Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.
When most people think of Matt Groening’s brilliant contributions to pop culture, The Simpsons often and rightfully comes to mind. However, though I’ve never been the biggest Simpsons fan (Bart-head? Homer Lover? Springfielder?), there is one Groening creation that has captivated me for years — Fox’s inspired examination of the year 3000, Futurama.
Animated comedies and likely comedy as a whole wouldn’t be as revolutionary as they are today without Futurama. The series had a beautifully simple yet complex premise: After being mistakenly cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years, perpetual loser and nobody Philip J. Fry (Billy West) awakens in the year 3000. It’s the classic story arc of a hero arriving at a new place and finally realizing their potential, but in Fry’s case, it took Fry and everyone around the 20-something-year-old seven seasons to come to terms with that potential. While Futurama certainly used its sci-fi premise to create some truly amazing moments, it was the show’s dedication to humanity and intelligence that made it remarkable. Futurama was never afraid to be incredibly stupid, incredibly smart, or authentically emotional, and it’s that fearless dedication to extremes that made the show great.
It’s not uncommon for a comedy to be led by an almost irredeemably stupid protagonist, but there are not many heroes dumber than Fry. Other characters would often have to directly explain to Fry when they were mocking him, and I can’t even begin to count how many times Fry’s stupidity and irresponsibility almost led to someone’s death. There was even an entire episode dedicated to Fry’s life-saving lack of intelligence, “The Day the Earth Stood Stupid.” In this Nibbler and Fry adventure, an army of evil alien brains have washed the Earth of its intelligence. The Nibblonians recruit Fry, the only human, robot, or plant who, for some reason, lacks a delta brainwave. Fry wasn’t just stupid. From a creator’s perspective, he was ambitiously stupid, but Fry’s lack of intelligence added more to the series than just being a constant source of entertainment. It allowed Futurama itself to reach its full intellectual potential.
Because Fry was our clueless gateway, it was always easier to accept Futurama’s logic. When the series produced an episode that was up to its nose in literary homages and mathematical explanations, audiences could always find comfort in the fact they were more intelligent than the show’s heart. And Futurama almost gleefully abused that superpower. This is the show that invented and used a real-life mathematical theorem to solve one episode’s problem. The episode was “The Prisoner of Benda,” and the theorem’s creator was show writer Ken Keeler, who holds a PhD in mathematics. Futurama would consistently reference obscure mathematical and scientific theories such as the observer effect, the Hardy-Ramanujan number, and Shoestring Theory, just to name a few. But more impressively, Futurama would often reference these theories and algorithms accurately while making them funny. As anyone who has ever been a nerd can tell you, making a science joke that is genuinely funny to everyone is hard work.
However, when you think of Futurama, it’s the show’s heart that often comes to mind. This series has made many grown men and women ugly cry. Whether it was Fry’s constant sacrifices for the love of his life Leela (Katey Sagal) that brought you to tears or the story behind Seymour the dog (excuse me, I need a tissue), Futurama had real emotional stakes. It was always unafraid to mess with the confusing web of emotions that laid at the core of this comedy.
It’s this last aspect — its fearlessness — that defined Futurama and, as a result, made the show an inspiration to comedies everywhere. Futurama was a weird show. One of its main characters was a Semitic-Crustacean physician who had no knowledge of the human body. There was a robot hell in Groening’s world and a character with the catchphrase “Bite my shiny, metal ass.” In many ways, it was the exact opposite of the abnormally normal Simpsons, a family that looked the part of suburban perfection but was and is internally a wreck. Yet Futurama owned its many, many oddities episode after episode. There are so many other aspects you can praise about this amazing series, but it was the show’s unfailing confidence that revealed how innovative comedy, animation, and television as a whole could be if given the chance. I doubt I would be crying over BoJack in 2016 if I didn’t first cry over Fry and Leela. For that and so many other reasons I thank this revolutionary series. Now shut up and take my money.
