Random Worst 'Futurama' Episodes (15 items)

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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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  (#2) A Leela of Her Own

  • Apr 07 2002

  Opening Caption: "Scratch Here To Reveal Prize"

  In "A Leela of Her Own," Leela, Fry, and Bender head to the local pizza place to meet their business neighbors. The owners, being from Cygnoid, know little to nothing about what Earthlings eat or do, so the gang offers to play blernsball with them as a sort of primer on Earth customs. When Leela steps on the mound to pitch, she immediately beans every player at-bat.

  Noticing this, Abner Doubleday, the owner of the New New York Mets, puts her on the roster as a novelty act, but Leela takes it seriously. Unfortunately, all she can do is bean a player on the head, and the fans love it. In a desperate attempt to become "not the worst blernsball player in history," she enlists the aid of Hank Aaron XXIV to help her improve so that she doesn't replace him as the worst blernsball player of all time.

  She almost manages to do it, but in the end, she pitches a ball hit by a female player who takes the game seriously, and the opposing team wins the game.

  Why it falls short: The episode wasn't entirely bad, but it wasn't entirely great either. It did show fans a little more of blernsball, which had been introduced in "Fear of a Bot Planet." Other than that, the interactions with the rarely seen Cygnoids and other characters were unforgettable, and Leela's status as a major league ballplayer is never mentioned again despite the fact that she's the worst player in history.
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  (#3) That's Lobstertainment!

  • Feb 25 2001

  Opening Caption: "Deciphered From Crop Circles"

  In "That's Lobstertainment," it becomes clear that Doctor Zoidberg isn't good at much of anything. He's a terrible doctor, and as this episode proves, he's only funny when he's not trying to be. Following a horrible stand-up performance, Zoidberg reaches out to his uncle, Harold Zoid, a master comic from the era of silent holograms.

  Harold is holed up in a retirement home and is miserable at being forgotten, so he jumps at the opportunity to help his nephew by helping himself. The two hatch a scheme to produce a movie by enlisting Bender in scamming Calculon to finance and star in the project, which bombs horribly.

  Because they promised Calculon would win an Oscar for his work, he threatens to end the pair. At the award show, Zoidberg rushes the stage and presents the award to his uncle, and Calculon lets them off the hook out of respect for Harold.

  Why it falls short: The whole point of this episode is slapstick silliness, which didn't really align with the rest of the series. Hamming up each performance simply to ham it up doesn't necessarily make something funny; it makes it ridiculous.
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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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  (#5) The Route of All Evil

  • Dec 08 2002

  Opening Caption: "Disclaimer: Any Resemblance To Actual Robots Would Be Really Cool"

  "The Route of All Evil" centers mostly around Dwight and Cubert, as they first get in trouble for a"salt"ing a bully, which is then followed by the pair starting a newspaper delivery service. Their fathers are threatened, but ultimately proud of their sons' ambitions, but when Awesome Express takes over Planet Express, Fry, Bender, Leela, and the rest of the gang find themselves employed as newspaper deliverymen and women.

  Eventually, it's revealed that the boys' success stemmed from taking on a huge number of orders, but never delivering any of the newspapers. The professor and Hermes agree to help the kids out of their situation, which ultimately circles back to the home of the bully from the beginning of the episode. Both fathers are beaten to a pulp by the bully's father, who closes out the episode by apologizing to his victims in their hospital room.

  Why it falls short: The main reason people didn't like "The Route of All Evil" was that it centered more on Dwight and Cubert than anyone else. Fry, Leela, and Bender were relegated to support roles, and fans of Futurama didn't like seeing the series' heroes reduced to such a role. 
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  (#6) In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela

  • Jun 24 2010

  Opening Caption: "Apply directly to the eyes"

  In "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela," a probe has returned to Earth after more than a thousand years, and it threatens to destroy the planet because of sleaze. The probe was actually a satellite launched by the FCC, known as the "V-chip," which censored inappropriate content. It crashed and merged into another satellite launched by the Air Force, which was called the "USAFFlying Density." When the two became one, it took on the name "V-GINY," and became a death sphere intend on destroying all indecency in the universe.

