The 25 best episodes of 'Futurama', ranked

Much like “Star Trek,” “Futurama” would often see the Planet Express crew land on themed planets. The difference is that “Futurama” was hanging a lampshade on things. In this episode, Fry, Leela, and Bender end up on a planet akin to Ancient Egypt, where Bender manages to make himself the new pharaoh in a desperate attempt to be remembered forever.

Who thought an episode of TV about worms taking over a man’s body could be so sweet? Fry eats an egg salad sandwich from a truck stop, and the next thing he knows intelligent worms have revamped his body, making him smarter and healthier. This makes him more attractive to Leela, but then Fry wonders if it is really him she is into, and if she would still care about him without the worms.

Bender is not exactly one to fall in love. Then, he meets another robot named Angleyne, formally married to Flexo, a bending robot who looks just like Bender but with a little goatee. Much like Fry with his worms, Bender is worried about his relationship with Angleyne, this time worrying if she still has feelings for Flexo. Also, the Robot Mafia shows up, naturally.

Lost on a planet without any food, Leela stumbles upon a hole filled with something akin to popcorn shrimp. They bring them back, and the Popplers become popular at Fishy Joe’s. Then when one of the Popplers is left in a bucket for too long, Leela sees it grow up and develop into a talking alien. It turns out these Popplers were the babies of the alien race that lives on Omicron Persei 8. This leads to Leela almost getting eaten by the alien Lrr. Fortunately, she is saved, but R.I.P. to Free Waterfall Jr.

Speaking of the Robot Mafia, they play a big role in “Bender Gets Made.” Bender, never one to shy away from crime, decides he wants to join the robotic mob, hanging out with Clamps, Joey Mousepad, and the rest. Then Bender has to figure out how to save the Robot Mafia from taking down the Planet Express ship, which he is supposed to be on.

What’s more south than being underwater? That’s what happened to the city of Atlanta sometime between 2000 and 3000. Yes, Atlanta, not Atlantis. Mermaids live there, and Fry falls in love with one of them. That is until it is time to be romantic. This leads to one of the all-time best “Futurama” lines: “Why couldn’t she have been the other kind of mermaid, with the fish part on top, and the lady part on the bottom?”

Like many comedies, “Futurama” enjoyed its Christmas episodes. Or, as the holiday is known in the future, Xmas. Also in the future Santa is real, but he’s an evil robot. All of this is revealed in this episode, which features a fine turn by John Goodman as the voice of Santa.

Occasionally “Futurama” would get political or deal with issues, albeit in a goofy, irreverent way. Tackling environmentalism was a common topic for the show, and in this early episode, Earth is threatened by a giant ball of garbage that humans had sent into space years earlier. The only way to fix things? Launching another giant ball of garbage, which means Fry teaching a recycling-conscious future how to be wasteful.

Is there life on Mars? In “Futurama” there is, and there’s also a university. There are two silly, but fun, storylines in this episode. One involves Fry’s feud with his roommate, a monkey with a hat that makes him smart. The other involves Bender rejoining his old frat in an arch parody of “Animal House” that is funnier than the actual movie.

Bender has a couple of dreams in line. Being a folk singer, for one. Being a chef, for another. The problem for the latter? He has no sense of taste. That doesn’t stop him from trying, though, and even from getting on the show “Iron Cook.” Can Bender win against Elzar? Perhaps, with the help of a little LSD.

The Comedy Central run of “Futurama” was definitely hit-or-miss, with as many bad episodes are really strong ones. However, there were a couple of standouts. The first of those was “The Late Philip J. Fry,” which focused more on the sci-fi aspects of the show. It’s pretty heady, as Fry, Farnsworth, and Bender get into trouble with a time machine that can only move forward. We won’t spoil the clever way things play out.

What if the government decided to just give you 300 bucks? Not in a relief check sort of way, but in a “we have a surplus so enjoy!” sort of way. Maybe you would buy coffee until you achieve a higher plane of existence, like Fry. Maybe you would buy a burglar’s kit to get a cigar too expensive for even $300, like Bender. The episode is light and doesn’t have much sci-fi, but it’s just a nice little jaunt with a lot of laughs.

