Random Worst 'Futurama' Episodes (15 items)

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  (#11) Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch

  • Jan 12 2003

  Opening Caption: "Bigfoot's Choice"

  Before "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch," viewers didn't know much about Kif and Amy's physical relationship... after this episode, they still don't, but it does explore the nature of their relationship, and what Amy wants out of it. In the episode, Amy is unhappy that her relationship is mostly long-distance, so she hides on the Planet Express ship, and meets up with the Nimbus when the others are sleeping.

  Kif attempts to get Amy to move in with him through a series of HoloShed programs, but when the system goes wonky, and the holograms try to kill everyone, a near-death event occurs, which results in Kif becoming pregnant. It turns out that Kif's species becomes pregnant through touch and a feeling of love. While he believes it is Amy who touched him in this way, it turns out to be Leela, but as far as Kif is concerned, Amy is the true mother of his children.

  Kif heads to his home planet to give birth, and at first, Amy backs out of the whole thing. She shows up at the last minute to embrace her "smizmar" and ensures the safety of their children.

  Why it falls short: The episode relied heavily on Amy and Kif, who was something of a side character up to this point in the series. It may not have done as well with audiences as other episodes that centered around Fry, Leela, and Bender. While Amy is certainly a huge part of this episode, it mostly hangs on Kif, which may have also been a problem for some viewers.
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  (#1) The Futurama Holiday Spectacular

  • Nov 21 2010

  Opening Caption: "Time Travelers: Only 331 Shopping Days 'til last Xmas"

  "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" was a mid-season special dropped in November of 2010. The episode contained three segments sponsored by Gunderson's Unshelled Nuts, one of many fake products from the Futurama universe.

  The first segment was about bringing back the long-extinct pine tree so Fry could celebrate Xmas the same way he did in the 20th century. (FYI in the 31st century they use palm trees in place of pine.) Things don't go well when radiation gets involved.

  The second segment revolves around the celebration of Robanukah, a holiday Bender made up to get out of doing work, and the third segment finds the crew searching for beeswax to create traditional beeswax candles for Kwanzaa.

  Why it falls short: The episode has the lowest rating of all Futurama episodes, but it's not entirely clear as to why. It may have been due to being released mid-season, which made it feel like a break from the normal flow of the series, and some fans may have felt alienated due to the environmental and religious themes in an otherwise secular program.

   
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  (#10) That Darn Katz!

  • Aug 05 2010

  Opening Caption: "(Or similar product)"

  "That Darn Katz!" addressed something that had been bothering viewers for years, and that was the status of Amy's Ph.D. candidacy. She was introduced as a Doctoral student in the very first episode, but by Season six, she hadn't made any progress, and this episode takes care of that.

  Amy presents her thesis to a group of Professors, including Professor Katz, who outright objects her thesis. When she confronts him later, it turns out that he's not a human at all, but a cat who was manipulating a large human-shaped dummy! Katz planned on using Amy's thesis to generate energy he could send to his home planet (where all cats originated) to make it spin again.

  The cats employ a cuteness attack that renders the viewer helpless in stopping them, and it even works on robots. Ultimately, Amy is able to stop Katz and his plan, returning the Earth to spinning and simultaneously proving her thesis, which earns her the Ph.D. she had been working on for years.

  Why it falls short: Some of the criticism leveled at the episode centered on how similar its plot was to "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid," which saw Fry saving the world from a similar threat. The overabundance of cuteness overload may not have played as well with dog lovers, and people who generally think of cats as evil creatures who will stop at nothing to knock things off of high shelves.
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  (#14) Raging Bender

  • Feb 27 2000

  Opening Caption: "Nominated For Three Glemmys"

  "Raging Bender" opens with the group deciding to go to the movies, and after Bender enrages a fellow patron of the arts, he is suddenly standing in front of the Masked Unit, the champion of the Ultimate Robot Fighting League. Bender backs away, and the Masked Unit slips on some motor oil, resulting in a knock-out as he hits the floor.

  Bender is immediately recruited by Abner Doubleday, the commissioner of Ultimate Robot Fighting, to become his newest fighter. After Bender's first fight, he learns that the whole thing is theater, and nobody is really hurt. He goes up in the ranks to become the best fighter, but when sales of his candles begin to decline, he gets a makeover as "The Gender Bender" and is pitted against Destructor, a robot he has no chance of defeating.

  Leela offers to train him out of repressed rage over her Kung-fu master, Fnog, whom she hated. In the fight, Bender is taking a beating until Leela finds Fnog using motion capture to control Destructor. She beats the snot out of him and makes it seem as if Bender will win right up to the point where Destructor falls on him.

  Why it falls short: There were a lot of great jokes in this episode, including the use of brain slugs as a humorous plot point. The episode dealt with the idea of gender fluidity in a way that may have been offensive to some viewers. That could have resulted in the low rating for the episode, which came in a season that carried high ratings for its other episodes.
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  (#4) Yo Leela Leela

  • Jul 21 2011

  Opening Caption: "Penetrates even the thickest foil hat"

  In "Yo Leela Leela," Leela attempts to entertain the children at the Orphanarium by making up a story. Unfortunately, it becomes horribly clear that Leela lacks imagination, and can't come up with an original story idea to save her life. After some time away, she returns with a fanciful tale filled with animated silly creatures she calls the "Rumbledy-Humps."

  Her tale is immediately picked up for syndication, and the gang all join in to play characters on the show, making production as cheap as possible. Leela enjoys a great deal fo success, but when Bender learns that she stole everything from a group of aliens on a picturesque planet she found, her duplicity comes to light.

  The episode ends with the actual characters finding employment in a reality show for kids, which is pretty much what they had unknowingly been starring in all along.

  Why it falls short: The episode, like many from Season six, took a safe approach to the writing, which was funny and entertaining, but not necessarily risky or trendsetting. Most fans recall the episode with some interest, but there are far better ones people binge-watch over and over again.
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  (#7) Attack of the Killer App

  • Jul 01 2010

  Opening Caption: "There will be a test"

  "Attack of the Killer App" makes fun of Apple by putting Mom in the role of Steve Jobs. When news of her company's newest eyePhone reaches the group, they get in line to get one, and the line stretches for miles, as everyone wants the new device. Once installed, the phone projects a holographic display in front of the user, and the group quickly find themselves engrossed in their own little worlds.

  When Bender and Fry begin to compete over who can get the most followers from their funny videos, a bet is placed, and a vomiting, diarrhea-spewing goat, fills a pool for the loser to dive into. Desperate, Fry records a very private moment of Leela's and promises not to post it, but he ultimately does.

  Leela becomes a viral sensation, and when Fry and Bender's followers each reach one million, a virus is enabled, which turns all of the eyePhone's users into slaves. They aren't slaves in the traditional sense; rather, they are slaves to the product. As the episode comes to an end, armies of zombie-like eyePhone users are flocking to their local Mom store to buy the newest gadget that just went on sale.

  Why it falls short: Many viewers praised the episode for its satire, but some, like Sean Gandert of Paste, criticized the boil joke as being "a horrifically stupid joke that dominates and largely ruins the second part of the episode."

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