Futurama - Volume 5

Like Family Guy before it, Futurama is a show that didn't really need to come back. It wasn't serialized, it didn't end with some agonizing cliffhanger, it had probably been gone long enough for fans to get over the loss, and for me personally, the four straight-to-video movies were a satisfying enough return that I would have been okay without a new season. But on the other hand, it also didn't need to be canceled and I always enjoy FOX's mistakes being rubbed in their faces, so here we are.

I'm not sure if the writers got rusty during the hiatus or if it's predominantly a new writing staff, but I have to say I was disappointed with the humour. Maybe they're just getting older and their tastes have changed, because the show is now similar to current episodes of The Simpsons in that it tries more frequently to either take the characters seriously or rely on the tired stereotypes of their personalities. Even an episode involving Leela stranded on a planet with Zapp Brannigan - which should have been gold because Zapp is such a ridiculous character - went in the wrong direction and failed to be funny, and footage of the show within a show, "The Scary Door", had a much funnier intro than its actual content. In most cases I probably got one small laugh per episode, if that.

However, I still found this season watchable because they did have some cool and interesting science fiction story ideas, which was part of the show's original appeal anyway. And there is some obvious fan service present in the show's attempts to bring out nearly every minor character seen in Futurama's first run, but as a fan it's kind of hard not to smile with nostalgia when Hedonism Bot saunters into the room. I wouldn't recommend checking out this set for the comedic value, but if you just really enjoy science fiction then I'd say think about it.

Best Episode: The one I probably laughed the most at (but again, small laughs) was "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular", in which we get three short stories about Xmas, Kwanzaa, and Robanukah. But I think my favourite overall was "The Late Philip J. Fry", where Fry, Bender, and The Professor take a long journey through the future in a one-way time machine. That one was memorably cool, if not funny.