Those who know me will know that Futurama is one of my favorite television shows of all time. The charming characters, clever twists on sci-fi tropes, and razor sharp wit have made the series into one of the most celebrated animated shows ever, rightfully so in my opinion; and its endless rewatchability has made it frequent comfort viewing for me personally. And when Hulu revived the series (for the third time!) last year, I was blown away.
While some episodes were better than others and I don’t think it’s possible for Futurama to ever fully reach the heights of its original Fox run because very few things can, Season 11 was still exciting, creative, and extremely funny; and felt like a return to form after the solid but inconsistent Comedy Central run that preceded it. So naturally, I was excited to see where the revival would go next.
Season 12 manages to largely meet my expectations. The characters all feel like themselves, the scenarios are fairly inventive, and it’s consistently funny throughout. But it does feel like a slight step down compared to the previous season. Though please bear in mind that this only applies to the first six episodes, as that was what was made available to me at time of writing.
What’s Futurama Season 12 about?
The new season picks up right where the previous one left off. Fry and Leela are still dating, Amy and Kif are still raising their kids, and the rest of the Planet Express crew is up to their usual antics which occasionally involve doing their actual jobs. With the crew’s lives constantly taking them to new planets and having them meet new faces, witty humor, sci-fi shenanigans, heartfelt moments, and social commentary are bound to pop up.
How is Futurama Season 12?
Throughout all of its revivals and peaks and valleys, Futurama still manages to consistently feel like itself; a rarity for shows that have gone on for as long as it has. And Season 12 is no different. The animation is still solid, the returning voice cast still fit their roles like a glove, and while I can’t really give away any specifics, the scenarios still largely carry the show’s trademark sci-fi inventiveness while commenting on modern culture in clever ways and taking the characters in interesting new directions.
Most importantly though, the show is still funny. Even without me putting the screenshot here, you’ve probably already gotten a good laugh out of the “Bender kicks a robot child” gag from the trailer; but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. While I don’t know if any of it’s as funny as the show’s peak, each episode kept me consistently laughing with both clever dialogue and great visual gags. Yet like Futurama at its peak, Season 12 is not afraid of having more emotional moments; with one scene in Episode 2 (You’ll know it when you see it) feeling on par with the original’s best tearjerker moments.
But while that one scene is legitimately great, the rest of Season 12 does occasionally feel like it struggles to live up to the high bar set by the show’s peak or even last season’s “All The Way Down” or “I Know What You Did Next Xmas.” I understand it’s an unfair comparison and to be honest, even a “just average” episode of Futurama is often better than some entire shows at their best. But at the same time, it constantly feels like it’s striving for great only to end up landing at “pretty good.”
This isn’t helped by the show’s occasional struggles with modern culture commentary. Futurama has always commented on real world issues, but with the Internet making cultural movements go by as fast as it does and animation taking as long as it does, it’s not an easy thing for even a show as great as Futurama to pull off. And this is coming from someone who defends last year’s polarizing COVID episode.
For example, one episode has a lot of great points about how stupid NFTs are…… that probably would’ve felt more relevant a year or two ago when NFTs hadn’t been completely abandoned. See also how the show’s discussion of AI feels almost entirely disconnected from the problems with generative AI currently because those problems were either in their infancy or didn’t exist when the show was being written.
Is Futurama Season 12 worth watching?
Futurama Season 12 is overall pretty good. The characters are still charming, the jokes are still funny and the sci-fi is still smarter than it needs to be. But if the show’s original run was groundbreaking genre comedy that became comfort food through repeat viewings, Season 12 is comfort food right out of the box. It’s consistent, it’s enjoyable, it won’t ruin a good mood, and it’ll probably get you out of a bad mood. But it’s also not super exciting.
But to be fair, I also haven’t been able to see the last four episodes and some of the most exciting moments from the trailer haven’t happened yet. And even these episodes, while not the cream of the crop, are still really enjoyable and still feel like Futurama. It may not be the Fox run, but they’ve still got at least some of that spark left in them.
Futurama Season 12 is streaming July 29 on Hulu. 6 out of 10 episodes reviewed.
8/10
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