Comments on: Futurama: Fox Replacing Voice Cast; Angers Fans and Other Actors

By: Poala

Poala — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:45:33 +0000

Oops I meant in the name of saving a buck!
Cheapskates!

By: Poala

Poala — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:43:30 +0000

I find it totally offensive to replace talented voice actors who brought life to lovables characters in the same of saving a buck. I’m not a voice actress but I respect them and I’m sick of our country downplaying the value of voice acting talent.
You can’t just replace voice actors at the drop of a dime. The voice actors and actresses play a role in breathing life into the characters and choosing the wrong voice actor ruins an otherwise lovable character.
If I was a voice actress and I happened to be really good heck yeah I’d want a salary increase.

By: OrangeCrush

OrangeCrush — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:32:02 +0000

Fox, lol. This is a perfect example of the intellect that is Fox Studio. These people bring the meaning of the word greed to a whole new level. They wound up coming to an agreement with the original cast but then again this was most likely their plan all along. Anything to make a couple extra bucks. At this point nothing Fox does surprises me. This is a studio whose greed is only outdone by their own idiocy. Actually the professor sums it up best when he rips Fox a new one in the opening of first movie. Its so funny because its so true.

I actually envision Fox meetings to be much like the chimpanzee exhibit at my local zoo. Actually that’s kind of insulting to chimps.

By: Shaunoez

Shaunoez — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:06:14 +0000

God dammit, i am so sick of fox trying to make as much money as possible
futurama is one of the greatest shows ever made, it trumphs simpsons, family guy and southpark, im really wishing fox would get their heads out of their asses and just fork over the cash, futurama outsells most other tv shows for dvd sales, your money will be made back..

I need futurama back..
too many good shows are being cancelled, and all these crap ones continue on.. its ridiculous

By: big futurama fan

big futurama fan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:30:41 +0000

To use new voices would be like leaving a message over a month after the last message, whats the point? If Billy, John,Katie,Tres, Phil, Maurice and of course
Lauren and the other great voices werent there, I would loose all respect and all interest in the show. This show has been a family favourite since the first show and I dont want to watch a show this clever because the voices are what makes the show. Good Luck actors we hope your voices stay!!!!

By: Fighter

Fighter — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:55:56 +0000

They changed the latinamerican voices for the movies and it was COMPLETELY AWFUL. I didn’t not watch more than half of one and I did not buy the dvds, they were HORRIBLE. So I got used to the english voices… but if they do this, the show is dead for me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:17:03 +0000

Won’t watch without original actors!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:35:52 +0000

This would be retarded. Have you ever watched the first few episodes of your favorite show after you’ve been watching it for years? They’re horrible. The timing’s off, the voices sound funny, the characters are undeveloped. You liked them at the time, but that’s because you didn’t know the characters or the show yet, just like the actors playing the characters. As time went on, the timing became more natural, the actors came to know their character and became more comfortable performing them and became the characters that you loved. Replacing the core actors of characters you’ve known for 10 years would be like watching those first episodes again, but without the knowledge that it will become the show you love, rather with the knowledge that they are not and will never become those beloved characters.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:27:37 +0000

Well, according to the current status of the “Would you watch it?” poll, only 9% of the people who voted would watch new episodes if the actors are replaced. Seems like incontrovertible proof that they should not be replaced.

So here are FOX’s choices:

A. Correct the budget, pay the correct actors what they deserve, retain their fanbase, have a successful show and make much more money than the salary differential, or
II. Replace the actors with sound-alikes (not perform-alikes), “save” a couple bucks, lose 90% of their fanbase and have a phenomenal failure on their hands.

Hmmm, tough choice.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:26:58 +0000

You would have to be mentally retarded to think that Katie Segal, Billy West, John Dimaggio, and Phil LaMarr are replacable. Futurama was character driven comedy. If you fired Gracie Allen and gave George Burns a new wife, would that still have been the same show? If you got rid of Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince of Bel Air, would that…oh wait…nevermind. Point is, you can’t get rid of the actors in a character comedy. The show won’t work.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:28:25 +0000

While I am a huge fan of the show-probably have watched each episode 5 or more times-I think the show should continue. If money is issued – why not offer the cast a % of profits if the show does well.

