Farewell From the World of Tomorrow

This week was a very important in geek entertainment. One of the most prominent events to occur was the ending of Futurama. Futurama is what happens when Philip J. Fry, a lonely pizza delivery boy, falls into a frozen cryogenic tube and winds up in the distant future. 

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In the future, everyone hails the hypnotoad.

This series has been running for thirteen years. I remember seeing it during my high school days and watched it religiously. Since then I've seen the television specials, viewed the holiday episodes, and even have my eye on a few figures.

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Itty bitty Futurama cuties. 

This final episode has pleased many but left others empty. As for myself, I’m at a crossroads with how I feel about this episode. Below are my pros and cons of the final episode of Futurama.

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING IS SPOILERS. SPOILERS, PEOPLE. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEE THE ENDING OF FUTURAMA DO NOT READ THIS. THANK YOU.

Pros:

-We see how Fry and Leela wind up : this was the moment everyone has anticipated. It was sudden, funny, and beautiful to see these two come together. After finalizing their decision, we see how they cope with a drastic change in the universe by making it into one long, glorious honeymoon. It is a romantic notion, to travel the world and literally do anything. Plus there were no travel bills to pay, no airfare, nothing of that nature. It was just the two newlyweds, their feet, and the backpacks clinging to them.

-It poses an important question: if we had the chance, would we do it all over again? Knowing how beautiful or terrible our lives were, would we go back and do it again? The Professor offers this question to Fry and Leela after they've trekked the globe and explored every wonder. The only downside to this is that if they choose to do it all over again, they would forget everything. They wouldn't remember the beauty of the rain forest, the captured untamed mannerisms of a waterfall, or the ability to walk on water.

-Open ending: due to its sudden ending of reverting the universe back to normal, we are given the freedom to imagine everyone’s lives. We find ourselves conflicted if Fry and Leela will trek across the planet again as their honeymoon. We question if Zoidberg will face more challenges with Marilyn (maybe she’s got a strange fear of a foreign alien race and they abduct her?).  We wonder if Bender and the tap dancing girl will continue to pickpocket those who pass them by. The ideas are infinite, just like space.

Cons:

-Unanswered questions: while this episode was mainly focused on Fry and Leela, it left out the other great characters such as Zoidberg, Bender, Amy, Hermes, and the Professor. What happened to them when time continued, especially with Zoidberg? Did he pursue his relationship with Marilyn? We obviously see he does so in the episode prior to this one but where do they go? And what kind of crazy money stealing scheme would Bender get into, especially with his new assistant?

-It only lasted for a half hour: this was the one thing that shocked me about the final episode. I thought it would be extended to at least an hour because it was the last show. Clearly, I was mistaken.  However, we see other shows like Friends, The Nanny, and other popular programs receive a whole hour for their finale. Futurama is the king of popularity when it comes to animated shows alongside Adventure Time and Family Guy. I question why such a fantastic hit of a show would only have a half hour devoted to its finale.

-It technically never existed: at the very end of the episode, the Professor says that he’d set everything right. By doing this, he would be able to set time back to ten seconds before he created the time device which is about four minutes into the episode. If we followed him through the readjustment we would be left with Fry coming to terms about nearly losing Leela and making the decision to propose. But what would happen afterwards? Would the episode still play out just as it did before? We don’t know because it never existed after four minutes. 

Overall, it was a good episode. It could have been improved in some ways but it was a good end. What are your thoughts on the finale of Futurama? Feel free to leave comments below about why you loved or hated it and what could have been done to improve it.