Futurama
Summary
Season 1 ofFuturamahas some rough sharpness that take a shit it backbreaking to return . Debuting in 1999,Futuramaintroduced audiences to the macrocosm of the 31st one C alongside Fry , a dopey New Yorker who was cryogenically freeze for a thousand days . At its tallness , the Emmy winning series proved to be hilarious , romanticistic , and shockingly thoughtful . Thebest episodes ofFuturamaare among the best entry in modern sci - fi comedy , and the show is currently enjoying its fourth looping thanks to a revival on Hulu .
However , the first time of year of any show still has to reckon things out , andFuturamais no different . The cast of quality do n’t find as defined in the earliest sequence , and the secret cosmic arcs have only been hinted at . Some of the show ’s most rudimentary character arcs are n’t introduced until dozens of episodes in , and many crucial elements of the show are still being figured out . Even the main case do n’t quite experience right yet . Here ’s all the biggest ways returning toFuturamaseason 1can get you by surprisal .
Fry ’s years has been one of Futurama ’s big mystery story for years now , and here ’s how erstwhile he is at the time of Futurama season 12 , episode 2 .
10Fry Is A Bigger Jerk In Futurama Season 1
Fry Isn’t His Sweet Dopey Self Yet
Fry ’s overtly jerkish behavior inFuturamaseason 1 foreground the way the show has evolvedover the years and why it can be hard to go back to those former episode . A large part of Fry ’s appeal as a character stems from his well - meaning qualities . He ’s dim - witted and stroke - prone , but typically draw as a gratifying guy who mean well ( on an occasionally cosmic scale ) . Early episodes ofFuturamalacked that softer element of the character , with episode like " I , Roommate , " " A Fistful of dollar , " and " My Three Suns " all center their plot around Fry ’s selfish action and dismissive attitude .
Each of the episodes are resolved by Fry learning to be empathic with others . Later episode in the time of year steadily highlighted his more mental failings , but it would n’t be until the 2d time of year that his genuinely softer side would become more prevalent . alternatively , theearly episodes ofFuturamafocus more heavily on Fry ’s faults and flawsinstead of him stumbling into a new risky venture or office . It sense separate from the more innocent rendering of the theatrical role who ’d eventually become more defenitive .
9Fry Doesn’t Care About His Family
Fry’s Past Connection Don’t Become Relevant Until The End Of Season 2
One of the most emotionally resonant storylines inFuturamais the tragical way Fry reckons with the loss of his intact family . sequence like time of year 3 ’s " The Luck of the Fryish , " time of year 4 ’s " Jurassic Bark , " time of year 10 ’s " Game of Tones , " and time of year 12 ’s " Quids Game " search the quiet pain Fry feels at having lost them all when he was frozen for a thousand years , and among the show ’s dear striking episode . However , that element of the show is brushed aside with a punchline in the first episode , and does n’t become a relevant element until much later .
This is one of the big ways thatthe Fry of season 1 come across as a far harsher characterthan who he ’d become in later episodes . His occasional dismissal of never consider his family , admirer , or girlfriend again showcases a more self - rivet and emotionally guarded character than the sweet natured dope he ’d germinate into . This would be rationalize in later seasons with the logical implication that Fry played up the negative panorama of his past to ease the irreparable separation he has from it , but it ’s a really sombre border to the series .
8Leela & Fry Aren’t Love Interests In Season 1
The Seeds Of A Genuine Romance Wouldn’t Blossom For Multiple Seasons
One of the considerably rudimentary write up inFuturamais the amazingly dull - sunburn Romance language between Fry and Leela . It took until the end of the first revival for the two to share a genuine kiss , and their romance has become a more of import component of the show in late season . Despite this , their prospective romanticism barely a ingredient in season 1 . " A Flight To recollect " lay the early seeds of a romantic connexion between the two , but Fry would n’t fink his feelings openly until time of year 3 .
