip, Sinan, Tua, Vega, Kitty Kat, Ying Yang Twins and more.

Controversy

Eko Fresh

In 2002 Eko Fresh and Savas began to dispute. Eko Fresh left the label and continued his career without his colleague. He released "Die Abrechnung", a song which spoke out against Kool Savas and other German rappers. Savas replied with "Das Urteil", which also became a hit song.

Discography

2002: ''Der beste Tag meines Lebens''

2004: ''Die besten Tage sind gezählt''

2007: ''Tot oder Lebendig''

2008: ''John Bello Story II''

2010: ''John Bello Story III''

References

External links

Savas' label

Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:German people of Turkish descent Category:German rappers Category:People from Aachen

cs:Kool Savas de:Kool Savas it:Kool Savas ku:Kool Savaş nl:Kool Savas nds:Kool Savas pl:Kool Savas pt:Kool Savas tr:Kool Savas

name	Non Phixion
background	group_or_band
origin	New York City
genre	Hip hop underground hip hop
past members	Ill BillSabac RedGoretexDJ EclipseMC SerchNecro
years active	1995–2006
label	Uncle Howie, Matador, Geffen
associated acts	La Coka Nostra Necro

Non Phixion (pronounced ''"non-fiction"'') was a New York-based hardcore hip-hop group.

History

In late 1994, MC Serch (of 3rd Bass fame) took his protege Sabac and teamed him up with DJ Eclipse and Ill Bill, thereby creating the group known as Non Phixion. Within six months Goretex, a childhood friend of Ill Bill, had joined the crew after freestyling for MC Serch. Six months later they had released their first single, "Legacy". It went on to sell over 20,000 copies worldwide.

MC Serch secured the group a deal with major label Geffen Records. Serch kept releasing singles for the group and they continued to garner underground notoriety. Eventually a series of mis-communications between the group, Serch and Geffen over the whereabouts of money led to Non Phixion being dropped by the label.

Following their attempt at a major label release, the members of Non Phixion spent their time performing live in New York and around the world; opening for contemporaries such as Gang Starr, The Beatnuts and The Roots. After 1998 saw the release of their "I Shot Reagan" 12" on Uncle Howie Records, Non Phixion secured a deal for a full-length with Matador Records, however, this never came to fruition. Around 2000, Rick Rubin was attempting to bring Non Phixion to Warner Bros. and executive produce their record, but this too never materialized and ultimately their debut LP ''The Future Is Now'' was released on Ill Bill's own Uncle Howie Records on March 26, 2002.

After the release of their seminal album, Non Phixion's members put out their first round of solo material: Ill Bill released ''What's Wrong with Bill?'' , on March 2, 2004; this was followed by Sabac’s ''Sabacolypse: A Change Gon' Come'' on June 15, 2004 and Goretex’s ''The Art of Dying'' on September 7, 2004; all of their solo efforts were released on Necro's Psycho+Logical-Records. The following year, Ill Bill and Goretex released an album with Necro and Mr. Hyde as The Circle of Tyrants on September 13. At the time there was talk of another full length Non Phixion album, called ''The Nuclear Truth'', with the same producers and ideas being extended from ''The Future Is Now''. Non Phixion went on indefinite hiatus in 2006 before a second LP was finished. Goretex (G Blasphemy) left to develop his new project Supercoven and Children Of Doom, while rumor has it the insulation company Gore-Tex forced Goretex to change his name resulting in surmounting legal issues, . Sabac Red moved to Oakland to likewise pursue solo efforts. Ill Bill started a new group with a number of other emcees called La Coka Nostra. Ill Bill, Sabac Red and DJ Eclipse still often perform together, but they have not recorded as Non Phixion.

The band's logo was created by Away (aka Michel Langevin) using the same font style that was used for his own futuristic metal band, Voivod.

