The 15 Best ‘Futurama’ Episodes, from ‘The Farnsworth Parabox’ to ‘Roswell That Ends Well’

15. “Leela’s Homeworld” (Season 4, Episode 2)

The very first episode of “Futurama” teased a major secret involving the parentage of Leela, who was orphaned as a child and has never met another cyclops like her. But the show took four seasons and over 50 episodes to answer that lingering question, which might have been frusturating if the reveal wasn’t so movingly done. After getting named “orphan of the year” by her old orphanage, Leela is left longing for a family, only to discover — via an excursion to the sewers — that her parents have been watching over her her entire life. Although she spent years thinking she was an alien, Leela learns she’s actually a mutant, and her parents, who reside with their kind in the sewers of New New York, purposefully gave her up in the hopes she would live a better life, but still watched her grow up from the shadows. The moment where Leela learns the truth and tearfully reconciles with her parents is beautifully and movingly done, ranking up their with the best of “Futurama’s” more serious moments. 

14. “The Series Has Landed” (Season 1, Episode 2)

“Futurama” would get better and more ambitious over the course of its original run, but its opening episodes did a terrific job of setting up its world and the character dynamics that would undergird its latter outings. After the solid pilot, the show settles in further with “The Series Has Landed,” which introduces the supporting cast members like Amy, Zoidberg, and Hermes, and sends Leela, Fry, and Bender off on their first delivery to the Moon. There, Fry is forced to confront for the first time how much life has past him by, as the Moon has gone from a symbol of humanity’s quest for the stars to a dull rock surface hosting a kitchsy amusement park. Facing an existential crisis, he busts out of the park with Leela in tow to attempt to find the original Moon Landing sight, putting them both in danger in the process. The episode tinges its comedy with a slight wistfulness and the ending — where a disintrested Leela realizes how beautiful the Moon actually is with the help of Fry — would really set the stage for the will they won’t they relationship between the two leads. And if you want proof of how strong the show was from the jump, consider that this episode lead to the origin of “Futurama’s” most iconic joke, but eh, screw the whole thing.

13. “Brannigan, Begin Again” (Season 2, Episode 2)

“Brannigan, Begin Again” is best remembered for introducing the “Neutral Planet,” a civilization full of gray bureaucratic types whose reactions to learning they’re about to die is to say things like “tell my wife…hello.” But the episode is very funny beyond its middle-of-the-road icons, establishing the formula for installments focusing on the blowhard Zapp Brannigan after his Season 1 introduction: he acts like an idiot, Fry and Bender get sucked in, and Leela is left to pick up the pieces. When Brannigan gets dishonorably discharged from the Democratic Order of Planets for his stupidity, he gets a job with Planet Express, and stages a mutiny against Leela by promising Fry and Bender fun times. But when he decides to stage a suicide mission against the Neutral Planet, who he believes are evil based on basically nothing, Leela is forced to stop him. The Neutral Planet may have no strong feelings about this episode one way or another, but anyone from planet Earth can see it’s a great one. 

12. “The Sting” (Season 4, Episode 12)

Maybe the only “Futurama” episode that legitimately could be described as “creepy,” “The Sting” is a bizarre fever dream that goes to unexpectedly dark and dramatic places, even as it leaves space for ridiculous moments like “Walking on Sunshine” playing at Fry’s funeral. Yep, Fry (seemingly) dies this episode, after a baby queen bee from a space hive the crew visits impales him while he tries to protect Leela. As the captain struggles with survivor’s guilt, she experiences a series of dreams where Fry is alive, and slowly begins to grow more and more insane. The feverish logic and almost greek tragedy-esque structure to the story gives the episode far more intense stakes than typical for the show, but it’s all grounded in the familiar Fry and Leela love story, making for a genuinely unforgettable and emotionally affecting installment. 

11. “The Late Phillip J. Fry” (Season 6, Episode 7)

When “Futurama” began, the creators made a self-imposed restriction that the series would never feature time travel, given that it would break the basic premise of the series that Fry was trapped in the future with no way to see his family again. But they broke that rule in the original run, and the episodes that feature time travel ended up being some of the show’s greatest highlights. Take “The Late Phillip J. Fry,” one of the best episodes from the revival years, which sees Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth go on a madcap and chaotic time travel adventure. The machine only goes forward in time, to prevent parodoxes, a design desicion that carries disasterous consequences when Farnsworth overshoots an intended one minute trip and lands the party in the year 10,000 AD. As they desperately attempt to reach a period in history where humanity has invented backwards time travel in order to return home, Leela is left to live her life devestated, believing Fry died and abandoned her during her Birthday. The episode mixes the absurdity of the many ridiculous futures glimpsed with a lovely melancholic story about the show’s central relationship, and connects its time travel storyline with a central message about Fry’s failure to show up for Leela, resulting in one of the best episodes of the show’s Comedy Central years. 

