Speaking as a Futurama fan, it will likely take some time before I can truly step back and analyze the newer episodes based on how they rank in comparison with the original 72 episodes that ran from 1999-2003.
Analyzing the four movies released from November 2007 to February 2009 is another battle. Do I rank them based on the movie as a whole or do I rank each of the four episodes from each movie on an individual scale?
In the meantime, while I sort this mess out, allow me to present to you my personal ranked list of the 25 Best episodes of Futurama's original run.
Will there be disagreements? Other opinions? Will someone supply their input into why they think a particular episode is better or worse than the other? or will someone inevitably complain that their favorite didn't make the list? I'm counting on it. I'm presenting this list in five installments, so here's Numbers 25-21:
25. (2ACV16)-ANTHOLOGY OF INTEREST I:
Original Airdate: May 21, 2000
Following the format set in place by The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror episodes, Futurama initiated The Anthology of Interest Series with three humorous stories, each individually centered around one of the show's three primary characters. The Professor has invented a "What-If" machine that will field any "what if" theoretical question that is presented to it.
In this episode, we find out what would transpire were Bender to be 500 feet tall and we discover that if Leela was slightly more impulsive, she'd be apt to go on a killing spree at the crew's expense. Both amusing non-canon anecdotes, but it's the third story that most fans tend to recognize. Fry asks the machine what would happen had he not fallen into the cryogenic tube and arrived in the 31st century. Aside from the fact that this episode is one of the series funniest anyhow, it has enough to get into my Top 25 on star power alone.
In the third skit, Fry discovers that had he not fallen into the tube, a rift would have opened in the space-time continuum, rupturing the fabric of causality and threatening the very universe. It's at this point that Al Gore (played by the then Vice President himself), and his crew of Vice Presidential Action Rangers, comprised of Professor Stephen Hawking (himself) Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek (herself) and every power-geek's dream, Dungeons and Dragons' creator Gary Gygax (himself) corner Fry, beat him senseless with tennis rackets and abduct him in an attempt to amend the rift. Due to Fry's shortsightedness, they fail and ultimately the universe is destroyed with Fry and the others left floating in limbo. They resolve to play Dungeons and Dragons until the end of time.
This episode laid the foundation for each to reprise their roles in later episodes. Professor Hawking and Nichols have both since made a second cameo and Al Gore has reprised his own role three times since. What makes this episode even more remarkable is that it was recorded during Vice President Gore's presidential campaign, and even in the most tense of times, the Vice President managed to put on a very amusing performance. Click the title link above to see a scene from this episode.
24. (2ACV18)-WAR IS THE H-WORD
Original Airdate: November 26, 2000
Any episode featuring Zapp Brannigan is immediately a candidate for this list. Put Zapp Brannigan in the middle of a war with an enemy he knows nothing about (he's invading for the sake of invading) and put Fry and Bender in his platoon after they unwittingly register for the military to get a discount on gum. Add drop dead impersonations of Henry Kissinger and Alan Alda (as Hawkeye Pierce of M*A*S*H) from voice actor Maurice LaMarche and you have a winning formula for the episode by all accounts. Click the title link above to see a scene from this episode.
23. (3ACV18)-ANTHOLOGY OF INTEREST II
Original Airdate: January 6, 2002
For synopsis, see ANTHOLOGY OF INTEREST I. This time around, Bender finds out what would happen if he were human, Fry turns the world into a large-scale video game, and Leela plays Dorothy in Matt Groening's favorite movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz. Groening confessed that he had The Wizard of Oz in mind when conceptualizing each characters role in his own show. Click the title link above to see a scene from this episode.
22. (3ACV19)-ROSWELL THAT ENDS WELL
Original Airdate: December 9, 2001
A supernova collapses and sends the crew through a time rift to Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. Despite his best efforts to keep him alive, Fry unwittingly steers his grandfather onto a bomb testing range and kills him. Through a disgusting, yet humorous twist of fate, Fry ends up meeting with his grandmother and in essence becomes his own grandfather. It won an Emmy, so I'm not the only one that thinks it deserves to be on this list. If that isn't enough to hook you, nothing will. Click the title link above for a scene from this episode.
21. (3ACV13)-BENDIN' IN THE WIND
Original Airdate: April 22, 2001
Bender + Beck + A benefit concert for broken robots + Bender as a broken robot + Bender realizing he's not actually broken + Trying to put on the concert anyhow to the factor of scamming broken robots out of $14,000 of charity money= Yet another Top 25 Episode. Beck put on a very humorous, self-deprecating performance in this episode. Click on the title link above to see a scene from this episode.
During the next blog post, I'll rehash Episodes 20-16. Stay Tuned...
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