Discography

Albums

''The Future Is Now'' (Uncle Howie, 2002)

''The Green CD/DVD'' (Uncle Howie, 2004)

Singles

rowspan="2"	Year
R&B;/Hip-HopSingles Sales	Rap Singles
	"Legacy"	—	—	—
1997	"5 Boros"		—	—
1998	"5 Boros (Remix)		—	—
1998	"I Shot Reagan"	—	—	—
1999	"2004"	—	—	—
1999	"The Full Monty"	—	—	—
1999	"14 Years Of Rap"	—	—	—
1999	"Sleepwalkers"	—	—	—
2000	"Black Helicopters"	—	46	—
2002	"Rock Stars"	72	—	—
2002	"Drug Music"	60	—	—
2003	"Say Goodbye to Yesterday"	—	—	—
2004	"Caught Between Worlds"	—	—	—
2004	"We All Bleed"	—	—	—
2004	"Food"	—	—	—

References

Category:American hip hop groups Category:East Coast hip hop groups Category:Rappers from New York City Category:Musical groups established in 1995 Category:People from New York City Category:Underground rappers

de:Non Phixion es:Non Phixion fr:Non Phixion simple:Non Phixion sv:Non Phixion tr:Non Phixion

name	Billy West
birth name	William Richard West
birth date	April 16, 1950
birth place	Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
occupation	Voice actor
years active	1988–present
spouse	Violet West
credits	''Futurama''as Philip J. Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan''Ren & Stimpy''as Stimpy (1991–96) and Ren (1993–1996)''Doug''as Doug Funnie and Roger Klotz''Extreme Ghostbusters''as Slimer''Brandy and Mr. Whiskers''as Mr. Whiskers and Gaspar LeGecko
website	http://www.Billywest.com/ }}

William Richard "Billy" West (born April 16, 1950) is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival of ''Beany and Cecil''. He was also a writer and castmember on ''The Howard Stern Show'' during the early to mid 1990s, where he gained nationwide fame with his impersonations of Larry Fine and late Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott.

West is best known for his voice-work on ''Ren & Stimpy'', ''Doug'' and ''Futurama''. His favorite characters are Philip J. Fry (''Futurama'') and Stimpy (''Ren and Stimpy''), both of which he originated. West's most notable film work was in ''Space Jam'' (1996) providing the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. He has provided the same voices for other Looney Tunes films and video games. West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of movie star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows.

As well as a voice artist, West is also a guitarist and singer-songwriter with a band called Billy West and The Grief Counselors.

Television

West has been in television since the late 1980s. His first role was for the 1988 revived version of ''Beany and Cecil''. West's first two high-profile roles came almost simultaneously: ''Doug'' and ''Ren & Stimpy'', which were two of the first original three Nicktoons (the other being ''Rugrats''). Over his career West has been the voice talent for close to 120 different characters including some of the most iconic animated figures in television history. He has become one of few voice actors who can impersonate Mel Blanc in his prime, including characterizations of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. In 1998, ''Entertainment Weekly'' described West as "the new Mel Blanc" and noted his ability to mimic well-known voices, though he would rather develop original voices. West's favorite characters are Philip J. Fry and Stimpy. West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of movie star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows. West has stated that he did not like the Disney version of ''Doug'', and that he "couldn't watch" the show.

West was the voice of the show's namesake, Geeker, throughout ''Project Geeker''s 13 episode run.

West was the voice of Zim in the original pilot for Nickelodeon's ''Invader Zim''. Richard Horvitz was chosen for the series role because West's voice was too recognizable, according to ''Invader Zim'' creator Jhonen Vasquez during DVD commentary.

West is also the voice of "Red" in numerous M&M; commercials as well as the 3-D movie "I Lost my M in Vegas", currently playing at M&M;'s World in Las Vegas, NV.

West also voices a number of characters in the series ''Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World''. He does not play a regular character in that series, but appears in almost every episode of the show voicing various minor and one-off characters.

West voiced the character Moobeard in ''Moobeard the Cow Pirate'', a short animation featured on ''Random! Cartoons''.

West reprises his role as Elmer Fudd in Cartoon Network's series ''The Looney Tunes Show''.

''Ren & Stimpy''

West provided the voice of Stimpy in Nickelodeon's ''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' from 1991 until 1996, and he provided the voice of Ren from 1993–1996 (after Ren's original voice and series creator John Kricfalusi was fired by Nickelodeon for delivering un-airable episodes). West performed other characters on the series as well, such as Mr. Horse (another role that West was issued after Kricfalusi's departure) and the "Announcer/Salesman" of such shorts as the "Log" ads (a voice West would years later use as the Narrator for ''The Weird Al Show'').

According to West, he was originally supposed to do the voice of both Ren and Stimpy (and performed both characters on the tape that was used to sell the show to Nickelodeon), but then Kricfalusi decided to do the voice of Ren himself once the show was sold and he had West on board as part of the selling point. However, West provided Ren's maniacal laughter when John Kricfalusi was the voice of Ren.