10. “Where No Fan Has Gone Before” (Season 4, Episode 11)

“Futurama” is a geeky show filled with science fiction references galore, but none are as proudly nerdy as “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” which reunites almost the entire main cast of the original “Star Trek” series (the only exception is DeForest Kelly, who passed away in 1999) for a gleeful comedic adventure.

After Fry learns that the “Star Trek” franchise has been banned from the galaxy after the fandom grew into a religion and perished in the “Star Trek Wars,” (not to be confused with the “Star Wars Trek,” the mass migration of “Star Wars” fans) he steals the head of Leonard Nimoy and heads to Omega 3: a forbidden planet where the remaining tapes of the original series are buried. Once there, the crew finds that Nimoy’s fellow castmembers have been revived by an energy being named Melllvar — a hilariously mean parody of a stereotypical loser Trekkie — and the crew must free the cast from his attempts to force them into a never-ending fan convention.

The episode is essentially a parade of “Star Trek” shout-outs and jabs, but what really elevates it to a classic is how much the original cast brings their A-game to the comedic take on the show that defined their careers. Nimoy makes a great straight man, Nichelle Nichols brings a deadpan disgust to the proceedings, and most of all, William Shatner steals the show as a (barely) exaggerated parody of his prima donna reputation.  

9. “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings” (Season 4, Episode 18)

Although the creators of “Futurama” didn’t want the show to end with “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings,” they wrote and produced it under the assumption it would be after Fox failed to order additional seasons. As such, the episode manages to acheive a sense of finality by bringing almost every single recurring character from the first four seasons in for a cameo, and (most importantly) providing something resembling a conclusion for Fry and Leela’s relationship.

After Fry fails to learn how to play the holograph-producing holophoner, he makes a classic faustian bargain with the Robot Devil — trading hands with him in order to master the instrument. As Fry gets comissioned to write an opera with his new skills, the Robot Devil quickly comes to regret the deal, and attempts to get his hands back. The episode is a delightful and smart parody of operas, complete with melodramatic twists and suprisingly gorgeous music. But it’s the sweet, ambigious ending to Leela and Fry’s romance that really makes it a fitting, albeit temporary, finale.

8. “War is the H-Word” (Season 2, Episode 17)

Voiced by Billy West, the incompetent and boorish general Zapp Brannigan is perhaps the funniest character in “Futurama,” and every episode featuring him is an utter delight. The best of the bunch is “War is the H-Word,” which sees Fry and Bender rub elbows with him after they enlist in the army because they want a 5% veteran’s discount on supermarket chewing gum. They get in over their heads, however, when Earth declares war on the barren Spheron I for no good reason, and Richard Nixon’s head hatches a plan to use Bender as a bomb on the planet by rigging him with an explosive whenever he uses his favorite word: “ass.”

Meanwhile, Leela disguises herself as a man to enlist in the army and keep Fry safe, attracting and confusing the very heterosexual Zapp. The entire episode is a silly but smart parody of the pointless barbarity of war, complete with many, many references and shout outs to “Star Wars,” “Starship Troopers,” and, most delightfully of all, an extended homage to “M*A*S*H.”   

7. “Godfellas” (Season 3, Episode 20)

With his catchphrases, memes, and general tendency to cause chaos, the hedonistic Bender is probably the most popular and well-known “Futurama” character. He gets his best chance to shine in “Godfellas,” which sees the self-absorbed robot in the position most befitting his self-absorbed worldview: literally playing god.

When robot pirates attack the Planet Express ship, Bender gets ejected and thrown into space, where he crashes into an asteroid. The asteroid houses a race of tiny alien “shrimpkins,” who take to worshiping Bender like a god, and Bender fills the role easily, selecting a prophet and enjoying his newfound power — until the rise of atheism makes things far more complicated for him.

In addition to being a great character study of Bender, the episode manages to explore religion and the way it can splinter society in a manner that’s incisive, lighthearted, and fun. The episode is also notable for being the first recipient of the Writer Guild of America’s award for Best Animated Screenplay, an acheivement Bender would no doubt gloat to high heavens about.   

6. “Meanwhile” (Season 7, Episode 26)

Fans are a bit divided on the Comedy Central run of “Futurama,” but you won’t find a single person who disagrees that the show absolutely nailed the ending — or at least, its ending at the time. Like “Devil’s Hands,” “Meanwhile” focuses on the romance between Fry and Leela, which finally begins to really progress after Fry makes a fatal mistake with a device Farnsworth invented to reverse time — causing the entire universe aside from him and Leela to freeze. Upset, the two decide to make the most of it, and marry and grow old together as the world remains in stasis. Seeing Leela and Fry finally get their happy ending is no doubt touching, but what really elevates the episode is its closing minutes, which makes clear that nothing really ends for the two; their adventures will continue, and they’ll keep growing and evolving and living, whether its on our screens or off them.   

