Futurama: the relationship between Fry and Leela

Essay Pastorama Futurama

University of Potsdam, European Media Studies Pastorama Futurama, Susanne Mller Kelly Brunninkhuis

Matrikelnumber: 11056 July 2011 Introduction This essay is about the storyline of the complicated love of Leela and Fry in the series Futurama. I will start out with a general description of Futurama, after that I will continue with an overview of the characters Leela and Fry. A line of important happenings during their relationship in the series complete the essay, topped off with a conclusion. Futurama Directors & storyline Futurama was created by Matt Groening, who also founded the world renounced series The Simpsons. The executive producer is David X. Cohen. The name of the series was named after the worlds fair that in 1939 displayed what life would look like in the future. The story concentrates on the three main characters: Fry, Bender and Leela and their quests at work in a space delivery ship. Development The series first broadcasted in 1999 and was suddenly stopped 4 years later after 5 seasons, followed up by 4 movies in 2007/2008/2009 that was immediately brought out on DVD. The movies became so popular that the series decided to continue. By now it has been announced that the series will continue till at least 2013, broadcasted by Comedy Central. Critics The popularity of the series is huge, especially on the internet there is a huge buzz about the episodes, characters and the references. The real fans try to translate the references the makers put in the episodes. It is also an award winning show; they won Annie awards, Emmy awards and Writer Guild awards.

Turanga Leela Creation, design & character Leela and her story were created as one of the first. Leelas first name (or technically second name while in the muted sewers world first names are last names) was derived from the Fourth Doctors companion Leela on the British science fiction television show Doctor Who. Her last name was inspired on the famous orchestral work of Olivier Messiaen Turangalila Symphony. Leela has a few features that should be mentioned: of course her single eye, her large nose and her purple hair and ponytail. The makers stated that the ponytail was designed to give her a recognizable silhouette from the side. Her body was made sexy and attractive, so the other features look even more disturbing. Matt Groening created her as a subversion of the classic perfect, sexy and beautiful female character in most science fiction series or movies. Also her wrist device is a notable feature, in episodes it was shown to have at least seven functions: a communicator, reattach Fry's nose, play Tetris and Pong, detect whether or not the Omicronian young (later known as Popplers) are edible, a tracking device receiver she uses in the Central Bureaucracy, a tissue dispenser, and a laser. By the making of the series the character Leela was described as following: strong-willed, opinionated, gentle (when not fighting), gives orders, unlucky in love, loves weapons, and loves animals. Katey Segal, who provides the voice of Leela, described her as: tough, strong career girl who just can't get it together in the rest of her life...she's vulnerable and hard at the same time. Childhood & adulthood Leela grew up at the so called Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium. Until her late twenties Leela thought she was an orphan and an outcast because she believed she was the only member of an unknown alien race of the planet Earth. Then she discovered she still had her parents, Tarunga Morris and Tarunga Munda, who are sewer mutants. They gave their

daughter to the Orphanarium because they wanted to give her a chance to live a normal life above the ground, because the sewer mutants live a degraded, shameful life and Leela (aside from her purple hair and Cyclops eye) looked un-mutated, they left her and the world to believe she was an alien. After growing up, Leela starts to work at Applied Cyrogenics as a Fate Assignment Officer. She was coded as 1BD1 (one beady eye), of course a reference to her Cyclopes eye. Leela quits her job as soon as she meets Fry and starts working at the Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery business run by Hubert J. Farnsworth.

Philip J. Fry Creation, design & character The name Philip was given to him after the short before the start of the series killed Phil Hartman, who was supposed to do one of the voices of Futurama. His second name J is used by creator Matt Groening in many of his characters, for instance Homer J. Simpson. In the series the name Philip was made up by his father after the Philips screwdrivers. Fry is always dressed in a white T-shirt, read open jacket and a blue pair of trousers. This outfit is inspired on James Dean in Rebel without a cause. The character Fry was made up as the eyes for the audience to see the future through. Frys personality has been described as simpleminded, sweet, naive and immature. Although he isnt the smartest character on the series, he is very caring about the others and he often helps his friends. These qualities were set up in the hopes of attracting the target group of a young male audience. An interesting fact of his development and character is his unique genetic feature; in the episode Roswell that ends well Fry travels back to 1947 where he finds out he has to save his grandparents life to live himself. His grandfather ends up dead, so he believes his grandmother isnt his real grandmother and he has sex with her. So Fry ends up being his own grandfather, which causes an absent by him: the Delta brainwave, it also makes him immune for the Brainspawn. This is also why Nibbler (Leelas pad) has freezed him to the year 3000, so he can be used as a weapon in the war between the Nibblonians and the Brainspawn. Childhood & adulthood Fry was born at the 9th of August of 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. He has an older competitive brother Yancy. After he drops out of college he starts working at Panuccis Pizza as a delivery boy. He has a girlfriend, Michelle, who dumps him right before New Year's. He is an average loser in his mid 20s. When he delivers a pizza to ... he tumbles into a ... and gets frozen until the year 2999 at New Years Eve. There he meets ... and gets chipped for a job.