''Futurama''

Billy West's roles in ''Futurama'' include Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg and Zapp Brannigan, as well as various other incidental characters. As he and other ''Futurama'' cast and crew point out in DVD commentaries, West voiced so many characters throughout the series that conversations are often held entirely between characters he is voicing.

West went into the ''Futurama'' auditions and was asked to try out for, as he says, "just about every part"; eventually landing the professor, Zoidberg, and Zapp Brannigan. It wasn't until some casting changes were made that West got the part of Fry, which originally had gone to Charlie Schlatter. While West is known for doing many different and unique voices, the voice he does for Philip J. Fry is often considered to be closer to his natural voice than any other character he has done (in an audio commentary, he states Fry is just himself at age 25). This similarity, West acknowledges, was done purposefully in order to make it harder to replace him in the part along with placing more of himself personally into the role (DVD commentary).

The part of Zapp Brannigan was created for Phil Hartman, but he died before the show started and West was issued the role. West has described his interpretation of Zapp Brannigan's voice as an imitation of Hartman, but described the actual vocalizations of the character as being based on "a couple of big dumb announcers I knew."

''Futurama'' was renewed by Comedy Central as four direct-to-DVD films broken into 16 television episodes. West reprised his roles for these films, and has been signed on for a new 26-episode season of ''Futurama'' which began airing in June 2010.

Movies

Perhaps West's most notable film work came in the 1996 movie ''Space Jam''. Starring alongside Michael Jordan, West provided the voice of both Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. West reprised the roles of Bugs and Fudd in subsequent Looney Tunes feature-length films and returned as Fudd in the theatrically released ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action''.

In 1998, West starred in the direct-to-video film ''Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island'' as Shaggy Rogers, becoming the second person to portray the character (the first being Casey Kasem). He was one of the top contenders to replace Kasem after his retirement in 2009, but lost the role to Matthew Lillard.

In 2000, he provided additional voices in Disney's ''Dinosaur''.

In 2004, West voiced the classic character Popeye in the 75th anniversary film ''Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy'', and made his live-action film debut in Mark Hamill's ''Comic Book: The Movie''. He also appeared in a cameo in ''Garfield: The Movie''.

Other films featuring West's vocal talents include ''Joe's Apartment'', ''Cats & Dogs'', ''Olive, the Other Reindeer'', ''TMNT'', ''The Proud Family Movie'', and three Tom and Jerry direct-to-video movies.

Other media

Radio

Throughout the 1980s, Billy West provided character voices on Charles Laquidara's ''Big Mattress'' radio show on Boston's WBCN. West was also one half of the award winning WBCN Production team from 1980–1986.

From 1989 through 1995, West provided ''The Howard Stern Show'' with character voices such as Jim Backus, Lucille Ball, Raymond Burr, Connie Chung, Sammy Davis, Jr., Doris Day, Louis "Red" Deutsch, David Dinkins, Mia Farrow, Larry Fine, Pete Fornatale, Frank Gifford, Kathy Lee Gifford, Mark Goddard, Bobcat Goldthwait, the Greaseman, Rudolph Giuliani, Jonathan Harris (as Dr. Zachary Smith), Leona Helmsley, Shemp Howard, Lance Ito, Elton John, Jay Leno, Nelson Mandela, Jackie Martling (as the Jackie puppet), Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, Al Michaels, Billy Mumy (as Will Robinson), Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor, Maury Povich, Soon-Yi Previn, Marge Schott, Frank Sinatra, Rae Stern (Howard Stern's mother), George Takei, Joe Walsh, and Robin Williams until eventually leaving the show over money. West was an occasional contributor to ''The Adam Carolla Show'', a syndicated morning radio show that replaced Stern's show on CBS in LA.

On February 19 and 20, 2007, ''The Howard Stern Show'' ran a special two-part retrospective of West's work with the show. It marked his first work with the show since leaving after his last show on November 1, 1995.

On June 9, 2009, West appeared on Jackie Martling's ''Jackie's Joke Hunt'' on Stern's satellite radio channel Howard 101.

Commercial television

Billy West was the announcer of the program ''Screen Gems Network'' which ran from 1999–2001. He was also the promotional announcer for The Comedy Channel before it merged with HA! to become Comedy Central.

Over his career, Billy West has voiced multiple characters in television commercials.

These include (but are not limited to):

"Red", the plain/Milk Chocolate M&M; (1996–present) (after Jon Lovitz departure from the role in 1996).

BuzzBee, the honey nut bee for Honey Nut Cheerios.

