Whether someone has consumed much of Futurama or not, there is no doubt viewers of the show would be familiar with the episode Jurassic Bark. Like many forms of media that involve a pet and its demise, it's hard to argue against Jurassic Bark not being the saddest Futurama episode and one of the saddest episodes in all animated shows. That being said, what Futurama did well in its previous life cycles is to write beautiful and heartfelt stories, something that its sister show The Simpsons has struggled to do ever since Futurama's inception.
With the show set to return in 2023, it is questionable whether the saddest episode is yet to have been written by the Futurama team, but the continuously canceled and brought-back show (now on Hulu) has certainly had a knack over the years when writing sad moments and episodes. While a lot of comedy shows tend to lose their humor as the seasons progress, Futurama always seems like it is in safe hands for both the fun times and the sad times.
Time Keeps On Slippin'
After picking up chronitons to speed up the growth of the Professor's super basketball team set to face the Globetrotters, Fry is once more trying to impress Leela. He is met with rejection once more until the time begins to jump ahead in the episode, and all of a sudden the two of them are getting married. Seeing as time jumps ahead, neither is the wiser as to what has happened and Leela accuses Fry of tricking her. Upon the next time jump the two are getting divorced. A side story to the episode sees everyone's favorite robot Bender trying to join the Globetrotters but is left utterly heartbroken by the end of the episode as he is rejected for not being 'funky' enough.
However, the saddest part of the episode is the fact Fry spends most of it wondering what he did to make Leela fall for him. Bender is sent out with a Doomsday device to blow up the Nebula where the chronitons were harvested and just before it explodes, Fry realizes he moved the stars themselves in the nebula to write I Love You, Leela. However, before he gets the chance to show and tell Leela what he did, the device explodes taking all the contents with it. A depressed Fry is left to wallow to the sound of Bender whistling Sweet Georgia Brown. The episode fades to black and the viewer is left wondering what more could Fry do to impress Leela.
Lethal Inspection
After learning that he suffers from a manufacturing defect that is terminal, Bender has to face mortality and seeks Hermes' help to find the one responsible. The episode is a great display of Bender's characteristics as he is faced with something he hasn't had to worry about in the show, his own personal demise. Bender's mortality is a result of bureaucrat Number Five who decided to let him live. The two find themselves in Tijuana, Mexico where Bender was built and after Telling Mom he is defective, she wants to destroy him so no news of a defective robot being alive can get out.
The whole episode descends into chaos when Number Five's house is destroyed by gunfire from Mom's killbots. Bender is both dismayed and given a new outlook on life about his mortality which could still see Bender live for thousands of years. It's an interesting episode with two characters placed together that wouldn't usually be. However, after Hermes destroys Number Five's file at the end in a fire, it shows that Hermes was in fact Number Five and worked for Mom. The episode flashes back to a production line and shows an adorable baby Bender who is scanned as defective, Hermes would naturally remove such a robot but decides to pass him and resign. It may take the whole episode but this reveal is a beautiful connection between the two characters.
The Sting
"The Sting" is by all means one of the most inventive episodes of Futurama. As there seems to be a planet for everything in the Futurama universe, the team is sent on a life-or-death mission to extract honey produced by giant space bees. The episode takes a turn when a bee is on board the ship and stabs both Fry and Leela. The stingers are known to be deadly and though the characters of Futurama have died a few times throughout the show, this time it looked like the show had killed off Fry.
Leela is left distraught after she feels it is her fault for Fry's death and spends the whole episode trying to rectify the situation, almost descending into madness. She believes on many separate occasions Fry has returned but these are all dreams. She is told to take one spoonful of the space honey to help with sleep (three spoonfuls will be fatal). Her endless quest to prove Fry is not dead sees her almost taking a third spoonful before waking up in the hospital. There a weary Fry is by her side telling her to wake up which Leela hears constantly in her dreams. It turns out Leela was the one who took most of the poison and had been in a coma for two weeks. "The Sting" proves why Futurama is one of the best-written animated shows on television by its trickery in episode circumstances and reality as well as the relatable woe felt by Leela and her desperation to see Fry again.
The Luck Of The Fryish
Considered to be one of the best Futurama episodes, Fry is tired of being down on his luck and nothing working out for him in the future. He is reminded of a seven-leaf clover he once had that gave him a lot of luck in the 90s. After finding his old house and storage place, he finds the clover to have gone, or to Fry's suggestion stolen by his older brother Yancy. The episode opens up with a look into the relationship between Fry and Yancy in the past where it looks like Yancy was always copying Fry or trying to be better than him.
This episode is right out of Futurama's golden era and sees a varied display of emotions from Fry as he goes from being angry at his brother who he believes stole the clover and furthermore changed his name to Phillip J. Fry, to utter dismay at the episode's fantastic reveal. Fry feels such anger at the success of the 21st Century's Phillip J. Fry that got to be the first man on Mars (basically living out Fry's dream life) he aims to take back the clover from Phillip's grave. With the assistance of Leela and Bender, Fry almost goes through with everything until he sees the inscription on the tombstone. The inscription reads "Here lies Phillip J. Fry, named for his uncle to carry on his spirit." The episode shows a scene from the past where an older Yancy names his son after Fry and gives him the clover.
Fry returns the clover and is stricken with a variety of emotions such as guilt, sadness, and most of all love and fittingly Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" plays out in reference to The Breakfast Club.
Game Of Tones
If there's one thing Futurama has achieved that a lot of shows haven't by their tenth season is that they were still knocking out fantastic episodes, and quite consistently too. After Earth is under attack by a ship whose four-note sound as part of its communication is ripping the planet apart, Fry feels like he remembers the sound everyone is hearing. After analyzing Fry's brain and its relation back to December 31st, 1999, he is put to dream and remember the sound to save the Earth.
His dream sees the return of his dog Seymour as well as his family. Whilst making little progress and basically enjoying being back with his family, Fry is told he has been in under for 13 and a half days and the endgame was 14 days. As everyone from Planet Express encourages him to find out the sound, Fry desperately wants to tell his mother about his disappearance. Even though it is his own dream, Fry believes it will be the closest he gets to speaking with his mother again. Fry is pulled away by the Planet Express crew and cannot return to the house as he never went back after 10 pm, his dream is built up of his memories of 31st December 1999.
The sound is revealed to have been heard as Fry fell into the cryogenic pod and was a Nibblonian car key finder. Fry is once more depressed that he didn't get to tell his mother what he wanted to, however, Nibbler says Fry will be rewarded. Fry is given the opportunity to visit his mother's dream in the year 2000 and tell her everything he needs to. The beautiful writing of the show demonstrates a heartfelt score mixed with Fry's throat catching as he speaks to his mother, the scene cuts to Fry's mother asleep in bed with a tear rolling down her cheek and she looks at the picture of Fry on her mantle as a sense of closure and happiness. It may not be "Jurassic Bark" but it is a beautiful moment shared between Fry and his mother, a character fans didn't get to see much of in the show.