Futurama is coming
to a close this summer. I should probably admit that when it first aired in
1999, I didn’t instantly love it. I watched the first four episodes, and it was
okay, but I went on vacation, missed a couple of episodes, and wasn’t that
upset about it. Then, I started watching the show again when it was airing on
Adult Swim. It was flippin’ funny! I have since gotten seasons 1-6 on DVD (but
have only watched all the episodes of seasons 1-4). While I will go through the
rest, the list that follows is my favorite episodes of the first 4 seasons.
If you haven’t seen these episodes… spoiler alert? I go into
detail about the endings in a few summaries.
And on one final note, it was hard to put a number order to
some of them, because there are just so many good ones! I do have a favorite of
the series, which of course is at number one, but all the titles on the list are
ones I love. So, without further adieu:
Top 11 Favorite Futurama
episodes
11. Leela’s Homeworld: We find out what Leela really is and
where she came from. The montage at the end showing how her parents cared for
her is touching.
10. The Problem With Popplers: After discovering a new “edible” life form,
Leela’s in hot water when it turns out the snack is really alien babies, and she
ate them first.
Best line: “Dude, my hands are huge! They can touch anything
but themselves!”
9. Love & Rocket: Bender falls in love with the Planet
Express Ship, then gets bored with her after a week. This does not make her
happy, and she goes all HAL from 2001: A
Space Odyssey on the crew. Fry’s ongoing feelings for Leela lead to a
couple of sweet moments, including trying to find the perfect conversation
heart for her, and switching out his oxygen tank for hers when Leela’s gets
low.
8. Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch: (Exactly What It Says On The
Tin) Kif and Amy continue their relationship, then Kif gets pregnant (Leela
being the biological “mother”). I love
that one of the babies has one eye, just like Leela.
7. Anthology Of Interest II: Bender wonders what it would be
like to be human (which is both disturbing and hilarious), Fry wonders what
life would be like if it were more like a video game, and Leela dreams up her
own Wizard Of Oz scenario, with a
twist (“There’s no place like I wanna be
a witch!”)
Best line (one of the best of the series, I believe): “You
watched it, you can’t unwatch it!”
6. Three Hundred Big Boys: A $300 tax rebate is given to the
people, and each of the crew has their own way of spending the dough. My
favorite is Fry’s goal of drinking 100 cups of coffee. The glowing and slo-mo
after the final cup are the funniest things.
5. Roswell That Ends Well: The Planet Express crew travel back in time (thanks to a combination of a supernova and Fry putting metal in the microwave), and Fry meets the man who he believes is his grandfather. He tries to protect the guy so he can, ya know, be born, but it doesn’t turn out so well.
So many good lines: “Ohh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. ‘I'm My Own Grandfather’!”, “Doy! Some idiot must have put metal in the microwave--.”/”Yo!”, and the horrified scream from Fry once he realizes what he’s done ;)
4. Parasites Lost: Another great ‘Fry tries to woo Leela’
episode. After eating an egg salad sandwich from a gas station bathroom (which
Leela refers to as a “toilet sandwich” –love), Fry gets worms. Intelligent,
city-building worms. They start to make Fry a better person, including giving him
the ability to play the Holophoner (which only a few people can play). As much
as Leela likes the new Fry, she needs to know whether it’s him or the worms
talking.
Best lines: “Listen, this is gonna be one hell of a bowel
movement. Afterwards, he'll be lucky to have any bones left.” and “Wait a
minute, man!” (This one is all in the delivery)
3. The Sting: While on a mission to collect space bee honey,
Leela and Fry get stung, with Fry receiving a lethal dose of venom. Leela
starts to lose her grip on reality, believing Fry to still be alive because she
sees him in her dreams. All the while, she keeps hearing Fry telling her to “wake
up”. I find this episode to be emotional and very well-done. When you watch it
a second time, you pick up on things you didn’t before. The ending is very
sweet.
Best line: “It got through, Fry. It got through.”/”You could
really use a shower.”/”So could you.”
2. Jurassic Bark: While visiting a museum featuring items
from New York a thousand years ago, Fry comes upon his old dog, Seymour. He
plans on cloning the dog, much to Bender’s chagrin. Flashbacks show how they
met, hung out, and how Seymour was the only one who knew what happened when Fry
was frozen. Finally, upon learning that Seymour was actually 15 when he died,
Fry reasons that the dog most likely forgot about him and moved on with his
life. The ending montage is heartbreaking.
Best line: “’Walking On Sunshine’ sucks noodles!”
1. The Luck Of The Fryrish: Although there are many
great episodes of Futurama, I guess I would call this one my favorite. In
flashbacks, we see the relationship between Fry and his older brother, Yancy.
Fry once found a 7-leaf clover that brought him extremely good luck, and Yancy
was jealous. In the future, while on a trip to find it, the gang happen upon a
statue of Yancy with the clover, claiming him to be “Philip J. Fry, the first
man on Mars”. Fry believes his brother stole his clover, name, and dream. In a
touching flashback, it turns out that Yancy gave the clover to his son, and
named the baby “Philip J. Fry II”. The icing on the cake is the song “Don’t You
(Forget About Me)” at the end.
Well, there you have it. Are any of these episodes on your
list of favorites? J
