Futurama: Top 5 episodes

Yesterday, I finally bought the 4th volume of Futurama. While watching the first disk, I was taken by how GOOD this series was/is. It saddens me to watch shows like Family Guy, American Dad, or the Simpsons on TV, while this show is currently left to viewings on DVD and reruns. Recently, a light has appeared at the end of the tunnel, in Comedy Central's plan to start creating new episodes. If these shows are even half as good as the old, it will continue to be one of the best animated shows, or shows period, in recent memory. 

 For those of you who  are unfamiliar with the show, I've put together my top five episodes for your enjoyment. Check em out. You'll love them. And if you don't, that's fine, just keep it to yourself.

5. Three Hundred Big Boys
A very clever episode later in the history of the show, 300 Big Boys celebrates the huge cast that Futurama had been developing, similar to its spiritual prequel the Simpsons. Due to a military conquest, the entire planet Earth receives a Tax Refund of 300 dollars (in the form of a Richard Nixon $300 fun-bill). Of course, in true Futurama style, every character spends the money on something ridiculous, espeically Fry, who drinks enough coffee to speed his metabolism, and achieve a type of superspeed. The running tally of coffee throughout the episode is hilarious, and watching each story suddenly collide in the climax makes this a classic Futurama example.

Fry as the GOD of Caffeine

4. Parasites Lost 
Like so many other episodes of Futurama, this one begins with Fry doing something ridiculous, and the hilarity that ensues. In this case, Fry decides to eat a egg-salad sandwich from a gas station bathroom, which happens to be chock full of microscopic parasites. What follows is a hilarious send-up to the classic Fantastic Voyage, as the Planet Express crew shrink down to travel into Fry's body and destroy the infestation. Another reason this episode is one of my favorites, is that it really is the beginning of the story arc of Fry and Leela's growing relationship, which continues for the rest of the series.

Fry's worms. In a sandwich near you.

3. Roswell that Ends Well
Only on Futurama could you have the main characters go back in time while watching a super-nova, cause the Roswell crash, and then one of them becomes their OWN GRANDFATHER. 

 Fry's Grandma, Mildred. I'd hit it.....but then, it's not my Grandma.

Fry is.....unbelievable. People talk about how Peter Griffin, Bart Simpson, or Eric Cartman are depraved, horrible examples of human beings.....but only Phillip J. Fry is his own FREAKIN grandfather. And we love every hilarious minute of it. Another highlight is Leela and the Professor trying to hideout in the past, and Zoidberg's alien autopsy, and interacting with President Truman. This ridiculous-ness is only possible on a show like Futurama, and that's why we love it.

2. The Why of Fry
Another episode that continues the continuity of the series, The Why of Fry travels back in time to the fateful night that Fry was frozen to travel to the 30th century. We find out that it was plan all along by the Nibblonians to battle the Brains. See, since Fry was his OWN GRANDFATHER, he lacked the Delta brainwave (a special kind of retarded I guess), and would be invisible to the Brains. So, I guess the first thing we should do when we invent Time Travel, is have some guys travel back in time, and become their own grandfathers. You know, just in case. One of my favorite jokes in the entire series is seeing  Fry escape the InfoSphere on Scooty Puff Sr. Classic Futurama silliness.

 

Scooty Puff Jr. top, Scooty Puff Sr. bottom. Who said Paradoxes couldn't be fun?

1. Time Keeps on Slippin'
This has been one of my favorite episodes ever since it first aired. Like all the best Futurama episodes, it combines a hilarious, ridiculous premise (The Harlem Globetrotters being alien conquerors for example), with a classic Sci-Fi topic (in this case a hole in the space-time continuum). I enjoy watching the alien basketball game every time I see the episode, and wish some of the Professors Atomic Monsters would return in a future episode. 

The future of the NBA? If only....

Again, like most of the great Futurama episodes, this one ends with heart, as Fry realizes how he got Leela to marry him in one of the time-jumps. Their relationship has really become a central part of the series, and is way more compelling than Ross and Rachal, or JD and Elliot, which is high praise considering those are two of my favorite shows as well.