Five Times Futurama Was TOO Real #StreamTeam

The Bee and I have been binge watching Futurama because we have no respect for time love the show and you know what? Sometimes Futurama is way more than a comedy from the guy who created The Simpsons. This show can induce the waterworks!

If you don’t know the show, Futurama is about Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy, who gets cryogenically frozen on New Year’s Eve and awakens in the 31st century after 1,000 years.  He, along with a robot and a Cyclops female, get jobs as a delivery people for Fry’s great, great, great, great, great, great nephew and shenanigans ensue.

At the time Futurama was on, I did not appreciate the greatness of the show but in subsequent viewings I must say that this show is awesome, and quite hilarious. Beyond the laughter, though there are a few episodes where The Bee and I found ourselves verklempt, skipping them even because they hit some nerves.

1. Jurassic Bark

Fry is reunited with his pet dog, Seymour, when he spots him as an exhibit in a museum. Fry considers cloning his dog, much to the ire of Bender the Robot, who feels threatened by the dog who Fry calls his best friend. The cloning process is called off when it is revealed that Seymour lived another 12 years after Fry’s disappearance. Through a flashback, it is revealed that after Fry left, Seymour had faithfully obeyed Fry’s last command, which was to wait in front of Panucci’s Pizza until he returned. Seymour stays there as the years pass and he, the pizzeria, and Mr. Panucci begin to show their age. In the final shot, Seymour lies down and closes his eyes.

Yo.

We literally cried the first time this episode came on and have not watched it since. The whole show is Fry and Bender bantering then there is a twisty twist with the dog.

2. Game of Tones
The Planet Express crew enter Fry’s dreams and find themselves back in the year 1999 in search of a mysterious alien song.

The Bee was very misty eyed after watching this ep. After she got it together she said that she was so affected by this episode because it really hit her that Fry was never going to see his old life again, his old life including his mom. “I wouldn’t know what to do if I wasn’t going to see my family again!”

3. Leela’s Homeworld

Bender sets up a successful waste disposal business but because he dumps everything in the sewers, the Sewer Mutants revolt and sentence Bender, Leela and Fry to be dumped in the Mutagenic Sewage lake. The trio are saved by masked mutants who are later revealed to be Leela’s parents who abandoned her as infant. It’s illegal for aliens to live on the on the surface so Leela is disguised as an alien, assisted by a letter from her mom who is a linguist. The episode ends with a montage of ways Leela’s parents kept watch over her as Leela grew.

Where do we begin with this episode?
Passing.
Sure, Leela didn’t know she was a mutant but dang. Even in the future discrimination runs rampant.

Children without parents being mistreated (although to be fair Fry had both parents and HE was mistreated).
Leela was raised in an orphanage or orphanarium and oh dear lord how she was mistreated, dismissed and casually tossed aside.

Mob Justice
The sewer mutants were about to go IN on Bender, Fry and Leela and everybody was cool with it.

4. Luck of the Fryrish

Fry is incensed to find a statue of what appears to be his brother, Yancey, assuming Fry’s identity, as the first man on Mars. It seems that for all of Fry’s life in the 20th century, Yancey was jealous of Fry and tried to take everything away from him. Through a series of flashbacks we learn that Fry and Yancey had a very contentious relationship. The episode ends with Fry learning that that his brother did not steal his identity but that Yancey named his son in Fry’s memory.

Buffy and I fought like crazy as kids. We didn’t speak to each other for almost a year much to my mom’s dismay so the whole things about sibling rivalry is real.

5. The Sting

The Planet Express crew is assigned to collect honey from a giant space bee colony, but before they can escape, Fry is impaled by a bee stinger and dies. Struggling to cope, Leela finds herself racking with guilt over how the mission plays out and is soon plagued by hallucinogenic nightmares of Fry. In reality it’s Leela who was stabbed and Fry is encouraging her to wake and live.

So, this episode is trippy and weird but it’s like a reminder for viewers to get out and live instead of moping and mourning.

Your turn!
Have you watched Futurama? What episodes are heart tuggers for you?
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r’s note: I am a member of the Netflix Stream team. I have been provided a complimentary subscription to Netflix to share information about upcoming programming. All opinions are my own. Want to get Netflix Streaming? Visit online and learn about the different plans.