Futurama is back, and now we know in what form. The show will return on November 27th as a full-length high-def film sold on DVD. It will be followed by three additional films, and each film will be divided into four episodes each to be aired on Comedy Central. So, that's 4 DVD movies or 16 new episodes depending on how you look at it.
The panel featured the show's creator Matt Groening and the vocal cast. In the most highly entertaining Comic-Con panel to date, the cast read aloud a promotional comic book created for the convention. The experience was on the meta- side. The case read the comic, which was projected on the screen. The comic satirized the Fox network's decision to cancel Futurama and the ultimate triumph of the nerds in the room whose mighty power brought it back. In the comic, the characters all go to a massive Delivery Services-Con in Space Diego. I'll see if I can't scan the comic and put it online for those of you interested when I return from the Comic-Con.

The remainder of the panel featured the voice cast being generally endearing. John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, explained that his voice is a combination of Slim Pickins in Blazing Saddles, a drunk and a college creation of his called Charlie, the sausage king. Billy West, the voice of Fry and half a dozen other characters on the show, shared his love of Yiddish and vaudeville performers and his friendship with Phil Hartman -- all of which influence his characters' voices.

No other real revelations came out of the panel, but I can tell you that the first DVD - Bender's Big Score - centers around some nudist aliens and the secret to time travel which is somehow attached to Fry's buttock. Expect lots of animated asses actually. Welcome back, Futurama.

Keep your balls away from me.