Matt Groening Futurama The series continues to provide witty commentary on modern society through its character-driven portrayals of humanity’s future. Despite the series’ four finales, fans can’t get enough of the Planet Express crew. Multiple revivals have created a legacy that spans twenty-five years. During this time, Groening and David X. Cohen, along with a host of writers, were playing with the full range of human emotion.

Each member of the Planet Express crew is endearing in their own way, with individual arcs ranging from triumphant to depressing. Some of the best and most memorable Futurama The episodes are deeply sad, with constant twists and turns on beloved characters to highlight the good times and the things that make them real. With its reputation for avoiding death, future episodes could be much sadder, but, like Season 12’s “The One Amigo,” they will likely build on the saddest episodes so far.

10 Why not Zoidberg?

• Zoidberg’s life is generally sad.
• “The Tip of the Zoidberg” makes viewers feel bad for Zoidberg.

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Non-canon episodes of Futurama are actually necessary to keep the series fresh

Futurama is beloved for its use of sci-fi tropes, but some episodes, especially non-canonical ones, stray from the genre, and that’s a good thing.

Longtime fans know that Dr. John Zoidberg is many things, but a doctor with knowledge of human anatomy is not one of them. Season 2’s “Why Do I Have to Be a Crustacean in Love” scene puts a damper on Zoidberg’s ridiculous grossness, but overall, he’s a bumbling goofball with vaudeville ties, and newer fans wonder how he got the Planet Express residency in the first place.

“The Tip of the Zoidberg” finally explains the true nature of Zoidberg and the Professor’s relationship. Viewers learn everything Zoidberg has done and sacrificed for his friend, while preparing to say goodbye to the Professor. The story’s happy ending is the status quo fans are used to, with Zoidberg as a strange and friendless man, causing a bittersweet feeling of remorse and a deep desire to hug the big, dumb crab.

9 Familiar verses render Nibbler mute

• Fry’s parasitic worms return and threaten Nibbler’s brain.
• Leela struggles to accept the loss of Nibbler.

Leela’s beloved pet, Nibbler, is more than just a chatty little creature. Under his coat and cape, he’s a sort of hyper-intelligent space ranger, representing the Ruling Council of Nibblon on Earth. But that nearly changed in “Parasites Regained,” when parasites threatened to devour his mind. The worms infecting Nibbler were descendants of a corporation that infected Fry via an egg salad sandwich in Season 3’s “Parasites Lost,” another episode with deeply sad messages about love.

Rather than improving Nibbler as they did with Fry, the worms – now infected with mites – caused him to transform into a mindless creature. The crew eventually shrinks to fight the infection from the inside, frequently referencing Dune and to restore consciousness to Nibbler, but for over twenty tense minutes, fans think they might be saying goodbye to the little guy.

8 Leela’s homeworld changed her forever.

• Leela struggles with abandonment.
• The truth about Leela’s origin is more tragic than she thought.

Despite appearing in Season 2, Leela’s parents did not meet their daughter until Season 4. In “Leela’s Homeworld”, the crew delivers a package to Leela’s orphanage, and while she seems happy to bring some positivity to the children, it is all very painful for her. Later, when mutants chase the gang into the sewers, Leela’s true origin is revealed.

Futurama Mutants don’t want pity, but their existence is rather bleak. They don’t mind living in the sewers, but they don’t really have an alternative since society has rejected them. Leela’s parents contacted her to explain that they wanted her to have better opportunities and a better life. The reunion is happy, but the path to get there and the context of the necessity of their decision are incredibly sad.

7 Amy got cold feet

• Kif and Amy are going through a difficult time.
• Without their friends, the couple would certainly have split up.

Amy Wong started out as a klutz who had an encyclopedic knowledge of theoretical physics and became a much more emotionally intelligent member of the crew. Her romance with Kif brought new stability to her life, but not before the slimy green alien became pregnant, forcing Amy to make a serious decision about the rest of her life. Kif’s species reproduces much like frogs, but physical contact with a loved one actually fertilizes the offspring.

Amy, shocked and frightened by the prospect of becoming a mother and a monogamous partner for the rest of her life, runs away, leaving Kif to go through the process alone. The rest of the Planet Express crew eventually comes to Amy’s aid until she returns, showing how much they love the couple, but for much of the episode, viewers mourn the end of a beautiful relationship.

6 The professor’s childhood was tragic

• Fry meets other members of his family, but not all is joyful.
• The Death Star is a dark place

The Fry-Farnsworth family has no living relatives outside of the clones and the found family from Planet Express. In “Near-Death Wish”, Fry locates the Professor’s parents in a futuristic stasis facility that amounts to a rundown virtual retirement community. After seeing Gram-Gram and Shabadoo’s house, Fry breaks them out, forcing the Professor to confront memories of his childhood.

The audience learns that the Professor is a man truly in the grip of genius. Night terrors kept the entire household awake at night, and his childhood experiences alienated the family from the surrounding community. Hubert learns that his family truly did their best and reconciles with them, eventually remembering that he has a younger brother, Floyd, and bringing his parents back to the Death Star with several improvements to their quarters.

