Futurama: Complete Collection 1999-2009 gathers all 72 episodes aired over five seasons on Fox between 1999 and 2003, as well as the four straight-to-DVD movies unleashed between 2007 and 2009.
The series has as its head writer one David X. Cohen, who got a degree in physics from Harvard (where he was editor of the Lampoon) and a masters in computer science from Berkeley before he began writing for “Beavis and Butthead” and “The Simpsons,” back when “The Simpsons” was great.
If you don’t think this show hilarious I suspect you haven’t seen the right episodes. This box will rectify that.
A non-WGA Canadian drama co-greenlit by CBS and CTV as the writers were threatening to strike, “Flashpoint” follows the Toronto PD’s Strategic Response Unit, a SWAT-like team tasked with hostage situations and the like. The series’ most famous players are Canadian Enrico Colantoni (“Veronica Mars”) and American Amy Jo Johnson (“Felicity”).
I saw and didn’t hate the slightly strange pilot, which plays like a more thoughtful version of the short-lived Fox drama “Standoff.”
Johnson, the original pink Power Ranger, is now 37 and improbably alluring in bulky body armor as she hauls around a sniper rifle not much smaller than she is.
… This grim drama about the members of an elite police unit kicks off with a supercharged hostage scene straight out of a Tony Scott film. But from there, it's strictly small-screen sameness with bargain-bin characters …
… has an appealing modesty that survives its bouts of aesthetic overexcitement -- the occasionally lurching camera, hammering soundtrack, the sentimental pop song laid over the last couple of minutes as the principals silently end a long, hard day. However extravagant the production becomes, the actors stay grounded. …
… goes through the motions quite competently and respectably. But it is nonetheless merely re-creating crime-series moves we've all seen many times before, with only the faintest afterimage of originality. …
… benefits from the sturdy presence of Enrico Colantoni as its easygoing sergeant, but the premiere mostly fizzles with what amounts to a minor hostage situation and its prolonged aftermath. …
… a perfectly competent police procedural right down to its convincing weaponry and tactics. However, based on the pilot, it isn't particularly fresh or inventive. …
Wow, I say! Beyond containing a song about showrunners, “Stop Making Sense” has nothing to do with TV, but I was sent a copy of its Blu-ray edition (hitting shelves today) and had to say its stunning long shots makes it a spectacular match for the HD format.
For those unfamiliar, “Sense” is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest concert films ever forged (Rolling Stone called it THE greatest, and I’ve no inclination to disagree). Shot in 1983 over three December nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre, it captures a wildly visual rock concert performed by a band of enormous charisma and power working with an amazing series of songs. A quarter-century later I’ve still seen nothing like it. It’s so good it may have even killed the whole concert-film genre!
If you’re not a Talking Heads fan (the band broke up nearly two decades ago, so I imagine its non-fans are legion), there is every likelihood “Stop Making Sense” will turn you into one.
1999 COMMENTARY:
Bandleader David Byrne, guitarist-keyboardist Jerry Harrison, drummer Chris Franz, bassist-keyboardist Tina Weymouth and director Jonathan Demme. Learn the titles and poster text were inspired by the titles created for Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” as well as signage Byrne photographed at churches, stores and repair shops. Learn the long opening shot of Byrne’s shoes and the cassette player was a cheat, and not actually filmed during a concert. Learn that the cassette player was only a prop; the recorded drums were actually on a tape played by the fellow at the concert’s mixing board. Learn that “Psycho Killer” was the first song the band ever wrote, back before they were even calling themselves Talking Heads. Learn that “Psycho Killer” was inspired by the work of Alice Cooper. Learn that Byrne created his “stagger dance” by mimicking the work of Fred Astaire during the “I Left My Hat In Haiti” segment of the 1951 musical comedy “Royal Wedding.”
Learn that an offstage Lynn Mabry sings the backing vocals on “Heaven.” Learn that the touring show had to build the set for the sound check at each venue, then tear it back down so it could be built back up during the live show.
Learn that Franz’ “Stop Making Sense” drumkit now resides at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Learn that “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” was inspired by a doo-wop song before Byrne gave it its wildly infectious galloping beat. Learn that Byrne used to work as a theater usher during the band’s early days. Learn that Byrne dressed in a suit during the band’s earliest days but quickly abandoned the practice (due to laundering issues) until the “Stop Making Sense” tour.
Learn that Byrne is left-handed even though he plays a right-handed guitar. Learn that “Found A Job” is about a couple who save their marriage by founding a TV production company.
Learn that dancing vocalist Edna Holt was asked to get a 12-hour hair weave so she’d better resemble fellow vocalist Mabry. Learn that the staging of the concert was in place when Demme saw the band at Hollywood’s Greek – before he approached the band about making a movie.
