Good news, everyone! Futurama is back (again), with new episodes currently airing on Disney+ in Australia every Monday. I’m very happy to have more Zoidberg in my life. And the other characters, too, I guess. But as we find ourselves in this strange new world of “More Futurama Episodes,” let’s figure out the best episodes of the show’s past. (Will any episodes from season 11 someday make the cut? Only time will tell!) Futurama first aired on FOX from 1999 to 2003, then returned via Comedy Central from 2008 until 2013. And while the later seasons were good, the best episodes were from that initial four-season run.
What was the method used for selecting these best episodes of Simpsons creator Matt Groening’s other animated hit show? Well, it was very complicated and involved many steps and lots of science. But then I simply gave up and just picked the 10 best episodes. Easy stuff. Oh, and then I added “Jurassic Bark” because it’s a great episode worth including, sure, but also: If I left it out, I’d get arrested by the Futurama fandom police. And they are brutal.
With all that out of the way, let’s start this thing. Here are, in no particular order, the 11 best episodes of Futurama:
“Roswell That Ends Well” (Season 3, Episode 19)
The best Futurama episodes were those in which the writers were able to squeeze a hundred or more jokes and gags out of one idea. And in this season 3 episode where the crew gets sucked into Earth’s past, the writers leave no stone unturned in having fun with the 1950s era and setting. And yes, Fry has sex with his grandma and becomes his own grandfather. It’s funny for sure, but also becomes an important plot point later on.
“When Aliens Attack” (Season 2, Episode 3)
Any episode that features Lrrr, ruler of the distant planet Omicron Persei 8, is good. But “When Aliens Attack” devotes an entire episode to the cantankerous leader, elevating it in the process. Lrrr is angry over not getting to see the final episode of his favorite Earth TV show: Single Female Lawyer. What happened? Well, Fry is to blame. (He usually is the problem in the show.) But don’t worry, Bender can perfectly sing the show’s theme song, so they can trick Lrrr and recreate the show’s last episode. Probably.
“A Fishful of Dollars” (Season 1, Episode 6)
You know, I tried anchovies as a teen because of this episode. In the show, Fry discovers his old bank account from the 90s is still open in the year 3000 and the small amount of change he had in it has, thanks to interest, grown into billions. He spends the money on a tin containing the last anchovies in the world. Shenanigans ensue, and he loses his money, but eventually, he eats the fish instead of selling them for a ton of money. Oh, and I had the same reaction that the rest of the crew had when they tried the fish: disgusting!
“Leela’s Homeworld” (Season 4, Episode 2)
For the first three seasons of the show, it was assumed that one-eyed space captain Leela was an alien from a now-probably extinct race. However, in this episode, it’s revealed that she’s a mutant and her parents lied about her origins so she could live on the surface while they lived in the sewers. (This plot point was first hinted at in a random crowd shot in Season 2 because the writers of this show were wild.) What really makes this episode stand out is the end, where we see how her parents secretly cared for her. Is that dust in my eyes?
“The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings” (Season 4, Episode 18)
Because of how many times Futurama has been canceled or almost canceled, the writers have had a few different chances to craft series finales. The first of these is still one of the best, featuring Fry making a deal with the robot devil so he can play a perfect opera for Leela using a strange and hard-to-play instrument. In the end, Leela and Fry share a sweet moment only when he betrays the Devil and uses his own (unskilled) hands to play a simple song for her. Shit, more dust in my eyes.
“Jurassic Bark” (Season 4, Episode 7)
As you can tell by now, Futurama is a show that doesn’t mind making its viewers cry a bit. It’s a key reason why the show works, as jokes are funnier when they feature characters we actually care about. And in Jurassic Bark, the show doesn’t hold back, revealing at the end that Fry’s own dog waited around for him after he was frozen, dying in the process. I swear, I need to dust my office more. Got more of it in my eyes. (And no, I don’t agree with the retcon that happens later. It’s okay for stuff to be sad.)
“Fry and the Slurm Factory” (Season 1, Episode 13)
While Futurama was never afraid to get serious, sad, or dramatic, it was still an animated comedy about weird aliens and idiots. So when the show got zany, it really went for it. A great example of this is in the show’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory parody episode, featuring weird alien worms, addictive soda, and one cool dude who dies partying. It also features an addicted and out-of-his-mind Fry pointing out that he could squeeze through a sewer grate and drink more Slurm if he just “didn’t have these damn arms.”
“The Why of Fry” (Season 4, Episode 10)
Unlike The Simpsons or, really, any other animated sitcom, Futurama had an ongoing story and lore that the writers built up over the years through tiny clues and foreshadowing. And in this season 4 episode, many of these various plot points and hidden clues get tied up and resolved. For example, remember when Fry had sex with his grandma and became his own grandad? Funny, but also, it apparently changed his brain and made him immune to the attacks of a race of brain-destroying aliens.
“The Problem with Popplers” (Season 2, Episode 15)
Oh hey, look, Lrrr from Omicron Persei 8 is back. And this time the people of Earth have been…eating his unborn children after a fast food company discovers the babies and sells them as chicken nugget-like snacks. Whoops! Also, this episode contains one of my favorite Zapp Brannigan moments, where Leela tells him to explain his “plan” to “Wingus and Dingus” and he does exactly that. Perfect. No notes. Hilarious.
“Where No Fan Has Gone Before” (Season 4, Episode 11)
I admit that, as a major Star Trek fan, this episode featuring the cast of the original series is easy to love. But I’ve shown this episode from season 4 to non-Trekkies and they laughed just as hard as I did at the jokes involving the cast of the show getting stranded on a planet ruled by a super, god-like alien who is also a big fan of Star Trek. Poor Welshy, though, he didn’t deserve to be zapped like that.
“Godfellas” (Season 3, Episode 20)
Futurama at its best didn’t just make you laugh or cry, it also made you think. The show was filled with nerdy math jokes and thoughts about sentience and humanity. And one of the best examples of an episode that stuck with me long after it aired was “Godfellas.”
In it, Bender is shot into space and, due to the lack of gravity or friction, is stuck flying into the void forever. But after he crashes into a meteor, a group of tiny aliens starts to develop a civilization on his back. Bender starts to play God, screws everything up, and then eventually meets a being that might be God. (Or an alien probe that crashed into God.) There, the powerful being tells Bender that being God is hard and that, “When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”
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And that’s our list of the best episodes of Futurama. Of course, I reserve the right to change this post if any of the new episodes from the upcoming season are good enough to be added here. In the meantime, let us know which episodes are your favourite in the comments below!
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