5 Fry was loved

• Fry’s family loved him more than he knew.
• Viewers are left with even more questions.

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Futurama remains stuck in the past despite a changing TV landscape

Satire on recent world events is empty in Futama. Its sci-fi tropes work better as packaging for timeless, universal themes that fit any genre.

Thinking that no one cares is one thing, but learning how much people loved someone after they’re gone is arguably much sadder. In “The Luck of the Fryrish,” Philip J. Fry learns the truth about the life he left behind. Viewers meet parents who don’t really get along with Philip and his competitive little brother, Yancy, and Fry tries to convince himself that he would have been better off getting away from them. When Fry learns that Philip J. Fry was the first astronaut to walk on Mars, he assumes that his brother stole his life.

Gradually, viewers discover that Yancy and his parents never stopped missing Fry. Yancy loved and missed him enough to name his son after him in hopes that he could live up to Philip’s dreams. When Fry sees the epitaph and learns that it is actually his nephew’s grave, he leaves him in peace with a new understanding of what he left behind. Season 12’s “Quids Game” revisits the family and the special way they cared for Philip.

4 Bender’s son doesn’t know him

• Bender has been abandoned and is at risk of repeating the cycle.
• Ben’s situation has no happy outcome.

Ben, the son of Bender and a vending machine with no self-control, was the most important thing in Bender’s life for the short time they knew each other. Bender didn’t want to be a father, but when the vending machine left, he was forced to confront his own trauma and decided to be a better role model for his son. He succeeded, but soon learned that Ben’s dream of becoming a Bender was impossible.

Bender Bending Rodriguez, a notorious criminal and con man, had to choose between preserving his son’s perception of him or sacrificing it to allow him to achieve his dreams. Bender chooses to follow his son’s wishes, replacing his memory card with hacking software and escorting him to a beautiful school in the dead of night. It’s a heartbreaking commentary on parents putting their children’s needs first, and a real milestone for Bender.

3 Fry died for Leela

• “The Sting” features the most realistic character death.
• Leela and Fry grow closer after the trauma.

Futurama is no stranger to maiming major characters, but few deaths feel as real or sad as Fry’s sacrifice in “The Sting.” While harvesting honey on the planet where the previous Planet Express crew died, Fry is stung and killed by a giant bee, diving in front of it to save Leela. Viewers follow Leela to Fry’s funeral and later watch as she exhumes his grave, confirming his death.

Leela can’t live with herself and her grief becomes too much to bear. She feels guilty and decides to consume honey that will make her sleep forever, then wakes up to learn that Fry survived and it was all a dream. Fry explains that the stinger went through Leela, depositing all the venom in her body and forcing her into a coma. He stayed by her side for weeks, marking a new milestone in their bittersweet love story.

2 Hermès has a secret

• Hermes and Bender are closely related.
• Fans learn that Hermes is keeping a secret only to protect Bender.

Inspector 5 is more than just a pen pusher. Hermes Conrad worked at Mom’s Friendly Robot Company in Tijuana, and when Bender goes looking for his creator, Hermes reluctantly agrees to help. Bender keeps running into dead ends, but Hermes demonstrates his unmatched bureaucratic skills, overloading the robots and tracking down the very factory where Bender was built.

As the building goes up in flames, Hermes passes documents about the fire to his official inspector, ensuring the safety of the baby he saved from certain death. Hermes is the closest thing Bender has to a creator, so the episode is a bittersweet gut punch. Bender makes peace with the fact that he’ll never know Inspector #5, and Hermes knows he did everything he could to give Bender the opportunity to live his life.

1 Nothing is sadder than the story of Fry’s dog

• Fry’s childhood dog was fossilized and sent to a museum.
• No one knows how much Seymour wanted to see Fry again.

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Futurama loves to poke fun at its infamous episode

One of Futurama’s most iconic episodes features one of the saddest sequences in television history — and the show has been making fun of it ever since.

When the Planet Express crew visits a museum, Fry recognizes and retrieves the fossil of his childhood dog, Seymour. The professor tells Fry that he can clone the dog, but before the procedure can begin, Bender throws Seymour into a pit of lava. Fry is understandably upset, and Bender must learn what love is, but the saddest part of the episode comes at the very end, unbeknownst to Fry.

When Fry learns that Seymour has lived long after his disappearance, he assumes that the dog has lived a full life and moved on. Much like his opinions of the rest of his family (and anything remotely intellectual), Fry was wrong. A flashback shows that Seymour faithfully waited for Fry to return every day until he was fossilized. The only comfort is in their eventual reunion, even though Seymour remains long dead.

Futurama

Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery man, is accidentally frozen in 1999 and thawed on New Year’s Eve 2999.

Release date

March 28, 1999

Casting

Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Phil LaMarr, Lauren Tom, Frank Welker, Kath Soucie

Seasons

8

Creator

Matt Groening, David X. Cohen

Number of episodes

150

Network

FOX

Streaming service(s)

Hulu

Develop