User talk:Tomchapin83

Futurama
I understand your confusion.

When a television show is produced and made, the people making it write the story with the intention of it being told in order. Plot lines and and stories often depend on the order in which something is aired.

Sometimes the episodes are scrambled when they are broadcast. They may skip a regular scheduled show because a live broadcast ran long, or for any other reason the episode might have been broadcast out of order.

Much like the order of the episodes, the number of episodes in a season have a meaning. A season ending cliffhanger isn’t exactly a season ending cliffhanger if it’s in the middle of a season, it’s just a: to be continued…

with Futurama, several episodes were notably aired out of order and make the progression of the story somewhat confusing. I was recording these episodes to watch later as they were broadcast and I was always busy at airtime. There were some confusing episodes because some episodes were skipped and aired later, while others were aired too soon and advanced the storyline, but jerked back to the previous storyline with the next episode.

Additionally, we know that the writers had jokes or messages that took years to come out or decipher, and that they did not spoil them. Changing the pattern of production could ruin these, if they exist.

As such, with at least respect to Futurama in Wikipedia, the episodes are put in, and kept at, production order according to the production code they were given when being made and delivered to the broadcaster.

That’s why production code is listed directly under written by in the Wikipedia page for every episode.

You mention people who own the DVDs. I do own the DVDs, and I bought them as they came out because I really enjoyed the show, and at the time that was the best way to view them in good quality. On my copy, Godfellas is in Volume 3, Episode 20.

The real problem came in with streaming platforms. With the only backup being physical copies, things were pretty straightforward. With digital assets, the rights holder could do whatever they wanted, and with Futurama, they did.

For whatever reason, they changed season numbers. The original first season of Futurama had 13 episodes, and ended with Fry and the Slurm Factory. IMDB lists it as 9 episodes, ending with Hell is other Robots. Season two aired with 19, IMDB lists 20, etc… This coincides with HULU’s listing and the way they chose to present the episodes.

IMDB used to list the episodes by original airing season until the streaming platforms changed it, then they changed their numbering system as well. With IMDB, there is no permanence, they will change to reflect the current rights holder’s preference.

Wikipedia is more of an encyclopedia. Encyclopedias are reference materials, not periodicals or newspapers. Although periodicals can become references, their main purpose is to report what just happened, what is said about it, and what will happen. It is not uncommon for them to get things wrong at first and have to issue corrections. Periodicals’ main purpose as reference materials is to refer to as what was reported at the time, and as a citation to what happened, when, if that ends up being factual.

Reference materials are not supposed to report the latest news for what will happen, they report what happened, when. Despite it’s many failings, and many errors caused by accident, potential influence, and malicious intent; Wikipedia is supposed to be a reference. Incidentally, that is why cultural references that are pretty obvious are not included, as with a reference there must be documentation elsewhere or the reference is merely speculation.

With a reference, the information has to be stable. When Hulu stops carrying Futurama and someone else picks it up and decides to change the episode count to an even 16 episodes per season, a reference should not change.

IMDB is somewhere between a reference, a newspaper and a TV Guide. It is more mobile, announcing projects that are intended, and even listing things that an actor has sighed on to but that have not yet begun filming.

When you have a hard copy of something, like a magazine published during Futurama’s original run, and you look up Wikipedia, it will agree with the contemporary physical copy.

These are the reasons Wikipedia is based on original production schedule rather than airing schedule, and why each entry has the inline notes “ Please do not change. Production order, not airing order, is used here. “ and “ Please review List of Futurama episodes before changing “. These notes are hidden from the main page and only visible when an edit is attempted specifically to keep things stable with so many people coming around to edit things.

Google searching the episode Godfellas brings up both Wikipedia and IMDB at or close to the top. Doing so in Hulu directly brings up the episode. If you go to IMDB to find out which physical DVD volume it is in, you will be confused. As you have found out, the other way around is also a bit confusing.

There are many instances of Wikipedia failing on it’s mission to be a historical, factual record, but the nature of political influence sometimes wins out over the historical record where it can be changed. It’s why physical old books, journals and periodicals can be so valuable, they make it impossible to fully erase history when physical reality exists.

In short; Wikipedia references history, contemporary documentation, and physical proof; IMDB references changing conditions and potentials and weights them over historical sources.

I hope that helps somewhat. SausageMcFlurry (talk) 13:21, 5 May 2024 (UTC)