Futurama Turns 25

Picture it, the year is 1999, Y2K has become a huge thing, the Euro was introduced, Pokemon mania ran wild in the USA, the first of Matrix films was released and we saw The Simpsons hit double digits with season 11. It was during this time Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, created one of the funniest and smartest sci-fi animated series and that series is Futurama.

The series follows Philip J. Fry or Fry for short as he was cryo-freeze in 1999 New York and wakes up in the year 2999 New New York. Soon Fry meets and befriends Leela, a one-eyed mutant, and Bender, a bending robot, and goes on stupid yet funny crazy adventures as he works for his great(x 30) nephew Professor Farnsworth’s delivery company, Planet Express.

The show had some, if not the best cast of main and secondary characters in animation history and was at many times, better than the Simpsons. The voice acting here is one if not one of the best-underrated cast to be put together with Bill West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, and David Herman.

The series is also famous for being canned for than once and being saved by its fan base. The series started on Fox in 1999 till it was canceled in 2003 with only 4 seasons. After a few years in the wild, Comedy Central picked them up and was on their network from 2008 till 2013 which many fans believed was the true ending to the series. 10 years later Hulu resurrected the crew once again and split season 8 into two parts with the second part to start airing after SDCCI and is noted that season 9 was greenlit and will be around till 2026.

Do yourself a favor and watch this classic series and enjoy it with friends who love smart, stupid, heartwarming sci-fi series that find a way to keep coming back from the dead.