5. “When Aliens Attack” (Season 1, Episode 12)

“Futurama” was solid from the jump, but “When Aliens Attack” is the first truly classic episode of the show. When Fry accidentally causes an interruption in the broadcast of Fox sitcom “Single Female Lawyer” (a brilliantly stupid spoof of “Ally McBeal”), it enrages Larr: the alien ruler of Omicron Persei 8. Devastated he missed his show, Larr retaliates by declaring war on Earth, forcing the Planet Express team to improvise and fake the show in order to save the world.

The episode is basically one great joke after another, from the insipidly vapid Omicron ruler to Zapp Brannigan cheerfully sacrificing the president to the aliens to the entire “Single Female Lawyer” shoot, which gifts us with a gem of a theme song from Bender: “Single Female Lawyer, fighting for her client! Wearin’ sexy miniskirts and bein’ self-reliant!” Ultimately though, the episode resonates because it contains a core truth. Who hasn’t wanted to destroy the world over a TV show? 

4. “Time Keeps on Slippin'” (Season 3, Episode 14)

It’s hard to choose one truly representative episode of “Futurama,” but “Time Keeps on Slippin'” might be it, because it contains most of what “Futurama” does well. It’s really funny, with clever jokes and goofy pop culture-based gags. The entire episode focuses on Earth’s quest to defeat the Harlem Globetrotters (now a full civilization with their own homeworld) in a pick-up basketball match, which goes majorly off the rails after the Professor’s attempts to win results in the destablization of space-time, potentially leading to the end of the universe. 

It’s wildly weird and inventive, with the time jumps caused by the destablization leading to a lot of clever gags and interesting storytelling opportunities, like Leela and Fry abruptly getting married and just as abruptly getting divorced. And, most of all, it’s a bit sad, with a bummer conclusion for Fry as he realizes what he did to win Leela over after it’s too late to show her. Not many TV shows can create an episode with the same basic plot of “Space Jam” and still make you cry, but that’s the magic of “Futurama.” 

3. “The Luck of the Fryrish” (Season 3, Episode 10)

Only a few episodes of “Futurama” really capitalize on the inherent sadness of Fry getting freezed for centuries and missing the lives of his loved ones, but the ones that do are all classics — and “The Luck of the Fryrish” is maybe the best.

When Fry gets fed up with a streak of bad luck, he heads to the ruins of Old New York to find his old five-leaf clover, a good luck charm that caused tension in his relationship with older brother Yancy. Flashbacks detail the fraught dynamic between the two, which was marked by painfully realistic bullying and sibling jealousy, and Fry is embittered to discover that Yancy stole his clover when he went missing. Or at least, that’s what he thinks; the episode takes a turn to the sentimental towards the end that feels completely earned in how it sketches the complicated dynamics of siblings. “Jurassic Bark” is the most famous “Futurama” heartbreaker, but “The Luck of the Fryish” is the most emotionally rewarding.

2. “The Farnsworth Parabox” (Season 4, Episode 15)

One of the great pleasure of “Futurama” is how it takes familiar sci-fi conceits and puts a unique spin on them, resulting in demented, singular sitcom episodes. “The Farnsworth Parabox” is one of the absolute best examples of this.

The script from Bill Odenkirk (yep, he’s Bob’s brother) presents a ludicrously clever vision of alternate universe stories, as our Planet Express team in “Universe A” opens a box that transports them to the nearly identical “Universe 1.”

Almost everything in the world is the same, with one major exception: every time a coin flip lands on heads in Universe A, it lands on tails in Universe 1, and vice versa. That simple difference results in huge changes for the cast, like Bender going for a gold-plated paint job. But most impacted by this vision of another life are Fry and Leela, who discover that their parallel universe selves aren’t just together, but happily married — all because of a single coin flip.

The soul searching that revelation sends Leela on provides the episode’s emotional core, but the majority of “Farnsworth Parabox” is just incredibly funny and smart, exploiting the comedic possibilities of the doppelgangers to brilliant effect. Only a show with characters as well-developed as “Futurama” could strike gold by having them bounce off themselves. 

1. “Roswell That Ends Well” (Season 3, Episode 19)

“Rosewell That Ends Well” won “Futurama” its very first Emmy for Best Animated Program, and its not hard to see why; more than just being the show’s finest hour, it’s one of the funniest sitcom episodes ever made.

When the crew heads out to space to observe a supernova event, a mishap by Fry causes them to get catapulted back in time to 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, where Bender and Doctor Zoidberg get captured by the United States government. As Leela and Farnsworth fabulously fail to blend in with the locals, Fry gets paranoid about erasing his own existence and seeks out his grandfather in an attempt to force him to have sex with his grandmother Mildred (in a hilarious homage to “Back to the Future.”) Every plotline is perfectly paced and funny, and getting to see the cast out of their element and in unfamiliar surroundings makes for hectic fun. But what really makes the episode “Futurama’s” funniest is the conclusion of Fry’s storyline, which is so audacious and hilarious, it needs to be seen to be believed.