An alien for Pentium 4.

''Popeye'' for Minute Maid.

''Babe Ruth'' and ''Bruce Lee'' for Brisk Iced Tea.

''A Midget Priest'' for Oxy

''Speed Racer'' for Volkswagen

West voiced the ''Speed Racer'' character in a late-1990s advertisement for Volkswagen, because the commercial's producers could not locate Peter Fernandez, the original voice of Speed. However, the producers did locate Corinne Orr, the original voice for both the "Trixie" and "Spritle" characters.

Video games

West's talents have also extended into the realm of video games. Characters most notably voiced by West are perhaps Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in numerous Looney Tunes video games.

Other video game characters voiced by Billy West include:

A police officer on the radio of ''Need for Speed: Undercover'' (2008)

Stimpson J. Cat in ''Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots'' (2007)

Dr. John Zoidberg in ''The Simpsons Game'' (2007)

Additional voices in ''Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly'' (2002)

Sparx in ''The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night'' (2007)

Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, and Dr. John Zoidberg in ''Futurama'' (2003).

Ninja in ''I-Ninja'' (2003).

Nash and Zam in Crash Nitro Kart (2003).

Murfy in ''Rayman 3'' (2003).

Murfy in ''Rayman Arena'' (2002).

Muttley and L'il Gruesome in ''Wacky Races'' (2000, 2001, 2008).

Some voices in Mad Dash Racing, for the Xbox in 2001.

Voice of Red, the red M&M; in ''M&Ms;: The Lost Formulas'' (2000).

Buster Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures: Toonenstein

Atomic Bomberman in Atomic Bomberman

Emilio Baza in ''Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned''

Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd in ''Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time''

Music

West is also a guitarist and singer-songwriter with a band called Billy West and The Grief Counselors. They've released their first album, ''Me-Pod''. West has toured as a guitarist for Roy Orbison and Brian Wilson.

In 1982, West sang lead, doing an impersonation of Mike Love, on a Beach Boys-inspired tune, "Another Cape Cod Summer This Year," by studio band ROUTE 28, written and produced by Erik Lindgren on his Arf! Arf! Records label.

West has collaborated with Deborah Harry & Lou Reed, Los Lobos and played live on several occasions with Brian Wilson, including the guitar solo on the Beach Boys tune "Do it Again" on ''Late Show with David Letterman'', in the mid 1990s.

Internet entertainment

He also provided voices for the Eric Kaplan-created webtoon ''Zombie College'' as well as voicing two characters in ''Tofu the Vegan Zombie''.

Personal life

West was abused as a child by his father, and had problems with substance abuse as a young adult. He has been sober since the age of thirty-five.

Billy West is a vegan.

