Futurama's Creators Have Drawn A Hard Line On Fry And Leela's Relationship
Time is a tricky adversary in "Futurama." It's been 24 years since the show first debuted in 1999, but in the latest season, available on Hulu, the characters clearly haven't aged 24 years. But, unlike on "The Simpsons," the characters have aged at least a little bit. Bart Simpson has been 10 years old for 35 years. Fry and Leela (Billy West and Katey Sagal) seem to have grown together as a couple and both have matured ever so slightly, implying the passage of real time. In 24 years, they have aged maybe seven. Hilariously, the Professor (West) seems to have continued aging apace, remaining the doddering old fool he always was. The alcoholic robot Bender (John DiMaggio) hasn't really grown up, but he has changed over the years, remaining criminal but growing a sense of self-pity. Amy (Lauren Tom) has graduated from college, gotten married, and has three newt-like children with her invertebrate husband Kif (Maurice LaMarche).
Throughout the show, Fry and Leela have engaged in a will-they-won't-they relationship. Fry was in love with Leela for years but was too much of a doofus to express his affection effectively. There were occasional "Futurama" stories that found the two on dates or even in bed together, but Fry and Leela were rarely well-defined as a couple. It wouldn't be until the end of the show's 10th season that they would finally be dating.
With their relationship in place, a new ethos needed to be enforced, even with the weird timelessness of the show. During a recent roundtable interview with CBR, "Futurama" co-creator David X. Cohen, and producers Claudia Katz and Crystal Chesney-Thompson revealed that the one-off, Seinfeldian "new girlfriend" or "new boyfriend" episodes had to be brought to an end.
But what about that one episode with the Prince of Space?
One might immediately recall that a recent episode — "The Prince and the Product" — wherein Leela falls in love with a handsome aristocrat who is literally the Prince of Space (not to be confused with the title character from the 1959 Eijiro Wakabayashi film). In the interview, Cohen hastened to point out that "The Prince and the Product" was a fantastical anthology episode, and that its events were most assuredly non-canonical. "None of that really happened," he said. "Even for 'Futurama,' that was like our Halloween episode." Cohen alludes to the famed Halloween episodes of "The Simpsons" which regularly murder main characters and clearly take place outside of the show's central continuity.
Katz noted, however, that the characters haven't gotten much older, but that they have changed over time, saying:
"Our characters don't really age, but some of our characters move on. Fry is more in relationship mode. Kif and [Amy] suddenly have three kids and changes, and Bender is always feeling pushed aside. There are changes to the characters' dynamics, and then you've got Zapp, who, for better or worse, for comedy's sake, never changes. Even in this season, he learns hard lessons; they are very short-lived."
Zapp Brannigan (West) is the blowhard, sexist a-hole captain who frustratingly remains in positions of power. He is allowed to persist as a jerkwad because, well, the universe of "Futurama" rewards jerkwads.
Cohen, though, noted that some characters' changes can't be undone and that Fry and Leela aren't allowed to date others any longer.
It's real and it's spectacular
Cohen said:
"We talk about this, if it would be too upsetting at this point if Fry and Leela had some other love interest for one episode. [...] It didn't feel like we could do it for a real episode anymore. We might as well see where Fry and Leela can go together. That's our internal decision because we think it would be upsetting to go some other way."
Fry and Leela now share a legitimate relationship, and struggle to keep things working; she still thinks he's a doofus, but has come to accept his warmth and well-earned and genuine. They've also slept together multiple times, including a fling they had while respectively occupying the Professors' and Dr. Zoidberg's bodies thanks to a brain-swapping machine. Actually having them officially romantically entangled was the next logical step. Fry and Leela have aged enough to realize that.
Chesney-Thompson seemed more excited about a new friendship in the series. It seems that that impoverished humanoid lobster Zoidberg (West) and Bender developed a weird relationship. Chesney-Thompson said that she was "just happy to see Bender and Zoidberg together. More bro time! It was so much fun to work on."
Indeed, in "I Know What You Did Next Xmas," which Chesney-Thompson directed, Bender and Zoidberg bond when they mutually murder Santa Claus and have to find a way to hide his corpse. Nothing will bring you closer to a person than the mutual panic of cadaver obfuscation.