While Gavin was away on tour, Jess and Jeff had an opportunity to talk with Heather Labonte from Teletoon. In this episode we explore Star Wars fandom, “May the Force be with Katie“, and the pitch returns with a surprising results. We also geek out over our favourite retro shows and some upcoming news about Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Download: GeekNerdDork Cast – Episode 7 (90.9 MB, MP3, 106:08)
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Big thanks to our friend DJ FINISH HIM for providing the title track to the podcast.
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We're back, baby!

So it’s old news that Futurama has been brought back from the dead and has new episodes on the way featuring the entire original cast, but what many people might not know is one critical detail: it’s back on the air this Thursday, June 24 at 10 p.m. EST on Comedy Central.

That’s soon.

Unfortunately, for our readers in Canada, little is yet known as to the scheduling of Futurama north of the border. As a show whose roots were predominantly international (as opposed to a show like, say, Family Guy, whose viewership was principally North American), this fan would expect any aversion to international release would prove less digestible to the network than, well, Pig Pink Gum “The only gum with the breath-freshening power of ham!” Nevertheless, here is the first 90 seconds of the season 6 premiere entitled ‘Rebirth’ for fans anywhere from Helsinki, Finland to Tucson, Arizona. It should adequately whet any whistles that have been dulled by, in this opinion, a weak crop of animated comedies held up only by Venture Bros. and Ugly Americans.

So what do you, the dork, need to know?

For starters, if the 90 seconds linked above is any indication, what one might call “the old Futurama” is indeed back. The four DVD movies (Bender’s Big Score, The Beast With a Billion Backs, Bender’s Game and Into the Wild Green Yonder), as much as they tried, were not the same formula that made Futurama a hit. All were definitely passable movies, much enjoyed by yours truly, but they were fan movies. They were not created to make new fans. The timing was very different, quite possibly because they were 80 minute movies and not 22 minute episodes, but also because the show had just evolved through a rocky 4th season that had many episodes created from ideas otherwise left on the cutting room floor. And we can all blame FOX for that one.

But those 90 seconds… I have seen their ilk before. There is a crispness to the dialect that hearkens back to seasons 1, 2 and 3. It is as though the writers and creators have had time to sit back and let their brains stew on the subject again – instead of being forced to churn out quality product – creating a fresh take on old Futurama, a take which has all the signs to indicate it is a success. Below is a picture from episode 603, which was assistant-directed by Aimee Steinberger and posted on her blog.

Fry likes... Oprah?

David X. Cohen recently revealed that plots for individual episodes have been waiting in the wings ever since the kernel of possibility of renewal arose, saying “One thing that was beneficial to being off the air for a while was that society generated a few story lines for us.” New ideas galore. Twenty-six news episodes have been ordered by Comedy Central, and with Futurama fandom still running high after years off the air, it is not hard to imagine a season 7. Cohen also downplays the squabble between the voice actors and the studio, saying he and co-creator Matt Groening just tried to keep everyone happy. You can read his entire interview with Entertainment Weekly right here.

Here’s a summarizing plot list:

-iPhones and Twitter of the year 3000

-Robosexual Marriage (Robot-Human)

-The Garden of Eden

-A Time Machine That Only Goes Forwards

-Decency Censoring Space Probes

-Leela’s Inner Mutant

-Head-in-jar forehead-licking hallucinations

-And naturally, a Comic Con episode.

We should note that the episode about the Garden of Eden is called “In-a-Godda-da-Leela” and features Leela and Zapp Brannigan as Adam & Eve. It airs after “Rebirth” at 10:30 on Thursday. It’s a double-header!

Now, we all know premises and McGuffins don’t make a show – sensible storytelling, ridiculous/relatable characters and clever jokes do – but these sound promising. And we’re going to assume it will be many long years before Futurama has to start using 5 plots an episode to fill 22 minutes like it’s little brother also by Matt Groening. Maybe you know the one?

So spread the word! Emigrate to America! Grab a beer and hunker down in front of the internet waiting for an American comrade to upload the new episodes for us poor shmoes who do not get Comedy Central. Another classic science fiction show brought back… and it’s about time!

You read it. You can’t un-read it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

What a delicious little send up of Michael Bay and company.  Sadly this is not a real film(SHOCK!), but in a few years when the studios start to run out of 1980′s kids cartoons to defile, I’m sure we’ll eventually see a My Little Pony movie.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra comes out this summer from director Stephen Sommers. Sommers; creator of such cinematic gems as Deep Rising, The Mummy 1 & 2 and Van Helsing, has resurrected 60′s action figure and 80′s cartoon G.I. Joe as a summer blockbuster in the mold of these films. By in the mold of these films, I mean to say G.I. Joe will be terrible.

“Why won’t you give this movie a chance Will?”, you ask.

Instead of justifying that question with an answer, I will post my response as a picture after the jump.

I’m not saying that the original G.I. Joe cartoon or comic books were without fault—quite the contrary—they were hilariously jingoistic, warmongering and juvenile.  But man, the Joes could blow shit up and fire thousands of rounds of ammunition at Cobra without actually killing or wounding anything with the best of them! That has to count for something.

At least the original Cobra Commander looked semi-badass in both his forms: one with a hood and the other with a silver faceplate.  Cobra Commander’s iteration in the upcoming Stephen Sommers movie is just laughable as we can see in this leaked action figure photo. He looks like Skeletor from the 1980′s live-action He-Man movie starring Dolph Lundgren. Utterly horrible design, and yet another reason I won’t see G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra this summer or ever.  Really? Rise of this guy?!  Whoa, I just shit my pants.

Think about your favorite cartoons from your childhood. Now remember when they suddenly got better.

Discuss

Click here to view the embedded video.