  Inevitably, the crew of the Planet Express ship gets involved, as does Zap Brannigan, as they attempt to destroy the death sphere before it reaches Earth. Their ship crashes, and Zapp engineers a ruse to try and make love with Leela. When she finds out about his plan, she becomes enraged, but when V-GINY sees them in a veritable garden of Eden, the two are compelled to sleep with one another.

  V-GINY states that their union is "approved for all audiences" and leaves Earth forever.

  Why it falls short: Being the second episode of the sixth season, "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela" needed to be an episode the fans loved, as it came after a long hiatus in Futurama's broadcasting. Unfortunately, the episode was fairly weak, and while it had some cleverness and interesting cultural references, it played on a theme that had been seen in the show far too often, which was the Earth is about to be destroyed, and only the crew of Planet Express could save it.
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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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  (#8) A Taste of Freedom

  • Dec 22 2002

  Opening Caption: "Or Is It?"

  "A Taste of Freedom" explores Freedom Day, a holiday celebrated on Earth, where anyone can do whatever they want without consequences. When Dr. Zoidberg becomes impassioned over the declarations of freedom, he embraces the concept by eating the Freedom Day flag, "Old Freebie," as President Nixon reveals it to the world.

  That was the one act that nobody could tolerate, and the world immediately becomes enraged with Zoidberg, who runs to the Decapodian embassy for sanctuary. When he refuses to apologize, and the Earthlings make a move to storm the embassy, the Decapodian fleet quickly conquers and subjugates the people of Earth.

  Eventually, things resolve when Zoidberg makes a speech about what freedom means, and the world forgives him, even going so far as to allow him to take a bite out to the new flag.

  Why it falls short: That answer is best summarized by The A.V. Club's Zack Handlen, who wrote the following about this episode:

  "...The episode takes the most predictable stance on its premise—eating the flag is not something you should be arrested for—and then doesn’t offer much variation outside of a series of escalating incidents. That makes for a diverting half hour that occasionally stabs at legitimate criticism, but one that’s ultimately more forgettable than its various absurdities would suggest."
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  (#9) Proposition Infinity

  • Jul 08 2010

  Opening Caption: "Dictated but not read"

  In "Proposition Infinity," Amy and Bender begin dating after Kif angrily dumps Amy. Their relationship is frowned upon by most of their friends, but that doesn't get them to stop seeing one another, and they eventually decide to marry. This is a problem, as it is illegal for robots and humans to marry, so the pair launch Proposition ∞ in an effort to legalize robosexual marriage.

  The leader of the opposition is Professor Farnsworth, and the dispute makes its way to a televised debate. Ultimately, the Professor relents when he admits that he too once loved a robot named Unit 47, but after he caught her in bed with another robot, their relationship was at an end.

  When the Professor relents, the proposition is approved. At first, Amy is ecstatic, but when he realized that marriage means he will need to become monogamous, he breaks it off with Amy, who is quickly wooed back into Kif's arms after he adopts a bad boy persona.

  Why it falls short: For most fans, there was nothing wrong with this episode, but for others, it was terrible. The episode is an obvious comparison to the passing of California's Proposition 8, which health with homosexual marriage in the real world. If a viewer took an opposing side to that argument, they didn't care for this episode and may have become alienated from the series as a result. For everyone else, it was a clever jab at parodying a serious issue.
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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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  (#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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  (#12) Where the Buggalo Roam

  • Mar 03 2002

  Opening Caption: "Krafted with luv (by monsters)"

  "Where the Buggalo Roam"​​​​​​​ is the first episode in the series to dig into Amy's life by taking the group to Mars, which is a planet owned by her parents. They attend the Wong family's Mars Day barbecue, which celebrates the day the Wong family traded a single gem to the Native Martians for the planet. Kif is nervous about the event, as it's the first time he will properly meet his girlfriend's parents.