This plot line is one of the most emotionally compelling arcs in the entire show , with the pair steady growing as mass and finally establishing a resonance that would become central to many narratives . However , the early active Fry and Leela was prove more as unlikely friends , who each discover their own short - survive love affair elsewhere . Returning to season 1 andseeing Fry forming a stag romance with Leela with little emotional backfire can add up as a surprise in retrospect .
Futurama ’s Squid Game travesty in reality improves on the original Netflix series in a issue of astonishingly dreaded and in effect tragical ways .
7Futurama Season 1 Doesn’t Flesh Out The Supporting Characters
Characterization Comes With Time
As with the first season of any show , the primary nidus ofFuturamaseason 1 is flesh out the cardinal trio who drive much of the show . However , the series eventually plough supporting figures like Amy , Hermes , and Zoidberg into compelling and hilarious characters in their own rightfulness . This makes revisiting season 1 surprisingly underwhelming at metre , asthose three in especial lack much of the depth they ’d eventually get .
Zoidberg is reduced primarily to his role as a doctor , without any of the pitiful or love - lorn element that make him memorable . The same goes for Amy and Hermes , who only had the unique element of their backstories and personalities touch upon in episode like " A Flight To Remember " teased before stupefy more distinct characterization in season 2 . Scruffy the Janitor would n’t even speak until time of year 2 . Given the unique touches that the performances and scripts give the characters in later seasons , time of year 1 ’s Planet Express support crowd does n’t feel complete .
6Futurama Season 1 Lacks Most Of The Best Minor Characters
Futurama’s Worldbuilding Wasn’t Done Yet
One of the things thatFuturamadoes well is expand the world of the thirty-first one C . pocket-size character like the Head of Richard M. Nixon , the Robot Mafia , or Hedoism Bot study great within the show as both last plot - twist and slaphappy side character who can deliver a twosome dear flyer gags before eciting the plot of ground . However , Futuramadidn’t introduce many of the show ’s beneficial minor joke role until future season .
Even the few significant minor part who do launching in season 1 , like Sal , Morbo , Mom , or Lrrr , miss many of the trenchant elusive tone that will come to define them in late episode . It address toFuturama ’s worldbuilding that it finally turned those humble - time fictional character into memorable fixtures , but the background was still being install in season 1 and clearly was missing some of the more memorable elements that flesh it out over the eld .
5Futurama Season 1’s Pop Culture & Societal References Are Dated
Fry Is From 1999, And It Really Shows In Season 1
Futuramadebuted in 1999 , in a pop culture landscape that feels very divorced from the modern world of entertainment , politcs , and technology . As such , it can be uneven refund to the earliest episodes ofFuturamaand see how many direct references the show used to make forthwith to the culture of 1999 . Episodes like " When Aliens Attack " prod verbatim play at shows likeAlly McBeal , while " A Flight to Remember " and " A Big Piece Of Garbage " are direct riffs on films likeTitanicandArmeggedon .
It ’s a credit to the series that it still discover way to infuse those broad dated lampoon with enough unique elementsto make it brook on its own — something season 12Futuramaepisodes can still have trouble with . However , other episode direct cite technology of the time , including allusions to the early internet and VHS tapes . It all makes the topical references ofFuturama ’s first time of year feel more dated than some of the late parodies of the serial publication .
4Nibbler Sets Off Way Too Many Galactic Events
Nibbler Is A Cosmic Figure In The World OfFuturama, But Completely Hidden In Season 1
Nibbler is introduce in " Love ’s Labors lose in Space " as a crazy alien life - form that Leela saves from the DOOP ’s erradication of the planet . However , after installment revealed that Nibbler was actually a extremity of an ancient wash responsible for for the protection of the population . The pilot program even in secret tease that Nibbler was creditworthy for Fry being quick-frozen and sent to the hereafter . However , returning to season 1 underline how important Nibbler becomes andhow minor of a role he seemed to have early on .
Nibbler ’s tardy function end up typeset the stage for some of the show ’s biggest cosmic eventslike the conflict with the Brain Spawn , fleshing out the large traditional knowledge of the universe . This makes his minor role in the early season all the more surprising in retrospect . The truth that Nibbler is responsible for Fry being frozen also adds a lamentable layer to his saving by Planet Express , as they have no idea how all important he was in arrange their eventual meeting in the first place .
