Ranking Every Futurama Episode

(I had several articles sitting around on my computer that were written but never ended up getting published. For example, this ranking of every episode of Futurama, which I wrote for an editor who then left the site I was writing for, and the new editor never got around to putting it up. I have decided to put these articles up online so that they may see the light of day. After all, why rank every episode of Futurama and then not put it online?)

Futurama may be the other Matt Groening show, but that’s only because The Simpsons is the best show in the history of time. It’s a brilliant show, one of the best sitcoms, and one of the best sci-fi shows, ever. The story of Philip J. Fry’s journey into the future, and the year 3000, alongside his friends Bender, Leela, and Scruffy the Janitor is the stuff of legend. Ranking every episode of Futurama would have been hard, but fun, even if the show hadn’t been brought back by Comedy Central for a couple more seasons. However, after much thinking, and some consultation with the Space Pope, we have completed these rankings of over 100 episodes of Futurama. Welcome, to the rankings of the world of tomorrow!

One quick note, there are, technically, 140 episodes of Futurama. However, that includes the four movies being broken up into four episodes apiece. This feels a little weird to consider for these rankings. So, those “episodes” are not being included, but here is a brief ranking of the four Futurama movies.

4. Bender’s Game

Some of the Futurama movies could withstand being stretched out to feature length. Some could not, and Bender’s Game definitely couldn’t. Bender’s Game was an excuse for the Futurama crew to indulge their desires to write a fantasy story, and to basically turn the show into Dungeons and Dragons. It doesn’t work particularly well, especially since it involves everybody ending up in Bender’s imaginary realm somehow. At the time, it was the weakest thing Futurama had ever done, a real misfire that ended up being pretty mediocre.

3. The Beast with a Billon Backs

Half of The Beast with a Billion Backs involves Bender and a League of Robots and is funny. The main story, though, about a being from another dimension who starts up a romantic relationship with the entire Earth, first without the knowledge of humans, is a one-joke premise stretched a little too long. It’s still pretty good, and David Cross is funny as Yivo the creature. Plus, there’s a game of Deathball that’s amusing. However, it was a little bit lacking.

2. Bender’s Big Score

This was the first of the Futurama movies, and it was a strong return for the show. There are a lot of jokes about alien nudity, and the Futurama folks sure seemed happy to not be working under network standard anymore. However, what really works is the very intricate time travel aspects of the story. It’s a very detailed movie, sometimes overly so, but mostly it succeeds, and it’s a lot of fun.

1. Into the Wild Green Yonder

Into the Wild Green Yonder seemed like it would be, at the time, yet another Futurama finale. That, of course, didn’t end up being the case, but it would have been a fine ending had it indeed been the end point for the series. It’s the funniest of the four movies, and it feels like an actual, real movie, with a strong ending. This was the one movie that felt like classic Futurama.

OK, those are the movies. Now that they have been accounted for, time to move on to the traditional episodes of television.

124. The Mutants are Revolting

The first run of Futurama didn’t have any episodes that weren’t good. When the show returned, alas, that couldn’t continue. One episode had to be the worst Futurama episode ever, and “The Mutants are Revolting” gets that dubious honor. You will notice that mutant heavy episodes are going to skew low on this list. That’s because the mutants are gross, a disturbing collection of malformed individuals. They are hard to look at, and, on top of everything else, the episode lacks much in the way of funny jokes.

123. T.: The Terrestrial

As you can guess by the title, this episode is a parody of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. However, the script is flipped, because Fry is in the role of E.T., with an alien in the role of the child who finds a new mysterious friend. That is a solid premise. Unfortunately, the episode is particularly unfunny. It’s basically joke after joke about Fry eating alien poop, and it’s dumb.

122. Leela and the Genestalk

Already, a point about mutant unpleasantness is being reiterated. In this episode, Leela turns into a tentacle monster, and it is really weird and gross. On top of that, there’s not a ton of humor in this episode, and even though it is sort of a fairy tale parody, it doesn’t get very exciting. It’s a real dud.

121. Attack of the Killer App

Futurama has done a lot of silly, goofy, and ridiculous things. In “Attack of the Killer App,” Leela has a singing boil named Susan. It is incredibly stupid, and not in a funny way. This is a real groaner of an episode, and it feels super dated, especially for a show that technically takes place many years into the future.

120. Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences

Lrrr and Ndnd, the aliens from Omicron Persei 8, are fun in small doses. This episode dedicates a lot of time to their romantic strife, and it’s an overstretch. There’s a funny bit about Comic-Con, but, beyond that, the episode doesn’t work. A mediocre effort.

119. Neutopia

Futurama did a few episodes about quarrels between men and women. It’s even a part of the plot of Into the Wild Green Yonder. This episode, though, is an eye roller. There’s a lot of inane jokes, and it all seems to be building up to having the men of the show, who are now women for tedious reasons, posing for a sexy calendar. It’s not worth it.

118. Naturama

Futurama did a handful of episodes involving three non-canon stories, in the vein of The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror” episodes. This is the worst of the bunch. It’s about nature and animals, which is fine, but the stories are lacking and mostly unfunny. Even without having to come up with full stories, and even without the restraints of the show’s reality, “Naturama” is largely a failure.

117. Fry and Leela’s Big Fling

This is another episode that feels like it only exists to tell one joke at the end, and it doesn’t really earn it. Fry and Leela go on a romantic vacation, but they don’t realize they are in a zoo. It’s kind of a Twilight Zone premise, but they don’t do much with it. At least we get to see Guenter the monkey, who first appeared in a better episode that will appear later on this list.

116. Yo Leela Leela

Television episodes about a character making television tend to be amusing. Some of that is in this episode. However, we also find out that Leela’s kid show is a success because she is just writing down things some aliens on another planet say. The premise is fun, and there are some good jokes, but the execution is mediocre, so the episode is only fitfully enjoyable.

