Now that Futurama is back, it’s time to think about where the show will go while keeping itself entertaining and relevant. The show doesn’t want to create character stories for the sake of it like the latest Simpsons season. Every time Futurama has gone off the air, it has managed to end its series well, usually involving Fry winning Leela’s heart. Obviously, a lot of the new series focusing will be around Fry, Leela, and Bender as they are the main characters, but there are some characters that viewers know very little about and deserve some time in the spotlight.
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The Robots
Robotic characters such as Beelzebot, Roberto, and Hedonism Bot provide great laughs whenever they appear in an episode, thanks to each character’s eccentric personality. Roberto is one of the more interesting characters due to his insanity. Despite the episode “Bender’s Game” revealing he was built for the purpose of being an insane robot, it would be intriguing to see where the madness first began. Maybe Roberto has had enough after undergoing a personality change, seeing as he dies or is destroyed a lot and somehow is always rebuilt.
A window into Hedonism Bot’s world would be insightful to the viewer perhaps taking Planet Express to a world of riches. On the other hand, the origins of how the Robot Devil Beelzebot came to be would create a new look at robot origins and whether his inception is aligned with that of other robots.
New Characters Arriving, Old Ones Leaving — What Can We Expect To See?
The only character from the show’s main roster that fans haven’t seen in the past is Amy. This is mainly due to the fact she is quite young, and her parents usually mention her youth. Fans have seen plenty of background from Fry and Leela, so it does require new characters or secondary ones to open up the Futurama universe further. Perhaps this would be a good chance to finally meet Amy onscreen.
Death has always been an obscure subject in Futurama and in a lot of animated shows due to lack of continuity, the popularity of the character, or the fact that there’s no need to kill anyone off. Some shows are really good at character deaths. If a voice actor dies, it is usually respectful to remove the character(s) they played. Futurama’s small voice cast hasn’t had that situation, and it seems in the world of Futurama, most characters can’t die without suicide booths. Sure, robots have died, but it would be a stand-out moment for the show if Futurama lost a character the fans knew well.
This likely wouldn’t be one of the main characters, but someone close to them. The thematics of the episode could relate to age in terms of the professor and robots, Fry’s past, and the effect this death have on the characters. In episodes like “The Sting,” there have been some moving moments around death, and while Futurama has more continuity than a lot of other shows, it seems to struggle with the concept of killing off a character.
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Spotlighting Secondary Characters
One member of Planet Express is majorly overlooked as a background character: Scruffy, the janitor. Scruffy appeared out of nowhere when the show was well established, and usually makes an appearance for a cheap comment or to flick through dirty magazines. Maybe it’s time for the show to bring Scruffy forward, as some characters do take time to develop. The list of secondary characters could go on forever and look at characters like Morbo the news presenter, Clamps the gangster, or even Hypnotoad. All of these characters create stand-out moments when they appear in episodes, but the fact that they are used briefly or as small secondary characters gives them their hilarity and prevents over-saturation of humor.
There is no doubt Futurama will bring forth a lot of established secondary characters such as Zapp Brannigan, Nixon, Kif, Mom, and Nibbler. There’s a reason these characters come back: they help develop the show when it involves space, enemies, time travel, and generally setting up a competition for Planet Express. Maybe it’s time Nixon faces a new political rival, or Mom requires the help of Professor Farnsworth. While the show does need to evolve with new characters and storylines, there’s still plenty that has yet to be written from characters fans know well. The beauty of fan-fiction and the Futurama comics of the past have enabled new stories and character development that weren’t used in episodes. Even if the show doesn’t go in a direction the fans want it to, there are still other stories to be told.
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