Futurama: Life, the Universe, and Everything

With very few exceptions, every episode of Futurama is a self-contained story, some of which deal with "future issues", some of which are intended to be fun dalliances in a world where anything is technologically possible, and some forward the overall story of the series. Each category has its share of stellar episodes, and even the most bizarre purely fun episodes have some tie to the show's mythology, while the most serious of mythology episodes (I'm looking at you, "Jurassic Bark") are funny.

Episodes like "Fry and the Slurm Factory" and "Parasites Lost" exist almost solely as parodies of popular culture. If it isn't obvious from the name, "Slurm Factory" spoofs "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", except in this case, the Planet Express crew wins a factory tour of the galaxy's most popular soft drink. This episode was the first season finale, and throughout the first year (and proceeding throughout the series), there were plenty of references to the drink, and the episode effectively took a background aspect of Futurama and brought it to the forefront. And although the horrific twist at the end never gets mentioned again, I'm pretty sure that the only character who drinks Slurm after this episode is Fry, who will consume anything that tastes good, no matter the origin.

"Parasites Lost" is a Fantastic Voyage parody which uses the plot of the other characters creating miniature robotic versions of themselves (shrinking is too expensive; tiny atoms are out of the Professor's price range) to go into Fry's body to further the Fry/Leela non-relationship. "Parasites" also introduces the holophoner, which plays a major role in the final episode.

These episodes, along with the various other purely stand-alone stories, help build the world of the future by emphasizing background characters and elements. During their down time, the Planet Express crew enjoy watching the all-robot soap opera All My Circuits, starring the pompous Calculon, and The Scary Door, which is a rip-off of that twilighty show about that zone from the 20th century (Simpsons reference!). The characters go to eat at Elzar's restaurant, who is a sleazy Emeril Lagasse analogue, deal with invasions from the aliens of Omicron Persei VIII (they represent the villainous aliens from any invasion movie), and deal with the buffoonery of Captain Zapp Brannigan, a high-ranking military officer who is obsessed with Leela and has less sense than Fry.

There are a few episodes that deal with issues, such as "A Big Piece of Garbage", wherein all the trash from the 20th century comes back to haunt the people of the year 3000, or "Crimes of the Hot", dealing with global warming. Episodes like these make a point about how we do things in the 20th century, claiming that we are inefficient and short-sighted, then go on to show that human nature will never change, when the characters in the show act equally inefficiently and short-sighted. In "Garbage", we learn that in the future, waste disposal is near perfect, but when a giant ball of garbage that was launched into space at the beginning of the 21st century is on its way back to Earth, the only way to stop it is to build an even bigger ball of garbage to shoot at the returning one. Lines like, "Your 20th century garbage-making skills have saved us all" and "[The garbage ball] is a problem for the people living 1,000 years from now" show just how far Groening and co. expect we won't come in 1,000 years.

But as I've been saying, there is an over-arching story going on in Futurama. Or I guess I should say that there are a few over-arching stories. The one that comes up the most is Fry's romantic pursuit of Leela; although it appears fruitless for the first few years, by the series' end, it looks like the guy may actually have a shot (especially in light of the events of "The Farnsworth Parabox", which shows us what would have happened had an insignificant coin toss turned out differnetly). The other important stories involve Fry's accident and the effect of his absence on the world of the 20th century. Two episodes in the series, "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why of Fry" (which are supplemented by a hilarious, but disturbing event of "Roswell That Ends Well") shed light on the fact that Fry was helped into the cryogenic freezer, as opposed to falling in due to dumb luck. They also introduce us to the villainous race called the Brainspawn, and show that Leela's pet Nibbler is more than he appears to be.

The hapless Fry has an important role to play in the future, but his absence is certainly felt in the past. In "Jurassic Bark" and "Luck of the Fryish", flashbacks show the viewers the impact that Fry's mysterious disappearance had on his family and friends. Despite his initial sentiment upon waking up in 2999 expressing his happiness in never having to see his friends and family again (most likely thinking they would be just as happy not to see him), it turns out that he was sorely missed. "Bark" and "Fryish" are two of the most emotional episodes in the series. I don't want to ruin anything, but each one builds an idea in our minds that a certain thing will come to pass, only to have the final flashback pull the rug out from under our feet. The guy who introduced me to Futurama refuses to watch "Jurassic Bark" because the ending is too upsetting for him.

Up next: What the future holds...