Streaming services are a great place to watch old shows. And one of the cool shows that is available on Disney Hotstar today is Futurama. Futurama is perhaps one of the most influential TV shows in my life. Sure, the show finally ended in 2013, but the legacy it left behind will forever live on in memes, pop culture, and, most importantly, our hearts.
Like any other TV shows, Futurama has a bunch of episodes that make up a season. Each season had roughly around 15-20 episodes. And of course, not all of them are great. Some just made it into a passable list, while the rest are carved into the deep recesses of humanity’s psyches.
Futurama follows the adventures of Fry, who happens to be a man from 1999. He accidentally froze himself and woken one thousand years in the future. He found himself working for a delivery company set up by a mad scientist and his sketchy HR managers. As well as the rest of the employees who, well, aren’t so normal themselves. And that is how you construct a formula for great TV. Futurama follows the adventures of these characters from time to time, but the main focus usually is on Fry. Check out the full summary of Futurama here.
Now, I’m sure you’re itching to know what are the best episodes from the show. So for this list, I’m going to go for the best in terms of entertainment, storyline and emotional impact. Futurama has it all. So let’s get right into it
Less Than Hero
Season 4, Episode 4
In this episode, Fry and Leela end up getting superpowers. But not from the faulty super collider bought from πKEA (PI-kea). But from some cream bought by Zoidberg from a commercial. Turns out, the cream cures more than sore muscles. It gives you super strength and speed.
And of course, being the drama queen that wants to be included in everything, Bender follows their vigilante adventures. The episode follows the wacky progression of a superhero show from the 70s. From silly high jinks to even sillier villains, Less Than Hero is a fun episode to watch. The side plot in this episode is about Leela getting her parents a day pass to come up to the surface, since her parents are mutants, and they aren’t typically allowed up there.
Godfellas
Season 4, Episode 4
Perhaps one of the most influential episodes that I’ve watched in my life, Godfellas focuses on Bender’s adventure in deep space. Well, not on his accord. The beloved robot got shot into space when the crew of Planet Express were in the midst of battling space pirates.
As Bender slowly floats into an eternity of space, he realizes that one of the meteor pieces that lodged into his body seems to be teeming with life. A munchkin kingdom. And thus, begins Bender’s ascension godhood.
As the subplot focuses on Fry and the gang trying to find a way to find Bender, Bender goes through problems with his munchkin kingdom, dividing into two factions that hate each other. What started as a way to entertain himself and inflate his ego, Bender finds himself breaking the tiny kingdom with every wish he tries to grant. And with every failed attempt, another faction rises to revolt against the believers of Bender. At the end of it all, Bender meets a God-like figure in the shape of a galaxy, speaking in binary.
Godfellas is an interesting episode highlighting morality and how God archetype fits into the equation of our everyday choices.
The Honking
Season 2, Episode 18
Nothing like a good Halloween episode if you ask me. In fact, instead of turning Fry into a dumb zombie or Leela into a single-eyed vampire, we get Bender, who transforms into a car when the full moon marks the night sky.
We start off with Bender inheriting his dead uncle’s castle, near the Robo-Hungarian empire. And spooky things started taking place in the house, leaving Bender running off into the middle of the night. And just as he thought he was safe, he gets knocked down by what seems to be a car. But in Futurama’s case, a were-car.
Follow the gangs adventure in a typical horror classic fashion. Tracing the origins of the were-car, finding more information about it and then stopping Bender from killing someone. It’s a great parody of the specfic genre that deals with Eastern European folklore and fiction.
Parasites Lost
Season 3, Episode 2
In the future, gas station food is still sketchy looking and Fry ends up eating what seems to be an expired egg sandwich. The story goes on and Fry finds himself injured with a pipe sticking through his guts. But to everyone’s surprise, Fry injuries remarkably heals.
Fry’s body is now infested with parasites, and apparently they have the habit of fixing up the host body. Fry becomes smarter and stronger. And we get to see him articulate his thoughts and feelings to Leela, which he had always failed to.
The question now is, does Leela love Fry, or what the parasites have him into? The gang ends up inside Fry’s body to get rid of the pesky parasite infestation, behind Fry’s back.
The Problem with Popplers
Season 2, Episode 15
In her quest to satisfy her hunger, Leela finds a planet filled with what seems to be popcorn shrimps in small holes. As it turns out, they’re delicious and Leela and crew starts supplying them to Fishy Joe’s.
After raking up good profits, Leela noticed a week-old poppler lying around the headquarters, and it hatched into a small baby alien. Leela begins her crusade of trying to stop people from eating the delicious treat since it is a sentient being that’s able to talk.
To add to the list of problems, the baby alien looks exactly like the aliens from Omicron Persei 8. So you know the gang is in trouble since the ruler of Omicron Persei 8, Lrrr, has been itching to conquer a new planet, or at least another sentient being. And Leela has just given them a reason to come over and threaten the entire planet.
Jurassic Bark
Season 2, Episode 15
This is perhaps one of the saddest episodes in Futurama. And it involves a dog. Fry’s dog that had been somehow fossilized was found in the future. Fry managed to get the fossilized remains back. We get to see glimpses of the past when Fry first met Seymour and how it became an integral part of the Panucci’s Pizza family.
I’m not going to tell you much about what happens here, because trust me, it’s going to hit you hard. Professor Farnsworth finds away to “de-fossilize” Seymour, and Bender gets jealous of Fry getting back his pet and thought he wouldn’t need him anymore.