  Shortly after arriving, the Wong's buggalo are rustled in a whirlwind by the Native Martians. They aren't happy with the Wong family, whom they believe cheated their ancestors out of their land with a crummy gem. Kif offers to find the buggalo, but Amy is captured, and everyone ends up meeting the Martians who decree Kif will be put to death by being crushed by the same gem traded so long ago.

  It turns out that the gem is actually a gigantic diamond, so the Native Martians decide the Wongs can keep their lousy planet, and they fly off with the diamond. Kif is labeled a hero for returning Amy and the buggalo, and Kif notes in his diary that he "just made love for the second time" after receiving a kiss from Amy.

  Why it falls short: The episode may have offended people based on the comparisons between the Native Martians and Native Americans. Both cultures were largely destroyed by an invading force, though Futurama handled this much more humorously than the real history of Native Americans in the so-called "New World." Other than that, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with the episode, but some people may have been offended by the content, so it's rated far lower than others in the same season.
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  (#13) Mother's Day

  • MAY 14 2000

  Opening Caption: "Larva-Tested, Pupa-Approved"

  "Mother's Day" delves into the backstories of both the Professor and Mom, the owner of Mom's Friendly Robot Company. It turns out that Mom and the Professor had a thing some seven decades earlier, but they had a bad falling out. Ever since that day, Mom has hated Mother's Day. In the 31st century, Mother's Day isn't about all moms, it's about Mom, as she's recognized by all of her robots who love her very much.

  Even Bender gets in on the celebration by buying (not stealing) presents for Mom. It turns out that Mom intends to use the day for evil by compelling all of her robots to "Conquer Earth, you bastards!" 

  The robots rebel immediately, but mostly, all they do is make everyone's life difficult and annoying. The Professor is enlisted by Mom's sons to get her to stop the revolution, which he only manages to do by sleeping with her. In the end, the couple don't fully reconnect as Mom dumps the Professor after learning his romantic gestures were initially a ruse to get the remote that controlled the robots.

  Why it falls short: The episode certainly had its funny moments, and it covered more about Mom and the Professor, but like some of the other episodes on this list, it didn't center as much of Fry, Bender, and Leela. Taking that central theme to other characters never does well for Futurama, which is why most of the fans' favorite episodes center around those three characters.
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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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  (#15) A Pharaoh to Remember

  • Mar 10 2002

  Opening Caption: "Psst... Big Party At Your House After The Show"

  In "A Pharaoh to Remember," the gang takes a giant sandstone block to a planet that strangely resembles ancient Egypt on Earth. After making the delivery, Fry, Leela, and Bender are immediately enslaved to help build more monuments. The trio helps complete one such monument for the Pharaoh, but he is killed when a hastily attached nose falls on him. As he lay dying, he tries to tell Bender that the slaves could go free, but Bender isn't hearing any of it, and the Pharaoh dies.

  In an attempt to make people remember him after he's gone, Bender manipulates the prophecy wall so that he is named Pharoah next. After he is crowned, he charges his slaves with building a massive statue of him that was so tall, its head stood well outside the planet's atmosphere. When he says they did the job too well, he orders them to tear it down and try again, so they chuck him and his slaves (Fry and Leela) into the tomb and decry him dead.

  The trio breaks out by blowing the thing to smithereens via a still Bender had built into the base of the statue. They escape the planet, leaving a wave of destruction in their wake, which will certainly help Bender be remembered as a ruthless tyrant.

  Why it falls short: The primary complaint about this episode is that Bender's desire to be remembered doesn't make a lot of sense. After all, he's basically immortal, and shouldn't be going anywhere, but that doesn't stop him from becoming a dictator in a desperate attempt to be remembered.

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