Futurama Season 11: Back With a Vengeance and Brilliant As Ever
By John Kirk
Rating: A
It’s back, my fellow Meatbags!
After a 10-year hiatus, creator, Matt Groening’s (The Simpsons, Disenchanted) satirical and Emmy Award–winning animated masterwork Futurama returns once more with feeling to the small screen!
And this time, it’s personal.
Well, it probably feels that way to the fans of this long-running show that went off the air in 2013. Futurama had a weird love-hate relationship with FOX Television which seemed to erratically schedule it every which way but loose. Cancelled then revived by FOX, syndicated by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, and then revived once more by Comedy Central for its final season in 2013.
But, good news: Hulu has picked up this bitingly wicked sitcom for a well-deserved 11th season.
Fans of this show won’t have difficulty picking up where the show left off. Fry (Billy West) and Leela (Katy Sagal) are still together and everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed, alcohol-fuelled robot, Bender (John DiMaggio) still hates everything.
Professor Farnsworth still can’t remember what year it is, which is handy, given the 10-year hiatus. Recurring cast like Dr. Zoidberg, Amy (Lauren Tom), Kif (Maurice LaMarche), Hermes Conrad (Phil LaMarr), and Nibbler (Frank Welker) are also as we remember them and it’s like the show has remained in cryogenic stasis for the last decade.
But that just shows both the simple yet enduring nature of the comedy. With a plethora of contemporary social issues over the last 10 years to laugh at (Amazon, AI, binge-watching), the first few new story episodes of S11 prove that the show hasn’t lost its stride. It stays true to expectations in giving fans not only what they want but also what they remember. There’s a lot of comfort in that.
It continues the tradition of using groundwork ideas of some of the more popular sci-fi tropes and shows in pop culture. Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica — you name it; it’s all in there, forming a tapestry of techno mumbo-jumbo that connects to contemporary issues that can be poked fun at in a satirical way. In today’s world, if there was ever a need to laugh at what’s going on, it’s now.
The sudden but gratifying return of Futurama is only par for the course with this deceptively simple show. Like I said before, its history was marked by sporadic production and even syndication seemed beyond its reach at one point.
This is due to Groening’s reported refusal to change the format of the show to fit FOX’s demands and keep with his own creative vision. The fact that Groening saw it return to television via Hulu (Disney+ here in Canada) is not only a testament to his resilient stubbornness but also to the endearing entertainment value of the show to its audience.
But even this topic isn’t safe as one of the S11 gags points out that the 30th century television channel FULU likes to resurrect forgotten and useless material for its own purposes. Even the show isn’t safe from its own barbed wit, making it one of the most easily understood examples of satire on contemporary television, at least, in my opinion.
I think that’s why its return is personal, in a way. It’s a show that’s very easy to connect to, even if you’re not a sci-fi fan. The topics are well-illustrated, and the campy, clownish antics of the characters go far to demonstrate the real human issues that are presented in the 30th century that make sense to us who live in the 21st.
You don’t need to be a geek to get the material, but it’s definitely more fun if you are one. Still, it’s the type of nonsensical sci-fi that means you don’t have to be a canonical expert, or have an encyclopedic knowledge of science-fiction references. The material the writers draw from has made its way well enough into popculture to be recognized and understood.
It's all about the fans though. Critical response to the show has always been enthusiastic. Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of at least 80 percent for each season, showing it’s a show that’s universally accepted.
The accessibility of the humour is matched by the ridiculousness of the characters. Not only are they hopelessly flawed, but also clearly inferior to fans in every way, despite advanced technology and a thousand years of learning. Season 11 taps into that momentum, keeping Groening’s promise of consistency.
Futurama is the show that refuses to go away. Much like the brain parasites that made Fry smarter in S5, the show just won’t die. The awards and fan response are what’s responsible for its triumphant return to yet another channel ready to host it.
But hey, that’s my opinion. If you don’t like it, you can bite my shiny metal ass.
Futurama. Starring John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, and David Herman. Streams on Hulu, Disney+ starting July 24.