A Carolyn Premish Mystery

The second episode of the Comedy Central run of Futurama, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela", is credited to a writer called Carolyn Premish -- someone who has no other writing credits, in any medium, before or after this episode, or seemingly any kind of presence anywhere in the world. A further layer of interest is added by the fact that this is one of the three episodes of the show for which Matt Groening receives a writing credit, for coming up with the story with Premish.

Obviously in the years since the episode's broadcast, the phantom nature of the author has led to various theories and mutterings that 'Carolyn Premish' is a pseudonym. That mystery remains unsolved; it appears that late last year a member of the animation crew said on the r/futurama subreddit that 'Premish' was long-serving producer and writer Ken Keeler, but they subsequently retracted their claim and deleted the relevant post, saying they'd got some wires crossed.

The most recent episode of the current Hulu/Disney+ run, though, is "The Futurama Mystery Liberry" -- an anthology episode featuring three shorts done in the style of classic children's mystery literature. The first segment parodies Stratemeyer Syndicate stories such as Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. This segment is credited to David X. Cohen -- and Cohen getting a writing credit isn't nearly as unusual as Groening (he generally has one episode per production season to his name), but it's still notable when it does happen. It'd seem reasonable to assume that nostalgia for those stories runs deep at a high level on the show.

The pseudonym 'Carolyn Keene' was, and is, used for ghostwriters on the various Nancy Drew series and other Stratemeyer series. Using a pen name is a Carolyn Keene style premise. Or a Carolyn premise, if you will.

Look, it's just a theory, don't go putting it on Wikipedia or anything. (I'm not even suggesting that Cohen specifically is the real writer.)

Cliffhangerama

In 2007, Futurama returned four years after being cancelled by Fox, in the form of four direct-to-DVD movies. As part of a deal struck with Comedy Central, these movies would then be chopped up into four episodes each, creating a 16-episode season. There were a couple of differences between the movies and the individual episodes (which have never been released commercially), the biggest of which were the creation of twelve cliffhangers obviously not seen on DVD. Let's find out what they were, along with some assorted other trivia...

The Futurama Title Caption Companion

Inspired by my similar piece for The Simpsons chalkboard gags a few weeks ago, it’s time for a similar look at another show. At the beginning of every episode of Futurama, there’s a humorous caption on the title slide. Don’t take my word for it, here’s an example:

But if you have the DVDs, you’re not getting the full title caption experience. Here, then, is a list of all the known anomalies.

Bender Than Life: Part 2

Welcome to the concluding part of my Futurama/Red Dwarf comparison, split in half because of readability and making the best of my tendency to make these articles probably far too long. Let’s get straight into it with a look at some more classic sci-fi tropes…

Bender Than Life: Part 1

(NB: Somebody else beat me to the title “Futurama Echoes”. Alternative titles include “Stasis Leak Pilot 3000” and “Listerama”.)

In 1988, the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf began on BBC2. The first episode sees Dave Lister frozen in time and wake up in the far future.

In 1999, shortly after Red Dwarf had seemingly wound up for good, the science fiction sitcom Futurama began on FOX. The first episode sees Philip J. Fry frozen in time and wake up in the far future.

Okay, it’s an overly simplistic comparison… but it’s a rather good one to make, as it does highlight the differences and similarities between the two shows.