Futurama Season 14 Review: Latest Trip to the Future is A Brisk Blast From The Past

Futurama really needs no introduction at this point, but I’m going to give one anyway. Originally debuting in 1999 from creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, the series is arguably just as known for its uncanny ability to survive multiple cancellations and network changes as it is for its colorful characters and satirical sci-fi storytelling. But as the show approaches yet another potential end, what exactly is there left to say with these characters after more than 25 years on and off the air?

The time when Futurama attempted to be particularly deep passed a while ago, arguably before the Hulu revival even started, but its trademark wit and top-notch voice acting keep it as the effortlessly fun watch it’s been since the beginning. Though please keep in mind that this only applies to the first six episodes, as that was what was made available to me at the time of writing.

What is Futurama Season 14 about?

Credit: Disney/Matt Groening

The motley delivery crew of Planet Express is back at it again with more wacky adventures across the cosmos while they feebly attempt to do their actual jobs. Whether it be fighting space pirates, reuniting with long-lost, fan-favorite characters, or some other third thing, this crew will always find a way to get things done, no matter how much chaos they create in the process.

Futurama Season 14 Review

Credit: Disney/Matt Groening

Trying to give a nuanced, in-depth critique/analysis of a new season of Futurama at this point kind of feels like trying to give a nuanced, in-depth critique/analysis of a pepperoni pizza. If you’re here, you very much know what you’re getting. That’s not to say it’s bad, far from it. Much like the aforementioned pepperoni pizza, the series’ core components are inherently very strong to the point where it’s excellent at its best and still relatively enjoyable at its worst.

Is the show as consistent as it was in its peak? Not really. Some episodes are very tightly written and nail the narrative flow and character dynamics, while others feel completely all over the place. It’s the kind of thing you could gloss over in a 22-episode network show but sticks out in a 10-episode streaming season. But even the weaker episodes still at least got a couple laughs out of me and most of them fall on the positive end of the quality spectrum.

Credit: Disney/Matt Groening

It’s also nice to see the show feel like it’s moving forward instead of clinging to nostalgia to the Fox era. Most of the stories are shockingly uncharted territory for the series and even the callbacks are mostly to the previous seasons of the Hulu era or briefly explored concepts with untapped potential from the Comedy Central era. Even this far in, Futurama is still very much its own show and not a museum piece for itself, which is more than you can say about a lot of long-running comedies.

The animation still maintains the classic Groening style while doing some impressive things with 2D/3D blending in specific scenes, and as is to be expected by this point, the voice actors are at the top of their game. It’s good to see Phil LaMarr be allowed to really flesh out Hermes’ character, Katey Sagal still fits Leela like a glove, John DiMaggio is so perfect as Bender that it’s hard to imagine that there were two separate times where it looked like he might not play him anymore (Yes, really. Look it up), and Billy West pulling off Fry, Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth and so many other characters so seamlessly will never cease to amaze me.

Is Futurama Season 14 worth watching?

Credit: Disney/Matt Groening

I don’t know if Futurama can ever again be the gamechanger it once was. I don’t know if anything that’s been going as long as it has can. And it remains to be seen whether or not this season’s take on a potential series finale lives up to some of the truly phenomenal endings the show has produced over the years like “The Devil’s Hands are Idle Playthings” and “Meanwhile.”

But purely as an animated sitcom about working adults in the future, it still works. It’s still well-animated, it’s still got great voice work, and it’s still really funny. Futurama has tried to be a lot of things over the years, but I’m grateful that Season 14 still feels unmistakably like itself.

Futurama Season 14 is now streaming on Hulu. Six out of ten episodes reviewed.

Futurama Season 14 Review: Latest Trip to the Future is A Brisk Blast From The Past