Learn that “burning down the house” was a phrase Byrne heard chanted at a Funkedelic concert (featuring Bernie Worrell, who played keyboards on several Heads albums and is a member of the concert’s band). Learn that new wardrobe was purchased for Worrell, who likes to wear a lot of purple, so he wouldn’t distract from the concert’s generally muted color scheme. Learn that Byrne doesn’t think the lyrics he wrote for “Burning Down The House” make a lot of sense.
Learn that most of the equipment was painted black to focus attention on the band members. (Which worked brilliantly.) Learn that Baader Meinhof and Patty Hearst and the SLA were inspirations for “Life During Wartime.” Learn band members were fans of disco and the line “this ain’t no disco” comes from a banner a club manager hung at one of the band’s early venues. Learn the jogging in place during “Wartime” began as an improvisation but grew into a formalized component of the concert. Learn Byrne endorses use of the concert as an exercise video.
Learn shots of the audience were largely eliminated out of concern that they might be perceived as too manipulative. Learn movie audiences often behaved as they would at a concert, applauding at the end of songs and sometimes dancing. Learn that at the film’s first public screening at the San Francisco Film Festival Demme got into a argument with the theater’s manager because the audience began dancing in front of the screen and the manager wanted to halt the screening, citing safety concerns. Learn that Bernardo Bertolucci told Demme it was his dream to see people dancing in front of one of his movies.
Learn that the lighting (from below) on “What A Day That Was” was created for the movie, and that it reminded Weymouth of Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream.” Learn that the lighting during that sequence was intended to cast the huge, sharp shadows at the back of the stage. The ghoulish appearances of the band’s faces was a welcome bonus.
Learn that ambient light normally made it difficult to clearly project the giant slides during “This Must Be The Place.” Learn that most of the body parts projected belong to Byrne and then-wife Adelle “Bonnie” Lutz. Learn the floor lamp Byrne dances with was expensive and custom-made; it was considerably taller and brighter than a typical floor lamp. Learn bulb-breakage was not unusual during a performance.
Learn that “Once In A Lifetime” was inspired by radio preachers. Learn the band was exposed to these preachers as they drove around the South during their first, 1977 tour. Learn that Byrne’s arm-chopping move came from a Tokyo street dancer.
Learn that the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” was never intended to be performed live. Learn that Mabry and Holt were not fond of the outfits they wore during this segment. Learn the tour employed two semis and three buses. Learn the size of the stage (60 feet wide and 40 feet deep) made it impossible to take the show to many venues.
Learn that Byrne got the idea for his famous “Girlfriend Is Better” “giant suit,” which featured padding around his shoulders and hips, came from a fashion designer he visited in Japan. Learn that the suit did not fit in closets and required a special hanger.
Learn that Al Green never released “Take Me To The River” as a single. Learn that the song was the band’s first top-40 single.
Learn that “Crosseyed and Painless” was never a single and never that popular but made for a good encore because it was fast. Learn that a production of “The King and I” followed the “Sense” shows at the Pantages. Learn that lighting the audience during the first night of filming made for one uptight audience.
STANDARD-DEFINITION EXTRAS:
* “1999 Press Conference” (65:57) The band reunites for the first time in eight years to greet the press as “Stop Making Sense” celebrates its 15th anniversary with a screening at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Chris Frantz reveals he just bought a DVD player. Jerry Harrison’s flip-phone rings and Byrne notes they’re not in the 1980s now. Byrne recalls Demme had just come off a very difficult experience directing the Goldie Hawn-Kurt Russell project “Swing Shift.” Weymouth, oddly, does most of the talking.
* Three Bonus Songs: “Cities” (3:43) & “Big Business”/“I Zimbra” (7:39) All are presented in muddy SD with old-school 4:3 cropping and no commentary. They do, however, present energetic performances of monstrously infectious music.
* “Byrne Self-Interview” (4:35) Adopting a robotic speech pattern and wearing the big suit, Byrne is interviewed on the topic of “Stop Making Sense.” His interviewer is himself disguised as a woman, a black man, and old man, a metalhead and a nasally fellow with a mustache and a loud yellow suit.
* “Montage” (3:08) Something resembling a lengthy (and effective) trailer.
* “Trailer” (1:50) A preview touting the 15th anniversary 1999 re-release. Very similar visually to “Montage,” but utilizing only “Once In A Lifetime” for audio.
* “Storyboards.” A series of stills comparing the film’s full-stage storyboards to full-stage shots from the film itself.
* “Big Suit.” Two pages of text explain how the idea of the Big Suit came about. It offers little that’s not on the commentary track.
* “Previews” (5:52): Trailers for the rockumentaries “Patti Smith: Dream of Life,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and “Dig.”
gathers all 72 episodes aired over five seasons on Fox between 1999 and 2003, as well as the four straight-to-DVD movies unleashed between 2007 and 2009.
