FALL 2024 29
FUTURAMA FUTURAMA
20TH TV ANIMATION
This comedy series about a going-
nowhere pizza delivery guy from the
1990s who ends up in the future has
been on for eight seasons across three
networks. It also has eight nominations
and two Emmy wins.
And, at this rate, Crystal Chesney-
Thompson is going to be on Futurama
even when she's just a head floating in a
glass jar. As the Director for the (now
on Hulu) series, she's been with it in
various iterations, starting out on the
(then Fox) series' third season as a
Layout Artist back when computer
technology was so primitive that she
was drawing on paper to coordinate
audio recorded on cassette.
As for the show's staying power, "the
reason we've had so many seasons of this
show is that we've developed this really
iconic design language," she says. She
also credits the writers with "cracking
these scripts that are extremely relevant
and referring to pop culture." The
final element in this winning trifecta?
"It's a story about the future," says
Chesney-Thompson. "We've got this
limitless scope. [And] we just get to keep
designing and adding to this deep library
of [artwork] we've already made."
Futurama
images
courtesy
of
20th
TV
Animation.
8
NOMINATIONS