115. Zapp Dingbat

Zapp Brannigan is great. He can even carry an episode, or at least help carry an episode. He couldn’t help “Zapp Dingbat” out too much, though. Leela’s mom starts dating Zapp Brannigan, which is a solid enough premise, but very little is done with it. The episode is OK, more or less, but Futurama is usually so much more than that.

114. In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

This was the second episode of Futurama’s run on Comedy Central, and it seems to be in reaction to dealing with network censorship at FOX. It also puts Zapp and Leela into a Garden of Eden type situation. It feels a little lazy, though, and only has a handful of good jokes. By this point in the list, the episodes are at least decent, but this episode isn’t any more than that.

113. Benderama

Bender, the best character on Futurama, can replicate himself, and does so repeatedly in this episode. That should be the makings of a great episode. Instead, it’s only an alright episode, because beyond Bender’s wacky antics, the episode is mediocre at best. Still, if you love Bender, and why wouldn’t you, it’s worth checking out at least once.

112. Stench and Stenchability

This is the penultimate episode of the series, and unfortunately it was a pretty weak outing so late in the show’s run. Zoidberg has a romance with a flower vendor who has no sense of smell, which is fortuitous, because Zoidberg smells terrible. It’s very bland. Bender also enters a tap dancing competition, which is pretty good, and stops the episode from being a total loss.

111. Free Will Hunting

Does Bender, as a robot, have free will? This is the question at the heart of this episode. It could be interesting and one of the more higher minded episodes of a show that often had lofty intellectual and emotional goals. Instead, the episode ends up being only alright, and the plotting is a bit convoluted.

110. The Six Million Dollar Mon

“The Six Million Dollar Mon” is kind of weird, because it involves Hermes being body modified, in this case turning into a robot, which is also a storyline from Bender’s Big Score. Thus, it felt a little familiar. It’s a solid episode, though, all told. It just had room for improvement.

109. Fun on a Bun

Fry gets drunk at a party, falls down a pit, finds himself among Neanderthals with amnesia and a bump giving him an extended brow. Fry ends up leading a Neanderthal attack on homo sapiens. That’s not a great premise, but they make the most of it. Although, have Fry and Leela break up yet again was a bit of a strain, and this was a recurring problem during the Comedy Central years.

108. Near-Death Wish

Futurama’s return allowed the show to bring back elements from previous episodes. For example, the Near-Death Star, where old people go to live out their lives in a Matrix style virtual reality. In this episode, Fry and the gang manage to get Professor Farnsworth’s parents out of the Near-Death Star, but the really highlight of the episode is the way it points out that the plot of The Matrix makes no sense. For that alone, it’s a decent episode.

107. The Butterjunk Effect

This is an out there episode, built around Leela and Amy getting involved in “Butterfly Derby” which involves them wearing wings and flying and battling other women in an arena. There’s also a steroid analog involved. It’s a good episode for the most part, but the ending is a little cheap, and brings it down a couple of notches.

106. Murder on the Planet Express

A parody of The Thing, which is right in the wheelhouse of the show, and the fact it’s all a team building exercise makes it even more amusing. Of course, that means there is a gross creature eating people, and the premise isn’t served to its fullest potential. However, as the superpenultimate episode of the show, it was a solid effort. It showed that they still had good ideas.

105. Assie Come Home

While this episode has a dumb title, it’s a pretty enjoyable adventure episode about Bender trying to reunite with his shiny metal ass, which has been stolen. The search for Bender’s missing body part takes them to some cool places across the universe, which was always one of the strengths of Futurama. It just wasn’t as funny as others, which pushes it down the list.

104. The Duh-Vinci Code

Part of this episode is, as you have probably surmised, a parody of The Da Vinci Code. That part of the episode is good. Then, Professor Farnsworth and the gang end up on the planet Vinci, where everybody is a super genius, and Farnsworth is considered an idiot there. This stuff isn’t interesting at all, and doesn’t all hold together. Basically, it’s half of a good episode, but, since Futurama makes full episodes of television traditionally, that doesn’t quite cut it.

103. The Tip of the Zoidberg

Why is Zoidberg around? The show didn’t need to answer that question, because Zoidberg is funny and great, but “The Tip of the Zoidberg” takes the opportunity to explain why Professor Farnsworth keeps Zoidberg in his employee. A yeti and assisted suicide are involved. The episode works as a pseudo origin story, and is quite a bit of fun. Futurama is one of the best shows of all time. That’s how the 103rd best episode can be a pretty good outing.

102. The Bots and the Bees

If nothing else, “The Bots and the Bees” references that classic Fry meme that was hot at the time, which is funny. The actual episode, though, is about Bender having a child with a Slurm machine. Which, you know, Bender in a fatherly role had been done before, but it was still pretty funny. Fry turning glowing green from drinking Slurm is amusing, too.

101. Cold Warriors

On a few occasions, Futurama did stories about things from our time no longer existing in the future. In this instance, we’re talking about the common cold, which creates a serious problem for New New York when Fry gets the sniffles. There’s also a lot of flashbacks, which are OK. It’s an amusing concept, executed reasonably well, which makes it adequate overall.

100. Decision 3012

This episode is related to the 2012 Presidential election, and in particular the “Birther” movement, which means that it won’t age well. However, there’s still plenty of funny stuff, and clever futuristic twists, in the episode. Also, Nixon is in this episode. That’s never a bad thing.

99. The Thief of Baghead

What starts with Bender becoming a paparazzi, which is a fun idea, turns into a weird story involving a quantum lichen and a fungus dog and people losing their life force. Calculon gets involved, though, and tries to win an acting competition by actually killing himself, and he stayed dead, which, for a cartoon sitcom, is a surprising bit of continuity integrity. While there are strange elements to this episode, it still has a lot working for it.

98. Game of Tones

The end joke of this episode is like one of those anti-humor shaggy dog stories where a longwinded joke culminates in a bland payoff. However, the characters also enter the past through entering Fry’s dreams, which was quite interesting and enjoyable. Sure, The Simpsons did something similar, and better, but that doesn’t mean “Game of Tones,” flat ending notwithstanding, isn’t worthwhile in its own right.

