The new Hulu season of Futurama has a lot to do with the series’ past finales

“It just won’t stay dead!” is the subtitle of “Bender’s Big Score,” the bombastic feature-length return of futurama after it was canceled in 2003.

In retrospect, the tagline seems like a pretty apt statement, having only been canceled once. The show would eventually end again in 2013 after bouncing back from the dirt after its initial cancellation. futuramaThe journeys between the graveyard and the silver screen have become something of a 21st-century tradition, with the latest renewal arriving on Hulu on Monday.

Despite being brought back twice with a loaded shotgun, each cancellation had a positive aspect – each time the show’s creators were able to create a definitive finale, giving birth to The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings, Meanwhile and the full-length direct-to-DVD film Into the wild green over there, which was produced when the series was in limbo between syndication deals. (Another possible finale, “Overclocking,” aired at the end of Season 6.)

The ending of a series should attempt to resolve the main tensions of the series while offering a final dose of what gives the series its core identity. For futurama, which meant clearing up the tennis match between Fry and Leela in the midst of a crazy sci-fi adventure. Each finale strives for that exact balance, but not all hit it squarely — though they all show love for a particular aspect futurama‘s identity.

All roads lead to Fry and Leela

Image: 20th Century Fox Television

A lot of work went into the series to ensure that the romantic tension between Fry and Leela lasted throughout its duration. Oftentimes, previous final endings have had to go back or find creative solutions to why they aren’t together yet. Some are more successful than others — Leela’s statement, “You’re a boy, I’m a girl, we’re just too different,” is one of the most wonderfully silly reasons to prolong their unresolved tensions.

Although Fry and Leela finally find each other in each finale, this storyline isn’t always the focus of the plot. However, the most impactful finales in this regard – “Meanwhile” and “Devil’s Hands” – are about the couple. The former sees Fry disrupting time entirely, giving herself and Leela eternity to travel the cosmos and harness their love for one another. The latter is more of a depiction of Fry’s courtship as he strikes a deal with the literal (robot) devil in hopes of wooing Leela.

“Devil’s Hands” proves a little vague, ending with Fry fumbling through his grand entrance and his audience letting him down, save for Leela, who claims she “want to hear how it ends” as the series goes black. It’s touching and its open ending keeps the finale from feeling like it’s racing towards an end. Meanwhile offers a more tangible outcome, with the couple growing old together in a frozen universe, something deeply romantic and satisfying after spending over a decade with these characters.

Into the wild green over there sees a big kiss as Fry and Leela stand on the brink of certain death. The film subtly traces their relationship as they take opposite sides of a political issue and eventually find their way to each other – a microcosm of these two characters’ journeys. They began the series 1,000 years apart, but still ended together.

“Overclocking” in its oversized storyline finds time to give Fry and Leela a quiet, hilarious and touching moment as they read a letter describing their destiny generated by the simulations of a godlike bender. futurama found closure in many ways without running out of creative options to finally forge the eternal bond between Fry and Leela. Each ending was timely, too: “Devil’s Hands” was representative of a show with more history but no time to tell; Over there be a grand finale to a feature film; “Clockwise” is a quiet, sweet moment that serves both as a way to wrap up a season and the show as a whole; and “Meanwhile,” which stopped time and made for what seemed like the definitive finale.

How sci-fi trends changed the Futurama finale

Image: 20th Century Fox

Science fiction can be used for both powerful spectacles and deeply intimate character studies. Taking a small technological concept like overclocking or a modern day conflict like climate change and applying it to the elevated world of tomorrow is a core tenet of the genre.

Into the wild green over there uses science fiction as a tool for political satire and sees Leela, Amy and a group of female activists plot to stop Amy’s father from building his interplanetary “giant mini-golf” course that would end up destroying the habitats of various planets. Its ecological message takes precedence over many of the characters here, making it a great send-off to the series, but one that doesn’t feel like it anymore futurama sometimes. Over there and “Overclocking” share this flaw, leaving the character in the name of spectacle.