The 30% Iron Chef
Season 3, Episode 22
Nothing like a good underdog story. And this episode is all about Bender, the underdog cook who ends up challenging Elzar, a chef who operates a ridiculously exclusive restaurant. However, Bender has a huge challenge ahead of him. You see, robots can’t smell. Therefore, innovating new dishes can be an impossible task. And whatever Bender cooks is usually a fatal affair to anyone who ate his cooking.
However, after training with Spargel, the legendary now dead chef, Bender manages to hold his own in the show, Iron Cook against Elzar. So yes, a robot and an alien both duke it out using culinary skills in a show that is a parody of the Iron Chef. And to this episode, may I say, BAM!
Three Hundred Big Boys
Season 4, Episode 16
What’s this? The government is now giving out three hundred bucks to the citizen of Earth? Sounds like it’s too good to be true. Well, eventually it would. But in the meantime, we get to see each of our beloved characters in the show on how they end up spending their money. Bender wants to buy the most expensive cigar, Leela wants to swim with the whales, and Professor wants to feel young again.
And of course, Fry being…well Fry, he decides to spend his money on 100 cups of coffee, which we’ll see him consuming throughout the show and slowly morphing into a full-fledged caffeine addict. In the end, all the characters end up colliding in one giant event in a spectacular fashion. This is a light episode and filled with wacky moments.
The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings
Season 4, Episode 18
Society in Futurama tends to look down at their ancestors of the early days (us, basically) for our lack of sophistication and our out of date thinking. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to present to you, Robot Devil. Yes, in this episode we’ll get to see the Robot Devil, which makes it appearance couple of times throughout the series.
Fry obtained the Robot Devil’s hands to be able to play the holophoner in his attempt to impress Leela. The Robot Devil obviously has some sort of ironic punishment set for Fry, using his loved ones. Although it would seem that Devil Robot has probably chosen the worst candidate to make a deal with, hurting more than Fry himself.
War is the H-Word
Season 2, Episode 17
A ploy to get a 5% military discount ended up with Bender and Fry joining the war against a foreign enemy. And when the army is involved, you can be sure that Zapp Brannigan will make an appearance. The episode takes us on a journey of Fry and Bender going through the army boot camp, as well as Branningan’s level of imbecility when it comes to leading the men and making any call that requires some sort of logic.
And Fry being unfit to be a soldier in any form, we get a surprising character who decides to join the army to keep him safe from actual danger. However, towards the end, Fry finds that war has turned him into a real man. Well, sort of.
Love and Rocket
Season 4, Episode 4
This episode features a romantic affair, since the crew of the Planet Express are trying to win a contract with Romanticorp. The task? Delivering several tonnes of conversation candy to Lrr, ruler of Omicron Persei 8. This episode features 2 main storyline. Fry is on his regular attemtps to win over Leela, and with the Valentine’s Day mission in hand, he’s doubled his effort.
And Bender starts his affair with the company’s ship who recently had a personality module installed. And we all know Bender’s deal when it comes to relationship. So expect a Space Odyssey 2001 psychotic AI. Ah, to be in love with a psychotic AI.
The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz
Season 3, Episode 5
Everyone in the Futurama universe has the tendency to overreact to everything. The crew of Planet Express is given a mission to deliver an extremely controversial mission, towing dark matter tanker close to the Pluto penguin nature preserve. And Leela, being an animal lover herself had enough of the waste produced by her colleagues on a daily basis and taking on the mission was the last straw.
She decides to join the protest group, Penguins Unlimited to stop the tanker from coming anywhere close to the preserve. One thing lead to another, and the preserve ends up getting drenched with dark matter. A couple of storylines are established in this episode, so prepare yourself for a whacky adventure. Oh, and Bender resets and becomes a penguin for a while.
Yes. A penguin.
The Luck of the Fryrish
Season 3, Episode 4
Perhaps one of the tear-jerking episode of Futurama, The Luck of the Fryrish takes us back to Fry’s origin story, featuring the relationship between him and his older brother, Yancy. Yancy has always been jealous of Fry, and with the continuous sibling rivalry over the years, puts Fry on a losing streak. Until he found a seven-leaf clover. Back in the year 3000, Fry was going through a series of unlucky situations, which prompted him to visit his old house in New New York to retrieve the seven-leaf clover.
We get a series of flashbacks throughout the episode as Fry is on the hunt for his lucky clover that he presumed his elder brother had stolen from him when Fry disappeared. Trust me when I say the final moment of the episode will absolutely break the hardest of men, reminding us to appreciate the relationship between siblings and family.
Time Keeps on Slippin
Season 3, Episode 14
In the year 3000, the Globetrotters are humanoids that come from a totally different planet lands in New York to challenge Earth’s honor on the basketball honor. And in the middle of this conflict, you’ll find a deranged Professor Farnsworth who decides to make superpowered mutants in order to stand a chance against the Globetrotter team.
However, in order to get the mutants to reach their maximum potential, the Professor uses an extremely dangerous particle called the chronitons that accelerates their growth rate. And thus, begins the problem of time skipping throughout the episode. Multiple events happen, skipping forward, confusing everyone involved.
The Professor and the gang, as well as the Globetrotter team decide to put their wits together, figuring out how to fix this.
And that’s all folks! Futurama is probably one of the iconic shows that I had the pleasure of watching when I was teenager. Futurama features many pop culture references, adding its flavor of science fiction and making into a unique watching experience. Frankly, there are many more episodes that would’ve made this list, but in the interest of not making this into a 6 page article, I had to stop myself to the episodes above. What’s your favorite Futurama episode? Let us know in the comments!