97. The Prisoner of Benda

“The Prisoner of Benda” is not a particularly funny episode, but its plot, which involves body switching, is top notch, and the episode is still enjoyable because of that fact. It’s so high minded and elaborate that its conclusion required a brand new mathematical theorem from writer Ken Keeler. How many episodes of television can say that? Very few, one imagines.

96. Teenage Mutant Leela’s Hurdles

Every episode thus far, as you may have noticed, is from the Comedy Central era of the show. We finally get to the FOX era, which was, obviously, decidedly better. This is a good episode. It’s just less good than the bulk of Futurama. There’s funny moments, after all everybody is getting younger, but the episode doesn’t hang together entirely. At least Professor Farnsworth gets to be a hippy.

95. Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?

Episodes that center on Zoidberg, no matter how good he is as a character, tend to be less good than others. In this outing, Zoidberg and his fellow lobster aliens are all planning to spawn, and it gets a little weird, and it’s all mostly a Star Trek parody that has its moments, but that’s the best you can say.

94. A Bicyclops Built For Two

Katey Sagal played Peg Bundy, so when this episode turns into Married…with Children for a few minutes, it’s wonderful. The gang’s trip into the internet is also very good. Everything else is a little bland, but the good chunks are so funny that it’s still a good episode.

93. That’s Lobstertainment

Hey, another Zoidberg episode, which also adds Zoidberg’s uncle into the mix. Zoidberg and company do manage to make a wonderfully terrible movie, and rig the Oscars, which is very funny. Overall, though it’s just a solid enough episode that it is hard to have strong feelings about. One appearance from Zoidberg’s uncle was enough.

92. 31st Century Fox

There’s not really a hook to describe this episode. It’s not high concept, it’s not notable, it doesn’t have particular highs or lows. It’s just a middle-of-the-road, good episode of the show. Bender does some funny stuff and gets to team up with Leela, a rare pairing. Bender is hunted for sport in lieu of a robot fox. It’s a fine episode, but there’s not a lot to say about it.

91. A Farewell to Arms

While this episode’s title is related to the fact both Fry and Leela have arms ripped off in this episode, it’s mostly about the Martian Apocalypse. The Martian people are Futurama’s version of Native Americans, and this is obviously a stand in for the Mayan “apocalypse” of 2012. It’s amusing enough, and the episode manages to turn severed arms into something romantic, which is a rare, impressive feat.

90. All the President’s Heads

Time travel was not a frequent element of Futurama, and this is the worst of the time travel adventures for the show. The gang travels back to Colonial times, and of course they screw things up and Great Britain ends up ruling America in the future. That’s kind of an obvious way of doing things, and the time travel felt like a bit of a stretch. However, it was still pretty amusing, if not clever, and that’s OK.

89. The Route of All Evil

Cubert and Dwight, Farnsworth and Hermes’ kids, are pretty boring. They aren’t funny characters, and there is a ton of them in this episode. On the other hand, Bender brews beer inside himself and it’s great. Everything without Cubert and Dwight is quite good, so the overall episode is still solid.

88. The Cyber House Rules

“The Cyber House Rules” features a speech from Fry that sort of encapsulates the ethos of the show. The episode, though, is mostly about Leela getting surgery so that she has two eyes, and it’s merely alright. On the other hand, Bender adopts a bunch of kids and turns them into his criminal accomplices. It’s pretty delightful.

87. A Clone of My Own

Speaking of Cubert, this episode introduced him. His entire role was to be an obnoxious kid who pointed out all the logical flaws in Futurama. That’s a tricky thing to pull off, and the show is only partially successful. However, there’s a lot of funny jokes along the way, and the introduction of the Near-Death Star, so there’s still plenty of positive things to say about it.

86. The Cryonic Woman

Fry and Bender get jobs at the cryogenics lab, and we meet Og Gorilla Emperor of Earth, but then Fry unfreezes his old girlfriend, and that’s what the episode is about. From there on, it’s perfectly fine. Pauly Shore is involved, and so is a parody of Mad Max. The episode starts strong, but only ends up being merely good.

85. Calculon 2.0

As previously mentioned, Calculon died, and he stayed dead. That is, until this episode, when he is resurrected. Calculon is a funny, if one-dimensional, character, but he was used just enough that he doesn’t have to try and carry the episode. Then Calculon dies again. Well, at least it was fun while it lasted.

84. Overclockwise

Here’s yet another episode written to be potentially a series finale. Bender becomes omnipotent and can foretell the future and such. This is actually a bit excessive as a plot, but enough cool stuff happens, and enough good jokes are told, that it’s still a good episode. It would have worked as a finale, but fortunately it didn’t have to. It didn’t even end up being the season finale.

83. A Clockwork Origin

Futurama was populated by science minded people, and so it makes sense they would do an episode about evolution, whist also taking on creationism. Of course, Farnsworth ends up creating robotic life on a planet that evolves quickly, and then put him on trial when he tries to claim he created them. It’s clever, but not super funny, so it doesn’t make it any higher.

82. The Futurama Holiday Spectacular

This was the first “let’s tell three stories instead of doing a normal episode” edition after the show returned on Comedy Central. They did a Christmas story, a Hanukkah story, and a Kwanzaa story. Each time, things don’t work out well for the Planet Express Crew. It’s a holiday episode, but it’s decidedly lacking in holiday cheer. It’s still good, and funny, though.

81. That Darn Katz!

What if cats were all aliens who wanted to brainwash humans into helping them save their home planets? Does that sound like it could be kind of funny. Well, that’s about right. The plot is reasonably amusing, and there’s a handful of funny bits, but that’s about it. Perhaps you will enjoy the episode more if you like cats.

80. Saturday Morning Fun Pit

This should have been the best of Futurama’s trilogy of stories episodes. Nixon sits around watching cartoons! And the cartoons are all parodies featuring the gang from the show. That sounds great. Alas, the execution wasn’t entirely there. The Scooby-Doo parody is quite good, at least. It was the final of this style of episode, and while it was good, it had the potential to be so much better.

