“I’ve been waiting for ages” is something that many of us say on a daily basis and can refer to anywhere between 10 minutes and, well, years. In the case of Futurama, the fandom has literally been waiting an entire decade for the sci-fi sitcom’s glorious return.
Matt Groening’s beloved animated series has been on screens since 1999 but was canceled for a second time with the Futurama season 10 finale in 2013.
Although the episode Meanwhile arguably served as a lovely note to end on, audiences would much rather have had the installment followed up with plenty more adventures. Fortunately, Hulu has answered fans’ prayers, rolling out season 11 episode 1, The Impossible Stream, on Monday, July 23rd 2023.
It was an incredibly meta episode full of inside-jokes for those who’ve been chronicling the series’ misfortunes over its history. However, it more importantly felt like a celebration of the past, with the writers deciding to include lots of details from the show’s history that are sure to charm the fandom. We’re here to highlight six of our favorites…
All My Circuits
There are a number of shows in the Futurama universe, but perhaps none have played such a hilarious role as All My Circuits.
It’s essentially the Futurama parody of soap operas like The Young And The Restless, the biggest difference being that the majority of the main cast are robots. The show was introduced in season 1 and has been responsible for some great gags.
This latest episode sees Fry aiming to watch every series ever made, and that means watching the excessive final season of the Calculon-starring soap. It’s really great to see the episode and its central star back on top form.
Elzar
No chef on Neptune better knows how to knock things up a notch with the help of a spice weasel—BAM.
The celebrity chef has recurred throughout Futurama since its early days, and Bender‘s love for him is a comic highlight whenever the Planet Express crew decides to dine at his prestigious restaurant.
He shows up in the Hulu reboot when Fry watches an episode of The Great Neptunian BAM-Off and helps remind us of so many of his best moments. We hope he’ll be back for seconds or thirds throughout the season.
Hyper-Chicken
Hyper-Chicken is a lawyer that pops up every so often in Futurama and always gets big laughs.
Sure, he may only show up at the end of The Impossible Stream, and he doesn’t really get a scene-stealing moment, but it sure does fill us with nostalgia seeing him again.
Here’s hoping for some amazing lines and drop-in appearances to come.
Owls
Hearkening back to an early gag, Futurama has long made the suggestion that owls are basically the pigeons of the future.
We see one as soon as the opening credits conclude; it’s perched on the Planet Express ship next to an ice cream, so it’s safe to say that they’ll be in the background of plenty of shots in forthcoming episodes.
Planet Express morning meetings
This isn’t as specific as the previous treats, but how brilliant is it just to see an episode opening with a Planet Express meeting again?
After 10 years, simply panning to our favorite characters gathered around the table either asleep or filled with boredom brings so much nostalgia.
Scruffy, the janitor, being there is just icing on the cake.
The Scary… Mirror?
You’ll all remember The Scary Door, Futurama’s answer to The Twilight Zone.
It’s presented us with some bizarrely hilarious head-scratching sci-fi concepts, and while it’s a parody of that iconic show, the modern answer to The Twilight Zone is, in turn, Black Mirror.
With this being a Futurama reboot, the writers have rebooted The Scary Door to pay homage to Black Mirror, and like that show, The Scary Mirror places an emphasis on tales of technology terror.
As its predecessor proved to be, we expect The Scary Mirror to be a recurring gag we’re always glad to see.
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