Where to start? I knew I wanted to compile a list of my top 15 favorite episodes, and it seemed like an achievable number. But as I was sifting through the episodes, each one struck me as important to the flow of the show. But the ones I've chosen tug at my heart strings and funny bone more than the rest. So here they are, in my humble opinion, the top 15 best Futurama episodes! Without spoilers!
15. Luck of the Fryrish
Title caption: "Broadcast simultaneously one year in the future"
Fry loses money while the Planet Express Crew is at the horse races. He fondly remembers his luck charm from when he was a kid back in the 20th century, so Fry, Leela, and Bender make an expedition to the New York below New New York to find his seven-leaf clover. This episode fits the Futurama truism, "Come for the comedy, stay for the heart".
14. Godfellas
Title caption: "Please turn off all cell phones and tricorders"
Bender gets shot out of the Planet Express cannons while taking a nap, and as he's floating in space, he becomes the new home of a race called the Shrimpkins. He becomes their god and does what you think Bender would do. God makes a cameo. Also Fry and Leela go to a monastery. "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
13. Fry and Leela's Big Fling
Title caption: "Watch it or die trying."
Fry and Leela try to have some alone time, only to find that they can't go anywhere without running into trouble. They attempt to go on a romantic getaway but get bamboozled instead.
12. Roswell That Ends Well
Fry tries to pop a bag of popcorn in the middle of a supernova, which throws the Planet Express crew into the past. This sends them to Roswell, New Mexico, circa 1947. This is reminiscent of that old song, something like I am a grandpa? My grandpa? You'll get the gist when you watch it.
11. Time Keeps on Slippin'
Title caption: "For proper viewing, take the red pill now"
Farnsworth wants to challenge the Harlem Globetrotters in basketball, so he makes super monsters with chronitons. Ripping the chronitons out of space causes time to skip, and Fry ALMOST impresses Leela. Also, the Globetrotters are physicists.10. Game of Tones
Schwacked-out music blares from a mysterious ship in outer space, threatening Earth. It's a melody that Fry recognizes, so Farnsworth makes it possible for Fry to go back in his memories to his last day on Earth to discover where the noise came from.
9. Parasites Lost
Fry buys an egg-salad sandwich from the men's restroom at a gas station. In it, like anything else that you'd find in a men's room was a colony of parasitic worms that make Fry a better Fry. While he's excelling at the Holophonor to impress Leela, the crew are trying to get the worms out. Also, John Milton reference?!
8. Rebirth
After Futurama was canceled (and they made four movie shorts that got Fox to bring the series back for four more seasons that I didn't include in this list), their first episode back was the whole crew died in a Planet Express wreck. Only Professor Farnsworth knows how to bring them back! All of them but Leela, anyway.
7. Lethal Inspection
Title caption: "Made you look!"
Bender finds out he was built without a backup unit, so as he rampages to find his beloved #5 inspector, he tries to understand how living beings cope with mortality. We get a flash of the boring bureaucrat life that Hermes leads. The ending song will make you weep.
WARNING: Any episodes beyond this point were hard to choose in order of favorite. Also, they're climactic episodes for the series, so it's hard not to spoil.
6. Love and Rocket
It's Valentine's Day, and Fry is trying to pick the perfect candy heart to give to Leela. Bender falls in love with the new personality of the Planet Express ship, bringing about a vexation that rivals even HAL.
5. The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
Fry is trying to relearn the Holophonor to woo Leela once again. So Bender takes Fry to Robot Hell to make a deal with the devil, an exchange that grants Fry the devil's hands. The Robot Devil is less than amused and plots a big switcharoo.
4. The Late Phillip J. Fry
Professor Farnsworth invents the forward time machine, and right as Fry is about to leave for a date with Leela, he makes her a video birthday card. He gets into the time machine with Farnsworth and Bender for a minute time jump that turns into a 10,000-year time jump. He leaves Leela for the Big Bang.
3. The Sting
Threatened by no delivery, Leela, Bender, and Fry journey to the space bee hive to collect royal jelly. They spot the ship and remember that the bees took the lives of the last Planet Express crew. Leela wants to save a baby queen for future jelly, and as they escape Fry is plunged through his stomach with the baby's stinger as he jumps in front of Leela to protect her.
2. Jurassic Bark
Title caption: "Not affiliated with Futurama Brass Knuckle Co."
This one is a gut wrencher. Fry and the crew discover that a pizzeria from New York was unearthed, and Fry discovers that it was his old delivery job, Panucci's Pizza. He finds a few prized possessions in the wreckage.
1. Meanwhile
The show's finale, it encapsulated the full feeling of Futurama. A trip to the moon amusement park has Fry vowing to propose to Leela. Farnsworth invents a device that can take the user 10 seconds into the past. This episode put a nice little emotional bow on the whole show.
If you haven't seen Futurama, I highly recommend it. But, start from the beginning, and you'll get to develop your own favorites as you work your way through the series. There are a lot to choose from, happy watching!