79. Rebirth

This is the first Comedy Central episode, which means the show had a lot of track to lay and a lot of road to hoe. It’s hard to do that and also be entertaining. Futurama definitely struggled a smidge in this regard, but overall it’s good and a fitting return for the show featuring some good twists and turns.

78. I Second That Emotion

The debut of the mutants, which isn’t great, but also an episode where Bender has emotions, thanks to a chip that allows him to feel Leela’s emotions after Bender almost kills Nibbler and doesn’t care about it. It’s funny to watch Bender feeling somebody else’s emotions, and this is probably the best use of the mutants, so it turned out to be a solid episode overall.

77. Leela’s Homeworld

Now here we have the biggest mutant episode. Leela finds out she isn’t an alien, but a mutant, and meets her parents for the first time. It has a pretty emotional montage to end the episode. It’s not the most emotional moment for the show, that’s coming later, but this is still a big, notable episode, and it makes the most of the opportunity.

76. Bend Her

Bender becomes a fembot, and then begins to act like, well, like Bender as a fembot, which includes seducing Calculon. It’s pretty arch and over the top, which didn’t work for everybody, but the episode is mostly just dumb, goofy fun. It doesn’t seem to be saying much about gender issues, and it does some easy jokes about the differences between men and women, but it also has a soap opera coming to life at Calculon’s wedding to the female version of Bender.

75. Fry Am the Egg Man

This episode also builds on an established trope, which is somebody loving an animal that is misunderstood by everybody else. Of course, in this instance, Fry’s love is for a creature that sucks the bones out of sheep, which means that people’s disdain for it is pretty justified. However, along the way, there’s plenty of funny stuff, and we get to see everybody go to a planet that is basically Scotland. There are good jokes along the way, and then the end has a nice little twist to it.

74. 2-D Blacktop

This episode is super cool aesthetically, because everybody ends up in a 2-D world which is funny and really clever. The plot is fine, and it’s got plenty of humor mined from the 2-D world. It’s like the opposite of that Simpsons episode where Homer stumbles into the third dimension. This is a really cool gimmick episode, but not much more.

73. Put Your Head on My Shoulders

Putting a twist on a classic sitcom trope was something that Futurama liked to do on occasion, and it sort of feels like that is happening in this episode. Fry and Amy start dating, and, just before Fry breaks up with Amy, they get in a car accident and Fry’s head is sutured to Amy’s body. Then he breaks up with her anyway. This stuff is fine, but Bender’s adventures in starting a dating service take the episode up to another level.

72. I, Roommate

Speaking of classic sitcom tropes. Fry and Bender become roommates, and complications ensue. It’s a very standard plot, and that was intentional. This was the third episode of the show, and they wanted to be a little less fantastical and a little more of a sitcom. They did a good job of it, but it’s not Futurama’s strong suit. They have a wonderful universe at their disposal, and it worked better when they used it.

71. Law and Oracle

In a parody of Minority Report, Fry becomes a police officer in the Future Crimes Division. This, of course, puts him into direct conflict with noted criminal Bender. The plotting is very clever, and there’s a lot of funny stuff in the episode as well. Plus, the oracle robot is named Pickles. That’s fun, right?

70. Spanish Fry

Fry is in danger of having his dick removed repeatedly in this episode, which may make half the potential audience for this episode a little squeamish, but there’s plenty of funny jokes along the way. You may need to enjoy arch double entendres complimented with many “whoos,” to be fair, but who doesn’t enjoy jokes like that. Plus, this is an episode that uses Lrrr and Ndnd well, and also Bigfoot shows up.

69. Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch

Speaking of gross stuff, Kif giving birth is one of the grosser things the show has ever done. That’s just one moment, though. While Amy and Kif are both slighter characters, the episode makes it work, and also Kif being around means Zapp is around, and that’s always good. Childbirth is a common trope of sitcoms. They just rarely involve a man getting pregnant with a bunch of tadpoles.

68. Love’s Labours Lost in Space

Speaking of Kif and Zapp, and given how many episode of Futurama that are being ranked we are speaking of many things, here is their debut episode. Kif didn’t have much to do, but Zapp was pretty much fully formed as a Shatner/Captain Kirk parody. He’s a lot of fun, and he helped build the show’s world and make it deeper. Also, this is the episode that introduced Nibbler. He didn’t do much, but at least he would become important.

67. Hell is Other Robots

The Beastie Boys are in this episode, which is good. The Robot Devil debuts, which is also good, because Dan Castellaneta’s voice he used for the character was so good. Bender gets addicted to “jacking on,” and then becomes religious, and then ends up in Robot Hell, which is in New Jersey. There’s even a song! A real tour de force for Bender.

66. Viva Mars Vegas

You would think that Futurama would have done several heist episodes. There is a large cast of characters working at Planet Express, and they are all the type who wouldn’t mind pulling off a heist or two. However, Viva Mars Vegas, an Ocean’s 11 riff, is about it. The Robot Mafia takes over the Wong’s casino, and then the crew join together to take it back. It doesn’t quite live up to its potential, but it’s a good episode with a lot of fun stuff.

65. Anthology of Interest II

As is often the case, the sequel isn’t quite as good as the original. Fry’s story about a world that is like a video game is great, but the other two are merely OK. The wraparounds are good too. Though it isn’t as strong as the first “Anthology of Interest” it is still plenty good in its own right.

64. The Silence of the Clamps

Dr. Zoidberg gets to be a hero! And not accidentally either, as he finds himself in direct conflict with Robot Mafia member Clamps. It’s probably more Clamps than necessary, but that’s a minor quibble in what is a funny, enjoyable episode. There’s a silly twist at the end, but it’s fine, and everything that leads up to it is good. It even manages to turn into a Western briefly, and it still works.

