LOS ANGELES - Pretty much anything can happen in the year 3000, where Futurama resided on Fox for five hilarious seasons ending in 2003.

Now, thanks to Comedy Central, Futurama is back to its old new tricks on Thursday nights through Sept. 9.

This, as Professor Farnsworth often says in his quavering tone, is surely "Good news, everyone!"

The animated sci-fi comedy follows the life of Philip J. Fry, a dimwitted New York pizza-delivery boy who, by a quirk of fate, was cryogenically frozen in 1999 and thawed 1,000 years later in the reconstituted city of New New York.

There, Fry landed a job with Planet Express Intergalactic. The package-delivery company is owned by Farnsworth (who, at 160 years old, is both a scientific genius and batty) and employs Bender, a sarcastic robot-reprobate; Dr. Zoidberg, a lobsterlike alien who serves as staff physician; and, perhaps most notably, Leela, a sexy, kickboxing mutant with a single large eyeball with whom Fry is hopelessly smitten.

Futurama was created by Matt Groening and developed with David X. Cohen, an executive producer.

A few months ago, Cohen was presiding over his cast of voice artists in a soundproof Hollywood studio as they recorded the dialogue for a future episode.

The ensemble included Married ... With Children star Katey Sagal, who voices Leela. Also on hand were John DiMaggio (Bender), Phil LaMarr (Hermes), Lauren Tom (the spoiled, spiky-haired intern, Amy) and Maurice LaMarche (fielding seven supporting roles in the day's script).

But first among equals was Billy West, whose seemingly limitless repertoire includes Fry, Farnsworth and Zoidberg, as well as the preening, cowardly starship captain, Zapp Brannigan.

"We fool around a lot and we make each other laugh, and that promotes a good energy in the room," West said. "That's what puts me in the mood."

"It's like a disjointed radio show," said Sagal, "except with big breaks, because these guys, as you can tell, are very funny."

It's part of the charm for a team that voiced about 70 Futurama episodes, then four direct-to-DVD movies (carried by Comedy Central) - then, years later, reunited yet again for the reborn series.

"When you've worked with each other for as long as we have, it all comes naturally," DiMaggio said.

As Groening's big follow-up to The Simpsons, Futurama was always overshadowed by his brilliant first-born.

Futurama premiered in March 1999 after Groening and Cohen, already a veteran Simpsons writer, had spent years contemplating what a sci-fi cartoon show should be like.

"I think Matt zeroed in on me as the nerd of the Simpsons writers," Cohen recalled, "although many people on that staff could have easily qualified.

"I got very excited, because my background was as an actual science student. I studied physics and computer science. I've always been very interested in science - and also science fiction."

The pair spent a lot of after-hours time hanging out, Cohen said, "talking about our favorite stuff in sci-fi, and what could we parody, and what could we outright steal."

They also decided to factor in a hearty measure of character-oriented humor.

"Maybe the character is a robot; maybe he's a giant lobster," Cohen said. "But, underneath, we wanted them all to be people the viewers could sympathize with. We wanted to base our stories around actual emotions and themes that viewers could relate to."

Even so, LaMarr argues that most animated shows are just cartoon comedies, "but I think it's the sci-fi element that separates Futurama."

That, plus a bit of twisted realism, imparted especially in the urban world of New New York.

"Unlike The Jetsons," LaMarche noted, "you actually see our sidewalks."