A cryogenically-frozen pizza delivery boy, a cyclops female spaceship captain, a drunken robot, a crazed scientist and the occasional appearance of disgraced former US President Richard Nixon (as a head in a jar) combine for a sci-fi high in this futuristic series from “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Staffed with many of the creative minds behind “The Simpsons”, the series skewers real science, science fiction, television shows and movies, past, present and future pop culture, the male-female-alien dynamic and those old standards religion and politics with a brainy, nerd-like irreverence.
The pizza delivery boy is Fry who’s accidentally frozen at the start of the year 2000 and thaws out in the year 3000 later where he finds a job at Planet Express, a delivery service run by his closest living relative. Leela’s the one-eyed captain of the cargo ship and Bender’s the drunken robot who’s also Fry’s best, and perhaps only, friend. All 13 episodes of the first season (1999-2000) are included here. The animation is as slick and well-done as “The Simpsons,” and the stories are just as fun and nutty. “Futurama” is as smart as it is funny – you might need a dictionary and an “A” in Physics to get some of the jokes - yet it’s never afraid of a good belch.
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