Futurama is a series that was created in March of 1999 by Matt Groening (The Simpsons) and David X. Cohen. The series ran 88 episodes spanning 5 seasons and 4 straight to DVD movies were also released. Futurama has always been a fan favorite and to the dismay of those fans, the series was canceled in August of 2003. Many people may wonder why the series was canceled with all of the fans, there are many reasons as to why the series was canceled with the biggest reason being the ever changing time slot. At times Futurama would appear at 8pm and then other nights, without warning, would be placed at a much later 9:30pm time slot. The terrible time slot management ended up being the shows downfall. The good news now is that after 7 years, Futurama will make its return to cable TV, on Comedy Central. I urge everyone to watch this series as it is a brilliant show with great comedy. In celebration of Futuramas return, we’re going to count down our favorite episodes!
5. The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Play Things (Season 4 Episode 72)
What made Futurama amazing to many viewers, was the strong character development. In the devil’s hands are idle play things, Fry gets the devils hands in order to play a holophone to impress Lela. What many fans have appreciated is the relationship between Fry and Lela, with Fry always chasing a girl that sees him as a friend. There are times where Lela expresses an interest in Fry and those moments are usually interrupted or ruined by Fry. With Fry gaining the ability to impress Lela, he quickly sets off to write an opera about her. Halfway through the opera, the devil returns to reclaim his hands from Fry. The chain of events leaves Fry without the devils hands and he cannot complete the opera. Even so Lela asks him to finish the opera after everyone leaves. This was the last episode in the series, so fans never got closure on the relationship between Fry and Lela. At the end of this episode, it was clearly a service to the fans showing Lela and Fry may someday be more than friends.
4. Roswell That Ends Well (Season 3 Episode 51)
This episode is well remembered by most for winning an Emmy award. The crew accidentally travels back in time to just before Fry’s grandfather and grandmother meet. The events lead to Zoidberg becoming a military experiment and Fry becoming his own grandfather! This episode is a ton of fun to watch and really showcases the creativity that Matt Groening had when writing Futurama.
3. Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV (Season 4 Episode 60)
After a robot malfunctions on the show, All My Circuits, Bender applies for the spot. After getting the job, Bender doesn’t like being left out of the lime light and does what he can to become the center of attention on the show. This leads to him drinking and smoking to look cool on TV and soon kids begin emulating his actions. This leads to complaints from parents and eventually the fox network shows up. What made this episode so great, was the fearless approach Matt Groening took to ripping the Fox Network. He presents the network as a bunch of robots who make their decisions by rolling dice. Many people speculate this episode actually made the Fox Network angry and helped lead to the downfall of Futurama, there is no proof however that this is the case.
2. The Luck Of The Fryrish (Season 3 Episode 36)
When Fry finds out that his brother was a renowned astronaut, entrepreneur and lead singer in a band all because of the luck that Fry’s 7 leaf clover brings that Nancy stole, Fry becomes angry and goes to investigate. In this episode, we find out a lot about Fry’s past and what happened after Fry was frozen. This episode is really touching and has a great ending that leads to Fry being remorseful for everything he said about his brother. If you have to watch one episode before the 24th to catch up, make sure its this one.
1. Amazonian Women In The Mood (Season 3 Episode 33)
After Leela, Amy, Kiff, and Zapp are all stranded on a rain forest planet, they are taken prisoner by large amazonian women. Fry and Bender attempt to rescue them, only to be captured themselves. This episode is one of the more side splitting, with all the characters showing great humor as they come together in a battle of the sexes. This episode was viewed as sexist by many women and at one point was almost banned. If your looking for an extremely funny episode that may offend your girlfriend, check this episode out right away.
Futurama returns Thursday June 24th at 10pm. The premiere will be a 1 hour special and from what creators are saying, will pick up right where the last movie left off.