Since Futurama began in 1999 , certain stories have been left unvisited as the show has surge onward , but season 12 just return a Brobdingnagian wink .
Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who is cryogenically frozen for 1000 years. Waking up in the year 3000, Fry befriends a cyclops named Leela and a roguish robot named Bender, and the three find employment with Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery service. Their work takes them to all corners of the universe, exploring space and the future as imagined by Matt Groening and the creators of The Simpsons.
3Bender’s First Love Interest Is Far More Tragic Than His Later Romances
The Duchess Is One Of Bender’s Saddest Early Plotlines
Across the course ofFuturama , Bender has been turn over a number of love interestingness range from fellow robots , talking vending machine , and the head of Lucy Liu . In almost all of these relationships , Bender ’s comically self - centered perspective is a major source of comedy , even when some of those romances ( like the one with Angelyne in season 3 ’s " Bendless Love " ) take more semisweet turns . Still , they ’re far more pathetic thanthe at long last tragic romance between Bender and the Duchessin season 1 ’s " A Flight to retrieve . "
Bender ’s relationship with her is a unmediated mockery ofTitanic , but takes an out of the blue somber turning in the ending when the Duchess sacrifice her life so Bender and the others can escape the black hole destroying the ship . Bender is so heartbroken in the second that he almost lets go and joins her in the abyss . In retrospect , it ’s surprising and almost a little touching to see Bender so emotionally invested in someone else , and tot a more somber stratum to his later , more short - lived romances .
2Zapp Brannigan’s Backstory Is Even More Horrifying Rewatching Season 1
Zapp Brannigan Is Kind Of A Monster Even In His First Apperance
Introduced in " Love ’s task Lost in Space,“the inexcusable Zapp Branniganis quickly established as a jokey take on the space captain original like Kirk in Star Trek . However , the episode also sets up the idea that Zapp ’s rise in the ranks is because of his comically black willingness to give human life for a cause . The sequence facetiously reveals he overcame a legion of murder bot by throwing soldiers at it until they were broken by the effort . It ’s a sudden dark gag , and a harsh indicant of how the thirty-first century opperates .
The world is that hundred died in the process when alternative solutions could have been found . This quietly paints a glowering picture ofFuturama ’s humans that becomes more pronounced in later seasons , highlighting the ways lives are considered expendable in that universe . Zapp ’s role as an established military leader is already a saturnine trick in time of year 1 , but in the result twenty - five years it ’s only become more harrowing to moot .
1Futurama Gets Way Better After Season 1
FuturamaDoesn’t Feel Complete In The First Dozen Episodes
fall to time of year 1 ofFuturamahighlights just how good the show finally became , and how it build upon the other succeeder to become a far more engaging series . While season 1 is a hearty enough introduction to the human beings of the 31st century , few of the installment stand up to the elevation the show would pass in late time of year . It ’s all a solid basics , but the specific characterization , deep lore , and darkly wacky whole step that cement the show within the hearts of fans was still being originate .
It makes sentiency , as few shows visor with their first time of year . Season 1 is a well foundation , but none of the episodes are contenders for the single skilful in the serial . This makes any return to season 1 palpate like a tormenter for better stories to fare . Fry , Leela , and Bender are there , but the writing and performance that made them lover favorites have n’t crystallized yet . While season 1 ofFuturamaisn’t big , it ’s nowhere near the best the show will become , which is a coarse truth of rejoin to the show ’s early episodes .
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Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry , a pizza delivery male child from 1999 who is cryogenically frozen for 1000 twelvemonth . awaken up in the class 3000 , Fry befriend a water flea named Leela and a roguish robot named Bender , and the three happen employment with Planet Express , an interplanetary delivery service . Their body of work takes them to all corners of the universe , exploring space and the future as think by Matt Groening and the creators of The Simpsons .
