‘I was so l attered that Matt Groening knew who I was’
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Even with Futurama’s diverse cast of characters – aliens, humans, robots and mad scientists – at heart it is still a sitcom. ‘I guess that was the direction we were heading whether we knew it or not,’ says West. ‘Everyone’s from a dysfunctional family. It’s a dysfunctional world but hopefully you can have a laugh or two and not take things so seriously now and then.’ Much like The Simpsons, there’s a satirical streak running through Futurama: this is a future with suicide booths on street corners and celebrity heads kept alive in jars on museum shelves. And the writers never shy away from complex sci-fi concepts such as time travel anomalies, parallel universes or fourth dimensional space whales. Unfortunately, Futurama hasn’t shared the universal success of its yellow brethren and after four seasons Fox dropped the show. Although Comedy Central picked it up for a further three series, it’s again facing cancellation. However, Matt Groening loves it so much he really doesn’t want to let his space-age sitcom disappear into the void. ‘I know we have another season to air and that’s it, but you never know who might intervene,’ says West. ‘I know they’ve been pitching to online networks: they are becoming viable, lucrative and important now that people are actually watching them.’
Futurama Season 6 is out on Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Blu-ray and DVD, Mon 24 Jun.
STAYING IN
STAYING IN REVIEWS TV, videogames and DVDs to enjoy from the comfort of your sofa TV THE RETURNED Channel 4, Sun, 9pm ●●●●●
Screen zombies have come a long way from the arms- outstretched, murderously drooling, knuckleheaded empty vessels of yore. Even running zombies seem a little old hat now. If you’re going to bring people back from the dead, do it the French way à la The Returned, and just make them normal, regular people with feelings and emotions who just so happen to have wandered back into their loved ones lives with little explanation and a whole heap of confusion. Whether this eight-part existentialist drama will even attempt to tie up any of its loose
ends is unclear, but given the elegant pacing and unsettling atmosphere pervading the whole affair, convenient closure seems most unlikely. The stunning opening couple of episodes feature an identical twin who perished in a horrific bus crash but has returned to freak out her now grown- up sister, while a man who disappears presumed dead on his wedding day is back on the scene to the distress of his former bride-to-be, now living with the sensitive chief of police. Meanwhile, a young boy who doesn’t know how downright spooky he’s being has attached himself to a lonely nurse with heavy scarring on her tummy. Adding to the bewildering tension, a serial killer appears to have risen from the grave that his brother put him in a few years prior and is back to continue his murderous ways. All of which is cloaked in a brooding soundtrack from our very own Mogwai. The Scandics may have thought they had the last word in moody, introspective, highly addictive dramas, but turns out the French have delivered a genuine coup de grâce. (Brian Donaldson)
VIDEOGAME DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS 3D (3DS) ●●●●● DVD BOXSET ARNE DAHL (Arrow Films) ●●●●●
Back in the early 90s, platform gaming was one of the dominant genres, typified by the travails of Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog. Try to go back to that series today, however, and you’ll get a sharp lesson in hateful game design that’s likely to make you remove your rose-tinted spectacles and smash them in frustration.
If you’re still nostalgic for a proper challenge, then this port of the 2010 Wii game could be just the tonic. As Donkey Kong, you must travel across the themed courses around an island, picking up bananas, puzzle pieces and other shiny things along your path.
For a platform character, Donkey Kong is unusually weighty, making travel slightly cumbersome, yet jumping precise. It’s only when direct control is taken away that the difficulty spikes unfairly. Some sections throw Kong around via exploding barrels or minecarts, and the tiniest of errors will set you back to the checkpoint (if you’ve yet reached it as there’s only one per course). But if you balk at quick saves and scoff at regenerating health then this is a breath of old-school rock-hard air. (Murray Robertson)
It’s probably a sign that we’ve just been thoroughly spoilt by the raft of quality TV dramas from Scandinavia that Arne Dahl seems like a minor disappointment. It certainly had all the ingredients to be the next Killing or Bridge: a team of likeable investigators with all their flaws displayed; initially baffling and unconnected crime scenes laced with gore; a lovely north European dialect (Swedish, this time) oozing a liquid class onto our subtitled screens.
But in comparison to those earlier shows,
Arne Dahl’s first season of five murder investigations proves to be a slightly inferior vintage. There’s a fairly unsubtle soundtrack underpinning the action, one or two terrible performances undermine the better acting and some of the case-solving could have been reached in less than half an episode. Often the crimes (featuring the nasty likes of
paedophiles, serial killers, bent cops, old school Nazis, human traffickers) play second fiddle to the ruptured relationships of absolutely every member of the crack A Unit team. Perhaps this is a tacit admission that there’s nothing especially original or captivating in the mysteries which unfold. (Brian Donaldson)
13 Jun–11 Jul 2013 THE LIST 37