You’ve seen the trailer – now watch the finished film! Dan Lanigan and his friend Martin Meunier began work on a Futurama fan film in 2014, and the finished work is finally here.

Using a blend of computer animation, practical effects and even puppetry, Lanigan and his friends have brought memorable characters to life.  This live-action Futurama fan film called Fan-o-rama from Cinema Relics that will either impress you or maybe freak you out a bit. You can find out more about it and watch the video below. Be sure to pause the SCIFI.radio music stream while you do so. Two sound sources at once can be very confusing.

In the year 2014 one man, Dan Lanigan, in addition to other men, and some women, set out on a quest to become the first person in his family to create a live-action Futurama fan film. He is now regarded by most of his immediate kin as the foremost authority on the subject. This is his story.

Of course, he was far too lazy to do it alone. Dan sought out the greatest mind/ego of his age, Martin Moonwalker Meunier to help him invent new technologies, techniques, and recipes to bring the visual realism sorely lacking in the cartoon. He signed on the attractive Kody Frederick to star, help write and produce, as well as add the sex-appeal sorely lacking in the cartoon. He engaged his niece, Katie Lanigan, to act, help produce, and add the nepotism sorely lacking in the cartoon. He activated the legendary Garzatron, a synthetic being capable of carrying on 16 conversations at once with himself, to help design and build stuff. Adam Cook was raised from the dead in accordance with ancient Swedish prophecy to help produce. Dan secured the musical genius, Eric Diaz, a talented singer-songwriter, to make costumes. He brought aboard Andy Klimczak so he wouldn’t be the only fat guy on set. He also acted and helped write.

With the team in place, he was ready to make history: future history.

The film is about half an hour long, and it all begins with Bender trying to cheat his way into winning a lifetime supply of beer.  The most significant feature of the fan film, though, is that it only tells half the story. Perhaps it’s a jab at the network execs who cancelled Futurama in the first place, or satire on the television industry itself, but the film basically ends on a cliffhanger. After that there’s a cameo by a pantsless Zapp Brannigan, xannonce played by none other than Vic Mignogna – and strangely, about fifteen minutes of continuous footage of the Hypno-Toad (which really is hypnotizing to watch, for about 30 seconds).

Will they finish the story? It’s not clear today, but they might. They have certainly proved they can, and Fan-O-Rama is a tour de force demonstration of creative and technical ability. Watch and enjoy – though you may want to skip the fifteen minutes of Hypno-Toad…

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