So a new season of Futurama is set to premier on July 24th. This will be the 11th season and the first time new episodes have aired since 2013. It wanted to do a post to commemorate this return because if I’m honest with myself, Futurama is my favorite television show (animated or non animated) of all-time. I still constantly watch the older seasons on Hulu, which is my favorite streaming service because they have the Futurama catalog. Often times I’ll fall asleep to Futurama, it’s like a comfy blanket.
I think the success of the show has to do with the fact that it is truly funny, has great main and ancillary characters and a great use of the future and sci-fi elements. Below is a short list, in no specific order of some of my favorite supporting characters on the show.
The heads in a jar concept was a brilliant stroke by creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. It allows for great cameos (Beck, Hank Aaron, even Al Gore is funny) that make sense in a future 1,000 years ahead of our current time. Making the evil head of Nixon as the president of earth was just a masterstroke. Consistently ruthless and hilarious, Nixon is the one head to rule them all. The chef’s kiss is the headless body of Agnew who, despite being headless, is still able to grunt. Just comic gold.
Led by Ethan “Bubblegum” Tate and “Sweet” Clyde Dixon, The Globetrotters don’t just play basketball in the future, they are also some of the finest physicists in the entire Universe. Again, just a brilliant blend of pop culture and sci-fi with the creation of the Globetrotter characters. A good explanation via the wikipedia article about Futurama characters, “Aside from showboating basketball shenanigans, the Globetrotters are known for their math, logic and physics prowess and have aided in saving both the Earth and the Universe”.
Does the mafia still exist in the year 3000? You bet your shiny metal ass they do. The use of Robots in Futurama is another masterstroke by Groening and Cohen. Bender may get most of the praise (he’s truly one of the funniest TV characters of all-time) but the supporting cast of robot characters is consistently hilarious. The Robot Mafia being standout characters to me.
An evil robot Santa who murders people on his naughty list? Sign me up. Turning Christmas on its head to make it truly the most frightening time of the year just feels right to me. He judges all humanity to be naughty based on a programming error and lives in a death fortress on Neptune and has enslaved the Neptunian race forcing them to work in his toy factory. What’s not to love here?
Morbo the Annihilator and Linda von Schoonhoven of the 2 Television Network are the preferred source of news for the Planet Express Crew and we’re all better off for it. Morbo is an advanced scout for his race that is planning an alien invasion of Earth and Linda is the ditzy blonde who laughs at everything. I wish they were an option to watch in current day 2023. They are way more entertaining than anyone on CNN, Fox News etc.