By: TJStepp

TJStepp — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 22:27:56 +0000

Bender is the only voice they really need to keep.
The show then, and more so now, was very uneven & sometimes frustrating. It seemed unfocused. Societal commentary? Just being silly in a science fiction setting?
The set up for Futurama made for gigantic canvas. Show never really seemed to know what to do with it.
The Jetsons & Futurama both take place in the year 3000. I always thought it would be cool if some kind of crossover story took place and Bender and Rosie hooked-up.
I could see Rosie being the dominate one in an attraction of opposites sort of thing.
Oh well………. A fan can dream….

By: albino

albino — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 09:03:45 +0000

keep the original voices……….cuz I said so

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:27:24 +0000

The only thing that I hope this negotiation will bring is that if its settled, viewership will hopefully rise. Again I would rather see Futurama end with Into the Wild Green Yonder than have a new season with replaced voices.

By: splazmataz

splazmataz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:48:29 +0000

I certainly hope that the announcement of voice auditions does turn out to be a negotiating ploy. It’s one thing to change out voices after a few shows or one season. It’s entirely another to change out most of the cast after a total of 10 years passing…..it simply won’t fly. Greed may be accused at both the studio execs and the cast, but if the original voice actors aren’t part of the new episodes, I will not watch even one episode. One comment said we should give the possible new voices a try, maybe they’ll be even better. You are completely missing the point and/or you simply aren’t a real fan of the show to have such a flippant attitude over what the heart of the show is…..you can draw brightly colored pictures and write funny (or not) stories for the pictures, but when you add the VOICES….that’s when the characters are “real”……and when you’ve been listening to those voices for 10 years (7 of them in repeats), NO other voices, no matter how close they sound to the originals, will suffice. I have watched every single episode and the movies. There’s no changing of voice actors that I would accept, short of the actual death of those actors. As for suggesting that the actors need the work…..the only actor who visibly needs the work is Phil Lamarr……who happens to be staying on. Check out IMDB before you insinuate such drivel. All of the actors have remained faithful to the fans all these years with appearances…..despite being cancelled, then not, then resurrected to Adult Swim, then switched over to Comedy Central. Everybody knows that animated shows in general are labor intensive and thus more expensive to create, but those that become successful garner TREMENDOUS profits in the long run. Think about future back-end syndication; think about merchandising; think about Full featured films; think about spin-offs. $75k per episode is really not that much when you think about some past situations with very popular shows wherein cast members threatened to walk unless they got a quarter mil per episode….now THAT’S greed! If at the end of the day 20th/CC decides to eschew a dedicated fanbase in the hopes of garnering a completely new fanbase that hasn’t already been exposed to the show, and therefore will likely NOT re-check it out cause the voices changed, then they will lose LOTS more money in the short-term. Without Billy, Katey et al, the show is doomed to fail. So, to recap, either this is a ploy in negotiating or 20th/CC execs are really, really, REALLY stupid.

“Just HAD to come back for the Crushinator, didn’t ya robot!”

“Good News, Everyone!”

“……I guess I’ll have to listen to idioticness!”

“Bite my Shiny, Metal Ass!”

Keep the actors or cancel the show. None of the above lines will ever sound the same.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:13:50 +0000

#7 is the guy who would cross a picket line

By: chris

chris — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:11:06 +0000

about the question at the end of your article, **** you for even asking that!

By: Dily

Dily — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:41:58 +0000

I watch the show because of the voice actors. Billy West, Katey Segal, and John Dimaggio are very talented, and have excellent chemistry. Their comic timing is perfect. Would you watch Seinfeld if the voices were dubbed by someone else?

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:27:07 +0000

I think judging the voice acting casting decisions before the new, affordable actors have even had a chance to show us what they can do is a bad idea.

