This season of Futurama has been swinging for the fences and truly delivering on its promise to bring us a “non-stop onslaught of swaggering space pirates, lab-grown meats, sexy scams…” and more. We don’t know about you, but we were absolutely obsessed with Season 14, Episode 3’s spoof of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride. But Futurama is just getting started when it comes to the House of Mouse. It’s Nerdist‘s extreme pleasure (and delight) to bring you an exclusive clip from Futurama Season 14, Episode 4 that mashes up Futurama and Steamboat Willie in one incredible musical parody scene. In the August 17 episode of Futurama, “Lords of the Ring,” the crew crash-lands in a world inhabited by intelligent rats… And what better celebration of intelligent rats is there than getting our Steamboat Willie on? You can check out this exclusive Futurama clip below.
Exclusive Clip: Futurama Meets Steamboat Willie in Season 14, Episode 4
Whistle a happy tune! Don your rat ears, nose, and whiskers prosthetics! Then sit back and enjoy this hilarious parody mash-up of Futurama and Steamboat Willie. It’s pure Disney delight… with a few Futurama twists, of course. Steamboat Willie may have wished he could swear in his heart, but he probably wasn’t doing it AS colorfully as Steamboat Leela. We’re also totally obsessed with Philip J. Fry’s whistling abilities, 10/10. And, of course, Bender was born to be a part of the Steamboat Willie ensemble. 10/10. Honestly, that was so much fun; we have to watch it again. Futurama, this Steamboat Willie parody sequence might be your best one ever.
Bill Odenkirk and Crystal Chesney-Thompson Break Down the Futurama x Steamboat Willie Mash-Up
But don’t take our word for it. Futurama writer Bill Odenkirk and director Crystal Chesney-Thompson share with Nerdist how this Steamboat Willie parody came to life. Odenkirk notes, “The idea came from our head writer, the brilliant David X. Cohen. Discussing the story development of the episode, David saw a moment to insert this homage to the classic cartoon. The sequence fit with the story of the Planet Express crew attempting to pass themselves off as rats in the lab-rat world. It fit but was a bit of a stretch given that the rat/mouse disguises the crew put on would probably fool no one. But perhaps the highly intelligent rats are also highly nearsighted as well.” And who doesn’t want to be fooled by a fun musical adventure?
Digging deeper into the heart of the Steamboat Willie and Futurama mashup, Odenkirk adds, “We wanted the whole Futurama sequence to immediately “read” as a lighthearted parody of Steamboat Willie, so the design rendered in black and white was an obvious place to start. The steamship’s dancing smokestacks echo the original short as well. We also wanted to mimic the “cycled” movements of the characters as was often the style in these old, animated shorts, so we had the crew stand repeating the same bouncy gestures in unison. Fry at the wheel of the steamship basically repeats Mickey Mouse’s dancing and actions as well… Given all this, if viewers were at all confused by what we were playfully imitating, they were probably asleep or recently born.”
Meanwhile, Chesney-Thompson adds, “As a fan of classic animation, I was thrilled to get to pay homage to Steamboat Willie. The design of the steamboat itself was heavily influenced by the stylized simplicity of black-and-white cartoons. We even gave the boat bouncing smokestacks, merrily emitting puffs of smoke in time with the music. We animated the characters with more ‘rubber-hose’ style movement and bouncy cycles that are reminiscent of the old music-driven shorts. Fry’s animation, in particular, very carefully reflects Mickey Mouse’s iconic dance at the helm. To top it all off, the entire sequence is rendered in black and white, to drive home the vintage look.”
The Steamboat Willie parody of it all also let some of Futurama’s characters behave in ways they may not ordinarily… While keep true to the core of them, of course. Odenkirk notes, “Fry at the helm of the ship runs counter to our general understanding that Leela is the ship’s captain and Fry is a seat-filler. About the only character who acts in accord with their personality is Bender, who buries the entire scene in a cloud of cigar smoke at the end. He has a very big personality, as we know.”
But, of course, we do get Leela’s iconic angry fist going. Chesney-Thompson notes, “While most of the characters dance together in old-timey, jaunty style. Leela and Fry, play out another homage to classic animated shorts, when his cheerful whistling causes his cute little rat teeth to hit Leela, and she responds with the quintessential angry fist shaking. At the end, Bender, in classic Bender-fashion, puffs smoke in time with the music, eventually cover the entire crew… and the entire scene.”
The scene was also specifically meaningful for Chesney-Thompson because it drew from something close to him. She notes, ” This homage was particularly special to me due to its roots in my personal inspiration as an animation artist.”
But the best part of Futurama‘s take on Steamboat Willie, “The absurdity. The episode is built around a densely layered backstory bordering on the Baroque. The addition of this needless parody of Steamboat Willie, along with a departure from our usual design style, bordered on the Rococo. Or should I say “Ro-coo-coo”? No, I shouldn’t say that. Please forget I said that.” (Please forget he said that!) “Anyways, I simply love the nonsense of it. We are having fun with the absurd nature of the crew’s adventure and hoping the viewer will welcome this reprieve from the otherwise deadly-serious themes of our show about talking rats in a space ring world.”
Futurama’s Intelligent Rat Concept Art From “Lords of the Ring”
In addition to this exclusive Steamboat Willie parody clip, we have more looks at the creation of the intelligent rats that inhabit the world of Futurama, whose main form of transportation happens to be the Steamboat. Check out this cool Season 14 concept art of Dr. Verminus, a character who meets the cast when they crash-land on his planet. The other rat in this concept art is Dr. Pestia…a colleague of Verminus. We smell a rat! Or two! But salute the name “Verminus.”
Futurama season 14 airs weekly, Mondays on Hulu. Tune in on August 17 to catch Futurama‘s Steamboat Willie parody fun.
The post FUTURAMA Goes STEAMBOAT WILLIE In Our Exclusive Season 14 Clip appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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