Relationship Start & development When Fry first arrives in the year 2999 and sees Leela he thinks shes really attractive, until she turns around and shows her eye. When they later get to know each other they form a band because they are both alone in the world. Leela being the only one of her race, and Fry placed 1000 years ahead of the world he knows. Completed by Bender they go work as a trio at Planet Express Delivery service. Leela and Fry working together daily makes Fry fall in love with Leela. The relationship seems to be one-sided, because Fry does numerous attempts to win the heart of Leela, with no response from her. The relationship between Leela and Fry is one of the main storylines in Futurama. Fry keeps trying to seek her approval and love, while she keeps turning him down because of his immature nature. Important episodes In The Cyber House Rules Leela is thinking about an eye surgery because she wants to fit in with the average people. The only one on the Planet Express who thinks she should not do it is Fry; he thinks she is beautiful as she is. Fry also saves Leelas life a couple of times. For instance in the episode Love and Rocket, when the autopilot of the Planet Express goes insane, Fry saves Leelas life on Valentines Day. Fry and Leela almost kiss after that, but get interrupted. Also in the episode The Why of Fry Fry travels back to 1999 to stop Nibbler from freezing him, but when he realizes Leela would die if he wont fight in the year 3000 against the brainspawn, he decides to go back to the future. During is his attempts to win Leelas hearts, he actually achieves it a couple of times. In The Devils Hands Are Idle Playthings Fry trades his own hands for those of the Robot Devil, with these hands he is able to play holophonor and he starts writing an opera for Leela. Then the Devil gives him a hard dilemma: he has to return his hands the way to win Leelas heart- or he will steal Leela away from him. He decides to give up his hands and he messes up the performance of his opera. Everyone leaves the concert, except for Leela, who wants to hear the end of it. Unfortunately in the next season it doesnt lead up to a real relationship between them. A similar thing happens in Parasites Lost, when parasites take over Fry,

which causes him to be an intelligent person. Leela starts falling in love with him, but when the parasites are gone, her love fades away as quick as it came up. Leela and Fry also go on a date in Teenage Mutant Leelas Hurdles, get married in Time Keeps on Slippin, in The Duh-Vinci Code they almost have sex, in The Prisoners Benda they have sex with each other, though in other bodies. Although this should mean something, most of the time right after it things go back the way they wear: Leela and Fry being friends. There are three other major events that influence the relationship between Leela and Fry: In Rebirth Leela falls into an irreversible coma. Fry then creates a robot with the same characteristics as Leela. When Robot Leela wakes she kisses Fry, not knowing she is a robot. Later she finds out, but despite of her knowing, she goes out with Fry on a date. She cant tell if her feelings for Fry are hers or really Leelas. At Leelas funeral she wakes up and is surprised to see Fry and Robot Leela kissing. She is at first upset, but later forgives Fry and kisses him, which makes Robot Leela jealous and they start fighting. Then it is revealed Fry is really robot Fry, because he sacrificed himself during the crash that landed Leela into the coma. Upset by the real Fry being dead, Leela creates a Robot Fry, who falls in love with Robot Leela. The two leave the real Fry and Leela together behind. Another example of their love: in The Late Philip J. Fry Fry want to take out Leela for birthday lunch. He shows up way to late, by the time Leela already left. He asks her out again on a birthday dinner, which Leela happily accepts. Before he can go the professor makes him and Bender test his new time machine that goes forward in time. Fry makes a video birthday card then to tell Leela he will be a bit later and that he loves her. However, the professor makes a mistake and sends them 6990 years forward instead of a minute, causing Fry to lose his birthday card during the ride. This leaves Leela thinking he did not show up again, and when she hears Hedonismbot threw a party where all the visitors died- she figures he went to the party and died. She ends up being sad and mad at Fry for four decades. In 3050, Frys video birthday card comes out of the timeline and hits her in the face. Leela now knows what really happened to Fry. She sends a message to him, and when Fry reads it he skips to the end of time thinking he had a good life and it was ready to end it. There they find out time is cyclical and they skip through the entire history stopping on the time he should have met Leela. He indeed meets her at the restaurant and they have a great night. The last important episode is The Mutants Are Revolting, which at first drives them apart before they become even closer. Fry accidentally reveals in public that Leela isnt an alien,

but a sewer mutant living on the surface illegally. She gets exiled into the sewers, along with Fry who has to stay there for two weeks because he harbored a mutant. He offers to become a mutant to, to suffer together with her. Despite of her protests he turns out as a hideous blob-like mutant. Leela, touched by his gesture, cant touch him because he is repulsing as a mutant. They start a campaign to allow mutants to live on the service, then Leela kisses Fry in celebration, finding out he didnt mutate, but just lived in the mouth of a mutant the whole time.

Conclusion However typical for Futurama, in the modern TV-history it is almost a miracle that the relationship between two main characters does not evolve into a long and hard storyline. The makers of Futurama manage to put the spotlight on the two without falling into clichs and same old problems. Of course, the setting of Futurama is by itself so bizarre that it might be hard to make it into a Hollywood love story, but by using clever references, making them fall in love due to for instance parasites; it takes one great team to invent that kind of story.

List of resources en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurama www.comedycentral.com/shows/futurama/index.jhtml www.gotfuturama.com www.10e.nl/?e=2162 Andreas Rauscher: Die Simpsons Andreas Rauscher: The Hitchhikers Guide to Society: Futurama And of course: the episodes of Futurama themselves