If you haven’t seen Futurama, it’s an animated series from Simpsons creator Matt Groening about a delivery boy who’s accidentally frozen cryogenically on December 31, 1999. When he thaws out 1,000 years later, he’s still a delivery boy, but now there’s a spaceship involved. His best friend is an alcoholic robot, he longs for a cyclopean starship captain, and his doctor is a humanoid lobster who’s not clear on where humans keep their gonads. Cancelled unceremoniously in 2003, Futurama has since returned as a series of original DVD movies. The fourth, and currently the last one scheduled, came out last week: Into the Wild Green Yonder. And also, if you haven’t seen Futurama yet, you make me sad.
Wild Green Yonder actually makes for a solid introduction to the series. All the main characters are there, and they all get enough screentime to make an impression. It’s a great mix of humor, action, and a well-developed sci-fi mythology, all with a strong emotional backbone. It encompasses all of the things that made Futurama so good in its original run, all in one story. And for the long time fans, well, it’s a love letter.