Thenceforth futurama Nerd culture, which first ended in 2003 with the airing of “Overclock” in 2011, had emerged from behind the pop culture curtain and established its dominance. While futuramaThings like comic book movies felt like the obsessions of outsiders when they first came out. This might be why the first series of the series ends with “Devil’s Hands,” a well-known play on “deal-with-the-devil” stories, rather than the more technical narratives of future finales now that sci-fi has emerged as a mainstream force.

These altered methods of storytelling showed how futurama was able to weave science fiction into stories of varying scope. While there were often stories that were perhaps too grandiose to do them any good, the finale, 2013’s “Meanwhile,” hit home.

The A plot is more of a Fry/Leela drama: After Leela’s encounter with death, Fry is afraid that she will be taken away from him and decides to propose to her. In a subplot, the professor invents a button that sends time back 10 seconds, as well as a bubble that protects the user from the button’s effects. Thinking Leela rejected him, Fry jumps off the Vampire State building – an immediately regrettable decision. He remembers the professor’s time button and looks for a way to avoid death, but realizes he’s been falling for more than 10 seconds. The resulting time loop ends with Fry destroying the button while he and Leela stand in the protective bubble. All time around them comes to a standstill.

It’s the perfect marriage of sci-fi and romance, with a take on each genre that we rarely see but come together beautifully. Fry and Leela embark on a romantic odyssey as they decide to live out eternity as the world’s only breathing creatures. They travel the cosmos, the only beating hearts in a frozen universe. “Meanwhile” is a wonderful tribute to the insignificance of the rest of the universe when you’re clutching the hand of the person you love.

True to the roots of Futurama

Image: 20th Century Fox

Saying goodbye to a show should be an emotional experience. A finale can be flawed, but it must not neglect the spirit of the show. futuramaEach finale reflects the film’s reputation for comedy, loving character work, and creative sci-fi ideas.

Moving on after “Devil’s Hands” and “Overclocking” was an easier task as these are episodes that keep their sitcom DNA and by the end of the episode everything is pretty much back to normal. This makes sense for the latter, an episode intended as an emergency finale in case another cancellation is imminent. However, “Devil’s Hands” appears to be something whose outcome is left open-ended as the creators felt they had more story to tell after only four seasons. The cult status of the series and the deep connection between its makers and it led to Gröning and Co. constantly fighting for the return of the series.

Over there had to contend with the fact that the characters were on their way to their demise, leading to the convoluted, slightly nonsensical “Rebirth” at the start of the next season. We see the professor invent a sticky device that breathes life into the corpses of the entire Planet Express crew, except for Leela. The quest to replace her involves plenty of robot duplicates to avoid solving death with a death crushing machine. Over there is a classic case of cornering yourself, as it was considered the final hooray of the feature-length series. Each episode would struggle to undo a crash to his death.

The first episode of futurama Revival on Hulu is tasked with following up Meanwhile. While it’s often seen as the perfect ending to the series, it won’t be detracted from by future episodes; “Meanwhile” remains immune as a parallel universe story. But that’s not to say the Hulu incarnation of the series won’t be tasked once again with carving out its own identity: the new season must reckon with the lapse of nearly a decade of popular adult animated sitcoms Rick and Morty found dominance futuramawas once an undisputed sci-fi niche. In many ways, the modern adult animation landscape has a lot to offer futurama, It extends its basic ideas in many ways. But Rick and Morty was at the forefront of a multiverse craze and is a show with a license to push its sci-fi concepts deeper into the imagination.

Even animated shows like Bojack rider have taken over futuramas ability to deliver an emotional punch to the pit of the stomach. During his first two runs futuramacontemporaries such as Family Guy, Bob’s BurgersAnd american father, have never been more innovative with the sitcom format. This worked on creation futuramaWhile it was the core fandom, it alienated them from a true mainstream audience. The modern landscapes of solar contrasts, Rick and MortyAnd last room are not afraid of experiments. The things that made futurama One-offs from the 2000s aren’t that rare anymore.

The past finals and current adult animation shows burden the lifespan of futurama‘S latest revival. But that’s what’s so special about this show — it just won’t stay dead.