Eric Kaplan: At Futurama we write the show on the model of how the Simpsons is written. That is a writer writes a script and then the whole staff spends several days re-writing it: adding jokes, making individual lines funnier and sometimes changing the plot. I have written three episodes so far (Hell is Other Robots, Why Must I be a Crustacean in Love, and Bicyclops Built for Two) but when I am not out writing my own script I am part of the group re-writing other scripts. We all also re-write scripts at various stages in the animation process and that's part of my job as well.

Brian: Who is your favorite futurama character? Why?

Eric: My favorite Futurama character is Dr. Zoidberg because he is the all purpose comedy crab; he is all of us; he looks weird. When I interviewed for this job and saw the picture of Dr. Zoidberg (long before the first episode aired) I desperately wanted to work at Futurama.

Brian: Do you write all of the episodes or just some?

Eric: See answer to qu. 1.

Brian: What can you tell me about the season 2 episodes. And can you tell me about some of the season 3 episodes?

Eric: We continue to keep a balance between episodes on Earth and episodes in outer space. We learn more about Zoidberg, Hermes, the Central Bureaucracy, and what happens to old people. In season three we play with time, space and the human mind. The human race comes up against an adversary whose modes of thought are so alien they defy comprehension. Season Three is very hush hush.

Brian: How long have you been writing episodes for TV (or any other media)?

Eric: I have been writing for t.v. for about three years. I started off as a writer for Late show with David Letterman and then moved out to Los angeles and went to work for Futurama. In highschool and college I wrote plays and magazine articles for the Harvard Lampoon and Spy Magazine.

Brian: Did you do any writing for The Simpsons, or any other shows?

Eric: I've never written for the Simpsons although many of our writers have -- Ken Keeler, David Cohen, Jane O'Brien, Patric Verrone, Tom Gammil and Max Pross, and Matt Groening to name a few.

Brian: Where do you get your inspiration?

Eric: I think the best Futurama ideas combine a cool science fiction premise with some satire or funny commentary on our world. So I try to do that. Sometimes there's a science fiction idea that seems cool (e.g. what if somebody's brain got full of ants) and I try to find some human situation where that would seem interesting, funny and emotional. Sometimes it goes the other way -- there's a personal situation (being cheated by somebody, or feeling lonely) and I or the other writers try to find a science fiction way to express it. So if somebody's father yells at them because they don't do their chores, we might do an episode about Fry not cleaning up a chemical waste spill and then being castigated by an enormous flying space cockroach, millions of miles in length that is able to control your self-image with it's psionic mind.

Brian: What is your favorite episode and why?

Eric: I can't pick a favorite. But excepting episodes I wrote myself I like the Fry's roommate episode because it combines science fiction with an emotional story, and the upcoming episode where the crew goes fishing because it is so totally crazy.

Brian: Where do you think of the names for the "extras"?

Eric: For example Morbo sounds scary and the planet Trisol has three suns.

That is an Ultimate Futurama EXCLUSIVE. Thanks to Eric for his time!