63. The Inhuman Torch

The Planet Express crew, much like Homer Simpson, often have new jobs. In “The Inhuman Torch,” they become firefighters, but, since it is Futurama, they have to take on a sentient solar flare who is trying to burn the Earth down. Bender is blamed for his actions, which complicates things. It’s a funny episode, it’s a good plot, and it’s an enjoyable episode. There’s not much more to say.

62. Ghost in the Machines

It turns, out robots can be ghosts, and it is delightful when it happens. At least, if Bender is that ghost, and then he tries to scare Fry to death at the behest of the Robot Devil. It’s not really a horror riff episode, but there are elements of that, and it’s funny in a lot of ways. It’s also a good Fry and Bender episode, and it helps strengthen their friendship, even if Bender had been trying to kill Fry earlier. That’s how this show works, though.

61. My Three Suns

Even in the first season, Fry was established as a lazy oaf, so the idea of him becoming the king of a faraway planet with three Suns was rich with potential. It’s the sort of episode that, for many shows, would be one of the best, but for Futurama it’s middle of the road. It does get points for the climax, which involves everybody beating up Fry out of love.

60. Brannigan, Begin Again

Ah, the Neutral Planet. The Neutral Planet is so funny, and every line from their leader is great. Zapp working at Planet Express is pretty good, too, but it’s the silliness of all the Neutral Planet stuff that is what’s most memorable. Is this a good episode of TV? All I know is that my gut says maybe.

59. Amazon Women in the Mood

This episode has a delicate line to try and walk. Fry, Bender, Kif, and Zapp all end up on a planet of Amazon women, and suddenly everybody but Kif is quite sexist and there’s a lot of jokes of men versus women, and also the men are to be put to death by sexual intercourse. It’s a little clunky at times, but early on, when Zapp, Kif, Leela, and Amy are on a date it’s great. Zapp singing “Lola” is enough, and Bea Arthur’s guest appearance is also fun.

58. Mother’s Day

A communist greeting card. A robot revolt. Two old people having sex. This episode has it all! Of course, in this world, “Mother’s Day” is when robot’s pay homage to Mom, who built them all, and who used to carry a torch for Professor Farnsworth. The world ends up on the brink of destruction, but, of course, in the end everything is fine. Thanks to Bender, of course, and his love of alcohol. Not the best Mom episode, but a good one.

57. A Taste of Freedom

How far should freedom go? Should Zoidberg, on Freedom Day, be able to eat an Earth flag out of love for the planet? Should Old Man Waterfall be able to be a bisexual polygamist? Does anything beat the great taste of Charleston Chew? These are the questions answered by “A Taste of Freedom.” It’s quite enjoyable to watch these questions being answered.

56. Forty Percent Leadbelly

Bender wanting to be a folk singer has been a recurring thing throughout the show, but it drives the plot in a couple episodes. That includes “Forty Percent Leadbelly,” where Bender decides he needs to walk the walk to talk the talk. Also, a 3-D printer is involved, and Bender’s songs come to life. It’s fun, and it has some pretty good songs, too.

55. Lethal Inspection

Some Futurama episodes are lauded for their emotionality. “Lethal Inspection” isn’t necessarily mentioned among those episodes that often, but it should be. Bender finds out it is possible for him to die, and he and Hermes try and outrun Mom, who is trying to kill her defective unit, and also to find the inspector who allowed Bender to go out into the world defective. Of course, in truth Hermes was said inspector, and then we see what happens, and, well, it’s pretty wonderful.

54. Where the Buggalo Roam

Kif being a high strung, Don Knotts type can only carry so much of a plot, but there’s enough good stuff happening in this episode to make it a strong entry for the show. There are funny jokes involving the Native Martians, and Zapp is around, of course. Zoidberg making himself at home in the Wongs house is amusing as well. Kif and Amy aren’t the power couple of the show, but it’s still a good episode built around them.

53. Anthology of Interest I

When Futurama did “Anthology of Interest I,” it was a total departure for the show, and an excellent one. All three stories are quite funny, and Al Gore has a great cameo. This episode also introduced us to Scruffy, the janitor, which makes it a very valuable episode. Perhaps the most valuable episode. Truly, the world would have been great had Farnsworth invented the fing-longer.

52. Raging Bender

The cameo from the MST3K robots in a movie theater is great to begin with, and then Bender becomes a pro wrestler. The show has a lot of fun with the tropes of pro wrestling, especially once Bender the Offender becomes the Gender Bender, and thus is a villain, because that’s how pro wrestling used to work. Pro wrestling fans will get an extra kick out of this episode, but it should be funny to nigh anybody.

51. Space Pilot 3000

The first episode! The premise establishing pilot! Pilots are often not that funny, because they have to explain so much. Futurama has one of the best pilots of any show, though. Sure, the show got much better, but it was rather good right out the gate, and this episode didn’t even have Amy or Zoidberg in it.

50. Crimes of the Hot

Global warming is a topic that was relevant at the time, and, unfortunately, remains relevant, so this episode doesn’t feel dated. The robots are going to be destroyed because they make the world too hot, and only Bender realizes the horrors that await him on party island. We also get to see the debut of the headless body of Spiro Agnew, and the return of Al Gore. Those are the makings of good TV.

49. Mobius Dick

Leela getting obsessed with a killer space whale is a good enough plot for a Futurama episode. However, the fact the whale lives in the fourth dimension and has an infinite loop for intestines takes it to another level. There’s some pretty cool action, and it looks great, and you throw in some good jokes and you have a particularly good episode. Plus, Zoidberg has hair.

48. Proposition Infinity

Being romantically involved with a robot is used as an allegory for homosexuality, because that’s how science fiction works. They take something fantastical and use that to stand in for a real issue of our modern times. It doesn’t line up perfectly, but it’s a very funny episode with some good points that aren’t heavy handed.

47. Where No Fan Has Gone Before

Star Trek is another sci-fi show, and one that the people who worked of Futurama seemed to love, so it’s only natural they did an episode dedicated to Star Trek. A bunch of the actors from the show appear, including Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. It’s a good parody of Star Trek, but they don’t let their desire to pay tribute to Star Trek overshadow the voice of Futurama.

