Top Ten Futurama Episodes

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Ranking the Futurama episodes was no easy task because it has many great episodes and not many easily come to mind as the best which is why choosing the top four was especially difficult. But I still managed to do it and this is only my opinion so here you have episodes that are to me the funniest and I only picked funny episodes or scientific and intriguing. I did not pick any of those emotional episodes as I have never been the biggest fan of them. So here is my list of top ten Futurama episodes with four honorable mentions that didn’t quite crack the top ten.

10. Fear of a Bot Planet

This season one episode is one of the rare instances of not only Bender getting his proper due and being really good as a protagonist, but also of properly establishing and examining the robotic society. Those many human-hating jokes were absolutely hilarious, but the episode is also very well constructed and with a terrific plot as well as a great usage of its characters leading to one polished episode that deserved this tenth spot even if it isn’t too popular.

9. Spanish Fry

There is no social commentary in Spanish Fry, no science and certainly no message. But that is why I loved it so much as it was a nice change in pace for the usually scientific or politically oriented series. Lrrr takes Fry’s nose in order to impress his wife, mistaking human nose as a penis. This is surely one of the nastiest Futurama episodes which was amusing, but of course I loved Lrrr here as he is one of my favorite supporting characters and here he got a great story.

8. The Duh-Vinci-Code

This is one of the most interesting and smartest episodes for sure as the inventiveness just blew me away. Having Leonardo da Vinci turn out to be an alien from another planet, but there he is one of the dumbest people was just a genius and very clever idea. He is such a great character, this entire episode is very cozy in its history and science and it also features a great use of Fry at one of his dumbest.

7. Fry and the Slurm Factory

This early episode is very important as it is the first time that we got acquainted with Slurm which proved out to be a very popular and highly amusing product placement for the series. But the episode itself is excellent as it again finds Fry at some of his best and funniest, the animation is very good and the episode is very funny and entertaining while still being a great parody of this source material.

6. War Is the H-Word

As I just love Zapp Brannigan and deem him to be the second funniest character on the show after the Professor, I naturally had to include some of his episodes and this is the first of the two on this list. It was a clever idea to have Leela pose as a man and join military and watching Zapp still getting aroused at a supposed male was just hilarious. There are a lot of great, hysterical lines here and it features Zapp at his most consistently hilarious.

5. Amazon Women in the Mood

The second Zapp episode on my list, this crazy storyline involves the males of the crew getting tortured by giant, sexually aroused women. Of course that premise led to one of the most sexual episodes with a great use of memorable slapstick. Everyone is terrific here, but the highlights are Zapp and Kif who is also pretty funny himself. This was a strong reminder that we never really got enough of these two phenomenal characters which was unfortunate.

4. Anthology of Interest II

Futurama had a couple of episodes which features usually three segments and all done in different animation styles. Of those, I chose Anthology of Interest II as the best and most representative. The first Bender segment is solid, but the second and third are the highlights. The classic video game segment was so good whereas the Oz segment featured some of the best Amy zingers that just made my day. Such an inventive and fun part.

3. The Late Philip J. Fry

This episode is one strong proof of how amazing the sixth season is. It is definitely my favorite in the series’ whole run. It is a strong emotional episode for Leela and Fry, but the standout aspect is its scientific approach as finally we see Futurama get serious. The crew travels millions of years into the future and they witness the end of the universe. Beautifully animated and scored, moving and just plain riveting, this episode is smart and very satisfying science fiction.

2. Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?

The second place goes to this hilarious Zoidberg storyline. I love all of the episodes that give us a backstory to its main characters, but this one is the finest as it gives as an insight into Zoidberg’s overall species and characteristics in the most gross and funniest way possible. I love him and he is so funny here, but also lovable as the conclusion is poignant and perfect for this episode.

1. Roswell That Ends Well

This is my number one pick because this episode just has it all. It is a clever and crazy parody of ‘Back to the Future’. It features again hilarious sexual humor with Fry having sex with his grandmother being the center of this story. But it also has many fantastic scenes in it and a great time travel adventure to it. Whether as a historical piece or a parody or just as a downright hilarious episode, Roswell That Ends Well succeeds and it features great character moments for the majority of the crew which are all the reasons why it had to take the first spot.

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Honorable Mentions:

Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch – An amusing look into Kif’s biology and home planet, this episode also features a meaningful conflict with Amy and is all around surprisingly clever.

The Problem with Popplers – Thematically rich and political, but also funny, this story features Lrrr at one of his best. It is such an interesting and smart episode in the best Futurama fashion.

A Bicyclops Built for Two – This was back in the day when we didn’t know Leela was a mutant and her quest for identity led to this very well crafted, mysterious, but also quite funny part.

Meanwhile – This was the episode that closed the entire series and it did that remarkably well with an intriguing time travel concept to it and a wonderfully emotional conclusion for Leela and Fry.

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