Selected filmography

{| class = "wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class = "unsortable" | Notes |- | 1988 | ''Felix the Cat: The Movie'' | additional voice | Voice onlyAnimated film |- | | ''Doug'' | Doug Funnie (1991–1994)Roger Klotz (1991–1994) | Voice onlyuntil sell of series to Disney.Animated series |- | | '''' | Stimpson J. "Stimpy" CatRen Hoek (1993–1996)Mr. Horse (1993–1996) | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1993 | '''' | France Bug | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1996 | ''Earthworm Jim'' | Additional Voices | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1996 | ''Joe's Apartment'' | Ralph Roach | Voice only |- | 1996 | ''Space Jam'' | Bugs BunnyElmer Fudd | Voice onlyLive-action/Animated film |- | 1997 | '''' | Tex AveryFreddie the FlySagebrush Sid | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1997 | ''Cow and Chicken'' | Additional Voices | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1997 | ''I Am Weasel'' | Additional voice | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1997 | ''Project G.e.e.K.e.R.'' | GeeKeR | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1997 | '''' | Show announcerHarvey the Wonder Hamster | Television series |- | 1997 | ''Extreme Ghostbusters'' | SlimerMayor McShane | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1997 | ''Space Goofs'' | Additional voices | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1998 | ''Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island'' | Norville "Shaggy" Rogers | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | | ''Histeria!'' | Chit ChattersonBugs BunnyElmer Fudd | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | | ''CatDog'' | Rancid RabbitMr Sunshine | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1999 | ''Invader Zim'' | Zim | Voice onlyAnimated seriesUnaired pilot only |- | 1999 | ''Mad Jack the Pirate'' | SnukJon LeFeetadditional voices | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1999 | ''Queer Duck'' | Bi-Polar BearOther characters | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1999 | ''Detention'' | Emmitt Roswell | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1999 | '''' | Woody WoodpeckerWally WalrusSmedleyDoug Knutts | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 1999 | ''Olive, the Other Reindeer'' | Mr. Eskimo | Voice onlyAnimated television film |- | 1999 | ''Rayman: The Animated Series'' | Rayman | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | | ''Futurama'' | Philip J. FryProfessor Hubert FarnsworthDr John ZoidbergCaptain Zapp BranniganRichard Nixon's HeadAdditional characters | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2000 | ''Baby Felix'' | Felix the CatAdditional characters | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2000 | ''Poochini's Yard'' | PoochiniWalter WhiteMr. GarveyLockjaw | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2001 | ''Horrible Histories'' | StitchNarratorvarious | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2001 | '''' | George KlimerAnita BidetAdditional characters | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2001 | ''Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' | Various characters | Voice onlyAnimated film |- | 2002 | ''Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring'' | Freddie | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2002 | ''Crank Yankers'' | ConfuciousMoo Shu | Voice only |- | 2003 | ''Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' | Elmer FuddPeter Lorre | Voice only |- | 2003 | ''Duck Dodgers'' | Mother Fudd | Voice only |- | | ''My Life As A Teenage Robot'' | Principal Razinski | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2004 | ''Comic Book: The Movie'' | Leo Matuzik | Direct-to-videoLive-action |- | 2004 | ''Garfield: The Movie'' | Dog | Voice only |- | 2004 | ''Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy'' | PopeyePappy | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoComputer-animated film |- | | ''Loonatics Unleashed'' | Electro J. FuddSagittarius Stomper | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2005 | ''Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars'' | Major Biff Buzzard | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2005 | '''' | Board MemberCab Driver | Voice onlyAnimated television film |- | 2005 | ''Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry'' | Biff BuzzardPresident of HollywoodSquirty | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | | ''Firehouse Tales'' | Snooty-TootieAdditional characters | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2006 | ''Curious George'' | Manager | Voice onlyAnimated film |- | 2006 | ''Squirrel Boy'' | Kyle Finkster | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2006 | ''Queer Duck: The Movie'' | Bi-Polar Bear | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2006 | ''Zombie College'' | SkullyGraham | Voice onlyWeb series |- | 2006 | ''Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas'' | Bugs BunnyElmer Fudd | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2007 | ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)'' | AnchormanJersey DevilVarious characters | Voice only |- | 2007 | ''Futurama: Bender's Big Score'' | Philip J. FryProfessor FarnsworthDr. ZoidbergZapp BranniganRichard Nixon's HeadAdditional characters | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2008 | ''Random! Cartoons'' | Finster #1Pilot #1Johnny Space GuySpace ThugMoobeard | Voice onlyAnimate series |- | 2008 | ''Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs'' | Philip J. FryProfessor FarnsworthDr. ZoidbergZapp BranniganRichard Nixon's HeadAdditional characters | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2008 | ''Futurama: Bender's Game'' | Philip J. FryProfessor FarnsworthDr. ZoidbergAdditional characters | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | 2009 | ''Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder'' | Philip J. FryProfessor FarnsworthDr. ZoidbergZapp BranniganLeo WongRichard Nixon's HeadAdditional characters | Voice onlyDirect-to-videoAnimated film |- | | ''Jungle Junction'' | Ellyvan | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2010 | ''Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes'' | Tom | Direct-to-video Animated film |- | 2010 | ''Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated'' | Gunther Gator | Voice only Animated series |- | 2011 | '''' | Elmer Fudd | Voice only Animated series |- | 2011 | ''Mongo Wrestling Alliance'' | Various | Voice onlyAnimated series |- | 2011 | ''Eric Kaplan's Sketch World'' | Additional voices | Voice onlyWeb series |}

See also

The Magic Behind the Voices

References

External links

Interview with Billy West on CNBC (Youtube)

Interview with Billy West on Talk Radio Meltdown

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:Actors from Michigan Category:American voice actors Category:American guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American vegans Category:Futurama Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers bg:Били Уест de:Billy West el:Μπίλι Γουέστ es:Billy West fr:Billy West it:Billy West ja:ビリー・ウェスト no:Billy West (stemmeskuespiller) uz:Billy West pt:Billy West ru:Уэст, Билли sq:Billy West sr:Bili Vest fi:Billy West sv:Billy West uk:Біллі Вест