46. Bendin’ in the Wind

This is the preeminent “Bender as folk singer” episode. He gets to go on tour with Beck, who is great in his guest appearance. It’s a nice road trip episode, and great for Bender. Finally, he got to live his dream, and Zoidberg found out he coughs up fancy pearls that can fetch a great price.

45. When Aliens Attack

Fry knows television. He has dedicated his life to television. Thanks to this fact, he is able to save the world, because he knows the TV show Single Female Lawyer. It has just reached Omicron Persei 8, and when the episode they are watching shorts out, Lrrr and Ndnd head to Earth to demand to see the ending. It’s up to Fry to make it happen. It’s a funny parody of TV, particularly ’90s TV, and the ending is a nice twist on the traditional “everything is alright in the end” TV trope.

44. The Series Has Landed

The second episode of the series, it had to show that there was more to Futurama than the premise. Zoidberg and Amy are introduced, and we get to see Fry and the gang in action as a delivery crew. Fry goes to the Moon, and finds it is a cheesy amusement park. It’s a nice extension of the pilot, and proved the show knew what it was doing. Futurama was on fire right out of the gate.

43. A Leela of Her Own

Leela becomes the first female blernsball player. The twist is that’s she terrible. She hits every batter when she pitches. She’s the worst blernsball player of all time, which she despises. It’s a funny take on sports movie tropes, with an excellent cameo from Hank Aaron. There’s also some stuff about aliens making disgusting pizza with is OK.

42. Insane in the Mainframe

The plot of this episode is, actually, kind of disturbing. Fry gets sent to a robot mental hospital, where he actually loses his mind and comes to believe he actually is a robot. Fortunately, Futurama is so funny that they can make it work. Bender is also great goofing around in the mental hospital, and we are introduced to Roberto, the criminal robot, who makes funny noises when he is trying to stab people.

41. I Dated a Robot

Fry dates a robot, but it’s a robot that happens to look like Lucy Liu and have her personality. That is, when she’s not saying robot things. It’s a really well done plot, especially when the episode briefly becomes a parody of All in the Family, and overall it’s just a fun, funny episode. It’s goofy and silly, but in a wonderful way, and Liu is great.

40. Love and Rocket

Just like the previous episode on this list, “Love and Rocket” involves an unorthodox romance. This time, it involves two machines, but one of them is the Planet Express Ship, who gets a new artificial intelligence personality put in, and Bender hooks up with it. Then he breaks up with her, and she loses his cool, which causes problems for Fry and Leela. The whole episode has a pretty twisted take on romance, but it works, and it’s a really good episode.

39. Future Stock

How can you parody Wall Street and the go-go ’80s in a show that takes place a millennium into the future? By having an ’80s guy get frozen and thawed out in the future, just like Fry. Fry quickly comes to love ’80s guy, but it ends up hurting the company. For a one time character, ’80s guy is quite enjoyable, and it is fun to see Fry in ’80s businessman mode.

38. Roswell That Ends Well

A lot of people love this episode. It won an Emmy. It’s definitely very good, but, obviously, this list doesn’t hold it in as high of esteem as others. Perhaps if you have a higher tolerance for time travel, or for dark twists on Back to the Future, you will like it more. The stuff with Zoidberg is great, though, especially when Harry Truman punches his way out of a box.

37. Reincarnation

Of all the segmented episodes, this is the best one. Futurama is “reincarnated” in three different animated forms: an old school, Steamboat Willy-esque cartoon, an 8-bit video game, and an anime. Each one has a lot to offer, although the video game one is the best. The episode may be slight, as any episode like this is bound to be, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be excellent.

36. A Tale of Two Santas

This is the second of the two Santa episodes, and the first one hasn’t been seen on this list yet, so clearly this one wasn’t quite as good. The premise isn’t as unique as the first time, and John Goodman didn’t come back to voice Robot Santa. However, watching Bender be Santa, and having him talk to Kwanzaabot, is very amusing, and so is Zoidberg as Jesus. It’s still a very good episode, even if it isn’t as good as its predecessor.

35. The Why of Fry

“The Why of Fry” very shrewdly ties a lot of things together from the show’s history into a cohesive backstory that works. We find out that Nibbler is the reason Fry got frozen. The flying brains come back. The universe is destroyed then undestroyed. It’s a rather eventful episode, which is great, but it is also funny on top of everything else.

34. Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV

An episode so good, it makes Cubert and Dwight work as characters. Bender gets on his favorite soap opera, even though Calculon said his acting is so bad he thinks it gave him cancer, and then just starts acting like himself, which is to say like an awful creep. People love it though, including kids, which is what leads to a protest group trying to get Bender off TV, a group that, eventually, includes Bender. Bender being Bender is usually fun, as it is here, but the context for it, and the little fourth wall breaking bumpers in the episode, make it even better.

33. The Day the Earth Stood Stupid

The episode that introduced the flying brains, and their battle with the Nibblonians, involves everybody except Fry getting a lot dumber, which makes Fry, a dumb man himself, the smartest man on Earth, and the only one who can battle the brains. It’s a great premise executed well, making for a delightful episode that somehow manages to make it reasonable that Fry has to chase the Big Brain through a bunch of books.

32. A Flight to Remember

Space Titanic. Nothing else really needs to be said to describe the plot of this episode. It’s a Titanic parody, with some Three’s Company mixed in, and it’s hilarious. There are few issues to be had with this episode. It just speaks to how great Futurama is that this episode only is number 32 on this list.

31. The Lesser of Two Evils

After a trip to Past-O-Rama, Bender meets Flexo, who looks just like him save for his stylish, evil twin goatee. Fry is naturally suspicious of Flexo, especially when a priceless tiara goes missing. In the end, it turns out there is an evil twin, and it’s Bender. Flexo is a lot of fun, and he and Bender make a great team. Bob Barker is a nice touch too.

