The Futurama fandom has weighed in on the show’s much-anticipated return — and they have very strong feelings one way or the other.
This past Monday, Futurama came flying back into our lives with its first new episode following its latest and longest hiatus with “The Impossible Stream.” After a third cancellation and finale in 2013, Matt Groening’s sci-fi cult classic went into “indefinite” cryogenesis, only to be thawed out 10 years in the future for a massively meta comeback episode that mocked the show’s endless endings and rebirths. The critical response to the launch of Season Eleven has been generally favorable, though some observers (read: us) wondered whether the show would be better off frozen in time.
However, Futurama die-hards understand that, for a show that has never once been saved by critical acclaim, the only thing that really matters is what the most vocal and passionate nerds on the subreddit say about each episode 45 seconds after the mods post the megathread. Here are their thoughts.
In terms of the show’s typical topicality, most users found that the updated references and touchpoints generally landed well. Pan_kayke remarked, “Love the adaptation of Scary Door to Scary Mirror,” while costeleo quoted their favorite exchange of the Humorbot 5.0 Stand-Up Special segment from the same scene, which went:
“What is the deal with nonbinary robots?”
Crowd boos.
“Wow! PC crowd”
On the other hand, multiple users noted how, though the voice acting mostly sounded the same as it did before the break, Billy West’s performance as Fry left him sounding his age at 71 — or 1,048, in the character’s case. The realities of passing time affect all animated shows equally, regardless of their own in-universe relationship with the concept — one only needs to look to Julie Kavner’s continued voicing of Marge Simpson to hear how much things can change over a couple of decades.
Overall, the tenor of the reaction from Reddit has echoed what Futurama fanatics across the internet have expressed: “The Impossible Stream” is a return to form with fan service, science jokes and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it gags in spades. However, less-than-zealous critics have pointed out that Season Eleven is specifically designed to appease the longtime believers — and pretty much no one else. Any unfamiliar with the show before its revival would likely find the new episode to be opaque and exhausting in its enthusiastic self-reference.
Still, if Futurama’s third and who-knows-if-it’s-final reboot isn’t for the fans who have been along for the ride through its endless ups and downs, then who the hell is it for?