Movies - TV
Why Futurama's Episodes Are In The Wrong Order On Hulu
By MICHAEL BOYLE
The Season 4 “Futurama” episode “Love and Rocket” ends with Fry and Leela sharing a sweet moment together with the implication that it’s the start of a new romantic relationship.
The next episode “Leela's Homeworld” starts with Fry making an insensitive and hurtful dig at Leela. It’s a weirdly mean moment that feels jarring right after “Love and Rocket.”
Fry’s dig at Leela suggests that their romance died between episodes. If you’re binging on Hulu, this confusing backwards shift occurs within thirty seconds.
However, the episodes’ production order is clarifying, since “Love and Rocket” was produced as Season 4, Episode 3, and “Leela's Homeworld” was intended to be Season 4, Episode 2.
The Fox network, the original broadcast home of “Futurama,” released these episodes in opposite order so they could air the romantic “Love and Rocket” just before Valentine’s Day.
The episode produced after Season 4’s “Love and Rocket” was Season 5’s “Less than Hero,” in which Fry and Leela become superhero vigilantes together and are half-dating.
“Less than Hero” makes more sense as a follow-up, but watching on Hulu is confusing because these episodes are strangely one season apart — yet Season 5 technically doesn't exist.
The production of “Futurama” was actually done in four seasons, but Fox kept delaying the airing of the show’s episodes, resulting in those four seasons being stretched into five.