30. Fear of Bot Planet

An early episode, at this point we hadn’t seen Futurama visit many fantastical worlds, or Star Trek style concept worlds, but, even had it been a later episode, the visit to a planet full of human hating robots would have been memorable. It’s one of the funniest planets they ever visited, especially while Fry and Leela are disguised as robots. This episode also introduced Blernsball, which is kind of funny, but at least helped expand the world of the show.

29. A Fishful of Dollars

“A Fishful of Dollars” immediately followed “Fear of a Bot Planet,” and it’s an even better episode. Mom is introduced, and this remains the best use of her, but Fry finding out he is rich was also great. All the stuff he bought was funny, especially once he holes himself up with all his things, such as his stuffy old songs about the buttocks. One of the best uses of Fry’s past on the show.

28. How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back

Hermes is, arguably, a tertiary character. He usually is barely involved. Despite that, when he was given a central role in an episode, it ended up being very funny. Fry’s great in this episode, too, especially when he explained why he had yogurt in his ballcap. Time makes fools of us all, indeed. Hermes’ song is a toe tapper, too.

27. Jurassic Bark

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cue the waterworks. Fry gets his dog Seymour back, and he can bring him back to life and we see a lot of stuff from the past and… well, you know. We don’t want to make you cry, although it may already be too late. While this episode is often thought of as the most emotional Futurama episode, it’s also got plenty of good jokes in it as well.

26. Obsoletely Fabulous

What if Bender became obsolete? Would he, perhaps move to a deserted island with other obsolete robots and transform his body into one made of wood? Maybe, according to this episode. It’s a very Bender, and robot, heavy episode, but that’s OK, because the obsolete robots, such as the cymbal banging monkey, are entertaining. Sure, a lot of the episode turns out to be a dream, but that’s OK, because it’s still fun.

25. A Pharaoh to Remember

Bender, a robot of many faults, is also an egomaniac who, in this episode, is obsessed with how he will be remembered. So, when he, Fry, and Leela end up on an Egyptian planet, of course he manages to finagle a way to make himself pharaoh. Bender makes a hilarious pharaoh, and Fry makes a funny slave, and that makes for a great episode, one worth remembering.

24. Parasites Lost

You would think an episode about Fry getting infested with worms due to a truck stop egg salad sandwich, but it actually isn’t. The worms manage to make Fry a super human, and that makes Leela finally like him. There’s also some Fantastic Voyage type stuff that’s very entertaining, and it’s a wonderfully plotted episode.

23. Bendless Love

Flexo is back, and we also meet Angle-ine, whom Bender falls in love with. As in their first episode together, Bender and Flexo are a great team, and Angle-ine is funny too. The Robot Mafia also get involved. It’s a real collection of notable robot characters, and there’s a lot of really funny stuff, especially when Bender is pretending to be Flexo for elaborate, foolish reasons.

22. The Problem with Popplers

Fry, Bender, and Leela find a new, wonderful food on a planet, but it turns out they are the babies of the Omicronians, and, if not eaten, they will start talking. There’s so much funny stuff in this episode. Lrrr gets a bunch of great lines. Free Waterfall Jr. is hilarious. It’s the sort of plot only a show like Futurama could do, and they did a great job with it

21. Bender Gets Made

Bender joining the Robot Mafia was a pretty perfect idea, and a lot of great stuff happens in it. Bender’s elaborate plot when the Robot Mafia plans to rob the Planet Express ship, a ship he is supposed to be on, is genuinely good farce. Plus, the mafia robots weren’t overused at this point, so they were still fresh, and a lot of fun. Also, Bender kicks Tinny Tim’s crutch out from under him, which is hilarious.

20. The Deep South

The Planet Express crew going down to the lost city of Atlanta yields a lot of tremendous stuff. The parody of Donovan’s “Atlantis” is hilarious. Zoidberg’s house is great. And, of course, the crux of the episode, Fry falling for the mermaid Umbriel. This leads to one of the show’s funniest jokes: “Why couldn’t she have been the other kind of mermaid? With the fish part on top and the lady part on the bottom!” And this is without mentioning the crew going fishing, which has plenty of good jokes in its own right.

19. Xmas Story

Now we get to the first, and best, Futurama episode, and one of the best episodes they have ever done. It turns out, in the future, Santa is real, but he’s a robot who judges everybody as naughty, and then tries to kill them. It’s a dark twist on Christmas traditions, but a hilarious one. John Goodman is great as Santa, and it’s also a good episode for Fry and Leela on top of everything else.

18. A Big Piece of Garbage

Even with the great episodes, sometimes there isn’t a ton to say, other than it’s great. Although, this episode did introduce Wernstrom, a nice addition, and the whole thing about a giant garbage ball heading toward Earth is a good plot, and fodder for a lot of jokes. The video explaining the garbage ball situation, which turns out to be a porn, is excellent. Everything about this episode works.

17. Mars University

Do you like Animal House parodies? Because “Mars University” has perhaps the best one in Bender’s adventures with Robot House. Rooooooobot Hoooouuuse! Fry’s collegiate experience, including his roommate, the hyperintelligent monkey Guenter, is very funny, sure, but Bender and Robot House is truly hilarious, and the episode’s ending, which also parodies Animal House, is fantastic.

16. The 30% Iron Chef

Bender loves to cook, but he has no sense of taste, which doesn’t help. Still, he challenges Elzar, Futurama’s answer to Emeril, to a televised cooking competition, which is judged, by Morbo, a Harlem Globetrotter, and Marsha Stewart’s head. It’s hilarious, and Bender wins too, thanks to his mentor’s secret ingredient. It’s LSD. Zoidberg gets a very amusing runner as well.

15. The Late Philip J. Fry

Hey, it’s an episode from the Comedy Central era! Remember those from the beginning of this list? It’s another time travel episode, but it’s an original take on time travel. It has a bit of emotionality, but it’s also just really cool and the scientific aspect is great. Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth crack a beer and watch the universe die and be reborn. It’s pretty amazing for a sitcom.

