An Early Idea For Futurama Had Characters In The Most Ridiculous Clothing

One charming aspect of early "The Simpsons" seasons is how janky the animation looks. Season one of the show was a marked improvement over the animated shorts that buttressed "The Tracey Ullman Show" commercial breaks back in the '80s, but it still looked pretty funky compared to the series that airs today. Back when "Futurama" premiered almost 25 years ago, however, the show actually looked pretty good. Matt Groening's second major TV project debuted with a relatively clean animation style that took advantage of 3D rendering to deliver a hybrid 2D/3D style that set the aesthetics of "Futurama" apart from "The Simpsons."

Of course, as with any TV series, initial designs weren't quite the same as what we eventually saw on-screen. For example, an early design for Bender gave him three antennas, gloves, and Bart Simpson's clothes. What's more, certain elements of the pilot episode would end up being phased out as the show moved forward, demonstrating that while "Futurama" certainly didn't have the same jankiness as "The Simpsons" when it first started, it was still very much finding its feet in terms of visual style when it first aired back in 1999. One example comes in the form of an idea from Groening himself, which never made it past the very first episode of the series.

"Futurama" has always had a distinct look, with the animators even devising a specific name for their unique color scheme. But back in 1999, those animators were still trying to figure out the look of the series, even after the pilot episode.

In the book "The Art of Futurama," director Rich Moore explains how the look of "Futurama" was created. Moore, who as well as working on "The Simpsons" went on to direct "Wreck-It Ralph," "Zootopia," and "Ralph Breaks the Internet," recalled how original designs for the citizens of New New York were based on an idea from creator Matt Groening which never made it past the pilot episode. As the director put it:

"These were some of the oldest original designs we did for the show, going back to the pilot. One idea Matt had was that people walk around in transparent body sleeves with censor bars, but I think it's only in the pilot. We were still trying to figure out the look of the future."

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The designs can indeed be seen in the pilot episode of "Futurama," "Space Pilot 3000." When Fry first ventures out onto the streets of New New York after waking up in the future, he takes in his surroundings and two citizens wearing the transparent body sleeves and wrist sensors can be seen passing behind him. But these designs never returned again, proving that everything in "Futurama" wasn't set in stone from the get-go.