Futurama is an animated series from Matt Groening, the man best known as the creator of The Simpsons.
The storyline of the show is as follows: on 31 December, 1999, a 25-year-old pizza-delivery boy called Fry is accidentally frozen, and awakes 1,000 years later. New York City is now called New New York City, because it has been destroyed and completely rebuilt in the past 1,000 years. Realising that he has no more relatives or friends, Fry happily starts exploring the future.
Fry soon makes friends with Leela, a one-eyed female alien1 and Bender, a drinking, smoking, kleptomaniac robot. They all start working for the Planet Express Corporation, so that Fry, to his delight, becomes a delivery boy once again.
The Planet Express Corporation is run in part by Fry's 'several-grands' nephew Professor Farnsworth, and Dr Zoidberg, another alien, whose race is responsible for the extinction of the anchovy. Amy the intern, and Hermes the manager - who is also a former limbo world champion - complete the team.
Lots of new technologies have been invented, among them the technique of keeping heads alive in jars, which makes guest appearances by 20th Century stars possible. Among the guest stars so far have been the Beastie Boys, Pamela Anderson Lee, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Leonard Nimoy.
Matt Groening's sense of humour clearly shines through in every episode, but some watchers say that it does not compete with The Simpsons. However, one should not expect The Simpsons when watching Futurama, as it clearly is not intended to be a spin-off or a sequel. Oh, and (almost) none of the humans in this animation series are yellow, though they still only have four fingers per hand.
1 Voiced by Katey Sagal, 'Peggy Bundy' from the sitcom Married With Children.
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