14. Three Hundred Big Boys

What if you were just gifted with 300 bucks? What would you do? This episode lets us know what the Futurama gang would do. Naturally, it’s a lot of funny stuff, and it all culminates perfectly, with the stories intersecting. Bender’s is very good, but Fry’s story, which involves him buying 100 cups of coffee, and entering a higher plane of consciousness because of it, is clearly the best. It’s one of the funnier things the show has ever done.

13. The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz

We get to see Bender be both captain of the Planet Express ship and a penguin. What more needs to be said? How about Fry as the captain, or penguins with guns? The episode may have a quasi-environmental message, but it’s mostly just a hilarious half-hour of television loaded with great jokes. It’s one of the funniest TV episodes about penguins being covered with oil, and then being threatened with being shot dead.

12. Godfellas

This is an episode with an ambitious story to tell. After all, Bender is jettisoned into space, becomes God to some small aliens who come to live on his body, and then meets the actual God, or the remains of God. It’s pretty big picture stuff, the kind of thing only a show like Futurama could do, and do well. While Bender’s story gets most of the screen time, and rightfully so, Fry and Leela’s quest to find him is great as well. We didn’t even have to mention the space pirates. You know, pirates, but in space.

11. The Sting

As an animated show, Futurama could do all sorts of stuff, but “The Sting” is definitely the trippiest episode. Since it came so late in the show’s run, and since this show could do all sorts of science fiction stuff, it actually felt like Fry might have died during this episode. Of course, we know how he didn’t, and that it was Leela who got stung by the space bee, ending up in a trippy, weird coma. It’s an odd, occasionally confusing episode, but it’s fascinating and outstanding. Even when you rewatch it and know what is happening, it’s still great.

10. A Head in the Polls

There is a generation of people whose knowledge and image of Richard Nixon is shaped entirely by Groening’s distaste for our country’s former President. While he poked his head up occasionally on The Simpsons, he’s a bit of a recurring force in Futurama, and it all started with “A Head in the Polls.” In the future, the heads of famous people live on in a jar, and, when Bender sells his body for cash, Nixon buys it and uses it to run for President of Earth. It’s a funny look at the political process, and also turned Nixon into a delightful nigh feral manic in a way that was hilarious.

9. Meanwhile

The return of Futurama on Comedy Central was certainly not up to the level of the original run on FOX. There were plenty of good episodes, and a lot of mediocre ones, but only a few really stood out. The only one worthy of the top 10, though, is “Meanwhile,” the last in a series of series finales. In addition to being a very funny show, Futurama had some wonderful sci-fi stories, and “Meanwhile” is certainly one of them. It also paid off the series excellently, from an emotional standpoint. It was also served well by Comedy Central airing the pilot right after, helping the show go full circle. “Meanwhile” stands on its own, however, as a smart, funny half hour of TV.

8. The Honking

The Simpsons is known for its Halloween episodes, but Futurama didn’t take the same route. The one time it really tackled Halloween, though, led to “The Honking,” which basically combines werewolf stories with Christine. Bender becomes a werecar, and starts mowing people down. There is a real level of ominousness to “The Honking,” but it’s also hilarious, especially when Bender and the gang are staying in a haunted mansion. It’s a parody of horror tropes, but still maintains a slight level of menace, which is an impressive balancing act.

7. Fry and the Slurm Factory

“Fry and the Slurm Factory” closed out the first season. It was a very good first season, but this episode really showed how good, and weird, the show could become. The episode is just a straight up parody of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but a tremendously demented on. A giant worm heinie is involved. It’s weird, just like the movie it parodies, but it’s also great.

6. The Luck of the Fryrish

While Futurama was mostly a silly, brilliant, and hilarious show more interested in heady concepts and funny jokes, it is often lauded for its more emotional episodes. People often talk about “Jurassic Bark,” but, of all the “emotional” episodes, “The Luck of the Fryrish” is the best. It provides a lot of backstory for Fry, it’s really funny, and, yes, the ending is very emotionally impactful. It’s the rare episode of a show set in the year 3000 wherein parachute pants and John Larroquette’s spine are involved.

5. Time Keeps on Slippin’

In terms of sci-fi concepts, and sci-fi concepts played for laughs, “Time Keeps on Slippin’” is one of the best. Time jumps start happening, which are used really well in terms of storytelling. Oh, and also the Harlem Globetrotters come from their own planet to play basketball against some of Professor Farnsworth’s mutants, and also they are math geniuses. It’s fantastic.

4. Less Than Hero

Some episodes of Futurama are emotional. Some are ambitious in terms of storytelling. Some are sci-fi heavy. Some are just plain goofy, and “Less Than Hero” is the best of that bunch. Fry, Leela, and Bender become superheroes. A bunch of dumb stuff happens. It’s basically a Batman ’66 episode, and Batman ’66 is amazing.

3. The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings

For a while, it seemed that this would be the series finale of Futurama. It would have been a great one, because it’s an excellent episode, clearly designed to serve as a potential finale. There’s an opera within the episode. The Robot Devil is around, and he’s a delight. It’s a great episode for Fry and Leela, individually and as a couple. It was nice that Futurama continued, but had it ended here, it would have been perfectly fine.

2. The Farnsworth Parabox

This is the best science fiction episode of the bunch. Farnsworth creates a machine that creates parallel universes, stored in boxes, and the Futurama gang of two of these universes join together to travel through all sorts of other, more gimmicky universes. The story of this episode is great, the best in the show’s run, and it’s also really funny. If you are a sci-fi fan more than a comedy fan, “The Farnsworth Parabox” is the episode for you.

1. War is the H-Word

Simply put, this is the funniest episode in the history of Futurama. It has Fry and Bender and Zapp Brannigan and Nixon. It’s super goofy, but hilariously so, and involves a bunch of ball puns, which is nice. A war is declared on a planet of ball creatures, and Fry and Bender end up in the army because of some ham gum they bought. It’s genius. It’s one of the best episodes of any show. “War is the H-Word” is Futurama at its best.