If the budget can’t afford Billy and John that’s sad, but I’m not going to condemn two new voice actors, the other old voice actors and all the staff working on the show to failure just because of a natural human resistance to change.

By: billy bob

billy bob — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:38:36 +0000

For example – on the live-action series “Roseanne”. At some point mid-way they replaced the actress that played the older daughter “Becky”. Nobody noticed that 2 similar girls that looked alike and sounded alike were swapped out. they both used their normal voices.

Billy West does the voices for 3 of the 7 main characters – Zoidberg – Fry and Prof. Farnsworth. That is nearly half of the main character roles. All 3 of them are distinctly different (and I promise non of them are Billy own voice).

It is a very difficult thing just to emmulate someone’s normal voice – and it’s even more so to emmulate someone’s alterd voice. And I guarantee you that FOX will not take the time and effort to find replacements that end up having the ability to maintain the vocies themselves.

Katey Sagal’s voice is very specific for a woman. There is no mistaking her voice for anyone else. When she is talking you know it’s her.

The thing is that animation is different from live-action. The voices of animated characters are a part of what makes the character.

What if somehow Matt Stone and Trey Parker were outed from South Park and some Movie Studio decided to hire other voice actors – no one would have watched the show anymore. Cartman has a very distinct whiny voice. The only exception might be Kenny as all there’s no wya.he does is mumble the whole time. but characters like Butters or Tweak or Timmy there’s no way.

The vocie of an animated character is what makes the character come to life.

I for one will not even be curious if the voice actors are replaced. I will not watch the pilot episode or the rest of the series.

One primary reason why the series has life again is because of Katey and Billy and Maurice and Phil and John and Lauren. Without them doing the series or the DVDs the fans would not have given a damn. the only reason we are stoked about the new 26 epsidoes are because of them. They put in a decade of time and effort to the series. They came back after 4 years of moving on and doing other projects and made time in their schedules to do the DVDs. And now FOX is dicking them over.

Forget it! the fans that made the DVDs happen will boycott the new episodes if the actors are replaced. If FOX EVER thought that Futurama wasn’t worth their time – they ain’t seen nothing yet.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:24:08 +0000

I agree with brian, The cast is 50% of the reason why people like Futurama. You couldnt replace Peter of Family Guy or Homer of The Simpsons with similiar sounding voices. These voices are the reason people like the series. Billy West’s Clueless Fry or his wild Zoidberg, or John Dimaggio’s crude “bite my shiny metal ass” Bender. Even Katey Sagal’s strong leader of Leela makes a great character. This reminds me of a few years back when they replaced the dubbed voices in Pokemon, Sure I got used to the new voices but they werent the same as the original. Replacing one actor like Amy or Hermes might work but all he other voices are memorable because of what the actors bring to the characters. They need to make some sort of agreement or the show will be forever screwed up.

By: Alison Videto

Alison Videto — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:07:38 +0000

The original voice actors are well known names that deserve the salary they are seeking. Fox stands to make huge winnings with this show. They should pay the actors accordingly because they [Fox] will undoubtedly reap huge rewards from fan loyalty. Without fan loyalty, they’ll just be sinking their money onto another Titanic. They don’t need yet another failed show. I doubt I’ll be very interested if they re-cast the voices.

By: CJ

CJ — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:17:14 +0000

For the first time in my life I feel like writing an angry letter to them

By: CD

CD — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:27:21 +0000

Fox screwed this up the first time, and they need to suck it up. I’d rather they not bring it back at all if they’re going to disrespect the original cast and the viewers.

By: Brian Mcquaig

Brian Mcquaig — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:53:49 +0000

I’m a die-hard Futurama fan…but if the original cast isn’t there…neither am I. Fox has had it in for this show from the very beginning. They’re just trying to sabotage it. I just don’t get it. It didn’t see a revival from the original airings…it was popular ALREADY…it failed to draw audience because Fox kept ******** with its time slot. You’d never know when the damn thing was on!! Someone has had it out for this show from the start. They need to be crucified, tarred & feathered and staked onto a fireant hill…in that order.