1. Fry was brainwashed into believing he was a robot and would eventually rescue the crew from a hostage situation.
2. A new bureaucrat ran operations at Planet Express while Hermes worked through an identity crisis at the forced labor camp on Spa 5, the sauna planet. Everyone's favorite Jamaican bureaucrat would organize the master in-pile and recover Bender's downloaded brain during an entertaining emergency sort-and-file.
3. A strange miracle cream that Dr. Zoidberg purchased from a travelling salesman gave two of the crew members superpowers when administered. With Bender, they would go on to form a crimefighting trio and, when Leela's parents were taken captive, a crime-committing trio in order to make the save.
4. The crew found themselves stranded on a planet inhabited by gigantic Amazonian women and a full-fledged battle of the sexes was launched. The men (excluding Bender and later Kif) found themselves on the receiving end of an interesting method of torture/death...and were, uh, "rescued" at the last minute.
5. The crew won an all-access tour of the Slurm factory on the planet Wormulon and discovered the seedy underbelly of exactly how the highly addictive beverage was manufactured (Rest in peace, Slurms MacKenzie...)
And now, without further ado Century 31 presents The Top 25 Episodes of the Original Run, Part III-#15-11.
15. (1ACV09)-HELL IS OTHER ROBOTS
Original Airdate: May 18, 1999
Writer: Eric Kaplan
Frequently regarded by fans as a favorite from the first season, Hell is Other Robots is a time-tested favorite and still ranks among the 15 best from the original run. The show opens with a Beastie Boys concert at Madison Cube Garden (The Beastie Boys actually cameo as themselves...well, two of them anyway. Adam "King Ad-Rock" Horovitz made an appearance voicing both himself and fellow Beastie Adam "MCA" Yauch). The set at the concert included a performance of "Intergalactic" (surprise, it's a show spoofing Science Fiction) and an acapella version of "Sabotage", a stroke of comedic genius that helps the episode endure today.
Following the concert, Bender meets up with an old friend and the two go to a run-down dive to partake in a new hallucinogenic trend called "jacking on", where robots essentially mainline electric currents. After developing an addiction that sees him endanger the crew and siphon electricity from the neon sign at the Temple of Robotology (his rock bottom), Bender seeks religion from the same temple and its mass leader, Reverend Lionel Preacherbot, swearing off all carnal deviations in the process.
The new pious Bender starts to wear on the crew and their attempts to bring out the sleaze in their friend lands him in the grips of the Robot Devil and Robot Hell (as it happens, Robot Hell is in New Jersey-go figure...) After being tormented by up-tempo singing and dancing (and being placed on the line in a critical fiddle contest...), Bender is eventually wrestled away from the Robot Devil by our heroes, at which point he vows never to be too good or too evil again, just to be himself. To see a clip from this episode, click on the above title link.
14. (3ACV07)-THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STUPID
Original Airdate: February 18, 2001
Writer(s): Dr. Jeff Westbrook (story and teleplay) and David X. Cohen (story)
Fry is the most intelligent being on the planet. A frightening (and in any other instance, unlikely) prospect, no? As it happens, an ancient race called the Brain Spawn has gone on a spree destroying a string planets with their stupefaction rays (they're like flying televisions, as Leela later observes) and Earth is next on their agenda. The Brains successfully attack Earth instantly making all inhabitants incomprehensibly stupid, yet somehow Fry is unaffected. Leela's pet Nibbler escapes the planet with no time to lose, taking Leela with him to his home planet. Once there, we find that Nibbler is a member of an another ancient race that has waged unceasing war against the Brain Spawn since the beginning of time.
The Nibblonians explain that Fry is unaffected because he lacks the Delta Brain Wave, an aspect of the mind that the Brain Spawn are manipulating to stupify their victims. So somehow, with an inferior brain, Fry has managed to elude the Spawn, making him of superior mind in this one instance. It's up to Fry to outsmart the Brain Spawn by battling the Big Brain at the Public Library (where else would a giant "brain" be?) through a series of classic literature and banish the Brain Spawn from the planet.
The episode tells a great story and introduces us to a perennial favorite tertiary character, The Hypnotoad (OBEY OR ELSE) and the final line uttered by the Big Brain in Fry's twisted world of plot holes and spelling errors? Classic. Click on the title link above to see the scene I'm referring to.
13. (3ACV09)-THE CYBER HOUSE RULES
Original Airdate: April 1, 2001
Writer: Lewis Morton
Let me count the ways in which this episode "rules", so to speak:
1. A reunion at Leela's old orphanarium gives another chance to look in on the decrepit, yet humorous conditions that the orphans have contended with for years.
2. Bender adopts 12 of said orphans for the benefit of goverment stipends.
3. Tom Kenny's portrayal of Dr. Adlai Atkins is so white bread that it actually becomes hilarious.
4. To avoid being stigmatized as a cyclops, Leela undergoes surgery to get a second eye (it doesn't function, but she looks "normal" for once). A true friend, Fry is the only one his disapproves of the corrective surgery.
5. The episode itself won an award for "Positive Portrayal of the Handicapped".
What more do you want from an episode? Click on the title link above to see a scene from this one.
12. (1ACV01)-SPACE PILOT 3000
Original Airdate: March 28, 1999
Writer(s): Matt Groening (his only writing credit of the original run) and David X. Cohen
Every great show has to start somewhere. Not only did this episode lay the ground work for what the show has become and its enormous following (surpassing 10 million fans on Facebook and being brought back from the brink twice by DVD sales, rerun views, and fan petitions), but the smart brand of comedy was evident right from the beginning. Bender makes the observation that the Head Museum is free on Tuesdays (someone did their research, as it happens, December 31, 2999 IS a Tuesday).
Want further proof that this series was off to something special? Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy cast his vote of confidence by making a cameo as himself in the pilot. Welcome to the World of Tomorrow! To view a clip from the epic first episode click the title link above.
11. (4ACV04)-LOVE AND ROCKET
Original Airdate: February 10, 2002
Writer: Dan Vebber
There were enough references to 2001: A Space Odyssey in this episode to satiate any nerd's appetite. But in true Futurama fashion, the references only made the episode's humor level jump that much higher. Tasked with delivering candy hearts across the galaxy (we find that the secret recipe is bone meal and earwig honey...probably), the crew finds themselves caught in the midst of a romantic saga between Bender and the Planet Express Ship (voiced by Sigourney Weaver of Alien, and now Avatar fame).
Bender chooses the inopportune time of a battle with the Omicronians, who have a hair-trigger for war (this time it was over the concept of "Wuv", click the link above to see what I'm talking about) to tell the ship that their relationship is over. Naturally, this sends the ship into a psychotic spiral where she threatens to destroy the crew by plunging into a quasar and compressing them to a quantum singularity. While attempting to shut down the ship's control panel, Fry notices that Leela's oxygen tank is emptying rather quickly (the ship had previously shut off the oxygen to the ship). In an act of selfless heroism, Fry redirects his oxygen into her tank and the relationship angle advances a little further. Just an excellent episode all around. A must-watch episode for any Futurama shipper (a fan who finds themselves rooting for Fry and Leela as a couple).
Next time, we'll break into the Top 10 Episodes of the Original Run. Don't Miss It!
Until Next Time Futuramists!
Photo Credit to The Infosphere and Google Images.
Photo Credit to The Infosphere and Google Images.
