Summary
Futurama does something I never thought possible, it turns things around massively in the space of just one season.
I will be referring to the season by both its production and broadcast season numbers in this piece so if you are confused why I call it by two separate names that is why, I will try to keep it to a minimum.
As some of you may know I was sorely unimpressed with season 8/11 whereas this new season 9/12 is a massive improvement. This latest season has a lot of what you would call classic Futurama charm, and ditches a lot of last seasons need to be topical and mention everything from cancel culture to bitcoin.
In my mind there are only two bad episodes this season out of a run of ten. These for me were The One Amigo which felt like a poor Bender, voiced by John DiMaggio, introspection episode. As well as Attack of the Clothes for how much it pushes Cara Delevingne in a way that would make The Simpsons blush.
The rest of the run was either watchable or good, Quids Game which you might imagine I’d have an issue with as again it is trying to mimic something new and popular rather than tell a new story is one of my favourite of the season. The reason for that is that though it’s premise is based on parody there is a strong emotional core there that taps into Fry’s, voiced by Billy West, time in the eighties/nineties.
I am still not thrilled with how the season deals with Leela, voiced by Katey Sagal, and Fry as a couple, they aren’t even shown living together as they were last season, but I did like that the end of the season does push their relationship forward somewhat, even if it does later kill them.
Overall, I would say of this season that it feels at times as though it is almost back to form, it is a million miles away from the husk that was the previous season and shows that the series still has good bones underneath a desire to be topical. Hopefully next year’s batch of episodes continues to refine the formula.
4/5
Pros.
Almost back to classic level
Some good new episodes that add to the wider cannon
A character focus and emotional core
It meaningly moves Fry and Leela as a couple forward
Cons.
It pushes Cara too much
It has two naff episodes
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