The Hilarious Detail You Never Noticed About Futurama's Blu-Rays And DVDs
Fans of the classic animated science fiction series Futurama know that the show's creators absolutely loved adding hidden details in the background of episodes. However, the minds behind the show snuck one more detail somewhere viewers might not expect, the real world.
A picture recently posted via Reddit reveals that the DVD and Blu-ray copies of Futurama have a "30th Century Fox" logo on the box (a play on the fact that the show takes place after the year 3000). On other disc copies of Fox shows, this logo would read "20th Century Fox," but Futurama's odd flavor of tongue-in-cheek has always made it an exception amongst other programs.
This version of the logo also appears at the end of many Futurama episodes, again replacing its usual "20th Century" variant. According to Buzzfeed, show creator Matt Groening (also the man behind The Simpsons and Disenchantment) had to fight tooth-and-nail to have this joke included at the end of every episode. Fox was evidently unwilling to make this exception until Groening purchased the rights to the name.
Fox and Futurama have always had beef
This is not the only time Futurama's creators butted heads with their network. After Fox canceled the show following its fifth season, Futurama returned years later with a series of straight-to-video movies. In the first film, the fictional "Box Network" canceled the main characters' delivery company. As punishment for their incompetence, the network executives responsible for the cancellation were fired by their superiors before being bludgeoned to death and ground into a pink, all-use powder called "Torgo's Executive." Apparently, it's useful for everything from disarming Christmas-themed explosives to feeding severed heads.
After a few more movies, Futurama would return to its standard show format for several seasons. However, it had effectively cut ties with Fox forever. The show lived out the remainder of its run time on the Comedy Central network. This time, there were no premature cancellations, and the creators were able to end the show on their own terms.