There’s a lot going on in this episode, which has a fair amount of environmental themes as well. Bender becomes the captain of the Planet Express ship. Then he crashes it in a parody of the Exxon Valdez. Then he thinks he’s a penguin after he reboots. Then penguins turn on humans and learn how to use guns. It’s a wild journey, but super funny.

From a silly episode to a headier one, we have “Godfellas.” Bender ends up stuck floating for space (he always wanted to float forever but through the American Southwest) and then eventually a colony of tiny aliens forms on him. To them, he is God, but Bender struggles with trying to be a god. For a scientifically-minded show, the ending is a bit of a surprise, where Bender seems to meet an actual god, perhaps the Judeo-Christian God. Or at least the remnants of a space probe that collided with God.

We get even headier, and more emotional, with “The Sting,” a bold episode that really takes you on a trip. There’s a lot of dream sequences and questioning the reality of the show. We don’t want to spoil the result of this story of bee-fueled nightmares. Let’s just say there is a big song-and-dance number and the ending is super sweet.

By dint of being science fiction, “Futurama” could do things like bring back real people from the 20th century as heads in jars in the future. That includes Richard Nixon, who is hilariously evil on the show. In “A Head in the Polls” Tricky Dıck buys Bender’s body out of hock and then uses it to run for President. It ends up working, and so we get to enjoy Nixon as President of Earth for the rest of the show’s run.

The first time “Futurama” did a final episode, they weren’t sure if it would be the end. On Comedy Central, though, “Futurama” knew it was ending. Fortunately, they nailed it. “Meanwhile” is a beautiful series finale that ended in exactly the way a show like this should have. There were laughs, there were sci-fi ideas, and there was a bit of sweetness.

“Futurama” only really tackled Halloween once, which is a shame because they nailed it. “The Honking” is a riff on werewolf stories, but in this case, Bender becomes a werecar. There isn’t really much actual spookiness, but it’s a fun riff on horror tropes with a ton of great jokes and references.

Speaking of riffing on established pop culture, there’s “Fry and the Slurm Factory.” Yes, it’s basically a take on “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” only with a bunch of slug-like aliens. This includes the ultimate party worm Slurms McKenzie. This first-season episode was the first time “Futurama” knocked it out of the park, though that’s not to knock the rest of the season. Few shows have been as good out the gate like this one.

“Futurama” was kind of famous for occasionally nailing an emotional moment and leaving fans misty-eyed, if not outright crying. The most-cited example of that, “Jurassic Bark,” is not on this list, which may upset some. However, we had to include “The Luck of the Fryrish,” which is maybe not as emotional as “Jurassic Park,” but is decidedly funnier.

In the world of “Futurama,” the Harlem Globetrotters are both basketball superstars and scientific geniuses. That’s good because Farnsworth needs their help when time starts jumping forward at random intervals. One of the top weapons in a comedy’s arsenal is the jump cut, and this story conceit leads to a litany of funny uses of that editing trick.

There’s no heart in “Less Than Hero.” There’s no environmental message or larger story. It’s just ridiculous and hilarious and a solid chunk of comedy gold. Thanks to a topical ointment, Fry, and Leela get superpowers. Then Bender joins in on their superhero team because he feels like it. There are some tips of the hat to the ‘60s version of “Batman” as well, which is just another point in its favor.

For a while, this seemed like it would be the final episode of “Futurama.” It was the final FOX episode, even if that wasn’t completely certain when they were making it. Fortunately, it worked just fine as a series finale. Had this been the last episode of “Futurama,” we would have had no complaints about the epic, operatic “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings.”

In terms of the sci-fi forward episode of the show, “The Farnsworth Parabox” is the best. A show about science in the future had to do parallel universes eventually, right. In the world of the show, these universes exist in boxes, and it’s a ton of fun to watch the Planet Express crew go from box to box meeting the crews of other universes.

We could just say that “War is the H-Word” is the funniest episode of “Futurama.” That goes a long way to explaining why it is the best episode. It has so many great jokes and comedy conceits. The episode is endlessly quotable, with Fry, Bender, and Zapp Brannigan all deliver amazing lines. Fry and Bender join the Army to get a discount on gum and end up having to serve in a war. There’s some war movie parody, a “MASH” parody,” and enough great jokes to be so entertaining as to be better than any other episode of the show. Good news, indeed.