Futurama 1889

[Laflin and Rand]

So I had this sweet idea. Don't expect me to follow through on it any time soon but I'd like to do the Futurama cast as Space 1889 characters in miniature form. That's complete with an ether flyer by the name of the Galaxy Express.

Anybody have any recommendations for miniatures to use?

Here's what I'm picturing.

Fry would, of course, be from the past. I'm not exactly sure from what point in history just yet. A thawed out caveman would be funny.

Leela would be an adventurous lady with an eye patch. Shouldn't be too hard.

Bender is just too easy.

Professor Farnsworth. You know, I'm having a real hard time finding a mad scientist mini that would be appropraite.

Zoidberg would make a great lizardman witch doctor. Maybe. There aren't any crabmen in the setting.

Amy. Could probably find a mini out of a Boxer Rebellion range.

Hermes. Need to find a portly clerk of some sort. A bank teller from a Western range maybe.

I already have Nibbler. He's an immature Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Ideas? Suggestions?

[Hauptgefreiter]

Sounds like a very interesting project. For Zoidberg, something cthulhu-like would be appropriate, me thinks... 

[rob_the_robgoblin]

Excellent!

Yeah, definately go with a cthulu monster for Zoidberg.
You must remember that Zoidberg isn;t a very GOOD doctor.

For the professor, what about the Scientist from Hasslefree, but with the old man knight's head?

Though you would have to VSF it up a bit and give him slippers.

[white knight]

how about the heresy dr frankenmuller for the professor?

[Mad Carew Snr]

 
Great idea!

"Good news everybody..."

[Pentaro]

What a good idea!

I like how it sounds. Fry could be a caveman found inside an iceberg. Zoidberg would be great as a lizard with slippers and a stethoscope. Leela was born in the sewers of NY - who lives underground in your setting? And you must have Zapp Brannigan: Eureka's not-Flashman, with a Martian servant perhaps?

[Laflin and Rand]

The only subterraneans are Moon Men and Selinites (or should I say sublunarians, subselinites?). A former sewer dwelling NY street urchin is very Victorian! Good idea.

Zapp would make a good (or should I say, a very bad example of?) British naval captain. Eureka's Flashmanalike was the first thing that came to mind too (though, then he would be in the cavalry). Kiff is a tough one. No alien would be allowed in the Royal Navy. Hell, not even Australians were.

[fastolfrus]

The RN are quite open minded at times - they'd probably allow aliens, perhaps as observers at first (quite a lot of IJN officers went through Dartmouth naval college), but you can understand the reluctance about Australians :~}

[Pentaro]

Make Kiff a Briton then - but a short one. There's fewer planets in your setting so you can't have as many aliens as in the TV show. Even Amy comes from Mars in the series!

[Heldrak]

If you're going to be internally consistent, then your 1889 Fry should probably be a peasant from the Dark Ages (circa 889) rather than a caveman, as the future Fry is frozen on new year's eve, 1999 and he wakes up in the year 3000.

I love the concept, but I think the problem that many people have doing conversions of this type is that the figures that they make don't bear enough of a resemblance to the characters that they're supposed to represent.

If you're going to carry through with the project, I think that you need to make sure that the characters have the iconic elements that brand them as themselves. One thing that Matt Groening has said repeatedly is that a good character design should be recognizable in silhouette, without any facial features visible. That being the case, I think you need to make sure that your Fry has his trademark two-pronged upward flip hairdo, Leela has her pony tail, Bender has his antenna, etc.

Another way to point up the similarities is to use the character's iconic colors (Fry's red jacket, white shirt and blue pants, for instance) applied to clothing that's appropriate to the time period (thus a medieval Fry might have a white smock, blue leggings and a red cloak).

[JollyBob]

This is a brilliant idea. I really want to see it. 

For my 2p, Fry should be the crappest Viking ever. 889AD is still within the time frame for them, isn't it? Frigurd? I dunno, summat like that.

I second White Knight, Dr Frankenmuller would make a good Professor. He even looks like he's saying "Oh, my, no..." 

[Heldrak]

I second White Knight, Dr Frankenmuller would make a good Professor. He even looks like he's saying "Oh, my, no..." 

While there's nothing wrong with using the Dr. Frankenmuller figure to represent an 1889 Professor Farnsworth, in line with my earlier advice I would remove his hair, build up his nose, make his glasses more coke-bottley and consider giving him the Professor's trademark bedroom slippers...

When you go to paint him, don't forget the professor's turkey neck and liver spots either...!

[JollyBob]

Oh aye, I meant as a base and with some conversion work. Sorry, I just assumed we were all talking about the same thing and failed to make myself clear.